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I said they are more culturally similar to each other than either is to LA. That doesn't mean they are very similar, or even as similar as Chicago/Milwaukee, which are more far similar than Chicago/Des Moines.
While sports culture exists in every city, it wouldn't make sense to say the level of sports fanaticism is the exact same in every city across the board. It's definitely a bigger deal in some cities, Chicago being one of them, especially with the Cubs & Bears, but not the Bulls for whatever reason, which is Chicago's most iconic professional sports franchise.
I like Chicago, and the topic of discussion is whether or not Chicago feels midwestern. It's impossible not to when you're right between Wisconsin & Indiana.
Eh, I wouldn't use the Wisconsin/Indiana argument. The Kenosha area is influenced by Chicago a ton, and Milwaukee isn't exactly like the rest of the state, either. Outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin isn't heavily Polish.
Also, Northwest Indiana is a Black sheep by Hoosier standards. It's more a part of Chicago than it is Indiana. Hoosiers don't really care much for the region nor do people from the region care too much about Hoosiers, Hoosier culture, or anything Indiana related. They are Chicagoans through and through. Outside of the region you don't see many Serbians or Polish people, either.
It's as if a city of almost 3 million somehow was too weak to have its own culture so it gets influenced by those outside? Ha. There's a reason many Chicagoans call anything south of I-80 "downstate". Chicagoans are too caught up in their communities and actually rather isolated from outside influences because of the rather insular nature of them.
Tell me what other parts of the Midwest are heavily Eastern European? Or Italian? Or Jewish? The only answers you can give are places like Southeast Michigan, Northern Ohio, and Southeast Wisconsin. What do all these have in common? Well, other than the fact they're cold and dreary (thus facilitating the need for North Face), they're also Great Lakes cities that are culturally and historically connected to the construction of the Erie Canal.
Places like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri? Eh, not so much. Indiana and especially Ohio outside of Cleveland were influenced (like the rest of the Midwest) by settlers from places like Pennsylvania, especially Germans and the English. They brought their culture with them, and this culture that is considered the cornerstone of "Middle America" is vastly different from the more recent immigrant culture of the Northern Cities whose ties are more to Poland, Italy, Ireland, and the Eastern Bloc.
Put simply, find me a non-Anglo-Saxon based culture in the Midwest that strongly represents its roots with pride. The only place you can find this is around Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Minneapolis to a lesser extent. This leaves A LOT of the Midwest unaccounted for.
It has nothing to do with "is Chicago more exciting" bs. It's simply that Chicago is more international. That's what makes it not culturally like the majority of the Midwest.
I said they are more culturally similar to each other than either is to LA. That doesn't mean they are very similar, or even as similar as Chicago/Milwaukee, which are more far more similar than Chicago/Des Moines.
While sports culture exists in every city, it wouldn't make sense to say the level of sports fanaticism is the exact same in every city across the board. It's definitely a bigger deal in some cities, Chicago being one of them, especially with the Cubs & Bears, but not the Bulls for whatever reason, which is Chicago's most iconic professional sports franchise.
I like Chicago, and the topic of discussion is whether or not Chicago feels midwestern. It's impossible not to when you're right between Wisconsin & Indiana.
Eh, I wouldn't use the Wisconsin/Indiana argument. The Kenosha area is influenced by Chicago a ton, and Milwaukee isn't exactly like the rest of the state, either. Outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin isn't heavily Polish.
Also, Northwest Indiana is a Black sheep by Hoosier standards. It's more a part of Chicago than it is Indiana. Hoosiers don't really care much for the region nor do people from the region care too much about Hoosiers, Hoosier culture, or anything Indiana related. They are Chicagoans through and through. Outside of the region you don't see many Serbians or Polish people, either.
It's as if a city of almost 3 million somehow was too weak to have its own culture so it gets influenced by those outside? Ha. There's a reason many Chicagoans call anything south of I-80 "downstate". Chicagoans are too caught up in their communities and actually rather isolated from outside influences because of the rather insular nature of them.
Tell me what other parts of the Midwest are heavily Eastern European? Or Italian? Or Jewish? The only answers you can give are places like Southeast Michigan, Northern Ohio, and Southeast Wisconsin. What do all these have in common? Well, other than the fact they're cold and dreary (thus facilitating the need for North Face), they're also Great Lakes cities that are culturally and historically connected to the construction of the Erie Canal.
Places like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri? Eh, not so much. Indiana and especially Ohio outside of Cleveland were influenced (like the rest of the Midwest) by settlers from places like Pennsylvania, especially Germans and the English. They brought their culture with them, and this culture that is considered the cornerstone of "Middle America" is vastly different from the more recent immigrant culture of the Northern Cities whose ties are more to Poland, Italy, Ireland, and the Eastern Bloc.
Put simply, find me a non-Anglo-Saxon based culture in the Midwest that strongly represents its roots with pride. The only place you can find this is around Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Minneapolis to a lesser extent. This leaves A LOT of the Midwest unaccounted for.
It has nothing to do with "is Chicago more exciting" bs. It's simply that Chicago is more international. That's what makes it not culturally like the majority of the Midwest.
There is no issue with sports culture, but with sports fanaticism.
As the prior person posted, you can walk into a bar, and 90% of the people will be wearing the northface jacket, the blue jeans and uggs/boots/sneakers.
