Blog Finding the real Minnesota

Last week, Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court, raised eyebrows when visiting the Brainerd Lakes area, a portion of Central Minnesota so densely populated with lakes, summer tourists, and big pine trees that it has come to claim Paul Bunyan as its very own local legend. What did the supreme court justice say? She did not quite make a Bachmann-esque gaffe, but she did commit a faux pas by referring to the Brainerd area as the “real Minnesota.” 

It is a beautiful area of the state. Many people from the Twin Cities visit the lakes area every summer, traveling to cabins or resorts in search of Minnesotan shoreline. But the real Minnesota? City Pages pointed out that Gildea is from Plummer, a small, rural town that the judge also considers to be quite “real.” Who knows what the judge thinks of the metro area, but our imaginations certainly take us to the following words: Filthy. Urban. Full of people with different ideas, tastes, and world views. Right? There’s even art, theater, and music here. Borderline repulsive. I imagine that when Gildea referred to Brainerd as the “real Minnesota,” she was specifically referring to the city’s 1983 outbreak of something now known as “Brainerd diarrhea,” or the intensity with which its high school students grind at the homecoming dance. 

While we don’t deny that areas outside of the Twin Cities are Minnesotan, we do think the judge’s statement brings up an interesting issue. What is the real Minnesota? Obviously, for everyone, the answer to that question varies. That’s why, beginning next week, we’re rolling out a new series of interviews with questions all about Minnesota. The interviewees don’t have to be from Minnesota originally, but they need to identify with the state, having either called Minnesota their home in the present or at some point in the past. They can be in any field—an artist, a musician, a politician—but just need to be willing to tell us what the real Minnesota is for them. And the answers can’t be cheesy. Okay, they can be a little sentimental—but that’s not what we’re going for. We really want to know what the word “Minnesota” means to some well-known people around the state. 

Have suggestions for people to interview for the series? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook.