Happy Thanksgiving from NewPrensa

Happy Thanksgiving folks! Isabella here. ‘Tis the time where families and friends reunite over a warm, delicious meal. Although many follow the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, like Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams and pumpkin pie, others have seeked alternatives. Even if you’re not American, the holiday has brought many cultures together to celebrate what they’re thankful for. For those who are fútbol (yea, soccer) fanatics, Brazil will play Serbia in the afternoon at 1:00 p.m., so maybe you can watch a game before the great feast! 

However, we mustn’t forget that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. At Cole’s Hill, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Indigenous people and their allies gather to commemorate the National Day of Mourning. It is important to remember that what history books depict as a serene and celebratory day of union between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, actually masks the bloody conflict between Native Americans and European settlers. Thus, in MA people find it vital to remember and spiritually connect with their ancestors every November 24th, since 1970.

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Thanksgiving isn’t all that’s going on this week. The 42nd annual Minnesota Hmong New Year will be celebrated this weekend, on Nov. 27 and 28. After a 2-year hiatus, the United Hmong Family, Inc has brought the community together to share dance, music, crafts, vendors, and more at the RiverCentre in St. Paul. The Hmong New Year celebrates the end of the harvest season. In rural Tracy, Hmong dancers are prepping for the New Year with “intricately decorated clothes, feast on traditional Hmong food, and perform dances,” according to Sahan Journal. Passing on tradition and heritage onto the younger generations of Hmong dancers is important to cultivate the shared passion. It’s the colors and the routines that mark the rhythm and uplift the 4,000-year-old history of the Hmong community. Take a peek at the Hmong New Year 2020 at the St. Paul RiverCentre here.

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The Latin Grammys were last Thursday and Rosalia won Album Of The Year, again. It’s prestigious to be the first woman to win that category, especially twice. She won her first Album Of The Year in 2019 for El Mal Querer, and this year for MOTOMAMI. She also won in Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package categories. Some might disagree with this win. Rosalia is technically not a Latina, but from Spain, winning a Latin Grammy… 

“Tocarte” by Jorge Drexler and C. Tangana won Record of the Year, for which they also won Song Of The Year. Cuban singer Angela Alvarez, known for songs like “Un Canto a Mi Cuba”, and Silvana Estrada, known for songs like “Te Guardo”, won Best New Artist. For those wondering why Bad Bunny didn’t win Album Of The Year for “Un Verano Sin Ti” when it was No. 1 on Billboard 200 for 13 weeks – I don’t know either. For more on the winners, go here. 

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Helene here! I’m excited about some articles that were posted in local news sources in the past few months (Like the Star Tribune, Racket, and Pioneer Press) talking about the new wave of BIPOC-owned coffee shops in and around the twin cities. One that caught my eye in particular is Roots Cafe, in St. Paul. It’s staffed by the cafe’s teenage interns, and they’re the ones making decisions about decorations and the menu. The cafe began through the International Indigenous Youth Council- Twin Cities and Indigenous Roots, and they’re actively supporting the area’s youth by offering things like youth-only after school hours where youth have a safe space to work creatively and spend time together. It’s an exciting moment for Twin Cities youth of Color when the coveted cafe experience has long been associated with aesthetics of gentrification and whiteness. You can check them out at:

Roots Cafe

788 E. Seventh St.,
St. Paul, MN 55106

Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., with designated youth hours from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m

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Now it’s a long way from coffee, but I’d like to recommend one of my very favorite Minneapolis resources, the Evie Carshare! It just launched this past spring, and the concept is simple: walk to a car nearest to you, drive it where you need to go, and return it within their service area! If you’re living in the city and are thinking about visiting your folks for the long Thanksgiving weekend, do consider Evie! It was a lifesaver for me this summer when I had a whole bunch of places to get to and no access to a car. It was a cheap and efficient alternative to owning a car or trying to uber everywhere I needed to go. Check them out here! Sign up! Let us know what you think. Enjoy your long weekend, everyone, and hold your friends and family close! We’ll be back next week. 

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Finally, dear readers, the team at NewPublica comes from all over the world and together we like to celebrate each other for our hard work and dedication we bring each year. Here are some things the team is thankful for this 2022:

Alberto: I’m thankful the most for how things are looking next year for NewPublica. 
Carmen: I’m grateful for the talented and creative group of communicators I get to collaborate with every day, for the opportunity to help strengthen community through the work of our thoughtful clients and partners and for a loving and supportive family.
Luis: I am thankful to have a loving and caring family, to live in peace, to live in freedom, to have been able to access the beautiful and powerful gift of education, to get to work with talented and good-hearted people, to have friends who care about others, and to have health, food, shelter, love, friendship, faith and hope in my heart. 
Marc: I’m thankful for my kids and the many ways they’ve grown. 
Helene: I’m thankful for the opportunity to cultivate community wherever I go and feel loved and supported by those around me. 
Marcia: Despite the challenges and obstacles that I am faced with in life, every day I am thankful for being alive, for having a job that I am passionate about that provides financially, and for my beautiful family that are always there for me to lift me up and celebrate my victories.
Isabella: I’m thankful for my family’s health and the opportunity to succeed in my areas of interest.

– Isabella and Helene –

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