Call for ideas + 5 fascinating things: Friday, July 4th
Gin, coffee, birds.
Happy 4th, y’all. This year, the extent of my patriotism is this bowl of yogurt, strawberries, and blueberries. My neighbor’s Trump flag is back up after a three-month-plus hiatus. I assume the holiday guilt got to them. My “Foxtrot Delta Tango” flag remains unchanged.
I missed last week’s 5FT as I was in Voyageurs National Park, which, wow, what a ball of wax that place is. Lovely, don’t get me wrong, but let’s put it this way: The only in-park lodging is the Kettle Falls Hotel, below. The “lobby” looks like your grandma’s living room, and there are buck-naked ladies framed over the bar booths. You’ll only find the bar, though, if you start opening doors. There are no signs. More on this Twilight Zone later.
Moving on. I’ve got some questions for you, if you would be so kind:
Have you heard of any Indigenous-led land-reclamation projects taking place in *urban* areas? Tribes managing/owning wild land is becoming common, but I’m looking for deeply urban examples. The larger, the better. (To be clear, green space in urban areas definitely qualifies.)
Do you have any silly ideas for my Yahoo column? Let me know. No parameters here other than “someone bored at the doctor’s office might click it.”
Thing #1: Ayyy, my piece on the world’s gin schools published in National Geographic. (Bonus points if you catch the Casablanca reference in the title.) I attended “the academy” in Wisconsin, and my cinnamon-y gin is real good, gotta say.
Thing #2: My time in Minneapolis included the Mill City Museum, which is pretty much the coolest museum I’ve been to in a minute. My Broadway-touring compadre, Chloe, confirms that the only US museum that bests it is the Steamboat Museum in KC. (Wow, it even tops the Bush’s Baked Bean Pit at the KC Barbecue Museum? Unbelievable.)
Thing #3: Was in Duluth talking to the folks at Duluth Coffee Company, and they’re doing really hip stuff — just take my word for it — and I asked who inspires them in the Midwest, and they really only had one answer: Onyx, in Bentonville, Ark. Turns out the world’s second-best coffee is in…Arkansas? Sorry, do I need a hearing aid? Someone explain that state to me, and stat.
Thing #4: Speaking of “the best of things,” James Beard just said America’s best new restaurant is in Minneapolis. Man, the Midwest is doing okay for itself, eh? (I ate there. The food was so good I burst into a fit — a fit — of laughter.)
Thing #5: A tiny, unrelated dash of hope before I leave you: North America’s Aransas-Wood Buffalo whooping crane population has reached record numbers — 551 individuals from a low of ~21. I have a tiny, tiny hope that as some things get worse, others will get better. Yin, yang, black, white, ebbs, flows, etc.
Love you, twifckers. Hope you eat a hot dog tonight,
Jacqueline
😍 —glad your meal was good—I want to hear more soon. And since you know my example I’ll wait for the others to come. 😏