Twin Cities 2023, Part One: Saint Paul / Co+nvergence

[Adapted from email travelogue, sent Monday, August 7 at 9:00 pm.]

Tuesday, August 1 Here I am, in the Twin Cities! Brought here by a conference I got to be sent to through work, which took place specifically in Saint Paul, and thus my first stop. I flew into the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, took a bus that went direct from there to downtown Saint Paul, and was put up in one of two options for conference attendees—and I got the one I requested, because it is much taller: Intercontinental Saint Paul Riverfront (1966, 245 ft, 23 floors), pictured above. And now for a brief demographic aside! The metropolitan population of the Twin Cities is 3.7 million, only about 7.5% smaller than metropolitan Seattle–in other words, roughly the same size. That said, the population of Saint Paul is 310,000, and Minneapolis is 430,000, which combined is 740,000—nearly the exact equivalent of Seattle proper. So, in terms of size, this metro area is quite like Seattle, if Seattle were split into two separate cities (we'll just ignore Tacoma—also considered part of metropolitan Seattle—for our purposes here).

Now we're going to discuss the Twin Cities' dual skyway systems—Saint Paul's being about half the size of (five miles vs. 9.5 miles) and only slightly younger (1967 vs 1962) than the far more famous one in Minneapolis. I am fascinating by other unique feats of civic engineering the same way I am fascinated by skyscrapers, which made me deeply fascinated by the Skyway—and the fact that I could move back and forth between my hotel and the Saint Paul RiverCentre for the Co+nvergence conference each day through it, going a 3.5-block distance without ever having to go outside. (I could not do this in a straight shot, and had to go a block out of the way to stay within the Skyway, which made it a five-and-a-half-block walk—Kellogg Blvd & Wabasha St St to Kellogg Blvd & Exchange St S—but I didn't care because it was a way to avoid the yucky humidity outside.) Of course, I love it even more that the skyway systems also connect all of the skyscrapers, which, in Saint Paul, are on average much shorter but also much older than Minneapolis's, with a lot more classic and Art Deco architecture. In the shot above, you can see an unusually high skyway, the tallest in the Twin Cities, connecting Saint Paul's third-tallest building, the First National Bank Building (1931, 417 ft, 32 floors) with the Merchants Bank Building (1916, 228 ft, 16 floors). It connects the 17th floor of the former with the 16th floor of the latter, with both apparently part of the same property.

Another thing that fascinates me about the Twin Cities' skyway systems is that, in contrast to the skyways in Minneapolis being all privately owned (the owners of any buildings they connect to are responsible for their upkeep), the Saint Paul Skyway is publicly maintained by the city, basically rendering the entire system public space and giving them on average a much more uniform, utilitarian design. There's a few exceptions to this architecturally, but another cool thing is how many of the skyway windows include public art on their windows. This one of butterflies was my favorite.

It turns out, the people over at Wells Fargo apparently have sticks up their asses. I had gone out exploring the Saint Paul Skyway shortly after checking into my hotel on Tuesday, and found myself in the lobby of Wells Fargo Place (1987, 471 ft, 37 floors), the tallest building in Saint Paul. This area is a bit confusing to a newcomer, because the skyway in a given direction is not on the same floor, and then there's an even lower level, from which I took the above photo to get this angle on the tower. There's a security desk on that level, and one of the couple of people staffed there actually caught up with me going back up the escalator, telling me Wells Fargo has a policy of no photography of their property with the logo visible because it's copyrighted. Seriously? What kind of dumbass bullshit is this? Still, I dutifully pulled my phone back out, as it seemed he was about to ask me to delete the photo I took—which I still don't understand, because this building exists in public space, does it not? But, whatever: he glanced at this photo and was satisfied with it, thanked me, and went back downstairs. He clearly did not notice the WELLS FARGO logo in shadow at the very bottom of the shot. Take that, Wells Fargo! Also I actually think this is a really great shot.

