What are the people like in Minneapolis and St. Paul?

[Cooliner]

Originally Posted by c jessen

Hi again.
We do also not kiss and hug at hello or goodbye - a handshake must be enough :-)

I come from a place where it's common to kiss (a woman) on the cheek and tap a man's back while shaking his hand
as a greeting when you meet people, especially for the 2nd time on...
It's inadverted as a sign of sympathy...
Do you think people would get me wrong if i did that when I'm back there?

[Astron1000]

Good thread. It captures a lot of the quirks of Minnesotans. I'll talk about the arts a bit since OB mentioned she was an artist...

As a long-time resident of Minneapolis I have to say that it really is a great city and underrated. I do participate in the arts culture here and both central cities are the place to be if you do as well. People talk about the arts but they don't realize that the Twin Cities have some of the very best arts institutions in America and they are highly regarded internationally as well. Locals sometimes downplay their own achievements (is it that reserved mindset that so many seem to have here?). Minneapolis is home to 3 Tony-Award winning regional theaters - only one other city can make that claim - and more than 20 other professional theaters and over 60 community-based theaters. There are more symphony orchestras here than any other city besides New York, including two that are flat-out world-class, the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has one of the country's largest collections and one of the best collections of Japanese art (how did that happen?). The Walker is one of the best three or four modern art museums in the country (actually the New York Times once called it the best).

As an artist you should also hook up with Art-A-Whirl, a gallery crawl that is one of the largest in the US, and the Minnesota Fringe Festival, one of the biggest fringe events in North America.

A lot of this has to do with the large philanthropic community, much of it funded by the huge number of corporations. There are more Fortune 500 corporate HQ's here than in Los Angeles! And several of them contribute 5% of pre-tax earnings back to the community.

The reason I mentioned the institutions is because they have also attracted some of the best arts professionals in the country, and that goes a long way toward explaining some of the social scenes in The Cities. There is definitely a strata of people that move in those circles. But surprisingly they are usually not ostentatious. In fact, people here don't seem to flaunt their wealth much at all.

The arts communities also go hand-in-hand with the liberalness of the area. Someone mentioned the liberal/conservative gradient as you go from the center to the edge of the metro area and I'd agree with that. If you are a Republican, you might not like Minneapolis or St. Paul. I don't think a Republican has even run for the Mayor of Minneapolis since 1989. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry to be so long-winded! Maybe I should get a job with the local Chamber of Commerce. There's a lot to dislike about the area too, but I'd rather focus on the good things!

[Minnesota is cold]

I have always thought that some of the road "rudeness" comes from impatience.
We have turned into such a "drive thru" society. We live way out in the suburbs (to avoid the higher property taxes closer to the city and the crime from the welfare seeking transplants) so we don't let the other guy merge cuz' we'll get there 3 seconds quicker......

[Minnesota is cold]

Originally Posted by rsusanb

Just wondering, what are the people in the cities going to do when the oil runs out? Living in such a big city, a person should not have to drive 45 minutes to one hour each way to work. The pollution and oil consumption from each individual doing that is causing the great state of Minnesota and parts of Canada to be sucked into the pollution disaster that is occuring everyday in Minnesota. I would like to see the people in the cities keep their population and pollution down there, before all of Minnesota ends up dirty and polluted!

Everyone "chooses their choice" in life and I choose to drive 45 mins to work each way for many reasons- one of them being in my chosen profession there are not a lot of Northern suburb jobs available- and I choose to live where I do for many reasons also- one being lower property taxes. I am very sorry if my little -38 miles to gallon - Saturn is polluting your world. If you look real close at your life I am sure you're contributing to the pollution factor also.. it may not be via oil consumption- but I bet its something/someway..
I don't spend too much time listening to Al Gore... it's all just opinion here anyway....

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by mitst

So true. I lived in the cities for 20 years and made 2 friends. It is the only city I have been in where drivers will speed up almost causing accidents just to not let you on the highway. No kidding.

Its no supprise to me that road rage in on the climb there.

Sounds like ATL

[Angorlee]

i will try to be honest with you without offending anyone in Minnesota. Well, first off people are people anywhere you go. You will find every kind in Minnesota that you will find anywhere else. But politically and socially Minneapolis is a fantasy fairytale land that doesn't fit in with its conservative scandanavian history. its like a liberal fantasy overlaying the real down to earth conservative and practical european american character. So the people in the twin cities area will fall in between that conservative and liberal fantasy somewhere. don't expect people to be straight forward with you like chicago people who right in your face with who they are. You may have to guess who your friends are and arn't and may experience some painful realizations in the process. But I met many nice people when I lived there. In my view a city is like a person with a personality of its own and some people(cities) I find that I just don't rock with and some cities I do. I don't fit into Minneapolis(or Minnesota) and if Minneapolis was a person I wouldn't be friends with him. I think you get what I mean. But your question was Minnesota. Well, Minnesota is influenced by minneapolis in a big way and I guess to answer what minneapolis is like will answer some of the questions that you have about minnesota. I might add that my anwer is too general and from a personal perspective only. In other words it may not be as objective an answer as what you are looking for. Someone else may have a completely different view of things.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Sounds like ATL

A bit, yes. However, it isn't really like ATL. Yet. Which is good, IMO.

[MNBill]

What are the people like in Minneapolis and St. Paul?

Mean 'n Ugly. Thanks for asking