Contentious issue I know, but recently I’ve encountered a number of people who believe that Ohio (and sometimes Indiana and Michigan) is not truly part of the Midwest. Which to me is preposterous since I’ve always considered Ohio the most quintessentially Midwestern state. Midwest to me has always been very nearly synonymous with rust belt, but it seems there are a fair number of people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call the Great Plains, or Greater Minnesota. So I’m wondering where do you all place the Midwest.
The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
so that's the official answer. yes, it includes ohio.
but the real answer is that it's wherever people call carbonated beverages "pop" instead of "soda" or "coke", which means it actually extends eastward to buffalo, ny and definitely still includes ohio.
i know a poor soul who moved from the north atlantic seaboard to rural deep southern appalachia and then once worked a drive thru at mcdonald's and had to parse "errinj coke" into a sensible order for an increasingly impatient customer
Do you ope?
as a kind of semi apologetic interjection, right? like "ope! look at the time!"
Ohio's illegal occupation of Western Pennsylvania cannot be allowed to stand, regardless of the fact that there are ethnic Midwesterners who live in the disputed region, and Ohio's claims that they are protecting this oppressed minority
people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call [...] "greater minnesota"
Those people are perhaps just minnesotans, I think. Also minnesotans actually already use that exact term inside MN because people who aren't from the twin cities get offended when referred to as "outstate" or "rural" minnesota.
I've taken to calling that area, (MN, WI, IA, MI, maybe a couple more if I'm feeling generous) Upper Midwest so as to not confuse anyone who thinks ohio is the epitome of midwest. The only time I've really spent in Ohio was in steubenville of all places so maybe that's partly why I don't think of Ohio as being particularly midwestern.
Midwest is outdated, imo. More meaningful is to roughly split it into Great Lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and Great Plains (the other ones). But really even that's insufficient. We can get a lot more detailed doing cultural mapping of the US. Like, Ohio is Great Lakes (the north), Appalachia (southeast), upper South (southwest), and great plains (Columbus and west). Most of the other states cross a few different distinct vibes: Southern Illinois is more like Missouri than it is Chicago, but St Louis is more like Chicago than it is the rest of Missouri!
Out of the midwest states. Which one are the "nicest" to live in ?. Like I get the impression some are utter basura but some dont seem that bad from the outside (compared to other US states). Im not an American but interested to learn more.
You really gotta think in terms of cities, not just states. The best places are probably Minneapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland, imo. Detroit has a really unique appeal all its own, too; I just dock it for really bad transit. Minneapolis is the best biking city in the country, Chicago might just be the best American city flat out, and Cleveland is really cheap for the quality of urbanism you get. You'll find good small towns all over the place; Ohio and Michigan are packed with them.
I could never live in the Upper Midwest states like Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Too cold for too much of the year. Chicago gets crazy cold sometimes but winters are getting milder thanks to climate change. The more Western Midwest states are too boring for me. There are small cultural enclaves like Lincoln Nebraska or Lawrence Kansas, but they are more remote out there than in the eastern part of the region. Instead of a couple hours drive to see a cool concert you'd need to get a hotel.
I like Cincinnati although I've never lived there. Good mix of culture and affordability plus a drive towards more bike and transit infrastructure. If I weren't concerned with having a career I'd live in a blue city in the South, like Asheville North Carolina or Lewisburg West Virginia. Great weather, good culture, and nice people. Just a lot of poverty and few jobs.
Fuck historical context and tradition. Look at a map of the US. Divide it in half vertically down the middle. See the left side? That's the West. Now look at the middle of the West: there's the Midwest.
The Mideast can fuck off. You wanna call yourself Midwest while being in the central and eastern time zones??? Midmid is more accurate in every way.
I think there's something about the mythos of America that I find interesting. Even the idea of things like liberty, freedom, and democracy is fascinating to me. Of course, all these concepts are as real in the USA as Thor’s Hammer, but that’s exactly how I view them—as mythological ideas.
I view these things as almost a religious facet of the USA.
I'm virulently opposed to the American Empire, but I do greatly appreciate some of their cultural output. Like I dont mind admitting some of the stuff the Yankees make is either fun, entertaining or "sometimes" even good.
Doesnt change that we have to demilitarize and balkanize the USA sooner or later.
Culturally it's Western PA (Pittsburgh and west), Southern Michigan (like everything south of Grand Rapids), through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, including Iowa Nebraska Wisconsin Missouri and the South eastern parts of South Dakota. Geographically who knows or cares the only real reason to track this stuff is for cultural reasons.
In a mild hell. Seriously though, your assessment of Ohio is on point. I'd say everything surrounding the Great Lakes and throw in Iowa. Some people consider the great plains states like the Dakotas and Nebraska, even Missouri and Kansas but those all have a very different vibe ino.
Such a flat earther view. If you think about it, half way round the world East is the same as half way round the world West. The mid-west is the Middle East.
Regional nationalism (regionalism?) is annoying as hell. I don’t give a shit if you’re “east coast” or “from the bay” or “the south” or “midwest.” You’re all americans, thus all annoying.
I've always thought it was pretty much any state that isn't coastal, or any of the other labels like "pacific northwest" or "southwestern" or "south".. so basically everything from colorado up to montana and over to ohio. not sure about utah tho.. i think that one is just utah
Historically, it derives from the Northwest Territory, which stretched from Ohio in the east to Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota in the west. It was (poorly) relabeled, and retained the West part of its name instead of the North part, which is strange since the concept of manifest destiny was already in use since at least the 1840s, which argued for the inevitability of westward expansion to the Pacific Ocean.
This neither lines up with the Midwest census area, nor other cultural ideas of the Midwest, both which include parts of the great plains region.
Source: state history classes from inside the Midwest