Conviction In "Cosmic Meat Raffle Murder" Of Daron Bolden...

Photo (Bryan wins the meat raffle) and blog post by John Hoff

Daron Bolden died in the backyard of a residence where the poet Bryan Thao Worra (on the right) once resided, see previous blog article. 

There is no other connection between the two men, except that Worra was once the winner of a meat raffle and Bolden lost the biggest meat raffle of them all.

A day or two ago, the prosecutor's office announced a conviction in the murder of Daron Bolden and WCCO picked up the story. The circumstances described in the criminal complaint (click here) show just how truly random this murder was...

Daron Bolden, Latest North Minneapolis Shooting Victim, Died Where A Prominent Laotian Poet Once Resided, How Terribly Random...

Photo of Bryan Thao Worra, blog post by John Hoff

The Pioneer Press is now reporting that Daron Bolden, age 20, is the latest North Minneapolis shooting victim and states Bolden died of multiple gunshot wounds in the yard of 2523 Dupont Ave. N.

The house in question is owned by an individual residing at the same address and, from what I've seen, is one of the nicer homes in North Minneapolis. In the last few years, the Laotian poet Bryan Thao Worra lived there, and he lists the address on his self-published e-book "Tanon Sai Jai, Poems by Bryan Thao Worra." 

Worra is pictured above. The photo was taken at Nomad World Pub on New Year's Eve. On that night I was there with Bryan and Jeff Skrenes. One of us won the "meat raffle." Worra is holding the "lucky meat." How random.

It is my hypothesis that Daron Bolden did not live at the residence where he died but rather...

Northside Phillys: The hunt continues...

So, last month it was killing me:
Photos and blog post by Bryan Thao Worra
Where does the "Famous" part really come in for Fire 'N' Ice? I finally took the hit and ordered up one of their 'Famous Philly Steaks' and got this:Curiosity killing me, I went to visit my friend Catzie V. in Philly who took me around the city to see things like some boxer:She says she's never heard of Fire 'N' Ice. She did, however, offer to show me where real Philadelphians go to eat, and we wound up at John's Roast in the industrial quarter:What did we get? Titanic awesomeness in a bun. I'm still having culinary flashbacks:
Much as we all suspected, there's absolutely NO comparison. I'm glad I went, but I can now say with complete confidence: Fire 'N' Ice deserves points for trying, but they need to step up their sandwich. While I'm waiting for that, anyone spot any good cheesesteaks in NoMi?

(Do not click "Read More")

Missing: MN Laotians. Or, The A-Team and I...

My long-time Nomi Homies knows it takes a lot to set me off.

A LOT.

Over the weekend I learned that forgetting 12,000 to 25,000 people who've been living with you for 30+ years is one of those things.

As was the case with the organizers of this year's Twin Cities World Refugee Day on June 5th.

photo by Bryan Thao Worra @2010

Now let's be clear: I really like the idea of World Refugee Day. Absolutely. It's important to highlight the journey of refugees to understand who refugees in America and around the rest of the world are. It was my pleasure and an honor to present and perform at the celebration in downtown Minneapolis, even in the rain:

photo by Bryan Thao Worra @2010

World Refugee Day in the Twin Cities began in 2007 but the roots go to 2000, when the United Nations General Assembly established June 20th as World Refugee Day.

2010 is the 35th year since the end of the war for Lao refugees and it's a really big one for us: Northeaster artist Mali Kouanchao just received both an Asian Pacific American Leadership Award and a Bush Artist's Fellowship, with a book about her life coming out later this year.

Laotian Minnesotan Bounxou Chanthraphone just received the $100,000 Enduring Vision Award for her groundbreaking work as a traditional Lao weaver. Previously she's received some of the most prestigious arts awards this nation can give.

photo by Bryan Thao Worra @2010

And Lao Minnesotans have been busy preparing for the national Lao American Writers Summit in August and bringing the acclaimed Refugee Nation: Legacies of War exhibit in October.

So imagine my surprise, when, looking through the website and all of the press releases of Twin Cities World Refugee Day, the complete and utter absence of any mention at all of the Lao refugees. The Census 2010 says there's at least 12,000 of us, and most estimates say it's closer to 25,000.

photo by Bryan Thao Worra @2010

And yet, for a day that's supposed to highlight awareness of refugee communities and our contributions, there's not one mention of us. Not one line. We don't warrant even three letters: Lao.

By all accounts Minnesota has the largest Midwestern population of Lao refugees and is #3 in the country. So where did we go?

