Artist photographs Hmong-American experience

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A new photography exhibit in St. Paul showcases the Hmong-American experience through the eyes of someone who, as a child, often felt smothered by her Hmong culture.

Pao Her has been described as a pioneer in the world of contemporary photography. This spring, Her became the first Hmong artist to receive an MFA from the prestigious Yale photography program. But, for the most part, she keeps that distinction to herself.

"My parents had no idea what Yale was," she said. "I think a lot of Hmong families don't know what Yale is or what an Ivy League school is."

When Her set off for Yale University's New Haven, Conn., campus, she told her parents she was going to school in New York City. Unlike Yale, her parents had heard of New York and it just seemed easier for them to think that's where she was.

Pao Her is now back in the Twin Cities, with a newly minted master's degree and her first solo show, which is currently on display at The Gordon Parks Gallery at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.

The gallery's walls are covered with photos of Pao Her's family members -- a cousin cradling a stuffed toy, a sister decked out for Halloween, a nephew holding a toy machine gun.

"There really isn't a contemporary art culture in Hmong tradition, so what Pao is doing is pioneering."

- Wing Young Huie

"After a while, you become the sister who always has a camera," she remembered. " 'And when she takes a picture of you, try not to smile because she hates that.' My brother tells everybody that."

Pao Her, 30, is drawn to such all-American images of childhood -- perhaps, she said, because her own early years were nothing like those of her much younger relatives.

Her's mother and father were refugees from Laos. In 1986, when she was 4 years old, they made their way to St. Paul. As she was growing up, her parents did everything they could to shield her from American culture and strengthen her connection to her Hmong heritage.

"I remember being invited to my friend's birthday party, and my parents telling me I couldn't go because I was going to be the only Hmong kid there and I didn't speak really good English," she recalled. "I remember being so angry at my mom for not letting me go."

Instead she spent time at home, learning how to be a proper Hmong bride and how to wash dishes in a way that would please her future in-laws. But despite all her traditional training, she chose a non-traditional path.

Renowned photographer Wing Young Huie curated Her's show. He said what Her accomplished is remarkable.

"There really isn't a contemporary art culture in Hmong tradition, so what Pao is doing is pioneering," he said.

Hmong immigrants are well known for their tapestry and have made a place for themselves in the literary world, Huie noted. But photography remains a rarely celebrated medium.

"It takes a while for a new immigrant group to produce visual artists, because it's not a very practical occupation," he said.

In addition, Pao Her said, many traditional Hmong, like her parents, still view photography as a way to simply document birthday parties or New Year celebrations. Her fine art photos don't fit that mold.

"My mom, she'll say, 'That's not a photograph. Why aren't they smiling?' My parents will never fully understand, but they're really supportive," Her said.

Gallery goers stand squarely in front of Pao Her's work, taking in images of Hmong-American girls holding Caucasian-looking baby dolls and Hmong-American boys making forts from couch pillows.

"The work is about this second generation of kids that have very little knowledge of the Hmong culture," Her said.

These kids were raised with Little League and American television. Theirs is the lifestyle Her dreamed of when she was young. But today she's saddened by how little they know about their Hmong heritage.

It's that cultural push and pull that's at the heart of the photo exhibit.

"I am interested in that hybrid of a Hmong person in American society," said Her. "What do you have to give and what do you take? What do you gain and what do you lose?"

Her's 16-year-old sister Celina weaves her way through the gallery, smiling.

"I'm really happy that she chose to work outside of what your Hmong parents expect you to do," she said. "It's amazing. And I'm so happy for her. "

Pao Her may not like to talk herself up. Luckily her siblings are honored to do it for her.

Her's photography exhibit is on display through Oct. 5.

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Minnesota witnesses a first ever Hmong-American delegate to the Democratic National Convention, being born in a refugee camp in Thailand but now living the American dream

One of Minnesota’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention has a unique status, and a classic American story to tell. Kaying Thao of Roseville is the nation’s only Hmong-American delegate. “I can do all the reading I want on the process, but nothing compares to this. I feel so proud to be an American. I feel so proud to be a citizen. And I’m doing this for my kids,” said Thao, her voice choked with emotion. The 34-year-old mother of three said she’s living the American dream. “I was born in a Thai refugee camp but raised here all my life. My parents had no idea what was going on,” she added. “It’s a privilege for me to be a part of this. I can’t even explain it.” Kaying Thao’s venture into public life began last fall when she became the first Hmong-American elected to the Roseville Area School Board. Source

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Hmong pilots saluted in Maplewood

The choice wasn't easy for the few young Hmong men all those decades ago. But it was clear: fly until death. From 1967 to 1975, the CIA and the U.S. Air Force recruited and trained the Hmong in Laos mainly to pilot T-28 fighter planes used for counterinsurgency efforts. They flew alongside Americans during the Vietnam War fighting against North Vietnamese in Laos. "The Hmong are not soldiers; they are warriors," said Gaoly Yang of Maplewood, who is the wife of veteran Hmong pilot Phong Yang. "Freedom is very important for Hmong." For the first time Hmong pilot veterans will be recognized by the Air Force for their service. The Hmong Pilot Veterans Committee will host a ceremony Saturday, June 16, in Maplewood in which Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel will present recognition awards. Of 37 original Hmong pilots who took the silent pledge to "fly until death," 20 survived. Seventeen are alive today. "During the year I was there, we lost eight," said Craig Duehring, a retired Air Force colonel and former assistant secretary of the Air Force. "It was a very dangerous mission, and these guys would shoot all day long." One of those "guys" was Yia Kha. An interpreter at age 20 in 1968, he accompanied Duehring on some of the most dangerous missions and became a T-28 pilot in 1973. "We were risking our life," said Yia Kha, who served as a second lieutenant. "So many of our friends sacrificed their life." Now living in Pennsylvania, he will be in Maplewood for the recognition ceremony. "Yia Kha was an exceptional young man," Duehring said. "We were delighted when Yia went to training. He ended up being one of the few to be picked as personal pilots for Gen. Vang Pao." Yia Kha was a pilot until the end of the war in 1975. In 2010, he received a certificate of recognition from the Air Force for his service as an interpreter in forward air control operations. Their knowledge of the land and bilingual skills made Hmong pilots an essential ally for U.S. forces. But unlike American soldiers, the Hmong had to cope with war in their own country. "I feel guilty," said Phong Yang of Maplewood, who was a second lieutenant. "I didn't want to be a pilot, I had no choice." Phong Yang said he feels guilty about killing people and he avoids talking about the war with his children or family. "There is not much pride, the more you learn about what the war was about," said his wife, Gaoly Yang. Phong Yang said the war made it impossible for Hmong men to earn a living. There was no farming and no jobs. Young men were expected to become soldiers. Although Phong Yang said he was happy to become a pilot, he joined expecting to die fighting. "Hmong pilots were not going to survive. Everybody (would) die so we (wouldn't) plan for the future," Phong Yang said. "Hmong pilots had no future. They would fly until they died." Hmong pilots didn't have a limit to the amount of missions they could do each day or there was no retirement after a set amount of missions, Phong Yang explained. "I saw them," he said. "They would take off before light and sometimes it was almost dark and I still saw them go." Once the war ended and the communists took over, the surviving pilots were at risk of being killed by the Vietnamese. So they were brought to the U.S. "Everyone in army or air force who used to work for the Americans, wherever they found you, they were going to kill you," Yia Kha said. Like Yia Kha and Phong Yang, most pilots relocated to the U.S. and are scattered across the country. Some came back with post-traumatic stress disorder and struggled to figure out their new life. As Phong Yang explained, they didn't expect to survive. Recently, the pilots decided it was time for a reunion and planned a simple get-together in the Twin Cities. With the help of Duehring, Yia Kah mailed a letter to Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, asking him to send a thank you letter to the pilots for their service. Instead, Schwartz decided to provide official Air Force recognition for the first time. It's recognition that Gaoly Yang said is long overdue. She hopes it helps to corroborate their service as U.S. allies. Duehring acknowledged there is a debt to the Hmong pilots. Recognition was delayed due to neglect, he said. "Nobody asked for it, nobody went for it," Duehring said. He said that although the Air Force couldn't give them an American medal, the certificate of recognition is a way to show gratitude. "This folks were our dear friends and comrades in arms, we landed in the same airstrip, we lived in the same area, we directed them on air strikes," Duehring said. "The mutual respect is as high as it could be. We owe them a lot and a huge thank you." Survivors and families of the fallen pilots will be recognized at the first Hmong Pilot Veteran Reunion and Service Recognition Awards at 10 a.m Saturday, June 16, at LAV 52 Banquet Hall in Maplewood. Danya P. Hernandez can be reached at 651-228-5116. Follow her at twitter.com/DanyaPH. Source

