<p>Hmmm. I didn’t have a miserable teenage life in the Midwest, and I have great affection for it and do recognize that is has some geographic and now sociologic diversity, esp in the cities. But having lived all over, I still maintain that other regions of the country are more diverse in many ways. Not necessarily better or worse, but the OP wants to go and explore. I agree with others that he should. And then come back to the Midwest, and celebrate its many advantages, or not, and love where he settles, always valuing where he grew up. I don’t think one has to get mad at those who do think the Midwest has a little less diversity than other regions.</p>
<p>NewHope33–and your DH’s little town an even smaller part of the Midwest–our small town is very diverse, very few German protestants though…</p>
<p>I’m not trying to diss the Midwest. I have friends there … I have family there … A lot of my food comes from there … Heck my breakfast cereal has Cedar Rapids, IA right on the package! It’s just hard to imagine rewriting that famous line from Casablanca to “We’ll always have Peoria.”</p>
<p>Haystack . . . you beat me to the punch on the Iowa City reference. The vibe there is incredible. Here’s a sampling of the things I did when I lived there:</p>
<ul>
<li> Attended world class shows</li>
<li> Enjoyed countless street festivals and art events</li>
<li> Listened to live music of all types</li>
<li> Attended readings by world class authors</li>
<li> Joined local sports clubs</li>
<li> Went boating/water skiing and biking a lot</li>
<li> Attended exciting Big 10 sporting events</li>
<li> Met a diverse of array of people of all races, orientations and political persuasions</li>
<li> Shopped in unique and artsy boutiques</li>
<li> Heard presidents speak as well as other politicians </li>
<li> Ate in great restaurants and enjoyed great nightlife and bars</li>
</ul>
<p>Des Moines also deserves a break here. You can do all of these things there too. The downtown and downtown living is really booming. The weekly downtown Farmers Market bring thousands of people, great music, artists, etc. The restaurants and bistros and nightlife will surprise even the most hard core foodies out there. A number of art and music festivals are incredible draws. And the Des Moines Civic Center brings acts from all over the world. Yes, the natural scenery may be lacking but aside from that tell me what you do in the big cities that you can’t in Iowa City or Des Moines?</p>
<p>^ Well, I could attend a Yankees game … or take a ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty … or spend a day at the Guggenheim … or watch the Tall Ships when they come to town … or spend an afternoon at Coney Island … or tour the Intrepid … or do a walking tour to see Wall Street, the Battery, St. Patricks, the Brooklyn Bridge, Stonewall Tavern, etc … or just hang around Grand Central Station any morning … or take a direct flight to Europe …</p>
<p>Good for you NewHope33! But guess what . . . you might be missing the point. We know that there are many things to do in a big city. Duh! The point is that, contrary to popular belief, people who live in the Midwest (and other places) are very active and lead very culturally diverse and fulfilling lives.</p>
<p>I’m catching a tone from you that’s similar to that of some family members who come here to visit occassionally. “Oh I could never move back HERE again.” “Why don’t you move to Colorado.” Pleaaaaaassssssee!</p>
<p>To me this is similar to going into someone’s home that you don’t think is as nice as yours. Would you then tell them what a dump they live in and then go about describing how superior your home is. Hopefully you would never do that. Yet people think it is fine to do when discussing someone’s choice of geographic locale. To me it’s about insecurity and puffery on the part of the person doing the dissing!</p>
<p>Most people are very satisfied with where they live. The question in this thread is “whether you can keep 'em down on the farm once they’ve seen Peoria.” Well yeah you can, no problem. </p>
<p>Get out. See the world. If that’s not feasible, at least see other parts of the country. That’s my view. I could be wrong of course. Maybe Peoria is more diverse and offers more culture than Paris, London, New York, San Francisco …</p>
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<p>And exactly how many times a year do you do these things? Let me guess–no more than tourists who visit New York from other places. In my experience, a lot of people who live in suburban New York (or Chicago, or LA, or Miami, or…) rarely venture into the central city where the major attractions are. And as Pizzagirl pointed out, suburban areas are pretty much the same around the country. How much diversity do you experience in your day-to-day life? I guarantee you that my kids’ school in Wisconsin is far more diverse than virtually every school in your state–there are students from over 100 countries and from EVERY socioeconomic background. In fact one of the problems for kids coming out of our school when they look at colleges is that they have a hard time finding the diversity they have grown up with.</p>
