I am a Yooper

There is no denying it, so I might as well embrace it. I have lived in many other places, but now realize that in spite of my many efforts to be something else, I am what I am. I am a Yooper.

A Yooper is a person who is native to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. We are UPers...or more easily pronounced Yoopers. We are quite different from the folks who live in the Lower penninsula. There is more than a bridge that separates us. We are our own unique culture. We are Yoopers first and Michganders second.

Thomas Jefferson is responsible for this. It was he who decided that the Upper Penninsula be given to Michigan as a compromise. Michigan would give up a strip of land including the city Toledo on the bottom to Ohio, in exchange they would be given the Upper Penninsula. The transplant never took.

We talk like people from Wisconsin or Canada. There are more Packer backers than Lions fans. We prefer to live in rustic surroundings. The climate is brutal and I think it has an effect on our overall temperment. I've always said that Yoopers have more crabby people per capita...but it keeps the riff raff out.

We come from a long line of miners and loggers. We work hard and don't expect much in return. We prefer the simple life. When I make the treck home, I am always amazed at the disparity. The first rest stop is off an interstate highway. It is always sparkling clean and with plenty of amenities including those faucets that turn on and off with an electric eye. The last stop is on a two lane road which is actually one of the major highways. There is an outhouse and a pump for water. No muss...no fuss. Just keep it simple. Not much has changed in fifty years, and Yoopers like it that way. Change is rarely a good thing.

There are some famous Yoopers. Glen T. Seaborg was a world known physicist and was the head of the Atomic Energy Commission for decades. Johnny Volker was my neighbor and the writer who wrote "Anatomy of a Murder". When Otto Preminger decided to make the book into a movie, Hollywood invaded my neighborhood for several months.

Did you know it was a Yooper who invented Jeopardy? Merv Griffith has always credited his first wife Julainne with coming up with the idea of giving the answers and having to think of the questions. Yup...another Yooper.

Some Yoopers that you might know are Steve Mariucci who coaches the Lions now and his friend basketball coach of the Michigan State Spartans Tom Issel. Also, if you are a fan of the TV show "Lost", the bald guy that plays John Locke is a Yooper.

There aren't many of us, but we get around. It's a nice place to be from....eh?