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Creating a Hmong Community Foundation

Lue Her As part of his Archibald Bush Leadership fellowship, Lue Her has had an opportunity to visit with and learn from fellow Hmong-Americans around the country. Not surprisingly, he has found that complex issues continue to plague Hmong-American communities. But he has been surprised to see that few in the community realize that many of the challenges facing its members could be addressed if Hmong-Americans had their own philanthropic vehicle to leverage financial, intellectual and cultural assets — assets that Her believes exist within the Hmong-American community now. Hmong-Americans have long participated in a variety of traditions and practices that presume donations of time, effort and money, but for many the concept of giving back through philanthropic channels remains foreign — possibly because they have not been invited to contribute. To remedy this, he is embarking on an endeavor to create a new Hmong Community Foundation. Read more about what he envisions for the new foundation in the “Voices in Philanthropy” section in the spring issue of Giving Forum on community philanthropy. - Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate Source

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Creating a Hmong Community Foundation

Lue Her, Archibald Bush Leadership Fellow

As part of my Bush fellowship, I’ve had the opportunity to visit with and learn from fellow Hmong-Americans throughout this country. It’s no surprise that the issues that continue to plague Hmong-American communities are diverse and complex. Many are perennial concerns, including how to meet basic needs, address health disparities, provide job skills training, close the achievement gap, manage cultural conflicts, create economic self-sufficiency, define gender roles and more.

Leveraging Current Assets

But few people in the Hmong-American community seem to realize that many of the challenges facing its members could be addressed and greatly advanced if we had our own philanthropic vehicle to leverage financial, intellectual and cultural assets – assets that exist within our community right now.

Unlike preceding generations, young Hmong-Americans today have made enormous strides in acquiring education, participating in the workforce, encouraging entrepreneurship and accumulating wealth. We’ve integrated ourselves into American culture without losing the history, language and structures that have defined our people for centuries.

For many Hmong-Americans the concept of giving back through philanthropic channels remains foreign. But it would be far from the truth to say that benevolence and contributing toward the lives of others are absent in our community. In fact, Hmong-Americans have long participated in a variety of traditions and practices that presume donations of time, effort and money.

The more apparent reason for the Hmong-American community’s lack of participation in organized philanthropy is that they have not been invited to contribute. Philanthropic organizations and their partners have simply not anticipated or planned on Hmong-Americans being willing and able participants in bettering the lives of their people and neighbors.

An Invitation to Give Back

I believe that Hmong-Americans must not wait any longer to be asked to participate in philanthropy for the betterment of our community. That is why I, along with several other young Hmong-American and non-Hmong leaders, am embarking on an endeavor to create a Hmong Community Foundation.

This new philanthropic organization will identify pressing issues of Hmong-American communities near and far and help define methods to remedy them. It will accept responsibility for aligning our community’s resources to address the challenges facing our people. The Hmong Community Foundation will also serve as an ambassador to other new immigrant populations by addressing common issues that require great courage and resources to overcome.

My hope is that the Hmong Community Foundation will help author a new chapter in our community’s story and redefine, once again, a group of refugees from the villages of Laos. Only this time the narrative will revolve around the impact of Hmong philanthropy on the larger world.

To learn more, contact Her at 651.331.9587 or HmongCommunityFoundation@gmail.com. 

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Sandy Xiong awarded Phillips Scholarship

Xiong revived a magazine called Hmoobteen for her project. Ambyr Pruitt.

Sophomore Sandy Xiong was recently named one of this year’s Phillips Scholarship recipients, making her the eleventh Gustavus student since 1998 to win the Scholarship.

Each year, six sophomore students from Minnesota’s private colleges are awarded the prestigious Phillips Scholarship. The scholarship is given to students who demonstrate a potential for leadership and plan to devote a portion of their lives to community service.

In order to be considered, Xiong and other applicants had to draft a proposal detailing a service project to be implemented over the summer.  Xiong chose to revive a project she had previously worked on—a magazine titled Hmoobteen, which features writing submitted by Hmong teenagers.

While in high school, Xiong was a contributor and eventually an editor for the online magazine.  Xiong says that writing for Hmoobteen gave her a valuable outlet for the stress of growing up torn between two cultures.

“I felt like I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I didn’t have an open resource. When I joined Hmoobteen, I felt like I could be myself,” Xiong said.

Xiong  hopes to draw submissions from across the nation for the revamped magazine.  She plans on incorporating social media into the magazine’s strategy to ensure its success beyond her involvement.

Nengher Vang, the Diversity Center’s Assistant Director of Multicultural Programs, points to the accessibility of Xiong’s project as one of its advantages. Vang was on the selection committee tasked with picking Gustavus’ semi-finalist.

“The committee was excited about her project.  It was feasible and had sustainability to it,” Vang said.

Xiong feels that Hmong teenagers are in dire need of constructive outlets and sees this issue as a major contributor to juvenile delinquency.

“I think it’s a problem that a lot of Hmong teens don’t try to be applicable with their skills,” Xiong said.

Vang echoes this assessment.  He agrees that Xiong’s project can help Hmong teenagers trying to cope with the challenge of finding an identity between cultures.

“I think Sandy is right in thinking about writing as a cathartic expression. When you don’t have any chance to express thoughts and feelings in the home, people can still express themselves through writing,” Vang said.

Professor Emeritus in Classics Patricia Freiert is equally impressed with Xiong’s project proposal. Xiong took Freiert’s FTS on bicultural identity.

“It was a very imaginative thing for her to do and speaks to her commitment to her traditions. I cannot imagine a student or project more appropriate,” Freiert said.

The Phillips Scholarship Program awards its recipients 6,000 dollars for their junior year, and an additional 6,000 dollars in scholarship money for their senior year.  A stipend of 4,000 dollars is set aside to support the implementation of the summer service project, while 500 dollars goes into necessary project resources.

Prior to Xiong, Senior Irma Marquez was the most recent Gustavus student to win the scholarship. Marquez finds that the scholarship has a lasting impact.

“The experiences that I’ve had since I received the Phillips Scholarship have given me many opportunities to do the work I love and the work that I hope to continue doing in my future. I am extremely excited for Sandy,” Marquez said.

On campus, Xiong is involved with Gusties in Ongoing Leadership (G.O.L.D.), the Gustavian Weekly, the Writing Center, and is a Collegiate Fellow in Pittman Hall.

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Building on trust

By Lee Egerstrom, Minnesota 2020
March 28, 2012

Back in his native Afghanistan, Ghafar Lakanwal had a front row seat to how heavy-handed authority undermined trust in institutions and held people back from entrepreneurship and progress.

