All posts filed under: Animals and Environment

Report Card: Year Two of the Trump Administration

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

Shortly after the elections in November, 2016, Little Laos on the Prairie responded with an article assessing possible implications for the Lao community in the coming years ahead. On January 30th, 2018, President Trump delivered his first State of the Union address following a year that was filled with many challenges from all fronts. Expectations are understandably high, because 2018 is also the year for US midterm elections, which will be hotly contested. On the line are 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 of 100 seats in the United States Senate, in addition to 39 governorships among other key positions. Under a normal presidency, the President’s party, historically, loses majority control of Congress. This is not necessarily a given in 2018, but current polling suggests that Democrats may be on track to significant victories across the country in November. CNN has called Minnesota ground zero for the midterms, saying “The governor’s office, as many as five House seats and not one but two Senate seats are up for grabs.” And …

From Secret Wars to Spinosaurs

Published by Bryan Thao Worra

A few weeks ago, Little Laos on the Prairie co-editor, Bryan Thao Worra presented in Minneapolis at Rev. Matt’s Monster Science on the dinosaurs of Laos. Here are some highlights! Strangely enough, dinosaurs aren’t the first animals you think of when it comes to the land once known as the Realm of a Million Elephants. However, as we draw nearer to the release of the new Jurassic Park movie, it’s as good a time as any to think about the Terrible Lizards of Southeast Asia! For our Minnesota readers, a little bit of context, we have almost 13,000 Lao and 60,000 Hmong who came to this state after the Secret War in Laos, which took place concurrently to the Vietnam War. Many of you may not realize that Laos is about the same size as Minnesota or Utah and nearly 70% of our homeland is covered in dense forest and mountains, as well as vast limestone caves and swamplands that would easily rival any episode of Land of the Lost. However, dinosaur research in Laos was understandably slow considering that …