I live in Charlie Brown Land

When I moved to Minnesota over 20 years ago there was this sense of that I had left the United States and gone into a totally different world, Charlie Brown land. Recently, I watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and I realized that Minnesota is so Charlie Brown Not because Charles Schultz was born and raised in Minnesota but there is an air about this place that brings to mind kids skating on a winter frozen pond safe, secure and without a care.
In Charlie Brown land there are diners on every block and fresh bakeries on every corner. When I first arrived here, there was a malt shoppe on the corner of Randolph and Snelling called the James Soda Grill, where you could still get milk shakes, fries and grilled cheese sandwiches for a great price. The soda jerk even had the traditional white uniform, garrison cap and all and this was 1988.
In Charlie Brown land, the politics are as clean as the streets and as liberal as the portions at Keys Cafe. Education was a priority in Charlie Brown land where in Garrison Keillor's words the children are above average as noted from the test scores.
In Charlie Brown land, the snow falls every winter and it is greeted with joy instead of disgust. Kids still skate on frozen ponds or ice rinks and hockey is not hokey . In Charlie Brown land people still have that sing-song accent that can lull you to sleep and make you dream of better times.
Sometimes it is almost like Minnesota is in a time warp stuck between Eisenhower and Nixon and sometimes it is past George Jetson. Charlie Brown land is not some fictional place in the mind of a dreamer, it is a real and vibrant place where life is lived and changes are made.
Minnesota may be Charlie Brown land but that's OK because I am Charlie Brown.