In a letter published today in the WSJ:
Lance Morrow’s “How Minnesota Went From Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn” (Cross Country, Jan. 22) and subsequent letters (Feb. 5) paint the state of Minnesota with a broad brush based on a one-sided view of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota is very large, about the size of the U.K. While events in the Twin Cities make national news, there is so much more to our state than Mr. Morrow implies.
Living about 80 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, I find that Mr. Morrow’s 1973 description of Minnesota is still accurate: “courtesy and fairness, honesty, a capacity for innovation, hard work, intellectual adventure, and responsibility . . . remarkably civil.”
Minnesota’s violent crime rate is still lower than the national average. Gov. Tim Walz, a longtime member of my church, still wears plaid flannel shirts, goes fishing and visits with farmers. He is also hardworking and “remarkably civil.”
To blame our state’s challenges on the “white elites” and “the left” is too simplistic. Minnesota is not alone in experiencing a trying time during this pandemic. The country is still floundering in the aftermath of the former golfer-in-chief, who taught us that boorishness, disrespect and name-calling were acceptable forms of public discourse. I invite Mr. Morrow to visit our beautiful state and experience our signature “Minnesota nice” with an open mind.
Nancy Armbruster
Mankato, Minn.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/minnesota-is-still-nice-11644770251 (subscription)
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