all states    this state Make your own photo site Photowiki is free and easy for you to share your photos. Make your own! www.photowiki.com

© 2004 Mike Fender, The Indianapolis Star Introduction Essay for Indiana 24/7 The Heartland's Mirror By Dan Carpenter Nobody exactly knows how "Hoosier" originated as a nickname for Indiana denizens, but a common theory is that it represents an early settler's muffled response to a knock at the cabin door: "Who's yar?" Not much to build a cultural heritage on. But the homely handle is serendipitously apt when applied to perception and reality through history. Who's there? Who's here? Who are Hoosiers, and how do they see themselves and their relatively modest space between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River? Sometimes, it's as others see them, though Indianans generally don't kid themselves that the mirrors held up to the heartland by Hollywood, Madison Avenue, patronizing politicians, and a sentimentalized past are anything but distorted. Sure, Indiana is agricultural, but it's more industrial. Of course, it's not the ethnic stew of the coasts; but it's a thick pot in its own right, from Slavic/Hispanic/African-American Gary to the Old Germanic vestiges along the Ohio-not to mention the descendants of its namesake people. Conservative? The state goes reliably Republican in presidential elections and trims its sails to evangelical Christianity in many aspects of civic life; but Democrats enjoy a full share of the state's elective offices at all levels. A highly discernible rainbow of faiths ranges from Catholic to Amish to Tibetan Buddhist. As is amply illustrated in the palimpsest of pictures on these pages, Indiana may be exactly everything the stranger at the cabin door came looking for, unless he were to hang around for a closer inspection. The picturesque rural vitality that is the state's most flattering image in the world's eyes is real enough, especially in the rough-hewn woodlands of Brown County to the south and the oceanic prairie farms in the northern segment below the Chicagoland rust belt. Yet the countryside, like the factory economy, is an endangered treasure. The EPA will attest that few states have been less protective of their soil, air, and water. The most conspicuous images in outsiders' minds-small-town high school basketball and a singular annual auto race-are valid, too. But both sports have thrived through adaptation, with the small schools of Hoosiers movie fame no longer being pitted against the Goliaths (which rarely lose in real life) and the Indy 500 now one of three yearly speed events, all moneymakers. Indiana is not renowned for intellectual adventure, but great and thorny minds have sprouted in this temperate climate. Some, like the poet James Whitcomb Riley and the pharmaceutical pioneer Eli Lilly, may well be celebrated perpetually; others, such as socialist champion Eugene Debs and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, find more honor at a distance. All attest to the fertility of this surprising hybrid of a state, credited by former Vice President Dan Quayle for his "traditional family values" and by irrepressible novelist Kurt Vonnegut for "my crazy ideas about socialism and pacifism." Believe them both. A little over a decade from their bicentennial, Hoosiers are still asking not just who's yar, but what's. And the answer is, a lot more than all you expect. Indianapolis native DAN CARPENTER has been a columnist for The Indianapolis Star since 1984. He also writes poetry and short stories. He and his wife, Mary, live in Indianapolis with children Patrick and Erin. Browse    View All    The Heartland's Mirror    Hearth & Home    Hard at Work    Indiana at Play    Reason to Believe    Our Town Photos: 127 Photographers: 35 Towns: 50

home  |  about 24-7  |   buy a book Copyright © 2004 24/7 Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of the website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Please contact Alex@America24-7.com to request permission