(soft music) - [Presenter] Funding for "Off 90" is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(rock music) - Cruising your way next Off 90, we hear from Rochester NAACP President Wale Elegbede.

We enjoy some genre bending music from Rochester band Fires of Denmark.

A Minnesota filmmaker shows us what it means to be comfortably numb.

And we hear from Susan Haskamp, the advancement manager for the Rochester IMAA.

These stories and more are coming up on your next stop Off 90.

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Barbara Keith.

Thanks for joining me on this trip Off 90.

First, we hear from Rochester NAACP president Wale Elegbede about his journey from Nigeria to Minnesota and his experiences along the way.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Wale Elegbede day was born in the African country of Nigeria.

He grew up in an educated upper class family and was able to attend high quality schools.

It was during a school day that the then 13 year old's life would be changed forever.

- I was in the Nigerian Navy secondary school, and I was about, basically I was 13 years old and that the commandant called me up.

And whenever your commandant in school calls you up, it's not a good thing.

It's like, you know, so I had no idea what was going on.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Wale's uncle sent someone to his school to pick him up, but he wasn't told anything about what had happened.

- But when I went there to my uncle's house, I saw there was a big crowd.

I saw my mom and I just started crying.

'Cause I knew there was something, I knew there was something wrong.

And, and, so that was tough.

(somber music) That night I was in shock, and that night I was in the hospital.

And as a kid, I was just afraid that, okay, what's gonna happen to my life, you know?

I've lost my dad.

God, please don't take my mom away, you know?

I don't wanna be an orphan.

And I got assurances from my uncle that he was gonna take care of me.

And two years after my dad died, my uncle got assassinated.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Wale's uncle was the chief of Nigeria's Defense Intelligence Agency, and was speaking out against general Sani Abacha who was a former military dictator who had taken over control of the country, despite not being elected.

- Such a brutal way where, you know, 70 bullets on your body, right?

- [Narrator] Wale's dad and uncle were the breadwinners of the family.

When they died, his family had little income.

Today, despite the losses, Wale they feels grateful.

- I'm grateful for the short time, you know, my dad had.

At least that I had with my dad 'cause in those short 13 years and my uncles 15 years, I've learned so much to fill my cup for a lifetime.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] He says his dad taught him the importance of integrity, of helping others.

He taught them how to be a good husband and how to be a good father to his own kids.

- My dad would always call my mom honey, honey, honey.

Singing, dancing, helping people in the community.

The lessons that my dad gave me in terms of just the work ethic, you know, education is the best legacy.

Working hard, treating people well.

Everybody has a role to play, whether you're big or small or whatever your station is, act and choosing to act is extremely important, so.

- [Narrator] Wale began learning English at birth and from a young age he was intrigued by the ideals of the United States.

- You know, the concept of America just always appealed to me.

You know, when I was thinking about college, you know, it was really, I wanted to come to the United States.

It didn't really matter to me if it was in Alaska, Florida, I just wanted a really good education where I could provide for my family and also learn some skills to better my community.

- [Narrator] Wale they came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to attend college.

There, he worked his way through school and learned computer and database programming skills.

He also learned a new culture.

- People were laying out a lawns.

That didn't make any sense to me.

Why are you gonna sit out in the lawn?

You know, and it's really hot.

And I mean, now I get it.

'Cause it's like hey, we don't see no sun.

(laughs) - [Narrator] After college, Wale started a software company then worked for the largest furniture company in the world, Ashley furniture.

Today he's in project management at the Mayo Clinic, a place he loves and wants to retire from.

When asked what one thing would he like to change about the United States, he says race relations and social justice.

- We all have to play in the same sandbox, you know?

But the big fear is, I don't know who this other person is.

And once you star to talk to one another, once you start to eat, once you start to have your kids play together, go to the same school, have the same access to opportunities, then there's nothing to be afraid of because I am you, you are me.

The American dream, you work hard, you know, you're gonna get yours, you know?

It's not exactly reality, but it is a dream, but it's a dream that is worth holding on to.

(upbeat music) (rock music) - Throughout the pandemic, it's easy to say we've all experienced new levels of social isolation and loneliness.

This short of film explores what it means to experience alienation and burnout to the point of becoming comfortably numb.

