JNS Blog "Goes NoMi" (And You Should, Too!)

Photo By John Hoff

In the future, this blog will use the term "NoMi" instead of "North Minneapolis" in stories about my neighborhood which are generally positive in tone. However, for stories about colorful political controversy, crime, mortgage fraud--basically the negative stuff--I will continue to use the term "North Minneapolis" with my preferred capitalization of "North."

Normally I don't go out of my way to state my blog policies, which are always evolving. Instead, I just do what I do. But in this case...

I believe the grassroots neighborhood marketing efforts being attempted by groups like NoMi are important enough that NOT ONLY should this blog jump aboard the NoMi bandwagon, but I should make a public point of it.

The picture above shows Kip Browne, the new chairman of the Jordan Area Community Council. Kip and his new wife Kelly live just two houses down from Council Member Don Samuels, on a block which used to be rough but has now become beautiful, revitalized, livable, ALMOST perfect and perfection seems quite within reach. A piece of NoMi artwork--which I hope will be one of many more issued in the coming years--hangs prominently in Kip 'n' Kelly's house.

I should point out, though, that "negative" can be a very subjective judgment. There are people who read stories on this blog about political controversies in neighborhoods and tell me things like, wow, they wish their neighborhood politics were so colorful and exciting. It has long been my position that we must not only market the positives, but also market our fulfilling, and continuously SUCCESSFUL struggles against the negatives.

Certain personalities want to do more than just live in a calm, sedated cocoon of suburban domesticity; they have some cowboy blood in them, some pirate personality, a desire to do heroic deeds. They sense a gold rush a-coming, and want to stake their claim, then reap the rewards of their boldness for years, decades. They are visionaries, who look at present difficulties and see the first green shoots of urban utopia pushing above the ground.

The trend is clear; North Minneapolis is becoming NoMi. I intend to get on board with the trend.

Also, for the record, the term "NoMi" has been out in the public domain for a while, in free usage. It has NOT been successfully trademarked. So I am free to use the term and so is anybody else. If somebody wants to tell me different, well, the comment threads are open.