Recent content from Laura Yuen
Yuen: A memoir of rural America 'where the gay kid stays alive'
Author Taylor Brorby says stories are gateways that can show us another way to live.
Yuen: The problem with #QuietQuitting, our latest made-up workplace trend
Doing everything your job asks of you is not quitting.
Yuen: The fallacy of colorblind kids, the damage of racial silence
Talking about race won't make your kids racist.
Yuen: What does spanking do to kids? The case against hitting is settled
Were you "spanked and turned out fine"? An Augsburg professor says that's a "dangerous narrative."
Yuen: Believe Matt Birk when he shows you who he is
Has he not considered developing thicker skin, or at the very least, how to mute people on Twitter?
Yuen: Homeless no more, these Minnesota twins are now starting college
The start of the school year always carries the whiff of possibility. But for Emily and Courtney Goude, it represents something so promising that you almost ache for it.
Yuen: A (mostly) satirical peek into my inbox after a week of PTO
Thanks in advance for your prompt response so we can get the ball rolling going forward.
Yuen: Why the 6 things you tell your teen about screen time may be missing the mark
"Just shut off your phone" isn't as easy as it sounds in today's social media landscape.
Yuen: Black families have been getting away to this Minnesota lake for nearly 100 years
One St. Paul couple are grateful for elders who nudged them to purchase a lake home Up North nearly 40 years ago.
Yuen: New U of M dean learned to swim, and inspires the next generation to jump in
Nisha Botchwey, dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, is a triathlete who took her first swim lessons in her 40s.
Yuen: How to travel with just a carry-on — and a few tips if you can't
Frequent fliers weigh in on how to pack lightly to avoid this summer's travel nightmare.
Yuen: Viral comedian Charlie Berens wants us to laugh together
Beneath his shtick on Midwestern culture lies a message of hope and acceptance.
Yuen: Why we all need to chill out at our kids' sporting events
More than 6,000 soccer parents in Minnesota have taken a webinar educating them on proper sideline etiquette — and it's not just the hostile parent who's ruining the game.
Yuen: The hero of this story is a woman who launched Minneapolis' newest Black-owned bookstore
"I used to think books saved me. Now I think books let me down," said the founder of Strive Community Publishing.
Yuen: What your go-to karaoke song says about you
If you had just one track to sing, what would it be and why?
Yuen: Let's add 'revenge overscheduling' to the 2022 lexicon
Has COVID taught us nothing about the beauty of slowing down?
Yuen: The truth about mosquitoes — and what you may be doing wrong
What works — and what doesn't — to protect yourself from this summer's onslaught.
Yuen: Yes, we're actually going back to a shameful past
Elements of a terrifying, pre-Roe era are about to become our future.
Yuen: Taking your husband's last name doesn't need to be 'til death do you part
Some Minnesota women — and men — say their married names never felt quite like them.
Yuen: After devastating loss, Justin Grunewald walks in grief and finds love again
His wife, Gabriele Grunewald, an elite runner, died three years ago of a rare cancer.
Yuen: How the 'Golden Girls' of law school found friendship for life
After being a collective safety net for one another, four Minnesota women in their 50s and 60s are graduating together.
Yuen: At 94, vet preserves history of WWII linguists trained in Minnesota
Eighty years ago this month, a covert military language school was established in Savage, drawing Japanese American soldiers.
Yuen: Dear kid — If I were honest, this is what I'd tell you about how to respond to a gunman in your school
To be a parent in America today is to assure you that your school is safe — and pray that fate or a higher power will allow us to make good on our promise.
Yuen: Peggy Flanagan's Native-designed fashion choices make statement about power, identity
The lieutenant governor explains why she shows up to work in ribbon skirts and dangly earrings "beaded from love."
Yuen: If you really want more babies to be breastfed, here's what you can do
Breastfeeding is a personal choice — compounded by a number of societal factors.
Yuen: Why boys' volleyball 'feels like home' for a new generation of Minnesota players
Sometimes the answer to creating more diverse and welcoming spaces is right in front of us, if we listen.
Yuen: There's a burden in being confused for The Other Asian. Just ask my work doppelgänger
Constantly being mistaken for someone else makes you wonder if our praise is warranted and if our actual achievements are seen.
