Minneapolis is an Open Book

I know as much about literacy in Minnesota as I know about making cheese in the south of France, which excellent reason to pour myself a cup of coffee and get busy.  A fellow student in my Creative Studies class travels from Minneapolis to take classes at Buff. State on the weekends (Buff State is renowned for it C.S. program) and when she heard I was a runner she suggested I run the Twin Cities Marathon in October and  invited me to stay with her in Minneapolis.  Certainly a testament to the friendly, welcoming people in the Mid-West.  She told me the Marathon was billed as the ‘prettiest marathon in the country’ which was enough to get me thinking and interested in learning more.

The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are better known as the Twin Cities.   Although they are only 10 minutes apart they are in different counties and each serves as its county seat.  In Minneapolis,  St. Anthony Falls (the highest waterfall on the Mississippi) was responsible for the explosion of growth in between 1880 and 1930.  The mighty river powered mills for lumber, cotton, iron, paper and wool.  But the largest industry were the flour mills.  Cadwallader and William Washburn opened the Washburn “B” Mills at the falls and were joined by countless others, including a mill operated by Charles and John Pillsbury.  Pillsbury, General Mills and Smuckers are now part of General Mills giant “foodstuff” conglomerate, but happily their headquarters remain near Minneapolis.  Washburn “A” Mills is now the home of the Mill City Museum, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, a museum focused on the history of Minneapolis and the flour mills.

Before I even got close to the library, I learned that Minneapolis is the 3rd most literate city in the country, behind Washington, DC and Seattle, which is a remarkable statistic.  I knew something cool must be going on behind the scenes to get people so jazzed about reading (in case you were curious, Buffalo ranked 41st - ouch).  

Minneapolis’s commitment to books is, in fact, written all over the city and probably really got cooking with The Loft Literary Center, a non-profit agency created to support writers, foster a writing community and build an audience for literature.  The Loft is now the largest independent center for literacy in the country and offers writing classes to thousands of writers each year (on site and online).  But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  I got the feeling the energizer bunny was behind the scenes, pounding on his drum and announcing new programs with every lap, “how about readings, festivals, and apprenticeships?”  “What about a writing contests, grants and magazines?”  “Let’s work in the schools, have a poetry fest, compile an anthology!”  It’s a good thing his batteries don’t wear out.  

Like all great successes, The Loft had humble beginnings and has slowly (but steadily) grown and gained momentum over the decades.  What sets them apart is a passion for writing, reading and books that seems to fuel their continuous growth and innovation.   A seat of the pants operation that began in 1974 with a rented room about Rusoff & Co. Book Dealers has grown into a immeasurable resource not only for Minnesotans but for the country.  

In 1999, The Loft joined forces with Milkweed Editions and the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts to create a facility called “Open Book”.  The $5.5 million project created a spectacular, fresh space that incorporated studio space, meeting rooms, classrooms, a bookstore, a publisher, a restaurant, store and performance hall.  

The Open Book website proclaims that it is is a “space for everyone, a meeting place or quiet sanctuary, a destination for all who are interested in or inspired by the literary and book arts.”  A great destination for book lovers (and coffee drinkers) who can afford to pay to play to indulge their creative muse.