I was in Texas last week doing shows, which is my line of work, and I was sorry to leave because frankly it was the most

fun I can remember having, well, wearing a suit and a tie.

And now I think of what I'm saying and I'm surprised by what I've just said.

We Minnesotans are not known for euphoria.

We experience sexual fantasy and we think, well, that wasn't bad.

A person could do worse, that's for sure.

And on top of my northern self-restraint, I grew up fundamentalist,

which even after you depart from the fold, leaves you with a lifelong allergy to pleasures

of all kinds. Fun is not our thing.

We leave the party before the dancing starts.

I do a show and remember what went wrong.

In photographs, I look like a defendant.

The jury has just voted unanimously to convict after 10 minutes of deliberation.

We are susceptible to alcoholism because we keep drinking, waiting for it to make us happy until we lose consciousness.

And now, as the self-righteous 81-year-old liberal,

I tend to look down on Texas

because it gave us the Bush, who gave us the war in Iraq,

and Ted Cruz, the man who grew a beard to try to hide his smirk.

It gave us a whole slew of people whose idea of gun control is to hold the pistol very steady

and take aim.

We liberals love to feel righteous, and just looking at the word Texas in my mind

makes us admire ourselves even more. So when I go there, I remind myself, whatever else you might say about it, Texas gave us Molly

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