<p>You say “the midwest is a big place and Chicago comprises a very small part of it.” Chicago is one of the largest cities in the country and a huge population hub for the region. The midwest has far more open land than the northeast, and the distances between the major cities are greater. In any case, interest in urban cultural offerings is either there or it isn’t. People in rural Maine are just as likely or unlikely to take advantage of cultural offerings in Boston or New York as people in rural Iowa might be to visit Chicago or the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>We just got electricity out in the boonies last week too…still waiting for indoor plumbing though :rolleyes: …</p>
<p>You can take your congested cities, horrible traffic, high crime rates, awful economy any day thanks :D.</p>
<p>Small towns anywhere tend to be more homogeneous. Places where if they wanted to pray a Christian prayer before the HS football game, nobody would blink an eye.</p>
<p>I would say–in general–the small towns in the Midwest are not diverse, but the large cities are. And even then it depends on where you live in the city. In the Cincinnati area there are school districts where students are mostly black or mostly white, and other districts are noted for having diversity. My kids went to schools where the parents spoke about 40 different languages. It was a wonderful mix. </p>
<p>And in a large enough city, there are concerts and public events going on all the time, more than one person could attend. Who needs NYC? :)</p>
<p>Edit: Before I get flamed for an unflattering generalization about small towns, I should say it DEPENDS. A small college town is much more likely to be full of cool diversity. Yellow Springs, Ohio (home of Antioch College) is full of aging hippies, ex-professors, etc. and is friendly to GLBTs.</p>
<p>Wow, Steve. Necessary? I don’t see what’s so complicated about this. Different areas have different strengths. I wouldn’t farm in NYC (though some do) and I wouldn’t go to Iowa for a dizzyingly wide range of activities. Of course you can’t do everything there is to offer in a city like NY, but that is not the point. The point is that the variety exists and you can find your niche. It doesn’t make it better than the Midwest any more than spicy food is different from mild. It’s just a matter of preference. Btw, I am pretty sure that the borough of Queens in NYC is the most ethnically diverse in the nation. And provincialism exists everywhere. </p>
<p>On the train in NYC this minute–forgive typos!</p>
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<p>I don’t get your point. Are you imagining there isn’t major league baseball and storied baseball franchises in the Midwest? Boat tours? World class art museums? Tall Ships? Beaches and amusement parks? World class museums other than art museums? Interesting, historic, walkable neighborhoods? Train stations? Nonstop flights to Europe?</p>
<p>You really ought to get out more. Visit Chicago sometime. It will be an eye-opening experience.</p>
<p>Actually, Maine has quite a booming cultural life all its own. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think there isn’t anything in the rest of the country that really compares with the breadth and depth of the cultural offerings of NYC–including icago-- other places have good stuff, too. Of course, some people take advantage of it, and some don’t, no matter where they live.</p>
<p>Also – Steve, not to jump on you–but I don’t think you mind a good discussion–I seem to remember a thread where you mentioned the homogeneity of your town in pleased terms–something about everyone being of similar background and all celebrating Christmas. No time to search for it now–almost at destination–but for some, especially those who are not of the majority culture, that sort of homogeneity is less than ideal. Cities, Midwest or otherwise, just offer more flavors.</p>
<p>Yes. I really do love the Midwest, but methinks those who are trying to say that there is as much diversity (of any nature) as other regions are trying a bit too hard. Peoples’ undies are getting in a bundle unnecessarily. We’re not dissing the Midwest.</p>
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<p>Actually, EVERY place has a booming cultural life all its own. That’s the whole point.</p>
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<p>Spoken like a true New Yorker. (I don’t know whether you are one, but spoken like one).</p>
<p>Look, New York is a fabulous city, and by many measures the most diverse city in the world. I lived there for seven years and I absolutely loved it.</p>
<p>But you know what? I loved Chicago when I lived there, too, and for pretty much all the same reasons. But what I could never get over is the degree to which New Yorkers simply assumed that anything I saw, did, or ate in New York must be unlike (or at least better than) anything I had ever seen, done, or eaten before. It was almost comical. I still recall being interviewed for a job that I eventually took. The interviewer was trying to sell me on the glories of New York, and the conversation went something like this:</p>
<p>INTERVIEWER: There’s no place like New York. It’s just incredible, the diversity. And the food is fantastic! You can get any kind of food you want here, from anyplace in the world. I can eat at a Cuban restaurant for lunch and a Korean restaurant for dinner.
ME: That’s something I’d find attractive about living here. I like ethnic food. I miss my favorite Cuban restaurant and my favorite Korean restaurant in Chicago. (I had been away from Chicago for several years by then).
HIM: No, I mean really exotic stuff you just won’t find anywhere else. Afghan. Nepalese. Ethiopian.
ME: Actually, we have all those in Chicago, too.
HIM (now visibly slightly annoyed): I mean anything. We have Cambodian restaurants. Peruvian. Filipino. Jamaican.
ME: (to myself: Oh, I get it. He’s a New Yorker; he needs to one-up me. I’d better bite my tongue). Nods politely. (To myself: but check, check, check and check on those four cuisines).
HIM: And the food you can buy at the grocers and greenmarkets is just as fantastic. You can get exotic fresh fruits and vegetables even in the winter-mangos, papayas, you name it.
ME: (to self: Ho-hum. Does he think we eat nothing but root crops and canned fruits and vegetables in the winter? Or that we’ve never seen a mango or a papaya?). Smiles politely.
HIM: (self-satisfied silence, thinking he’s finally trumped me).
ME: There’s a lot to like about New York, and ethnic diversity is definitely a big plus with me.</p>
<p>Stop this. It is silly.</p>
<p>All of us need to expand our horizons.</p>
<p>There is no place on Earth like New York. It has a beauty and excitement all its own.</p>
<p>But…<br>
You have not seen the sky until you have watched a storm system roll across the plains of western Nebraska.
You haven’t felt the power of the forces under our feet until you have walked across Kilauea Volcano,
Or been awakened in the middle of the night by earthquake jolted car alarms going off.
You haven’t heard music until you’ve heard jazz in New Orleans,
Or country western in Nashville,
Or polka in Wisconsin,
You haven’t gotten a sunburn at a beach until you have felt the sugar sand beaches of Pensacola,
Or the suprisingly cold water of the Pacific in Southern California,
Or the boardwalks in New Jersey,
Or the wild rocky shores of Maine.
You have not experienced winter until you have shoveled serious snow in Buffalo,
Or seen the ice shoved into blue towers on the Lake Michigan shores,
Or driven through a midwestern blizzard.
You haven’t been hot until you have spent a summer in DC,
Or Phoenix.</p>
<p>The point here is not whether you can find your bliss in your own backyard. Of course you can. And every tiny town and huge metropolis has its particular wonders. </p>
<p>I think the point here is that if anyone has an inkling to explore the world, their early twenties is the exact time to do it.</p>
<p>^^haha, bclintonk. What strikes me about this story is that anyone would have to “sell” New York to a visitor. If it’s so much better than everywhere else, why the defensiveness?</p>
<p>(And in full disclosure, I say this as a native of NYC.)</p>
<p>In parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, there is a large Hmong population. The large cities of the Midwest have the same type of attractions as any other large city in the U.S. Here in the Midwest, there are some nasty stereotypes of people who live on the coasts.</p>