“Maang Doodem / Loon Clan.” Acrylic and ink painting by Sam Zimmerman (Zhaawanoogiizhik), January 2020. Used with the permission of Sam Zimmerman. Featured in Following My Spirit Home: A Collection of Paintings and Stories (Minnesota Historical Society, 2022), 42–43. Zimmerman writes in that book, “I envisioned a maang family swimming along the shore. He is breaking the surface to answer his mate’s call, his mate carrying their young chick on his back. I went with softer brush strokes for the sky to capture a more calm and peaceful scene.”

Etching of two loons by John James Audubon, 1836.

A monk and a volunteer paint Buddha statues inside Watt Munisotaram. Photo by Will Yetvin, April 8, 2016.

The Minneapolis-based dance group Wattanak performs at a benefit party held at Watt Munisotaram on April 4, 2012. Photograph by Hannah Comstock-Gay.

The interior of the outdoor shrine at Watt Munisotaram, featuring a reclining Buddha (middle) and a Buddha in the Dhyāna Mudrā (pose of meditation). Photograph by Will Yetvin, April 10, 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Buddha statues on a raised platform in an outdoor area of Watt Munisotaram. Photo by Flickr user Coacoabiscuit, June 18, 2022. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Buddha statues in symbolic poses (mudrās) on the lower floor of Watt Munisotaram’s main building. Visible are a Buddha in a Dhyāna Mudrā (meditation pose, at center); a Buddha in a Dharmachakra Mudrā (teaching pose, at left); and a Buddha in an Abhaya Mudrā (fearlessness pose, at right). Photograph by Will Yetvin, April 10, 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The interior of the upper sanctuary in Watt Munisotaram’s main building. Photograph by Will Yetvin, April 10, 2016.

1983—Dave Rusan had never built a guitar. He only repaired them. But now he’d been given the job of a lifetime: to create the iconic cloud guitar used in Prince’s film Purple Rain. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

Excerpt of Prince's "Purple Rain" (1984), from the album of the same name.