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Flyover country is road trip country to me. If you want to get a good cross section of what America really is (as well as dispel some of those nasty and ignorant stereotypes), then you'll take a drive through not just the cities, but the small towns along the way. If you choose to just fly over that region, then you really can't relate to what America really is.
Right, It's not just KC. Well, it's just KC as far as not knowing what state it's in (KCK is an industrial suburb), but as far as being clueless about what's between DC and LA.
I had to prove to somebody once that St Louis was bigger than Toledo. One person thought the StL Arch was in KC. St Louis has nearly 3 million people and I think many people think it is about like Tulsa or Little Rock. I have found that very few people have any clue just how large and dense metro StL is.
But then people think cities like Jacksonville and Indianapolis are much larger then they are.
People think the mountains in Colorado are just like the mountains in Pennsylvania and that entire country between Denver and Pittsburgh is one big flat wheat field.
People really need to get out more. There is a whole country out there. So what if you are from Philly. You have no interest in St Louis or KC or Louisville because you are from Philly?
All I have ever wanted to do is see other places as every city has their own charm and ambiance and things to do.
The whole mentality that I'm from a rural area in Kansas because I'm from KC is just bizarre.
Is it just Americans that are so clueless about what the rest of their country is like?
I worked in Chicago for several years. It's only 8 hours from KC and I would guess that it's about the same. 90% of the population of Chicago thinks KC is a smallish, rural city in Kansas set in terrible topography. I mean seriously, even if the urban kc was in Kansas, that part of Kansas is paradise compared to just about any part of Illinois.
There are so many cool cities out there and so many states each with their own unique beauty, how can you sit in a bubble and just ignore all of that?
Oh and coastal people think the rural midwest is full of hicks and hillbillies. I don't think I have ever even seen such places till I drove through many parts of rural PA, MD, VA, NY, DE etc. The rural parts of the east coast are much worse than what I have seen in flyover country as far as rural poverty although pockets of the south are pretty bad too.
Ok, I will help you. Get a map of the United States, now point to any East Coast city. Then find Kansas city. Which direction do you have to take to go directly from East Coast to Kansas city?
You made it seem as if KC was on the west coast, like say if I moved from Buffalo to Brooklyn, I would be coming from the West?
You made it seem as if KC was on the west coast, like say if I moved from Buffalo to Brooklyn, I would be coming from the West?
No, you'd be coming from upstate, and if you're coming from Buffalo might even be suspected to be a closet canuck. And yes, KC is West. You come from KC you are coming from the West.
No, you'd be coming from upstate, and if you're coming from Buffalo might even be suspected to be a closet canuck. And yes, KC is West. You come from KC you are coming from the West.
But is KC in the Western part of the country? Most people think is, when it's actually closer to the east coast.
A lot of people split the US east/west according to which side of the Mississippi River your location is. Radio and TV stations do it for the call letters, I think that's been pretty standard for a while.
I've been to KC but if you were to ask me if I were on the one side of the state line or the other I wouldn't be able to tell you which side I visited. It didn't make much of a difference to me really, whether I was in MO or KS. I just sort of look at it as if it's all one city.
The little town I live in is split over two states, with the state line running down the middle of our downtown. Most citizens and several non profits treat it as one town, with the gov't agencies being about the only ones that make a distinction between the two parts of the town.
Do the citizens of the two KC areas feel as if they belong to one city or do they operate as two distinct cities?
St. Louis MO/ East St. Louis IL and Memphis TN /West Memphis AR OTOH I think would confuse people more than KC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo
What if you were from Memphis and people assumed you were from Arkansas and lived in the woods or a trailer park.
Well, if you're from West Memphis you are, and you probably do.
Now, this is what I think what other people think. Because Charlotte is a relatively new large city, I don't think a lot of people know its size, but most older people would know it is in North Carolina.
For both Kansas Citys, no matter which one, or Charlotte, most younger people, say 40 and younger either never learned in school because they didn't care or they don't remember, don't know much about the two cities, including their locations.
Last edited by tudorjason; 02-17-2011 at 08:23 PM..
This thread has some very bad geography ideals. Kansas City is damn near the center of the US (between Omaha and KC somewhere). Just because you live on the east coast doesn't mean that Kansas is a western US city. It is a major metropolitan area right smack dab in the US center, and that doesn't matter if you live on the west coast, east coast, Texas, Canda etc.. Central is central is central is central... Get it?
A lot of people split the US east/west according to which side of the Mississippi River your location is. Radio and TV stations do it for the call letters, I think that's been pretty standard for a while.
I've been to KC but if you were to ask me if I were on the one side of the state line or the other I wouldn't be able to tell you which side I visited. It didn't make much of a difference to me really, whether I was in MO or KS. I just sort of look at it as if it's all one city.
The little town I live in is split over two states, with the state line running down the middle of our downtown. Most citizens and several non profits treat it as one town, with the gov't agencies being about the only ones that make a distinction between the two parts of the town.
Do the citizens of the two KC areas feel as if they belong to one city or do they operate as two distinct cities?
St. Louis MO/ East St. Louis IL and Memphis TN /West Memphis AR OTOH I think would confuse people more than KC. Well, if you're from West Memphis you are, and you probably do.
Well, there is a difference. The suburbs are similar, but if you are in the urban part of KC, where the buildings, museums etc are, you are in Missouri. If you are in more of a suburban area you could be in MO or KS. KCK has some urban characteristics, but it’s nothing like KCMO and the chances of you even setting foot in KCK are slim. Down south where the suburbs of Kansas meet the southern side of KCMO and the southern MO suburbs, the difference is more like what you describe.
But that’s not even my point. You know what KC is like. I don’t care that people think KC is in Kansas. It’s that stereotypical image of Kansas people imagine and then apply that to KC is what is annoying. If it’s in Kansas it has to be rural, flat, boring, brown and ultra conservative.
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