Winter is a powerful framing for people in Minnesota. Winter invokes a shiver, an ache deep in our bones. Yet it binds us together like nothing else. We are the state known for winter, whether it is factually true or not. Winter on the first day of snow separates the drivers who remember how to drive in ice and snow and those who forgot - meaning those who ended up in the ditch. Winter gets rid of riffraff. People who cannot take Minnesota winters move to Florida or Arizona. We are the people of winter.
Our summer is tough with some high heat high humidity days. Our spring has tornadoes. Our fall has storms, where the rain falls so hard, people have to pull off the road and wait. We are tough people. Whenever I see rural Minnesotans, I particularly feel that these are people of winter. Urban people can duck into a nearby store. Fire and police are just minutes away if needed. Rural people go it alone. When I took pictures at the 7th Congressional District convention (a rural area), I could see it written in faces. Faces that had strength of people who faced adversity and yet they have survived, even thrived. Also written in those faces is the kindness of helping a stranger and the cooperation of raising a barn together. When I am in rural Minnesota, I feel the roots of having been raised on a farm. Oh, too be fair, urban people usually have to shovel the sidewalk while rural folk usually have a plow on the pickup. So urban folk get more exercise at every snowfall. We are the people of winter.
We know adversity because we know winter. Opening a conversation with weather is always acceptable in Minnesota. "Are you warm enough?" Climate change is really not an issue here, because we feel weather in our bones. We know weather is permanently changing. We feel it when extreme weather becomes our new normal weather. Even the bleeping insurance companies have figured it out. The difference is that we know that we have to get ready for new permanent bad weather. It is just like getting ready for winter. The humor is that Florida will get it worse, with storms, hurricanes and flooding until there is no Florida left. While Florida will be under water, Arizona will be without water. Suddenly Minnesota is looking like the place to stay safe in Winter and Summer. We will have water and we will have land to stand on. We have faced winter, we can face this.
The book and television show, "Game of Thrones" has a kingdom with the motto, "Winter is coming". A local song says "We are children of the ice and snow". Written in our blood and bones is winter. We work together because we are winter people. An academic study of the cultures of countries says that countries with winter have a different culture. While climate change will mean that we have less winter, it is the lessons of winter that will guide us through climate change. We need a motto that evokes how we are the people of winter.
Family is the group that works together against all adversity. Notice how bigger threats evoke bigger families. We need more relatives and neighbors included in our family when face bigger disasters. Well this permanent weather change that we won't call global warming or climate change, needs an even bigger family. We are the Minnesota family. We work together so that no one is left stranded in the snow or stranded after a flood. The governor fills sandbags. Volunteers in buses come to fill sandbags. We know that we all in this together. We face winter together, we can face this together.
In some ways, my farm background is so evoked here. My family used to buy from Fuller brush people who sold junk. Yet because the Fuller Brush people made out to the farm, they were treated better. Here we get conned again by outsiders selling us the worst deals for a few promised jobs. We get conned even though those outsiders have Fuller Brush histories and reputations. Something about our shared heritage still has us hoping and believing with the wrong people. I want to say something like those owners don't live here. You will never see them here in the dead of winter. Do your business with the local business owners who are here shoveling snow in the dead of winter. Remember the winter riffraff rule. Only deal with people of winter.
Winter is also great beauty and camaraderie. Neighbors who shovel out each others vehicles and then have coffee and tea, now bonded by the winter experience. There is nothing more beautiful than the first snow covering everything in white, with icicles dripping from trees. Kids build snow tunnels, sculpt snow creatures and have snow fights. Under coats, scarves, hats and gloves is a warm person who is enjoying winter. When you are warm enough, winter is wonderful. When you live and work with good people, winter is wonderful. We are the people of winter.