Pride of Place

One of the things I have noticed since being in Indiana is that many people here have very little of what I call "pride of place," of being proud of their native state or region and thinking it (at least in some particulars) superior to other places. So often, when I ask students about Indiana, they roll their eyes and sarcastically ask, "Well, how do you like it?" They take no joy in their native soil and seem rather sheepishly embarrassed by it.

Where does this come from? I wonder if lack of pride comes from simple lack of knowledge. In order to have "pride of place," you must have a "sense of place," of knowing, at least in part, the historical and cultural particulars of a region. What makes Indiana different, unique, indeed superior than other places? Have they ever read Booth Tarkington? Or James Witcomb Riley? Or discovered the Battle of Tippecanoe? Or visited the Benjamin Harrison home? Or heard of the immortal Charles Warren Fairbanks?

Once fortified with some cultural knowledge, a sense of the state's uniqueness amidst the flat expanse of the Middle West (we are not Illinois or Ohio, we are Indiana, and here is why), pride of place should follow.