#Midwest-Great Lakes Area

[thorsenmark]

Only Wanting Fresh Air (Indiana Dunes National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking along the shores of Lake Michigan in Indiana Dunes National Park with a view looking to the northwest on an overcast afternoon. In composing this image, I decided to use some of the dunes nearby and create a more layered approach with the shoreline and then waves coming in across Lake Michigan.

[ramblingeekette]

One thing that seems uniquely Wiscosin is how hyped everyone gets in the spring when the sturgeon spawning run starts. Like everyone flocks to specific points along the main rivers to watch these funky lake dinosaurs get it on.

[ominousvibez]

Okay I'm still thinking about the Amity Park in Ohio thing so here's my proposal for this idea:

Reasons That Amity Park Should Be in Ohio (By Someone Who's Lived In Ohio For 2+ Years)

#1 It's Definitely A Great Lake State

Amity Park has never been stated to be officially in one specific state, just vaguely central United States, possibly somewhere around the Great Lakes area. That specific area is often referenced by other characters in the show. Urban Jungle shows Undergrowth's roots stretching out from this general area, and the Lake Eerie mentioned in the show might just literally be Lake Erie.

Of course it's kinda cartoony and I honestly have no idea if those mountains in the bottom right corner are meant to be the Appalachia area or not but it vaugely looks like the Great Lakes area

Because of this screenshot, I think most of the fandom headcanons Amity Park to be somewhere in Illinois, possibly close to Chicago, but we can basically point at any Great Lakes state and say "yeah that fits".

For my non-American friends, it's this general area of America (specifically Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio)

But I'd also like to say that cartoons do have a tendency to fudge some details about geography (or completely change the states a la Steven Universe) so the map might not be 100% accurate. But with the map, it could technically be any Great Lakes State, so why not OHIO?

Which btw I'm going to be counting as a Midwest state for this analysis. Some people can argue it isn't, but from my experience living here in Ohio there are a lot of Midwestern tendencies. It's more like Ohio is the border state between the Eastern states and the Midwest, so it gets a mix of both.

B*tch H*rtman (as much as we don't like to talk about him) was also born in Michigan, which is a state in the Midwest, so some of Amity Park could be based (consciously or not) on the towns he grew up in there. But because of him I'm ruling out Michigan the state as a whole and Wisconsin for states Amity Park could be in.

#2 It Takes Four Days To Get To Wisconsin, Apparently?

In Season 1, Episode 7, when they travel to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin, Jazz says it will take "four days" to get from Amity Park to Vlad's Mansion (Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, basically). The geography is a little off for every midwestern/Great Lakes state except maybe New York if you're gonna count that but Amity Park does not feel like it'd be in New York state.

Ohio is the furthest Midwest Great Lakes state from Wisconsin. Case closed there. Of course, it doesn't take four days to get from Ohio to Wisconsin. It can roughly vary from 10 to 15 hours, depending on route options (such as avoiding highways and stuff), but still.

It's a road trip, so it makes more sense that they'd take longer to get there-- plus realistically people don't tend to drive 10 hours on a road trip, they probably stopped through the trip and spent the night in their RV.

#3 They Got Beaches?

Amity Park does exist near a body of water. It isn't clear if it's a lake, river, or ocean in the show. It could be a lake. There's also the area in Frightmare, where Nocturne literally takes up space in some sort of port building/factory that gives the audience the assumption that it's on a pier/port. So they're really next to a body of water.

There is also the summer camp that Danny and his friends attend in Claw of the Wild which is said to be on Lake "Eerie". Which could easily just be Lake Erie, the lake that Ohio is on.

Also Camp Skull and Crossbones?? What an iconic camp name. You could say the name is pretty,,,,,, camp (ba dum tss).

#4 Ohio's Just Like... Very Haunted

Ohio has kinda become a meme recently. Not just one specific part of Ohio, but the entire state. The memes are mostly good fun-- like how the state is mostly just corn -- but I think some of the ~vibes~ of Ohio just fit right.

