aaaaarrrrggghh, Goddamn UND nickname.

my home town is lost on the island...engulfed in a cloud...lovingly embracing a big ugly clod...of stupidity. interestingly, there are very few people here who are actually stupid. but the racism inherent in the "fighting sioux" mascot is somehow lost on a significant chunk of the population around here. it also seems to be the one and only subject that completely and without fail destroys the instinct toward "north dakota nice."

i have just one other complaint before i sing the praises of being back home, and that is: how do midwestern towns not realize how ugly it is to erect literally miles of strip malls, "super" chain stores and parking lots on their periphery(ies)? grannd forks used to be relatively compact, but driving from the south these days you can see super target and gordman's and michael's and old navy and the alerus center from miles away. they're huge. their parking lots are huge. and compared to virtually any store on the east coast, they sit nearly empty most of the time. ugh.

however: it's just really gorgeous here. particularly the first day i was here: sunny, but you couldn't tell for the blowing snow, and there were sundogs everywhere. everyone has christmas lights up, and there's a nice healthy layer of snow over it all expect on the outskirts of town, where a layer of dirt from western north dakota seems to have landed with the wind). there's also the fact that i've seen friends in the last few days that i hadn't seen for the last few years. sarah, ruth, kt (and the respective significant others), anne and kevin (though i see them more frequently, it seems). even steph, kelly, kara, laura...danny moen is getting married?!?! what!?

it's good. and no, laurel, i have no idea why my comments are now called poseurs. it makes me a little nervous, though, i'll tell you that.