Written by This year, I made it my purpose to engage in in-person activities and jobs to nurture human connections as mi granito de arena (doing my bit) against an isolation epidemic that leaves us feeling vulnerable, defensive, and alone, if not lonely. I refuse to go through the motions—dismissing my feelings or not paying attention to others. I crave being present at every moment of this gutting, awe-inspiring life. The Twin Cities is a great place for that. Beyond that unusual mix of nature and urban life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, it offers a huge array of free and paid events that are hard to keep up with. So, I have gone to more lectures, visited new and old places, and taken more classes offline than in my roaring youth.
I will try to share those experiences with you here. In the meantime, you can find them on my Substack account, Bilingual Writings.
Photo: At the STEM Book Festival at The Bakken Museum this week, a stand called Primitive Info Poetry had an Olivetti typewriter like my dad’s. (“Custom, handmade poems for all occasions” —@priminfopoetry) The quote in its card reads: “Knowledge of contrast, feeling for light and shade, all that information (primitive sense) necessary for a poem” —John Keats