Like, there's no definite way to say which U.S. State is the most haunted (I think either the New England area or maybe Louisiana could take the #1 spot) but Ohio is definitely something else. Of course, we have the baby bridges and the haunted penitentiaries like Ohio State Penitentiary, but there are some interesting places that could be played with, too.

For one, there's an entire abandoned town called Helltown, Ohio, where rumors are cultists perform Satantic rituals, mutant creatures roaming the city created by an oil spill, and even a giant snake? There's also a place literally called the Gateway to Hell, too, which is right behind a Tim Horton's (oddly fitting).

Bobby Mackey's is also in Ohio! If you've ever seen Buzzfeed Unsolved, you know what I'm talking about.

There are also less hell-related spooky things in Ohio. Like, Lake Erie has its own Monster! We call her Bessie. Danny could definitely befriend Bessie!!!

#5 It'd Be Funny

It'd be funny for Amity Park to be in Ohio. The Most Haunted Place in America to be in Ohio is just kinda funny. With how "cursed" of a reputation Ohio seems to have in a larger cultural context, doesn't it kinda just fit?

TLDR:

Ohio is a very cursed state, has a lot of supernatural lore to it, and I think Amity Park would fit in both thematically and almost geographically. Of course, other Midwestern States like Illinois do fit the bill, too, in this argument. But I am a firm "Amity Park is in Ohio" supporter.

[rotzaprachim]

some smaller bookstores, presses, and museum shops to browse and know about! Most support smaller presses, diverse authors and authors in translation, or fund museums and arts research)

(disclaimer: the only three I’ve personally used are the Yiddish book center, native books, and izzun books! Reccomend all three. Also roughly *U.S. centric & anglophone if people have others from around the world please feel free to add on

birchbark books - Louise Erdrich’s book shop, many indigenous and First Nations books of a wide variety of genres including children’s books, literature, nonfiction, sustainability and foodways, language revitalization, Great Lakes area focus (https://birchbarkbooks.com/)

American Swedish institute museum store - range of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American/midwestern literature, including modern literature in translation, historical documents, knitters guides, cookbooks, children’s books https://shop.asimn.org/collections/books-1

Native books - Hawai’i based bookstore with a focus on native Hawaiian literature, scholarly works about Hawai’i, the pacific, and decolonial theory, ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, and children’s books Collections | Native Books (nativebookshawaii.org)

the Yiddish book center - sales arm of the national Yiddish book center, books on Yiddish learning, books translated from Yiddish, as well as broader selection of books on Jewish history, literature, culture, and coooking https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/

ayin press - independent press with a small but growing selection of modern judaica https://shop.ayinpress.org/collections/all?_gl=1kkj2oo_gaMTk4NDI3Mzc1Mi4xNzE1Mzk5ODk3_ga_VSERRBBT6X*MTcxNTM5OTg5Ny4xLjEuMTcxNTM5OTk0NC4wLjAuMA..

Izzun books - printers of modern progressive AND masorti/trad-egal leaning siddurim including a gorgeous egalitarian Sephardic siddur with full Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration

tenement center museum -https://shop.tenement.org/product-category/books/page/11/ range of books on a dizzying range of subjects mostly united by New York City, including the history literature cookbooks and cultures of Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, First Nations, and Irish communities

restless books - nonprofit, independent small press focused on books on translation, inter and multicultural exchange, and books by immigrant writers from around the world. Particularly excellent range of translated Latin American literature https://restlessbooks.org/

olniansky press - modern Yiddish language press based in Sweden, translators and publishers esp of modern Yiddish children’s literature https://www.etsy.com/shop/OlnianskyBooks

https://yiddishchildrensbooks.com/ - kinder lokshen, Yiddish children’s books (not so many at the moment but a very cute one about a puffin from faroese!)

inhabit books - Inuit-owned publishing company in Nunavut with an “aim to preserve and promote the stories, knowledge, and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” Particularly gorgeous range of children’s books, many available in Inuktitut, English, French, or bilingual editions https://inhabitbooks.com/collections/inhabit-media-books-1

rust belt books - for your Midwest and rust belt bookish needs! Leaning towards academic and progressive political tomes but there are some cookbooks devoted to the art of the Midwest cookie table as well https://beltpublishing.com/

[wiisagi-maiingan]

It's snowed twice here. Twice. I live in the midwest, right next to the Great Lakes. We should be BURIED in snow right now and my area has just gotten light dustings and one snowfall heavy enough to create a tiny snowman that was melted by the next day.

It's January and there's barely visible frost on the ground. What the fuck.

[dimity-lawn]

I don't know how to best arrange this poll, because once you get past the 5 basic regions of the 48 contiguous states that everyone can agree on, it seems that everyone wants to draw different boundaries and set different criteria to classify the different regions.

For the sake of staying on the same page, please refer to the map below before answering.

As always, feel free to elaborate and/or answer at any time in the notes*, even if you’ve missed the poll.

If any of you feel like including your state or other area, you can include that in the notes*, but I don’t expect anyone to actually do so.

*Or, I suppose you could message me if you don’t want everyone to know , or send an anonymous ask if for some reason you want to do that but don’t want to say who you are, but I’m guessing that at that point you simply wouldn’t bother.

[legofemme]

Zoology/enviro internships are like heres everything you need. We are 100000 miles away. No we will not pay you.

Finds an internship willing to accept me. Fulfills all the boxes i need for my career. 30-40 hour work weeks... i live 2 hours away. Unpaid. Hell on earth

[clove-pinks]

Is there anything about your new location (the terrain, the local culture, the physical sites, etc) that has given you a new perspective on regional events of the War of 1812?

This a wonderful ask, thank you! I have been mulling over how to answer it all day! This ended up getting so long I put it behind a cut (I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS).

The Maumee River, as seen from Fort Meigs Historic Site.

One thing new in my life is a heightened awareness of important rivers facilitating the movement of trade, supplies, and settlement. Particularly in the Old Northwest/current Midwest of the USA: regions that I grew up perceiving as a land-locked "flyover country."

Like, to give one example, I had a vague idea that there was a city called Fort Wayne, Indiana, but I thought it was just in the middle of a cornfield for no reason(?). But actually it's at the confluence of the St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Maumee Rivers, leading to the Great Lakes! The strategically important location is why General Anthony Wayne—that guy again—built the original fortification in 1794. I am downriver of all of this, connected to many inland waterways.

I also have a keen sense of living in the Great Black Swamp, despite how dramatically the land has been transformed by deforestation and drainage. There are the terrifying drainage ditches everywhere (the locals seem less perturbed by them), and many other signs of the natural state of the terrain—the swamp is just barely at bay. My coworkers have said "Black Swamp" unprompted in our conversations; I've seen it mentioned in local Facebook groups talking about the need for back-up sump pumps. The idea that people of northwest Ohio have no sense of history and are unaware of the Great Black Swamp isn't true at all.

I look at the pools of water that form in every hollow and think of the words of Alfred Lorrain, marching to Fort Meigs:

We had frequently to pass through what was called, in the provincialism of the frontiers, "swales"—standing ponds—through which the troops and packhorses which had preceded us had made a trail of shattered ice. Those swales were often a quarter of a mile long. They were, moreover, very unequal in their soundings. In common they were not more than half-leg deep; but sometimes, at a moment when we were not expecting it, we suddenly sank down to our cartridge-boxes.

Swale is a new word in my vocabulary, and now I see them everywhere!

Culturally, I think there is a great appreciation of history here: a very positive difference from the Chicagoland area. Even if the average local is probably not deeply into it, they have a consciousness of major historical events that have shaped their region and take pride in it. It's a lot more like New England that way.

Because of my focus on the War of 1812, I notice the absence of Indigenous people and voices—absent from historical accounts and from the demographics of Perrysburg and its environs today. I can't single out Ohio as being a uniquely violent settler-colonial state when this is ALL of the United States; but it hits different when I have this much greater familiarity with who was forcibly removed from this land, and how. The same US military leaders who fought in the War of 1812 were behind the (very much related) campaign for the removal of Native Americans from newly acquired territories, including the infamous Trail of Tears.

Once again, it's probably hypocritical for me to notice this so much, when I literally grew up on Wampanoag land where King Philip's War was fought, but here I am. Suddenly aware of General Wayne's name on everything, etc.

General Wayne's spurs in the Fort Meigs Museum. Not pictured: the can of Maumee Bay Brewing Co. Fallen Timbers Ale that I am currently drinking.

I haven't had the chance to explore physical sites with historical significance beyond Fort Meigs and Fallen Timbers. I know I will get to the ruins of Fort Miamis soon, and I really want to explore a lot of wetlands in local parks and nature preserves (that will double as birdwatching excursions). I am always thinking about what this place looked like 200 years ago, and what I can see today that might still look familiar to a person from that time.

I had a great trip to the National Museum of the Great Lakes today, which is closer than I thought! Local maritime museums are also on my agenda, even if they're not specifically War of 1812-related.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, or UCS, called “Wetlands in Peril,” argues that farmers can play a key role in protecting and restoring wetlands in the Upper Midwest, even as federal policy has paved the way for industrial agriculture to degrade and destroy wetlands in recent decades. 

Wetlands are critical to the health of the region and the planet. Along with providing critical habitat for many species, they help mitigate the impacts of floods and other extreme weather events, act as filters that improve water and soil quality, and store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. They’re important to Indigenous communities; in northern Michigan and other areas around the Great Lakes, for example, wetlands are necessary habitat for manomin, or wild rice. 

But they’re increasingly rare: Around half of wetlands in the continental United States have vanished since the 1780s, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the rate of loss has gone up in recent years. The expansion of large-scale agriculture is among the leading forces that have driven this decline, especially in places like the heavily agricultural Upper Midwest.

Stacy Woods, the author and research director for food and environment at UCS, decided to look into the intersection of agriculture and wetlands after the Supreme Court ruled last year in favor of an Idaho couple who were filling in wetlands on their property. The case, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, narrowed the definition under which wetlands could be protected under the Clean Water Act and fundamentally changed their protections, even as risks posed by climate change means they’re more vital than ever. 

A key solution lies in the farm bill, Woods said — specifically, in strengthening policies that encourage farmers to take part in conservation, restoration, and sustainability efforts. The report says initiatives like the Farmable Wetlands Program, which pays farmers to restore wetlands on their property, and the Conservation Stewardship Program, which helps farmers expand on existing conservation practices like planting cover crops, help improve the environment and make it more resilient to climate-driven flooding. 

“Healthy soil acts like a sponge,” Woods said. “It sucks up and holds onto excess fertilizer and pesticides and manure and all of those things that can become pollution if it runs off of this agricultural land and into waterways.”

Conserving wetlands could have enormous financial benefits, saving the region between $323 billion and $754 billion in flood mitigation in the long term, the report says, “only a fraction of the total benefits that wetlands offer to the Upper Midwest — and what will be lost if they are destroyed.”

[dertaglichedan]

Polar vortex heading for US sending temperatures plunging and making January the coldest for a decade

A polar vortex headed for the US could bring cold winds and low temperatures this week, making January the coldest month in over a decade. 

According to the National Weather Service, the arctic blast will affect a large swathe of the country, arriving in the northern Rockies and expected to have spread to the East Coast by New Year's Day. 

