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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20221015T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20221015T150000
DTSTAMP:20220912T183359Z
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SUMMARY:African Americans Rooted and Rising: Nothando & Vusumusi Zulu and Joshua Gillespie
DESCRIPTION:Embracing Our Roots: African American Rooted and Rising\nA Conversation with Nothando and Vusumusi Zulu and their grandson\, Joshua Gillespie (Brotha\nAse’).\n| Virtual: Zoom | \nOn Saturday\, October 15\, 2022\, up and coming drummer and storyteller\, Joshua Gillespie (Brotha Ase’) will join his grandparents\, the master storytellers\, Nothando and Vusumusi Zulu\, in a conversation about the power of storytelling to lift our people up\, and about the Black Storytellers Alliance in Minnesota\, of which Nothando and Vusi are co-founding members. \n           Embracing Our Roots is a conversation series that reaches back into the history of Minnesota’s African American arts community. The purpose is to pass this knowledge along to the new generation that is now ascending as leaders in our African American arts community. The series features Elders and Culture Bearers who engage with young leaders to discuss significant milestones in Minnesota’s Black arts history\, and the impact that the artists and movements have had on our present day capacity to survive the storms and keep creating.  Embracing our Roots: African Americans Rooted and Rising is a collaboration with More Than a Single Story and In Black Ink. \n  \nREGISTER HERE\n  \nABOUT THE PANELISTS: \nNothando and Vusumuzi Zulu have been stalwart proponents of Kujichagulia\, the Swahili\nword for self-determination for over four decades. They revel in opportunities to transmit the\nvalues of our African ancestors through story. Both are transplants from the south: Nothando\nfrom the sharecropping farms of Nat Turner’s county in Virginia and Vusi from the often\ntumultuous city of St Louis\, Missouri. As co-founding members of the Black Storytellers\nAlliance in Minnesota they began producing the popular ““Signifyin’ & Testifyin’” three-day\nstorytelling festival in 1991 after returning from the National Association of Black Storytellers\,\nInc. (NABS) festival and Conference in Myrtle Beach\, South Carolina. It was such a moving\nexperience that they knew they had to bring something like that back to inspire the people in\nMinnesota. “Signifyin' and Testifyin’” has entertained\, enthralled and educated thousands since\nits inception. Nothando and Vusi have brought Tellers from across the country to weave\nstorytelling magic\, and audiences continue coming back year after year to glean more nuggets of\ntruth about our people through the art of oral storytelling. Through storytelling\, the Zulu family\ndemonstrates the Joy of being Black. \nJoshua Gillespie (Brotha Ase’)  was brought up within the storytelling culture. Witnessing his grandparents\, the master Storytellers Vusumuzi and Nothando Zulu on and off the stage\, sparked a flame in him to carry on the torch. He uses his artistic abilities: digital art\, music\, dance\, djembe drumming & oral expertise – to captivate audiences.  Brotha Ase believes our stories are like seeds from the divine tree of life\, helping to guide us and grow us into divine trees of our own. The goal of Joshua’s storytelling is to highlight current history (history currently in the making)\, life lessons \, and to inspire his people and all people to aspire to be who they truly are in spite of the trials and tribulations that life throws at them. \nEmbracing our Roots: African Americans Rooted and Rising is a collaboration with More\nThan a Single Story and In Black Ink.