There was just a couple of official Co+nvergence events on Tuesday, including tours of local co-ops (there are more co-ops per capita in the Twin Cities area than anywhere else in the country, most of them independently operated), which I did not arrive in time to attend, and a one-hour orientation for newcomers. Naturally I figured out by the first day that I could get to the Saint Paul RiverCentre conference center from my hotel via the skyway system, although the final two and a half blocks of the aforementioned 5.5-block walk (46-33-39-28-27-42-41 on this map) through the system shifts down into a tunnel. I took this shot while walking through the tunnel for the first of what would ultimately be many times. In the middle of it is basement access to the Saint Paul Central Library, which I also explored briefly.

First official Co+nvergence event: Tuesday 5:30 - 6:30: "Orientation to NCG: Here to Help You Thrive." It was pretty sparsely attended (in retrospect that made sense, as many attendees had already come in previous years and no longer needed it), was rather informal, was not especially dense with information, and took place in "Ballroom ABEF," where by far more of the sessions of the entire conference took place, including all the keynote presentations.

I didn't take this photo, nor was it taken with my phone—but, I'm in it! When I got back from the one-hour orientation, I joined several other PCC staff staying at the InterContinental for drinks and what turned out to be one of the oddest, if still decent, dinners I have ever had (King Trumpet Mushroom Scallops in English Pea Puree with Vegan Bacon Crumbles). I can't remember who took the photo because most of the other PCC people there were Grocery Coordinators or HBC Coordinators who work at PCC stores and who I am rarely in contact with, if ever. This week allowed me to connect with several of them in ways I never would otherwise, not even back home, so I did learn a few of their names. For instance, in this shot, I now recognize Veronica! and Mike! and Justin! (I already knew Noah and Bryan.) There were 22 PCC staff at this conference. Exactly half of them are in this photo.

It took me a few days to realize this building, as seen from my 19th floor hotel room, was Saint Paul City Hall. (Technically, Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse.) When I checked in on Tuesday, I asked, "I don't suppose I can request a high floor?" I was immediately told, "You're on a high floor." Awesome! The InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel has 23 floors, counted to 22 because it starts with level 1 on the second floor, which put me fourth from the top, on level 19. They put Noah on level 15 and Steven on level 9. I win! Also: to the left, of course, the Mississippi River. And to the right? The second skyway seen down that street was one of the several I would cross on my way to the RiverCentre conference center each day. I could see the RiverCentre's roof in the distance down that street from my room.

Wednesday, August 2 Wednesday was the first of three very long, incredibly packed, full conference days—which, while like any conference had sessions that varied a bit in quality, were overall an absolute blast, making me deeply grateful for the opportunity to go, glad I went, and eager to return in future years. Pictured above is first-generation Latina documentarian (and speaker and author) Denise Soler Cox, the first keynote speaker at the conference, on Wednesday morning. She co-directed a 2015 documentary short Being Enye, about first-generation American-born Latinos and, to a degree, the linguistic differences between them and their parents. To be honest, it's a bit easy to let cynicism creep in when considering this talk in retrospect, in terms of its "motivational speaker" vibe (especially in light of the design and tone of her website). But, I don't care! I still really enjoyed her, and found that her talk nicely set the tone for the conference.

Uh oh, it's another skyway! This one crossing the street from the RiverCentre to its parking garage—and this one having a distinctive design much different from almost all the others downtown.

Co+nvergence provided all three meals on all three full days of the conference, with breakfast on Wednesday starting at 8:00 a.m. and dinner Wednesday ending at 7:00 p.m. (the latter during a very interesting "Beneficiary Discussion" with several people from NĀTIFS, or North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems)—an 11-hour day. But of course, that still wasn't the end of it! Noah and Steven from PCC; Katy from UNFI; and Maddie from Primal Kitchen had already made plans to go out for drinks, and Steven invited me to join them. And then one of the others expensed the dinner for all of us, so that made it totally worth it! Side note: this place was called Lost Fox, and alas, it was in a building not connected to the Saint Paul Skyway. But! I still managed to walk from the RiverCentre all the way to a building right across the street from it through the skyway system, so that made me happy. (As did the ability to stay inside away from some really yucky humid weather, especially that evening.) As luck would have it, all the rest of them were right across the street when I exited that building.

