From my perspective, the Midwest is comprised of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illiniois, and Indiana. I still debate whether Missouri and Ohio are Midwestern. Ohio just seems too Eastern to me even though the state has a mix of agriculture and industry, which seems to be typical of most Midwestern states. I like the Show Me State a lot. Hell, I lived a good portion of my life there--nine years in Kirksville, a short time in Kansas City, and five years in St. Louis. But it's too geographically and subculturally diverse, and to me the state seems like ten sub-states: northwest Missouri, northeast Missouri, St. Louis metro area, southeastern MO (Sikeston, Cape), south central MO, Springfield/Branson area, Columbia, the Ozarks, the Neosho/Joplin/Nevada sliver, and the KC metro area.
But maybe I'm just overthinking Missouri since I've been in all parts of the state. And the fact that it was border state South during the Civil War doesn't help its cause. When I think Midwest, I think Union. I also think Big Ten, which helps Ohio's chances.
Even though Midwesterners are known for being friendly and "nice," I think many Midwesterners have a fatalistic ethos, especially now with globalization spiriting away manufacturing and factory jobs. But that character trait was probably always there because the people who settled the plains were farmers, people who depended on the vicissitudes of the weather, folks who had to think somehow, sometime things aren't going to shake out right.
Shit goes wrong. All the time.
But maybe even that niceness is a bit stand-offish. As Martone relates in "Roads Lined with Running Fences," his friend from New Jersey ponders the meaning of how the Midwest doesn't have many walls but lots of "see through fences." As Martone interprets it, these fences are "an aesthetic compromise between private property and being part of a neighborhood. A fence allows its builder to say, 'I am alone. Separate, not different. I've got nothing to hide, but don't come too close.' It's a delicate balance" (98).
Cheers to not coming too close.
7 comments:
Awesome post, Q. I love Flatness and Other Landscapes. I also wonder about Missouri and Ohio, for many of the reasons you state. (I kind of want to accept western Ohio, but not eastern Ohio).
"Shit goes wrong. All the time." That about sums it up. Then, we deal with it.
Thanks.
I'm hoping the Missourians who read this blog chime in with their opinions.
I'm probably a poor person to comment on stuff like this. I've lived in St. Louis as long as I remember except for my stint (5.5 years, thankyouverymuch) in Kirksville.
However, I spent my childhood going to the farmland northwest of the Lou my whole life (Winfield-Old Monroe-Wentzville) since that is where my parents are from and that is where many of my aunts and uncles live. So, I've been around farmers my whole life. I've always been struck by a line I heard "Farmers are America's biggest gamblers".
So much is out of their control with the rain and flooding yet they are definitely risk-takers willing to try new things. It is amazing how they bitch about the weather and politicians, but they don't *really* complain about anything. Like Sandy said, when shit happens you just deal with it and keep going.
Anyway, I guess I don't really know what "midwest" means, I just know what it is like here in St. Louis. Every big city I've been has always seemed bigger, but not different, than the StL to me. Everything I hear about in other cities we have here in St. Louis, just smaller or not as many locations. We have museums, theaters, sports, music, nightlife, diverse ethnic neighborhoods, and all that. We just don't have as much.
I suppose I'm a 'big-tent' midwest guy. When I hear that term I think of the Big 10 and Big 12 schools, minus Texas (which is a whole other country). Colorado and Kansas are as much "midwest" to me as Indiana and Illinois. "Midwest" to me means farm country with some cities dotting the rivers.
Colorado, travolta? I'll concede the eastern part of the state.
With Missouri, I think the state starts turning South-like once you go south of Jeff City.
I guess I kind of get fixated on the flatness of Midwestern landscapes even though some parts of Iowa are quite hilly.
And one of my favorite parts of Kansas is the Smoky Hills region around Salina ~ beautiful country.
Visit Kennett, Carathursville or any town in the Missouri Bootheel. Those towns are not Midwest.
Interesting post. I'm a Midwesterner, too, born and raised in central Illinois and currently living in Missouri, and I know what you mean about the borderland status of Missouri, even today. In fact I've written a handful of poems about that very idea over the last few months. Figuring out the Midwest is one of my real obsessions as a writer.
I'm used to Chicago, so to me St. Louis and Kansas City have a big small-town feel. They're culturally expansive and interesting, but they aren't a nightmare to navigate. Northwest Missouri feels like where I grew up in central Illinois, for the most part. The bootheel is the south, no question about it.
That said, Illinois isn't so different in that it has three distinct regions: Chicagoland, the flatlands of central Illinois, and the hilly, foresty regions of southern Illinois--which I think is the south, too, as long as we consider Kentucky the south.
To me, St. Louis and KC are Midwestern towns although I've described StL as a Midwestern city trying to act Eastern and KC as a Midwestern city trying to act Western.
That's true about the southern part of IL. You could say the same about Indiana and perhaps southern Ohio.
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