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On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

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Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#81

Post by linkregister »

ph33t wrote: post #64

An observation ... just the fact that many here treat the "midwest" as one place in their comments speaks of maybe misunderstanding/ignorance or even arrogance. As a person who has lived in Wisconsin (suburban and rural), Minnesota (urban and suburban), and Chicago, there is an absolutely astounding difference in people, attitude, and culture in all 3 areas. Granted none are really like the east or west coasts, but t…

I'm deeply offended that you decided to lump in my town in the Bay Area with the rest of the West Coast. There's an astounding difference in culture between it and San Diego. /s

Seriously, though, at some point we have to group regions together. All American cities have more similarities than differences. Regions do share some commonalities.

I'm not sure what you expect from this piece. The author mentions that there are differences between the various cities in the region, contrasting Detroit with Cleveland. Should he have gone into more detail?

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#82

Post by protomyth »

ph33t wrote: post #64

An observation ... just the fact that many here treat the "midwest" as one place in their comments speaks of maybe misunderstanding/ignorance or even arrogance. As a person who has lived in Wisconsin (suburban and rural), Minnesota (urban and suburban), and Chicago, there is an absolutely astounding difference in people, attitude, and culture in all 3 areas. Granted none are really like the east or west coasts, but t…

Yeah, the whole idea of "midwest" is pretty flawed. Like a lot of places you really need to look at the migration patterns that made up the communities (including what tribes got shoved where). I've often said that all these scifi maps about the breakup of the US that have ND and MN in the same country just don't get how far the area has diverged. Heck, the difference between St. Cloud MN and Minneapolis MN is amazing.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#83

Post by trumpownsyou420 »

Frondo wrote: post #70
Veelox wrote: post #61

I grew up in the Midwest and moved to Silicon Valley. I think that people here don't understand what this author describes as "Midwestern history is a study in racial quarantine." I would go as far as to say that racial is the wrong word to describe what happens in the Midwest. I think that communities in the Midwest have tighter cultural restrictions on what it means to be "one of us." This can be affected by where…

My first thought is how we need to start developing a better working vocabulary around having racist attitudes. Like the big-R Racist is the white power asshole who wants to create a white ethnostate--that's one that's easy to spot, and most of us can say we're not that. The real pernicious damage to communities of color comes from the little-r racism that SO SO MANY people carry around totally unthinkingly. Like eve…

holy fucking SJW. kys.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#84

Post by protomyth »

merolish wrote: post #53

I moved to Minneapolis last month after working as a software developer in NYC for twelve years. It still feels like I'm on vacation in comparison, with all this space and a reasonable cost of living. My main concern is career development with the thinner tech scene out here (Chicago didn't seem bad when I looked, although I'd prefer somewhere smaller).

> reasonable cost of living.

Housing prices on the Minneapolis side of the river are much better than the St. Paul side. Sadly, living on the opposite side of the river from your job is just horrible.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#85

Post by onychomys »

protomyth wrote: post #82
ph33t wrote: post #64

An observation ... just the fact that many here treat the "midwest" as one place in their comments speaks of maybe misunderstanding/ignorance or even arrogance. As a person who has lived in Wisconsin (suburban and rural), Minnesota (urban and suburban), and Chicago, there is an absolutely astounding difference in people, attitude, and culture in all 3 areas. Granted none are really like the east or west coasts, but t…

Yeah, the whole idea of "midwest" is pretty flawed. Like a lot of places you really need to look at the migration patterns that made up the communities (including what tribes got shoved where). I've often said that all these scifi maps about the breakup of the US that have ND and MN in the same country just don't get how far the area has diverged. Heck, the difference between St. Cloud MN and Minneapolis MN is amazin…

Well yeah, because St. Cloud is the armpit of Minnesota.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#86

Post by protomyth »

onychomys wrote: post #85
protomyth wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the whole idea of "midwest" is pretty flawed. Like a lot of places you really need to look at the migration patterns that made up the communities (including what tribes got shoved where). I've often said that all these scifi maps about the breakup of the US that have ND and MN in the same country just don't get how far the area has diverged. Heck, the difference between St. Cloud MN and Minneapolis MN is amazin…

Well yeah, because St. Cloud is the armpit of Minnesota.

St. Cloud actually has nice people who get mighty offended when you won't let them help you. I reserve derogatory comments for some of the Twin City suburbs.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#87

Post by aaron-lebo »

domparise wrote: post #8
jerf wrote: post #5

Speaking as a Midwesterener, it was a valiant attempt to examine the Midwest without descending into contempt and cliches, but alas, it ultimately failed, and failed hard . Partial credit given for making it for a few paragraphs before descending into the usual trite analysis.

Speaking also as a Midwesterner, I would disagree. I was born and raised in Michigan, and have not really left much other than to couch hop and envy the lives of my friends who've moved out to the coast. I feel that the contempt the author descends into is self-inflicted, and may representative of the culture and authors midwestern upbringing. From what I've observed, midwesterners are brutally humble, almost to a fa…

The paradoxical nature of this comment is amazing.

There does seem to be a quiet arrogance about Midwesterners. Yeah, we're the most humble. Yeah, we're the best, we just won't tell you. ;)

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#88

Post by maxerickson »

Veelox wrote: post #80
maxerickson wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you make an interesting observation about how communities are structured here, but there is also plenty of overt (though quiet) racism.

What things are happening in the Midwest that you consider overt racism?

Uh, people privately making derogatory remarks based on race?

Lots of times.

Maybe I have poor taste in casual acquaintances or something.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#89

Post by Helloworldboy »

ph33t wrote: post #64

An observation ... just the fact that many here treat the "midwest" as one place in their comments speaks of maybe misunderstanding/ignorance or even arrogance. As a person who has lived in Wisconsin (suburban and rural), Minnesota (urban and suburban), and Chicago, there is an absolutely astounding difference in people, attitude, and culture in all 3 areas. Granted none are really like the east or west coasts, but t…

As someone who grew up in rural WI and went to school in Minneapolis, I can attest to this. The culture differences are pretty huge.

Re: On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality

#90

Post by jdonaldson »

Veelox wrote: post #61

I grew up in the Midwest and moved to Silicon Valley. I think that people here don't understand what this author describes as "Midwestern history is a study in racial quarantine." I would go as far as to say that racial is the wrong word to describe what happens in the Midwest. I think that communities in the Midwest have tighter cultural restrictions on what it means to be "one of us." This can be affected by where…

I'm an ex-midwesterner living in Seattle.

The midwest is not a place where you really strike it rich. It's a place where you have a shot of having a good family arrangement. You can easily surround yourself with relatives, and other folks like you. You're rarely forced into considering other points of view. There's a really strong sense of "being in your place" there, in many ways. I think the folks with a genuine curiosity about the world end up leaving.

It was really interesting to me watch the debate and discussions surrounding the Amazon HQ2 when I was travelling through the midwest and the south. Folks from those areas really want the economic growth from a new HQ, and were quick to point out progressive changes that happened in their city. They would never talk about those progressive changes in a positive light if big tech were not moving to their neighborhood.

So, one solution to some of this is money and jobs. I was impressed at how quickly that opened people's minds there.

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