SO MANY THINGS

I've truthfully been almost deliberately avoiding forming an opinion about Libya simply because I feel like my attention to current events and national politics is completely maxed out, and I just don't feel like I have the mental capacity to analyze all of the information out there, given the energy I already spend paying attention to labor movements in the Midwest, local politics, and the general ideological struggle between big business and citizens, among other things.  Oh yeah, and food, and health. But I do feel a bit reassured by the information that Obama has given here:

Also, I've been keenly aware of how few substantive posts I've been writing here lately, and I attribute this to the same problem.  It's weird, really, how stressed out I feel lately, considering the fact that my only obligations at the moment are making sure I participate in a few online discussions for a whopping two unbelievably easy online classes, and the knowledge that I start a new (and completely different than I've ever done) extremely part-time job in a week.  But even the job thing only happened as of a couple weeks ago, so, yeah.  Since quitting my shitty bank job in November, I've managed to stress myself out to the extent of minor panic attacks by merely reading news on the internet and listening to the radio, to the extent that it feels like a full-time job to even keep up with reading my Google Reader.  It's... well, I don't know.  Silly?  Annoying?  A pointless waste of time and energy?  A white whine?  Or, perhaps more optimistically, a catalyst for becoming more involved in... anything?

Mostly, I am trying desperately to fight against the whole stuck-in-the-suburbs, cold-ass Minnesota lethargy that sets in every year, that I'd been able to at least partially able to avoid when I lived in the city.  It's a lot different here, and I didn't think it would make such a difference when I moved last summer... until winter happened.  It's really difficult to live like I'm most happy living in a place where public transportation is practically non-existent, grocery stores stock for a 97% white population and as a result don't even carry Tapatio or basmati rice (it is Michelle Bachmann's district, where most of the grocery stores are; perhaps Mexican hot sauce and Indian rice are considered unpatriotic?), and the only restaurants to choose from are Applebee's and TGI Friday's.  And I can't even express how desperately I miss gridded, numbered, alphabetized streets.

That's not to say that I've had a completely bad time living here so far.  There are countless benefits to living with my immediate family, including serious financial benefits.  Rent is extraordinarily cheap, and while my husband and I still have an annoying number of monthly static expenses, the break on rent (even factoring in the price of gas, now that we have to drive absolutely everywhere we want to go, even if it's only half  a mile away) is a huge bonus when it comes to pretty much everything else.  Being students, Jesse and I were able to afford to register for Netroots Nation, which is happening in Minneapolis this June.  I was also only able to comfortably make spontaneous plans to take a road trip to attend the rally in Madison a few weeks ago because of my current living situation.

So, really, like anything, there are serious pros and cons to my current living situation.  But, man, I miss Minneapolis.  I miss being able to walk or bike anywhere I wanted to go.  I miss the walkable and bussable farmer's markets.  I miss having a wide variety of items in the local grocery store-- at the big regional chains, even.  I miss having a bar nearby that wasn't one of those sports bars where dozens of 20-something douchey turds with backwards baseball caps and large and unnecessary trucks feed bleached-blonde girls Jag shots all night to a soundtrack of Nickelback.  Not to mention that whole "social life" thing that the kids keep talking about, that ceases to exist when work schedules and a lack of desire for DWIs are factored into weekend plans. 

So, pardon my lack of posting.  I hope you watch all of the videos I manage to link to in lieu of real substance, though, because they're good.  I promise to get back to regular, substantive posting soon.  Here are some more videos:

Al Franken consistently makes up for Minnesota's 6th District's terrible choice of Bachmann.

Donald Trump (who plans to run for President in 2012, remember) is a completely ridiculous person, as expected:

About language-- specifically, how ensuring that English is the only language in which we will discuss important technological, educational, and other pressing issues, is potentially harmful in numerable ways.  I'm really bad at summarizing everything from videos to articles to anything else you can imagine.  Just watch it; you'll be happy you did.

One great thing about going to my first training at my new job (I'm a phone canvasser.  This means I call members of my organization and ask them to donate money for current legislative efforts we're focused on) is that when I went into the phone room, one of the first things I saw was a Wellstone yard sign.  These are still in people's yards around the more progressive neighborhoods of Minneapolis.  Minnesota will never forget Paul Wellstone.  His followers were, and are, some of the most dedicated and devoted progressives around.  The murder death of Paul Wellstone is still, to this day, felt and discussed all the time around progressive circles.

About Paul Wellstone, I can't claim a long support or anything toward him.  When he was killed, I was just 18, and only starting to get involved in local politics.  All I knew of Wellstone was what my mom had said of him, disparagingly: "he's such a 'bleeding-heart'!"  I didn't know what that meant at the time, but was alternatively beginning to embrace my seemingly intrinsic support for anyone willing to actually have a bleeding heart, especially out loud, like Wellstone did.  I worked in a photo lab with a very ardent Wellstone supporter at the time, and based on her frequent discussions about him and my own research, I had decided that I was going to vote for him, without question.  His death a few weeks later shocked me.