Back before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Lakanwal was the Afghan minister of Agriculture and was building local cooperatives in the countryside. The Soviets put Lakanwal under house arrest in Kabul and turned the co-ops into “cells” for taking over the economy and for keeping track of people.

So much for his “ground up” economic development plans. Lakanwal was using models he had studied while earning a Ph.D. at the University of Hohenheim at Stuttgart and later working with the German International Development Agency.

There are lessons for Minnesotans from Lakanwal's experiences because refugees and immigrants are pumping new life into communities and starting hundreds of new businesses around the state. How fast and how far this burst of economic activity will go will partly depend on how well new Minnesotans can access programs and work with public and private organizations.

It is really a matter of trust, Lakanwal said.

What’s more, this isn’t a new problem, said Al Paulson, a St. Paul business executive and a business consultant to Native American tribes throughout the country.

Paulson is also an enrolled member of an Ojibwe tribe in northern Minnesota. Historical experiences have left many Indian leaders doubtful of government intentions. This distrust extends to nonprofit organizations and private foundations as well, he said. “For many people, they are all the same,” he said.

In a recent conversation, Hmong business leader Chia Xa Vagh said the Hmong came to Minnesota because of established ties with American military and intelligence officers who were from here. From those relationships, the Hmong did have some trust in working with Minnesota groups and agencies that may not apply to other refugees, Vagh said.

That experience is different from what Somali refugees experienced, although some Americans and Minnesotans were helpful to the 40,000 people who left their war-torn country and resettled here.

Hispanic and Latino immigrants who have come to Minnesota seeking economic opportunities have entirely different histories and experiences shaping how they interact with public and private programs.

For those reasons, Lakanwal sees issues of trust especially troublesome for refugees. After being released from house arrest, he was assigned to the foreign ministry for the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. He defected to America while at the United Nations in New York, moved to Minnesota, and later smuggled his wife and children out of Afghanistan to join him in Bloomington.

Over the years, Lakanwal established the Multi Cultural Development Center that has helped Minnesota and other American companies and groups with diversity issues and training. He continues that consulting work today with his Sharing Diversity/Bridging Cultures organization.

A lot of that work involves creating understanding from which people and groups can build trust, Lakanwal said. “From there you can start to see mutual interests and mutual benefits.”

That doesn’t come easy, he said.

The American Refugee Committee (ARC), the international humanitarian relief and assistance group founded in Minneapolis in 1979, currently counts 67 million people in need of international protection and assistance. Of them, 16 million are refugees while the other 51 million are “internally displaced people” whose needs may be just as great but who are difficult to reach for international aid groups.

ARC works with refugees in Thailand, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Sudan, Darfur and Rwanda. Given recent Minnesota history, it is safe to assume that some of these areas house refugees who will eventually find their way to Minnesota to start new lives. Minnesota institutions and organizations should be ready to lend a welcoming hand, starting with building trust.

On a separate matter, Somalis in Minnesota are experiencing problems with banks and with the U.S. government in sending money to relatives back home in Africa. In the simplest terms, the official concern is that the money may be intercepted and used by terrorist organizations.

The ARC international relief group is a leader in trying to overcome the problems of transferring money to relatives in Somali. The Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota (CSCM) also works with nonprofit organizations, ethnic and religious groups in trying to keep communications and money flowing between relatives and groups here and there.

It is imperative that Minnesota’s political and social leadership support these groups and work with federal authorities and international agencies to resolve problems with money transfers.

These problems for the Somali community here are reminders of the recently revealed spying and monitoring of Muslim students by law enforcement officers at New York universities, said Lakanwal. Separating people by religion or ethnicity for different treatment by government doesn’t create “homeland security,” he said.

As Lakanwal also knows from personal experience, building trust in institutions is nearly impossible where mistrust is official policy.

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Preserving Hmong Rituals

reserving Hmong Rituals

Bride and groom Crystal Vang and Tom Yang, married in a traditional Hmong
ceremony May, 2011 in Vadnais Heights. Photo: Yeng Lor Photography.

For thousands of years, Hmong marriage and funeral traditions and songs have been passed down from generation to generation.

Txong Pao Lee, who came to St. Paul 26 years ago from a refugee camp in Thailand, wants to make sure those traditions never get lost.

“Hmong kids born in this country can’t always understand Hmong,” said Lee, the executive director of the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul. “We want to make these traditions accessible for everyone.”

$6,500 from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant Program is making it possible for the Hmong Cultural Center to produce new editions of two books about Hmong marriage and funeral traditions and to translate those books into English. The books will be available in print and for free on the Cultural Center’s website.

“By making these important cultural traditions available to everyone, we are preserving them for many years to come.”
~ Txong Pao Lee, executive director of the Hmong Cultural Center

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MN VOICES | Sai Vang combines art and activism at Center for Hmong Arts and Talent

December 05, 2011
Sai Vang began to look at activism differently when she was a high school student at South High school in Minneapolis. “It was around the time that a Hmong girl in Wisconsin was at her prom," she recalls. "She had given birth to a stillborn and she threw it in the trash. KQRS made racist and prejudiced comments about her situation and the [Hmong] community in general."

Some people organizing around the issue came and spoke at an assembly at South. “I was just kind of like, ‘Whatever, this is just another presentation,’" says Vang. "During the Q&A section, some of the white male students spoke up and made the same comments that the KQRS DJ had made and that got me really angry. At the end of the presentation, they asked us if we wanted to be a part of the movement, take action, and protest against this radio station, and I went along. That was the first time that I realized that there are injustices in our world and that I could do something.”

Vang went on to St. Catherine University in St. Paul, where she got her degree in studio arts with a concentration in photography. “St. Kate’s is a very social justice-focused school," said Vang, "so it really helped me channel all that anger, all that fear, and my identity issues that I was going through and really put them into context for me. Those were really informative years for me. I really got to study and learn about things that I really cared about or that I had passion for.”

Right out of college, Vang was hired by the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network to work with a photographer. Their project involved driving through Minnesota with a truck full of photos of immigrants and the stories that they’d shared. This, she believes, is what inspired her passions for art, working with others, and exploring her culture. Vang says that it was “eye-opening to really see how we can really use art outside of the context of a gallery to really shape the way our community understands issues.”

Sai Vang describes herself as a Hmong American artist, community organizer and now, the executive director of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT).

CHAT‘s mission states that the organization “exists to nurture, explore and illuminate the Hmong American experience through artistic expressions.” The organization, located in St. Paul, adopted its mission in 2008 and continues to “address social injustices through Hmong American artists and youth that express their inner truths through contemporary arts by 1) raising awareness, 2) initiating action, and 3) building community.”

As the executive diretor, explains Vang, “My main task is the day-to-day running of the organization. It’s also setting the ground for the vision of the organization and making sure that we lift up the voices of our community, my Hmong community, by bringing our voices and artistic expression to the forefront of the Minnesota art scene and creating awareness about what other issues are going on in our community. I work so that our voices are reflected in the policies that are made in the state of Minnesota and for us to really have an influence and build our culture and heritage and embrace our culture as well.

“Art is something I’m very passionate about. Young people are something I’m very passionate about, too. I did a lot of youth development work before I came to CHAT. It’s about understanding the role models that you’ve had in your life: seeing how important it is to have individuals who support you, who understand you, encourage you and challenge you to do things outside of your comfort zone. So I continue to do that.”

Vang wasn’t sure when she realized what she wanted to do with her life. “I think it just happened,” she said. “I don’t know what I would be doing if I didn’t take that job right out of college and went around Minnesota with that mobile gallery. At the time, I definitely knew that I didn’t want to do commercial photography and that I wanted t focus on fine arts and continue to document what I thought was important involving my life and my identity.

