Lewis W. Diuguid: This Kansas City Is Not In Kansas an It Gets No Global Love (St. Louis: 2014, home)

[Truly Missouri]

Kansas City Star columnists Lewis W. Diuguid's post about how Kansas City, MISSOURI gets no love globally. It's a little old, but I just read it for the first time.

This Kansas City Is Not In Kansas and It Gets No Global Love – Skift

When I was younger (middle school) I was fortunate enough to go downtown and spend a day with him at KC Star. It was for career day. (I'm in my 30's now.) He's one of the nicest men to whom I've ever met. And surprisingly, I even emailed him about two years ago (2013) about Kansas City, Missouri having a national image problem. And all because of our namesake.... "Kansas" City, Missouri???

It's really neat that he of all people has and is catching on; I hope more within KCMO's media will also catch on. Because this issue really isn't relegated to just the so-called trolls in obscure online forums as so many people from Kansas would have you to believe. Many Missourians are catching on, and feel the same way. But if only they could all do something about it.

I don't know whether or not if he posted this in the KC Star. Seems unlikely, he'd probably take a lot of heat for it. If anyone knows, perhaps post that he did.

[shindig]

About the only thing he got right is KCI is purgatory compared to other major airports. When I lived in St. Louis and traveled through Europe for a summer, probably 90% of the people I met had no idea where St. Louis was. Why? Because neither Kansas City or St. Louis are alpha cities like NYC, Chicago, LA, Boston, Philly, San Fracisco, etc. Again, I ask, why are you so obsessed with Kansas City's name? Just get over it. It's not going to change. The city is not going to change it to your silly name "Missouri City"...lol.

[MoNative34]

The name Kansas City isn't going anywhere.

The End.

[rwiksell]

I don't know if I want to perpetuate this line of argument or not, but...

If you ignore the arbitrary political boundaries, then in a sense Johnson County isn't in "Kansas" either. Nor is Wyandotte County, or even Lawrence. Because here is what people think-slash-mean when they say "Kansas":

-flat
-rural
-wheat & corn
-cattle
-small towns
-boring
-Dorothy's farmer family & Superman's farmer family
-maybe tornados (bolstered more by Dorothy than by actual meteorology.)

None of these things are any more characteristic of urban/suburban northeastern Kansas than they are of Missouri. They are cultural stereotypes which are unrelated to political boundaries. When I went to high school in Johnson County, I was as eager as any Missourian to explain to out-of-towners that my habitat was not what they thought of as "Kansas" at all, even though I technically was in Kansas.

So to explain to foreigners of all people that Crown Center, the Plaza, etc are not in Kansas is an exercise in futility. After all, they're each less than a mile away from it. Perhaps it's better to say "The state of Kansas is known for being flat and rural, but the Kansas City metro area (which straddles both Kansas and Missouri) is hilly, cosmopolitan and full of world-class cultural attractions."

After all, people everywhere understand the difference between hilly and flat, and between urban, suburban and rural. And isn't that really what we're talking about here? Let's focus on that and forget about the political boundaries, especially when talking to outsiders.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

I don't know if I want to perpetuate this line of argument or not, but...

If you ignore the arbitrary political boundaries, then in a sense Johnson County isn't in "Kansas" either. Nor is Wyandotte County, or even Lawrence. Because here is what people think-slash-mean when they say "Kansas":

-flat
-rural
-wheat & corn
-cattle
-small towns
-boring
-Dorothy's farmer family & Superman's farmer family
-maybe tornados (bolstered more by Dorothy than by actual meteorology.)

None of these things are any more characteristic of urban/suburban northeastern Kansas than they are of Missouri. They are cultural stereotypes which are unrelated to political boundaries. When I went to high school in Johnson County, I was as eager as any Missourian to explain to out-of-towners that my habitat was not what they thought of as "Kansas" at all, even though I technically was in Kansas.

So to explain to foreigners of all people that Crown Center, the Plaza, etc are not in Kansas is an exercise in futility. After all, they're each less than a mile away from it. Perhaps it's better to say "The state of Kansas is known for being flat and rural, but the Kansas City metro area (which straddles both Kansas and Missouri) is hilly, cosmopolitan and full of world-class cultural attractions."