Thursday, August 3 This woman's name is Miss Shannan Paul (no relation to the Saint; I checked), a comedian, voiceover artist, and Event Emcee hired to be the last of those three things–and, to a lesser degree, the first of those three things—for Co+nvergence this year. And, I was so impressed by her that on the second full day of the conference, I actually went out of my way to walk up to her during a bit of downtime from the ballroom stage to tell her I thought she was doing an exceptional job. She had no background in cooperative grocery, and yet it was eminently clear she did a lot of research in the industry whose event she was emceeing, to the degree that she could give introductions, offer asides and occasional quips, and in one instance even moderate a panel, with enough broad knowledge to make it almost seem as though she did have the relevant background. I can only assume she does the same for any corporate speaker or emcee gig she gets hired for. I even went to her website in the hopes of seeing a standup comedy tour, but, it seems to be all emceeing gigs in the Midwest. Dammit! I would love to see more of her.

This is Gabby Davis, founder of Equitable Counseling and Consulting while living in bullshit anti-science state Idaho, which we were informed she recently moved away from (responding to locals who said "But we need you!" with the very reasonable response "I need me more"), and associated with NCG as their Racial Equity & Food Justice Manager. Gabby is clearly a natural leader, with charisma to spare, and a real penchant for eye-opening insights—to such a degree that, having been a speaker at Co+nvergence last year as well, many people were openly thrilled to see that she was speaking again this year, and attending her keynote with excitement. And all of this was justified: her talk, "Dissecting the Definition of Healthy," which really focused on deeply illuminating and varied perspectives on "healthy eating," opened my eyes in ways very few things ever do. It was mostly her reading people's responses to what "eating healthy" means to them personally, and several of them actually made me cry. There were then some similar testimonials from people in the room, which made for a genuinely emotional experience. Gabby had also attended the "Queer/LGBTQIA+ Cooperators Meetup" during lunch on Wednesday, where she kind of held court just by default, which surprised no one.

"NCG Evening Social," scheduled Wednesday from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Rival House Sporting Parlour, a great place located on both the ground floor and second level in the DoubleTree Hotel. And, yes!—I know you were just dying to know—I could walk straight here from the RiverCentre, over eight blocks, via the Saint Paul Skyway. In fact, I recorded the entire walk! It took me about 13 minutes, but don't worry! I condensed the video to a minute and 43 seconds by running it at x9 speed. Fun! Some other notes about this dinner event. The pizza buffet would have been more than enough on its own, but I later discovered a large room perimetered with countless other foods, and when I took a photo a Rival House staffer spontaneously gave me a fun pose. I wound up chatting extensively with an HBC Coordinator named Veronica, who I later discreetly took this shot of chatting with Noah. We were given two drink tickets each for the dinners all three nights, but alcohol was only allowed on the ground floor at Rival House; once I finished my two Pinot Grigios (drink tickets only for beer or wine on the first two nights), I went upstairs to the second level where there were games and desserts—including a non-dairy pudding so grainy I had to restrain myself from spitting it out, but also giant bowls of Unreal Gems candies (a natural foods version of m&m's) that I could not stop eating, a problem I commiserated over with a guy from a co-op in Southern Minnesota. Games included ping pong, foosball, and most amazingly—Shelley needs to be alerted!—lawn Yahtzee, except this time it was throwing large dice onto the carpet. Carpet Yahtzee?

Because I am not sociable enough to butterfly around chatting with people all evening (although somewhat ironically I did chat fairly extensively about introvertedness with a PCC Grocery Coordinator named Gavin), I did not stay at the Evening Social all the way until its end at 9:00. Instead, I left around 7:40, stopped by my hotel room, and then took the time I had left that evening to walk two miles to the middle of the Smith Avenue Bridge, so I could get this, by far my favorite shot I got of the Saint Paul skyline, from high above the Mississippi River. The InterContinental, where I stayed four nights, is visible in this shot: the black rectangle directly to the left of the large white square building on the far right end of the skyline.