Yuen: A dancer who became paralyzed finds balance between hope and acceptance
In her new movie, first-time filmmaker Kelsey Peterson teaches us about the grace of adaptation.
Yuen: The first lady of this Nordic country can tell you why her adopted homeland leads in gender equality
Eliza Reid's adopted homeland consistently tops the charts as the best place to be a woman.
Yuen: This Mother's Day, envision a Legislature that welcomed more moms to public service
A State Senate candidate went into literal labor, but the endorsing convention went on without her.
Yuen: Navigating a 'no gifts' kids' birthday party should be a no-brainer
Why do people insist on bringing presents when the invitation clearly tells them not to?
Yuen: Why I embraced the Zoom beauty boom and got my new brows
Find yourself a girlfriend who shares her beauty secrets with you.
Yuen: N.Y. teen meets Minneapolis teacher who saved her life with bone marrow donation
Something that cost "so little" meant so much to a girl fighting for her life.
Yuen: How a Minnesota imam came to forgive two men who bombed his mosque
Many of us can't let go of bitterness even toward loved ones for far lesser transgressions. A letter from one of the bombers cemented the conviction inside of Mohamed Omar.
Yuen: How Matt Birk's rant against sex ed convinced me it absolutely belongs in elementary schools
A Twin Cities suburban school district explains why it's teaching touch, decision-making and anatomy to kids as young as 5.
Yuen: Can the coffee shop perk up downtown Minneapolis?
If coffeehouses are the lifeblood of the city's core, we may have found downtown's pulse again.
Yuen: Why students are taking mental health days off from school — and how to make the most of them
Minnesota law doesn't oblige districts to excuse student absences for the occasional day off to reset and recharge. But the idea is catching on across the country.
Yuen: How I learned to make peace with the possums in my grill
Columnist Laura Yuen is doing her best to appreciate this maligned marsupial and relative newcomer to the Twin Cities.
Yuen: The science of supernavigation — and of being hopelessly, forever lost
A new book explores the human ability to make mental maps, and why some people just can't do it.
Yuen: The top 13 signs that spring has arrived in Minnesota
It's the most wonderful time of the year.
Yuen: Minnesota-raised 'Succession' director and his brother plead for help for Ukraine
Andrij and Mark Parekh are raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis in their family's homeland after Mark's dramatic voyage out of the country.
Yuen: One year after Atlanta killings, Asian American women are still being dehumanized
The Stop AAPI Hate organization has tracked more than 6,270 hate incidents in 2021 against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. That's up 35% from the previous year. Women were the targets in 62% of the reports.
Yuen: Anxious about going back to work? First relearn the art of talking to humans
Returning to the office can be a source of trepidation for many workers. Here's what you can do.
Yuen: A bill to ban hair discrimination has wide bipartisan support, but will it pass?
This measure requires no money or heavy lifts — just clarification in our state law that hair texture and styles such as braids, locks and twists are traits associated with race — and therefore should never be the basis of unfair treatment.
Yuen: Why do crows suddenly appear? A legion of urban fans appreciate this winter phenomenon
The fascination around giant gatherings of crows seems to buck the conventional wisdom that most people despise them.
Yuen: Somali American running star Abdi Bile is a world-champion mentor
The friendship between a former Olympian and the college kid he took under his wing shows the power of mentoring — to make both individuals' lives all the richer.
Yuen: In new book, 'daughters' of a legendary Somali queen are shown in their complexity
A St. Paul writer compiled the stories of 14 Somali Minnesota women to illustrate the breadth of their experiences — and their humanity.
Yuen: KARE reporter speaks up about receiving vulgar slur from a Minnesota man
Eva Andersen was interviewing a group of men when one dropped all-too-familiar sexual obscenities on her.
Yuen: Meet the Mayo cardiologist who's improving heart health in African American communities
Dr. LaPrincess Brewer has converted skeptics into cheerleaders as she develops faith-based interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Yuen: Considering divorce? A new kind of therapy may help couples decide
Two University of Minnesota professors pioneered a short-term counseling approach to help couples determine if splitting up is the right path for them.
