Y’know, I’ve been thinking a bit about this thread and people’s opinions of “their” states. I lived in IN for 6 years (moved to WA just about a year ago). I’ve got nothing against IN – wasn’t the worst place I’ve lived, nor the best. Most of it (like 4/5 of the state) is flat due to glacial shearing, IIRC. People are pretty nice, generally unconceited. Way too religious for my tastes, though. Great universities, I have to say. IIRC, the Hummer plant is in northern IN (Niles?), along with lots of other vehicle related industries – it is, after all, “The Crossroad of America”, yes?
A somewhat odd thing is that, for the most part, the only people I met that really liked IN were the people who grew up there. I wonder how that translates to other states…
Oh, and I don’t think that anyone has mentioned that Dave Letterman is a Hoosier. As is Marilyn Manson. FWIW.
Actually it’s in Mishawaka, sister city to South Bend. Niles is in Michigan. Which is home to Tyler Hummer, half a car lot dedicated to the beasts.
I live directly on top of Indiana, and lived in Rockville for five years. Parke county which is home to the Covered Bridge Festival, and is lovely.
Visiting once a year is never enough, and there are roads that can take you to places not on any map, nothing but trees and fields. Wonderful if you’re into that sort of thing.
Long ago, a teacher told me we could remember Mishawaka, because the name sounds like slogging through mud. “They make galoshes there,” she said. I don’t know if they still do, nor do I know if brass musical instuments are still made in Elkhart.
Marion isn’t in Marion county, and Madison isn’t in Madison county. Cocaine isn’t made in Peru, Indiana, but I suppose somebody sells it there.
Some of my friends thought about going down to southern IN this weekend for Beltane, but the campground they were talking about was charging more than they wanted to pay. Plus, it’s the weekend after my birthday (May 1), and they wanted to stick around for that.
I’m not at all surprised that you know these folks! I’ve only met the dad and his new wife once … her birthday party was at our friends’ house (they have a huge HD projection TV and a hot tub). I’m not sure they’d remember my name or anything, but it lets me sing “It’s a small world” in my head when I see your name now!
Haven’t seen James Dean mentioned yet. He was born in the town I was born & raised in (Marion) but a little town a few miles south of there takes the credit since he graduated from their high school. That’s also the town Jim Davis (Garfield) hails from.
I’ve only been in my current town about two years and don’t know squat about it. It’s my husbands hometown, so here I be.
I’ve been here all my 39 years and I must be abnormal. I’m not religious, I hate all sports (including the all holy basketball) I’ve never knowingly seen a member of the clan or had a problem telling time…well until last year when they put us on this silly thing called daylight savings time :dubious:
I didn’t go see Obama Saturday when he was here, but since my property borders the high school where he spoke it really inconvenienced my trip to the grocery store that day. :rolleyes:
Nortth Vernon is just a couple of miles north up the road from Vernon, so its name makes sense. North Vernon is larger than Vernon, but Vernon is still the county seat with the nice county courthouse.
I was born in Indianapolis, but haven’t lived there for at least 35 years. Last time I was back to visit my farmin’ family, I loved the zoo. Great museums too, as I recall. According the the official tourism site, they have stuff to do/see. I have nothing but fond feelings about the state, even though it makes me think of this song. (on YouTube)
Having said that, yeah, it’s damned boring to watch the corn grow and the cows chew.
Ok, I know the primaries are over and it is still quite some time before Indiana plays a role in the general election but I wanted to share this slideshow as a contribution to a’splaining Indiana.
If you want to know what a people are like, take a good look at them during times of trouble. That’s when the false faces and shallow acts come down and the real Hoosiers show up.
My personal favorite is the guy in Edinburg standing almonst knee deem in water holding the giant trout. This guy represents Indiana perfectly, did he get the TV? Clothes? Picture album? Nope, he got his big fish.
It was somewhat vaguely mentioned from afar, but the Indianapolis Zoo and the Children’s Museum are so icnredibly awesome that you must go there. If you don’t have a kid, borrow one, preferably a suitably energetic specimen, and spend five or six hours in the museum.
I was born in Indy where my mom comes from and all her family. My father comes from Tell City and I lived in Newburg (near Evansville). I lived there half my life (and the other half wasn’t nearly as good!) I still miss Indiana.
What you’ve got to understand about us is that a lot fo things aren’t as important there. People still go to festivals and fairs. We worry about money, but it isn’t as important. Children are big in Indiana. People like them and really want them. We have large cities, but we’re not as fanatical about commerce as a lot of states. We’d rather make or grow useful things than just “make money.”
I haven’t been able to visit the north, but Southern Indiana is fantastic. Woods to explore, caves to visit, streams and rivers to get soaked in. We have abandoned utopian communities, too (New Harmony is pretty fun). And geez, the food. People still cook in Indiana. And boy, do they do it well.
I’ve lived in Indiana for over 20 years. The best and worst thing you can say about it is that it’s a good place to raise a family.
Some little tidbits that haven’t been brought up -
I live in a university town (West Lafayette) which makes it somewhere in the middle between regular towns and Bloomington. Many of the folks here are transplants - and many spend a great deal of their time trashing Indiana. But they don’t frikkin leave. I know faculty members that have trashed the state the entire 20+ years I’ve known them, yet they don’t ever either admit that maybe it’s kinda like everywhere else in America and thus decent enough or leave.
When I first moved to the state (in 1983), the person I was living in sin with and I rented a house. A month or two after we moved in there was a knock on the door and a teeny, ancient women with a clip board was on the other side. She was the local Republican committee chair person and she had come to sign us up. When I told her that I was a Democrat she blanched visably and said to my partner “Did you know that when you married her?” We didn’t tell her that we were actually doing the dirty deed without the benefit of church sanction as I was afraid she’d arrest on the spot.
Indiana is the home of Gene Stratton Porter, author of A Girl of the Limberlost, screenwriter, naturalist and pioneering photographer. Her home, Limberlost, is an Indiana state historical site and someplace I’ve always wanted to go, but it seems too remote from anyplace else to make the trip. I love her books.
You do know she was screwing with your head, right? The Dems are pretty big in Indiana, at least on a state-election level, and dominate many counties. Plus, old women are pretty knowledgable about the nookie. It’s not like premarital sex was invented in the 60’s. It’s more than in the 60’s, young people were too stupid to realize and admit that (a) it had all kinds of consequences and (b) you didn’t have to flaunt it.