'A significant pattern change is expected across much of the country as an Arctic Outbreak is forecast to spread form the Northern Plains to the south and east, leading to exceptionally high probabilities of below-normal temperatures expected across much of the East', the NWS said. 

The plunge will bring wind chills across the Midwest with temperatures dipping below zero in at least 30 states. 

'The coldest air of the season to date and dangerous wind chills chills are likely across many areas of the Southeast', the NWS warned. 

In some areas, temperatures are forecasted to reach an average of around 20 degrees, while freezing conditions in the Gulf coast and even Florida could be expected. 

Snowfall is also possible across parts of the Southern Plains and the Southeast with the potential for heavy snowfall expected in the Appalachians, Ohio Valley, the Great Lakes and the Northeast.  

A further drop in temperatures is expected next week, and below normal temperatures are predicted to affect central and eastern US during much of January. 

[thorsenmark]

A Morning Stroll Along the Shores of Lake Michigan in Indiana Dunes National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the west while taking in views and walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Mount Baldy area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Now that Kamala Harris is our de facto nominee, she still needs to pick a running mate to complete the ticket. I mentioned in my previous post that my endorsement for Harris’s running mate will be on this entry. Here are some of the picks under consideration: Roy Cooper, Andy Beshear, Mark Kelly, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Tim Walz. [...] My pick for Kamala Harris’s running mate will be… Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Why Walz? He is from Minnesota, a state that is Democratic-favored but not fully safe, and could help in the critical Upper Midwest/Great Lakes wall. Walz has signed multiple progressive bills into law in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, especially after the Dems got the trifecta. Prior to becoming Governor, Walz served as a Congressman in an area of the state that was trending away from the Democratic Party in most of that district, thus he can communicate to swingy and former Democratic areas well. Walz has a progressive outlook with a moderate temperament, which would be an asset. Whoever Harris’s VP pick is, let’s unite to elect her and her VP pick to the Presidency come this fall!

My latest in Substack: I unveil my preferred choice to be Kamala Harris's Vice President: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Read the full post on Substack.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Prairie Day

National Prairie Day, on June 3 this year, celebrates the beauty and ecological value of this often-overlooked ecosystem. Spanning more than a dozen American states and several Canadian provinces, the North American prairie is a vast grassland that offers more biodiversity and beauty than most people realize. With their endless, gently rolling plains and highly productive soils, prairies have been a valued location for farming and ranching for thousands of years. Today, only 1% of tallgrass prairie in the United States remains untouched by farming or development. National Prairie Day promotes the appreciation and conservation of America’s native prairies.

History of National Prairie Day

The United States is home to a dazzling array of geographies and environments. Some, like the towering redwoods of California or the majestic cascades of Niagara Falls, enjoy worldwide reputations as media darlings and tourist hotspots. Other ecosystems, like the humble prairie that covers much of the interior United States, receive fewer accolades but play crucially important roles in the development of the nation.

Defined as a flat grassland with a temperate climate and derived from the French for ‘meadow,’ ‘prairie’ has become almost synonymous with the expansion of the American frontier. Flanked by the Great Lakes and the grandiose Rocky Mountains, the North American prairie extends across 15% of the continent’s land area. Other examples of similar grasslands around the world include the pampas in Argentina, the Central Asian steppes, and the llanos of Venezuela.

There’s more to the prairie than meets the eye. In fact, tall grass prairies host the most biodiversity in the Midwest and provide a home for dozens of rare species of animals and plants, including bison, antelope, elk, wolves, and bears.

Native prairies face extinction as more and more land is converted to agricultural and ranching use. Due to its rich, fertile soil, prairie land is prized for agricultural use. Around the world, almost three-quarters of agricultural regions are located in grassland areas. With only 1% of tallgrass prairie in the U.S. remaining untouched, the American tallgrass prairie is now one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet. The Missouri Prairie Foundation launched National Prairie Day in 2016 to raise awareness and appreciation for the nation’s grasslands. The organization seeks to protect and restore native grasslands by promoting responsible stewardship, supporting acquisition initiatives, and providing public education and outreach.

