Not Your Typical Day At The Grocery Store

Originally Posted in June, 2005

I recently created some poems that reflected a local flavor to my newly adopted hometown. The Cities, also known as the Twin Cities or, to be more specific, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, has a lot of flavor for a place primarily known for its winters. I can see a lot of the places I've been throughout my years here. This is perhaps why I truly feel comfortable being a resident here. It's been a long time since I can honestly say that.

One of the poems talk about a rather unusual trip to a grocery store in the area, "The Rainbow on Arcade." Let me say right off that the title alone is not a code. Let me explain...


Rainbow is a local supermarket chain here in Minnesota. It is a part of the Roundy's supermarket conglomerate out of Wisconsin. Needless to say, it is not the first or second choice for my grocery shopping. Most of the Rainbows I've been in have been trashy and kinda old. Well, some Cub Foods and smaller local chains also feel that way, but it depends on the neighborhood or the age of the building.

When I think of Rainbow, I think of Copp's back in Madison (owned by the same company), Giant in the DC area and Hughes back in L.A. I wonder if Hughes is still in business? Sure, one can say "you've shopped at one supermarket, you've shopped 'em all!" Unless you shop at Lunds, Byerly's, Kowalski's, the Sentry at Hilldale, some Ralph's and Safeways and even Gelson's, If you lived in L.A., you might remember Gelson's.

I currently live in Saint Paul, a city known for being a rough on the edges in most places. This is where Minneapolis and Saint Paul become different. Minneapolis has this reputation for being mostly white collar, artsy and exciting. Saint Paul is a blue collar town with a few hidden treasures. It also Minnesota's state capital.

The neighborhood in Saint Paul I live in is mainly blue collar. Some parts are OK, other parts are very rough. Phalen-Payne on the city's East Side could be seen as an older version of Reseda. I also see it as maybe parts of Oakland, San Jose, San Diego or Santa Ana. Some even say it reminds them of some of Chicago's Near South Burbs or parts of the South Side. This gives you an idea of what the flavor of my 'Hood is, which is really very diverse in terms of race, class and language. You can hear Spanish, Hmong and Thai along with English and, sometimes, Somali on the streets of the Phalen-Payne.

Some of may have seen the scenario the poem portrays: kids going crazy because mom forgot to get breakfast only to find themselves inches away from grandma in her Buick. This can happen anywhere. Even in rich suburbs.

All of this comes back to a memory of one of my influences. The late Robin Harris is this crazy comedian out of South Central L.A. His routine is to insult  anyone in the audience by "raggin'" (or "baggin'" as we used to back home) on that person for a few minutes. An outgrowth of his routine is the animated film "Bebe's Kids." He talks about a group of latch-key kids who think they can do anything because mom's not around. They would go crazy! The imagination runs wild to the point of the context of "Lord of The Flies."

One thing I will not suggest doing is calling any child, no matter what race or class they are in, a "Bebe's Kid." Especially in front of their mother.