North Star Journey

A new children’s book by a Twin Cities author is out Tuesday. It’s called “Saturday Morning at the ‘Shop” and it’s the debut book for Keenan Jones, who is a middle school English teacher in the metro. He joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about the book and how it came to be.

Jones has several book launch events coming up, including one Jan. 11 in downtown Minneapolis and another Jan. 18 in Duluth.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a Twin Cities rapper and mindfulness instructor who says yoga saved his life.

MPR News host Angela Davis revisits a conversation with brothers Anton Treuer and David Treuer about their latest books, reclaiming Ojibwe culture and growing up together on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota.

We revisit a conversation with Rose McGee, president and founder of the Sweet Potato Comfort Pie organization, and her daughter, Roslyn Harmon, the mayor of Golden Valley, Minn.

The first night of Hanukkah is on Dec. 25, which means Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul will fry up thousands of latkes in the next couple of weeks. The Jewish institution is Minnesota’s oldest deli and this year it is celebrating 75 years in business.

MPR News host Nina Moini talks with two people who are part of the family business that spans four generations: Becca Kvasnik, the granddaughter of Cecil and Faye Leventhal, Cecil’s founders, and Becca’s daughter, Evana Hershkowitz.

To see photos of the family and their restaurant, visit mprnews.org.

The weekend of Dec. 21-22 will be Minnesota’s last chance to experience the longstanding and beloved holiday show, A Christmas Celebration with The Steeles.

After 40 years, the Minnesota gospel group is wrapping up their run of Christmas concerts. Siblings J.D., Fred, Jearlyn, Jevetta and Billy Steele have brought their joyful holiday harmonies to Minnesota audiences since 1984 and plan to do so one last time at the Pantages Theatre Saturday and Sunday.

The Steeles are an integral part of the Minnesota sound and have recorded and performed with Prince, Donald Fagen, Morgan Freeman and others throughout their career. The family traveled the world in the acclaimed musical The Gospel at Colonus and contributed to several soundtracks.

Jevetta Steele takes a break from rehearsals to talk with MPR News host Nina Moini about the band’s final Christmas shows.

Rachel Hardeman and Simone Hardeman-Jones are identical twins who share more than DNA. They also share a commitment to addressing racial inequities.

Rachel Hardeman is a professor at the University of Minnesota whose research is used nationally to show how racism affects health. Her work illuminates the disparities between the experiences of Black mothers during pregnancy and childbirth and their white peers. This year, she was named one of TIME’s 2024 most influential people in the world.

Simone Hardeman-Jones has spent most of her career in education policy, including four years at the federal level working in former President Barack Obama’s administration. Now she heads GreenLight Fund Twin Cities, which is changing how philanthropy can better listen to communities to identify unsolved problems and introduce solutions.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the two sisters about their work and how they support each other as part of our MPR News Power Pairs series.

Do you know a Power Pair?

We’d love to hear your ideas for Power Pairs to interview in 2025. We’re talking with prominent Minnesotans who you may know of separately but who reveal something new when we sit them down together. Maybe they’re married or siblings or best friends. They could be business partners or a parent/adult child dynamic duo.

Check out previous previous Power Pair conversations.

And, send us your suggestions for Power Pairs.

Guests:

• Rachel R. Hardeman is a professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. She is also the Blue Cross endowed professor of health and racial equity and the founding director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity. She serves on an advisory committee to the director of the Centers for Disease Control.

• Simone Hardeman-Jones became the founding executive director of GreenLight Fund Twin Cities in 2020. Her previous work focused on education policy. She was a national director of policy and partnerships at the nonprofit Educators for Excellence and served as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education in the Obama administration. Simone also worked as a policy advisor to two U.S. senators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

  
  

 Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Every year Forbes comes out with its prestigious 30 under 30 list. It highlights people making a change across various industries who are under the age of 30. In total, 30 people are selected across 20 industries. This year’s list includes Caitlin Clark and singer Noah Kahan. And it also includes a Minnesotan.

Angeline Dukes, an assistant professor in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota was named in the category of Social Impact. Dukes founded the organization Black In Neuro, which empowers Black scholars in neuroscience-related fields. She joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about the honor and her work.

Newcomers to America — be they immigrants, refugees or even international students — have access to a variety of social services to help them begin a new life.

But do they feel like they belong?

That was the topic of discussion at the North Star Journey Live conversation recorded in Moorhead, Minn., on Nov. 21. MPR News senior reporter Sarah Thamer traveled to Concordia College for the international student potluck to talk with people who are dedicated to making the Fargo-Moorhead area welcoming.

The founder of the Fargo Moorhead International Potluck shared how food can be used as a bridge to cross cultures. Community leaders who work with the growing immigrant population in northwest Minnesota agreed that simple things like being able to find spices to replicate food from home goes a long way to making newcomers feel seen.

A trio of international students studying at Concordia also shared their experiences and offered advice on how to cultivate belonging amidst diversity. Pro tip: Don’t be afraid of discomfort. It’s a necessary part of the process.

Guests:

• Peter Schott is the founder of the Fargo-Moorhead International Potluck.
• Fowzia Adde is the executive director of the Immigrant Development Center in Moorhead.
• Zoë Absey is a board member at the New American Consortium for the Fargo-Moorhead region.
• Siam Shimul, Timea Vrabcova and Alecious Togbah are international students studying at Concordia College.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

A Minnesota author has put out a new book about her life with pieces from her grandparents’ orchard in Somalia, her teen years in a refugee camp and her adulthood in the U.S. and Minnesota.

In “My Dear Loving Sisters: Tea and Stories from an Audacious Life,” Fatoun Ali lays out how she survived poverty and abuse to raise four children and start a nonprofit. Ali created the piece in a workbook format, with strategies and questions for overcoming all kinds of challenges.

Her nonprofit, Somali Youth and Family Development Center, turns 15 this year and has a gala on Wednesday to celebrate. Fatoun Ali joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini in the MPR News studio for a conversation about her work and life.