TheBanyanTree: Diversity

[Margaret R. Kramer]

We had a great summer-like day in St. Paul, MN yesterday.  While it was 38
degrees in Duluth – cold air rushing across Lake Superior, we were basking
in the 80s.  But the cold air was creeping towards us and finally slapped us
at about 6:00 pm.  The wind shifted and the warm air moved east.  We had no
rain and no clouds until this morning.  It was an invisible slap and it
hurt.

Ray and I spent almost the entire day outside. Ray tilled and edged the new
garden beds.  I mowed the grass and watered the yard and the big garden.
Then we planted flowers along side of the massive garage.  The backyard is
coming together slowly, but surely.

Ray suggested going to a different restaurant for dinner.  Neither one of us
had been there, so we decided to try it out.  It was a buffet, but kind of a
mixed buffet of Asian and American food.  There were noodles and BBQ,
octopus, yes, little tiny ones, and shrimp.

And the diversity of customers was incredible!  When we lived on the east
side of St. Paul, we usually saw just white people in my favorite Chinese
restaurant, but in this unusual buffet, we saw all kinds of people, it was
almost like being in New York City.

We saw Asians, Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, and whites.  It was an
unbelievable mix of people in one place.  We’re still pretty segregated in
Minnesota, people usually associate in their own groups and there’s not a
lot of mixing, but this little restaurant was truly a melting pot.

It’s located close to the airport and there are a couple of large, cheap
apartment complexes located in this area.  When we’ve ridden the bus out to
Mall of America (the shrine to materialism), we’ve noticed many people who
work at the airport, not the pilots, but the people who clean the planes,
clean the airport bathrooms, and lug our luggage around, live in these
apartment complexes as hoards of them get on the bus at the airport and ride
the short way to bus stops at these complexes.

These people are Somalis or other east Africans, Hispanics, and other
nationalities.  So, naturally, when they want to go out to eat, what’s
better than a restaurant near home that serves the food they like for a good
price?  And that’s the diversity of this little buffet.

By the time we left the restaurant, the cold air was slapping us pretty
good.  I dropped Ray off at home and went to Como Lake to meet Susan and the
boys for a walk around the lake.  Well, being the warm blooded creatures we
are, Susan and I decided it was too cold for a walk, so we ducked into the
Black Dog Café for cups of hot latte and the boys had sandwiches.

I noticed the people walking around the lake and climbing the rocks around
the falls were a diverse bunch, too.  Well, lots of Hmong live around Como
Park, as well as other nationalities.  It made me feel good as I shivered
inside the café that Minnesota is beginning to vigorously stir the melting
pot a bit.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever
to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone