US Dopers: Tell me about Indiana.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

The thing I’m enjoying about Hoosiers is we aren’t so full of ourselves.
Chicagoland is great, yes.
In fact, it is a TRULY GREAT American city. I loved living there then, and I love visiting it now.

But it’s also a headache. You have to be prepared to defend your turf all the time - your wallet, your auto, your status are constantly being challenged. People are very, very competitive. It’s fast, and it’s busy. Living there is a lot of work.

We just laugh at all that, here. Y’all go ahead and worry about who’s who and what’s what. We’ll just tend to our business and enjoy ourselves in small ways, making jokes that people who’re in a big hurry are sure to miss.

We have great festivals (you don’t have to worry so much about pickpockets, and parking tends to be free), we love music, and the prices at our events are reasonable. The Indianapolis Children’s Museum is the best one in the world, its zoo is outstanding, and the Indianapolis Art Museum is quite nice.

Indy even has its own alternative newspaper, which gives extensive coverage to the local art and music scene. Indy loves jazz.

When I a kid attending the Indianapolis Public School System, our classroom was often visited by real working artists, sponsored by Young Audiences of Indiana. We also went on field trips to the Indianapolis Ballet, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Art Museum. Dancers, musicians and docents met with us before, during and after those trips, to answer questions. It was just part of being a student - I remember wondering why my next school, in Cincinnati, didn’t do the same.

Indiana is known for having a lot of Methodists, Mennonites and Amish, yes, but it is also home to Earlham College, a Quaker institution. Quakers in Indiana were part of the Underground Railroad

Re: notable Hoosiers, you forgot about the violinist Joshua Bell, actor James Dean, Cole Porter and choreographer Twyla Tharp, and basketball player Larry Bird. Axl Rose is from Indiana, although I’m not sure he’s truly notable; but the state has been well-represented lately on shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent.

Papa John’s pizza was started in Indiana.

That drive down I65’s got nothing on the drive from Indy to Columbus, now that’s a gawdawful stretch. I rather enjoy Indiana’s plains, myself.

Also, you might be interested to know, Mennonites do use cell phones.

Oh, and Indiana Beach ("There’s more than corn in Indiana) is a shithole. Come to the State Fair instead.

42

I always thought of Chicago as pretty relaxed for a big city. I guess growing up here screws up my point of reference, but comparing it with places like Manhattan or London, Chicago is almost pastoral. Living in Chicago is pretty easy for a big city.

43

It would have to be. There isn’t a Kokomo in the Caribbean.

44

Yeah, that should sum it up about Indiana - You ask about political influence and get a pissing match with Illinoise about hills and corn and what not.

(By the way, they hate it when you say Illinoise - Illinoise,Illinoise,Illinoise,Illinoise,Illinoise ;))

Yeah, we got corn and lots of it. Lots of soybeans too. A few million cows and a few million chickens, such is a midwestern state.

But we also have the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 and we used to have a Formula 1 race until some foreigners got pissy about some tires and only 4 people raced, then we kickeded them to the curb.

There’s the World Champion Indianapolis Colts and their nice, pretty new stadium, named after an oil additive company.

Places like New York and Chicago can boast about their tall buildings, but what material is in a lot of those buildings (Notably the Empire State Building)? Indiana limestone, so we got corn, beans, race cars and rocks.

We used to know what time it was because time never changes. Now the time is all over the place and most of us are waiting for our extra hour (last I saw there were still only 24, but that was yesterday, still counting for today).

Politically, while the rest of the country debates on which candidate is too liberal, we choose to debate on which liberal candidate is the most conservative.

We have our share of ties to national history. French Lick, Indianapolis and Nashville have ties to both Al Capone and John Dillanger. Indianapolis was the site of a speech by Robert Kennedy on the night Martin Luther King was shot, while other cities erupted in violence Indy met the tragady with a respect and outrage with dignity.

Indiana can be a proving ground for Obama and Clinton, but it should also be a warning. Our governer, Mitch Daniels, ran on a platform of “Change” and his first day in office disbanded the government employee union and restructured the system. He has spent the last few years campaining for companies to bring jobs here, earning money for the state, balancing the budget (ok, so to balance the budget he had to put a moritorium on school growth and bring it back in line, and one of the ways he brought money in was to sell the toll road, it still worked.) and basically “changing” stuff. He is among one of the most reveared and despised men in the state. I guess people like politicians to talk about change but get nervious when they actually do change stuff.

In addition to Mr. Vonnegut we have Florence Henderson, Brendon Frasier and Jim Davis.

Can’t forget about Jim Davis and Garfield, both are Hoosiers.

45

I don’t know but it is the Kokomo featured in the Blues Brothers Movie.

46

Nuh-uh. Gary ain’t there. Gary’s to the left of it. To the right of Gary, by a comfortable distance, you got Indiana Dunes. It is to rock. You should go there. But not on weekends, 'cause it’s the destination du Satiddy for the entire Chicago metroplex. Go midweek.

47

I was born and raised in Indianapolis. I did live overseas for five years, but the situation ended up going sour and I ended up back home.

We’re known for our pollution, our obesity, our love of sports, and our generally simplistic ways. I have never enjoyed or used the term Hoosier. I think it sounds rather goofy.

It isn’t that Indiana is a bad state nor that Indianapolis is a bad city. Strolling along the canal has a certain charm, and we do have plenty of cultural opportunities. The landscape of the metro area really does leave much to be desired, though. Drive out from the city and it’s mostly agricultural fields and “beige box” housing divisions. Bland.