National Prairie Day timeline

6000 B.C. The Prairie Forms

The North American prairie forms roughly 8,000 years ago when receding glaciers give way to fertile sediment.

1800s The American Prairie Decimated

Throughout the 19th century, farmers and ranchers, excited about the rich potential of prairie soil, convert almost all of the American prairie to farmland and grazing land.

Early 1930s The Dust Bowl

The combination of years of mismanagement, the stock market crash, and drought conditions come to a head as thousands of families in Oklahoma, Texas, and other parts of the Midwest lose everything when their farms fail, driving them to California and elsewhere to seek work in more fertile fields.

2016 First National Prairie Day

The Missouri Prairie Foundation launches the National Prairie Day campaign to promote awareness and conservation of the vanishing ecosystem.

National Prairie Day FAQs

Why don't prairies have any trees?

The environment of the prairie, with its flat terrain, regular droughts, and frequent fires, is uniquely suited to grasses that don’t require a lot of rainfall or deep soil to thrive.

Why are prairies important?

The prairie provides an irreplaceable home for hundreds of plant and animal species, as well as exceedingly fertile soil for human agriculture and ranching. Prairie destruction has had catastrophic effects, like the Dust Bowl that decimated American farms in the 1930s. Prairies also contribute to the conservation of groundwater.

Why did the Dust Bowl happen?

The Dust Bowl disaster that swept the U.S. and Canada in the 1930s had several natural and man-made causes, including severe drought and a failure to properly manage farmland and conserve precious topsoil. A series of intense dust storms wiped out agriculture, eroded the soil, and left the land unable to produce crops.

National Prairie Day Activities

Learn about the prairie

Donate to a conservation group

Plan a visit to a famous prairie

Do a little research to learn about this important American ecosystem and the role it has played in the cultural and economic development of our country.

If you're concerned about the loss of the American prairie, donate to a grasslands conservation group to support their work.

Do you live near a prairie? Try finding the grassland nearest you and plan a visit.

5 Interesting Facts About Prairies

‘Prairie schooners’

Dogtown

Where the buffalo roam

Carbon hero

Rising from the ashes

During the 1800s, when Americans embarked on the long journey westward, their covered wagons were often referred to as ‘prairie schooners.’

Prairie dogs live in vast networks of underground burrows called ‘towns,’ which can cover hundreds of acres and house thousands of prairie dogs with complex social relationships.

When Europeans first arrived in North America, up to 60 million bison roamed the plains — by 1885, there were fewer than 600.

Prairies can help fight climate change — one acre of intact prairie can absorb about one ton of carbon each year.

On the prairie, wildfires can actually be a healthy thing — with more than 75% of their biomass underground, prairie plants are uniquely suited to surviving and thriving after a fire.

Why We Love National Prairie Day

The prairie often gets overlooked

Native grasslands are critically endangered

It reminds us of the diversity of America's ecosystems

It's not often we remember to celebrate grasslands, yet the prairie plays an important role in America's cultural past and environmental future.

With only 1% of America's native prairie remaining, it's more urgent than ever to conserve and protect this vital resource.

The United States has more environmental variety than almost any other country on earth. Celebrating each unique ecosystem reminds us to appreciate and protect all the beauty our country has to offer.

