Sunday – Streets of Minneapolis

After our Mississippi River Cruise mid-day Sunday, September 16, we decided to drive into the downtown area in search of the Mary Tyler Moore Statue. It was at the corner of Nicollet Mall and South Seventh Street, only a couple miles away from the docking area for our cruise.

The folks who live in Minneapolis credit The Mary Tyler Moore Show for putting their city on the map. The celebrity Mary Tyler Moore is affectionately called Minneapolis' most famous non-resident citizen.



The Mary Tyler Moore Show ran on television from 1970 to 1977. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked The Mary Tyler Moore Show No. 6 in its list of the 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time. The show won 29 Prime Time Emmy Awards. The theme of the sitcom was groundbreaking for its era – a 30 year old single woman setting off on her own for a career. She takes on the position of associate producer of a television station's six o'clock news. In the vehicle of a news program, the comedic Mary Tyler Moore Show dealt with a widespread array of controversial issues: unequal pay for women, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, marital infidelity, divorce, juvenile delinquency, intimate marital problems, infertility, adoption, addiction to sleeping pills. Reading this litany, the show sounds like a downer but it really was quite humorous while affording viewers the opportunity and springboard to have serious discussions. Full episodes run on You Tube for those wanting to see a sample.

In my mind I can visualize the iconic moment where Mary exuberantly throws her tammy hat into the air and I can hear the following lyrics of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Intro being sung:

          Who can turn the world on with her smile?
          Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
          Well it's you girl, and you should know it
          With each glance and every little movement you show it
         
          Love is all around, no need to waste it
          You can never tell, why don't you take it
          You're gonna make it after all
          You're gonna make it after all
       
          How will you make it on your own?
          This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
          But it's time you started living
          It's time you let someone else do some giving
         
          Love is all around, no need to waste it
          You can never tell, why don't you take it
          You might just make it after all
          You might just make it after all

As we were driving north-westward down Nicollet, we spied the statue across the street off to the left and impetuously pulled over to capture the fact that we had been there. In the next two photos Frank and I are imitating Mary's enthusiasm.

I took a photo of Frank, Joe, and Sue with Mary while John and Margaret nervously waited in the car somewhat auspiciously parked car just around the corner. They played lookout until the four of us could come scrambling back in.

After crossing the Mary Tyler Moore Statue off our Minneapolis bucket list, we headed toward the Minnesota Streetcar Museum about 5 miles south. We drove alongside several lakes from the Chain of Lakes trail system, the three largest of which were Cedar Lake, Bde Maka Ska (pronounced beh-DAY mah-KAH skah and formerly Lake Calhoun), and Lake Harriet. Bde Maka Ska, is the original Dakota name that means White Earth Lake. It is the largest lake in Minnesota.

In the 1820s, federal surveyors had named the lake after Secretary of War John Calhoun, a South Carolinian who was an ardent supporter of slavery. After a recent petition was submitted to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, it held several public hearings before approving a name return to Bde Maka Ska effective January 2018. Apparently the movement to rename memorials, remove flags, or relocated statues due to historic injustices is not limited to the deep south.

We drove in circles around the Chain of Lakes area near Lake Harriet attempting to find the museum located at 2330 West 42nd St. Its location on a narrow one way street defied pinpointing by the several cell phone and GPS systems of our navigational crew. Apple Maps and Google Maps were in steep competition and both failed. We ultimately parked and walked to the address and this is what we saw. We were expecting a MUSEUM not a museum. That tiny square cream-colored shack is the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, near the shoreline of Lake Harriet in the background. 

A plaque outdoors commemorated the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line citing that "for 74 years this transit railway carried passengers to downtown jobs, to University of Minnesota classes, and to picnics and concerts on the shores of Lake Harriet."

Within its four walls, the small building contained mainly items for sale of a streetcar theme. Mostly there were kids' toys or buildings for train layouts.

There was a large assortment of books for a wide range of ages.

There was not a large abundance educational displays within the building itself, considering it was called a museum, but there were old photos to browse – most of which are available on its trolleyride.org website – and a display of versions of tokens.

We purchased tokens for our ride that afternoon.



The fifteen minute round trip would take us north up to Bde Maka Ska and back south, just a bit beyond the museum hut to an old "carbarn".

We enjoyed the scenic view of the Lake Harriet dotted with small boats as we waited for our street car to arrive.

And here comes our streetcar, from the south, after reversing its direction at the car barn end of the route. Despite evidence to the contrary in book titles within the museum store, we learned that to be accurate the term "trolley" refers to the wheeled carriage that rides along the wires above and not to the vehicle itself. Also, the term "cable car" is reserved for San Francisco.

We climbed aboard for our ride. From left to right we are Sue, John, Margaret, Joe, Frank, and me, the phantom photographer.

Frank is the first to board and ceremoniously drops his token in the toll collection machine.

And we are off! We learned that the person who runs the streetcar is more correctly called the operator and not the driver.

Many of the posters that line the space above the windows reflect the advertisements of the era.

As we reached the northernmost part of our trip I noticed some metal work signs at the shores of Lake Bde Maka Ska that read.

WACINTANKA – WOOHANWASTE – WOWADITAKE

I asked our conductor what they stood for and he acted surprised. "I do not know", he wondered softly. "They must have just put them there this weekend...?" he suggested, scratching his head. "This is the first I have noticed them." Once I got home I set out to research their meaning. The closest I could decipher was that they stood for

DISCIPLINE – GENEROSITY – COURAGE

WACINTANKA

per https://www.giarts.org/article/wacintanka
Wacintanka (wah-cheenh-tanh-kah) as a Lakota word defies a single-word English translation. It means a combination of patience, persistence, and endurance, into a discipline for relationships where one is trained to listen to another person as they too have their story.

WOOHANWASTE

per https://martyindian.k12.sd.us/BravesNewsletterOctober.pdf
Woohanwaste means generosity, a trait all Dakota/Nakota persons possess.

WOWADITAKE

per http://www.spiritlakeconsulting.com/COPT/intro/DakotaLeaders2.html
Wowaditake means courage. Native Americans understood that courage was necessary to ensure survival of the tribe. Courage took many forms; from the courage and bravery demonstrated by warriors in battle to coping with day-to-day struggles. In today’s world, leaders are not selected for their acts of courage or those who lack courage, often perform poorly in their leadership positions.

This trio of signs and the lake renaming made me more aware of the Native American influence in the Minneapolis area. A look at a United States map reveals how close the North Dakota and South Dakota are to Minnesota, bordering it on the western side. The preceding definitions caused me to question the distinction among Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota; I learned they are three dialects of the Sioux language. 

I couldn't but help wonder if the ideals of those metal work signs were at all associated with renaming the lake from Calhoun to Bde Maka Ska. Each one of those words, at least to me, could be interpreted either as an admonishment about the morality of slavery of the past or as an aspiration to the future goal of pursuing the selection of leaders who exhibit these admirable qualities. 

That night we had a late lunch / early dinner at Applebee's. We enjoyed the camaraderie of patrons watching their local football favorite, the Minnesota Vikings in a game against the Green Bay Packers. We stayed long after we'd finished our food to see the outcome. After trailing the first three quarters, the Minnesota Vikings rallied in the fourth quarter to tie the game 29-29. Overtime could not break that tie. It was a fun finish to our first full day in Minneapolis.