Minnesota Now is kicking off a new series called Connect the Dots. We’ll ask community elders in Minnesota to share their wisdom and lessons learned about what really matters in life. MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell has been interviewing people 70 years and older for insights that might prove useful to younger generations.  

Chris’ inspiration for the title of the series comes from the commencement address at Stanford University by the late Steve Jobs. Jobs tells this story about how he formally dropped out of college, but informally still took courses that intrigued him, most notably a calligraphy class. Ten years later what he learned about calligraphy informed the wonderful typography designed into the first Mac computer. Jobs noted that you can only connect the dots looking backwards.  

The phrase “connect the dots” also suggests hard-earned wisdom. Chris asked people to look back on their experiences and to draw critical lessons about what they’ve learned about what truly matters.

Feven Gerezgiher, reporter and producer for MPR News, and Chris Farrell talked with William “Bill” English. He’s 89 years old. Bill was born and raised in Brooklyn, Illinois, which you might now know as Lovejoy. It’s one of the oldest Black towns in the U.S., founded by slaves who crossed the Mississippi River for freedom.  

 Bill moved to Minneapolis in the early 1960s with the idea of getting a graduate degree in sociology. However, he needed to support his growing family and instead got a job as the first Black salesman hired by 3M. Four years later he moved to the computer company Control Data, where he worked for 32 years in several positions, including vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer.   

Listen for Bill’s ‘connect the dots’ story.