Friday, August 4 Just before lunch on Friday: the second attempt at a group photo of all 22 people at Co+nvergence from PCC this year. The first attempt had been just before dinner on Thursday night, with 15 of us—not including me, and why? Because I had walked over to the bridge! That had actually been my own first of two attempts at walking to the middle of the Smith Avenue Bridge, the first try a disappointment because Google Maps took me to a street beneath the bridge. I thought those people over at Google were supposed to be geniuses? What a bunch of morons! I think I may be getting off topic. The Friday afternoon group shot was far more successful, if not quite perfect: 22 people from PCC were there, and 20 people are in the photo. Bryan later lamented that he had been right outside the ballroom when it happened but no one saw him out there to tell him to come and join us. Also, with 20 people pictured, for a while I thought we were only missing two. Well, actually, we're missing three. That lady on the far right is not from PCC at all, I later learned. She had just jumped up and joined the group photo! No one seems to know for sure if she simply did not know we were all from one co-op (PCC was very unique in this respect; the vast majority of the other co-ops represented had a single store; the second-highest number of stores, tied between three different co-ops, was four; and PCC has sixteen stores) and just thought a group shot of random Co+nvergence attendees was getting taken, or if she did this deliberately to photo bomb us. I'm partial to the latter explanation just because it's funnier.

The five hours between noon and 5:00 p.m. was reserved for the vendor showcase—an exhibition hall filled with tables staffed by the countless brands which collectively sponsor this event and make it possible for NCG to pay for two people per store location (this actually meant PCC could have sent 32 people; I was one of two office staff who went, which means we only sent 20 total store staff) and now have a chance to hawk their products in the hopes that stores carry them. PCC is such a comparatively large operation that these decisions are made centrally, and many vendors quickly learned who was the one person from PCC with any real power to make such decisions: some variation of "I'm waiting for Noah to come by" was something I heard multiple times. The rest of us were still encouraged to make the rounds and talk to vendors, sample their products, and take all the samples we need or want; I filled a tote bag myself. Many vendors had far more samples than they could get rid of, and a few tried almost desperately to get me to take far more than I could reasonably take. (There were varied approaches to this. Full suitcases dedicated to samples were not an uncommon sight. Bryan told me he saw someone come into the hotel later with an entire luggage rack with countless bags of product samples hanging off of it.) I also met a woman from the coffee company Equal Exchange, with whom I have long been emailing extensively about promotion submissions, in person for the first time—she was thrilled to see me there, and gave me a hoodie. Anyway, I finished walking the vendor showcase in a couple of hours, giving me about three hours to spare before the Afterparty. I took this time to collect photos of Peanuts character statues around downtown Saint Paul, particularly at Landmark Plaza and Rice Park. These are all over Saint Paul because the cartoonist, Charles Schulz, grew up there. There are many more around the city that I didn't see, but I managed to get 12 shots of them.

Still with time to spare, I went ahead and walked halfway across the nearby Wabasha Street Bridge (the InterContinental is seen center-left in the above shot), and climbed down the stairs to "Raspberry Island" in the middle of the Mississippi River. This was where I managed to dip my hand into the water, which is surprisingly calm at the bottom of concrete steps at the northern point of this 2-acre island.

The Afterparty took place at a place called Amsterdam Bar & Hall, the relatively small size for 300 conference attendees being mitigated by the closure of the street for the entire block in front of it. This St. Paul sign was in the plaza in front of the building across the street, and Veronica took this photo of me with it, at my request.

Saturday, August 5 I stayed an extra three nights in the Twin Cities, shifting over to a new hotel in downtown Minneapolis—but not before Shobhit landed on his own flight early Saturday morning, bused in to downtown Saint Paul and met me at the InterContinental. I later checked out and had the hotel hold our luggage while Shobhit and I went to take a guided tour of the Minnesota State Capitol. I always enjoy state capitol tours, and try to make it a point to do one every time I visit a new state capital city. Minnesota marks the 26th state I have now visited, finally tipping past the halfway mark; and the Minnesota State Capitol is the eighth state capitol building I have visited (nine if you count the Parliament Building in Victoria, B.C.), but only the fifth I've actually gotten a guided tour of (sixth if you count Victoria). It's always really interesting, though, and invariably guided by people with a genuine passion for the state they live in. We finished touring this capitol building, walked the mile back to the InterContinental, picked up our luggage—including my suitcase insanely weighted down with samples we spent the next three days largely burning through—and then hopped on the light rail headed the ten miles west to downtown Minneapolis.