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/african-american-rooted-and-rising/
CATEGORIES:Community,Discussions,Embracing Our Roots
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20221019T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20221019T113000
DTSTAMP:20220919T174450Z
CREATED:20220912T181431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220919T174450Z
UID:17794-1666175400-1666179000@morethanasinglestory.com
SUMMARY:We Are Meant to Rise Event (Private)
DESCRIPTION:| Private Event | \nIn this private class\, writers will talk about We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice From Minneapolis to the World at Concordia College Fargo-Moorhead. \n  \nPanelists: \nCarolyn Holbrook is a writer\, educator\, and an advocate for the healing power of the arts. Her memoir\, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (Minnesota 2020)\, won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. She is founder and director of the Twin Cities-based conversation series\, More Than a Single Story\, and is co-editor with David Mura of the anthology\, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World published by University of MN Press with More Than a Single Story (Minnesota 2021). She is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships. She teaches at the Loft Literary Center and other community venues\, and at Hamline University\, where she won the exemplary teacher award in 2014. \nAlexs Pate is president and CEO of Innocent Technologies and the creator of the Innocent Classroom. He has written five novels\, a children’s book\, and a work of nonfiction\, and he has curated several literary anthologies. His latest book is The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias for Children of Color.  He won the Kay Sexton Award from the Minnesota Book Awards and the Friends of the St. Paul Public Libraries in 2021. \nMona Susan Power is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux nation. She is the author of four books of fiction: The Grass Dancer (winner of the 1995 PEN/Hemingway award)\, Roofwalker\, Sacred Wilderness\, and the forthcoming novel\, A Council of Dolls. Her fellowships include an Iowa Arts Fellowship\, James Michener Fellowship\, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship\, Princeton Hodder Fellowship\, USA Artists Fellowship\, McKnight Fellowship\, and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have been widely published in journals\, magazines\, and anthologies. She lives in Saint Paul where she is currently working on a new novel titled\, The Year of Fury. Her short stories and essays have been widely published in journals\, magazines and anthologies. Her fellowships include an Iowa Arts Fellowship\, James Michener Fellowship\, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship\, Princeton Hodder Fellowship\, USA Artists Fellowship\, Loft McKnight Fellowship for 2015-16\, and Native Arts and Cultures Fellowship for 2016-17. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has made her home in Saint Paul\, Minnesota. \nKevin Yang is a Hmong American multidisciplinary artist from the Twin Cities\, Minnesota with a focus on spoken word poetry and documentary filmmaking. He currently works at Twin Cities PBS and is a board member with Street Stops and Mountain Tops. He finds most of his artistic inspiration unraveling his Hmong American experience with others.
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/we-are-meant-to-rise-event-3/
CATEGORIES:Community,Discussions,We Are Meant to Rise
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20221020T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20221020T130000
DTSTAMP:20220919T174457Z
CREATED:20220912T181859Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220919T174457Z
UID:17798-1666267200-1666270800@morethanasinglestory.com
SUMMARY:We Are Meant to Rise Event (Private)
DESCRIPTION:| Private Event | \nIn this private class\, writers will talk about We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice From Minneapolis to the World at the Minnesota Transform Project. \n  \nABOUT \nCarolyn Holbrook is a writer\, educator\, and an advocate for the healing power of the arts. Her memoir\, Tell Me Your Names and I Will won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. She is founder and director of the Twin Cities-based conversation series\, More Than a Single Story\, and is co-editor with David Mura of the anthology\, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies\, including A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. She won the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award in 2010 and was a 50 over 50 honoree in 2016.   \n 
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/we-are-meant-to-rise-event-4/
CATEGORIES:Community,Discussions,We Are Meant to Rise
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20221206T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20221206T200000
DTSTAMP:20221103T013507Z
CREATED:20221024T165212Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221103T013507Z
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SUMMARY:Our Stories\, Ourselves: Food in Cultural Celebrations