“I think that things happen for a reason, so I think it was just what my destiny was calling for. I don’t know if that was the right move, but I know that all of the things that happened, happened for a reason and I couldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t experience those things.”

Vang said she is still trying to achieve balance in her life. “I’m still very young and I’ve got a lot to learn, but I also understand how important it is to find a balance in life. Part of that is having a support network that supports you and I’m very fortunate that I have a great family that supports me and also friends, allies and mentors that are also there for me. They keep me sane. But finding a balance is learning about your own individual boundaries as well. I’ve come to learn about where I need to step back for my own sanity and my own health. It’s a continuous journey – a continuous process, and hopefully I’ll find it one day.”

Vang’s words of wisdom: “Do what you love. Everything else will fall into place.”

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Hmong refugee comes full circle with U program’s help

Freshman Kaoxue Vang tutors through a program that helped her adjust when she immigrated to Minnesota.


University of Minnesota freshman Kaoxue Vang, left, helps Pao Lee, center, and Pao Xiong, right, with an assignment on dinosaurs. Vang tutors every Sunday night through the Sunday Tutoring Program hosted by the Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing. Vang was tutored in the program when she was in grade school. Marisa Wojcik

When Kaoxue Vang arrived in Minnesota seven years ago, the only English words she knew were “I love you” — a common phrase in the Thai refugee camp where she was born and raised.

On the ride home from the airport, she was first introduced to streets with names and green grass where she was used to seeing dirt.

Soon after, she was also introduced to the challenge of navigating the education system without a full command of the English language or support at home.

But with the help of University of Minnesota-based programming and community support, Vang pored over her studies and overcame the odds.

Within seven years, she went from only knowing three words of English to applying and earning admission to the University where she is currently a freshman.

Heidi Barajas, associate dean at the University’s College of Education and Human Development and executive director of the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center, has extensively researched issues of equity and access to education.

She has also observed Vang as part of a research project about Hmong student success.

Barajas said Vang quickly realized the key to educational success for any student.

“One thing I’ll say about anybody successful in education is that they’re able to seek out support,” she said. “In [Vang’s] case, she had a lot of support and knew where to go for help.”



‘A powerful message’

On Sunday evening, Vang stood over her 14-year-old sister Maixoua Vang’s shoulder at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and helped guide her through her ninth grade advanced composition homework.

“This is really weird,” Maixoua Vang said, about her sister’s new role as a tutor. “We used to come for help together and now she’s the one helping.”

Kaoxue Vang said she probably never would have stepped foot on the University campus without help from Jay Clark and the University’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

Vang said Hmong students were the victims of bullying and inadequate education standards in North Minneapolis schools.

She said she remembers sitting in classrooms where she didn’t learn anything because of her limited English and relying heavily upon Hmong classmates and relatives whenever she needed something.

“It was frustrating and boring,” she said. “We couldn’t do anything. We only left for school and came back.”

Clark said he encouraged them to seek enrollment elsewhere through the “Choice is Yours” program, which allows low-income students to enroll in suburban school districts where they would have access to more challenging academic environments that would encourage them to learn English faster.

Vang and her six younger siblings enrolled in Hopkins School District. They also became regulars at the Sunday Tutoring Program held at the Humphrey School when it began in 2008.

“That’s when my English really started to improve,” Vang said. “It helped so much.”

Each weekend, Clark and Yia Yiang, a CURA Hmong neighborhood community organizer, transport 15 to 30 Hmong students from their North Minneapolis homes to Humphrey for homework help, student support and activities.

University students typically volunteer as tutors for work-study jobs, service learning courses or through the Hmong Minnesota Student Association or Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence.

This semester, Vang became the first to make the transition from student to tutor.

“I’m really proud of her,” Maixoua Vang said, about her older sister. “I saw how much she went through to make it to University and maybe now she can help when it’s time for me to apply.”

Yiang said Kaoxue Vang’s success has had a positive impact on students in the program and helps achieve the secondary goal of the program — to make students believe they belong on university campuses.

“Kaoxue used to be in the very same van with them, now she’s walking around at the University. I think that really sends a powerful message,” he said. “It gets them thinking, ‘If Kaoxue can do this, I can do this.’”



‘Hard work’

Vang spends most of her time studying in her dorm room at Comstock Hall, where she is a member of the Hmong living-learning community. She said she works twice as hard as most of her classmates to keep pace as she continues to improve her language skills.

“If something takes them 30 minutes, it will probably take me an hour,” she said. “But I always challenge myself to learn more and do my best.”

Though she said college is hard work, she admits it’s a welcome break from home life.

Like most eldest daughters in Hmong families, Vang said she carried a lot of the burden of housework and caring for her younger siblings, but Yiang said that responsibility may have provided the discipline she is known for in the classroom.

“She doesn’t have the mindset that she’s only been here for six years,” he said. “It’s not easy being the oldest Hmong girl, and for her that experience transferred into her studies.”

Neither of Vang’s parents have a formal education. Vang said their primary source of income growing up was what little her mom made sewing Hmong clothing that was shipped to America and sold. Her father is a factory worker.

Though she said it is difficult for them to understand her University experience, she knows she’s “made them proud.”

Barajas said Vang earned admission to the University through the Trio Program, which provide federal support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Though she attended workshops and asked for help, she completed most of the application process on her own.

Her college application essay was about all of the challenges she’s overcome since coming from Thailand.

Vang dreams of a future in medicine — possibly pharmacy.

In the meantime, her biggest challenges are finding a student job and tackling psychology, which she said is her most difficult course.

“Sometimes I feel jealous of students who don’t have to work hard to make good grades,” she said. “But I don’t like to think of that stuff. I just keep doing what I can and trying to be a good student.”

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Hmong Fresh Traditions fashion show going strong in fifth year

Photos By: Jeff Rutherford

Friends, family and fashion lovers filled McNamara Alumni Center Friday for the Center for Hmong Arts & Talent’s (CHAT) annual fundraising-fashion show, Fresh Traditions V.

The excitement generated by the fashion show could be felt within minutes of walking into Memorial Hall. Everything and everyone in the room seemed to be in constant motion, generating an atmosphere of energy and exhilaration. Audience members shifted and moved trying to find the most accessible spot to view the long, black runway in the center of the hall. Any noise produced by the audience was quickly enveloped by the DJ’s music.

The fifth annual event began with master of ceremonies, Katie Ka Vang, walking onto the runway, urging viewers to support CHAT in various ways–from direct support of buying drinks to free publicity of Fresh Traditions by photos from mobile phones.

“Take a picture and put them on Facebook,” she said. “This is not an event where you hold back.”

The show did anything but hold back. Female models came up and down the runway, each showcasing the work of the designers, in everything from gowns and pants to Christmas light head decorations.

According to CHAT’s website, it is their goal to nurture, explore and illuminate the Hmong American experience through artistic expressions. Fresh Traditions takes these ideas and links together Hmong community with the fashion industry by highlighting Hmong designers.

The five designers chosen this year for Fresh Traditions were Sai Chang from St. Paul; Marlena Thao from Minneapolis; Dokiang Thao from Madison, Wisconsin; Ashley Yang from St. Paul; and Kao Lee Thao from Savage, Minnesota.

Once chosen, designers were given artistic freedom but with the added challenge of making a garment that reflected the traditional Hmong fabrics: neon pink, neon green, blue satin, black satin, and black velvet.

For some of the designers this was their first show, while others were seasoned veterans, even studying design.

For Kao Lee Thao, who is not normally a designer, Friday was her first stab at sewing clothes. The artist said it was a good opportunity for her to try a new art medium. Thao’s elaborate collection, Once Upon a Time, combined Hmong colours and folktales.

