PLEASE LEND YOUR EARS: This inaugural episode of 'Powerful Stories" (PS1) features a chorus of Minnesota voices—frontline witnesses, supportive neighbors, community leaders—bearing witness to the unprecedented and antagonistic ICE surge in the Twin Cities. Their impressions are raw, immediate, and very personal. Together, they help form a portrait of a deep, diverse community refusing to fracture under pressure. To a person, this is a moment unlike any they have ever experienced. From my seat on the other side of the Atlantic, I wanted to see and hear through their eyes and ears, and to explore the sense I have that this Administration picked the wrong place to visit with retribution and heavy-handed cruelty.

Minnesota voices: Jacques Harvieux, Bill Moseley, Lenny Russo, Brent Snyder, Jerry Thom, Dmitri Wurst, Aidan Zielske, Cathy (“Dubious Aunt Deb”) Zielske, Daniel Zielske, & thoseothers who know who they are.

Ambient protest sounds recorded in Minneapolis on January 24 and January 31, 2026. Voices recorded between January 15– February 1, 2026

Please share this with people you think should hear it, and don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have stories you feel need to be told.

 'Powerful Stories' is an offshoot of 'SoftPower/FulStories' (SP/FS), focusing on inspirational community leaders and stories within the United States. SP/FS uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing. But forget politics, policy, or punditry; this is all about the stories.