Andrea Scarpino
Marquette, MI
First snow of the season. Car tracks in the street. Thin icicles hang from branches in the back window. This is the beginning of winter in Marquette, the beginning of what may decide whether Zac and I can actually live in this town long term. Everyone says to expect 12 to15 feet of snow a year. It’s always dark now when I wake up, and it’s dark again by 6pm. Zac bought us a special light that he sets to gently glow in the corner of the room before our morning alarm rings. I haven’t seen the real sun in days.
The locally grown vegetable section of our grocery store is getting smaller and smaller—a few bunches of kale, some potatoes and squash. The ice cream store is boarded up, restaurants have moved to their winter hours. Even the parking situation has changed—cars aren’t allowed now on downtown streets between 1 and 6am, I guess for the snowplows.
But Marquette is a place where people pride themselves on surviving the winter. Thriving in it, even. Zac says that his students still routinely wear shorts and flip-flops. When we went for a run the day after the snow, leaves crunched under our running shoes, puddles of water cracked with ice. I wore two shirts and a jacket, two pairs of pants, gloves, a hat. Then we rounded a corner on the lake path and saw someone paddle boarding in Lake Superior. Full wetsuit. No matter that it was 30 degrees, this man was clearly having a blast catching winter-storm waves, pushing himself back and forth along the shore.
Hearty folks, salt of the earth, we keep hearing. I don’t know how hearty I am. I miss the sun. I miss bare legs, strappy sandals. So far, I don’t really mind layering, but I do feel like it takes a lot of time to get in and out of the house, a lot of putting on, taking off, wrapping up. Much of the time, I feel like a sausage—layer upon layer of clothing wrapped into my jacket’s shell.
But the first snowfall was so beautiful, I found myself lamenting how quickly it melted. I loved hiking in it, having snow blow around my hair, around my knees. I loved how bright the earth looked. I’m ready for some skiing, some serious playing outside. Of course, I may be kicking myself in February for being so anxious for winter to actually take hold, but I’m ready now. Ready to really put my winter gear to work, ready to get out into the thick of things. Ready for winter to really bring it on.
Andrea Scarpino is our Rust Belt Bureau Chief. She lives and writes in Marquette, Michigan. Visit her at:
Planet of the Blind 
bring it Marquette! In equal measure with hot cocoa and crackling fires. Another lovely mediation, Andrea. Another lovely demonstration of how you see the beauty in the world.
Gracie would be proud
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