Hello there from the Twin Cities. I’m a transplant from Southwest MN and now live in a suburb of Minneapolis known as Burnsville. While I live in the burbs, I work near (and drive through) downtown Minneapolis every day. It’s a charming 40 minute commute if you like to read bumper stickers and breathe exhaust from the 11000 cars and trucks in front of you.
For years I was convinced that I would never be able to live in the country. I needed the big city action, high speed internet, high tech jobs and the stores as well as the entertainment options like the Vikings or the Twins or Valley Fair.
Now that I have been here for roughly 10 years on and off, I have a different perspective.
I have been on a dial up connection for five years. DSL is not available at my particular house because of my distance from the local phone office. I can’t afford high speed internet over cable at $60/mo alone. It’s probably for the better, I’m buying diapers in bulk for two (at one point for three) kiddos. We currently buy these huge packs at Sam’s Club that are reminiscent of hay bales while seeking a by-the-pallet option. And by the way, my “country” parents, who are still farming in Russell, MN, have high speed internet – WIRELESS, no less. Great.
Whenever I get dragged into a mall, I just walk on by the high tech stores full of gadgets and gizmos I’d like to own – no need to bother, it’s not in the budget. With the exception of the Apple Computer store, that is. We can’t afford anything in there either, but they have a nice alternative financing program where you can donate organs or limbs toward computers and software. I don’t ask why I have two of anything anymore. The pre-op waiting room is fairly posh too.
I have a very high tech job in WAN security and VPN tunneling with encryption. For the very few of you who even care what that really means (and I know there are no more than two of you), that’s Wide Area Network and Virtual Private Network. Essentially, it means I keep computer hackers and other rogue exploits out of corporate computer networks and keep transmissions across those same networks heavily coded and secure. Pretty geeky and bordering on spazzy, I know.
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| On the other hand, I work in a massive corporation that only knows me by my employee number (#0090698). The person who signs my check has never, and will never, meet me. I generally focus on the positives of working there, like NOT being one of the 20,000 people who were laid off over the last three years, and the possibility that one day my flashy one-tone gray cubicle will have three walls instead of just two. I can dream…Meanwhile, back at the farm, my “country” folks have a spacious second office just off the shop, complete with jukebox and a pinball machine.
I won’t even go into the cost of Vikings and Valley Fair tickets. And my kids are too young to sit still for an entire baseball game. So I haven’t been to any games of any kind.
I think you get the picture here – young person with big ideas and good intentions scampers off to Gotham City only to find it has a gray and stinky atmosphere, traffic jams, slow internet access, organs for PC programs, large impersonal employment opportunities with lame office space, and you never really get to the entertainment options available in the city.
So, if you are a parent, and your bright-eyed, under-appreciated teen is ready to tear off the shackles of home and make a dash for “freedom and opportunity” in the big city, you can mention this piece if it serves you. If you are a young person and you still feel the need to take the big city bait, that’s fine. Just get a vehicle with good gas mileage, as you will be coming home to the country every chance you can get.
For the rest of you out there in SW Minnesota, breathe in the fresh air. Enjoy the ability to hear your local bird chatter while watching your children and grandchildren play freely in your parks and yards without much worry of small-arms crossfire.
That's my report from the Big City.
Brian in the Big City
Employee #0090698
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