TheBanyanTree: Tour de St Paul

[NancyIee at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/27/06 10:26:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
margaretkramer at comcast.net writes:
Then I got on my bike and rode down Summit Avenue, admiring the
beautiful mansions, the gardens, and the people of all kinds strolling or
riding down the Avenue with me
Margaret,

Your posting brought back many memories for me.  I lived much of my life in 
St. Paul's "twin" city, Minneapolis, but I once took an advanced writing class 
in a building the University owned, but far from the campus, near downtown St. 
Paul. The class was taught by a Prof. Alford, and the students varied from 
published novelists and poets to sheer beginners. I was somewhere in  between.  
One of the students was a convict, who had been transported and guarded, from 
Stillwater Prison for the class.  His name was Frank something.He wrote the 
novel "Riot" which had been made into a movie a long time ago. Another was a 
woman who was the "black sheep" of a very important Minnesota family, writing 
about that family. I think the family "bought" her manuscript to prevent it from 
being published. lol. It was an interesting group.

Anyway, the neighborhood surrounding the building was old, dark brick, 
slightly crumbling. But, a couple of blocks away was Summit. Avenue.  One of the 
students lived in the attic of one of those mansions. I guess she was a distant 
relative of the people who owned the place, and rented the attic (or maid's 
quarters) from them.

It was a cozy place, still with a fireplace one could park a car in. There 
were oriental rugs on the floor and mahogany woodwork, hand carved, from what I 
recall.  Such a place for "maids".

Once or twice, the class would meet there, we would talk about literature and 
other things, and have a bit of cheese and non-alcolholic drink, until far 
into the night.  I wrote my "novel" , which was really not so good, as I 
attended the class..  But, I learned so much from the Professor and the group, that 
my writing improved and I did better afterwards.

Odd, how those elegant mansions were so close to the other, crumbling, "bad" 
part of town.

One of the mansions used to be a tres, tres expensive and exclusiver 
restaurant. The sort of place you had to make your reservations months in advance. I 
ate there once, and it cost what would have been a decent week's salery for a 
working guy.I wonder if it is still there.


NancyLee