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How about Maryland? It has rich/poor, white/black (and many other minorities), cities&suburbs/rural, beach/mountains, & arguably North/South. Good mix of everything politically, demographically, and geographically (except it doesn't have deserts).
How about Maryland? It has rich/poor, white/black (and many other minorities), cities&suburbs/rural, beach/mountains, & arguably North/South. Good mix of everything politically, demographically, and geographically (except it doesn't have deserts).
I agree on MD - for such a small state it packs a little bit of everything. PA misses on the beach, NY is another that offers a bit of just about everything though to me it misses on the Appalachia component that MD (or for that matter PA) would have
I agree on MD - for such a small state it packs a little bit of everything. PA misses on the beach, NY is another that offers a bit of just about everything though to me it misses on the Appalachia component that MD (or for that matter PA) would have
Maryland is #1 for income, in the top 5 for % black, and well below average in % Hispanic (locally they make a big deal about Hispanic "invasion" but by national standards it's quite a small population).
Maryland is also much denser than the national average, and of course it is extremely dominated by one political party (but then a lot of states are, so maybe that makes it average).
I think the very suggestion of Maryland suggests a limited perspective. There's a lot more to this country than the east coast, people. The population center is way out in Missouri!
Maryland is #1 for income, in the top 5 for % black, and well below average in % Hispanic (locally they make a big deal about Hispanic "invasion" but by national standards it's quite a small population).
Maryland is also much denser than the national average, and of course it is extremely dominated by one political party (but then a lot of states are, so maybe that makes it average).
I think the very suggestion of Maryland suggests a limited perspective. There's a lot more to this country than the east coast, people. The population center is way out in Missouri!
I think they're just going in a different direction. They're thinking of a state that has the most different aspects of America rather than a state that's in any way a representative sample of America.
Granted to me "quintessential America" is more "representative of America" than "encompassing of America." California encompasses/contains a great deal of the groups in America but I wouldn't think of it is as "quintessential America." They might be reading the term in a different way than you or I did.
Still I'm not sure Maryland works even for that. In percent terms Maryland looks to be well-below average in Mexicans. In Hispanics generally Pew places them as 28th ranked, but 81% of their Hispanics are listed as non-Mexicans. So I think there might be a fair amount of "Mexican American experiences" not to be found within Maryland.
In geographic terms Maryland doesn't "encompass everything American" that well either. Maryland doesn't have any really high mountains. Their highest point, Backbone Mountain, is apparently less than 3,500 feet above sea level. As the posters who listed it mentioned they don't have deserts. Considering their highest point I'm assuming they have no glaciers or even ski resorts. The "encompassing" deal might work better with California or even Washington state.
Last edited by Thomas R.; 01-22-2011 at 07:12 PM..
Ohio seems a bit too rural, conservative and low income though.
All three of these are actually misconceptions. Ohio is the most densely populated state not on the east coast and has many fairly large cities (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Akron, Toledo...). In terms of politics, its various regions actually balance it out and make it a moderate state as a whole. Per capita income is 33rd in the nation so I guess it is in the lower half, but much higher than Mississippi at the bottom.
That being said I think that many things that foreigners would view as quintessentially American are on the East Coast. Tall buildings, face paced workaholic city life, the historical birthplace of the country, music and entertainment in NYC, the government in DC, and old colonial towns.
I'd also have to say Ohio. Columbus is often used by marketing firms for studies targeted toward "typical Middle America".
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