Considering Kansas
What is it about Kansas? I’ve lived in Kansas my whole life. We Kansans live a pretty good life. We enjoy ourselves. We believe ourselves to be safe and comfortable but we also stay up to date with the current trends as we can. I’m proud to be a Kansan but when I’m on long trips to other states, especially on the coasts I start to feel different about KS. Sometimes I think it is because of the way people look at me when I say I’m from Kansas. I’m sure they are thinking: “Oh, boy. Here is a guy who doesn’t believe in evolution.” or “I wonder if he had to take a horse to the airport.” Some of these people are even from other midwest towns!
Thats another thing. Why does the definition of the midwest very so much? Couldn’t we all get together on some easily accessible device, like oh say….the internet, and come up with a dividing line for east/west/south/midwest/ or god forbid mideast and north. And is Colorado west or midwest?
Anyway, when I’m away from home I often try to represent KS in the best way I can. I dress well, speak intelligently and maybe, little by little, people will begin to understand that we are not as backward as the stereotypes would tell.
Tags: Kansas Midwest
March 18th, 2008 at 6:33 am
People often assume things about me that are not true just because I say I’m from Kansas. However, I have also come to realize a lot of things about Kansas that I really admire that I would have never understood had I not moved away from home. I sometimes interject these points into conversations, just so that I can get a more positive imagine of Kansas out there.
Maybe part of the problem is that so few people have actually visited the state. Also, Kansas dead last in tourism, so the only time people ever see the state is probably as the drive through it on 1-70. It probably also doesn’t help that the only time they really see or hear anything Kansan is when they meet a person who lived there at one time. Since clearly they left, they probably have some negative things to say about the state, thus, adding to the negative image.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
To take that a step further, Nick, (You know me…) I found it interesting during my time living abroad that, outside of the US, this practice of regional stereotyping didn’t even exist because, unless you’re from NY or LA, people don’t tend to really tend to lump you by region. You’re just called… American. (Not always a good thing, nowadays… Interesting, during the Vietnam era, some would go to Canada. Now, Americans living abroad will occasionally simply SAY they’re canadian so as to avoid a potentially conflictive situation…)
I kind of had fun with it though. I liked to catch people off-guard, regardless of the language I was speaking. Semi-intellectual self-deprecation is a great tool. I’d jokingly refer to myself as an intellectual hillbilly (after I translated the concept of a hillbilly, that is!), since I’m from Kansas and have earned a couple of degrees, and slowly counted to 15 or 30 until whomever I was speaking with caught the oxymoron. It was a fun exercise… I recommend it!