we're all moving to finland to become porpoise spotters. this is a good opportunity, people. they have teeny computers everywhere over there, and they're far too small and polite to invade other countries.
that's interesting. who have you heard about finland from? because, based on the 2-3 months i spent there, it didn't seem especially conservative at all. they have more single/stay-at-home fathers than any other place i've been; they all (including many of the christians) found the idea of illegal abortion ludicrious (to the point of laughing at me when i brought it up); they have numerous active left-wing political parties (way more than we have here, and they're well represented in office); and they love their lady president. the women tend to be the sexual aggressors, too.
as far as the wasteland part goes, helsinki had more museums than i could see in the month i spent there, including the amazing modern art museum, whose architecture even looks like a piece of modern sculpture. i spent time with a few ex-pat artists living in helsinki (one of whom had a successful exhibit which consisted of portraits of porn stars rendered in the style of 15th century religious icons), and they seemed to think that helsinki was a great place for an artist to settle. i also saw numerous punk rock/hip hop/indie shows while i was staying there (including afrika bambaataa, who played to a sold-out crowd of breakdancing finns). turku and rovaniemi kicked a good amount of ass too.
the smaller villages are admittedly less progressive, but that'll happen anywhere. they don't have a separation of church and state, but everyone i talked to felt that the nominal amount of their taxes that went to the lutheran church were no big, and few of the people that i talked to were active members. they also have mandatory military service for the men, which i found a bit scary; they're a bit vigilant about their military because they've only had independence since the '20s, and aren't too hot on russia or sweden taking over again.
there's more, but i'll stop now. sorry. you pushed the "saara loved finland" button.
as far as the wasteland part goes, helsinki had more museums than i could see in the month i spent there, including the amazing modern art museum, whose architecture even looks like a piece of modern sculpture. i spent time with a few ex-pat artists living in helsinki (one of whom had a successful exhibit which consisted of portraits of porn stars rendered in the style of 15th century religious icons), and they seemed to think that helsinki was a great place for an artist to settle. i also saw numerous punk rock/hip hop/indie shows while i was staying there (including afrika bambaataa, who played to a sold-out crowd of breakdancing finns). turku and rovaniemi kicked a good amount of ass too.
the smaller villages are admittedly less progressive, but that'll happen anywhere. they don't have a separation of church and state, but everyone i talked to felt that the nominal amount of their taxes that went to the lutheran church were no big, and few of the people that i talked to were active members. they also have mandatory military service for the men, which i found a bit scary; they're a bit vigilant about their military because they've only had independence since the '20s, and aren't too hot on russia or sweden taking over again.
there's more, but i'll stop now. sorry. you pushed the "saara loved finland" button.
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