[UA] 10 Most American Things

[Russell Rayburn]

On 1/10/07, Greg Stolze <gregstolze at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Okay, I'm from a medium-sized city/town in Iowa, (population just a scoche
> under 100,000), and I feel like I have to step up in defense of the
> midwest.  As one of my cousins said, "Look, we're not on the farm because
> we're too dumb to find our way to town."  (Of course, he doesn't farm
> anymore.)

Thanks Greg.

I'm from a decent sized city in Ohio ( 730k+ ) and there's a good bit
of contradictions here as well.

On the community spirit angle, a waitress in a diner I frequent came
down with breast cancer.  She had health insurance, but was having a
problem paying her bills.  A number of us got together and pitched in;
we collected a few thousand for her... enough that her bills are paid
for the next few months while she goes in for chemo.

This same waitress refused to serve me because I came in to the diner
with a woman she didn't recognize.  The woman is a friend of my
girlfriend; my girlfreind joined us later.. and that was when this
waitress said "hi" to us all, with an embarassed laugh.

Firearms in general seem to freak out UA list members, but they're
perfectly natural around here ( with a few notable exceptions ).  Most
of my office are gun owners, and those that aren't don't seem to have
a visceral fear of them... just not something they're into.

Also, don't forget the impact of immigration on the area.  There are
large populations of Somalli immigrants here, as well as Japanese,
Korean, Spanish-speaking from various countries and a few Chinese
families.  So just beacuse it's the midwest, don't be shocked if you
see signs written in arabic, spanish, chinese, etc. .



-- 
Psychotics think two and two make five.
Neurotics know two and two make four
but they can't stand it.
- Anonymous