There are a couple of long-held dreams–call the pipe dreams– that residents throughout the UP might have. For some, it might be an evening with 2 jumbos, a cribbage board, and a pasty. But for others the number one Yooper pipe dream has been the UP breaking off to become… the state of “Superior”.
We were talking last week about how the UP was a booby prize given to Michigan for losing the Great Toledo Border War. And when you spent most of your existence realizing that you’re just a participation trophy in a skirmish between two states…
Well, sometimes you wonder if the state that “won” you always appreciates you.
Now, I’m not here to say that the UP SHOULD become its own state. We’d be the least populous state by half, places like Washington DC and Puerto Rico have a much stronger case for statehood, and in all honesty there just isn’t a diverse enough economic backbone to support an entire state.
To make ends meet we’d have to resort to something like selling Mackinac Island to Jeff Bezos.
And since it’s worth more than 25 bucks, he’d probably want it with free shipping.
One way around the economic issue might be to have the mythical state of “Superior” also encompass parts of northern Wisconsin and the lower peninsula.
But that could bring its own set of problems. You’d be mixing Yoopers with trolls and cheeseheads And you know how there’s a group of people who say they don’t want Marquette turning into the next Traverse City?
Do you think they’d want the real Traverse City as part of the new state?
Like most pipe dreams, the state of “Superior” is just that– a dream.
In fact, a petition on change dot org about statehood has a whole 100 signatures on it.
So the vast majority of UP residents realize that we’re part of Michigan, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
But on those days that we as a peninsula feel like we’re not appreciated, we can always fall back on our Yooper pipe dream.
And not the pipe dream about 2 jumbos, a cribbage board, and a pasty.
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906.”