“I am an artist,” Thao said. “I’ve never sewn a collection before. I see it as more of an art project.

Sai Chang studied Apparel Design and Development at University of Wisconsin Stout and assisted designer Chong Moua last year, but said this year was her first solo collection.

“This [year] was my first collection, so it was really special for me,” Chang said.

























































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Fresh Traditions Hmong fashion show joins MNFashion Week

This Friday Fresh Traditions, the annual fashion-show fundraiser for the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT), joins MNFashion Week, offering the only runway show in the Twin Cities that features all Hmong designers.

The event began five years ago when a group of Hmong designers approached CHAT in hopes to create a platform to showcase their work. According to Oskar Lee, who does public relations for the organization, the decision to become a fashion designer is a bold one for someone from the Hmong community. "Our parents encourage us to have strong, successful careers, but fashion is rarely one of those visions," he says. Still, Hmong culture has a tradition of making intricate clothing from rich fabrics. "At a very young age, we are exposed to the arts and culture of paj ntaub, Hmong hand embroidery, often in forms of special-occasion garments worn at the Hmong New Year or for when we marry," says Lee, "but also in story cloths about our culture, history, and traditions."

For the Fresh Traditions show, designers have complete control over their collection's vision, styling, models (all Asian), and runway music, but are also challenged to create one outfit made of five traditional Hmong fabrics: a neon pink, neon green, black velvet, black satin, and a deep navy satin.

While the Fresh Traditions designers are all Hmong, they come from quite a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. Some have design degrees and training, others in art, and some are giving fashion a first try.

Marlena Thao is one of the more experienced designers being featured, having had six runway shows under her belt at venues such as Epic Nightclub, Taj Salon, and the U of M, among others. Thao has been sewing since middle school. She took sewing classes in high school, and was delighted when she found out you could major in fashion design. She enrolled in the U of M's apparel design program, but after two years she decided to transfer to something smaller, attending MCTC for a semester. She then decided that she wanted to branch off and do what she wanted to do: runway shows. She took a year off from school and focused on what she loved doing. Thao had a friend who did Fresh Traditions last year, which inspired and motivated her to apply for this year.

Her line is based on a 1940s pin-up theme. "I wanted to go for more sexiness and sassiness," she says. "I like to work with a lot of feminine clothes. I'm bringing in a lot of different pieces, to show how versatile I am."

For Shai Chang, this will be her first fashion show, although last year she was an assistant to designer Chong Moua. She studied fashion at UW Stout. Chang says that she is very drawn to black and white, so much of her designs will use those colors. "I love the contrast," she says, "even though there's two colors, you can do a lot. The possibilities are endless."

Chang says that aside from the one requirement to design a look using the five fabrics, the designers were pretty much given free reign to do what they wanted.

Chang enjoyed the challenge of creating an outfit out of the traditional fabrics, designing something new out of something old, "without making it look too literal and from the past," she says.

Chang watches Project Runway and America's Top Model in order to learn from what other folks in the field are doing. "I want to be a freelance designer," she says. "It gives me more of an opportunity to be creative. If you work for a company, you have to design for a specific target market. I don't want to be too restricted. I want to be able to step outside the box."

Eventually, Chang hopes to open up an online T-shirt company, because she finds that women's shirts tend to be not as interesting. "Many times the graphics for womens T-shirts are a little cheesy for me," she says. "They say, 'I love farmboys' or something like that. I'm always searching for graphic tees that have cool designs."

Chang is utilizing a number of graphic prints in her line this weekend, on T-shirts, as well as a dress. A lot of her graphics include skulls. "My line is kind of punk rock with an urban edge," she says.


Kao Lee Thao, whose background is in animation and painting, will also be participating for the first time as a designer, though in previous years she has exhibited her body art. This year, she received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant, and had plans to have models go down the runway with her paintings of Hmong folktales. However, she decided that she wanted to bring the paintings to life, and has been giving herself a crash course in sewing in order to create her collections, called Once Upon a Time.

"I just decided to push myself," she says. "I have no fashion background. I'm just an artist using this as a medium." Thao went to the Art Institute (AI). She now runs her own 3D animation company, and paints as well. In the future, she says her dream job would be costume designing for Cirque de Soleil.

In Thao's collection, each of the folktales tells a different story, and she casts each of the models as a character. For example, in Hmong Cinderella, the main character turns into a tree, her kids get trapped in a beehive, and her husband becomes a bird. In the design, Thao turns the model into a black-and-white bumblebee, with an animated beehive hairdo. She uses visual prosthetics, as well in a number of other pieces.

Thao says her training in 3D animation helped her build the designs. "It's more like an art project for me. 3D does help me visualize -- it's basically trial and error."

IF YOU GO:

6 p.m. Friday, October 7
McNamara Alumni Center
200 Oak St. SE.
$15/$20 at the door
For VIP tickets, email freshtraditions@gmail.com

freshtraditions.com

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History through textiles: Hmong textiles

I went to a very interesting exhibit at the Center for Hmong Studies. Lee Pao Xiong, executive director for the center told me that the exhibit is about looking at Hmong History through Textiles. He went on to say how the hand production of hemp cloth has been an integral part of traditional Hmong culture from birth to burial. While I was familiar with some of the finer elements of Hmong embroidery--including paj ntaub and story clothes (I did my college honors project on these) the exhibit got me thinking about how much what we wear says about us.



Examples of Hmong embroidery.



Detail of embroidery.

I have been known to knit, crochet, sew, embroider and once tate. It is a very worthwhile and calming experience and it is such a sense of accomplishment when you finish a project.

Hmong tradition dictates that a mother make 2 of these handmade skirts of each of their daughters--one to be married in and one to be buried in. If you factor in the process to make the cloth, dye the cloth (including some batik) and embroider it it can take 1 year or more to make one skirt. I wrote in an article about these pieces that they were a visible manifestation of a mother's love and devotion. While machine made clothes are faster and cheaper they loose the art, love and devotion required to produce these works of art.

I suggested that the Center host a 1 year challenge asking young people to come together and encourage each other in the process of learning an old art.



The really wonderful thing about art is once learned you can make it your own. Here is a picture of a couture evening dress on display at the Center. Using very traditional elements it becomes an all new art form. It has me thinking about projects I would like to work on this winter season. More to come.

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Achievements of First-Generation Hmong Youth: Findings from the Youth Development Study.

Author: Swartz, Teresa, Jennifer C. Lee, and Jeylan T. Mortimer
St. Paul is home to the largest urban Hmong population in the United States. The first generation of Hmong immigrant children have come of age in this country, passing through American schools, beginning their work life, and starting their own families. The Youth Development Studyﾗan ongoing longitudinal study of youth development started in 1987 that focuses on education, work, family, and mental healthﾗis the basis for this article, which explores how these young Hmong people are faring as they embark on their adult lives. The authors found that although Hmong refugees came to the United States with few economic resources and faced significant cultural and linguistic barriers, the combination of family, community, institutional, and public social supports have promoted the academic achievement of Hmong children. With respect to labor force participation, the authors found that a lower proportion of Hmong respondents participated in the labor force both before and after high school. To some degree, they attribute this to the Hmong emphasis on eduation and parental restrictions on adolescent work. Finally, the authors found that Hmong adolescence and the transition to adulthood take distinct forms than for other ethnic groups. Early marriage and teen childbearing have not had the same negative educational consequences for Hmong young women as they have for non-Hmong young people.

Journal: CURA Reporter
Publication date: 2003
Publisher: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota.
Sponsor: Supported by grants from CURA's Fachlty Interactive Research Program.
Pages: 33 (1): 15-21.

