Daily Archives: May 31, 2013

Retirement, Sport, Third Phase

Hustled

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Beltane                                                                             Early Growth Moon

I got hustled.  Kate picked her event for May.  She chose the artist invented 18 hole miniature golf course at the Walker Sculpture Garden.  After a hot dog purchased at the Dog House and eaten on interlocked wooden pic-nic tables, we went into the Flatpak ™ building that houses the golf balls and putters.  Kate chose green and I chose blue.  That was the last time we were equal.

She proceeded to wipe up the spirals and ramps and gravity drops, leaving me, in the end, 10 strokes down, though with a perfectly respectable 67 for 18.  She had a wunderkind 57.  Geez.  Like I said.

A fun outing and something I would not have done without her prodding.  She said it did reconfirm however her inability to play regular golf, too hard on the back.  She always beat me there, too.

The Walker’s got a lot of construction going on, to what end I don’t know.  Lots of covered walkways and shielded work areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Memories, Minnesota, Politics

Magnetic or Sticky?

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Beltane                                                                     Early Growth Moon

Sister Mary discovered an interesting analysis by the Pew Trust which measured states as magnetic and sticky.  Essentially magnetic meant the capacity, demonstrated by census data, to attract newcomers while sticky measured the capacity or lack of it to retain those born in the state.  States received rankings on both measures and then were grouped into categories such as high magnet/low sticky, low magnet/low sticky and so on.

Minnesota and Indiana are in the same group, along with surprisingly, California.  That is, neither state attracts all that many new folks, but those born there tend to stay.

I’m not sure why folks remain in Indiana, except for inertia, but I’m sure folks stay in Minnesota because it offers a distinctive culture, one rooted in an outdoor life-style coupled with progressive politics and a highly developed arts and performing arts scene in the Twin Cities.  All this set in a spot tucked up next to Canada with the boreal forest extending almost to the northern exurb of the Twin Cities where Kate and I live, a forest filled with lakes and wilderness bounded on its eastern edge by the largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Superior.  (Lake Baikal has more depth and therefore more water, but its surface area is somewhat smaller than the shallower Superior.)

Having said that I moved here by accident when I came for seminary in 1970 and remained by choice.   Minnesota is a low magnet state for several reasons, the chief one being climate.  We have, or had, severe winters coupled with short but intense summers.  Another factor working against Minnesota is its location.  It’s not on the way to anywhere in the US.  You have to come here on purpose, either for school or outdoor recreation or a work related move.  The Upper Midwest, of which Minnesota is a part with Wisconsin and Michigan all share that sense of isolation from the more southerly tiers of states.  And you’ll notice they are in the same column.

Indiana does not attract folks, especially now, I imagine, due to poor job prospects.  The closing of industrial manufacturing facilities put Indiana solidly in the rust belt.  It does not have the natural amenities of the hills and mountains of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, nor does it have any other particularly noteworthy natural features.  It does have a strong blue collar culture focused on basketball, cars, racing and the remnants of unionism which might help explain why folks stay.

The whole article on the Pew website is worth reading.  They do very interesting work on several topics.