3 book picks from our Roundtable guests

Here are the books that our Roundtablers are reading:

Nick Tasler is enjoying a history of McKinsey & Company called “The Firm.” The Wall Street Journal called Duff McDonald’s book an “up-to-date, full-blown history, told with wit and clarity.”

Glenda Eoyang is taking Katherine Boo’s “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” with her on a trip to India.

Janet Dolan has two books on her reading list: “Zealot” by Reza Aslan and Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall.”

About the blogger

Stephanie Curtis

scurtis@mpr.org • @stephcurtis

Stephanie Curtis has produced events, daily news shows, documentaries, conferences and call-ins for MPR News. She also was among the pioneering producers who launched The Current. You can hear her discuss movies every Thursday on The Cube Critics.

Steve the Cynic

Sure. They serve the purpose of getting the names of the legislators who propose them into headlines– very useful for boosting one’s political career. Or do you you mean “useful” in a way that really matters? Then, no.
Gary F

I was thinking of a state ammunition, seeing our state is home to Federal Cartridge. 12ga #4 shot? 30-06? 9MM Luger? .22lr?

Amazes me that they have time for this seeing that they rarely get done on time. The media has a great time reporting on it, so it must be important. If they didn’t talk about state poems, they would have to report in more detail the absurdities of the proposed gun control legislation or even wasteful spending by the government.
- Pearly
  
  Got DPMS also, for now anyway.
  - Gary F
    
    YES! The State of Minnesota Official “mean looking black plastic rifle with a front hand grip” The Panther, made in St. Cloud Minnesota! Thanks Pearly!
    - Pearly
      
      lol. It also accepts standard capacity magazines!
Jim G

State symbols are wonderful for our elementary teachers and students when they’re working on Social Study projects for a specific state. Other than that ….uhmmm, not that I can think of.
Sue de Nim

Maybe, but not that poem, please! It’s dripping with sappy sentimentalism and nostalgia for an idealized past that never was. If we must have a state poem, let it be one that celebrates the Minnesota of today, with a vision for the future.
Wally

How’s this for a State Poem?

Minnesota once so Green
But now a tax and spend machine
Minnesota, once so Yellow
But soon a guy can wed a fellow
Minnesota once so White
But now so diverse overnight
(Which is not a real bad thing
Til pols of diversity sing)
Minnesota once so Red
But now the DFL’s in bed
With every union, every fool
Who wants to pay for every school
From pre-school to post grad degree
And now we are no longer free
Healthcare, welfare, programs for
Every ill. Wolf’s at the door
We’re taxed from birth to early grave
And politicians cannot save
A single dime and we will pay
Oh! Minnesota cannot stay
Like this forever.
- Phil
  
  Love it!
- Ann M
  
  That poem might be too truthful. We don’t want the world to know that much.It is a great poem though. I hope you write more poems.
- Lady Slipping
  
  Poems are very cool in political commentary!
GregX

No … they are fodder for trivia – nothing more. The designation connotes no real privilege, treatment, respect or benefit on the object/entity.
kim

Useful, as in “seriously useful”? Probably not. I guess you could look at it as an attempt at “branding”. When you think of MN, you think of the loon. Then some of the contributions to the daily MPR question are a little easier to make sense of.
Scott44

Gee how much money was spent of this legislature? Really, I am so glad that there is nothing better for to do for the state…
Jeff

I guess if these types of bills keep the legislature busy and stop them from implementing more troublesome laws (like ones that might infringe on my constitutional, personal and economic freedoms) then yes, they serve a very useful purpose. Let’s keep them busy trying to create an official state symbol for every type of object and animal! Hopefully, by the time they get done designating every type of object and animal as an official state symbol the legislative session will be over.
JasonB

They’re ‘feel good’ fluffy distractions from the real issues.
david

No, no purpose except i guess passing that “legislation” is a politician’s version of movie day like we had back in elementary school.
- david
  
  Just read the poem, it’s quite aweful.
Lady Slipping

Can you remember ever seeing a Lady Slipper??? And decades later I still carry that with me.
- Robert
  
  We had them in the backyard and in the marshy woods across the street when I was a youngster in the eighties. I live directly south from there about 20 miles (from Blaine), just along the river by the U of M, lots of wildlife including wild turkeys, deer, pileated woodpeckers, raccoons, chipmunks, mushrooms, flowering and fruiting plants and trees, although I have yet to see a lady slipper along the river down here.
  
  Minnesota has incredibly beautiful nature. We just have to give it a chance to live and thrive. (hint: wherever you can give up your lawns, create rain gardens and areas to let nature be).
Lady Slipping

…Now the Loon, that’s quite different.
kevins

I think some of the legislatively adopted items reflect politicians buttering someone’s bread, so to speak, but on the other hand, some of these objects are invested with meaning that can be broadly shared, unifying, internalized as part of an identity, and trnascendent of time. That ain’t bad, eh?
Abbie

We must include the cannabis/hemp leaf, for the present controversy, and the past and future prosperity and peace it provides.

I forgot are wild rice and mosquitoes included in the poem?