Meat Raffles and Other News...

I thought it might be easy to start a blog about a meat raffle but it is harder than I thought. But "here goes," as they say in the Midwest.

That is really what this is all about. I am a Midwesterner. Yep, I will admit it. Despite some wandering, I am among my people again, and it is kind of fun. I am rediscovering that there are cultural differences that do define the separate characteristics of this large group of people. I am most (and increasingly) aware that there are subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences among Midwesterners. I admit that I have been among people who have spoken derisively about Midwesterners and often placed a negative or pejorative adjective before the term. I will let you imagine what these qualifiers were. Mostly, though, they just lumped all Midwesterners together as one homogeneous blob. There is a real danger in that because if you do, you might miss a meat raffle.

Here is the concept. You go to a bar (of course) with friends and sit around sipping Leinies or some other adult beverage. Soon, a child (if the raffle helps support a youth cause, which many do) comes around with a tray with 30 numbers on it. You can purchase one of these numbers for a buck, and soon they call the lucky number. Winners take home a box of meat. Really. Sometimes it is a 10 pound box of wieners, or a box of hamburger patties or chicken breasts or, well, you get the idea. Ten minutes later, another Leinies, and then someone else comes by to offer you a chance of a lifetime. And so on and so on, apparently until there are no boxes of meat left in the vicinity. Or, until I spent all of my singles, eleven of them, on golden (red?) meaty chances. Alas, I went home meat-less and wiener-less. Hmmm...I'd best think about that last part.

I am not sure what I would have done if I had won. I told a friend that if I had won a ten pound box of wieners that I would have a three-to-four year supply at my present rate of wiener consumption. Even a box of bacon, patties, or pork chops would last longer than anyone might wish. No one won at my table, except perhaps the youth hockey leagues and the bar--you had to add the cost of the Leinies and bar food as part of the expenses, too.

But winning the "prize," wasn't really the point. Yes, apparently meat raffles are part of the culture in this corner of the Midwest. Who knew--I grew up 140 miles away and I never heard of this kind of a raffle. But far more of the culture, both the local and the regional culture was exposed by the process. By buying a ticket or 11, I helped a good cause, and I had a chance to sit with and share with new friends and learn a bit about them. I want to examine and explore and celebrate the culture of the area, as this is now my home. And if it takes a meat raffle to start doing it, well, who am I to argue?