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Minnesota State University, Mankato
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Cafe chronicles MSU professor brings stories of the historic Wagon Wheel Cafe to light in his new book
web photo The Wagon Wheel is one of Mankato’s oldest establishments, and continues to a popular destination for local residents.
From the characteristics of
MOLLY HORNER
staff writer
the Wagon Wheel, to the characters, there’s a way of life that is comfortable at the café. The Wagon Wheel Project by Dave Engen, photographed by John Cross, was funded by the Minnesota Legacy Grant and will be released December 1. It will be available at the Wagon Wheel Cafe, the Campus Bookstore, Barnes and Noble’s hilltop location and at multiple locations in downtown Mankato. Engen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato, while Cross is a senior photographer at the Free Press and a faculty member in the Department of Mass Media at MSU.
The book is a collaboration between Engen and Cross’s work detailing the remarkable history of the Wagon Wheel Café. A portion of the stories also appeared in the Free Press as part of a once-monthly segment from October 2010 through March 2012. With many stories presented by 50 different people and 50 different lives, it is the kind of book that people can enjoy with or without a connection to the café. The Wagon Wheel is different than any other chain restaurant. There’s 70 years of history in that restaurant, from the Bullshipper’s Coffee Group to being a place where conversation is always welcome. “The Wagon Wheel is kind of like its own community,” Engen said. “We photographed and interviewed regulars and
workers in their home, then at the Wagon Wheel.” The heart of the bookdiscusses the Wagon Wheel Cafe as being a “third place.” A “third place,” according to sociologist Ray Oldenburg, is a location between home and work, where people from a wide variety of backgrounds gather and build community. “I thought a place like the Wagon Wheel was worth trying to capture,” Engen said. “We captured this one gathering place at this one gathering time.” Engen, with his passion for local history and a strong interest in the cafe, was no doubt the right man to put the Wagon Wheel’s history, and its present, to paper. “People coming together, people forming community, small invisible ways that happen in places,” Engen said. Engen was inspired to complete this project after the Oxford Project, which took place in a town of 700 people. Just like the Oxford Project, Engen feels that it is important to document moments that will take on even more meaning as time goes by. “I hope the book becomes one big story about a place,” Engen said. Throughout the project Engen says that he remembered certain moments in particular. “How enjoyable and powerful it is to just listen to people share their lives,” Engen said. “A lot of the stories really impacted me with my own life also, it was very gratifying to do and see.” As people walk in and out of the small café that has been Mankato’s oldest continually operating restaurant, it is a restaurant that so many people know and love. “People need to be present in a place, they’re present in the Wagon Wheel and in our fast-paced life, those moments don’t happen so much,” Engen said.
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Kriesel comes to MSU with story of hope and optimism As election results poured in former politician John Kriesel kept the focus squarely on veterans.
web photo After multiple surgeries and a new set of legs, John Krisel put his talents to work in politics, but now the veteran is dedicating himself to a more important goal; his family. ADAM KRIESEL
staff writer
In the wake of Veteran’s Day, the campus of Minnesota State, Mankato played host to one of Minnesota’s most storied veterans, John Kriesel. Kriesel served in the Minnesota Army National Guard from 1998-2008, and is
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unfortunately best known for barely surviving an explosion in Iraq that claimed the lives of two of his best friends, along with both of his legs. At the state level, Kriesel’s story has been well told. After driving over a 200-pound explosive, Kriesel died on the operating table three
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