After all, people everywhere understand the difference between hilly and flat, and between urban, suburban and rural. And isn't that really what we're talking about here? Let's focus on that and forget about the political boundaries, especially when talking to outsiders.

I have a gallery in my home and some of the large photos are of Kansas City. People like to guess what all the cities are and they NEVER get the KC ones (usually naming much larger cities) and are always surprised when I tell them it's KCMO. It's fun watching people react. "that's Kansas?"

One thing that is improving KC's image right now is the Royals and to some degree the recent play of the Chiefs and Sporting. People out here love baseball and the Royals have brought KC back from being a totally irrelevant place that nobody ever thinks about to a place with a competitive MLB team again.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

The name Kansas City isn't going anywhere.

The End.

Nor should it. Kansas is among the loveliest words in the English language, and Kansas City is probably one of the top 10 place names in America. "Own it", you shame-faced midwestern pursies. Show a little pride and carry your chip right up there on your shoulder. When someone asks where you're from/where you stay and they say "Hahaha, sorry, dude" don't nod and avert your gaze and smile sheepishly, hit them in the mouth. Laugh at them. Call them an ignorant turd. Steal their girlfriend. Throw your drink on their shirt. Kansas City is the teats. Quit acting like it's a pedophile uncle.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I have a gallery in my home and some of the large photos are of Kansas City. People like to guess what all the cities are and they NEVER get the KC ones (usually naming much larger cities) and are always surprised when I tell them it's KCMO. It's fun watching people react. "that's Kansas?"

One thing that is improving KC's image right now is the Royals and to some degree the recent play of the Chiefs and Sporting. People out here love baseball and the Royals have brought KC back from being a totally irrelevant place that nobody ever thinks about to a place with a competitive MLB team again.

Growing up in JoCo, I never identified with being "from Kansas". I knew very little about the state, to be honest.

Now, I tell people I'm from Denver. If I'm out of town and say I'm from Colorado, people immediately think I live in some alpine village and ski to work every day of the year lol!

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by denverian

Growing up in JoCo, I never identified with being "from Kansas". I knew very little about the state, to be honest.

Now, I tell people I'm from Denver.

Case in point.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by denverian

Growing up in JoCo, I never identified with being "from Kansas". I knew very little about the state, to be honest.

Now, I tell people I'm from Denver. If I'm out of town and say I'm from Colorado, people immediately think I live in some alpine village and ski to work every day of the year lol!

Same here with Missouri. I grew up in urban kcmo. I was clueless about anything past Raytown to the east Armour to the north, 435 to the south and maybe Metcalf to the west.

I like the name Kansas City, Mo. To me it's neither KS nor MO, it's the "city" and it has it's own indenity and culture completely independent from both states. I don't like the "kansas" stereotypical image or being called "from Kansas" and honestly, being from Missouri is not a lot better, but I got over that many years ago. There is nothing you can do about it. People are clueless about places they have not been.

I just say "KC" now, sometimes Kansas City, Missouri, but mostly I just say KC to keep things simple and to maybe see what they say next (90% of the time they say nothing about the states and talk sports teams, bbq etc, but if they do it will be something about "Kansas" and then I will explain the geography a bit more), but I have learned that you can tell people 50 times that KC is primarily in MO, but for some bizarre reason, "Kansas" sticks and people just keep saying Kansas, sometimes correcting themselves after saying Kansas again...

I think the name is fine. The bigger problem in KC is not how the world views it, but how its own metro area views it. Once KC figures out it's one metropolitan area, maybe the rest of the country will take notice. As long as the area continues to act like several small competing regions and and continues to drag its feet on major regional infrastructure improvements, "KC" will struggle to gain recognition regardless of its name.

[shindig]

Truly MO, just go down to the Bunker in Westport and get you a KCMO t-shirt! I have several and you are seeing quite a few people in KC wearing them, along with the Heart KC

http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archi...shirt-for-that


Or just print up your own t-shirt that says "Kansas City-less Kansas, more City"