Love Song for Indiana

I wrote this in 2000, and I still think it's true. After my post about the upcoming primaries, I decided to track it down... We were talking about the state quarters, and why Indiana couldn't come up with one that didn't suck...

Ok, I'll go out on a limb here and say it. I like Indiana. I like
having big cities like Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago within
day-trip range. I like knowing that there are still places in the
world where people know all of their neighbors. I like knowing my
neighbors. I like it that when we got 3 ft. of snow last year, a man
who lived down the street dug me out, even though we'd never met
before. I like it that it's ok for strangers to say hi to each other
here. I like it that we have cheesy harvest festivals in the fall. I
like the museums in Indy. I like the 500. I like the Murat and their
Broadway shows. I like Deer Creek and their first rate concerts. I
like the Colts. They may not win all the time, but at least they're
out there trying, and they're not selling their souls to Nike in the
process. I like corn. I like the smell of corn. I like knowing that
I can drive 45 minutes in any direction and see a farm, it reminds me
of the foundations that this country was built on. I like steel and
limestone and medical research. I like knowing that Indiana played a
part in building the machines that won every war we've fought since
1900. I like knowing that the buildings in Washington D.C. have a
connection to the limestone quarries that the local kids swim in. I
like knowing that if I get sick or hurt I can be flown or driven to
Methodist and be taken care of by first rate physicians and nurses. I
like the space program. I like knowing that less than a mile from
where I live sits the institution that has produced more astronauts
than any other non-military institution. I like driving over the
famous, if polluted, Wabash river every day. I like seasons. I like
having scorching heat and blinding snow, and not having to leave my
front porch to experience it. I like water. I like the lake, the
rivers, and the streams that have fed this state's growth, especially
the lake.

I like DIVERSITY. And Indiana has plenty of it. And that's why when
people ask us to design a license plate or a coin that can sum up
Indiana in one convenient picture, the submissions never measure up.
Because you can't encompass all that Indiana is in one picture or in
one sound byte. Indiana is made up of every human endeavor, from
farming to industry to computers to cutting edge research. It is made
up of every kind of people, all races, all creeds, all colors, all
nations. It is made up of every kind of place, urban, rural, and
everything in between. It is a state that cares about people, because
the people of the state care about people. It is uniquely Midwestern
and campy, and even stuck in a by-gone era sometimes, but it is my
home. And I wouldn't want to have grown up anywhere else.

And that's all I have to say about that...