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Ohio is Midwestern for the most part with some Appalachian counties in the southeastern 1/3. NE Ohio has some Northeast influences, but has mostly a Midwest culture. Kansas is mostly a Western state due to the Great Plains section of the state compared to core Midwest astates like Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. In Kansas, much of the corn is IRRIGATED which does not happen in the Midwest. The attitudes and geographic pull of the people tend to be strongly Western and Southern. I can't even begin to tell you how many people from Kansas City had NEVER BEEN to Chicago yet were very familiar with Colorado and Texas.
Historically it's Midwestern, but I think as more and more people move west, it will slowly become seen as east coast, as geographically it almost is on the east coast.
I lived in Northwest Ohio most of my life, and currently reside in the Hudson Valley. South Eastern New York is like living on a different planet. Not hatin' on New Yorkers, but I can't hang with this crowd. A slower, more gentle approach to life is what I seek.
Ohio is actually fairly diverse. Lake Erie and rust belt cities to the north. White collar Columbus in the center. That hood in southwest otherwise known as Cincinnati. Then the Appalachian foothills to the southeast. If anything Ohio really can't be pigeonholed into one neat category.
I have always been very confused with the term "Midwest". Obviously a state like Ohio is very far to the east relative to a state like Kansas in the actual "mid" of the country. There should at least be terms such as Mideast, Mid US or Central US, and Mideast. Lumping all of these areas together degrades their uniqueness. I'm sure a southerner might make a similar argument about his homeland.
Having grown up near the middle of the country and now the last 3 years I have lived in Upstate NY and NYC, sadly I have witnessed so many extremely rude and harsh attitudes about the Heartland. People in the NE absolutely love to degrade the midwest and south to build themselves up. Ironically, many of them are either from the midwest or 2nd generation from midwest (ask a New Yorker - there are few native Manhattanites).
Basically, from what I have gathered most people in the NYC tri-state area consider the entire country a "void". From meeting with those in New England I doubt their attitudes differ much. This is an extremely hypocritical small minded attitude about their own country coming from people that will simultaneously claim to be intellectually and culturally superior. Its so sad that these people, as evident on this blog, will quickly label and dismiss Mid America and with it millions of acres of land and over 20 million people residing there as completely insignificant.
After growing up with the small-minded small town attitude of Southern Illinois, its heart breaking to me to see this extremely small-minded attitude coming from the northeast; the self-proclaimed intellectual and cultural center of the country. Please go to these great urban and rural areas of Mid America, see the great innovations their people have brought to this land, taste the food they have prepared, let them entertain you, let them meet you and warm your heart and then decide, are these places really a void? Are these people completely insignificant to America's future and America's success simply because of their geographic location?
If America wants to move forward it needs to be more unified and take pride in the entire nation as a whole. America needs to rise as one whole and not at the expense of destroying the pride of its precious heartland.
Having grown up near the middle of the country and now the last 3 years I have lived in Upstate NY and NYC, sadly I have witnessed so many extremely rude and harsh attitudes about the Heartland. People in the NE absolutely love to degrade the midwest and south to build themselves up. Ironically, many of them are either from the midwest or 2nd generation from midwest (ask a New Yorker - there are few native Manhattanites).
Basically, from what I have gathered most people in the NYC tri-state area consider the entire country a "void". From meeting with those in New England I doubt their attitudes differ much. This is an extremely hypocritical small minded attitude about their own country coming from people that will simultaneously claim to be intellectually and culturally superior. Its so sad that these people, as evident on this blog, will quickly label and dismiss Mid America and with it millions of acres of land and over 20 million people residing there as completely insignificant.
You know people everywhere have ideas/thoughts about people everywhere else. It's just a human thing to have an opinion, maybe call it a "judgement," but it's what humans do. I don't think it's unusual at all if one is honest. It'd be nice if we were all judgement free, but it's not reality. I'm not talking prejudice that hurts people, but the thoughts/ideas about people/places we encounter along the way.
But, actually, when I lived Upstate, I remember very little comments about the midwest. It just wasn't much on the radar. But, the South, well, that's been since eternity. But, it works the other way around, too.
I lived in Upstate NY and moved to Florida. I got repeated nasty remarks/comments about my being a "NYer, etc." And, I'm a fairly mellow person. Movingto Phoenix, same types of things here and there, not as much. But, point is that I find us NY'ers are the brunt of a lot of stereotypical remarks. So, it works both ways. But, all in all, I found much more stereotyping in the South toward the North, not the other way around. THere is some of that here, too, toward the mid-westerner's, but most is toward the "Californian's." You see my point, it just goes round and round wherever you go!
Yeah, I get tons of grief from people in the middle of the country for being from NY. I make a point of eluding the question and just tell people I am from here.
I lived in Northwest Ohio most of my life, and currently reside in the Hudson Valley. South Eastern New York is like living on a different planet. Not hatin' on New Yorkers, but I can't hang with this crowd. A slower, more gentle approach to life is what I seek.
Ohio is actually fairly diverse. Lake Erie and rust belt cities to the north. White collar Columbus in the center. That hood in southwest otherwise known as Cincinnati. Then the Appalachian foothills to the southeast. If anything Ohio really can't be pigeonholed into one neat category.
Cincinnati is a "hood"? Cleveland has more "hoods" than Cincinnati ever will.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by proulxfamily
I'm used to going from one series of mountains... or foothills that look like mountains... to another. The general feeling, "very hilly and rural" or not, is too wide open for *my* comfort, which is why I choose to live in central NY.
The Adirondacks and the Catskills and their foothills meet at the eastern half of the Thruway... continue down to the Poconos and east to the Green and White Mountains in New England. It's not a harshly critical judgement about Rochester or points west, just a personal statement about what *I* have observed and *my* feeling about those areas, while driving through them. There are evidently MANY people who prefer to be in those other environments... I'm just not one of them.
Uhm... I know this is a year old but; western NY is on the Allegheny (As is almost all of central/western NY). That means Appalachian hills.
Some of the tallest and most rugged hills are in western NY. Go to Any southern tier county all the way out to lake Erie. Looks like West Virginia in most places. You must be thinking of the Ontario plains, which, are only around lake Ontario. A short drive south of that and hills be thar.
That said; I think Ohio is half north-eastern and half Midwestern geographically.
The Mohawk River cuts in about Utica and fron that point East its actually a really pretty drive. But from Utica West including her Syracuse area the Thruway is cut your wrists boring.
And off the Thruway from Syracuse to Rochester is pretty prairie like.
But from Rochester on West you don't have to get far off to get into some pretty rugged country. The area around Lecthworth and Watkins Glens and Ithaca don't seem very flat to me.
Western, Eastern, and Northern, and heck Southern NY are none to flat. Just a small circle in the center of the state.
Yes many people pretend to know an entire area or state just by driving an interstate... big mistake.
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Time to evolve from the term "Midwest"
