I have started to get a feeling people think I dislike the American Midwest. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I really love it.
The landscape looks very familiar and endearing to me. The endless corn fields and the blue sky never fail to remind me of Ukraine. The food is crappy but very homey. The people are not very worldly but kind. The students are not very knowledgeable but curious and open to new experiences. The lifestyle is kind of weird but relaxing and thought-conducive.
When I was on the job market, I never applied to any places in the Southern states and only to very few universities on the West Coast. I knew that if nothing better came along, I could force myself to live on the West Coast but I was very unwilling to do so.
I’d say about 80% of the places I applied to were in the Midwest. On the East Coast, I applied to everything in and around Philadelphia because I love the city. So coming to the Midwest to teach was a conscious choice for me and not any kind of a personal tragedy.
I really stand out in the Midwest because of how I dress, speak, live and look. However, I feel this area, if you know what I mean. The times when I traveled to the West Coast, I found it beautiful and all, but I felt completely alienated from it. I could have fun in California, for example, as a tourist but not as a permanent resident.
So, to conclude, Clarissa heart the Midwest. 🙂
Clarissa's Blog 
I like the Midwest too, but I really can’t take the weather — the endless ultracold winters with lots of snow are killing me. I am a wuss.
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Ultracold winters? Are you being facetious? One thing I can’t tolerate about the area is the endless heat. We are now stuck with this punishing summer until the end of October, at least.
Where, oh where can I find tons of snow??
Of course, for me the climate in Montreal is too warm. I’d be happiest at the North Pole. Of course, I don’t think penguins would have much use for my knowledge of Spanish literature. 🙂
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🙂 I lived in Arizona so heat is OK with me (yey 115 F dry heat)! I am not kidding about the cold — I am really very wimpy when it comes to cold. Also, I think where I am is colder than southern Illinois…
If you don’t mind me correcting your little slip above — penguins are at the South Pole. 🙂
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“If you don’t mind me correcting your little slip above — penguins are at the South Pole”
And they love Borges. The Argentinean penguins at least. We don’t allow penguins without knowledge of Argentinean literature in our country.
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I know that all Argentineans – penguins included – worn born on the same street as Borges.
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There are none on the North Pole? Nah, then I’m not going. 🙂
I’m very ignorant about nature.
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The way I remember this is:
– North Pole = polar bears
– South Pole = penguins
🙂
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I like the Midwest too. I once told somebody that “I’m a very liberal person that for some reason likes to live in places where people is more conservative than me”. I’m not saying that everybody in the Midwest is conservative, far from it, but it is true in my current location.
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Don’t you get a feeling that you (and I, for that matter) might be more liberal than most pretty much anywhere in the US?
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Yes, but also too politically incorrect for your typical “liberal”.
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Exactly. 🙂
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I grew up near the ocean, and I adore living on islands, but somehow ended up dating and falling in love with someone from Winnipeg. I do like Winnipeg’s people, culture, and clear blue skies, but I do not like the blindingly cold and sudden winds, the dry air, or the lack of mountains and ocean.
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That’s strange. After reading your posts, I have made up my mind to never live in the Midwest, unless of course it’s Chicago.
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I make fun of the area, for sure, but it’s all out of love. 🙂
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I have officially de-lurked and signed in! Hi, again. (I belatedly commented on one of your posts the other day about feminist orthodoxy and divisions)
Anyways, I was glad to see this post. I grew up very near where I think you are teaching now and although I was chomping at the bit to leave after high school, I still love going “home.”
For every bigoted, closed-minded Southern Illinoisan, there is usually one who is genuinely kind, unpretentious and big-hearted. And the slow pace of living is kind of nice too…
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It’s great to have you here in a de-lurked capacity, haveoneonme.
I can’t believe I’m seeing an American person use the expression “chomping at the bit.” I love it but never use it because I only encounter it in British novels and I don’t want to scare Americans with British vocabulary.
Now I’m chomping at the bit to start using it. 🙂
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