In November, an obscure, now suspended Twitter account started a trend with the tweet:
"There's only ONE MONTH left in the decade. What have you accomplished?"
Responses varied from sincere to sarcastic, self-congratulatory to self-pitying, emotionally raw to professional and polished. Just as quickly, a new meme took hold — side-by-side comparison of selfies from 2010 and 2019! — and everyone moved on. Left behind were those 280-character traces of what people remembered from the previous 10 years: what stirred and shook them, what tested them and what made them proud.
We asked these Minnesotans to look back at what they've done and what they've weathered since 2010. Here are their responses:
Jessie Diggins
Cross-country skier and Olympic gold medalist
• Overcame a serious eating disorder.
• Went to my first Olympics in 2014.
• Overtrained myself and got tired. Rested, got better.
• Met the love of my life.
• Won a Gold Medal at the 2018 Olympics.
• Wrote a memoir, "Brave Enough," with co-author Todd Smith.
Lazerbeak (aka Aaron Mader)
Hip-hop producer, artist and CEO of Doomtree Records
• Made cool weird music with my cool weird friends.
• Helped create three idiot children who I actually love dearly most of the time.
• Experienced the full assault of anxiety and depression.
• Asked for help, grew, learned lots.
• Became best friends with a physical mall (@mallofamerica).
Julie Schumacher
Author and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor
• Lost two parents.
• Gained two metal hips.
• Saw two children married and gainfully employed.
• Became a satirist.
• Tried to use full and grammatical sentences whenever possible.
• Did not join Twitter.
Eric Dayton
Entrepreneur and co-owner of Askov Finlayson, Bachelor Farmer and Marvel Bar
• Settled down.
• Married up.
• Became a dad (x3!).
• Lost people I loved.
• Started businesses.
• Made mistakes.
• Learned a lot.
• Watched the North become a movement.
• Now fighting to keep it cold for my boys.
Alex West Steinman
Co-founder and CEO of co-working site the Coven
• Found my voice.
• Married my person.
• Had two kids.
• Started two businesses.
• Left a career for a purpose.
• Found my community and built a space for them.
• Made some work wives.
• Won some pretty awesome awards, but learned the best reward is love from some of the best humans on the planet.
Angela Davis
Host of "MPR News With Angela Davis"
• Lost a job I loved when I was reassigned.
• Lost 20 pounds through exercise and healthy eating.
• Grieved the loss of my mother and my grandmother.
• Celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary by renewing my vows.
• Quit a job where I felt invisible.
• Started a job where I feel seen.
John Shuster
Olympic curler and gold medalist
• Skipped three Olympic teams.
• Finished last the first time and nearly last the second.
• Married the love of my life and brought two amazing children into the world along the way.
• Realized that those three humans' love meant far more than any finish.
• Then we captured the Gold.
Christina Nguyen
Chef and co-owner of Hola Arepa and Hai Hai
• Closed my clothing store.
• Started an arepa truck.
• Made that truck into a brick & mortar.
• Married my biz partner & favorite person ever.
• Bought a strip club & turned it into a SE. Asian restaurant.
• Got nominated for a James Beard.
• Went from a team of six to 150.
• Visited 25 countries.
Jana Shortal
KARE 11 anchor and host
• Said "I am me," in an industry where I was afraid to be.
• Found my faith.
• Got engaged.
• Said I'm wrong more than I'm right.
• Started a TV show with the most talented friends.
• Realized that we are all scared sometimes, and that's OK.
Sameh Wadi
Chef and co-owner of World Street Kitchen, Milkjam and Grand Catch
• Opened 5 restaurants.
• Closed my first restaurant and felt pretty OK after.
• Wrote a cookbook inspired by my mother & late father.
• Got my mom to eat raw fish. (She still doesn't know it was raw.)
• Became a dog father, three times over.
Haley McCallum
Singer and songwriter
• Became a mother.
• Faced some demons.
• Came out (again).
• Changed my name. [She was formerly known as Haley Bonar.]
• Released a ton of music (seven LPs, five EPs, and a partridge in a pear tree).
• Received the McKnight Fellowship.
• Broke hearts, got mine broken.
• Built some bridges, burned some up.
• Wrote it all down and didn't stop.
Gavin Kaysen
Executive chef of Spoon and Stable, Demi and Bellecour
• Left my dream job in NYC to move back home to MN.
• Created 3 restaurants and a catering company and still going for more.
• Sold a home. Bought a home.
• Had two children with my amazing wife.
• Watched people grow around me to great success.
• Won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Midwest.
R.T. Rybak
CEO and president of the Minneapolis Foundation, former mayor of Minneapolis
• Did a lot of civic work that was highly scrutinized.
• Did a lot of civic work that was rarely seen.
• Had a powerful experience in ego management and that has, to my surprise, been easier than I thought.
• Made more needed change.
• Continued to cheer for the Twins through thick and thin.
