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Editor's ViewpointMeditations Of A Minnesota Mossback |
Getting The Litterbox Memo . Naming Puddles . Hugo: A Novel City?
When our eldest was 18 months old, my husband and I went to the Humane Society and picked out two orange kittens. Pete and Cleo were intended to liven things up a bit at home as we anticipated the birth of daughter #2. (We got smarter as we aged.)
Our toddler learned the kittens' names and quickly ascertained that both felines were members of a set called "cats."
After about a week, we discovered that Cleo wasn't litter-trained. By that time, the baby had arrived. I had no energy to spare for a cat who didn't get the litterbox memo, but since we really liked her name, we traded in our orange Cleo for a gray one.
This plunged our child into a bit of a logical dilemma. Clearly, her eyes told us, this Cleo was a different Cleo than the other Cleo. After some thought, she came to the logical conclusion that all cats, then, had to be Cleos.
It took months to repair the damage, and I hastily retold the story a number of times when my two-year-old would point to a neighborhood cat and announce loudly, "Look! A Cleo!"
We're a family of namers. I took great pleasure in naming my Dad's sailboat. I am told that my sister-in-law named all the puddles in the driveway when she was small. Our dogs have been named for constellations, our cats for famous philosophers.
"What's in a name?" Shakespeare's Juliet wanted to know.
Plenty, it seems, and here we cut to the chase: How you label your city, we are told, has huge ramifications on how it is perceived by others and whether you attract business to town.
According to a recent article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, a number of local cities are all exploring how they want to be "branded." I guess it's kind of expensive: cities can spend as much as $25,000 on consultants to help them decide how they want to be known.
And look what they got for their money!
West St. Paul? "We're close to it all."
New Brighton? "The city that works for you."
Hopkins? "Think Hopkins." (They must have selected the low bidder.)
Edina? ".for living, learning, raising families & doing business." (Whew!)
Historically, Hugo has been associated with the slogan, "Where the city meets the country." That phrase used to be on the Highway 61 Lions Club sign at the southern city line. As I recall, there was a guy in a briefcase greeting a fellow on a tractor. Somebody was sucking on a piece of straw. (Does anybody have a picture of that sign? Now there's a bit of memorabilia that the Hugo Historical Commission would like to have.)
But apparently several other cities in the U.S. have that phrase as their motto.
I'll bet Citizen readers can come up with a new tagline for Hugo and not spend a penny of tax money.
I had a head start and came up with "Hugo: A Novel City."
What do you think? Send in your suggestions to Editor@ReadTheCitizen.com.
Whether the city can use them or not, we might learn something in the process.