Minnesota Drive-By
A Passenger Seat View
After years living on both coasts, I arrived in the Twin Cities knowing nothing about the state. A pro wrestler was once a governor, Hubert Humphrey, a 1960’s era US vice president, was a native son, Prince grew up in Minneapolis, and winters are long and brutally cold. So, beginning in 2018, on many drives outside the metro area, north to Duluth and back to the Twin Cities with camera in hand, I took in the passing scenery and got a sense of the state whizzing by at 70 miles per hour.
Like many US states in 2021, Minnesota is a state of political and social contrasts. On a thirty-minute drive in any direction from the relatively liberal and ethnically diverse Twin Cities, you will soon discover predominantly white, politically, socially conservative exurbs and rural farming towns.