DESCRIPTION:|  VIRTUAL EVENT  | \n  \nDespite the challenges of the last few years\, our communities have always found reasons to celebrate. Join notable chefs and food writers Sean Sherman\, Yia Vang\, Mecca Bos and Natalia Mendez in a conversation about their communities and the historical and contemporary ways food serves as a backdrop for cultural celebrations. \nModerator: Tess Montgomery.\nOpening poem: Zenobia L. Silas Carson.\nFunded by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. \nRegister here!\n  \nPANELIST BIOS \nSEAN SHERMAN\, Oglala Lakota\, born in Pine Ridge\, SD\, has been cooking across the US and\nthe world for the last 30 years. His main culinary focus has been on the revitalization and\nawareness of indigenous foods systems in a modern culinary context. In 2014\, he opened The\nSioux Chef as a caterer and food educator to the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area. In 2015\, in\npartnership with the Little Earth Community of United Tribes in Minneapolis\, he helped design\nand open the Tatanka Truck food truck. In 2021\, Chef Sean and Dana Thompson opened\nOwamni by The Sioux Chef\, a modern Indigenous full service kitchen located in North Loop\nMinneapolis\, featuring the true foods of North America through an Indigenous perspective.\nSean’s vision of modern indigenous foods has garnered many awards including a number of\nawards for his cookbook\, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen (Minn2017)\, and the prestigious\nJames Beard award which named Owamni the best new restaurant in the United States in 2022. Learn more at sioux-chef.com \nYIA VANG is a trained chef and Beard Foundation award finalist who worked at many top\nrestaurants in the Twin Cities before opening Union Hmong Kitchen. He has been featured in\nThe New York Times\, National Geographic and Bon Appetit\, as well as showcased on PBS\,\nCNN\, The Food Network\, Netflix’s Iron Chef: The Quest for an Iron Legend\, and more. In\n2022\, he was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Midwest award. His\nnew Minneapolis restaurant concept\, Vinai\, is named after the refugee camp in Thailand where\nhe was born. His restaurants create a home for his Hmong cuisine\, celebrate his parents’ legacy\,\nand share the story of his family through food. Union Hmong Kitchen\, located in Graze Food\nHall in North Loop Minneapolis\, features Hmong culture\, stories\, rituals\, foods and flavors. Vang marries local traditions with those from back home in South and Eastern Asia to bring\nHmong flavors to American palates. Learn more at unionkitchenmn.com \nMECCA BOS has been a Twin Cities based journalist and chef for more than 20 years. In these\ndual roles\, she has become known as one of the leading local voices for marginalized voices in\nthe food community and has championed and uplifted the stories of people of color\, women\,\nelders\, and immigrant communities\, putting focus and spotlight on stories that the mainstream\nmedia may have traditionally overlooked or ignored. Mecca has been the dining critic of Twin\nCities Metro and City Pages. Her work has also been published in The New York Times\, Taste\,\nVICE\, Paste\, Travel + Leisure\, Midwest Living\, and many other publications. She is a regular\ncontributor to Minnesota Public Radio\, and is producing her own audio documentary work\,\n“Hidden Black Foodways.” Through the BIPOC Foodways Alliance\, Mecca\, Sean Sherman\, and\ntheir community of allies plan to dismantle white supremacy using food as a tool. Based in the\nTwin Cities and around the world\, BIPOC Foodways Alliance is dedicated to the documentation\,\nexamination\, and promotion of the foodways of all BIPOC communities in the United States.\nLearn more at meccaboswrites.com \nNATALIA MENDEZ (they/them) is a queer\, Chicanx writer and photographer living in\nMinneapolis. Finding connections to their roots and with others through food has been a habit\nthroughout their life. They can also be found around the Twin Cities on two wheels (bicycle or\nmotorcycle) when they're not writing about food\, entertainment\, the outdoors\, or experiences on\nthe margins. Their work is published regularly on their blog with The Current. You can also find\ntheir work on Racketmn.com\, Eater Twin Cities\, Seward Coop’s website and more. You can find\ntheir work at bynataliamendez.com. \nModerator\nTESS MONTGOMERY is a young communicator\, a visionary and an avid foodie who lives in\nMinneapolis. She has been a Digital Marketing Specialist at TPT-Twin Cities PBS and\nMarketing and Communications Manager for More Than a Single Story. She was a 2018 Fellow\nwith the Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy\, a 2017 Fellow with New Sector Academy\, and\nserved as Programming Chair of Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of the Twin Cities.\nTess is passionate about the power of grassroots\, community-led organizing. She holds a degree\nin Journalism & Mass Communications from Drake University. In 2019\, she was named one of\n15 up and coming PR and Social Media Marketers to Watch. Her essay\, “Financial Trauma in\nCommunities of Color” was published in MN Women’s Press in 2020 and in We Are Meant to\nRise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis To the World (Minn2021). \nOpening Poet\nZENOBIA L. SILAS-CARSON a writer/teacher/speaker/Minister and senior life coach.\nShe is a retired teacher who has worked with Special Needs children at Odyssey Charter School\nin Brooklyn Park MN. She has also worked as an advocate at Harriet Tubman Women's Center\nand Incarnation House in Minneapolis Minnesota. Most recently she held positions at Lang Nelson Associates as an office assistant\, activities director and exercise coach for senior women.\nand leader of several food programs at Creekside Gables which is a 55+ Senior community in\nBrooklyn Park Minnesota. She encourages people as a minister and is involved in sharing\nresources for food services through Good in the Hood and CEAP within the NW suburbs of\nHennepin County. A native Chicagoan\, Ms. Carson remains involved in writing workshops and\nenjoys activities with her children\, grands and great grandchildren.