We are a highly religious state, no question. We not only have churches on every corner, it isn’t unusual to find two churches across the road from each other. Baptist churches seem to dominate. It’s almost impossible to avoid the church. This can be wonderful or horrible, depending on your viewpoints. Me? I have my faith, but I think we overdo it here. By a huge margin.

We are also known as a “great place to raise a family” and I guess that’s true. My husband and I are child free and it certainly has garnered us some odd looks.

I never knew that about Papa John’s, by the way. Finally, explanation for their inexplicable popularity. I don’t care for their food too much. :stuck_out_tongue:

As a gamer nerdette, I think I have to mention Gen Con. We also held a huge Star Wars con a few years ago. That made going downtown interesting for a few days. :smiley:

A friend of mine lived in Indiana when I was away, and now he’s in Maine. He misses Indiana because he considers it a gamer’s paradise. I can attest to this. We are but humble apartment-dwellers, and not five minutes away from us are two game stores within walking distance of each other. In fact, I’m not sure, but the game stores might very well outnumber the churches.

I’m probably not helping our reputation. :o

48

Actually, aren’t they now the former Super Bowl champions? I heard something about a team from New Jersey winning the title this year. :wink:

49

In Indiana, and some other parts of the midwest, we are brought up to not be braggarts. That’s why we’re low-key in telling you about the significant things of our state. When the Wright Brothers had their big event at Kitty Hawk, folks in Dayton, Ohio didn’t believe it. They said, even if there had been manned flight, it sure as hell wasn’t somebody from Dayton.

When John Mellencamp was still a nobody, his manager made him take that Johnny Cougar name and stick a car emblem on his guitar. He reclaimed his own name as soon as he could.

We Hoosiers travel elsewhere to fish, but folks from all over the country book fly-fishing smallmouth bass trips on Sugar Creek and the Blue River.

If you’re into gospel music, you might have heard of our Gaithers and Sandy Patty. They live and work within 15 miles of here.

I you want to be confident that your state is better than mine, you go right ahead. Puffery is not in my nature.

50

Valparaiso, IN is the home of Orville Reddenbocker popcorn, and there’s still a lot of popcorn grown around there. Indiana: where corn is not just corn, but particular varieties of corn.

That will certainly come as a shock to a lot of my neighbors who are of colors other than pure Caucasian who also moved out here. It wasn’t so much “white flight” as “the rents and mortgages are getting too damn high for middle class people to afford”. I’m not saying there were no white folks moving out here looking for melanin deficient neighborhoods but if they did I’m sure they were quite disappointed.

NORTHEAST Indiana, however, is still pretty white.

Ya’ll also missed that Purdue University has graduated a surprising number of folks who went on to become astronauts, and a few of them were native Hoosiers.

Having lived here for 10 years I’d say the most striking thing about the state is that there is almost no middle ground - the people you meet are either really smart or really stupid; really conservative or really liberal, really poor or really wealthy…

51

Nah, last year was just practice.
(Just kidding, way to go Eli :D)

52

I have a friend who works part-time at a legitimate massage therapy business up in Anderson, and the male clients tend to think that they have to order “a la carte” since it’s so cheap. Nope, not that kind of place!

Are you going back down there any time soon? I’ve heard it’s gorgeous.

But it’s all over now, and they’re living happily again. (They are friends of friends.)

53

Woot! (Proud graduate and member of the class of 1983.)

54

Not to the feds-came-sneaking-through-the-trees place, but to another place where we run around nekkid (sometimes and in some places - they’re really sensitive to the Muggles’ needs there, too) this weekend. It’s Beltane, baby! :smiley: If you’re in the area and interested (for this weekend or any other, email me and I’ll send you the link to their website.

Hey, me too! So we’re (you and I) friends of friends of friends! (Wait, didn’t we figure that out last year, too?)

55

His acoustic guitar says “FUCK FASCISM” on it.

56

That’s a nice touch. Woody Guthrie, I think, played a guitar that said, “This machine kills Fascists” on the back.

57

It was The Indiana Bleak™ what made her do it. :smiley:

58

I spent two of the worst years of my life living in Indiana.

But I was living there during the ages of 13 to 15, so I don’t really think it was Indiana itself that made the years so horrible.

I later moved to Illinois, met the future Mrs. Mercotan, and things became better.

I did enjoy going to the 500, though.

59

Actually, I was friends with both the parents, the child, and the lawyer who defended the case. The pagans won. :slight_smile: Hell, even Focus on the Family or some such group said the judge made a mistake in that one. Dumbass! (The judge, that is.)

60

Hooray Indiana!

I’ve lived in NW Indiana all my life, and you know what? I like it! It makes me happy to read all of the cool things about this state. I’m currently in south Lake County, about 8 miles from the Illinois border, in a little farm town. At the northern tip of said county, is Hammond, East Chicago and Gary (total shitholes…) Can’t say there’s no diversity here!

Politically, Lake County, much to my dismay, is just an extension of Chicago Democratic Party politics, but with much less finesse and smarts :eek: But, along with Marion county where Indy is, Lake County is the rare exception in this solid conservative state. Obama is outpolling Hillary state wide (or was the last time I checked), and I am surprised at the very little racism I’ve encountered about his race. I know that from at least Monticello (near Layafette) down to Terre Haute, multi-race marriages are perfectly accepted by most people. In this instance, the “red-necks” are much more accepting than the diverse community in Lake County.

Mostly, Indiana is not a red-neck state. There are some scary towns on the way down I65, but it is mostly just a laid-back farm state. There is a great difference between hillbillies and farmers.