As regular listeners of Prairie Home Companion are aware, one of the few things Minnesotans like to do more than mock North Dakota is mock Iowa.* Even our governors have been known to mock Des Moines. And so, I was extremely amused to run across this headline in the New York Times:
“Keeping Iowa’s Young Folks at Home After They’ve Seen Minnesota”
The article included such choice Iowa bashing lines as:
“Another Iowan, when asked what the state needed to keep its young people, said, ‘An ocean would help.’ This is the kind of big thinking Iowa has always been famous for.”
“Iowa would be a great place to live, if only the air and the water weren’t polluted and you could be sure you wouldn’t find yourself living next to 10,000 sows in a hog prison.”
In all fairness, Minnesota farm towns, such as Clara City, don’t do very well at keeping their young people around either. But at least they tend to stay in the state. (And I do realize the irony of me saying that.)
* Even more than Iowa, we like mocking Wisconsin the most. At least that one’s a fair fight and involves sports rivalries. Iowa and North Dakota don’t even have sports teams.
Colossus of Rhode 
I feel a bit more justified in my feelings toward Iowa and Wisconsin now that the Iowa-Minnesota “rivalry” (if you could call our clear superiority that) has made the bigtime in NY.
As a bit of a hard rock and metal fan, though, I have to say I’ve been a bit dissaponted lately. Static X is from Wisconsin. A coworker of mine has a cousin in Slipnot, and he’s from Des Moines. Maybe Minnesota can just claim higher class music, I don’t know. I just know I’m rooting for the local rock/metal bands more than ever now.
So here’s to Vain, To Bleed For, Dillanger 4, Sound and Fury (www.soundnfury.net), and Sunset Black! 🙂