kenberg, on 2014-August-11, 17:19, said:
You have spoken of the UP as a very conservative area. I can see how it might be. From what I saw, these are conservatives that I get along with just fine.
Well, we tend to be pretty conservative and self-reliant for sure. We like to hunt and grew up with firearms, so attitudes on that differ from urban areas. But there is also a legacy of antipathy to corporations stemming from the days when mining companies ran the show, used violence to suppress the unions, then left holes and ruins behind. And most folks like the diversity that the universities bring to the area.
kenberg, on 2014-August-11, 17:19, said:
At Lac La Belle they told me when we checked in that there would be a fishfry. Thinking we would get fresh fish from Superior I said great. We got cod balls. Even in my neighborhood where I grew up would have objected to codballs. We caught bass we ate bass. Not codballs. And there was this huge pot of something. It tuned out to be tartar sauce. But I quibble. We had a great time.
Yeah, that's awful. There are a couple of local places that serve fresh Lake Superior fish, one a family enterprise that does the fishing, runs a fish market, and runs a very popular restaurant.
kenberg, on 2014-August-11, 17:19, said:
This all is, at least somehow, related to poverty. Michigan is having a tough time and in many places we could see this. But the UP seems to be coping.
Yes, folks here are pretty enterprising, as folks in impoverished areas generally seem to be. After every snowfall, you see quite a number of pickup trucks fitted with snowplows cruising around looking to pick up a few bucks clearing driveways.
The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper. — Friedrich Nietzsche
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists — that is why they invented hell. — Bertrand Russell