Twin Cities' National and Global Image

[talindsay]

That's a better map than many, for sure. I do think it's really hard to imagine any regional division that puts Minnesota in a different region from the Dakotas though - the Dakotas really are, culturally, economically, historically, and geographically, merely an extension of Minnesota. The challenge of course is that putting the Dakotas with MN means WY and MT are either stranded on their own, or become part of the Northwest.

To Avian's point, the real issue there is that there *ARE* two Dakotas - but the state lines go the wrong way. There's east Dakota, east of the River, which is unquestionably Minnesota; and there's west Dakota, west of the River, which has a history tied to Minnesota but is otherwise unquestionably tied to the West, transitioning seamlessly into Wyoming and Montana.

I understand that those four states have a smaller combined population than MN so it doesn't hardly matter, but lumping them together with Nebraska and ignoring the MN-Dakota connection is pretty odd.

[EOst]

I've always thought Montana and Wyoming have a lot more in common with Idaho--and, ultimately, with Utah and Colorado--than they do with the Dakotas. For that matter, they have a lot more in common than Idaho (outside of Coeur d'Alene and maybe Moscow) than Idaho does with Washington/Oregon, though that's complicated by the strong east/west divide in those states.

tl;dr: Divisions based purely on state boundaries don't make lot of sense no matter what you do.

[Avian]

...
To Avian's point, the real issue there is that there *ARE* two Dakotas - but the state lines go the wrong way. There's east Dakota, east of the River, which is unquestionably Minnesota; and there's west Dakota, west of the River, which has a history tied to Minnesota but is otherwise unquestionably tied to the West, transitioning seamlessly into Wyoming and Montana....

I agree completely. I've mentioned before that if you want to categorize a large region as "Midwest" I think it's better defined as being east of the Missouri River and North of the Ohio River. And even those borders are a bit fuzzy.

[Nick]

In any case, everyone in America shops at the same six stores and eats at the same eight restaurants, so hey.

[John21]

I thought the North belonged to the Starks?

[mplsjaromir]

In any case, everyone in America shops at the same six stores and eats at the same eight restaurants, so hey.

Without chains how would we ever know who to vote for in mayoral elections?

Postby twincitizen » June 6th, 2013, 9:54 pm

Ran into Ashwin Madia at Noodles tonight. I'll be voting for Cam Winton now (Madia is his campaign manager)

[Nick]

I've had two retweets from @chilis this month and I feel like a #star.

[Anondson]

Probably should have posted to the urbanist confessions thread... #JustBeingHelpful

[nBode]

Lileks wrote about "the North" but it was pretty lame, imo.

[Realstreets]

What about this map? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KQ_Qh60WcwA/T ... ns_map.JPG

[Silophant]

I've never been there, but I have trouble believing that Toronto has more in common with Des Moines than Rochester and Buffalo.

[Didier]

More maps!

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2012/04 ... ture/1839/

[mulad]

Minnesota ranks no. 2 in innovation, by one measure: http://www.startribune.com/business/284936241.html

[Anondson]

I only just discovered BBC America's acclaimed new TV show Orphan Black. Watched all of season 1 through Amazon Prime and haven't gotten to season 2 yet, no wonder people were raving about it. Great stuff.

Wanted to mention it has a major secondary character who is a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota. A few scenes are cut around campus signage.

What other TV shows currently or recently involved the Twin Cities?

[FISHMANPET]

Well, we've got Renovate to Rent and Rehab Addict, covering opposite ends of the housing propaganda spectrum here in the city.

[NickP]

Not a TV show, but the film "Dear White People" was filmed at the U of M.

[lordmoke]

There are actually a ton of reality TV shows (think Food Network, DIY HGTV, etc.) whose production crews are based out of MSP. These shows travel a lot though, so it's not usually very evident.

[bapster2006]

America Unearthed can be fun and hokey at the same time. I met Scott Wolter in the 90's at an agate show in Moose Lake.

[min-chi-cbus]

Rehab Addict is based in Minneapolis (entirely?). It was cool to see actually, since they "Hollywoodize" the city by showing fast montages of pictures throughout town during transitions or coming out of commercials. It was nice to see my city again.....it made me super homesick!

[FISHMANPET]

There was a show Inspector America in 2011 where an inspector went to various cities around the country to inspect them. He was from St Paul, and because of the 35W bridge collapse he started here in the Twin Cities. There's a fun bit where he takes a smell meter to the downtown incinerator. It was only 6 episodes or so and never got a second season.