What are Iowans like? (Des Moines, Pella: house, movies, schools)

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by tiki7

Its funny that I'm called narrow minded when it was actually my openness of mind that caused me to be such a pariah in NW Iowa.

Your assumptive statement about "small towns in general" makes you appear narrow-minded. If you had stuck to the specific geographic area you are familiar with and not generalized all small towns as being the same your statement wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by duster1979

Your assumptive statement about "small towns in general" makes you appear narrow-minded. If you had stuck to the specific geographic area you are familiar with and not generalized all small towns as being the same your statement wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.

Exactly. You choose to project your personal experience onto the rest of small town Iowa when in reality you're only experience really is NW Iowa.

If you did the same thing racially (vs geographically), you'd be called racist.

My folks live in a town of barely 200 in north central Iowa. Historically in the last few elections, they're election results show they've trended toward the Democratic candidates.

So like it or not (and it maybe hard to admit) , you can have liberal leanings and still be narrow-minded.

[orthosophy]

hey could you say SOME towns in nw Iowa please?

I grew up in Spirit Lake and Okoboji and other than the actual retreaters in the summer, I never got pestered.

Even my (catholic) priest called my brother and I his little luthlics, because we would sometimes go to a Lutheran church with my mom. Now that I don't have much of any religion, I don't see much of a difference.

In general, I don't see people being pushy about religion. They will engage in spirited debate, but in my experience, that happens when you poke them with a stick. I find the obverse to be more generally true; most of the small town Iowans I have run into are a little "stoic"...religion just isn't something they care to discuss unless you ask first.

Im sure that's not true everywhere, but where i'm from, the Iowa Great Lakes area--nw iowa small towns--it was certainly true.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by orthosophy

hey could you say SOME towns in nw Iowa please?

He did specifically mention Sioux County, which has a heavy Dutch Reformed presence.

In my experience with those folks (Pella) it's not so much that they try to engage you in religeous conversations or try to convert you in the street; in fact, if you don't have a Dutch name they're more likely to ignore you and hope you just go away, unless of course you are shopping at one of their businesses. It's more the fact that local government is generally heavily influenced by the church (blue laws and such).

[hawkeye2009]

Originally Posted by WhatUpFLA

When I used to live in Rhode Island, a female co-worker of mine was considering relocating to Iowa after graduating from college. She had been told by one of her professors at Rhode Island College that the people in Iowa were friendly, polite, courteous, and outgoing. Her professor also told her that Iowans are not Bible-wielding folk that preach to you at the supermarket or at your child's soccer game. My co-worker was irreligious and did not want to relocate to a place where everyday folk (neighbors, co-workers, townsfolk, etc.) would discuss with you their religious beliefs and/or confront for having no particular religion. Basically, she did not to move to a place where people were constantly in your face with talk of God or religion. This hindered my former co-worker from relocating to the South and a large swath of the Midwest. Apparently, her college professor had lived in many different states and she believed that out of all of the places she had lived, she thought that Iowa may suit my co-worker, her student, the best. What is an Iowan's take on this matter? All y'all Iowans need to shed some light on this matter for me since I've never been to Iowa and have only ever known one Iowan. What are Iowans like, for the most part?

Most Iowans are low key. While a good deal of Iowans do go to church, it never seems to come up in casual conversation and is mostly a private matter.

[atler8]

Bingo! From my own personal experience it was as someone wrote here, "...Sioux County but the attitude permeates the surrounding counties as well..."
Not to be confused with much larger & diverse Sioux City which is south of that area & in Woodbury County.

[soobsyolpur]

Iowans are really religious!!! You are right my friend!!!

[steel03]

^That may be true, but hardly anyone beats you over the head with it, and there are plenty of atheists and agnostics in the cities.

[elderstatesman]

After 20 years of living in IOWA I can say with authority that Iowa is no more religious than New England or anywere else except the Bible Belt, in fact we a very liberal. I went to Bible college in Tennessee and Michigan and saw my share of "thumpers". Iowans are just people like anywere else in our great land. I have no quams with sharing your faith no matter where in the world you go. It makes for good discussion if you don't beat me over the head with your views. My 2 cents.

[Lily0fthevalley]

I mentioned to one of my elderly volunteers who grew up in Pella that some people had told me that if you don't belong to the right church in the Pella area it is hard to feel comfortable in that community.

She said, "I don't know why! Lots of Americans have been moving in lately!"

I had to laugh. Guess the Dutch Reformed still think of themselves as different from us "Americans."