one more word or two on that...

The images are from the art museum between the library and the parking lot behind the museum, right on the St. Mary River, where we were rocked by fierce wind gusts through the night as the voyager pointed her bow back toward Michigan across the water that divides us.

Comparing data for the two Sault Sainte Maries is a real challenge. The Michigan town is much smaller, only 14,300, to the Ontario side's 74,950. They are both the oldest cities in their respective state/province. I couldn't get to income data or mortality figures for the Ontario side but they do get a heck of a lot of precipitation on both sides the St. Mary River.

I think what pulled me to compare the two sister cities is that they have the same name and they are so geographically interesting as they sit in the center of the Great Lakes hub.

US Census data is hard enough to pull through but race, poverty, disease data and infant mortality are easy to recover on internet. The Canadian data is probably there but I couldn't find it at all. All I found out about is about the most profitable steel making plant called Algoma, the melamine factory, the St. Mary's flakeboard factory, the multi-modal terminal, the integrated tourism and transportation development with the performing arts center, biodome..all the sports, culture, media...

This morning on the Canadian Broadcasting radio (CBC) there was a discussion on the Canadian health care system and Hillary Clinton's plan and another show on designing and producing a Canadian automobile. It seems like the country is buzzing with thoughts and ideas. When we were able to get NPR near large or university cities in the US the format is so stale, with deadly hours of classical music and then news that is never lively...

This isn't a good time, with winter coming on, to urge you to just take a swing through Canada to pick up the vibe but to me it is a remarkable jab to note the subtle and not so subtle differences in our national energies, priorities and political will.