Rural's not what it used to be

Today we got out and did some seasonal errands. It gave us an opportunity to drive around the St. Croix Valley through some really pretty country. Much of the area around us is scattered farms, fields, woodlots, some lakes and a moderate sized river, with a handful of towns and small cities dotting the countryside and a couple of state parks and one very large wildlife management area at the eastern and western edges of our extended neighborhood. There's just enough touches of New England colonial architecture in places like Franconia and Taylors Falls to trigger some homesickness. If you had asked us a decade or so ago, we would have claimed that we're living in moderately typical exurban to rural Minnesota. Not so these days.

The county in which we live has solar farms popping up like mushrooms in a wet Spring. On a typical drive we'll see at least half a dozen to a dozen, sometimes more. Some are moderate size. Others seem quite large. The township is revising its solar provisions in the zoning ordinance but we're not familiar with the details. We do feel as though we're living in the midst of a conversion to a carbon neutral economy.

solar farm awaiting photovoltaic panels

Photo by J. Harrington

Another, more recent, development also has us wondering if where we live is at all typical of rural Minnesota in the 21st century. Minnesota has lot's of Lutherans and other protestants along with some Catholics. We knew there have been a couple of zen buddhist centers in the Twin Cities. Now we have a Burmese Buddhist monastery and temple just down the road apiece. We took the picture below earlier today. As far as we can tell, the building's profile is unique in the area.

local Buddhist temple and monastery under construction

Photo by J. Harrington

The Unknown Citizen

W. H. Auden, 1907- 1973

(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
   saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
   generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
   education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

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