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Hmong police officer assigned to North Minneapolis

Officer Kou Vang told a roomful of young Hmong soccer players that he grew up wanting to be a police officer and remembers watching Wonder Woman and Starsky & Hutch on TV. He said in everything he’s done in his almost 21-year career, his interest has always been with community, Hmong community in particular.

When he worked in the gang unit, he also started, as a volunteer, an after-school program of mentoring kids to counteract gang recruiting and keep kids in school.

It’s the Farview soccer kids who’ve been working nearly three years to “get him up here,” and while their idea was to get a Hmong officer on the day shift, this may be even better – he’s on the Community Engagement Team. His job is to seek out Asians throughout the city; as he said, the largest concentration of Hmong is on the Northside, so he will be here much of the time. “Asian usually don’t want to say anything,” he said.

“I’ll get to know all the organizations, let them know who I am, and that I’m not here to arrest your kid. I want to be part of meetings, be a liaison. Build relationships.” While he said he doesn’t want to just show up when someone calls 911, “I’m still an officer, and I will enforce if something happen in my presence.”

The unit just started this year. “I would like to bring my ‘brothers’ in. We need more than one officer,” Vang said. “Ten!” someone shouted from the back of the room. While doing their research and advocacy, assisted by Jay Clark from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, the students, teens and younger, found that there are several Hmong officers throughout Minneapolis, but none on the North Side.

Vang said he worked on the North Side for six years at the start of his career, served in the gang unit for six years until it was disbanded, and then six years in the Fifth Precinct. He is now based at the Special Operations Center at 41st and Dupont North.

Minneapolis Fifth Ward Council Member Don Samuels, who held the special “Dessert with Don” meeting for Hmong adults to receive tornado recovery information, explained that many in the police department management opposed having officers working in the communities from which they come. They fear officers won’t be objective in dealing with people with whom they may have had past relationships. Samuels said he doesn’t agree, because “small towns have cops, you don’t have to go to the next town to be a cop.”

Interpreter Gao Vang, a city employee on hand to translate if there had been any non-English-speaking Hmong, talked about her background, too. She explained that her job is to translate for residents, but also to work will all city departments to help them be “culturally specific.” While she offices downtown, she said she meets most people out in the community where they are comfortable and don’t have to worry about finding and paying for parking.

“I grew up in Minneapolis. Like many of you, my parents came from Laos. At age 8 or 9 I moved to Northeast from South. I attended Jenny Lind, Northeast Middle School, and graduated from North High School. It was a great school, I had a great experience. Good counselors, teachers.” She talked about her self-designed degree from the University of Minnesota and how she’s now looking to go to graduate school while continuing to work.

“So how old do you think I am?” asked the 2007 U of M graduate. The answer: 25. She encouraged the kids to pay attention to school and think about doing what she did, take PSEO, Post Secondary Enrollment Options. She was able to get free college credit by taking college classes while still in high school, 11th grade in fact. “It saved a lot of money.”

“I’m willing to help you guys get resources. I know you want to help your parents. It’s difficult for them to even find a good job [if you can’t speak English]. Education is the key to success,” Gao Vang said.

Then the group took a break and snacked on tapioca and fruit. The din of happy charged-up children filled the room at Lindquist Apartments, and everyone posed for a photo before heading off to get the kids home before dark, leaving Samuels and a handful of other residents to talk about recent events.

Kou Vang’s office number is 612-673-3814, Gao Vang is at 612-673-2915. Emails: kou.vang@ci.minneapolis.mn.us and gao.vang@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.

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Her Vang Named Assistant Director of Multicultural Programs

Her Vang

The Diversity Center at Gustavus Adolphus College will have a new face in it this fall as Her Vang has been named Assistant Director of Multicultural Programs.

Prior to joining the administration at Gustavus, Vang was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, where his work explored the evolution of Hmong transnational politics in Thailand and the United States after the Vietnam War. He also analyzed the intertwined relation between Hmong ethnic and transnational politics, the impact of global and regional politics on Hmong transnational politics, and the role of the Hmong diaspora in the conflict in the homeland. During 2009-10, Vang was a visiting instructor in Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he taught classes such as “Hmong Experiences in the U.S.,” “Hmong American Studies,” and “Hmong American Politics in Global Context.”

“Our campus community and alumni are excited to have Dr. Her Vang join the staff here at Gustavus Adolphus College,” Director of Diversity Development and Multicultural Programs Virgil Jones said. “His background in peace studies, theology, U.S. history and work with Hmong Archives in St. Paul will be a valued addition to the Diversity Center and Office of Multicultural Programs. His hire is another step toward our continued effort to embrace diversity as an important priority at Gustavus.”

Born the year after Communists seized control of Laos, Vang spent the first four years of his life hiding and moving from place to place to escape persecution in the jungle of Laos. He then spent the next eight years in two poverty-stricken refugee camps in Thailand. In 1988, as a political refugee, he came to the United States with his parents and four siblings.

After graduating from high school in Northern California, Vang went on to earn a B.A. in sociology from Davidson College, an M.A. in theology from the Iliff School of Theology, an M.A. in Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and Ph.D. in History from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

“I’m deeply passionate about student development and firmly committed to student success, particularly the academic and professional success of low-income, educationally disadvantaged, and first-generation college students like myself,” Vang said. “I hope to be a role model and a mentor to all students at Gustavus and inspire and empower them to achieve their academic and professional goals.”

Vang’s office will be located in the Diversity Center on the lower level of the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center. Jones’ office has been relocated to the lower level of the O.J. Johnson Student Union, adjacent to The Dive.

Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

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Twin Cities community gardens: A study in variety

Some garden in the name of community building. Others do it for beauty’s sake. And then there are those who just like a good tomato. The Twin Cities are full of community gardeners. According to Gardening Matters, 50 new gardens broke ground in the Twin Cities since spring 2010, and some established spaces have seen waitlists so long that the lists had to be closed. On August 6, gardens opened their gates for Community Garden Day. We took a look at four participating gardens.
For more information on community gardens, see Gardening Matters website and other TC Daily Planet local food coverage.

Good Juju Garden
14th Avenue South and East 22nd Street, Minneapolis

A narrow path runs through the center of the Good Juju Garden in South Minneapolis. Throughout Saturday afternoon’s Community Garden Day barbecue, people walked through the garden – women in headscarves, a Spanish-speaking man on a bike, a young guy with his two kid nephews. Each time Christina Elías leaped up, yelling, “HEY! You wanna eat??” or “Are you on Ramadan? I won’t offer you food then!”

Two years ago, Elías just wanted to garden. Her friend Ernie Whiteman found out about the corner lot, owned by the American Indian Community Development Corporation, from a friend and got permission for Elías to plant. “I literally showed up on a bicycle with a little shovel,” she said. The community showed up on its own.

Residents of the neighboring house were so happy to see the garden in a space once occupied by dilapidated housing, that they sawed off their rain spout and put in a rain barrel. An elderly man began helping almost every morning. Two little girls call Juju their “garden school.” People often ask Whiteman why they don’t put up a fence. He says, “If they need it, they can take it.”

The space includes a three sisters garden and a medicine wheel, where sage and tobacco grow, but that’s not where the name comes from. Elías was working in the garden one day with a couple neighborhood boys. “They started scrapping. I said, ‘Hey! Only good juju in the garden!’” she said. The boys looked at her and began singing, “Only-good juju in the gar-den! Only-good juju in the gar-den!”

Alley Cat Garden
3606 ½ Van Buren Street Northeast, Minneapolis

If only all city streets were set on a perfect grid, with alphabetized street names and evenly numbered houses. But try as they might, the designers of Minneapolis’s roads could not avoid the occasional hill or odd body of water. The result is design hiccups like the land occupied by three-year old Alley Cat Gardens.

