Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Tutu visits Nomi
Photos, video, and blog post by Hans
While looking around the neighborhood for worthwhile photo opportunities I bumped into a resident who told me that Naomi Tutu was going to be speaking at a community event at Cub Foods. I only recognized the last name "'Tutu'" and I'm not usually one to attend events like this, but when I heard there would be free food, well, I figured I should at least go check it out.
There was plenty of watermelon, hot dogs, and milk, but Naomi Tutu was nowhere to be seen. Mayor Rybak came on stage and reminisced how Cub Foods used to be a vacant Target store, and also declared today "Cub Foods and Mad Dads Day" in Minneapolis, and presented certificates to two representatives.
Fifth Ward City Council Member Don Samuels also gave a brief speech and then Mike Christenson told us that $70 million in projects will be happening along West Broadway (hopefully more detail to come in a future post). We were then told that Naomi was "on the way" and at that point everybody vacated the stage... loud music came on and the crowd returned to eating and mingling.
I sat around for a while and managed to shake hands with a number of officials, meet some new friends, and of course, dine on watermelon. It was now getting very close to the event's scheduled end time of 6pm yet no announcement was made about Miss Tutu's appearance. Most of the police had left, the fire department was nowhere to be seen... even the Mad Dad's van pulled away.
I heard mumblings that she wasn't going to show up so I reluctantly walked to my car and prepared to leave. I was about the pull out of the parking lot when...
... a black limousine pulled up.
I wasn't able to start recording right away, so you should know that Naomi Tutu was referencing Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech in Washington.
I am glad I stuck around.
Labels:
media,
Naomi Tutu
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9 comments:
Very cool!
She showed up in sweatpants?
Who does she think she is to make everyone wait? And what awful poetry.
Girl can wear what she wants. This is America right?
I guess I could have provided a little more detail... her flight was late, therefore she was late.
Who cares what she shows up in as long as she isn't naked (well, I'm sure many wouldn't care about that either, but there are laws that discourage that kind of public exposure).
I'm sorry I missed it. How does one find out about these events before they happen?
I don't remember reading about Naomi in the Tribune. She is right only the bad things are reported on.
And anonymous at 7:34 what do you do for society? She doesn't have to come to North Minneapolis she must have wanted to.
MCullen NE
la vie en rose:
I too wonder how to find out about things like this before they happen. I was in the right place at the right time... otherwise I never would have known this was going on.
That's so often how some of my best blog posts happen. And I think that organic and spontaneous aspect to the blog contributes to its success.
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