Gap-toothed rural Minnesota landscape?

Posted at 2:22 PM on May 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

Through the miracle of Google street view, let's visit some of the small cities of Minnesota, which seemed to bear the brunt of Chrysler's decisions to close dealerships. Will it leave large, gaping holes in the fabric of rural Minnesota? You decide.

Boe Chrysler in West Concord, Mn.

Salmon Motors in Tracy, MN.

Sonju Two Harbors...

Denny Hecker's Jeep Pine City

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Comments (5)

It might be premature to assume that all of these dealerships will be closing. Paul Busch Auto Center of Wabasha, for example, is also a GM dealer (although that may change soon). Its possible that the dealership will remain open in some form.

Posted by Andrew | May 14, 2009 2:56 PM

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Good thing that Minnesota Public Radio would never publish headlines drawing on stereotypes of any of its listening audience.

Stay classy, Bob.

Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen | May 14, 2009 4:17 PM

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Thanks for editing the headline.

To provide a context for my earlier remark, the original News Cut headline is enshrined in this tweet from BNN Minnesota:

minnesotaBNN News Cut: Gap-toothed rural Minnesota: Will Chrysler's decision to close mostly-rural dealerships leave gap.. http://tinyurl.com/qfxcwr

Adding the word "landscape" certainly improves the meaning of the headline.

Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen | May 14, 2009 4:37 PM

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A slight on rural Minnesota was never my intention. Actually, I was thinking of Keillor's reference to his gap-toothed daughter and the tendency of kids to be gap toothed, not of poverty-stricken Minnesotans to be. I've never considered gap-toothed people to be a stereotype of rural Minnesota, so it never occurred to me.

My apologies for the unintended slight.

Posted by Bob Collins | May 14, 2009 5:00 PM

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Thanks for adding the larger perspective; the apology and explanation is certainly appreciated.

Given that that context was originally absent, I was left to draw from the implied economic context provided by the short text, i.e. sentences like " Will it leave large, gaping holes in the fabric of rural Minnesota? "

But providing the originally off-page reference to children's "gap-toothed" smiles clears meaning up, and provides a much different image.

If Minnesota's urban and rural communities are losing their baby teeth when dealerships close, perhaps the question isn't so much about gaps in the fabric, as it is to speculate on what might come in to replace those missing teeth.

Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen | May 14, 2009 5:21 PM

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