The Future of Us

What does a pandemic and a racial reckoning mean for the generation that came of age during it? Licensed therapist and author Shani Tran says that, while it has taken a toll on Gen Z’s mental health, it’s also equipped them with the emotional tools they’ll need to thrive.

COVID-19 hit Hmong Minnesotans especially hard. Of COVID-related deaths among Asian Minnesotans in 2020, nearly half were Hmong. The loss came in the midst of pandemic restrictions that forced many families to downsize their normally large and lavish funerals. As they did so, Hmong healer Xifu Yaj Ceeb Vaj says some found an opportunity to reground themselves in their culture's spiritual traditions.

The pandemic gave workers fresh evidence that business doesn’t have to operate as usual. An organizational behavior expert says it’s an opportunity to make work better for people, if we can avoid creating new inequities in the process.

The pandemic forced the Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater to temporarily close its doors. But performing online opened the door for new approaches to comedy – and new places to find validation.