
I'm reading this book for my American Environmental History class and its about the Great Lakes. It's interesting. Not so interesting that I can't put it down, but you know, interesting as far as school required reading goes. Anyway, I got to this part tonight that I found really funny. This company called the North West Company had a great deal in the fur trade. They were over in what was then called Grand Portage, which I believe is near Minnesota..but anyway. They had to transport these furs over the Great Lakes to get them back to England to sell. Obviously the people who owned the companies weren't going to do it themselves. They hired these guys who all had certain things in common, (1) they were small men so they could fit in the canoes, (2) they had great strength so that they could carry the furs more efficiently, (3) they had good singing voices because they often sang to make the work go by faster, and (4) none of them could swim. Isn't that nuts. They went to all that trouble to find guys who met that criteria. All because if they guys couldn't swim they would be extra careful to not tip the canoe and if the canoe didn't tip the furs wouldn't be ruined. Crazy huh? Learn somethin' new every day. Thats some crazy logic.
We went to Chicago yesterday. Not much to tell. We went to the Art Institute, it wasn't as fascinating as I had imagined it to be. This is the piece I have to write my paper about.

"Get on your bikes and ride!"
-Queen, Fat Bottom Girls
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