St. Anthony Falls is the reason for Minneapolis. It's ultimately the sole reason that there is a city, and therefore that we live, in this particular spot. That's the simple but (literally) powerful message we got on a field trip to the spectacular Mill City Museum last week with my son's 4th grade class. The kids are considering the question right now, "Why am I in this particular place? How did I, and my family, get here?" It's a big question, one that many adults have never seriously entertained, and it's fun to see (again, literally) the wheels turn as the kids take it on.
In the late 1800's, before electric motors, this unique geographic feature, situated conveniently on the mighty Mississippi right on the edge of the American wheat belt, turned scores of turbines that ran machines that ground wheat into flour that was shipped all over the globe. For 50 years, Minneapolis produced more flour than any other city in the world. This picture looks down from the top of the ruins of one of the many mills, the Washburn A.
A good museum is (yet again, literally) a place that invites the muse, helps us to wonder about stuff, and partially satisfies our curiosity with information. Personally, I think that's ultimately the job of education as well. It's just as important to kindle curiosity as to impart knowledge.
And to come back to that question, "Why am I in this place?," and relate it to Magnetic Poetry and my own place in the world as an inventor and business person, I would say this: Magnetic Poetry products help people invite the muse into their lives. And I am here typing these words because of that.