I’m Not From
Around Here Myself
Reflections on living in Indiana
I’m from our east. Pennsylvania to be exact, though I was a pastor in New Jersey too. I still consider myself “not from around
here” since moving to Indiana. That’s odd I suppose: I’ve lived here almost 40
years. As an “outsider” to Indiana I
still notice strange things about the natives—“Hoosiers.”
Hoosiers. One of those strange things is the word “Hoosiers”
itself. Nobody knows what it means or where it came from. Some think it was a remark of settlers when
they heard somebody knock at their cabin door… “Hooo’s
‘ere?” Others think a fellow named Sam
Hoosier hired Indiana men to work on the Louisville canal and they got called
“Hoosier’s men” and later just Hoosiers. Wherever it came from it was widely
used in Saint Louis and across the south to simply mean “white trash,” “hick”
or “hillbilly.” People in Indiana
happily call themselves a word that means “hick” to others. But, even more interesting nobody in Indiana
even cares where the handle came from or what it means—they are quite content
with the term “Hoosiers.”
Politics. That’s
typical of Indiana folk. They don’t get real worked up much. One moment they’ll elect a Democrat, then the
next election they’ll toss the fellow out and replace him with a Republican.
They don’t particular hate either party…nor like either one too. They just put
out their next crop of corn or soy beans and wait. In general Hoosiers just
expect to be left alone.
Global
warming. Hoosiers don’t worry much. It’s hard to get them to
believe there is an emergency about anything. They neither believe there really
is global warming nor do they reject the idea—they are still considering the
facts. They can be convinced, but it might take 50 years. Many Hoosiers are
still considering the evidence on tobacco even, let alone climate change
Indiana is among he top six states in prevalence of smokers—about a quarter of
Hoosiers smoke and they’re not ready yet to ban smoking in public buildings. Hoosiers are “still considering the
evidence.”
Air
Quality. Hoosiers are the same way about air quality—they are
slow to get worked up. We make our electric out of coal mostly—we have 28
coal-burning plants, another ten gas-burning plants and even a few that burn oil
to make electric. Each year Hoosiers contribute about 650,000 tons of
sulfur dioxide to the sky above us. But Hoosiers don’t fret too much yet about
that because almost all of it blows over to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and
Canada. Hoosiers don’t have to breathe it ourselves. Some big-city guys had a
big scheme to build two nuclear plants but they eventually gave up and the
plants are abandoned and the companies went back to coal. When Hoosiers are confronted by angry
East-coasters about these emissions, Hoosiers simply nod understandingly and
say, “We’re working on it.”
Religion. As for
religion Indiana is pretty much like the rest of America. We’ve got almost a
million Roman Catholics (and Notre Dame) but our largest Protestant group are the Methodists—Indiana has a little Methodist
church at virtually every crossroads in the state. In Indiana the Methodists
still have “revival meetings” and often consider themselves more conservative
than the large Wesleyan churches. After the Methodists come the Baptists, then
the Christian Church/Disciples then the Lutherans. But don’t get me wrong,
Indiana is not Bible belt country: 16% of Hoosiers are secular. In the part of
Indiana where I live 80% of the county’s residents didn’t attend any church at
all last Sunday. Most everyone gets along pretty well—many Protestants even
think Catholics can go to heaven.
Freedom. Hoosiers like their personal freedom. They
don’t like the government, the church or anyone else telling them what to do.
Hoosiers have a strong strain of libertarianism in their blood. They see no
need for restrictive laws that bind a person’s right to do what they think is
best. Back on the east coast if I wanted to install a water
heater I had to get a licensed plumber who often had to get a permit for
it! In Indiana people just buy their own
and install it themselves. In fact, in much if Indiana people put whole
additions onto their homes by themselves without getting a permit—I’ve done it
twice. While other states have strict recycling requirements for used engine
oil—many Hoosiers change their own oil and pour the old oil on the ground—“it’s keeps the dust down, you know.”
Taxes. I
guess any state that paves roads and operates schools has to have some taxes,
but if you like low property taxes consider moving to Indiana. A few years ago Hoosiers did finally get
worked up when their property taxes zoomed to “as high as a thousand dollars”
for their homes. That didn’t last. Now our property taxes are often a few
hundred dollars a year for homes like mine. Hoosiers barely even tax
cigarettes, which is why people from neighboring states fill their trunk full
at one of the many tobacco stores on our borders. Hoosiers pay about $1300 less
per person in local and state taxes compared to other states. Sure, our
educational system is not the best in the country (we rank 44th in
number of adults who get a college degree)
but many Hoosiers figure if you want more than a basic
reading-writing-arithmetic education you are free to pay for it yourself by sending
your kids to a private school and paying for your own college degree.
Sports.
Hoosiers like Basketball. “Hoosier Hysteria” for many years was focused on the
state high school basketball playoffs. When most states had “class basketball”
Hoosiers stuck with the unlevel playing field of
letting every single school in the state—no matter how large or small—compete
with every other school for the state finals. This, of course is what led to
great storylines like that told in the 1986 movie “Hoosiers.” Even a tiny
school with an unknown coach could go all the way to state playoffs—and
win. When a bunch of socialist-type
level-playing-field leaders got control of high school basketball they
introduced class basketball in Indiana many Hoosiers abandoned their loyalty to
high school basketball and began to follow Indiana’s new NFL team. Our new team
had snuck out of Baltimore one night to move to Indiana to become the
Indianapolis Colts. However, Hoosier colts fans are generally subdued compared to other fans.
When we win or lose Hoosiers seldom turn over cars or break windows. Hoosiers
take it in stride. Hoosiers will even applaud great plays by their opponents
and congratulate the teams who beat them. And even more astonishing Hoosiers
will sometimes secretly cheer for the underdogs—who are frequently whoever is
playing the Colts!
Which is
why Hoosiers couldn’t lose the Super Bowl this year. A Colts win is a win for a humble rookie coach with
a humble quarterback and a generally humble home team. A win by the New Orleans
Saints is a win by the underdog team that is most like the state’s namesake
movie—Hoosiers.
So what do you think?
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Keith Drury February 9, 2010