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I live in Georgia, in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, and it's always a quick drive up to the mountains. I feel connected to all parts of my state, as well as the south, in general. I definitely identify with the Atlanta region, but feel very little connection to transplants that share nothing in common with me. Georgians and other southern natives throughout metro Atlanta are identifiable to me, meaning that I feel a connection to them.
Since I travel a lot, the state takes on more meaning for me than does the metro area I live in. I enjoy all areas, rural, suburban, and even urban. Hence, I suppose that I identify with all of my state. A lot of "urbanists" or "country-haters" despise the rural areas of their state so much, they choose to not identify with it, and to instead only identify with their metro region.
It is not so much about people in big cities hating those in other parts of their state, it is more that they don't think about it AT ALL. People in more rural areas are often identify with their state so much because nobody has heard of their town when they travel far but when people identify with a city it doesn't mean you hate your state. I actually like Illinois as a state it is just that I identify with Chicago first. Atlanta does have a lot of transplants and I can see how that can cause native Georgians to rally around each other. Chicago has transplants as well but not any more than any other really big city and there is a large enough native population it doesn't feel alienating.
One other thing I was thinking about is how the Texas Rangers have to be one of the few professional teams to be named after a state instead of a city, they even have a texas flag on their uniforms. The fact that it is not the Dallas/Fort Worth Rangers says something about the state. I think a lot of it is that Texas cities don't really have a strong cultural identity of their own unlike northern cities and thus identify more with Texas culture. I mean it would probably take a Texan to explain to me how Houston culture and lifestyle is different from Dallas culture and lifestyle. On the other everyone who is remotely familiar with big cities knows the difference between a New York culture and lifestyle from a Los Angeles culture and lifestyle and a Chicago culture and lifestyle. Illinois has no coherent culture, New York state has no coherent culture outside of it's name and while California brings more images to mind Los Angeles is quite different from San Francisco.
This is a hard one
I will say say it is a 50-50 between Los Angeles and the rest of the state of California
LA has a lot of the mystique that defines the California culture but not all.
The whole 49ers gold rush era, the wine country and some of the most iconic
California landmarks like Yosemite are in No.Cal, SF also brings a lot to the table
So I will leave it 50-50
Great thread idea. The NYC metro area is very unique in this regard since the city and state have the same name but don't identify with each other. These are my observations:
Interesting observations. One thing I am very curious about is how upstate New Yorkers identify themselves. If they say "I am a New Yorker" while it is true (as in state) many will assume they are a resident of New York City. Does the term "New Yorker" apply to upstaters in the eyes of NYC residents? Do people living in larger cities upstate identify with their cities such as Buffalo which has some identity to distinguish themselves from NYC? I imagine when most people in the rural south or midwest see a New York license plate or driver's license they automatically assume "big city person" when they might be just as rural as they are.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Having grown up in the hills of rural upstate New York, I always leaned exclusively toward state over city.
Even more, I prefer to call myself a northern Appalachian. As I tend to identify with cultural regions more so than exact location.
Sadly a good deal of southerners will tell me I'm wrong since I'm from the north, but here are the facts: Rural, had hillbilly surroundings, was deep in the Appalachian foot hills = Appalachian. My family is Scots-Irish to boot.
I identify strongly with my native state of Texas. I love it here. I've lived in 3 other states, but I don't ever want to leave Texas again. Whenever I moved away and visited Texas, I always always felt like I was coming home! Finally, I came back for good.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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State - When I say I'm originally from Illinois folks automatically assume I'm from Chicago. They kinda look weird though when I tell them I could be in Nashville or Memphis faster than Chicago... as if they don't even know that the state goes below I-80.
State - When I say I'm originally from Illinois folks automatically assume I'm from Chicago. They kinda look weird though when I tell them I could be in Nashville or Memphis faster than Chicago... as if they don't even know that the state goes below I-80.
Same thing here.
I just respond with "What's Chicago? Is that like Chaka Khans sister?"
It is not so much about people in big cities hating those in other parts of their state, it is more that they don't think about it AT ALL. People in more rural areas are often identify with their state so much because nobody has heard of their town when they travel far but when people identify with a city it doesn't mean you hate your state.
Right. It's not that I don't care about NYS, it's just that I don't think about it at all. It honestly doesn't even cross my mind that I live in a state, other than thinking about things like drivers' licenses, because I'm so city-centric.
Even when I lived in places like Indianapolis, I always identified with the city and not the state. I always get irritated while watching primetime Colts games because they show these images of cornfields, pickup trucks, etc as if Indiana = Indianapolis and vice versa, like the two entities are somehow mutually exclusive. I saw skyscrapers and different ethnic groups every day where I lived. That is not to say that Indianapolis = New York City, but I think that a 28 year old, college educated Black man who lives and works downtown and doesn't own a car is going to have far more in common culturally with his counterpart in Brooklyn than in rural Indiana.
Even the state of Indiana has distinct physiological and cultural regions, so it's funny to me when the media tries to paint the state with this singular image of flat, endless farms. It's like saying everyone in NYS "two-alks like dis" and lives in 75-story towers.
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Nowhere but Texas for me
