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In Saint
Paul, I-94 divides the Midway and Highland/Mac-
Groveland neighborhoods.
Midway is my home, and the home of fixer-upper houses and
stores like Tran's Auto Repair and Monique's, which sells
African
clothing and hair products. It also has the largest
concentration
of Korean shops in the Twin Cities; I can walk four blocks to
Kim's
Oriental grocery or Shilla Restaurant. It is four blocks in the
other direction to walk to Galtier, allegedly "the worst" school
in
Saint Paul. We have Border's Books, and it's usually next to
empty.
Highland/Mac-Groveland is the neighborhood where I would
like
to live if I had enough money and if I could buy kimchi over
there. South of the freeway, there are quarter-million dollar
ramblers, a gourmet grocery store, a jeweler with actual jewels
in
the case, and "the best" high school in Saint Paul, boasting a
gifted and talented program. They have Barnes and Noble. It
is
usually full.
At the top of the exit ramp on Snelling Avenue--which
connects
the two neighborhoods--there is a billboard. The picture is of
a
small girl on her father's shoulders. She is waving an American
flag. At the bottom was printed the words UNITY. WHAT MAKES US
STRONG.
The billboard was up for a few weeks before it was
defaced.
UNITY had been crossed out and replaced with DISSENT. Dissent
makes us strong.
A few more weeks passed before the billboard was changed
again. This time, DISSENT had been painted over in white, but
replaced with nothing.
So, now when I come up the Snelling Avenue exit ramp and
turn
north, I see this little girl, wondering "What makes us strong_"
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