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/our-stories-ourselves-celebrating-food/
CATEGORIES:Community,Discussions,Our Story Ourselves
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230117T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230117T200000
DTSTAMP:20221230T175715Z
CREATED:20221024T175714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221230T175715Z
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SUMMARY:Writer to Writer: Michael Kleber Diggs & Heid Erdrich
DESCRIPTION:Join poets\, writers and creative writing teachers\, Michael Kleber Diggs and Heid E. Erdrich in a\nwide ranging conversation on assumptions that are often made about their childhoods and\ncultural experiences. They will talk about how they write around audience expectations of what\ntheir upbringings must have been like\, how they live as adults and their relationship to\ncommunity and economic class. Or they might get caught up in talking about how they make\npoems. \nThis discussion is hosted in partnership with Hennepin County Libraries. \nREGISTER HERE!\n  \nABOUT\nMichael Kleber-Diggs (KLEE-burr digs) (he / him / his) is a poet\, essayist\, literary critic\, and\narts educator. His debut poetry collection\, Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions 2021)\, won the\nMax Ritvo Poetry Prize\, the 2022 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry\, the 2022\nBalcones Poetry Prize\, and was a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book Award. His poems and\nessays appear in numerous journals and anthologies. Michael is married to Karen Kleber-Diggs\,\na tropical horticulturist and orchid specialist. Karen and Michael have a daughter who is\npursuing a BFA in Dance Performance at SUNY Purchase. \nHeid E. Erdrich authored six collections of poetry and a nonfiction Indigenous foods book. Her\nhonors include a National Poetry Series award\, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship\,\nLoft-McKnight Fellowship\, Minnesota State Arts Board grants\, and two Minnesota Book\nAwards. Heid edited the anthology New Poets of Native Nations. Her recent poetry collection\,\nLittle Big Bully\, won the Balcones Prize for 2020. Heid grew up in Wahpeton\, North Dakota\nwith a German American father\, an Ojibwe-Metis mother\, and six siblings. She is enrolled at\nTurtle Mountain. Heid works as an independent scholar and curator.\nWriter to Writer is a collaboration with More Than a Single Story and Hennepin County Library.\nFunded by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/writer-to-writer-michael-kleber-diggs-heid-erdrich/
CATEGORIES:Discussions,Writer to Writer
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230318T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230318T160000
DTSTAMP:20230301T223008Z
CREATED:20221230T182937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230301T223008Z
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SUMMARY:Building MN's Powerful Arts Community: How We Got Here
DESCRIPTION:OUR STORIES\, OURSELVES: CONVERSATIONS WITH COMMUNITY  \nHow does community start? And how does it germinate in order to empower people and authentic voices? How do you build on the movements that came before you? Join the Loft and More Than a Single Story for a panel of seasoned BIPOC writers and arts activists who will share the trials and triumphs they faced while building the powerful arts community we are all benefitting from today. \nPanelists: Daniel Pierce Bergin\, Juanita Corbine Espinosa\, Kathryn Haddad\, Alberto Justiniano\, and David Mura.\nModerator: Vickie Benson.\nOpening Poem: Louis Alemayehu. \nPrice: $10 for the public\, $5 for Loft members \nA More Than a Single Story Panel Conversation in partnership with The Loft Literary Center  \nRegister here.\n  \nPANELISTS \n      Daniel Pierce Bergin creates media that explores people\, places\, and the past through restorative storytelling. The Twin Cities PBS Executive Producer has won 20 regional Emmy for productions including Jim Crow of the North\, Lost Twin Cities V\, and Make it OK: Mental Illness & Stigma. His documentary With Impunity: Men & Gender Violence was named ‘Best Documentary of 2012’ by Mpls/St. Paul Magazine. The Minneapolis native and University of Minnesota graduate has served as a director on the boards of several community media organizations. Daniel has been an adjunct instructor and lectured and presented in countless schools\, colleges\, and community settings.  He has been recognized as a MN State Arts Board Fellow\, a City Pages Artist of the Year\, and was awarded a Bush Leadership Fellowship for his work in community media. \nJuanita G. Corbine Espinosa is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota with blood lines that connect to the Ojibwe of Lac Courte Oreilles in Wisconsin and Turtle Mountain Ojibwe in North Dakota. Since the mid-1970’s\, she has been leading and participating in activities that build community and understanding in tribal communities in South Dakota and in the Twin Cities. As an artist\, model and media artist\, her work supports the cultural ways of her people. In 2019\, she was invited to greet all at the opening of Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. Currently\, Juanita is continuing her work as a dedicated community organizer at the University of Minnesota-Department of Medicine Northern Range Satellite Center. She coordinates with 10 institutions across the US focused on American Indian research.  \nKathryn Haddad (she/her) is a writer\, teacher\, speaker\, and community organizer whose work explores contemporary Southwest Asian/North African (SWANA) experiences. She has worked extensively with Pangea World Theater and she cofounded Mizna where she served as artistic/executive director for 12 years. Currently\, she is artistic/executive director of New Arab American Theater Works. Her awards include a Bush Leadership Fellowship\, Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellowships\, and MN State Arts Board awards. She won the 2018 MN Book Awards Kay Sexton award\, a 2022 McKnight Culture Bearer Fellowship\, and was a 2022 50 over 50 honoree. Her last full production\, Zafira and the Resistance was at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio in 2019. Her play Zafira the Olive Oil Warrior appears in the 2018 anthology\, Contemporary Plays by Women of Color\, edited by Roberta Uno.   \nAlberto Justiniano is the founder and Artistic Director of Teatro del Pueblo. He curates Teatro’s Political Theater series and the Latino/Asian Fusion series with Pangea World Theater. He has been active as a director\, playwright\, screenwriter and independent producer for both film and theater. His community-based work has integrated the creation of art by community members in ways that engage participants in social justice issues. He has led and participated in a number of cross cultural artistic and social projects to engage diverse communities building bridges of understanding.  His honors include the 1993 Many Voices Residency Award\, St Paul Companies 1994 Leadership and Arts Award\, 2009 Francisco Rosales community award\, the 2012 Target Community Award and the 2013 Pangea social Justice award.  He is a proud member of the Twin Cities Theaters of Color Coalition and the National Latinx commons. \nDavid Mura’s latest book is The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths & Our American Narratives. He’s the author of two memoirs\, Turning Japanese\, and Where the Body Meets Memory\, and a book on creative writing\, A Stranger’s Journey: Race\, Identity and Narrative Craft in Writing. He’s also co-editor with Carolyn Holbrook of We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice From Minneapolis to the World. He co-produced\, wrote and narrated the Emmy winning TPT documentary\, Armed With Language\,  about Japanese American Military Intelligence Service soldiers during WWII. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships\, and won the MN Book Awards Kay Sexton award in 2019. \n  \nCarolyn Holbrook has nurtured writers and readers for over 40 years; as founder of Whittier Writers Workshop (1981-1989)\, as the first person of color to serve in a leadership position as Program Director at The Loft (1989-1993)\, founder of SASE: The Write Place (1993-2006)\, and now at More Than A Single Story which she launched in 2015 as a space that engages BIPOC writers and arts activists in public conversations that explore issues their work addresses. Her essay collection\, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (Minn2020)\, won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. She is co-author with Arleta Little of Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir\, Hope In the Struggle (Minn 2019) and co-editor with David Mura of the anthology\,  We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award in 2010 and she was a 2017 50 over 50 honoree. \nMODERATOR \nAfter spending the last 30 years in arts grantmaking\, Vickie Benson is now a certified professional coach (www.vickiebenson.com). During her time at the McKnight Foundation\, she was instrumental in co-creating coalitions and practices that center on racial equity in grantmaking. She is a past president of Grantmakers in the Arts board of directors and was a leader in the ArtPlace America initiative\, a collaboration of 14 national and regional foundations focused on creative placemaking. Before joining McKnight\, she was vice president of the Jerome Foundation in St. Paul\, program director at Chamber Music America in New York City\, and senior program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington\, D.C. She holds a BA in arts administration from Metropolitan State University\, and an MA in nonprofit management from the Hamline University Graduate School of Management. She studied music at the University of Minnesota as an undergrad. She also holds professional certification with the International Coach Federation and as an Intercultural Development Inventory administrator. She has a background as a folk singer and guitar player. \nOPENING POET \nLouis Alemayehu is a writer\, educator\, administrator\, poet\, father\, grandfather\, great grandfather\, performer\, and activist of African and Native American heritage. He emerged as a poet during the Black Arts Movement in the early 1970s with mentoring from poet & essayist Haki Mahdubuti and his spiritual mother\, the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer winning poet\, Gwendolyn Brooks. He is a cofounder of the Minneapolis-based Native Arts Circle and also of the award-winning poetry/jazz ensemble Ancestor Energy\, which connects music with spoken word for healing. He is the recipient of many honors and awards including an award from the Process Work Institute of  Portland Oregon & Zurich Switzerland which recognized him as its first World Work Elder. Today Alemayehu is founding Elder of the BIPOC majority Wild Path Collective that recently received the 90-acre Lily Springs Farm in Osceola Wisconsin from the Nina Utne. This intergenerational multicultural collective is guided by Indigenous values and practices\, the challenge of the 21st century.
URL:https://morethanasinglestory.com/event/building-mns-powerful-arts-community-how-we-got-here/
LOCATION:Loft Literary Center\, 1101 Washington Ave.\, Minneapolis\, MN\, 55415\, United States
CATEGORIES:Community,Discussions,Our Story Ourselves
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