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>
>I grew up in West Virginia...and, know Ohio all too
>well...I was not referring to the militancy or
>political level of ohioans. I am just referring to
>the lifestyle and the dismal landscape...which is
>urban sprawl. I REALIZE that there are economic
>factors at play, but that makes the place none the
>less dismal. "Backwater" was the wrong term...it is a
>term that refers more to the place where I grew up.
>"Urban sprawl" describes places like Cleveland and
>Columbus a bit better. My comments do not always
>refer to something political.
And there is no urban sprawl in the metro DC area, or Long Island, or
Silicon Vally, or Orange County . . . . ? Oh, come on. "Smash bicoastal
arrogance!" as the slogan read on an Ohio State women' studies dept t-shirtI
once yearned for. Columbus is actually a fairly nice town, surrounded by
sprawl, but what isn't? I mean, outside South Dakota or southern Illinois,
where sprawl might be an improvement. Actually that is not true of S.
Dakota, which is very lovely in a stark sort of way. (Can't say as much for
southern Illinois, right Carrol?) Columbus not as cosmopolitan as some
places, but it's more so than others It's not much like Cleveland, no
industry to speak of. But it really is time for them as is on the coasts,
whether of notthey came from the heartland, to realize that it's not exile,
that it's not sunk in rural idiocy (not all of it), and that people
voluntarily stay there and even have good lives there. Moreover, these are
people whom the left has to reach if it has a future. That's true of the
south too, though I personally don't care for the south. jks
>
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