Maxfield Elementary fifth-grader showcases how she spends time with family, her recent art projects, and which bed is best. Shaniya Hudson fixed her eyes on the TV as Crooklyn played in her St. Paul home with her mother sitting by her side. Usually, Shaniya isn’t the one in charge of picking the movie, but that doesn’t bother her. Crooklyn, a Spike Lee movie far from Disney fairytales, is her favorite film her mother has chosen. “If I want to watch old movies, then she’ll put on any movie that

Michael “Mick” Simmons peers out of his ice cream trailer window at three children on an overcast Tuesday afternoon at the Shoreview Farmers’ Market. The youngest, a boy, shouts: “Ice cream! Ice cream!” The 73-year-old owner of Grandpa’s Ice Cream has served homemade scoops at the market for five years. His company started 16 years ago when he and his wife traveled to Italy and were inspired by the gelato.

Sabrina Garbutt strolled around Frogtown Park and Farm a month ago, her eyes scanned for anything out of the ordinary: homeless people camped, vandalism, and dumped mattresses. However, on a 12.7 acre plot of land South of West Minnehaha Ave in St. Paul that sits beside a foundry, the sound of blue birds chirping overhead felt even more abnormal. Garbutt grabbed her phone to snap a photo of a raptor perched on a pole: a perfect shot for the Frogtown Farm Instagram page. She was hired in May 2020

Ellie Hoyt uses lessons learned from adversity and volleyball to help children in her hometown play sports. Ellie Hoyt knew her GPA fell below the requirement, and so did the interviewers who sat across from her. But for Hoyt, joining Rotary International wasn’t just another charade for college applications. Before Hoyt knew the definition of ‘foreclosure,’ her home was gone and the word attained the meaning of instability. Where her family stayed didn’t matter. An apartment. A townhouse. A c