Soucheray on what to show Republicans

Joe Soucheray has written about what places we might wish to show visiting Republicans. After running through some of the obvious possibilities, he seems to summarize by suggesting a boat tour noting that the city was formed because of its location by a conveniently-place bend in the river and the ability of a man called “Pig’s Eye” to use this fact.

In particular, I liked two paragraphs from the column. I might have added that we work and raise and educate our children and attend our places of worship, but his summary is good.

After reminding us that the state f-word [Where have you gone Turi Rider? We miss you] approaches soon, he comments on how comfortable we are with our “third places” [although I suspect that he would foghorn that phrase]. [Cf. Cafes as disapearing third places, 5/5/08]

The truth of the matter might very well be that the Republican delegates are coming to a place that is quietly content and, civically, has nothing particularly glaring to show off or brag about except the most important thing of all, which is a historically strong sense of place, a continuity. Compared to folks in other cities in the country, we have remained remarkably strong and will, by the time the convention begins, have survived another Minnesota State Fair, our blockbuster gastronomical festival of fried foods, even candy bars, served on sticks.

We cut our grass and sweep our sidewalks and shovel our snow, which might be witnessed given that we are talking about a September visit. There is still an orderliness here that is hard to sell on a tourist brochure. We have our favorite bars and restaurants, but here again, they are our favorites because they are not places to be seen, they are places to be comfortable, at ease. I could recommend a dozen, but the visitor would be hard-pressed to understand the appeal because the visitor could not possibly understand the laying on of hands that makes each place significant to its regulars.

Maybe he should have been doing the cab driver education.