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I was once at a small dinner get-together with a man from France and he was going on and on about how Americans don't even know where Paris is. So, I asked him if he knew the name of the capital of Indiana, and where it was located (or some other state). He looked at me kind of blankly and said, "No." I said, neither do I. That's how big my own country is. Why should I know the geography of Europe, which has nothing to do with my day to day life, either?
I think you made a good point with the gentleman from France. I have detected such blatant arrogance from Europeans about Michigan and Americans, in general. It is like Europeans are the experts of the entire world. Europe is a very, very small space by comparison, and they don't seem to have any idea (in many cases, not all) about the enormity of this piece of real estate. A Spaniard we came to know would extol all kinds of misreads about everyone, and never left the town of her residence here in Michigan, except for a train ride to Chicago. She finally moved back to Spain in a huff. She couldn't take it anymore. Living in a college community, I have had experiences of conversations of this sort with other Europeans. They rarely leave town, because they think they will run into people in this state who won't indulge them as much as the college community does.
But, back to MI and the impressions people from outside of the state have of it: I had a GREAT conversation with a "southern belle" from S.C. who hit the nail on the head about Detroit. She saw the sculpture of "The Fist" in Detroit, representing the fist of the great boxer, Joe Louis. She said very coyly, "Detroit is the city of MEN. Everywhere I look it's all about MEN." I think she was right.
From an east coast perspective Michigan is largely not talked about.
Living in Buckeye County it's pretty common for people to blurt out less than nice things about the state up north.
Although The Spartans are my least favorite football team I have to say that Downtown Detroit is a blast and I would love to explore the UP during summer. I think Michigan has a lot going for it despite some problems.
Personally, I think of it as middle America, a lot of quaint small towns, balanced by solid mid size cities (Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids) and an alpha city in Detroit. I've always wanted to live or visit there, but a pretty educated friend of mine has told me that it's basically the Alabama of Michigan. Not receptive to minorities, and I don't mean blacks that have been there generations, other minorities. Pretty racist. Was disappointed as it was on my list of places to live.
Landscape and scenery seem awesome. Love the Pure Michigan commercials and would love to visit Traverse City. Seems like everything you want is right there.
Last edited by Gaylord_Focker; 09-13-2016 at 11:09 AM..
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