GreeningFrogtownMarchApril19

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FROGTOWN FIGURES The Archivist of Gay History Frogtowner Jean Nickolaus Tretter amassed a vast special collection, now at the University Jean-Nickolaus Tretter (who everyone calls “Gene”) lives with his beloved cat Maximillian Alexander and a huge stamp collection in a small apartment on Dale Street. His now-quiet existence hides a life history brimming with achievement and untold secrets. After all, how many St. Paul seniors have a library collection named after them? Born in Little Falls, Tretter lived in St. Paul as a teen before joining the Navy during the Vietnam War. Although by his own account he tested out of many college classes, he never formally received a degree. Nevertheless, Tretter speaks several languages, including fluent enough Russian to serve as an interpreter during secret missions to Laos and Cambodia. “I had a top-secret cryptographic code word security clearance, with presidential access,” Tretter recalls. That wasn’t the only secret Tretter was keeping. As a closeted gay man, he hid an identity that could have ruined his career. Once out of the Navy, “I started coming out of the closet as well,” he says. That’s when the collecting started. “I was always interested in studying anthropology, but I wanted to study my own gay culture, not the culture of some remote island,” Tretter explains. He began to amass gay and lesbian materials of all kinds, anything he could get his hands on. Eventually, the collection filled his apartment; thousands of books, photographs, posters and other memorabilia. “It was floor-to-ceiling in every room. I had a sleeping bag in front of the television, and that’s where I rested,” he recalls. Tretter donated his collection to the University of Minnesota Libraries in 2000. Moving the materials to the University allowed them to be better preserved and made accessible to scholars of gay history. Tretter visits his namesake collection offices often, and still serves on its advisory board. “There aren’t a lot of people like Jean in this world,” says current Tretter collection curator Rachel Mattson. “He was persistent and enthusiastic and amassed an unusually large collection, on his own salary, with no support most of his life.” Tretter is proud of the collection’s vast holding of safe sex posters from Germany, as well as the historical papers of the Minnesota AIDS Project, and an extensive series of videotaped interviews with gay, lesbian and transgender activists. A prized item is a book Tretter believes was burned by Nazis in 1 933. The volume—a biography of the Marquis de Sade—was owned by the Hirschfield Institute in Berlin. The institute and its libraries were destroyed by Nazi youth brigades, who burned its books and documents in the street. “Street sweepers called in to clean up the mess picked up the book, and eventually it made its way to a book collector in Switzerland, to another collector in Los Angeles, and finally to me,” Tretter explains. The book, with its scorched cover still intact, is kept in a “clamshell” archival box to preserve it from further damage. It can be viewed by special request. On a recent visit to the Tretter collection, Jean-Nickolaus Tretter handled the burned book carefully, but with obvious pleasure in its existence. “The fact that it was saved; that’s what makes it important,” he observed. Secrets become valuable history when they are openly shared, acknowledged, and saved. PAGE 8 MARCH/APRIL 2019
Denise Mwasyeba Denise Mwasyeba has some nuts and bolts advice for seniors staring down retirement. Get your house in order now. “I didn’t want to be living in a dump when I retired,” the 64-year old says. She’s been on a prolonged fix-up campaign since she bought her Frogtown house in 1 992. New furnace, new windows, new doors, a new garage, plenty of paint and a newlyinstalled first floor bathroom. “I didn’t want to reach retirement and be looking at a house that needed a $30,000 upgrade,” she says. Second on the list: get to know the neighbors. She and her next door neighbor are so tight that the when the neighbor fires up her giant snowblower, Mwasyeba knows her sidewalk is going to be cleared, too. In the summer she looks forward to a cup of coffee in her bathrobe while sitting on the across-the-street neighbor’s porch. Another key to happiness: keep it positive. Lots of people find lots to complain about regarding Frogtown. What Mwasyeba keeps in mind is how drastically it’s improved since she landed. The prostitutes, the drug dealing, University Ave. porn shops — all that is barely a shadow of what it was. Improvements like the light rail line and related development have made it easier to feel good about the neighborhood. “You can’t understand the present if you don’t know the past,” she says. Finally, look for ways you can contribute. “If you’re going to live here, then what are you going to do to make it better?” Mwasyeba has been involved in numerous neighborhood initiatives over the years, including the Victoria Theatre restoration project, what was then the District Seven Planning Council, St. Paul Public Schools policy making and more. “You want to feel connected to feel good about yourself and feel like you’re making a difference.” “As a senior especially, your family might be far away. Maybe your