There's a cultural phenomenon in Minnesota that was lifted from the hearts of all those Southerners who smile and say "Bless your heart!" when they really mean something much ruder. That phenomenon found itself in the state of Minnesota, where "nice" looks more like Regina George in a scarf and muffler. But in Minneapolis, they really do mean it! Bless your heart!
Okay, okay?it's not a scene from Fargo everywhere you go in Minneapolis, but no matter how hot under the collar those super-nice Minnesotans get, there's no denying they've got a dialect all their own. Now, let me rephrase this in terms our northerners will understand: "Oh yah, you betcha Fargo's a great movie but dontchaknow it's about the real deal as this here sentence?"
Anyone who isn't from Minneapolis and complains about lake effect snow need only refer to the above picture. I'd recommend carrying it around to put any Southerner complaining about an inch of snow in their town -- just as any person from Minneapolis is bound to do. Where else does it stay under freezing from October until March, or where your car could be blanketed by a passing snowplow? Speaking of driving in winter...
Out here in California, I might need to break out the scraper to get the frost off my windshield during the winter, but in Minneapolis, it's a different story. You might spend an hour getting the snow off your car only to find it actually isn't your car or brave subzero temperatures on your bicycle (more on that later), and no one would bat an eye when you got to the office and told them about your terrible morning commute. After all, they most likely just did the exact same thing.
You have your bike gloves, clipless pedals, aluminum body (carbon fiber if you're truly hardcore) and you actively participate in weekend bicycle activism. Just like all of your friends. Even if you don't bike around the city, you know this stereotype is true. And you're livid about it.
If you come to Hennepin and Lagoon and get overrun by a throng of flannel-clad, fixie-riding, novelty-beard-maintaining youths, don't be alarmed. Just remember?you're in Uptown, the Minneapolis equivalent of Silverlake, Williamsburg or the Mission. With a neighborhood motto like "Normally out of the ordinary," the street scene in Uptown has gone crunchy. Just duck into Liquor Lyle's to enjoy a neighborhood institution if it's a little too much.
Call me biased, but there isn't a city as LGBT-friendly as San Francisco. But the people of Minneapolis have made their city a strong runner-up. Between the fourth-highest population of LGBT people in America, its ranking on Advocate magazine's Gayest Cities list for multiple years and, most importantly to these northern folks, the Twin Cities Gay Hockey Association, is it any wonder people in Minneapolis go buckwild when Twin City Pride rolls around?
Everyone has at least one artist-friend in their circle, but what sets them apart is that these artists don't have day jobs. Beyond that, nationally-recognized institutions like the Guthrie Theater and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts make for a community that clearly values the arts more than most in North America.
So while my Michigan friends are all going to burn me in effigy for saying this, it is really true that every person in the city of Minneapolis loves their home baseball team, but more than that, they love their Gold Glove-winning, AL MVP-ing, 2009 batting-average-leading baseball living legend. Lucky number 7 is the King of Twins Territory.
As a good friend put it, "Minneapolis is the girl you date, St. Paul is the girl you marry." So the tough part is actually finding a reason to make your way over to Minneapolis' (generally) worse twin city when people can have it all here?music at First Avenue, art at the MIA, good food at Hell's Kitchen, plus all the recreation they can ask for. Maybe you'll slump back when Monday comes around, since everyone plays in Minneapolis and works in St. Paul.
