Level of Liberal

random
I recently had a conversation with someone I had just met about how liberal Minnesota is. This person wasn’t originally from here so perhaps he has a less biased opinion, but he claimed Minnesotans just think they are liberal. Now, I can’t speak on rural Minnesota because I have no experience with it, but I think Minneapolis is doing more than thinking it is liberal. The problem with the conversation, however, was that this person was focusing on lack of ethnic diversity as the determining factor to Minneapolis’ level of liberalness. According to the 2000 census my neighborhood’s makeup is

• 47% White
• 21% Hispanic
• 20% Black
• 6% Asian
• 4 % Other
• 2% American Indian

The state demography website states in 2004 Minnesota ranked 16th nationally for number of legal immigrants, receiving more African immigrants than all but four states (California, New York, Texas and Maryland). Minnesota also had nearly 37 percent of all Somali immigrants in 2004, the highest percentage of any state.

My point, however, is not about the ethnic diversity of Minnesota. My point is this is not the deciding factor of how liberal a state or city is. Social programs, heath care system, welfare and minimum wage are just a few factors. And don’t forget – we have the third largest Pride celebration in the nation. And it is this weekend!

Perhaps the fact that the only tidbit I'm solidly armed with is the bit about Pride makes me one of those Minnesotans that thinks we're a liberal lot. So, while I plan on attending Pride this weekend, I now also plan on doing a little research into Minnesota and our liberalness.

runnings
After work I was a bit wound up so I actually wanted a run. I made it to the gym to squeeze in a run before meeting friends (it was 80 degrees out so I opted for the treadmill). Once I got there I discovered I had forgotten my knee straps so I just ran for 2 miles. This is the first time I ran without a strap on my right knee for almost a year and probably six moths with my left knee. I did okay, but it did feel a bit odd. I'm glad I got in some sort of run but 2 miles is feeling like it probably didn't do much for me.