Dear Indiana...

Boring Indiana

When I tell people I live in Indiana the most common reaction I get is a look of sympathy.  I know what they're thinking. 

"HOOSIER!!! Man, that stinks.  Indiana is the most boring state in the country."

Then I watch them take an extended blink...which is actually them closing their eyes, offering up a prayer of thanksgiving that they are spared from the monotonous drudgery of Indiana-living.
You know, I don't really blame them.   My house is surrounded by...you guessed it!  Cornfields! And MORE Cornfields!

 Sometimes I hear my friends talking about their adventures in downtown Chicago, or their great, shark-fishing times in Florida, and I hear them talk about how great the food, fun and football is in Alabama. I visit my relatives in West Virginia.  It's always exciting to experience what I call, "true, downhome, hillbilly hickness"  We come back with an accent for a day or so before we remember what the real world is like.  Anyway, I got to thinking, and couldn't think of a single great thing about Indiana.  Maybe it really is as awful as people think.  So I did a little work.  I took it upon myself to do some research.  Turns out, Indiana's not that bad!  There are some amazing things that happened, and continue to happen in  as I type.

So here is my list of 10 interesting facts about Indiana.  I had planned on writing the "10 most interesting facts about Indiana", but that proved too difficult.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

Interesting Indiana

#1- Edward R. Sitzman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio where he studied Art.  He later moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and became a reknowned watercolor painter.  He was a member of the Indiana Art Club and the Indianapolis Art Association.  His work is beautiful.  A couple years ago, my grandfather was garbage picking (a usually unfortunate hobby of his)  and he found this dirty old picture in a beat up picture frame.  He thought it would look nice in our house along with the wooden Indians, flourescent pieces of furniture and numerous, half-broken toys that have graced our home since he began this hobby.  So he brought it to us.  Mom actually thought it looked relatively nice, so she hung it on the wall in a corner of our laundry room.
  A few months later, she was reading a column in the paper about a man named E.R, Sitzman, born in 1874, died in 1949.  Mom thought the name was familiar, but couldn't place it.  Not until two days later, that is, when she was throwing in a load of laundry.  There, in the bottom right corner of the painting was his signature.  So Mom took it upstairs and did a little research.  She talked to a collector of his work, and he offered to buy it for $300 dollars. It would be worth more if the frame was in better shape.  But my mother, happy to have something of actual value decided to keep it.  She moved it though, to the center of our living room wall.  I don't think it deserves the spot, but there's no arguing with her on the subject. 
It is a nice painting, and we don't complain too much about Grandpa digging in other people's trash anymore.

#2 We have Shipshewana!  Shipshewana, Indiana is such a great place to go.  It's Amish country and holds a huge flea market and auction.  There's beautiful bed and breakfasts, buggy tours, a gorgeous carousel with hand carved farm animals, and many, many other things to do.  I've been there one time a few years ago, and it was some of the best fun I've ever had.  The smell of the dirt underfoot and the different foods cooking, the kind smiles of the Amish and Mennonite people, with long beards and black hats the bustling people buying and selling their wares...it all makes for a great weekend getaway. 

#3 Indiana is the 'Crossroads of America'! Our motto was adopted in the 1930's after J. Roy Strickland ran a column in the Evansville Courier & Press stating that Indiana had no real motto, as many other states did.  He offered up several suggestions to the Indiana General Assembly as well as took requests from people all over the state.  He took every suggestion and put them in folder-form with the name and address of the person who submitted the entry, and provided them to the Indiana General Assembly as well.  After a little while, they decided on 'The Crossroads of America'.

The Indiana Department of Administration states:

"'The Crossroads of America' signifies the importance of waterways, railroads, highways and other transportation facilities in the state, viewed by many as some of the finest in the nation."

#4 We have a town called Santa Claus!
I feel badly for the residents and post office there around Christmas time.  They get over one-half million letters and requests every year at christmas time.    The town, originally found by German settlers, went nameless for many years until, finally, it was named Santa Claus on Christmas Eve in 1852.  It's a charming story that you can read about here.

#5 "On the Banks of Wabash, Far Away", by Paul Dresser is Indiana's state song.  How cool is that?  As soon as I found that information I ran to YouTube and listened to it.
Here's a version I found.  Give it a listen, and tell me what you think.

#6 There's an old town called Crown Point about 10 minutes from where I live.  It's a neat old place with a courthouse and an old movie theater where they play couple movies every week for 3 dollars.  The courthouse is where The filmed the movie 'Public Enemies', the story of John Dillinger starring Johnny Depp.  Hundreds of people flocked to the courthouse every day they were here to try and get a glimpse of Johnny Depp, or shake his hand or get an autograph.  People waited out there for hours sometimes.  I don't really think it was worth it, but maybe it was to some people.

#7 Lots of Interesting People were born in Indiana.  We're not all toothless, hillbillies with no edumacation.  People such as David Letterman, Steve McQueen, John Mellencamp, Clifton Webb, Michael Jackson, Larry Bird, and Gregory Kinnear were all some form of hoosier or another, just to name a few.  It gives me hope that I might have an interesting future one day. :)

#8 Indiana has a lot of awesome beaches!  There are so many places to go beaching here in Indiana.  Indiana Dunes has 3 miles of shoreline and sand dunes with really nice camping to boot. There's biking, swimming, hiking, and nature centers and they're open all year!  My family has gone there numbers of times and had a blast!  We've also got the Gary Indiana Air Show that comes around every year in July.  We sit on the beach and watch all kinds of fascinating trick planes, and U.S. Airforce jets go by, including the USAF Thunderbirds, which are my favorite!

#9 We love our Indy 500!  Actually, I don't.  Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the home of the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.  It's a huge attraction. I must say I didn't really get it.  Watching NASCAR can make me want to kill myself sometimes.  It seems so boring and pointless.  Just watch a bunch of cars drive in circles for a couple hours...fun? What fun?  But then, a friend convinced me to go with her and we had more fun than I can ever remember having before that.  Even I, a racing skeptic, couldn't help but to be swallowed up in everyone else's excitement before the race started.  Sitting in the stands with a good ol' hot dog and some coke, the place was just buzzing.  Literally and Figuratively.  Then the race started and it wasn't buzzing anymore...it was roaring.  The cars are so loud and they go so fast it's captivating.  I've never been in that kind of atmosphere before, but I must say, that even if watching it on television seems awful to me, being there in person was a whole 'nother thing.  I hope you get a chance to try it sometime!

I love Indiana

#10  Last, and probably least, I live here.  I live in Cedar Lake, Indiana (sometimes called Cedartucky).  It really is a beautiful place.  I love the country.  Sometimes I complain about the cornfields, or the pig farm a mile down from our house, but it's home, and it always will be.  There's absolutely nothing like watching the sunset on the golden cornstalks in autumn.   There's absolutely nothing like walking into the Casey's gas station a mile in town and knowing the clerks by name.  There's nothing like swimming in the lake on a hot summer day, even if some would call me brave to go near that water (it's really not as gross as people make it out to be).  Even though the pig farm smells pretty bad when the wind blows just right, it's beautiful in it's own way and adds an interesting piece to the landscape.  I have more memories than I can count of playing in the green cornfield's and having hide-outs in them.  Even though some call Indiana boring, it clearly is not, and I'd love it even if it were.