Sixteen years ago, Satya Balroop started a Hindu temple in her suburban Twin Cities living room. After years of hard work and plenty of setbacks, she’s created a community that’s attracting religious leaders from around the world.
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The last sideshow
In the 1950s, there were more than 100 traveling sideshows in the United States. Today, Ward Hall’s is the only one left.
Atheist summer camp
Camp Quest is designed for the children of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, humanists, and Unitarians. It’s summer camp without the Kumbaya.
Race shapes definition of “urban”
When the word “urban” first emerged in the early 1600s, it was defined as “a densely populated area.” In recent years, though, it’s come to mean many things to many people.
St. Paul coffee shop bans tips, raises wages
Kopplin’s cafe eliminates one of the staples of American coffee shop culture: the tip jar.
Deep-fried devotion
In the Christian Church, Lent is the reflective period leading up to Easter. Of course, most people know it as the time when Catholics refrain from eating meat on Fridays. With hamburgers and chicken fingers off the table, attention traditionally turns to fish. To accommodate flocks of seafood seekers, churches across the country organize Friday night fish fries.
Fascination with pirates goes back centuries
Piracy has become big business off the coast of Somalia. The number of ships hijacked at sea has tripled over the last two years. Today’s pirates are a far cry from the dashing swashbucklers featured in folklore. But, despite all the present-day pillaging, Americans hold tight to centuries-old pirate mythology.
The ritual of supermarket sample day
A treatise on the art of food sampling at the grocery store.
A conversation with humorist David Sedaris
David Sedaris is a writer, radio contributor, playwright, and Grammy Award-nominated humorist. But Sedaris swears he’s just a timid guy who’s afraid of everyone and everything.
Reporter Nikki Tundel sat down with the best-selling author to discuss writing, humor, and life without a cell phone.
4-H youth after hours
The first Saturday night of the Minnesota State Fair is always set aside for the annual 4-H dance. It takes place in the swine barn.
Extreme Makeover: Santa Claus Edition
If the top selling Santa figurines are any indication, the public prefers an icon who spends his time at stock car races or plopped in front of a slot machine.