by Jenny Jannari | Aug 30, 2018 | Journalism, Journalism in the era of "fake news", Journalism in the Trump Era, Personal Reflections, WPI Activities
It is important that privileged people are regularly reminded of their good fortune. The best way to do this is to hear the stories of others and get out of the bubble where it is most comfortable to live in. The world is in a state of severe polarization at the...
by Joana Azevedo Viana | Aug 29, 2018 | Journalism in the era of "fake news", Journalism in the Trump Era, Personal Reflections, Politics, WPI Activities
Welcome to Ely, population 3,400+. Located in the northern part of Minnesota, next to the Canadian border, it is a relatively small town by American standards – and a very polarized one, regular Minnesotans tell us before we depart from the Twin Cities to the...
by Yana Nikolova | Aug 27, 2018 | Immigration, Journalism, Personal Reflections
Dear WPI fellows from all the next generations – here is something for you! https://youtu.be/evKNTAuI3oI First steps in the Twin cities – or how to take a closer look at American society through a baseball game As you already know – you are going to...
by Rafael Gregorio | Aug 22, 2018 | Journalism, Personal Reflections
The legend goes that in the summer of 1964, a day after The Rolling Stones had played a one-night concert in Excelsior, Minn., a still unknown Mick Jagger went into a local drugstore looking for medicine to treat a sore throat. That was the fourth show of the first...
by Jenny Jannari | Aug 22, 2018 | American Presidency, Midterm Elections, Personal Reflections, Politics, Presidential Election
Only a week in Minnesota and I had already lost count of how many conversations I’d had where the locals were expressing their distress, sometimes even shame, over the Trump presidency. How could this happen and will it get worse? It almost seems the United States has...
by Joana Azevedo Viana | Aug 17, 2018 | Midterm Elections, Personal Reflections, Politics
Minnesota is not a state that comes immediately to mind when most nonAmericans think of the United States. For all I knew before coming here, it was simply the place where Bob Dylan and Prince were born and took their first steps as musicians en route to becoming the...