On Jul 7, 2005, at 1:32 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:
Although this is condescending and oh-so-superior, there
is an element of truth in it. For me, brought up on the
two coasts and internationally, my first forays into the
American midwest were pretty shocking. I kept running
into people who had never been more than 200 miles from
the place where they were born,
And the exact same thing is true of those on the coasts, at least the East, as I found out on *my* first foray into western Massachusetts and Vermont, which lasted 4 years, a lot longer than your foray, I would guess. There was incredible regionalism and ignorance about anything outside of New England. It was like the world didn't exist for them if it wasn't something they had grown up with. And lots of bigotry as well. In fact, I would say that New England is probably the most bigoted place in the country, outside of some places in the deep South.
I remember a conversation I overheard between
some girls at a bar in Madison, Wisconsin, in which 3
of the girls were teasing the fourth because she was
"dating a foreigner." The boyfriend in question was
from Illinois. Go figure.
Baloney.
