In Marnita Schroedl and Carl Goldstein’s Kenwood home it can be hard to decide where to sit. The living room contains a plush couch, a large oak dining table lined with a bench and six solid chairs, and a low table encircled by five squat stools. The sunroom in back has another couch, while still more chairs are tucked into every corner. More amazing than the abundance of seating is that Marnita and Carl actually need the surplus for the twenty to a hundred guests who visit their home thirty times a year. They are the founders of Marnita’s Table, a non-profit whose mission is to “ignite enduring cross cultural connections,” which they strive to accomplish by having people over for dinner.
Marnita and Carl believe that diversity is not about simple racial, religious, or economic demographics, but about individuals whose differences may not be based on appearance. One man may seem like a dapper gad-about, yet devote himself to philanthropy; a young woman who looks like a college student might spend her days working as a liaison for the Mexican consulate in St. Paul. Marnita and Carl realize most of us “live such segregated existences,” easily staying within familiar networks of people similar to us. So they create a forum, pick a theme (as varied as “Democracy: Here and There” and “Light Bulb: What Turns You On”), and invite an eclectic group for dialogue.
Walking into their crowded house for a recent dinner, it seemed like the chatty guests already knew each other, but it was quickly apparent few were acquainted—they were simply in the process of introducing themselves. This rapid meet-and-greet continued until Marnita emerged from the kitchen to begin the meal. A short woman with a shaved head, Marnita’s considerable presence owes much to the exuberance with which she speaks; she is, as her business card says, the catalyst. Her welcome was expansive, her hands and arms accompanying the words with vigorous, all-encompassing gestures.
Although Marnita’s Table officially began in 2002 in conjunction with Social Venture Partners, a philanthropic organization working with at-risk youth, Marnita has been hosting her whole life. From her first Thanksgiving living on her own in the Bay Area to dinners for her black and white friends who survived the Los Angeles riots in 1992, Marnita has honed her natural generosity with a serious intent: to make a place where everyone is welcome. Trans-racially adopted by a family in Washington, Marnita was the youngest of eight and the only adopted child. Not white enough for the white kids or black enough for the black kids, she says, the community never accepted her. At sixteen she’d had enough and transplanted herself to California, where she worked in offices and took community college classes until she could attend UCLA. Upon graduation she began work on a PhD in philosophy, but soon decided she was better suited to living life than analyzing it.
During a recent meeting, Carl sat calmly at the table while Marnita was rarely still, constantly getting up to make tea, type at her computer, hunt down a memento—all the while contributing to the conversation. Carl’s deliberate, modulated words contrast starkly with Marnita’s effervescent speech. He does not gesture as she does, but his eyes sparkle, surrounded by smile lines. As the couple speaks it’s clear they occupy common ground. They have spent their lives examining communication, he as a journalist in Asia for nearly fifteen years, she working for a PR firm in California and Words on Fire, her consulting business that provides communications, marketing, and research services. Each has experienced what it is to be the other, Carl in Asia, Marnita in the Pacific Northwest. Having lived in some of the largest, most diverse cities in the world, today they strive to infuse Minnesota with some of that cosmopolitan flavor. Shortly after moving here in the late ’90s they met at an event for their sons’ kindergarten, and over the next couple of years, Marnita says, they realized they “wanted to walk through the world the same way.” They married, established Words on Fire, and began Marnita’s Table as a way to “live what they believe.”
“The work comes naturally,” Marnita says, speaking for the couple; enjoying the impact takes more practice. Guests leave the table nourished and stimulated, with a sense of “not just gratitude, but liberation,” she says, sifting through the pile of thank-you notes they have received over the years. Marnita says guests are “charged by the mixing and mingling” and “smitten by the connection and humanity” displayed at each event. It’s the basic recipe, really, for any good party: Bring interesting people together in a warm place, give them food and drink, provide a topic of conversation, and stir.