The Meaning of Midwest

It’s partly a matter of geography and partly a state of mind, so mapping out what constitutes our region is no easy matter. No wonder some Michiganians have an identity crisis

Illustrations by Kyle Raetz

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Credentials Check

You may be a Midwesterner if …

 1. It doesn’t get any better than a John Deere tractor.

 2. Garrison Keillor is must-hear radio.

 3. Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia strikes a chord.

 4. You’ve actually visited South Dakota’s Corn Palace, sheathed in corncobs, or visited a corn maze.

 5. You make eye contact, nod, and say “hi” to strangers on the street.

 6. Late-night TV hasn’t been the same since Johnny Carson retired.

 7. You know where up north is.

 8. You never tire of roast beef and mashed potatoes.

 9. Fancy cars are a waste of money.

10. You think New Yorkers    talk too fast on the phone.

11. You know several motorists who’ve struck a deer.

12. You carry jumper cables in your car.

13. You’ve eaten Jell-O salad.

Defining the Heartland

Who we are — and what we are

Geography:
The U.S. Census Bureau says the Midwest officially includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Sociology:
“In the Midwest, there’s a premium on being polite, on being nice, non-confrontational,” says Andrew Cayton, distinguished professor of history at Miami University in Ohio. (The non-confrontational rule, of course, would exclude the Detroit City Council and Michigan Legislature. But many Michiganians qualify.)

History:
People who moved to the Midwest were self-reliant, rugged, God-fearing people of indomitable courage, President Herbert Hoover said in a 1928 campaign speech. Early on, Hoover pegged the Midwest as America itself,
not a region.

Hydrology:
Some say the middle of the country is, on any map, clearly the area drained by the Mississippi. The idea hasn’t caught on. A Mississippi-centric Midwest would exclude Michigan and reduce the South to a much smaller region.

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