Each State Brings Something Different, for Example, Wisconsin and Minnesota

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by writer Karen Edmisten Here. Thank you Karen for Hosting. Karen shares with me a deep love of coffee.

I am happy to say I submitted a poem to the Gyroscope Review this week. It made me feel good to participate. Submissions are open until September 1st, if you happen to be a poet and a woman over fifty.

I have spent a lot of time this week watching YouTube videos on watercolor. I find it all fascinating and isn’t creativity good for one’s mental health? It’s good for mine.

But today I’d like to celebrate our fifty states. Why? Because they are all different and anyone who disparages diversity might reconsider if they knew more about the individual states.

Looking through my phone for photos to paint, I found photos from my drive out west with my husband two years ago. Bart and I rode through a state I’d never been to : Wisconsin was one. Like most states, its citizenry is made up of native peoples and those with immigrant backgrounds. We visited the beautiful capital, Madison.

Wisconsin State House

We also drove through Minnesota. The town of Blue Earth, Minnesota, is the home the Jolly Green Giant, celebrated by a very tall statue. Who knew? He looked oddly like my husband.

I learned facts about Wisconsin on a road sign.

Minnesota facts: There are fifteen thousand lakes in Wisconsin, 65 towns with the word “lake” in them and many more in the Chippewa or Dakota languages. There are 13 falls. The one called Minnehaha inspired the Song of Hiawatha, by Longfellow. There are ten rivers and five rapids, not to mention isles, bays, and beaches. I was very impressed! There are many more facts and I’d like to return. What an amazing state!

I love New York and my home in the Finger Lakes region as much as those from Wisconsin and Minnesota love their states’ beauty.

Last week at the New York State Fair, I visited prize livestock, chicken and rabbits. I met a farmer who told me that a calf gains two pounds a day and eats grains two days after birth. A year old calf I met, weighed two hundred pounds! I loved hearing about his life as a dairy farmer.

Calves at the New York State Fair

If we can see the beauty and understand the history and people in each state, that can only help build respect for our differences. Is that too preachy? 

ABOUT OUR FIFTY STATES

Each one different
in origen and people,
every state belongs

© Janice Scully 2025

Thank you, Karen, for hosting!

9 thoughts on “Each State Brings Something Different, for Example, Wisconsin and Minnesota”

  1. Janice, so true that every state has its individual charms. I’ve lived in five different states (Massachusetts, Washington, Alaska, Florida, Nebraska) and each place is unique, yet in some ways the same. 🙂

  2. I’m glad you are celebrating the individual states! And thanks for the chuckle about the Jolly Green giant looking oddly like your husband. 🙂 xo

  3. Ha! I am literally on a plane headed for Wisconsin right now so am especially appreciative of this post 🙂 It is true — so many unique people and places and experiences in this country, and it’s a good, grateful practice to notice them.

    1. Liz, safe travels. I just realized I got Minnesota and Wisconsin combined in my head. My post is now about both states! Thanks.

  4. Janice, I am always fascinated by signage when I travel. I enjoyed learning about Minesota, had a laugh about the Jolly Green Giant, and always loved the NYS Fair. One of the best places at the fair was the animal exhibit. Your photos brought back fond memories.

  5. Janice,
    My husband and I grew up in Western NY – he outside of Buffalo and me outside of Rochester. We went to Alfred University for undergrad and UB for grad school. We loved WNY, growing up and going to school there. But we moved to Wisconsin in 1999 and haven’t looked back. We consider WI our home now, and while it offers different things from NY, there are many similarities as well. The topography is very much the same – although the words used to describe it are different. We’ve lived in Delaware and Maryland as well. We also both worked in Pennsylvania. Our travels have taken us to CO, VT, NH, ME, SD, ND, IA, HI, CA, AZ, NM, OH, VA, NJ, FL, SC, NC, and a few others, but those listed are places we actually stayed for a vacation or for overnight travel that allowed for exploring. I’d love to be able to get to all 50 states and all the National Parks. Thanks for sharing part of your travels.

    1. Thank you, Carol. I read your fabulous article and am so thrilled with the work you have done and your education of all of us about monarchs. I tried to respond to your blog but I think had some tech problem, but maybe it went through. It s a tough time in the USA for sure and Zim also depressed about the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian. When I lived inDC, I. Loved attending both those special places. They are the best the government has to offer its citizens.

  6. Janice, what a fun post! I had to laugh though because Minnesota and Wisconsin seem to have merged here into one and the same state. I guess you drove through Minnesota too at the same time. They do look a lot a like. I don’t think it is preachy at all that all the states belong in their diversity. It is something we should all be able to agree on in this chapter of our country, isn’t it?

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