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Last summer, in an effort to make Minnesota more relevant in presidential races, state legislators voted to bump precinct caucuses from early March to February 5. The reasoning: Because everything in the presidential-campaign cycle has been trending earlier—announcements, fundraising, smearing—the party nominations will essentially have been decided by March.But the move isn’t likely to make much of a difference. For starters, roughly 20 other states have passed similar legislation, rendering the move, well, about one-twentieth as effective. We’re just another joiner in the extravaganza soon to be known as Super-Duper Tuesday.
What’s more, Minnesota won’t distinguish itself because, if history is any guide, we almost always follow our southern neighbor. We’ve trod the same path as Iowa in every election (save 1980) since the 1960s, the decade when Iowa’s caucuses became significant. Even our bolder choices have mirrored Iowa’s picks, as in 1988, when Minnesotan Republicans selected Senator Robert Dole, who then had only a minimal shot at the presidency; and in 1992, when Minnesota Democrats sided with Iowa liberals to choose the Hawkeye State senator Tom Harkin. Neither, you’ll recall, reached the Oval Office.
—MAX ROSS
Arctic Front
Roughly 100 members of the Minnesota National Guard are packing for yet another overseas deployment this month. But the all-volunteer force isn’t headed to Iraq or Afghanistan.These Minnesota soldiers will visit a training facility in Norway, just south of the Arctic Circle. As part of an exchange program, begun in 1974, the Americans will spend two weeks learning combat and survival skills—mountain warfare, winter camouflage, cold-weather camping—from members of the Norwegian Home Guard. Such training may seem far removed from the realities of the war in Iraq, but these skill sets could come in handy in the mountains of Afghanistan or in some future deployment, says a Guard spokesperson: “You never know what’s coming next.”
The second part of the exchange is a “cultural experience” offered by the Norwegian hosts. We’re not sure if chugging beer in the Arctic chill qualifies as culture, but it probably beats drinking warm water in Iraq.
—ROSS HOLTAN
Piano Man
Penumbra Theatre
But even Bellamy admits he’s daunted by the task of staging the entire cycle, as Penumbra plans to do over the next several seasons. The Piano Lesson, which opens February 21, will be a particularly high hurdle: Bellamy helped set the standard in the early 1990s, when he co-starred in Penumbra’s first production of the play, which Wilson later called his “favorite staging.” Says Bellamy, “I feel fortunate to have made a living around this good literature.” And Wilson, who earned a Pulitzer (his second) for The Piano Lesson, would no doubt say he was indebted to Bellamy as well.
—JOEL HOEKSTRA
Unconventional Valentine's
Gift suggestions that will make you feel as good about giving as receiving
Better Blooms
Fresh flowers are fleeting. A rose-scented diffuser from Minneapolis-based Alora Ambiance lasts 4 to 6 months. Brian Graham Salon, 220 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis, 612-333-3091
Note-Worthy
Make your own or support a local artist who does. Molly Woodland uses vintage patterns and hand-sewn details to create charming sentiments. www.apiarydesign.com, 612-270-2960
Sweet Nothings
Indulge in calorie-free, guilt-free decadence with Laura Mercier’s Chocolate Truffle Body Collection of body crème and bath gel. Neiman Marcus, 505 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 612-339-2600Love in a Bottle
Love needn’t be toxic. Forgo chemical-laden, headache-inducing fragrances in favor of a natural, essential oil like Aveda Pur-Fume Absolute Love. www.aveda.com, 800-644-4831Healthy Pour
Trade in the bubbly for an “eco-wine.” Frog’s Leap Rougante Pink is festive and made from certified organically grown grapes. FRANCE 44, 4351 France Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-925-3252—ELIZABETH DEHN
Bad, Bad Science
Later this month, the Science Museum of Minnesota will unveil an exhibit from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum called Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race. It centers on Nazi efforts to use eugenics to create a racially pure society.That might seem like a horrific idea from a distant time and place, but the eugenics movement was prevalent across the United States a century ago, and Minnesota played a part in advancing this bunk science.
The state’s strongest eugenics enthusiast was Dr. Charles Fremont Dight. An eccentric Minneapolis physician, Dight became interested in improving society through controlled breeding in the early 1920s, just as the science of eugenics was gaining steam in America. His initial foray into the subject was a pamphlet entitled “Human Thoroughbreds, Why Not?” In 1933, Dight wrote a fan letter to Adolf Hitler praising the chancellor’s plan to “stamp out mental inferiority in the German people.” And he also espoused a plan to create a stand at the Minnesota State Fair that would feature a “fitter families contest.” The booth would encourage Minnesotans to strive for more perfectly constructed families, bred for mental acumen and physical prowess.
While Dight’s more radical ideas failed to excite wide support, he did win the backing of many in Minnesota’s scientific and political communities when he proposed a law that would require the sterilization of mentally handicapped individuals in 1925. He was far from alone in believing that sterilization could alleviate the sufferings of the mentally ill: Some 4,000 sterilizations were done in California alone. Minnesota’s law, which passed and remained on the books until the mid-1970s, resulted in the enforced sterilization of the “feeble-minded” and insane at the state hospital in Faribault.
Dight died in the late 1930s, leaving the proceeds of his estate—around $200,000—to the University of Minnesota, with the request that it establish “a place for consultation and advice on heredity and eugenics.” The Dight Institute, reinvented in 1946 as a place of genetic study and counseling, existed at the U until 1985.
—TIM BRADY
