Friday, 10/21

Because I have to go play TV dork for “High School Bowl” in a few minutes, and because I've had a few people ask exactly what it was that I said during my latest segment of “Life in the 906”, here it is.

Have a great weekend. Back with a question for you on Monday!

*****

(as originally aired on WZMQ 19 News 10/17/22)

I was speaking with a friend a couple of days ago, and she was telling me she’s planning on dressing as a Yooper for a Halloween party.  I asked her, “what kind of Yooper”, and that’s when she just stared at me.

Now, I’m pretty sure that she meant she’ll be dressing as the stereotypical Yooper who wears plaid, lives for deer season, and can take a snowmobile apart blindfolded.  

But I thought I had a legitimate question.  After all, 300,000 of us call the UP home, and we’re not all alike, are we?

I once had a conversation with a guy from Champion, where I was told that even though I was born in Marquette and still live here, that I’m not a Yooper.  Because I dress a certain way and vote a certain way, because I ride a bike instead of a four wheeler, and because I live in a place with sidewalks, in his eyes I’m not a Yooper.  I’m a “city boy”.

At the time it made me laugh, but since then that conversation has stuck in my head.  What exactly makes someone a “Yooper”?  I’m sure there are some who would only consider the deer-camp version of a Yooper a “Yooper”.  But you know what?  That’s leaving out the vast majority of us.  Not every Yooper is a “Yooper”. 

I know people in the UP who CAN take a snowmobile apart blindfolded.  But I also know people in the UP who are amazing artists.

I know people in the UP who are iron ore miners, but I also know people in the UP who can write the most complex computer code.

I know people in the UP who bag their buck on day one, but I also know people in the UP who are world-renowned experts on black holes.

The point is…there is not one monolithic definition of a Yooper.  All of these people I’ve mentioned, and everyone else who calls this amazing place home, no matter where they live or how they live, can stake their claim to the title.

Because in the end, no matter how you define it, the one thing that we have in common…

Is that we’re ALL Yoopers.

(jim@wmqt.com)