The organizers claim there are over 85,000 refugees in Minnesota with the top refugee nationalities in the state in 2006 being Hmong with 21,844, Somali 15,704, Vietnamese 15,023, Soviet 8,294, Cambodian 4,983, Ethiopian 4,799, Liberian 3,481 and Bosnian at 2,380.

I just don't understand how a population of 10,000+ doesn't qualify for mention.

When I asked the organizers, I got a reply that said: "Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. As I'm sure you are aware, there are many refugee communities in the Twin Cities, and it is always a challenge of World Refugee Day to include all of them. I do not mean that as an excuse but only to say that we appreciate people like you who work to ensure that all communities are included."

And I really would have been satisfied with that until I sat in the movies this weekend and watched the A-Team and they mentioned Laos.

Look, when a remake of a 1980s screwball action show can remember Laos but community organizers who've lived with 25,000 people for 30 years can't, I'm sorry, but in my book you gotta be called out on that.

So, we have to be constructive about this. But if it happens again? Well....

(Do not click "Read More")

Hawkman Video Files

Guest post and videos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

As previously reported on this blog here, here, here, and here, Saturday was a day jam-packed with momentous NoMi achievements. The video above is from Bryan Thao Worra's release of "Barrow." He's got a great line in one of his poems about how we can take comfort in the fact that whenever there is a war, a great new ethnic restaurant will open in our neighborhood. His stuff is funny, poignant, and insightful. Check it out.

Next up, Hawthorne resident historian Susan Breedlove shares with us some history of the North Branch library. This is really interesting stuff, and not interesting in the Minnesotan euphemism sense, but genuinely relevant.



We'll end the video post on a celebratory note, with a pep band that played at the Harvest Days festival:



(Do not click "Read More," but do click on whichever video interests you.)

All Sorts of NoMi Arts!

Guest post by the Hawthorne Hawkman. Hawkman photo of sculpture by Ken Farkash

With Harvest Days, a library re-dedication, the Peace Ball, and making you-know-who a big project (we're not done with him on JNS, by the way. Oh no.) I haven't had a chance to blog about all the great arts events that went on in NoMi throughout the weekend.

On top of all this amazing progress we're making, NoMi arts are giving residents a busy social life in and around our community. First up on Friday evening was...

An opening reception for artwork by Dirk Nelson at Homewood Studios. I haven't found a link to Dirk Nelson's artwork as the name is a common one. If JNS readers can find a link, I'll post it here. Mild-mannered Hawkman alter ego Jeff Skrenes (SKREE-ness, it's geek), NoMi Realtor extraordinaire Connie Nompelis (No-buh-liss, it's Greek), and our newest resident-artist Ken Farkash (FAR-cash, okay that was easy to pronounce. It's...Hungarian? Welsh?) met to enjoy Dirk Nelson's art, Homewood Studios, and plenty of wine and cheese. Most of that was at Connie's afterward, and purchased for pennies at So-Low.

I have an aversion to taking pictures at art studios; not because I worry about stealing a piece of someone's soul, or vast conspiracy theories, but there's something deeply personal about art that sometimes feels like it ought to be seen in person. So go to Homewood Studios and check it out. Whatever they have there, I'm sure will be worth the trip.

George Roberts and I talked about the artists' core in Homewood and I would LOVE to duplicate that in Hawthorne. (do I smell another Hawkman post coming soon? I think so.)

But that wasn't all. On Saturday, Hawthorne's very own Bryan Thao Worra, an acclaimed poet, had a book reading in south Minneapolis for his new collection of poetry, Barrow. A side note: Avid JNS readers will remember how Bryan perfected a "pizza-fied" bloody Mary. Well he also has another bloody Mary twist at Donnie Dirk's Zombie Den under their "weird science" create-a-drink special, and it's called a bloody mahi. Ask for it by name.

Getting a photo of Bryan doing a poetry reading is problematic at best. He jumps around like a frog on a hot trampoline. If someone were to successfully combine poetry reading and calisthenics into an Olympic sport, we'd have a gold medalist on our hands. Here's one of the few non-blurry shots from the Barrow reading.



"Barrow" is a word with six definitions described in Bryan's book. The definitions range from the common "wheelbarrow," to "a pig castrated before its sexual maturity." (I don't think I want to play Trivial Pursuit with Bryan.) Bryan and I have discussed how prose often uses as much language as needed to get as detailed a description as possible, while poetry tends to use as few words as possible to give the widest definition that the reader can interpret. To which I respond with this song.

Check out Homewood Studios, Bryan Thao Worra's books, and stay tuned for a welcoming art party for Ken Farkash on 10/25!