Yuen: Downtown Minneapolis loses some sparkle as veteran shoe shiner hangs up her brushes
During her 31 years on the job, Lisa Cotton experienced the best and worst of humanity — sometimes on the same day.
Yuen: Show me your Wordle score, and I'll show you who you are
Here's my horoscope reading for every kind of Wordle player out there.
Yuen: From Zoom to Venmo, Minnesotans make the most of another pandemic Lunar New Year
Six ways to get your Year of the Tiger off to a good start.
Yuen: A working mom's anthem to another round of quarantine
Hello, lockdown, my old friend./Here's a song that I have penned.
Yuen: Free tampons and pads in school? That's as radical as free toilet paper and hand soap
Students and community advocates are pushing for a new bill that would ensure public school restrooms are stocked with free menstrual products.
Yuen: How the Norwegian concept of 'friluftsliv' can get us through the dark time
If 2021 was the year we discovered snow pants, 2022 could be the year we go all in.
Yuen: How I learned to be an ally
Someone showed me a kindness nearly two decades ago, when I needed it most. All these years, I had never let him know how much that single display of decency stuck with me. It was time to fix that.
Yuen: For one mom and Army veteran, MOA's handling of shooting was a 'failure'
Samantha Pree-Stinson is proud of how her 15-year-old son remained calm during a lockdown, but faults the Mall of America for its haphazard response.
Yuen: I started a new job in the pandemic. Will I ever get to meet my co-workers?
This month was supposed to be when a lot of us would head back to the office. Omicron has pushed back many of those return dates.
Yuen: Start the year with a clean slate, high hopes and a magical daily planner
The shame of unfinished business will melt away if you just find the paper planner that's right for you.
Want to make a New Year's promise you can keep? Try these 11 Low Effort Resolutions
Need an emotional boost as we head into what could be another tough year? Make a resolution you know you can achieve.
Yuen: How a Minnesota TikTok dad found our funny bones through birth order
TJ Therrien has built an entire shtick from the classic stereotypes of how the youngest, middle and oldest children behave.
Yuen: Lizz Winstead finds a friend in St. Paul crop artist
"The Daily Show" co-creator says there is no greater honor for a Minnesotan than to have her likeness immortalized in seeds.
Yuen: After the postpartum death of Minneapolis doctor, it takes village to feed her son
Neighbors on one tightly woven block, still deep in their grief, can't help but smile when they refer to the donations as Project Milky Way.
Yuen: What improv can teach us about living with uncertainty
"You never know what's around the next corner, which is a lot like life," a young man with Asperger's told me.
Yuen: Diving into my son's ADHD diagnosis allowed me to see my own struggles
As a 44-year-old mom coming to terms with my own ADHD-like symptoms, I am experiencing a kind of clarity I wish I'd had decades earlier.
Yuen: Back-to-back quarantine? Welcome to the world we live in
I had just emerged from COVID isolation with one child, only to learn I'd have to do it again with a second kid.
Yuen: A whopper of a woodpecker tale for the ages
A Plymouth woman said her unwelcome visitor cost her $100,000.
Yuen: How to switch up your holiday gift-giving this year
Supply-chain worries got you down? Here's how some Minnesotans are making shopping more mindful.
Yuen: Giving thanks for the produce on our table — and the Hmong farmers who grew it
"A historical moment" is giving a brother and sister extra reason to be grateful just in time for Thanksgiving and the Hmong New Year.
Yuen: Housework is hindering the gender revolution
Women shouldn't feel the need to be the "picker-uppers."
Yuen: A shot toward normalcy for kids of the COVID generation
COVID-19 has humbled us all — even as many of us head into this next hopeful chapter of inoculating our young children from the disease.
Yuen: A Minnesota Teacher of the Year on seeing his nonbinary kid for who they are
Getting his child's pronouns right took time and practice.
Yuen: Staying strong in the face of an unrelenting woodpecker
I have survived nearly 20 months of a pandemic and the depths of distance-learning despair. As God as my witness, this bird is not going to take me down.
Yuen: Keeping women at work as they care for their aging parents
COVID-19 has only widened the caregiving chasm across gender.
