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List the misconceptions that people have about your state then list the facts right after. For example, a misconception for Texas might be "Everybody is a cowboy."
I will start with Washington:
Myth: Most everybody in Washington is a liberal.
Fact: Its definitely true in the Seattle area and the surrounding communities, but outside of Seattle and places like Bellingham, Olympia, San Juan Islands, and parts of the peninsula, most of the state is actually pretty conservative. Just look at this map for the 2012 governors race- most of the counties voted for the Republican.
And here is a map of the county by county vote for gay marriage- the darker the purple, the more who were against it.
Unfortunately, Seattle controls everything since that is obviously where the big population base is.
Myth: Washington is a lush, green, wet forest.
Fact: Its true for the western part of the state(West of the cascades), but a large area of the Eastern side is a semi arid region. People don't think of desert when they think of WA.
I know WA well (domiciled on both sides of it), am mod of the forum, and it's true, many people think it's wall-to-wall rain and trees. No joke.
I always thought it was funny seeing "The Evergreen State" on license plates while driving through Central WA. Yet, few trees to be found.
The political thing is not as impressive IMO, many states are like that. OR (just like WA), CA (blue on coasts, red mostly otherwise), IL (Chicago vs downstate), there are several others. It's not so much that there are only liberals, just that there are more of them, and are mostly concentrated in the west of WA (along with most of the people).
Our entire state is Detroit and Detroit is all a rusting ghetto.
Truth: Detroit covers something like 0.001% of the land area in Michigan. Most of Michigan is rural farm country in the southern tier and forests in the northern tier, with many recreational inland lakes throughout the entire state, and is actually a very beautiful, natural state. The Great Lakes are amazing!
Detroit is not all ghetto and has some amazing architecture, a beautiful riverfront with the busiest international border crossing in the U.S., and many amenities.
Michigan is full of safe, prosperous, quaint, small towns, one of which I live in.
List the misconceptions that people have about your state then list the facts right after. For example, a misconception for Texas might be "Everybody is a cowboy."
I will start with Washington:
Myth: Most everybody in Washington is a liberal.
Fact: Its definitely true in the Seattle area and the surrounding communities, but outside of Seattle and places like Bellingham, Olympia, San Juan Islands, and parts of the peninsula, most of the state is actually pretty conservative. Just look at this map for the 2012 governors race- most of the counties voted for the Republican.
And here is a map of the county by county vote for gay marriage- the darker the purple, the more who were against it.
Unfortunately, Seattle controls everything since that is obviously where the big population base is.
Myth: Washington is a lush, green, wet forest.
Fact: Its true for the western part of the state(West of the cascades), but a large area of the Eastern side is a semi arid region. People don't think of desert when they think of WA.
What are yours?
Spot-on. I'm a liberal living in conservative Northeast WA. There are a few others here, but for the most part this is definitely GOP country on this side of the state. However, I'm not one of those people who has to be surrounded by people who think exactly the way I do, but that's neither here nor there. All I know is that there is a huge stretch of land between here and the part of the state that most people equate with their preconceived idea of what "uber-liberal" Washington is.
There is some evergreen forest up in this corner of the state, but it's nothing like the dense, lush rainforest near the coast. Not to mention the barren high desert in central WA or the rolling, grassy plains of the Palouse in Southeast WA. Most people outside of WA don't even know we have desert up here. I know it was a surprise to me when I first moved here. For it's size, Washington has a ton of diversity in precipitation, topography, climate zones, and landscapes. Part of the reason I love it here so much. You don't have to drive very far to see a dramatic change of scenery.
The most common Wisconsin one is "fat," when in reality it's average in terms of obesity and better than average in health ratings. There's a very strong outdoors culture here. The fattest, most unhealthy areas are actually in the South.
Another misconception is that the beer/cheese that we're known for is just the crappy, mass-marketed kind. California (the state's main dairy competitor) is actually the industrial dairy farm state, whereas Wisconsin has more organic/boutique farms. No other states come anywhere close to Wisconsin in terms of international competition - only a few European countries can compete with Wisconsin for fine cheeses. It's the local heritage. Wisconsin is the only state to require licensed cheesemakers at every cheese plant. In fact, most cheese factories have several licensed cheesemakers on hand to oversee every vat produced. Wisconsin is the only state with certified Master Cheesemakers who have undertaken a rigorous three-year educational training and apprenticeship. The Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program is the only one of its kind in the U.S. and is modeled after European advanced training programs.
The "drunk" one is truth, though!
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