Somebody To Shove

For the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes and a Million Badasses

I’ve struggled to focus this week.

My head and my heart have been with the brave people fighting for our freedoms in the Twin Cities. In the summer of George Floyd, they showed the rest of us what a bunch of badass motherfuckers they are. Tonight, they’ll do it in -4 degrees.

The people of Minnesota are showing us how to save our democracy if we care to. They are standing together with love, joy, and fury, and they are defending their homes against an invasion by masked thugs whose primary objectives are to sow terror, demonstrate unchecked authority, and deliver violent political retribution.

But Minnesota has always been a state of badass motherfuckers – the birthplace of Eddie Cochran and Bob Dylan; ground zero for grunge before it had a name (the Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum); home of the Purple One.

We see you, Minnesota. You’ve always been cool.

But you’re on a whole other level right now.

As I walk through my own quiet neighborhood in my Blue state to pick my child up from her sweet, safe little school, as I wave to my neighbors and daydream about the weekend, I wonder how much longer before they’re here. How much longer before they’re abducting children, ripping people from their cars, and forcing their way into homes here?

Minnesota is a warning to us all. But let it also be a warning to those who would rule us. There are way more of us than there are of you.

This is in gratitude to those on the streets of Minnesota who are putting their bodies between us and the bad guys. You’re on the front lines of a fight that affects us all.

Be safe. Look out for each other.

Here’s some of that badass Minnesota shit…