(eerie music) (birds chirping) (intense beeping) (alarm ringing) (slow piano music) (cheerful music) (eerie music) (slow piano music) (tense music) (screaming) (tense music) (upbeat orchestral music) (tense music) (birds chirping) (tense music) (screaming) (tense music) (sirens blaring) (water running) (rock music) Susan Haskamp is the advancement manager for the Rochester Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association, an organization dedicated supporting services that foster the wellbeing and independence of refugees and immigrants in Southeast Minnesota.

- My name is Susan Haskamp.

I am the advancement manager at Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association.

The acronym is my IMAA.

My background, I am Irish and German.

I was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

I was raised in Rochester.

The first event that really, I think, just was a big probably inspiration as far as just my interest in other cultures was my parents sponsored a refugee family from Bosnia in the early nineties.

And so I was about four or five years old.

I have a memory of standing at the airport with a balloon and a welcome sign as, you know, we welcomed them through the gates at the Rochester airport.

My parents have always been very social justice oriented.

So I think, for them it was just, you know, my mom also volunteered at Channel One and I would go there with her.

My dad volunteers at the Dorothy Day house, and so I would go volunteer with him and hang out with the guys there.

So I think this was just another opportunity for them to serve in the community.

And again, it's just with, you know, another group that's experiencing marginalization.

So the family happened to have a daughter that was the same age as me, so I always played with her and yeah, I just have a lot of, you know, fond memories of being there and I didn't really have that understanding of who they were or why they were here or, you know, I think as a kid, it was just somebody else to play with.

You know, we learned how to tie our shoes together in a shoe closet, so just a lot of fun memories like that.

And we actually have stayed friends, and we're still friends with the family to this day.

So our mission is building bridges between cultures by empowering individuals toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community.

We have several different programs in the areas of health access and education, employment and family services, community engagements.

I help to oversee one of our volunteer programs, which is called the Match program.

The Match program matches volunteer community members with refugee and immigrant families.

So these families could be new arrivals that just settled here in Rochester or they may be living here for several years and just don't feel fully integrated into the community.

And so we match the volunteers and families together.

They help them with a lot of different things.

It just kind of depends on what the needs are, but typically it's always practicing English, whether it's speaking or reading or writing of some sorts.

If there's kids involved on both sides, then usually we try to match similar ages and they might go to the playground or to the park and their kids can play together.

They'll might take them grocery shopping, helping them look through the mail, and it makes sure, you know, what's important, what is not important.

To me, I think it's a very action oriented part of our mission, which is building bridges between cultures.

Our staff are reflective of the communities that we serve, which I think is very important.

You know, when a client comes through our doors, they often see somebody that looks like them, that speaks the same language, that welcomes them.

And so we just try to provide really that community atmosphere where people feel safe and feel welcome, and then we can help them and whatever it is that they might need.

There is a lot of bad and negativity in the world, but I also have a lot of hope, and I wanna be part of that change, and I wanna be part of that hope that we have, and, you know, especially as a very white privileged individual, I gotta find a way to be an ally and to stand up for other groups that have a voice, it's just unfortunately, you know, we often don't necessarily listen to that voice.

So I just feel that I need to find a way to walk side by side with these populations and, you know, provide that advocacy where I can.

That's where my heart is at, and that's why I'm in this work and doing the work that I do.

(rock music) - Fires of Denmark is the brainchild and musical project of Mike Terrill who writes, performs, and records all his work.

We're so happy to share their music video "Lost in Light" with you.

Enjoy.

(soft chill music) ♪ You know the way ♪ ♪ To get back in the dark ♪ ♪ Looking for your pride ♪ ♪ You left back with your thoughts ♪ ♪ And I know it's all the same in a relative way ♪ ♪ Until you find out nothing ♪ ♪ Holds you back or makes you better ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ (soft chill music) ♪ You're lost in light ♪ ♪ No matter where you are ♪ ♪ Always subdued ♪ ♪ And still and silent ♪ ♪ Holding a life for you ♪ ♪ I could always stay one step in front of it ♪ ♪ But I got the feeling it's sinking in ♪ ♪ To dip my toes in water, fine ♪ ♪ Let it rise ♪ ♪ Let it rise ♪ ♪ Let it rise ♪ (soft chill music) (playful music) (blues music) Local chef Shari Mukherjee shows us how to cool down with this delicious summer cocktail.

- Hi everyone, my name is Shari Mukherjee.

You may have seen me on "Master Chef" season 10.

Well, today I am here to show you guys how to make a really cool and refreshing drink for the summer.

It's been hot outside, hasn't it?

We are gonna use bourbon and we are gonna use strawberries.

Strawberries are in season.

I love to use seasonal produce.

So let's get at it.

So the first thing that I've already done is I made some fancy little ice cubes.

You guys can see, these are regular ice cubes in here.

I just diced up some strawberries, really finely.

(fast speaking) So first thing you're gonna do is you're gonna dice up the strawberries into these really fine dice.

We're just gonna stack it up pretty good.

We're gonna put some distilled water.

If you don't have distilled water, regular water is fine too.

And you're gonna put that in and then take your knife or a spoon and just kind of roll it in there so that the water can get between those berries.

I put some edible flower pedals in there.

If you use edible flowers, please make sure they haven't been treated.

They need to be actually edible.

So here I have a Mason jar, it's full of ice.

In this, I'm gonna go ahead and add our bourbon.

I am going to do, I like mine a little strong.

So we're gonna do an ounce of bourbon.

Now to that, I'm going to add some homemade strawberry syrup.

This is super easy to make.

We're gonna take about an ounce of strawberries.

You know, it's gonna be about five big ones.

This is gonna make a quarter of a cup of syrup approximately, so enough for about four drinks.

Approximately one quarter of cup of sugar.

We're also gonna put in about a quarter of a cup of water.

And now I'm just gonna give this a quick stir and put it on the stove top.

And we're gonna just let this cook.

We wanna do high heat until we notice it starts to boil and then turn it down.

Now, this has been cooking for about five to six minutes on the stove.

You can see the strawberries have broken down nicely, and I have kind of the syrupy consistency.

What we're gonna do next is we're gonna get this little strainer.

You can buy these at the dollar story even.

We're gonna go ahead and just pour our syrup into that.

Set your pan aside.

And now on this, you can push.

And just get a lot of that liquid out.

You're gonna wanna just chill this.

And this is your strawberry simple syrup.

Super easy, super delicious.

So to that, I'm gonna add, I'm gonna do about equal amounts.

So I'm gonna do about another ounce of strawberry syrup.

Now, I'm gonna also add some bitters.

If you don't have bitters, feel free to leave them out.

They just add a little nice flavor.

So I'm just gonna do about four little drops of bitter.

Go ahead and give that a little shake.

A Mason jar like this works really great if you don't have a cocktail mixer.

This is usually how I do mine.

And then we're gonna go ahead and take our drink and strain it right into our cup.

All right, so now I have two glasses with my mixture in.

This is the bourbon, bitters, and strawberry mixer.

I'm gonna go ahead and add a little bit of carbonated water to this.

And let's just add in a little slice of fresh strawberry.

I just think it's pretty and it's fun.

It adds a little something.

I like to leave a little green on, just a little, but slice it very thinly.

Slice it thinly like this.

And just go ahead and plop it down.

And now you have your delicious and refreshing strawberry bourbon spritzer.

Cheers.

So good.

(blues music) - We've reached the end of this tour Off 90.

Thanks for riding along.

See you next time.

But before we go, we hear a story about how streetcars revolutionized travel throughout Southern Minnesota in this history in a minute segment from the Blue Earth County Historical Society.

(soft music) - [Woman] Transportation around Mankato took a new turn in 1886 when a horse-drawn streetcar system was put into place.

This track was 20 blocks long and ran along Front Street.

With the lack of ridership, this streetcar system went defunct in 1895.

It wasn't until 1908 that another streetcar system was attempted again, this time it was electric.

May 1st, 1908 was declared streetcar day and the new lines opened for business.

This new track went along Front Street, but also up Main Street Hill and near Sibley park.

There were new tracks added in 1913 in an attempt to get new ridership.

The 1920 saw a decline in riders as the cars needed repairs and there wasn't money for it.

On March 1st, 1930, the last streetcar ran in Mankato.

For more information about historical topics, visit our website at blueearthcountyhistory.com (upbeat music) - [Presenter] Funding for Off 90 is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.