What do you think about the midwest? (home, neighborhoods)

[GraniteStater]

People are too routine oriented overall in the Midwest to an extreme, even compared to other regions of the US. You see the same people doing the exact same things at nearly the exact same time every day even though some activities aren't governed by a stringent schedule. Buildings & architecture are often very utilitarian and uninspired in many parts of the Midwest, particularly commercial buildings influenced by mid century designs.

[insane4madonna]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

I do agree, there most DEFINITELY are many redneck areas of California.

Thank God there's none in Los Angeles.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by insane4madonna

Things to do in Los Angeles (the place i live)

-Shopping
-Great places to see
- Different cultures
-All kind of food
-All kind of people from all over the world
-Non-religious freaks
-Liberal

You say you guys go fishing, hunting, going to the lake, etc to have fun. For us, those activities arent real activities, those are things redneck do
I would hate to live in a city where everyone is white and look all the same.

Oh look. Marce30 is back with a different ID. How original.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by insane4madonna

Thank God there's none in Los Angeles.

LOL! I know several rednecks who live in LA. You are delusional.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

...Buildings & architecture are often very utilitarian and uninspired in many parts of the Midwest,...

Yep, I just love those big corrugated metal prefab garages (barns/warehouses) that are all over the rural midwest. Extra points for a chain link fence and a big arse dog staked to a 50 foot chain.

[Amercity]

The midwest to me is fine. You have urban living in plenty of areas but there is not nearly as much diversity as either of the coast states. Go out of the major metro areas and it almost 100% and then a small population of blacks and then a few hispanics and the almost no asians unless its a college town. People are nicer and its many different political views can be seen in the midwest. Downside is there isnt as much diversity both to graphically and racially as you would see on the coast.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

Yep, I just love those big corrugated metal prefab garages (barns/warehouses) that are all over the rural midwest. Extra points for a chain link fence and a big arse dog staked to a 50 foot chain.

Particularly areas dominatied by manufacturing or industrial zoned areas of the Midwest. Functionality is always the winner as well as cost, and they sure don't care what anything looks like.

[Empidonax]

When I was growing up in California, and later when I was a grad student on the East Coast, I didn't think of the midwest much at all. I'm not sure I had even visited, but the midwest's reputation as boring, conservative, flat, corn-fed, and whatnot didn't fare so well in the face of my bicoastal snobbery.

But after grad school I took a job in Columbus, Ohio and loved the city. And after that I took jobs in other interior places like Buffalo, NY and loved those places, too. For the past 10+ years I've been in Milwaukee, and love it here. There's a lot of great stuff in the midwest, but a person like I was has to be willing to explore/travel and be culturally flexible to appreciate it.

One of the great things I'm thankful for is that I've become more attuned to the outdoors, wildlife, etc. There's plenty of it on the coasts, of course, but the midwest is the cradle for John Muir and Aldo Leopold. And don't let cornfields and prairie fool you--there are prairie chickens, longspurs, meadowlarks, and other great creatures within. Outside of the city, you can see the starry expanse that native peoples saw hundreds of years ago. In some places, like parts of Wisconsin, you can see where the retreating glaciers carved the land at the end of the last ice age. The midwest has some of the best-preserved native forest and marshlands on the continent. The beauty is often subtle, but it's there.

The human culture has been great, too. California and the NYC area are definitely more prosperous and upscale. There are things I miss there, like excellent grocery stores, a pervasiveness of the arts, prestigious universities, a deep-rooted book culture, world-class museums. But the larger cities and college towns in the midwest do very well in these areas, and some better than others. Chicago, of course, is marvellous, and the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Madison, Columbus, Cleveland, etc. are vibrant places with a strong sense of history and identity. If midwestern cities do not always have the greatest supermarkets, for example, they at least have a good showing of decades-old sausage-makers, cheese-mongers, taquerías, and other food crafts reflecting the local ethnic history. The midwestern cities were centrally involved in the rise and development of leftist politics and the labor movement, and that legacy lives on in the culture--sometimes an "underdog" artistic culture that is more scrappy and genuine than the more urbane versions on the coasts. There are some downsides, such as relatively weak economic prospects, less ethnic/racial diversity in some areas, and a more subdued gay presence than on the coasts. And yes, the midwest is more socially and culturally conservative (good for some, bad for others), but not uniformly so. But there are downsides to the coasts, too, such as congestion and cost of living.

There's a lot more to the midwest, as well, like the architectural legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and the park planning of Frederick Law Olmsted. All in all, the midwest is very underrated. I find it funny that many people still consider it "flyover" country, but these are the same people who would prefer a high-speed train from Paris to Barcelona in order to avoid the "boring" stuff in between. Funny thing, though, is that most people who live in non-flyover, "important" places are themselves usually not very important--in their own terminology, they are "flyover" people, but they presume importance because of their surroundings. Ultimately, the problem lies mostly with the traveler, not so much with the place traveled.

[Drewcifer]

Originally Posted by insane4madonna

Things to do in Los Angeles (the place i live)

-Shopping
-Great places to see
- Different cultures
-All kind of food
-All kind of people from all over the world
-Non-religious freaks
-Liberal

You say you guys go fishing, hunting, going to the lake, etc to have fun. For us, those activities arent real activities, those are things redneck do
I would hate to live in a city where everyone is white and look all the same.

We have all those things in Minneapolis too.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by Amercity

The midwest to me is fine. You have urban living in plenty of areas but there is not nearly as much diversity as either of the coast states. Go out of the major metro areas and it almost 100% and then a small population of blacks and then a few hispanics and the almost no asians unless its a college town. People are nicer and its many different political views can be seen in the midwest. Downside is there isnt as much diversity both to graphically and racially as you would see on the coast.

You also have two different very extremeties on both ends. You have the Upper Midwest, with a lot of Canadian influences, including the dialect, and you have the Lower Midwest, with a lot of southern influences, including southern influenced speech patterns. THe Midwest embraces western, northern, eastern, and southern culture to a greater degree than any other region. It is the true melting pot of America.

You could say the same about the south, as the northernmost extremeties of the south have very little in common with the Deep South.