Wide White

The best blogs of the Twin Cities

Boom! Another question in the inbox! This one comes from Reuben:

What are some of your favorite blogs written by Twin Citians?

Great question! I link everything I read on the right side of the site, but that doesn’t really tell you who my favorites of the bunch are or why. Since I have to limit the list somehow, I’ll give you my top 10. They’re listed alphabetically, not in order of actual preference. If your blog didn’t make the cut, feel free to rant in the comments.

1. 22 Words. This blog of randomness is curated by Minneapolitan Abraham Piper. I don’t recall how I stumbled across his site the first time a few years ago. We both attended the same church but didn’t know each other and I didn’t meet him until this year when we switched to a smaller church that he had also switched to. In 22 Words’ original inception, each blog post actually consisted of just 22 words. Occasionally a post would be a list of 22 things. Eventually he scrapped the 22-word concept and switched to posting random photos, videos, and stories from the web. The site took off from there and has a huge following. If you need a dose of humor or craziness every few hours, this is your place. Recent posts include a photo of a praying mantis eating a hummingbird and a video of a guy throwing a frisbee off a bridge to a guy who jumps out of a speedboat to catch it.
2. Lazy Lightning. Apple Valley resident Bill Roehl’s daily posts largely consist of south metro news and food or restaurant reviews. I’m guessing I originally found him through a Google search for something going on in the south metro. I casually followed him on the blog and on Twitter until almost 2 years ago when I met him at a breastfeeding class. Okay, let me explain: our wives were due close together (our kids wound up being born 10 days apart) and as first-time parents, you take classes on rather awkward topics like breastfeeding because you know only one thing about kids: you have no idea what you’re doing. You don’t suspect you’ll know anyone there, so looking at pictures of breasts and talking about them for two hours is all good. We walked into the class and I saw a bearded guy who looked really familiar. Thinking it had to be “that guy who swears a lot,” I stepped out of the room (no cell service in the basement of United Hospital) and checked Twitter. Sure enough, Bill had tweeted something about being in the basement of a hospital with no cell service and spotty WiFi. I introduced myself, we sat through a couple of hours that I’ve long since forgotten, and we’ve been friends ever since. Bill has built up a great group of regular readers who comment on each post, offering their input on the latest new restaurant or politician in the south metro. (And if you’re not okay with that sort of thing, he quit swearing in his blog posts almost 2 years ago.) Recent posts include a review of a local model railroad museum and a hot pepper sauce review.
3. MINNpics. Minnesota Pictures is a collection of photos from around Minnesota. Brian Sorenson hosts the blog and draws from Flickr to post the latest and greatest pictures from around the state. While he lives a bit outside the Twin Cities in Henderson, he works and spends a fair amount of time in the metro and many of his photos are from the Twin Cities. There’s a new photo almost every day and it’s well worth adding to your list! Recent posts include a shot of the fall colors in the Sawtooth Range and one of the Stone Arch Bridge in the St. Anthony Falls area of Minneapolis.
4. Nokohaha. If Twin Cities history interests you, you have to follow Nokohaha. A combination of “Nokomis” and “Minnehaha,” Nokohaha is a collection of photos, videos, and stories of the Twin Cities of yesteryear. Recent posts include a profile of a downtown Minneapolis hotel that was demolished in 1990 and photos from 1949 and 2011 of the Associated Bank building on Snelling Ave. in St. Paul.
5. Old and in the Way. Gary Sankary, better known as Sank, posts about family, work, Judaism, Freemasonry, and anything else that suits him. You’ll get a taste of life in the Sankary household with the humor of a self-described old fat guy (who’s not as old or as fat as that description would lead you to believe) from Apple Valley. Recent posts include one on his new German razor and another that went from Sank jumping up and down to get a bus driver to see him in the early morning darkness to him dealing with an airline passenger years ago who told him he was irresponsible for not buckling his kids into car seats on the plane.
6. Overheard in Minneapolis. This blog is a collection of submissions of strange things people have heard others say in the Twin Cities. Posts are a bit sporadic and often contain interactions that leave you baffled, laughing, and worried that people actually say things like that in public. I’ve had a submission or two make it to the website and anything that doesn’t make the website usually makes the Twitter account. If you’re like me and you ride local bus routes every day, you’ll probably recognize a lot of the conversations. Recent posts include a woman telling her friend that about an engagement that “will be a very successful first marriage” and a Mexican boy telling a Mexican girl that his mom wants him to hang out with her because she’s Mexican.
7. ReubensCube. Reuben lives in Minneapolis, is married with a daughter, likes loves to ride bikes, and is a Mormon. Most of what he blogs is related to one of those things. He also has an “Ask Me Anything” feature and was the inspiration for me adding that to my blog since I really liked the free form it gave his blog. He asked me this question for this post, so I had to suck up to him somewhere in this list. The somewhat-personal-but-not-a-diary and topicless-but-often-about-one-of-a-few-primary-topics nature of his blog reminds me a lot of mine too and I like it. Recent posts include a bad joke from his dad and another on the differences between the “Mormon” and “Christian” label.
8. Running is for Jerks. Minneapolis resident Toby Dessonville ran not one, but two marathons this year. He’d never run one before. He ran one of them in a Timberwolves jersey, which takes a lot of courage to wear in the first place, much less through 26.2 miles of people sick of seeing their hometown team play. He started this blog to talk about running. He’s similar to me in age, height, and build, and I really want to run a marathon at some point (I tried training for one a couple of years ago before my knee decided it had other plans). I also like sports, humor, and music and he incorporates all of these things into a lot of his posts. I’m not at all into reading running magazines and articles on running but I really like Toby’s blog. Recent posts include one about running in the winter and another on adjusting his running style.
9. Tell Me About It. Kristi Noser lives in Hudson, which while in Wisconsin is still counted in the Twin Cities metropolitan population. She posts something short and sweet a few times a month and it’s usually pretty funny. I got to know her when I went to church with her for 9 months and we try to make it to her place for her family’s annual pig roast. Recent posts include a Surly Furious top hat she made and one in which her son tells her they don’t have any food and she produces photographic evidence that they do.
10. Twin Cities Daily Photo. Steve C posts a photo every few days (not quite daily, as the title would indicate) from somewhere in the Twin Cities metro. Recent posts include a view up the St. Croix River in Taylors Falls and an interesting bridge in Minneapolis.

That’s my short list. Are there others that I’m missing? Are there any on the list that I shouldn’t have included? When I first moved to the Twin Cities I found a few blogs through Google searches and have since connected through blog comments, Twitter, blogrolls, etc. I’m always up for picking up another great local blog though.

Have a question? Ask me anything!