Chicago is the top of the line dream of every Midwesterner, so yes, it feels Midwestern. Most people from OH, WI, IN, etc... dream to come to the big city and this is the highlight of their life.
A North Face jacket, jeans, and ugg boots are somehow a marker of Midwestern identity? You ever think they're worn because it's minus 20 in the winter? Yeah, you won't find this in LA ever, kind of like how men here don't walk around shirtless much. There's a thing called climate you might want to learn about. They usually talk about it on the news.
Really, it's like do you think other cold areas of the country somehow shun North Face and ugg boots?
Btw, uggs aren't terribly popular here. North Face is, but they make good winter clothing. Girls here are more likely to wear boots that go almost to the knee. They usually combine these with leggings or yoga pants.
I will agree Chicago isn't a terribly fashionable city. But, it's cold the majority of the year, and honestly we don't have image obsession. It's a badge of honor here to not exercise.
I have to chuckle at the idea that somehow North Face jackets are markers of Midwesterners. Those jackets are super popular nation-wide, especially in places like Boston and NYC, but also in places that don't ever actually get cold (e.g. San Francisco).
Last edited by Maintainschaos; 10-29-2015 at 08:09 AM..
I've agreed with almost everything you've said so far but I do disagree with this to an extent. For every beer swilling, pot bellied ex-frat boy, there are plenty of folks running the Chicago Marathon & running along the lakeshore path in the warmer months.
I've agreed with almost everything you've said so far but I do disagree with this to an extent. For every beer swilling, pot bellied ex-frat boy, there are plenty of folks running the Chicago Marathon & running along the lakeshore path in the warmer months.
And some of us even do it (running along the path) in the winter
I've agreed with almost everything you've said so far but I do disagree with this to an extent. For every beer swilling, pot bellied ex-frat boy, there are plenty of folks running the Chicago Marathon & running along the lakeshore path in the warmer months.
It's not the discussion at hand, but on a national scale, Chicago's level of fit minded people aligns more with the interior regions than with the coasts. There's a reason it has made it to fattest cities lists. Portland, SF, Seattle? Not so much.
Eh, I wouldn't use the Wisconsin/Indiana argument. The Kenosha area is influenced by Chicago a ton, and Milwaukee isn't exactly like the rest of the state, either. Outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin isn't heavily Polish.
Also, Northwest Indiana is a Black sheep by Hoosier standards. It's more a part of Chicago than it is Indiana. Hoosiers don't really care much for the region nor do people from the region care too much about Hoosiers, Hoosier culture, or anything Indiana related. They are Chicagoans through and through. Outside of the region you don't see many Serbians or Polish people, either.
It's as if a city of almost 3 million somehow was too weak to have its own culture so it gets influenced by those outside? Ha. There's a reason many Chicagoans call anything south of I-80 "downstate". Chicagoans are too caught up in their communities and actually rather isolated from outside influences because of the rather insular nature of them.
Tell me what other parts of the Midwest are heavily Eastern European? Or Italian? Or Jewish? The only answers you can give are places like Southeast Michigan, Northern Ohio, and Southeast Wisconsin. What do all these have in common? Well, other than the fact they're cold and dreary (thus facilitating the need for North Face), they're also Great Lakes cities that are culturally and historically connected to the construction of the Erie Canal.
Places like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri? Eh, not so much. Indiana and especially Ohio outside of Cleveland were influenced (like the rest of the Midwest) by settlers from places like Pennsylvania, especially Germans and the English. They brought their culture with them, and this culture that is considered the cornerstone of "Middle America" is vastly different from the more recent immigrant culture of the Northern Cities whose ties are more to Poland, Italy, Ireland, and the Eastern Bloc.
Put simply, find me a non-Anglo-Saxon based culture in the Midwest that strongly represents its roots with pride. The only place you can find this is around Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Minneapolis to a lesser extent. This leaves A LOT of the Midwest unaccounted for.
It has nothing to do with "is Chicago more exciting" bs. It's simply that Chicago is more international. That's what makes it not culturally like the majority of the Midwest.
Milwaukee, though, historically has had a huge German influence, although the South Side had quite a ancestral Polish population for several generations. Much of the Midwest has a German influence, as most immigration/population-based maps have shown for many decades. If anything, it's even stronger in the rural Midwest/farming belts of virtually all Midwestern states, esp Wisconsin. It doesn't really matter if the states are around Lake Michigan, or a little further west on the Plains. The percentages are all pretty high.
The other answer lies in the fact that some European groups always gravitated to urban areas, and urban areas only.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool
It's not the discussion at hand, but on a national scale, Chicago's level of fit minded people aligns more with the interior regions than with the coasts. There's a reason it has made it to fattest cities lists. Portland, SF, Seattle? Not so much.
Part of this is these others cities are smaller and HAVE A MUCH HIGHER % OF THEIR POPULATION... NEW ARRIVING ... YOUNG URBAN PROFESSIONALS.
If you used More Chicago's Areas of many Young Urban Professionals who migrated there.... You would have much higher in the fit column. Chicago has More Blue-Collar residents still too. Higher %'s of some Ethnic groups increase less fit numbers.... These other cities even have a YOUNGER Median age....
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