That was also the election year (the first one I was legally allowed to vote in!) that Pawlenty was running for governor, for the first time.  I remember thinking I might vote for him, and that I really liked his claim that he was from a working class St. Paul family.  I believed him.  I also based the majority of my political opinions on network television commercials.  That year, I ultimately ended up voting for Ken Pentel, the Green party candidate, rather than either of the two main party candidates, based on a lot of Dave Matthews Band listening and weed-infused Daily Show viewings that made me believe that voting for a third party was beneficial (I still do believe this; I just want us to be practical about it).  

Fuck Pawlenty, though, seriously:

If I could just be juvenile for a moment: BARF.

Minneapolis is better than [other cities] because [of everything]

Photo taken on a lunch break
by yours truly

Minneapolis was named America's Gayest City by The Advocate! That's pretty fun, and it's especially awesome because The Advocate, while they admit that the criteria on which the cities were judged were not particularly scientific, based the results on the ways in which cities are most gay-friendly. Minneapolis as a winner, though, was surprising to, well, everyone. As Mike Albo of The Advocate says,

Gay issues have never been more of a lightning rod. Pop culture has never been so gleefully gay. And politicians have never been more gay-accepting — or at least gay-aware. But no matter how visible LGBT people seem to be, there are some folks who still think we all live in Chelsea, West Hollywood, and the Castro. But, of course, that’s far from the case.

Those coastal city dwellers just can't let us Midwestern states have anything! They always have to argue, saying that they just don't get why Minneapolis is so freaking awesome all the time. Brian Moylan of Gawker (and, apparently, a resident of New York City) rages:

What are we New Yorkers going to do to redeem our image? Are we going to have to get Liza Minnelli to pave Broadway in glitter? Do we have to light up the Empire State Building in Manhunt's distinctive blue and orange? Does Michael Musto have to put on Lady Gaga's meat dress every day of the week? What does a city have to do to get on this list? We need to know!

I know, I know. He's just trying to be funny, but it reminds me of my latest annoyance, which is how little attention Minneapolitans get for being awesome. The only Midwestern city that gets any attention is Chicago, and usually it has something to do with how corrupt the entire state of Illinois is! Minneapolis is so much more awesome than Chicago! And I admit it, I've never been to NYC or LA, and have only driven through Chicago and not really spent any quality time there, but MINNEAPOLIS IS BETTER, ANYWAY! I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I JUST DO! I'm sorry you're not gayer than us, New York, but you'll have to deal with it.

I had some serious competition.

And Oregonians? Minneapolis totally pwnd you on bike trails, even though it's fucking freezing and snowing here all the time. As one former disbeliever noted, after she had begun wrapping up her trip to Minneapolis where she had tried to figure out what was so great about Minneapolis and cycling says:

I have told some of my friends that I am considering moving to Minneapolis, and I actually do think of moving, brown sugar and boiler plate be damned. Without knowing why, I have fallen in love with the cycling culture in Minneapolis. I tell my friends how nice the cyclists there are, how even the badass Black Flag group sponsors a community shop that makes bikes for poor kids, how the most misanthropic frame builder in the world is a secretly sweet guy who is always losing money because he is forever giving away his homemade frames. (He recently donated one to the vigilantes.) I still receive responses to my Mplsbikelove.com posting, outpourings of information, ride invitations, passionate (and long) discourses on the fun of this uniquely local cycling experience.

And in comparing cyclists from Minneapolis with those from more widely-publicized cities:

That's when the Grand Unified Theory of Minneapolis Cycling reveals itself. Here is a woman who commutes 20 miles round-trip four days a week, at least five months a year, yet does not consider herself a "serious cyclist." Maybe that's the secret. Maybe—along with decades of legislative support and a responsive government and friendly landscape and a cheerful community of cyclists—the Grand Unified Theory hinges on something essentially and particularly indigenous to the Midwest. Other cities might get more publicity, might brag about their famous hill and their local legends. In Minneapolis, cyclists (Noren nothwithstanding) don't talk as much about cycling as they do it, through ice skids, along snowy bike superhighways, in the dead of winter and every other season. In Minneapolis, people ride and don't consider it that big a deal.

Fun concert in Minneapolis
(Seconds Before, taken by
me)

And while we're at it, more-popular-coastal-cities, Minneapolis is home to a great arts community, we make fantastic beer, we have a stellar Congressman and two great Senators, we've voted to implement Instant Runoff Voting (or Ranked Choice Voting) in our local elections (LIKE AGES AGO!), Sarah Palin got her accent from us, we have the best state fair around, and our hipsters are less stuck up than yours.

Me, in the snow, displaying its depth

Furthermore, we are far more badass than all of you when it comes to snow and the cold. Just last Monday I walked uphill in the snow (only one way, though) and blustery cold for almost a mile just to get to class! And I hardly even complained! More than a few times, anyway! And when it finally gets up to 40 degrees in 6 months, I won't wear a coat. But I bet you do, Californians. You probably whine about how coooooooooold it is, huh? Yeah. Well, I may not be as tan as you, but I sure am adept at shoveling snow and scraping ice off my windshield.

So THERE!

PS: No offense to all of you lovely readers, family members, or friends who may live in one of the cities I decided were not cooler than Minneapolis. I'm sure your cities are... fine...

*All pictures in this post were taken by me, except the one that is of me, in the snow.