If You Lived Here You'd Be Home by Now

July 8, 2019
With humor and insight, Washington Post reporter Ingraham writes of relocating his family from Washington, D.C., to rural Minnesota. In 2015, Ingraham wrote a story that went viral about “the worst place to live in America,” based on a USDA study­­—Minnesota’s Red Lake County (which has no lakes). His charming book, though, is not about infuriating the people of Red Lake Falls­—who immediately welcomed his family—but how a trip there awakened a desire to get his family out of their cramped Baltimore house and away from miserable commutes. Ingraham’s account of this somewhat spontaneous relocation (the paper allowed Ingraham, who reports on data, to work remotely) to the frozen prairie is nuanced, leavened with tongue-in-cheek infographics and thoughtful ruminations on place. He jabs at his fellow coastal reporters (who “mistake local quirks for cultural divides”) and plays for fish-out-of-water laughs when killing his first deer or discovering “Minnesota pizza is universally bad.” But he avoids Northern Exposure–type pandering and zeroes in on the appeal of “a quiet working-class normalcy” in a town whose residents view Minneapolis as a “far-off urban hellscape.” This unpredictable look at the intimacy to be found in rural regions will enchant urban dwellers.

July 15, 2019
A Washington Post data reporter debuts with an account of his move from the D.C. area to a rural county in northwestern Minnesota. In 2015, Ingraham published a dismissive comment about Red Lake County, Minnesota, and the immediate social media reactions from some people there prompted him to visit. When he got there, he realized that he was falling for the place. He convinced his wife that they should move there for a while. It was a great place, he thought, to bring up their twin sons, still of preschool age--not to mention quite a bit less expensive than D.C. So they packed up and moved, where they were, again, surprised to discover how comfortable they felt--even though Red Lake "is a place so lacking in superlatives that proclaiming itself 'the only landlocked county...that is surrounded by just two neighboring counties' is the closest thing to a boast that you'll find on the county's website." Seldom is heard a discouraging word in Ingraham's text; the only time he really complains, which he does in a light, even ironic way, is about the local food, especially the pizza (barely edible). The family quickly adapted to the entirely new small-town culture and found everyone welcoming and even sort of Mayberry-ish. Ingraham deals with a number of fundamental issues: health care (things were farther away than in the densely populated East), schools (he had a great experience with the local school dealing with one of his sons), social life (his wife won a seat on the town council; he went deer hunting), and, of course, the extreme cold of northern Minnesota. The author devotes a small section to politics, registering his belief that mass-media portrayals of small-town rural America are not sufficiently nuanced. Throughout, Ingraham writes with the conviction of one who has found--as least for him--tranquility and truth. A simple, warmhearted celebration of small-town living.

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