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They are all neither. If I live in California and move to Iowa, i'm not telling someone im "moving out east." If I live in NJ and move to Arkansas, I'm not telling someone I'm moving "out west." It's that simple.
I lived in southern California for 36 years and in eastern Iowa for 27 years. Iowa doesn’t feel at all like the West. I associate it separately from the East and West, but if I had to choose I’d say the East. Same with Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas. West of the Missouri River starts to feel more like the West and is the transitional dividing line for me.
The idea that America only has two boxes - east and west - and every state has to be put into one of those boxes is a very coastal centric idea. Minnesota and Iowa are neither east nor west. They are far away from both. Minnesota is closer to the east coast than the west but Minneapolis to New York is a 20 hour drive.
Personally, I always considered the Mississippi River the be the border between the east and west US. So I consider all of these part of the West. I am a bit iffy about Minnesota, since it's largest city is west of the river but my mind strongly associates it with the Great Lakes.
Of course, this would lead to the idea that the Western US borders both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, via Texas and Louisiana.
Personally, I always considered the Mississippi River the be the border between the east and west US. So I consider all of these part of the West. I am a bit iffy about Minnesota, since it's largest city is west of the river but my mind strongly associates it with the Great Lakes.
Of course, this would lead to the idea that the Western US borders both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, via Texas and Louisiana.
The river cuts through Minneapolis but most of Mpls is west of the river. St. Paul is entirely east of the Mississippi.
If you split the entire country by only east and west with no middle, the MN-IA-MO-AR-LO strip would be east and the Frontier Strip (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) would be west.
Eastern. It is a hard sell telling me I grew up in the West in the hills of Southeast Missouri, where I was surrounded by a forest that has Beech and Poplar trees and an average of 48" of rain per year.
Maybe Western Iowa and Minnesota are different, I don't know, but I can't imagine that anyone would think that any part of Arkansas, Louisiana or Missouri are more western than eastern.
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