Where do you love?

© harrington

Someone once explained to me that one's perspective on the aesthetics of a number of things in Duluth varied greatly depending on whether one was at lake level looking up, or on the ridge, looking down. Duluth has many attractive aspects: bright city lights, varied topography, lots of activity. Is that the kind of place you love? Or, do you love farm country, relatively peaceful, quite and unhurried, full of live stock, hay, corn, soybeans and a growing number of wind turbines?

© harrington

Life in a small town or rural city has lots of positives when it comes to raising a family. Did you grow up loving where you were or couldn't you wait to be grown and gone? I lived in a big city (Boston) until third grade, then spent a number of years in a small town close to the ocean. My Minnesota has almost too many places that appeal to me, especially if they're near water: the Southeast bluff country with trout streams and apple orchards; the Arrowhead with Superior, streams full of brook trout, nights full of wolf howls; the prairie region with potholes for waterfowl, prairies for bison, regional centers for people. Choice is a good thing to have. How about you? What about Minnesota would you really miss if it were gone? It's important for us to know this, because every day, from now on, we have to act to protect what and where we care about. We can't take if for granted anymore.