School's Back

Apparently there's a new club on the U of M campus, Kinky U. Katherine Kersten wrote an interesting take on the club in today's Star Tribune. And by interesting I mean, she really has no opinion at all. It's written as an opinion piece without any real opinion behind it, which reads more like an infomercial than a piece of journalism.

School started this week and of all weeks did it really have to be this cold? The hustle and bustle of first days jitters along with the serious bite of Minnesota Winter. I lucked into rides to campus this semester, meaning no early morning waits for the bus. I am thrilled about this. I can't say it enough. THRILLED.

Yesterday in class I overheard three girls debating the upcoming Super Bowl. Only the debate wasn't over who was going to win and why, the debate was over who had the cutest butt and how one of the debaters wished Randy Moss wasn't so ugly. I've always enjoyed the fact that Minnesotan women have such a high sports IQ. I know that the appearance of the athletes isn't the #1 concern of all of these fans, but I'm sure a sigh of relief was heard across Minnesota when Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer signed to long term contracts this week.

Fighting Perceptions

From Pioneer Press:
Backers of the image makeover for Minneapolis and St. Paul say stereotypes of us - often false - need to be combated with facts. Here are a few examples:

Stereotype: It's freezing.

Rebuttal: It's not that much colder than Chicago, and it doesn't have skyways. Plus, our summers are awesome.

Stereotype: There's nothing to do but go to the Mall of America.

Rebuttal: We have museums, stores and recreation, all within the core cities.

Stereotype: There's no economy up there.

Rebuttal: We've got more corporate headquarters than Chicago, and our economy traditionally outstrips the nation's.

Stereotype: You're not very sophisticated.

Rebuttal: We've got colleges and universities everywhere, we're highly educated compared with other metropolitan areas, and Men's Journal named us "smartest" on their list of "50 Best Places to Live."

In May I was camping with some friends in Oregon. I felt myself getting defensive when describing Minneapolis. For as many issues as I've had socially in Minneapolis, I really do love the city and the state. It was funny to see this rundown of rebuttals. I'll have to remember these next time I'm confronted.

Over Where? Over There, I Never Go Over There

From MPR.com...
"Where are you from?"

"I'm from St. Paul," said Ron.
"How do feel about calling it Minneapolis-St. Paul from now on?"
"I'm not too much in favor of calling it Minneapolis-St. Paul. I don't like the name Minneapolis," Ron explained.
"I don't even go over there," Don said.
"Why's that?"
"Two reasons. I get lost is one reason. The second reason is I don't want to get beat up over there. So I stay home," said Don.

Funny, I've heard this debate from both sides. St. Paul natives rarely move to this side of the river and, while less rare, Minneapolis natives don't make the jump across the river either. For some reason, northeast Minneapolis has a better rep' with St. Paul natives. It's like we have some sort of street cred. We don't live in Uptown, we don't live in south, and heaven forbid we live in north Minneapolis.

But over here in northeast we have a bit of a working class, community, neighborhood. We have both dive and more upscale bars, restaurants, churches. Boy, do we have churches. Every other block seems to have a church on the corner. All of Minneapolis, with the exception of south, is very accessible.

Northeast Minneapolis is the closest thing St. Paul and the most accepted. I personally rarely go to St. Paul, though recently that's changed more. St. Paul just feels so far away and as I've said in a previous entry that when I first moved here smoking indoors was still legal. That immediate introduction to St. Paul soured me on it and just now has my life habits directed me back towards St. Paul.