LNP v.s. Snakes

From the seventh floor of the Crown Plaza in St. Paul I can see twilight releasing it’s dim hold on what’s left of the skyline. To my right, the bluffs of the Mississippi catch the last bits of sun. To my left, a packed convention center teems with entertainers of all shapes and sizes, hawking their wares to unwary college students at the regional conference for the National Association of Campus Activites, or “NACA.” Or, as some students from Massachusetts inadvertently say it, “NAUWKA.”

Here, a college might book the Late Night Players, a giant, a giant chair, a mechanical bull, or actual reptiles. I don’t like to think of it as a competition, but I also don’t like it when the chair does more business than us. When the reptiles do, I don’t mind -- if something can kill me, it’s fair for it to do better on the college market.

If you’re ever in the twin cities, I have one strong dining recommendation. The astronaut ice cream at the Science Museum is literally out of this world, and if you can identify the species of the “bird on the buoy” statue in the foyer, you get a sticker. The sticker cannot be traded for more astronaut ice cream.