By Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger When Maria and Pedro Ochoa came to Minneapolis in September, 1994 – having fled the turmoil, unrest and violence in their native Guatemala – they were seeking a better life for themselves and their family. Since then, they’ve learned English, found a job, got an Read more…
by Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Sondra Samuels is not a shrinking violet who wilts under pressure or withers from conflict or criticism. That’s part of the territory when you’re the CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a partnership of community organizations and schools with a jaw-tightening task: to prepare 2,300 Read more…
by Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Wazeer Brown, and his brother Emmanuel, are the first youngsters the Visitation Sisters “met” after they decided to locate their monastery in North Minneapolis in 1989. The two boys, about three and four years old, were standing on the street corner at 16th and Fremont as the Sisters were driving Read more…
by Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Linda Goynes* is a colorful, consistent and continuous thread in the life fabric of the Visitation Sisters of North Minneapolis. For 12 years she was their next door neighbor. Today she proudly wears their Cross of Affiliation, in effect making her an honorary sister. Over Read more…
By Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Dorice Law leads a life that’s taken her in different directions and destinations. The 60-year-old grandmother has an office in St. Louis Park, a job in Bloomington, a divinity degree from St. John’s in Collegeville, a home in Plymouth and friends on Facebook. But her Read more…
by Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Bob Briscoe is a regular at the monthly, Monday-night Salesian Spirituality Meetings at the Visitation Monastery. He is one of a handful of men among a roomful of women and, along with his wife Khalilah, the former Chicago cop seems to fit right in with Read more…