June 17, 2025
I am struck by the horrific parallel to my first By a Thread in the spring of 2020. I began telling stories of front line workers in a global pandemic at the end of that April.
Four weeks into By a Thread :: Pandemic Portraits, George Floyd was murdered - changing the trajectory of of our state, our nation, our world, and my little project of stories.
This past weekend, less than two weeks into this By a Thread project, and just over 5 years since Mr. Floyd's murder, our nation faces another shocking, senseless act of violence right here in the Twin Cities.
This time, Speaker Emerita of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were assassinated in their home. Additionally, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were each shot multiple times and as of this writing are thankfully recovering. And the killer had more innocent people on his list... This all took place in the early hours of Saturday, June 14, 2025.
It is almost too much to bear. And yet.
We must bear it.
We must continue to show up for each other.
We must continue to heartfully tell our stories of resilience.
Of resistance.
Of joy.
The capital, where Madame Speaker Hortman served, is located in Downtown Saint Paul.
So, I've been reflecting.
And recalibrating.
And I've added a new question to my set of questions that I ask the participants in this beautiful Downtown Saint Paul project, just as I did after the murder of George Floyd. My new question is inspired by Sophie and Colin Hortman, the children of Melissa and Mark, and the beautiful statement they released last night,
“The best way to honor our parents’ memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”
And so I ask By a Thread participants, and all of us, what can you do in your corner of the world to make things better for someone else?
Because we belong to each other. And we are all connected by a thread.