While much of the rest of the country will be falling in line with white supremacists, renaming bases back to Confederate traitors and whatever else they can do to prop up hate and suppression, Minnesota is doing it differently, celebrating those who were here before the rest of us.
Category Archives: Geography
Iowa senator announces bill to purchase 9 Minnesota counties
From South Dakota trying to steal our western counties to random conservative secessionists trying to get away from non-white folks, Minnesota has its share of malcontents.
Now, some nutter in Iowa wants to buy nine counties. You know, all of the benefits of Minnesota but putting in none of the work. And, of course, those benefits disappear once the support of the rest of the state stays here.
Minnesota is best of class BECAUSE of the laws and mindset we have here, not in spite of it. You can’t BUY excellence, you have to BE the best. Conservatives will never know this, from the top of their party down.
After losing VP bid, Walz searches for role in pushing back against Trump
Plenty of other states have leaders sucking up to Trump. Not here. The best of luck to our governor as he prepares to fight back.
Tubi: By Any Means (2008)
One of my favorite things to watch are the Ewan MacGregor/Charley Boorman motorcycle documentaries: Long Way Round, Long Way Down…still mean to watch Long Way Up.
This series follows Boorman with a lighter crew but a way more ambitious plan to get from Ireland to Australia. It is a lot of joy with a fair mix of chaos. Unfortunately it has lost a lot of its online supporting documentation. I am now reading the book as well just in case there is stuff I missed in the show, because it looked like some things should have been touched on more.
Sadly, thus far, maybe it just was. Pity. Still fun to watch though.
Deconstructed: Ferndale Turkeys
I have been lucky – on a couple of occasions – to have the foresight to get a Ferndale turkey for Thanksgiving. It *does* make a difference and hope to do so again.
Photo gallery: Stunning images of Indigenous peoples in their traditional splendor
Human culture comes in all forms. It is interesting to see how it expresses itself. Why would anyone want to create a monoculture at all?
Variety of Ojibwe-translated children’s books are headed to immersion classrooms
One of the enjoyable things about living up here is that, on occasion, we try to respect the cultures of those who live here…and those who have been here a long time.
It isn’t perfect, of course. We’ve got our share of red-hatted racists like everywhere else. We just try not to put them in positions of power. Even St. Cloud is getting better at that. Kind of.
In any case, part of getting it right is sharing our languages, and cultures, and stories. This is a good start.
Deconstructed: Hope Butter
I know of Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl from her Appetites appearances on MPR. I did not know she had a series highlighting Minnesota food producers and restaurants. I am going to take more notice. Here’s an old school creamery still doing things the traditional way.
What Happened to Paul Wellstone’s Campaign Bus?
The Star Tribune did a similar story months ago but I couldn’t share because, well, paywall nonsense. So here is an update of Wellstone’s bus, which has just been sitting in a field for the past too many years.
Apparently you may be able to see it on the road in the near-ish future.
Here is a KSTP story I missed:
And a documentary on the bus from almost 20 years ago:
Minnesota Reformer – Good parks are worth paying for
We are about to find out which states give a damn about the public good and which are open to strip-mining the Commons.
The latter may yet happen here, but I like our odds.