Alley Cat is a .15 acre triangular plot of county land tucked in the middle of a Northeast Minneapolis alley. “You pretty much have to know it’s here,” said Paul Bernhardt, a gardener and neighbor. So while other gardens were closing their wait lists last year, Alley Cat had trouble filling spots.

“No place to park, no water,” lists gardener Jo Bernhardt. It didn’t take long for word to get out, though. Now in its second year, Alley Cat is at capacity with 12 plots.

Getting water to an odd alley lot remains a challenge. For now, Peter Doughty and his wife Margo McCreary, who live on the alley and came up with the idea for Alley Cat, fill the gardens’ barrels with water from their hose and track how much is used. The ideal solution: a rain barrel system utilizing the alley’s rooftops. “If we were zero drain on city water, it would be a really cool thing to accomplish,” Paul Bernhardt said. For now, the Bernhardts are backyard beta-testing methods like low-pressure hoses, while the wet summer sky does the real work.

Harvest Gardens
Hazelwood Street and County Road C East, Maplewood

Xue Xiong’s mother’s corn in Laos had bright pink and yellow and green hair. “We didn’t really have dolls to play with,” she said. So they used corn. “We’d braid their hair in different styles.” Now Xiong prefers American corn. Although Hmong neighbors to her garden in the Harvest Gardens of Maplewood still grow the pink-haired Hmong corn she remembers, Xiong says, “My corn’s hair is just plain.”

Xiong is one of 495 gardeners working seven acres of land on Country Road C and Hazelwood Road. The land is owned by First Evangelical Free Church, a block away. Since the church shares facilities with Hmong Hope Community Church and was connected to the Burmese Karen refugee community through another church, 75 percent of the gardeners are Hmong, and 9 percent are Karen.

The space has expanded from one small garden in 2009 to 960 15-by-15 foot plots this year. Volunteers surveyed the land, laid the 4600 feet of irrigation, and staked the plots. Gardeners pay nothing. “We really want to just show the love of Christ through being a good neighbor and through visiting gardeners and offering what we have for people to benefit from,” said Tina Middlemiss, a First Free Church member and Harvest gardener.

Luckily, vegetables know no language barriers. Middlemiss said, “When I’m in the garden and standing up to my knees in tomatoes, and I see someone else who I don’t speak the same language as, I smile and wave and say, ‘Ooh nice.’”

Midway Green Spirit Garden
1271 West Taylor Avenue, St. Paul

A wide circle of fencing, 20 feet in diameter and six feet high, circles a small blue box. Bold black letters on a bright yellow sign read: “Warning Beehive.” But the padlocked gate will not keep these honeybees from pollinating Midway Green Spirit Garden’s 25 young fruit trees and bushes and 40 garden beds.

Steve Mitrione, the garden’s coordinator, just laughs, saying that in the three years the eight-year-old community garden has housed bees, no one besides the beekeeper has been stung – and that was her own fault. “I’ve even seen people pet them,” he claims.

Midway Green Spirit takes up half an acre of what used to be an empty city-owned lot just off Pierce Butler in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. Now it’s filled with sunny garden plots and a shady community space, which Mitrione said the newly immigrated Somali family across the street uses to escape from their over-sunned yard. If they can get past the waiting list, gardeners pay $10 per season.

The bees and the one-year-old orchard of apples, pears, plums, pie cherries, currants, juneberries and raspberries are the garden’s newest additions. No fruit yet, but last year, the bees produced 40 pounds of honey, which Mitrione said is being stored away, still in its combs, until they bring in an extractor. But don’t worry, he said, “It keeps forever.”

Mitrione used to have to advertise the plots, “When I started this process a decade ago there was some outright resistance to community gardens,” he said. But a lot has changed since then. “We’ve gone from being kooks to visionaries."

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St. Paul’s Hmong Village…not your ordinary market!

The cold, rainy spring has held many local farmers back from bringing produce to the area farmers’ markets. But there is one market that is open rain, shine or snow. It is the Hmong Village at 1001 Johnson Boulevard in St. Paul.

Opened last November, the market features 35 produce booths, 17 food booths, 230 merchant stalls, a number of services, and 40 offices. It was the intent of its creator Yia Vang to create a community space where people are comfortable shopping and where all generations can meet and just visit. And while it features many Hmong products and food, it also offers Somali, Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai items as well.

The food court featuring everything from full meals to snacks to bakery goods and soft drinks will take more than one visit to truly appreciate. The Heavy Table sampled about 25 of the offerings and included photos and descriptions on their website www.heavytable.com/hmong-village-in-st-paul-25-tastes/. Some of the choices include Pad See Ew, Papaya Salad, Fried Black Sesame Cookies, Chicken Feet, Pho Fawm, Hmong Sausage, Pho Roll, Beef Lab with Sticky Rice, Steamed White Bass, and so much more. While the food court has a hallway of tables and chairs, taking the food out for a picnic somewhere else is a much better idea for on busy days the tables inside are full.

Hmong Village is open every day from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m., but some vendors do not open until 11 a.m. and some are only open Saturdays and Sundays. I visited on a Friday about 11 a.m. and found all of the food stalls open, about half of the produce stands, and only about 20% of the clothing, gift, DVD, and other shops open. But, it was still enough to offer a unique shopping experience.

The market is in a former warehouse, but since it is only one story high, it seems very people friendly. More than $3 million was spent to upgrade the building and to section it off into small shops all lining the many hallways. The indoor produce and dried herb market gets an outdoor feeling from the massive, hand painted wall murals depicting outdoor scenes. Entrance doors on three sides of the building are labeled with a letter of the alphabet so if you remember the letter when you enter, you should be able to get directions back to the door nearest your car. Door G on the far side of the building is nearest to the produce and dried herb market while door D on the opposite side of the building is nearest to the food court. This is the side of the building you first encounter when you drive into the parking area. So if you are looking for something to eat, take a left and park in the first parking area and enter through door D. While you can enter any door and walk through the hallways that open to all 280+ shops, knowing the area you most want to visit will cut down on unnecessary walking. There are no maps or written guides, but all of the vendors are very helpful.

There is plenty of parking on three sides of the building weekdays, but on weekends you may have to park on the street a block or two away.

Vang’s vision of a place to work, meet friends, shop and get a taste of Hmong culture appears to be drawing people from across the area. It is a welcome addition to the community.

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Will the Hmong Sports Festival happen in 2011?

With less than a month until July 4th, the question needs to be asked, “Will the Hmong Sports Festival happen this year?”

There are no fliers posted. The website is “Under Construction”. And when you call the front desk of Lao Family in St. Paul—the event’s organizer for the last 30 years--the answer is consistently the same:

“We believe the Sports Festival will happen on July 4th Weekend,” answers the receptionist, who admits nearly all the phone calls lately are inquiries about the tournament. “But we don’t have details yet. You’ll need to talk to the director.”

Perhaps even more alarming is that there are no city permits registered for the Sports Festival—an event that involves complex, multi-departmental planning needed to safely and effectively engineer the two-day event.

With less than 20 days to go, city officials seemed a bit concerned that the permits had not been pulled, yet remained optimistic.

Sgt. John Lozoya from the office of Police Community Services confirmed that despite the short period of time available to plan for the event, he was sure “The Hmong Sports Festival will happen.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Safety and Inspections confirmed that although “nobody from Lao Family has come in yet” she was convinced that the organizers would still be able to obtain the Special Events License necessary for food vendors to operate at the Festival.

“The Hmong Sports Festival is treated differently than any other event in the city. They do plan to get this done.”

The prevailing message coming from those at the city as well as those from Lao Family is that the Festival will happen because the Festival is too big not to happen.

Known as the single largest gathering of Hmong people in the world, the Sports Festival—otherwise known as ‘July 4 or J4’—is a financial boon, not only for the Hmong economy, but also for the City of St. Paul.

In terms of the number of out-of-state visitors it attracts annually, the Hmong Sports Festival is believed to be one of the biggest events in the city of St. Paul, generating millions of dollars for restaurants, hotels and area malls.

Specifically for the Hmong economy, the Festival is ground-zero for the numerous Hmong entertainment retailers hoping to score big with their newest movie, CD or fashion item.

For those two days, hundreds of booths are erected on a few square acres in Como Park, bringing to life thunderous sounds and eye-popping visuals.

“This is the Super Bowl for the Hmong people,” said Moua Lee of Golden Path Entertainment, one of the pioneering movie makers in the Hmong community. “I would say 99% of the entertainment world targets J4 as the time when they release their new movies or CDs. This is where I—and many, many others-- make a majority of our sales each year.”

With no flier or contact information, retailers from all around the country are in the dark as to how they can reserve a booth or even make the trip to St. Paul this year.

Not only does the Sports Festival site at McMurray Fields swell with tens of thousands of attendees, but outside events all around the Twin Cities are specifically scheduled during that same weekend to take advantage of all the people in town.

Kace Vang from the band Destiny, for instance, has reserved the 3,500-capacity Myth Nightclub to hold a concert on July 3rd.

“If the Sports Festival doesn’t happen during the July 4th weekend, I think we’re dead,” joked Vang. “Yeah, we would have serious problems.”

For those sports teams planning to make the trip to Minnesota, the dilemma is even more harrowing because each team consists of many players.

David Xiong from Typhoon Futbol Club, for instance, needs to arrange the travel of more than 20 of his soccer players who are coming in from all over the country.

“With no fliers or contact info, we don’t even know if the Tournament will happen!” Xiong alarmed. “It would be a big waste of time and money if we all came to the Twin Cities only to discover that the Tournament was cancelled.”

Whether the sport is soccer, football, volleyball or kato, there are many complications to putting together a two-day tournament. With no sports director at the helm, teams and participants are finding ways to move ahead.

Kong Vang of the Plaza Boyz, the returning men’s flag-football champions, said that he and other team leaders have already taken it upon themselves to organize the football tournament on their own—without an official coordinator from Lao Family as in past years.

“It became too frustrating to wait and wait,” echoed Vang about the lack of planning and communication with the Festival’s organizers. “We decided we should just take control of the tournament and make sure this gets done right.”

Pointing to the cancellation of this year’s Water Fest—California’s most popular Hmong sporting festival held over the Memorial Day Weekend --Vang is concerned that the Festival in Minnesota will follow suit, especially because the organizer of Water Fest is also a branch of Lao Family (of Fresno).

“They kept telling us all along that the event was going to happen. And then, at the very last moment they cancelled the event,” Vang recalled with frustration. “Luckily we hadn’t bought the airline tickets yet, otherwise the team could have lost thousands of dollars.”

Even if the Sports Festival in St. Paul does find a way to happen in July as planned, the great lack of planning thus far is “completely irresponsible” noted organizational consultant Kathy Mouacheupao.

“To not even have a telephone number posted for people to call about the event is beyond excusable. There is so much at stake here, I’m in disbelief about how neglectful this organization is towards the general public—especially those who are planning to travel here in July!”

In terms of the tradition and prestige that the 4th of July Sports Festival had built up for the last 30 years, most observers we spoke to agreed that things have certainly gone the wrong way as of late.

This digression over the years is reflected in the overall numbers of attendees, which have been diminishing over the years. This negative trend is something that Lao Family executive director Long Yang is keen on reversing.

According to IRS records, Lao Family reported a combined loss of nearly $74,000 from hosting the Summer Sports Festival and Hmong New Years in 2007, the year before Yang stepped in.

In 2008, Yang’s first year as executive director, those losses were reduced to only $1,000. In 2009, Lao Family reported a $7,500 net loss.

On their 2009 Form-990, Lao Family claimed to collect $377,485 of total revenue from the July Festival. This includes all the cash collected at the gates, income from booth rentals and sponsorships.

Listing a total of $377,485 in expenses, there was a total net revenue of only $2,837. Itemized expenses include park rental, security, trash and prize payouts which totaled, by itself, more than $50,000.

“Because these events are so prominent and have high numbers of attendees, people believe that Lao Family makes lots of money from these events,” Yang explained. “But there are so many expenses involved and politics to deal with that by hosting these events, we actually lose money.”

This year, for example, there was a $40,000 debt that Lao Family owed to the City of St. Paul for expenses incurred during previous festivals.

Although not confirmed by city officials, that outstanding bill had been recently paid, assured Yang.

“I know it has been paid, because I personally went to the city and paid for it myself,” Yang proclaimed. “It was a matter of allocating funds from the correct pool of money. Everything we do with this tournament is under tight regulations and supervision.”

Referring to the 2006 court ordered restrictions mandated by then state Attorney General Mike Hatch, Yang produces a court document outlining a number of rules that Lao Family must comply with in organizing the Sports Festival.

Caught in the crossfire between the Attorney General’s office and the now defunct Vang Pao Foundation, Lao Family’s financials were highly scrutinized after it was found that the Vang Pao Foundation had squandered away $500,000 in undocumented expenses.

As a result, the Vang Pao Foundation was ordered to shut down completely. While Lao Family was spared, the organization was ordered to meticulously document all its financial activities, in particular to the way it managed money in operating their two major festivals, the Sports Festival and the Hmong New Year held in down town St. Paul.

“We are regulated to document every dollar that comes in and every dollar that is spent according to compliance rules,” proclaims Yang, pointing to the list of guidelines drawn up on the court document. “There are some very strict penalties if we are in violation. We need to be 100% transparent about our finances.”

The damage to Lao Family’s reputation went beyond the courtroom. Donors and corporate sponsors backed away from the once lucrative sponsorship deals that bolstered the organization’s bottom line.

Beyond the financial issues that Lao Family had been facing, this past year has been extremely challenging. Compounded with the passing of Gen. Vang Pao, the founder and symbolic head of Lao Family, the organization has been battling through the highly publicized board election fiasco which has resulted in an all-out rift between member elected board president Tou Xiong and court appointed board president ChuPheng Lee.

This dilemma began last December when Lao Family opened its board elections to the general public. Over 1,500 voters showed up, only to find themselves in a process that would turn out to be highly flawed with hundreds of pre-registered voters being told that they were ineligible. There were accusations of candidate fraud and conflicts of interest forcing Lao Family officials to seal the election results. Four months later, Lao Family held another election in which the candidate Tou Xiong was found victorious.

The situation got uglier when candidate ChuPheng Lee sued Lao Family in District Court to force the results of the first election to be unsealed. When the courts ruled in favor of Lee, the results showed that Lee had won the election. The courts then took it a step further to officially vacate the second election and declaring Lee as the Board President, enforcing the results from the original elections.

However, members of Lao Family voiced their displeasure in the court ruling, insisting that their second election was valid and thus holding on to the result that Tou Xiong is the Board President.

“Let’s get to the point,” said Long Yang bluntly. “The reason why we are so behind on planning for the Festival is because of the board situation. We have two sets of board members sitting across from one another arguing about everything, including what the name of the Festival should be to who’s phone number should be put on the flyer.”

With a look of frustration, Yang shrugged his shoulders.

“The action plan is that in the next few years we will shift responsibilities of running events to staff who are hired specifically to run these events, but for this year, my job is to work with both boards to get this event operating.

It’s not going to be easy, but I can assure you, July 4th Sports Festival will happen this year.”

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