Minnesota- Where The Communists Are Nice and Catholic Buildings Look Like Headquarters for SPECTRE

Oh and the kids are a little bit above average :)

I saw this over at the Corner and thought this was pretty funny

St. John's/St. Benedict's [Jonah Goldberg]
On Tuesday I gave a talk out in Minnesota (I might establish legal residency there given how often it seems I'm out there). I love the upper Midwest. The people — even the Stalinists — are really polite and nice. For instance, at St. John's a hippy-looking scrawny kid with a "Communist Party" t-shirt (you know, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao et al wearing party hats) bought me a beer at the St. John's pub afterward. I did try to explain to him why I thought the shirt was offensive while he explained that real Communism had never really been tried — yet.

Anyway, the speech went well which was a relief, as I was a bit nervous (it was pretty much the first speech I've given in over a year that wasn't on the 2008 election or that book I wrote). Here's a very generous write up from a blogger in attendance. I had a very nice time with the College Republicans at the school's pub. Polite, sharp, kids. I think this is only the third school I've been to with a still-thriving pub on campus. St. John's — the men's school — has a monastery where the monks make their own beer. I've already suggested to Rich that NR get a monastery for similar purposes.

Anyway, the one negative thing: St. John's architecture is quite simply hideous. It's an old school, founded and run by Catholics, and yet the buildings look like they are straight out of late 1970s Romania. One student told me they were something like "Neo-realist brutalist" or some such. Even the Church looks like a Bond villain headquarters to me. A Hollywood production company should scout the place out for all sorts of dystopian sets and whatnot.
04/23 07:39 AMShare