#prince rip

First stop – Lake Minnetonka – As a St. Paul kid, I had no clue there was a Lake Minnetonka.  It was in a world past Minneapolis and Minneapolis was in a another galaxy. But I fell in love when I worked at a teen clinic in Excelsior. It was a 45 minute drive, but completely worth it to raise money for sex ed. Growing up, I brought so many friends to Face2Face and used T.A.M.S in college so I knew the importance. However, that location has since closed and I didn’t know how I would feel about seeing what replaced the building. But my social anxiety means I really don’t like new places. I love trying new things and going new places, but I have an adjustment period where I am a snarky bitch.

Excelsior is a city with an insane amount of money and had no problem with a teen clinic on a main road. I was introduced to so many amazing people. Like our now Secretary of State, Steve Simon. He represented Hopkins at the time and just gave this speech:

{Representative Steve Simon (DFL Hopkins/St. Louis Park) says a proposed Minnesota constitutional amendment is largely about religion. He says if sexual orientation is innate as science is showing us, and not a lifestyle choice, then God created gay people. He asks how many gay people must God create before we accept that he wants them around.}

The timing gods were on our side because we were seated on the corner. It was a parade of luxury cars and I really like fast cars. I kind of wish I would have moved my to-go box before taking this picture. But it wasn’t that great so I couldn’t eat a lot in public.

What is she wearing? I decided to curl my hair and dress up a little. Since I don’t ‘have a job’, I have been looking like a homeless person most days. I am prototyping Clueless My Closet to help better organize my wardrobe so I feel great everyday. I like wearing weird things, but I need to look ‘professional’ if I am going to make money again. I wore an Anne Klein line dress, black boots, orange oxford (layer because I thought it was going to be colder), jean jacket, bomber jacket, scarf, tights, tank top and slip. I accessorized with purple sunglasses, an orange beret (couldn’t find my raspberry one I bought from an Axman store) with a bicycle pin. My favorite thing, the last time I wore those hideous purple sunglasses was at girls weekend when my friends stole a Porsche after being inspired by the blue gloves that came from the sunglasses.

After lunch we walked down to the lake to swing. I am a swinger. A swinger that worked at a teen clinic. My favorite set of swings is right on Lake Minnetonka. Luckily there were two open and not a lot of kids.

We swing for a bit and head down to the lake. I learn Ryan has never actually been in the lake. I thought I was bad. He has no excuse. So we will fix that this summer. We head to my second favorite set of swings on a hill. There were re too many bugs to swing so we sat.  We sat down with them for a while. If you zoom in, you can seem them.

View shots:

Second Stop: The Electric Fetus. We have some ice cream and head to what we call The Fetus. On the way, we pass two other places I have worked. It was not the route I would have chosen, but I was not driving. Both Ryan and I have been to The Fetus many, many times. From 22-25 I lived two blocks away and Ryan really likes records. We dream of opening our own store. I would manage the non-media and he would handle the media. The Fetus is exactly what it would look like but with a more Lisa Frank name. But the market is already pretty saturated with record stores and none will compare to Root Cellar Records.

Ryan buys 2 cassettes, a CD and I buy a bunch of incense. I didn’t bring my phone in so I didn’t take any pictures inside. Plus, I think that is rude. But they had Einstein soap that gets you relatively clean.

Stop Three: Purple Rain in Target Field Station. Because Minnesota is really cool, they were showing Purple Rain at where the Twins play. The back drop is another place I have worked. We buy $8 beers and find a spot to sit in the bike rack section. I really like being away from people and we could see the screen great. I made the mistake of walking around and taking pictures. Turns out the safest place was in the bike racks.

I’ve seen the movie a million times, but Ryan hasn’t seen the whole thing in one sitting. I’m pretty sure I knew all the words to the movie when I was 13. I didn’t want to ‘be Prince’, I just really liked the movie. Watching it again at 33 made me realize I loved it because it doesn’t draw attention to the way he looks. In his world, the talent came first and personality came second. There wasn’t room for making fun of his dress or calling him weird. However, my adult experience hasn’t been the same. I look mild in comparison, but if I took even the slightest fashion risk, someone would comment. We live in a world where what a women wears in a topic of conversation. People write blogs about it….

My favorite moment of the day was when the song started. I noticed black figure skates hanging in the basement when he was walking into his father’s room. I wore my dad’s black figure skates as a kid and was often reminded how they were ‘gay boys’. I was often confused because my dad isn’t gay – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Also, black people don’t ice skate.  About a minute into the song, we notice the two boys who were earlier practicing feats of strength on one of the bike racks started cuddling.  As soon as the song was over, they went back to one-upping each other, but there was a brief moment where I could snap a picture of complete strangers having a real human moment. I now believe it is impossible to watch Purple Rain without feeling love.

  After we walked towards First Ave so I could sneak in a place and pee. We bought a hot dog and went home.

The End