So, my wife and I are moving to Minneapolis proper in the next few weeks. We are still slumming it in an Eagan apartment which is a shithole of a place to live. It seems like the property managment company's trying to weed out the dead weight, but there's still some winners here- like the couple that got into a domestic verbal assault at 2:30 in the morning last week. And got the cops called on them. Or the losers that smoke pot and cigarettes on the stoop right outside my bedroom window 3 or 4 nights a week. Or the assholes that leave trash in the parking lot and on the stoop, like this lovely 40oz beer I encountered the other day. (I left it there for a day, until there was also a 95% full Steel Reserve can sitting next to it the following day. There's little kids running around here and you leave a mostly full beer can sitting out? Have some fucking pride in the place that you live, for fuck's sake.)
Oh sure, the new neighborhood has its issues as well, already. (sorry Minneapolis). Some jerk decided that they were going to leave 2 grocery bags full of paints/varnishes/stains at the end of my driveway. Does the sign on the house say "Recycling Center"? No, that's what I thought. The house and yard still do scream "NOBODY LIVES HERE" but we're already rectifying that quickly. Cleaning the place up will help. We did some major garden bed demolition already and it looks 10 times better in the alley already. In a few more weeks, it'll be obvious and you won't dump your paint in my driveway.
That nice little "WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD" was tempered with meeting a couple of nice neighbors who had nothing but raves about the neighborhood. It's also tempered by the fact that I will no longer live in John Kline's congressional district, but instead in Keith Ellison's. While I don't always agree with Congressman Ellison, his politics are of a general persuasion more amicable to my early 30's self. Besides being infinitely more affable and accessible to his constituents, he demonstrates that he understands his constituency's needs better than old guard guys like Kline (although calling Kline old line is a bit of a misnomer in some ways, because he's only been in congress a few years more than Ellison).
So I thought it'd be interesting to compare their Twitter accounts. Twitter's been quite evident as a tool used by politicians, and the ones that get it (like a lot of celebrities as well) actually send tweets to the account themselves instead of some lackey assistant or PR person. And the ones that get it share personal info to connect with their constituents. Ellison wins on both counts. Unfortunatly, I can't compare because John Kline appears to have an account, but as of this writing has not sent anything to it.
Is John Kline on Facebook or something? Maybe, but I don't really care anymore. Me? I'm outta here. See ya later Suburbs, been nice knowin'ya!
