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I like how DC/Maryland people try to sneak into the Northeast on the sly.
"Well, technically, Wiki says New York and New Jersey are Mid-Atlantic states. And they're part of the Northeast. Maryland is in the Mid-Atlantic. So that means we are in the Northeast too! Right?"
Wrong. There may be some overlap between the regions, but they are not co-extensive and completely interchangeable.
Well, Maryland/DC/NoVA's case, it's not so much that we're Northeastern. It's that we're not Southern. Most of us don't have anything against the South (with the possible exception of the accents), but we just have very few similarities with them.
Some do consider us as part of the Northeast (evidently), but it's not what I'm trying to say.
While there are historic cultural distinctions between Md, Pa, and NY (and much more so all of them and New England) in recent decades they have to some extent formed a new socio econonomic region, which is widely called the northeast corridor or 'megalopolis'
However while DC's proximity and economic ties to NYC and to the cities in between, is important for transportation, and for economics, etc, I would not say that in itself makes DC 'more sophisticated'.
As someone else said, both DC and Chicago have a lot going for them as cities.
Some do consider us as part of the Northeast (evidently), but it's not what I'm trying to say.
Some just means "at least one." I'm sure there are people who consider Richmond part of the Northeast as well.
You guys are thirsty to join the ranks of Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Cities that were "free" prior to the Civil War. Cities with historically strong left-leaning politics and strong abolitionist movements. Cities with Ivy League institutions. Cities with aristocracies. You guys want the prestige associated with the Northeast. Just be honest.
So I say let's put it to a vote. What say you Northerners? Shall we, the residents of Northern cities, with the powers invested in us by Dunkin Donuts, Ray's Pizza and James Gandolfini, grant Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland admission to the Association of Northeastern Cities?
Well, Maryland/DC/NoVA's case, it's not so much that we're Northeastern. It's that we're not Southern. Most of us don't have anything against the South (with the possible exception of the accents), but we just have very few similarities with them.
Some do consider us as part of the Northeast (evidently), but it's not what I'm trying to say.
greater DC's way of being "not southern" presents an interesting contrast to say, Baltimore's. Historically Baltimore had both southern and northeastern traits, and its growing integration with the northeast has made it "not southern"
DC OTOH, has simply lost much of its regional character period. Its "not southern'" inhabitants are as likely to be from the midwest or California as from the northeast, and its "southern" inhabitants are as likely to be from Texas or Georgia as from southside Virginia. I mean that's overstating it a bit, but I think not that much. So while "mid atlantic" may be the best regional characterization for DC, its not Mid Atlantic the way that Wilmington or Baltimore are - not because its more southern (its far less southern than say Richmond) but because its so "national"
Southern MD is hella southern. Like in Calvert county.
And calling carbonated drinks Coke is a southern thing. Soda and pop are Yankee inventions!!! Well at least in Texas everyone calls things Coke.
Not many people eat grit though. Or corn pone. Or okra. Or anything else that's good for you!!!
culturally greater DC (like Maryland) is mid atlantic.
If "Northeast" and "Mid Atlantic" are not mutually exclusive, then why do "South" and "Mid Atlantic" have to be mutually exclusive? I just find it interesting that people make it seem that being Mid Atlantic precludes being "Southern" but not "Northern."
Some just means "at least one." I'm sure there are people who consider Richmond part of the Northeast as well.
You guys are thirsty to join the ranks of Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Cities that were "free" prior to the Civil War. Cities with historically strong left-leaning politics and strong abolitionist movements. Cities with Ivy League institutions. Cities with aristocracies. You guys want the prestige associated with the Northeast. Just be honest.
So I say let's put it to a vote. What say you Northerners? Shall we, the residents of Northern cities, with the powers invested in us by Dunkin Donuts, Ray's Pizza and James Gandolfini, grant Washington, DC and Maryland admission to the Association of Northeastern Cities?
Do you vote yay or nay?
Most smaller northeastern cities of course have no ivy league schools, Im not sure that Philly had much mroe in the way of strong left leaning politics than DC or Baltimore. I dont know enough of the social history to know if it had much of an aristocracy (vs rich people who moved to Foxhall to be near the center of national politics) but seeing as baltimore and Richmond had them, I dont see how thats a northeastern thing - IF DC lacked one, it was not because of its southern character.
Slavery and abolitionism are the historic dividing lines, but we already know that. DC and Baltimore both had troubled racial relations from the civil rights movement onward, but they look much like the kinds of troubled racial relations found in northeastern and midwestern cities.
BTW there is a coalition of northeastern governors, but it currently includes only NY and New England (NJ seems to have previously been a member)
Maryland is in the Southern Governors Assoc, and Penn is in neither.
You guys are thirsty to join the ranks of Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Cities that were "free" prior to the Civil War. Cities with historically strong left-leaning politics and strong abolitionist movements. Cities with Ivy League institutions. Cities with aristocracies. You guys want the prestige associated with the Northeast. Just be honest.
Honestly, I have always identified as Northeastern if I absolutely had to pick sides, due to where I currently live within the state and where I was raised (NYC). Of course I'm a bit biased, but that's part of the reason why MD is not Southern - there are many more transplants from the North or West than the South. However, they haven't so much completely changed/reversed MD's culture as much as they have erased it.
Maryland's culture is both unique and unoriginal, so to speak. It's America in miniature - there's so many cultures of America all in one little state, from Northeastern to Southern to even Midwestern and Western (due to the transplants bringing their culture and the media). However, it can't really identify with one region.
Essentially, Maryland and DC are, respectively, the state and city with the biggest identity crisis in the nation
If "Northeast" and "Mid Atlantic" are not mutually exclusive, then why do "South" and "Mid Atlantic" have to be mutually exclusive? I just find it interesting that people make it seem that being Mid Atlantic precludes being "Southern" but not "Northern."
People sometimes call Va, and even NC, mid Atlantic and also southern, as they call NY, NJ, and Penn historically northeastern and Mid Atlantic. Regional names arent "official" in this country - there are broader and narrower uses of the term mid Atlantic.
I think Del and Md are mid atlantic in a narrower sense, though. They are NOT historically northeastern in the way NY is - mid atlantic is the heart of their identity (whereas NY is "mid atlantic" in the sense that its not New England)
btw Baltimore had historically a large quaker community, which WAS abolitionist. Also, IIUC, Johns Hopkins who founded the Univ, was an abolitionist. While Md was a slave state, it was possible to be publicly abolitionist in way that was difficult in the South. It also had a huge free black population, at a time when most Southern states discouraged or banned residence by free blacks.
also this
"Garrison happened to meet Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker who edited a Baltimore-based anti-slavery newspaper, The Genius of Emancipation. Following the election of 1828, during which Garrison worked on a newspaper that supported Andrew Jackson's election, he moved to Baltimore and began working with Lundy. "
Its a much more complex place with a more complex history than one gets by pointing to the Mason Dixon line.
Last edited by brooklynborndad; 02-07-2013 at 03:41 PM..
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