Source

[stpansy]

v sincere question but in ur edxperience do a lot of ppl from the midwest like fob? i feel like i see a lotta ppl from that area on here/twitter posting about the fall out men and also like the great lakes

honestly yeah! i'm from appalachia originally and i've lived in the part of OH that heavily blends the midwest with appalachia most of my life but people really love fob here and their shows are insane even when they're just festivals--the first time i ever saw them was bunbury music fest in cincinnati in 2019 where they were headlining and literally every person i talked to was just there for them. not to mention on a household basis they're still very popular. they're very beloved by us over here, like even amongst ohioans it's kinda like. well those are our guys<3

[186-3]

how would you rate Minnesota as a state?

ah, minnesota. the land of 10,000 lakes. a state mostly known for... uh... tim walz? what do most people know minnesota for? i don't actually know

(SORRY FOR THIS BEING SO LATE I HAVE SO MUCH TO WRITE YOUR STATE IS SO COOL)

but that's not gonna stop me from rating it! once again, we have five categories: political, culture, nature, urban, and transit:

political rating: 7/10. minnesota hasn't voted for a republican at a statewide level since tim pawlenty was reelected as governor in 2006 (i actually had to look that up!), but it very, very nearly elected a republican to the senate in 2008: al franken won in 2008 by a mere 300 votes. in fact that election was so hotly contested that franken was not certified as having won the election until nearly july 2009.

but that's history. nowadays, minnesota only has one thing that makes it politically interesting nowadays, and that is its upper and lower chambers, which are both much swingier than the state is at every level. but because the governorship is unlikely to swing red anytime soon, that hopefully won't result in republicans being able to pass a serious conservative agenda.

which is great! when democrats took the minnesota senate in 2022, they passed an enormous amount of really cool laws, including trans rights protections and a free school lunch program.

fortunately, or unfortunately from the perspective of this rating, it also means the state can be kinda boring from a political standpoint. every since tim walz and rick nolan left the house, and ever since colin peterson got his butt kicked, minnesota hasn't had a competitive federal race. so, minnesota has great policies, but otherwise, it isn't very politically interesting.

culture rating: 9/10 i think most people who know minnesota would say that you can pretty easily divide minnesota into two places: the twin cities area, and the rest of the state. but i think that's an oversimiplification. to me, we can actually divide minnesota cleanly into 3 sections.

we can start by looking at rural southern and western minnesota. these are more traditionally midwestern farming communities, which i assume come with all of the charms of traditional midwestern culture. while i'm sure they have their own minnesota-specific traditions... so does the rest of the midwest. this isn't a dig at rural minnesota - far from it, i'm sure it's great! i just don't know much about it aside from "midwestern"

then there's northeastern minnesota, which is vastly different from what you might expect of the rest of the midwest. it's the home of the iron range - a massive swath of land primarily used for mining metals.

it also contains duluth, one of the world's furthest inland port cities, which is insane, because it's kinda located smack in the middle of the continent. but it serves as the end of the saint lawrence seaway, which means a lot of the surrounding area - including the iron range mines - use it for shipping.

and best of all? the area is heavily unionized! most of those port workers and miners in northeastern minnesota are part of collective bargain units! isn't that awesome? 10/10 culture for northeast minnesota.

and last but not least is the twin cities of minneapolis and saint paul - the state's largest city and capital, respectively. despite minnesota having a reputation of being white and midwestern, the twin cities area is very diverse. it has the largest hmong community in the entire united states. it's also home to one of the largest somali communities in the US, and is represented in congress by a somali american, ilhan omar. all this diversity adds a humongous amount to the culture of the area.

so yeah. minnesota culture is awesome.

nature rating: 4/10 okay this one might sound kinda controversial, and maybe it's just because i've never been to minnesota before, but from what i can gather, minnesota's nature primarily consists of lakes, rivers, and more lakes. and there's nothing wrong with that - they have really cool ecosystems. plus, the mississippi river starts in minnesota, as does the saint lawrence seaway.

but... what else does minnesota have? yes, the lakes and rivers and stuff are cool. the source of the mississippi is neat, as is voyageurs national park and the entire grand portage. but... it doesn't strike me as anything amazing. there isn't very much nature in minnesota that you can't find elsewhere in the country.

