Month: November 2013

I flew here by Spirit Air. This airline is notorious for their hidden fees. But I read several online reviews and realized those fees are completely avoidable with planning. So the round-trip flight was $70 and all I’ve had to deal with was some crumbs on the seat and a lack of free pretzels and Fresca. Big deal. For the same price I can ride the Megabus and have to tolerate much worse.

I helped my parents pack for their move. My dad will not part with things like his library of Bonhoeffer and New Testament exegesis texts, even with the prodding and gentle ridicule I give him. I recognize myself there. After all, I failed to throw out my Campbell biology text for years even though it was out of date the moment it was printed.

We walked along a protected stretch of sand dunes on Lake Michigan, which was beautiful. I walked to North Park Nature Preserve and enjoyed the warm weather. And we saw "Dallas Buyers Club." The many sex scenes weren’t awkward at all even though I was with my parents. It’s one of those idiosyncratic markers of adulthood, I suppose – not feeling awkward next to your parents despite lengthy onscreen fucking. We also got stuck in a traffic jam because of a huge fire in a mini-mall. We saw the plume of sick black smoke grow bigger and bigger and we even saw flames. Five news helicopters were overhead and the smell was strong.

I find that I really like Chicago but I would only want to live here if I could be downtown and walk where I need to go, because the traffic congestion is unreal. People can get used to anything, of course. But you have to carefully compare the benefits and costs of a new city. I love the lake and downtown and the culture you can get here. But I hate the political scandals and the racial segregation and the traffic. Here there is the feeling of belonging to a metropolis. I love my city of Minneapolis but you don’t quite get that feeling there. You don’t quite get that feeling of being part of something big, of being elevated and heady.

Now for pizza with my parents ! Funny how even at 27 my mom wants me to eat more. Are parts of motherhood programmed ? And are mothers’ constant exhortations to eat present across all cultures ?

Included: a rodent that I believe was a Franklin’s ground squirrel. A greedy little guy.

At Roberts Bird Sanctuary on Halloween day the plants and wildlife enjoyed one of those final warm humid days before the initial frost. I stepped off the trail to look at an old pump-house where my friends and I used to smoke cigarettes because we were naughty. I definitely could have fit through the small gap to get inside again but didn’t. As an adult I’m less and less willing to get cobwebs in my face, even to feed my nostalgia.

On the way back to the trail I looked through my binoculars at the little birds flitting among the red osier dogwood and yellowing tamarack. They were drab brown but they weren’t the goldfinches I saw everywhere this time of year. Of all the birds I know, goldfinches are the only ones that I’ve seen nesting in September. But it wasn’t them.

Finally one of the little brown jobs revealed a flash of yellow from the top of its head. It was a golden-crowned kinglet, alternately raising and lowering its yellow crest for whatever reason. Excitement, territoriality? I’m not sure. This little bird of only six grams carries its tiny yellow flag into the world boldly. It sets itself apart from all the other drab brown birds that are impossible to distinguish at this time of year.

So how do you distinguish yourself? What is your tiny bright flag that you raise so audaciously? The kinglet carries its flag around Minnesota all through the cold winter. It shows its crest whether or not anyone is around to see it. You can do that too. Against all mental perils of cold and dark, against drudgery at the workplace and debt and estrangement, bear your flag! Bear the flag that is staked firmly within, the flag that was planted there on the day you were named!

o Mayor

1. Hodges (anti-stadium, zero-waste initiatives and pro-density development)

2. Cherryhomes

3. Fine

o Board of estimate and taxation

1. Wheeler

2. Becker

3. Pascoe

o Park and rec commissioner

§ Annie Young (Green Party endorsement)

o The two charter questions:

§ Yes to amending the city charter for plain language

I decided based on the two mayoral forums I attended (one on energy and one on urban agriculture) and on the endorsements in the Star Tribune and from the Green Party of Minnesota. I could still change my mind though. But I think a media black-out for the two days before the election is good policy to avoid being swayed by last-minute attack ads.