 |
| Illinois a little of everything, just like U.S. |
How
representative are they of the nation? Do they truly deserve to be thought of
as being just like us?
FOR
WHAT IT’S worth, the Chicago metropolitan area (which by their definition
stretches north to Kenosha, Wis., and east to Gary, Ind.) is the seventh most
like the U.S. city in the nation.
Also,
Illinois is the state most like the United States as a whole. We’re what this
country is all about.
Personally,
I don’t find this unusual one bit.
For
the fact is that Illinois is a place consisting of so many different types of
people that it is a wonder we can seriously think of ourselves as a single
state. And Chicago truly is the kind of place that has a little bit of
everybody.
THE
FACT IS there is no “typical” American, and our populations reveal that all too
well.
Considering
there are times when I think northern Illinois communities would be more
comfortable as a part of Wisconsin, while central Illinois municipalities might
well think of either Indiana or Iowa as a better fit.
Unless
they happen to live near East St. Louis, in which case they align with
Missouri.
And
when it comes to the 30 or so southernmost counties of the state, Little Egypt
probably really does think more highly of Kentucky and wonder how their home
state isn’t a part of Dixie.
OF
COURSE, those in metro Chicago often joke about how we’d be a better state if
we didn’t have to carry all those other rubes who probably wish they were a
part of some other state.
 |
| From Chicago to Cairo, ... |
We
don’t have a common identity in Illinois like they do in, say, Texas.
Just
like we don’t have a common identity for our nation. We are a collection of
regions, each with their own character. We manage to come together to amass a
single nation – but that doesn’t mean any single region is willing to subvert
itself to the character of the whole.
So
Illinois’ split really does make us a microcosm of the nation as a whole. We
have a little bit of everybody that makes up the nation.
HECK,
THE NEW York Times came up with a study of how the 50 states should be done
away with and replaced by seven regions – which would unite those of similar
character.
As
it is, Illinois would be split in that study into three regions – Great Lakes,
Great Plains and the Southeast Manufacturing Belt.
Our
Chicago would be in a “state” with Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis,
Kansas City and Minneapolis.
Which
I’m sure some would say have more in common than being in a state with
Rockford, the Quad Cities and Marion.
NOW
I’M NOT calling for any split like this. Personally, I always found the
distinct regions that felt like separate places in and of themselves as being
what made Illinois a unique place.
I
enjoy sharing a boundary with a place like Champaign or Bloomington (where I
went to college), or even the afore-mentioned town of Normal (which is a nice
place to visit, but with 85.1 percent white people living there is not the norm
for the United States).
 |
| ... we have quite the variety in Illinois |
Besides,
I found it interesting to see that while Illinois was the state most like the
nation as a whole, Indiana was a place third-most like what the U.S. was like
back in the 1950s.
We
in Illinois have progressed while our Hoosier neighbors haven’t. Which may be
why no amount of political rhetoric about the superiority of Indiana will ever
be believable.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment