Paul Berens
🛶 Minnesota
“Minnesota is a state of public-spirited and polite people, where you can get a good cappuccino and eat Thai food and find any book you want and yet live on a quiet tree-lined street with a backyard and send your kids to public school. When a state this good hits the jackpot, it can only be an inspiration to everybody.” (—Garrison Keillor)
My running tally of what makes L’Étoile du Nord unique, interesting, valuable, loveable, and happy .
🎭 Les Arts
Performing Arts - home to the oldest continuously running theater , the largest dinner theater , and the largest regional playhouse in the country ; second largest number of theater seats per capita
Les Artistes
Literature - F. Scott Fitzgerald , Sinclair Lewis
Humour - Joel Hodgson , Al Franken , Garrison Keillor, Jacob Lentz , Charles Shultz , Lizz Winstead
Music - Bob Dylan, Chad Smith , Craig Finn , Gear Daddies/Martin Zellar, Har Mar Superstar, Hüsker Dü, The Jayhawks, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis , Mason Jennings, Prince, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, The Concordia Choir
Silver Screen - Jessica Biel, Coen Brothers , Judy Garland, Josh Hartnett, Jessica Lange, Winona Ryder , Seann William Scott
🍎 Brands and Inventions
Beauty/Fashion - Aveda , J.R. Watkins , Zubaz
Food - automatic pop-up toaster, Bundt cakes , Cheerios , Green Giant vegetables , Honeycrisp apples (Malus pumila) , Land O Lakes® butter, MAR-O-BAR® , SPAM® , Minnesota State Fair food , Tater Tot Hotdish , Wheaties
Healthcare - the pacemaker, first open-heart surgery, Mayo Clinic
Shopping - Target , Mall of America® , first “fully enclosed, climate-controlled” mall
Sports/Activities - NERF, Polaris , Rollerblade®, Tonka Trucks, Twister , waterskiing
Supplies - Scotch® Tape, masking tape, Post-it® Notes, stapler
Technology - Control Data (1st supercomputer )
🦆 Culture and Curiosities
🏞 The Great Outdoors
👥 Other Folks
Adventurers - Ann Bancroft , Charles Lindbergh
Fictional Characters - Charlie Brown et al. (Peanuts) , MacGyver , Paul Bunyan, Charlie Conway , Betty Crocker, Jolly Green Giant, Pillsbury Doughboy, Rocky and Bullwinkle
Politicians - Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Jesse Ventura, Paul Wellstone
🏒 Sports
Alpine Skiing - 99th Infantry Battalion , Kristina Koznick , Cindy Nelson, Lindsey Vonn
Baseball - The ‘87 World Champion Twins (K. Puckett, B. Blyleven, et al.) , Roger Maris, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield
Basketball - the birth of intercollegiate basketball ; the original Lakers ; Troy Bell , Kevin McHale
Football - John Gagliardi , John Madden, Larry Fitzgerald, Tommy Kramer, Minnesota State Screaming Eagles
Hockey/Bandy - Broten brothers, Patrick Eaves , 1980 Miracle On Ice (Herb Brooks et al.) , U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame , shinny