Wewe unatoka wapi?

this question, perhaps more than any other, has been the most difficult one to answer. it seems as though everywhere i go here, people are asking me, "wewe unatoka wapi?"*

i'm disturbed because, although i was born in Waukesha, WI (the kickinest place on the planet), my standard response has been "Minnesota."

i'm not intentionally turning my back on my homecountry. i'm proud to hail from america's dairyland. i bleed beer and cheese. (hmm, in writing that phrase is less poetic than it sounded in my head) i drink soda, not pop. i get my cash from tyme machines and my water from bubblers. i insist upon duck-duck-goose, not that other abomination.

and yet, when pressed, i identify myself as hailing from Minnesota. what gives?!?! did they slip something in their radon-free water from their 10,000 lakes? did i eat one too many hotdishes? was 8-years in that foreign land too long?

perhaps it comes from staking out my independent life in Sven-n-Ole's backyard. perhaps this Minnesotan-ization is temporary . . . just a phase i'm going through. i'll always be from wisconsin. i can't change that. but will i identify myself elsewhere in the future?

good lord . . . if i stay in connecticut long enough will i consider myself a nutmegger?!?! what would happen then?

i think i've maybe gone on long enough . . .
does any of this even matter? not really.
was it a good way to put off some homework? you bet'cha!

*in all honesty i exaggerate a bit here. it is only the people in my swahili class that ask me "wewe unatoka wapi?" regularly. everyone else sticks with the english, "where are you from?"