Lou Decruss wrote:

> On 23 Jan 2007 04:36:42 -0800, "Gregory Morrow"
> > wrote:
>
> <snip hysterical rant>
>
> >So "seat of the Midwest", no - "Scumbag Central", most certainly YES...
>
> That was pretty funny. I had to attend an event in Muncie a few years
> ago and I was amazed by the culture. A few hours away but it seemed
> like a different planet.


Indiana University in Bloomington is one of the rare oases of culture,
e.g. it was the home of Dr. Kinsey and it has a top - notch music
school that is has in fact been ranked higher than Juillard...

If you dig Studebakers, South Bend is the place to go...although every
year the guys in the Stude groups complain/josh about the hookers
knocking on their motel doors when they are in town for their big
annual Studebaker meetings.

Of course the stuff I wrote about "Indianer" was somewhat over - the -
top, but you could say the same things about downstate Illannoy, it's
no great shakes either...

But poor Indiana (especially the northern part) was and is a poster
child for the "Rust Belt"; the Chicago metro and other areas eventually
recovered from the near - depression of the early 80's, Indiana just
never did...and the southern part is actually Appalachian in character,
another negative from a socio - economic point of view.

A hundred or so years ago Indiana was somewhat idealized in US popular
culture, e.g. sentimental songs like _Back Home In Indiana_, the novels
of Booth Tarkington, etc. Alas, no more :-(

--
Best
Greg