friends don’t drive, so you don’t see them. You get isolated.” The result, she observes, can be depression and other health issues. “It’s really important to stay connected, even if it’s just with the people on your block. You’ve got to have some kind of connection.” AGING IN FROGTOWN Back in 1970, when the life expectancy was 68 years, you could watch your parents get the retirement gold watch, plunk them on the porch and figure they’d be gone in a couple years. That’s changed. Less than 50 years later, the average life expectancy is 79 years — a difference that researchers describe as “a demographic revolution. ” “When in human history have we got to the point ofdesigning a new stage oflife?” asked Linda Fried, dean ofColumbia University’s school ofpublic health at a recent University of Minnesota forum on aging. You can look at this as a disaster, said Fried — all those ailing seniors gobbling up resources as they stumble toward their graves. Or you could look at it as a tremendous opportunity to put the assets ofthe elderly to work. Seniors as a group possess valuable skills, experience and habits ofmind, said Fried. They want to leave the world a better place, and figure ifnot now, when? Their emotions are more measured, their sense ofaltruism and optimism greater. They tend to have improved reasoning about social conflict and considerable creative problem-solving skills. How are Frogtown elders managing to age gracefully and happily in place? We asked some high-profile neighborhood seniors what they’ve learned about creating a third stage of life that’s engaging for them and useful to the greater community. Larry Paulson Larry Paulson and spouse, Sharon Paulson, have been fixtures in the lives of Frogtown seniors for decades. Just turned 80 himself, Paulson can still say with only a slight touch of irony, “I hope somebody helps me out when I get old.” The Paulsons have run a monthly senior potluck lunch, now located at the Nickel Joint (details below) for years. Lunch costs, plus the expense of an annual senior Halloween and Christmas party, are deferred by a yearly garage sale the Paulsons ran from their garage and yard. In addition, Larry has been a one-man chore service for his fellow elders, shoveling, mowing and making simple repairs for those who aren’t able to do the work themselves. To hear him tell it, there’s been plenty of upside. Helping others has helped him out as well. “All those things kept me active,” he says. “I want to get out and about. I don’t want to be stuck in the damn house all the time. And I enjoy meeting seniors and helping them out.” His social engagement and activity level has kept him acting younger than his 80 years. But he sees plenty of other neighborhood seniors who either by longstanding habit of mind or increasing infirmity, are prisoners in their homes. Part of the problem, he acknowledges, is brought on by a curtain of isolation that elders pull over themselves.”It’s hard to get people out of the house. They’re afraid to meet new people, to get up and introduce themselves to each other. But once they get going, then they enjoy it. Last month at the potluck I had someone tell me, ‘I hope this never goes away.’” His prescription for getting them out into the world again? “Give them my phone number,” he says. (651 224-2456). “Tell them about lunch at the Nickel Joint.” (The monthly pot luck is set for the third Friday of the month at the Nickel Joint, 501 Blair Ave. It starts at 11 , food served at 11 :30, bingo from 1 2:30 - 2. $1 donation if you bring a dish, or $2 to $3 if you have not brought a dish to share.) Winston Nguyen Winston Nguyen embodies the old country-western song, "I've Been Everywhere, Man." At 81 , the former soldier who fought in the US Fifth Division in Vietnam has lived "in Washington DC, Alaska, California, Texas, New Jersey, Florida; many places." He's been a Frogtown resident for over 30 years, lured to Minnesota by the promise of work for Honeywell. The number of places he's been gives Nguyen perspective on the neighborhood where he and his wife Dianna Bui raised a large family of 1 6, including four adopted children. "People say this is a very bad place, but no place is worse than where I fought in the war," he observes. Retired from Honeywell, as well as from interpreting for the Vietnamese community in the Ramsey and Hennepin County courts, Nguyen still keeps very busy. He stays abreast of world affairs and local politics (his daughter, Jennifer Nguyen Moore, a recent candidate for county commissioner, was vigorously supported by her dad.) He goes to Rondo library nearly every day to catch up on the news online. "I read many news media, like CBS, NBC, Time, and Vietnamese newspapers," he notes. Nguyen and Bui are familiar figures at the Midway YMCA, visiting the gym nearly every day. "I take zumba classes and ride the bicycle, go swimming and use the treadmill," he says. All that exercise helps with one aspect of Frogtown life that's less enjoyable for Nguyen: shoveling snow. "I wish there were volunteers who would shovel for older people," he says. "Right now I am shoveling out my neighbors!" — More Elders, Next Page MARCH/APRIL 2019 PAGE 9
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Page 11 and 12: FORGOTTEN FROGTOWN How Sausage Got

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