As a proud Midwesterner, I’m constantly amazed that we don’t get more respect.  The West Coast and the East Coast call us “flyover states”.  How rude.   Any time I travel anywhere I’m always thrilled to come back home … where folks are friendly and where I can use the word folks in a sentence without getting chastised. 

My home state of Iowa is Über-progressive.  Heck, we legalized gay marriage.  That makes us infinitely cooler than California right there.  And, may I add, that when an enormous earthquake drops half of California in the Pacific, Iowans will remain unscathed.  Little know fact:  Iowans eat more Jell-O than anyone else in the world.  We’re the Jell-O capital of the universe.  (Growing up, I can see why.  At any potluck there would inevitably be 10 or more gelatin salads from which to choose.)  Iowa is also home to Quaker Oats, the largest cereal company in the world.  And Cornell College is the only school in the nation to have its entire campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  So … beat THAT Harvard.  Not to mention, USA Today once wrote that the Iowa State Fair was one of the Top 100 things every American needed to do in their lifetime.

10 years ago, I moved to Kansas City, land of BBQ and the blues.  Same Midwest mentality, just on a grander scale. I’ve lived in both Kansas and Missouri.  They both have their perks and quirks.  For instance, Springfield, Missouri has more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city.  Yes, seriously.  Cawker City, Kansas, meanwhile, can stake claim to the world’s largest ball of twine.  I could go on and on … but you get the gist. 

If you’re a native of the Midwest, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.  Things are simple and relaxed.  There’s a sense of, well, sensibility that you don’t find on the two coasts. Oh sure, we may have the occasional tornado, but at least we don’t have bugs the size of small SUV’s like they do in the South.  We’re a likeable, affable group of human beings.  We put the heart in heartland.

So the next time you’re traipsing around the United States of America, swing by and say hello.  Don’t just wave when you fly over.  (You DO wave, don’t you?)  We’ll take you out for Maid-Rites and a cup of coffee.  If you’re lucky we may even send you home with some homemade blackberry preserves.  And the best part?  You don’t even need to get your visa stamped before you visit.  (Unless you visit Topeka, of course, which is like the land that time forgot.)