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The November National Geographic has been sitting in my livingroom for probably a week now, and I know I've flipped through it. I must not have gotten to the end before -- their ZIPcode of the month is none other than 58102, the code of my childhood. Right now, I live on the South half of town, assigned 58103, but I work in 58102, much of my family is in 58102, and I hope to move back to the North end of town eventually. 58101 doesn't exist, except for internal USPS use (their website search doesn't acknowledge it's existence, but the Fargo postmaster uses it), which makes 58102 the first in the 58100 series...quite a feat, if you really cared. I care, because that's just the way it is. I think we've got up to 58109 for Fargo itself. Everything started at 58102.Of course, National Geographic focused on the infamous movie named after our fine city, they talk a LOT about the ungodly cold, they emphasize the understated modesty of our local culture. Part of me rolls my eyes, considering the stereotypes they're promoting. One time I got a call at work from a woman out on the east coast. She had a pretty standard southern accent. In smalltalk, she commented how I was from Fargo; like the movie, right? Yeah, I said -- but do I really sound like that? No, she replied, "but some of the women over at Blue Cross, they've got it."Unfortunately, they're pretty much right on the money. You can't visit Fargo without experiencing most of the above. Winters are long, the culture is the way it is, and Marge Gunderson from the film is immortalized in a life-sized statue downtown. You come visitin', boy, we'll take good care of you, ya betcha.
I just realised something
about National Geographic;
they must have a feature in
which they choose a zip code
in the US at random and then
send a photo/journalist to do
a story on it. Every place
has a story right? Years ago
they did an article on the
nearby city of Cary NC, right
next to the capital Raliegh.
Cary has grown rapidly as
people have flocked to the
Triangle (Chapel Hill, Durham,
Raleigh) cause it's been
touted a s a great place to
live. C.A.R.Y. has gotten the
nickname Containment Area for
Relocated Yankees. And it's
true, you tend not to hear any
southern accents but lots of
NYC Boston Long Island etc. --busmun, 11/16/2003 05:33:29
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