California has got its own vibe going on

California … knows howda pardy. If you’ve never been, you should and if you have you should again and if you live there you should consider your unfathomable good fortune and shrug off that whole San Andreas Fault thing the same way we Minnesotans shrug off the heightened threat of seasonal depression, alcoholism, suicide and mosquitoes. Not to mention army worms … Or the fact that the Vikes just can’t figure it out. Ever. … Eventually, we’ll all end up in the sea. Or the dirt. Even the army worms. And the Vikes.

I’m no candle carrier for the California Chamber of Commerce, nor am I dumb enough to forget that my intermittent trips West are not the same as “living there,” or that my comprehensive understanding of the place is shallow and uno-dimensional.

On the other hand, my comprehensive understanding of the particular blip on Planet Earth called Cloquet is also embarrassingly narrow, compared to the unknown knowable. We’re blessed beyond blessing in this U.S. of A. America was Great way before we were ever here. “Again” is as silly as it is arrogant.

The unknown, unappreciated, un-understood (distinct from “misunderstood”) is exactly that, and underestimated in terms of our collective, mutual Get Along-ing-ness. No wonder we wonder. And wander.

Back in California, the silicone and Botox and annoyingly tight abs and yoga pants conspire to give the place the unfair vibe that the ridiculous concentration of human and topographical beauty and the presence of Hollywood somehow makes the place slightly “fake” compared to, say, North Dakota straight-forwardness or Ohio grit.

Here’s the deal: Just cuz California is beautiful and parts of it glamorous and the nutty-crunchy humans that inhabit the place are crayzy beautiful and often narcissistic, the fact is narcissists are people, too. And, let’s be honest: beautiful narcissists are more fun than ugly ones.

California. Knows howda pardy.

Dare you to not agree.

Parnell Thill is a Cloquet- based author and marketing executive. His book “Killing the Devil and Other Excellent Tricks” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, local booksellers, the Pine Knot News office and at killing thedevil.com.