back to the big smoke Pt II

The last time I returned to the Big Smoke I had a bit of an identity crisis. We visited Denver back in July and I found myself freaked out by the spectrum of life that is so rawly displayed in a city i.e. the good stuff about life but also the ugly stuff. By the end of the trip, I was surprised and a little bit disconcerted to be craving the simplicity (and inherent safety) of the country life that I've been introduced to on harvest. A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to return to the Big Smoke, this time to Minnesota's Twin Cities, Minneapolis-St Paul, and my experience was quite different.

Generally I'm a pretty categorical thinker; I like things to be black and white; I like to be able to rule something as good or bad; and I like to be able to clearly define my position in the world (as I write this I can't help but feel rebuked by the fact that I uprooted a career in film production and the city life to come and try farming...anyway, just run with me for a second).

My first few weeks on harvest I would frequently step back in awe observing the people that I was meeting and the experiences that I was having. I think the thing I liked most - and still do - is the craziness of people; the happy-go-lucky attitude by which so many live life and yet the ever present safety net of routine and uniformity that exists in the country. In many ways I wanted to be like the boys in this respect and going back to the city gave me a small crisis of choice I guess.

However, as the season has rolled on I have realised that there are things about the city and things about the person I am in that context that I do not want to change. There are also things about the country life and the boys that I do not want to adopt - not necessarily things that are bad, but things that are different - and this is OK. What I have learned is that I don't need to be hard and fast a city boy or hard and fast a country boy, I can be a collage of both, and this is the philosophy that I put into practice during my most recent visit to the city.

On the one hand I was walking around with my ipod in and an espresso in my hand, yet I was also pounding the pavement with my cowboy boots (which, incidentally, are one of the best things about the country life). Sensible James made sure I bought a ticket every time I rode the light rail around town, yet that same guy hitched a ride with some friendly firefighters to a night club later in the evening (Timmy was proud).

It helped that I found Minneapolis to be a fantastic city. It's a US place name that is familiar but not one that you'd consider one of the big tourist destinations. Discovering such places is one of the things that I've enjoyed most about harvest. Such pleasant surprises are also one of the things that I enjoy most about travel and, I'm finding, that they will most often occur when you're off the tourist trail.

The Twin Cities are separated by the Mississippi River, Minneapolis on the west bank and St Paul on the east. The diversity that freaked me out in Denver was even more prevalent in Minneapolis, yet this time I embraced it. At one stage it was the world's flour milling capital and also had a large lumber industry. Like so many industrial capitals, a lot if the industry has been shifted to other locations, however many of the buildings remain, giving parts of the city a gritty feel - the 'Warehouse District' is especially cool.

I'm not sure why, but the city has an incredibly vibrant arts scene, apparently second only to New York in terms of live theatre per capita. Walking around the CBD you'd see huge RVs with blacked-out windows parked out the front of clubs and music venues, belonging to various artists on the tour circuit. Bars and clubs were also full of creative types. It was fantastic to come across the odd filmy.

Another interesting little fact is that Minnesota excludes clothing from its sale tax. To cater for a huge throng of out of state shoppers, it is home to the largest mall in the US, The Mall of America. America doesn't do such attractions in halves and, needless to say it is a pretty amazing, slightly scary, place: its a $650 million complex, contributing $1.8 billion to Minnesota's economy, there are about 520 stores spread across four levels and 23 hectares of retail space (for those back home that's nearly twice the size of Hyde Park).