Anything Else Forum

Anything Else Forum

Offtopicland. Remember: no politics, religion, or hot-button social issues.

Perception of the Midwest/Rust Belt

0 HS
BigLights's picture
October 30, 2015 at 1:29pm
105 Comments

With it being a bye week I thought I would ask my fellow 11wers about their experiences dealing with the perception of the Midwest. I think everyone has at least one story of being out of the area and saying "I'm from Ohio (or I went to school there etc...)" and getting a reaction. I said this to some people in Seattle while I was visiting a friend and the response was basically "Wow...that must suck. Ohio seems like hell on earth". It was upsetting to me because I have so much pride in being from this place, but outside of the area people seem to have a negative view about the region and the people who live here.

I know we have 11wers from all over the country/world and I was wondering a few things:

 

- What have been your experiences in telling people where you are from, or that you went to school here? Were they negative/positive or indifferent?

- Is this a bad place to live compared to the rest of the country?

- What are the problems (real or perceived) and how do we change them for the better?

- Would you ever come back?

And for people who have lived here for a long time

- Has the area changed in your lifetime? Is it better or worse?

- And the main thing, what can we all do to make this region better?

I know people will have a lot of stories and opinions so I don't want to limit what anyone says with that list, but these are just a few things I was wondering about.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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