Thoughts On Minneapolis, MN

My time in Minneapolis, MN has ended. I'll be in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas in the next few weeks.

I have to say I really like Minnesota. I've met some really nice people and have done quite a few interesting things. Some of the more interesting people I've met were cab drivers.


Going to the airport for my trip to New York, I of course had to compare Minneapolis cab drivers to the city.

One cab driver was from Somalia. He came over around 1992, just about the time Presidents Bush and Clinton were trying to make sense with that country. We had a great conversation, with him telling me that Minneapolis has a decent Somali population. Apparently enough, I could have had a good Somalian meal had I known about it earlier.

He said that while it is better in the country today, it's still a war zone. Mogadishu, the main city, has some semblance of peace, the rest of the country fights constantly. Tribes kill other tribes, and the intermixing of tribe members has not helped save lives.

In the cities, rich people drive with body guards. When asked, the driver says, they cannot even describe why they are fighting. They just do. He said it is dumb, and he is glad he is in America.


Another cab driver I rode with was from Afghanistan. He came around 1988, when the Soviets were expelled. He didn't seem to want to talk about his home country at all.

He moved to Minneapolis, as opposed to a place like New York, so his children could be "Americans". He thought that in New York, they would retain too much of their cultural identity. "When you are from Minnesota, you are an American. My family all roots for the Vikings".

He was a nice guy.


One last pleasure in the city was meeting a distant relative of mine, Anthony Coniaris. Father Coniaris, a retired Greek Orthodox Priest, has written many books. You should buy all of them.

We couldn't figure out exactly how we were related, although we are guessing that we are second cousins.

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