and this feels wrong, because minnesota, from what i can tell, is known as a very outdoorsy, natural state. but i think that more speaks to the success of their urban areas, which i will get to now:

urban rating: 8/10 minneapolis is hands down one of the best cities in the united states from a zoning and layout perspective. it has a lot of nature integrated into it, with lots of bike paths encouraging people to exercise and take non-invasive forms of transit, and lots of parks around the city - which i imagine is why people perceive of minnesota as a very nature-y, outdoorsy state.

it also has perhaps the best zoning laws in the country. it was the first city in the country to abolist single family housing, which has lead to it being one of the only growing cities in which rents fell, due to the influx of housing. minneapolis is awesome.

but. minneapolis is not the entire state.

i don't know much about duluth, but it doesn't seem to be as good as minneapolis. it has a massive freeway separating nearly the entire city from its lakeshore, with the notable exception of park point - a 7-mile-long beach-lined peninsula jutting out of the city into the lake, ending with an old growth forest. aside from that, though, duluth doesn't seem to be particularly interesting from an urban perspective.

i know literally nothing about rochester. lemme check maps.

back. it seems pretty cool - no downtown highways and lots of parks. gonna assume it's pretty good.

anyway, these two cities bump up minnesota's urban score to be quite high. duluth is meh so it's not perfect.

i will ignore saint paul. for all intents and purposes, it's just minneapolis. sorry, saint paul.

transit score: 3/10. minnesota is quite possibly the king of what is referred to as BRT creep - bus lines that do not qualify as bus rapid transit claiming to be bus rapid transit. look, i'm sure they're more frequent than regular bus lines (15 minute headways???? that's good but philly and new york have bus lines that are more frequent than that and don't claim to be "BRT"), but if you can't even have bus lanes, you're not a high-quality bus line.

oh yeah, and then there's the northstar commuter rail line. it runs 4 TIMES A DAY IN EITHER DIRECTION. that's HALF the frequency of VRE, and VRE isn't very good either. plus, northstar is one line, and VRE is 2

it's not all bad. minneapolis has two decent light rail lines, and they're building more. the bus system, despite not having anything resembling real BRT (aside from sheltered stations, which is fine, but also the bare minimum), is not altogether bad.

minnesota's amtrak service also used to be terrible, but it just got a whole lot better with the introduction of the borealis train, making one daily round trip between saint paul and chicago. there's also plans to make another daily amtrak line between minneapolis and duluth, which would be super cool.

plus, the bike lines around the city are quite good, and that's got to count for something.

unfortunately, minneapolis and saint paul are not the only cites in the state. duluth and rochester have no passenger train service whatsoever, which is a huge point against the state. sorry, minnesota.

overall rating: 6.2/10 this state has bizarre contradictions. it's got fantastic urbanism, and fairly bad transit (they're working on it!) it's fairly outdoorsy, and yet it lacks significantly distinctive natural features. it has a very fun political history, and some of the best laws in the country, but it's also not a very interesting state to watch on election day.

i'm gonna be honest, i expected this rating to be a lot more positive when i went in, given the wealth of culture this state has that many states lack. maybe that should count for more, idk. but 6.2/10 isn't that bad, either.

what do you guys think? did i disparage a wonderful state?

[tomorrowusa]

One book I’d like to read before the year is over is The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle.

He appeared in this podcast episode with FiveThirtyEight’s Galen Druke.

Climate change has already been the cause of some internal migration inside the US. We should expect that to accelerate as the century progresses. It will be almost the reverse of the late 20th/early 21st century migration to the sunbelt and coastal areas. 

While no part of the US is completely immune to the effects of climate change, the Great Lakes region and Upper Midwest are likely to fare somewhat better than other parts of the country.

Cities in the Great Lakes area are already beginning to think through the effects of a surging population.

Except for the New Madrid fault in southeastern Missouri, the Midwest is not subject to major earthquakes; volcanoes and tsunamis are unknown there.  Once people around the US rethink the overall benefits of living in the region, sustainable growth may become one of the most acute issues in the area.