A Scandinavian describes the City of Lakes

I grew up in Golden Valley, which is a western suburb of Minneapolis. I haven't lived there for awhile, but I can tell you a little bit about the people in the city and also a bit about the culture and weather. Neighborhoods may have changed so I'm not comfortable telling you about this portion of your question.

It didn't surprise me that, when the bridge on the Mississippi collapsed, so many people dove in to rescue folks in cars or offer their services in other ways. Minnesotans generally are about the kindest, most socially conscious people I know. I think they still have one of the highest taxes to fund social service networks in the country. In my college graduating class, nearly everyone had some sort of humanitarian major or minor. Simply put, Minnesotans care.

There is a thriving arts community in the city, with small theaters everywhere. The Guthrie recently built a state of the art building- this theater originally was built about 30 years ago by Tyrone Guthrie and other forward thinkers. It is highly respected in the world of live performances. And of course everyone who listens to public radio knows Garrison Keillor. His live radio show, Prairie Home Companion, is so much fun to listen to, because he knows the people of the state intimately and it shows. Write what you know bears out when you know the culture he describes, don'cha know?

Fargo was written by a couple Minnesotans my age from a suburb near where I grew up. Although Fargo isn't even in Minnesota as many people think (it's in North Dakota), there are lots of fun sayings in this movie that had me rolling. The story didn't appeal to me- in truth, I don't think this characterization accurately depicted the Scandinavian population, although there are bad seeds in every pot, right? The guys who wrote this were not of that ilk and so it didn't ring true to me. But, as I said, I did love hearing phrases I hadn't heard in years.

Juno was also written by a Minnesota stripper and filmed in the state. This movie explains a lot about people living there- they tend to be direct and honest, or come around to "clean living" once they shake off their youthful indiscretions.

Anyway, downtown Minneapolis has skyways between buildings so that during the frigid and I mean frigid winters, business people connected to the system don't even have to don coats. I worked in the heart of the city for a few years, and I loved this benefit. There are plenty of red buses that carry passengers from location to location, and a bus that runs up and down the walking mall in the center of town.

Spring and fall are breathtakingly wonderful. The ground usually turns a lush emerald green and flowers bloom everywhere in the spring and the fall colors rival anywhere back east. There are lakes within the city limits and these throng with bikers, walkers, sailors, and people simply hanging out. Summer can get very hot and humid- July is particularly bad. And mosquitoes are the state bird. But a little Cutters goes a long way toward making life in MInnesota physically pleasant and a screened-in porch also helps everyone weather those summer months.

I loved growing up in Minnesota and spending my early 20s in the city. I loved canoeing the Boundary Waters to the very north, and fishing for trout in the many, many lakes. Going to someone's cabin was always a fun summer experience. For my family and many others, life centered around the church. There are huge, active churches in the city, of all denominations.

So, why did I leave? Well, my college boyfriend married someone else and it was time for me to venture forth alone. Everyone I knew lived in Minnesota. So I took it upon myself to "go west, young woman, go west."