The Midwestern Dream
So I've been reading The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation by Jim Cullen. (Good book. You should pick it up.)
Although Cullen discusses the longstanding yearning to rise above one's humble beginnings, he doesn't directly address the idea that unless you "escape" from the place of your birth, you've somehow failed -- which, I think, is especially pernicious in the Midwest. Indeed, we might even call it the Midwestern Dream.
For my birthday, my mom sent me a copy of Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio. (Which has been discussed on a few Cleveland blogs recently.)
The book got under my skin in a bad way. With all due respect to the authors included in the anthology, the tone of the book is nostalgically defeatist: "Ah, Ohio, what a quaint place. I remember it fondly, now that I'm in civilized society." It's the sort of attitude that doesn't help Ohio's real problems that need fixing.
It reminded me of this bit of classic Seinfeld banter from The Frogger Episode (courtesy of seinfeldscripts.com):
Although Cullen discusses the longstanding yearning to rise above one's humble beginnings, he doesn't directly address the idea that unless you "escape" from the place of your birth, you've somehow failed -- which, I think, is especially pernicious in the Midwest. Indeed, we might even call it the Midwestern Dream.
For my birthday, my mom sent me a copy of Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio. (Which has been discussed on a few Cleveland blogs recently.)
The book got under my skin in a bad way. With all due respect to the authors included in the anthology, the tone of the book is nostalgically defeatist: "Ah, Ohio, what a quaint place. I remember it fondly, now that I'm in civilized society." It's the sort of attitude that doesn't help Ohio's real problems that need fixing.
It reminded me of this bit of classic Seinfeld banter from The Frogger Episode (courtesy of seinfeldscripts.com):
George and Jerry admire their former hang out. Mario, an elder man, stands behind the counter.
GEORGE: Just as she was. Hey, Mario! Remember us?
MARIO: No.
JERRY: We used to come in every day.
MARIO: So where ya been? We're tanking here.
GEORGE: We'll have 2 slices and 2 grape sodas.
MARIO: Oh, thanks. That'll save us.
JERRY: All right, make it the large sodas.
posted by Christine Borne at 10:45 AM
1 Comments:
Christine, George Nemeth and I spent a lot of time together yesterday on my blogsite and talking about MANY MANY MANY other things - one of which is how the thoughts that get expressed on BFD really represent the current feelings about the city and a different generation. That's why I strongly believe a compilation of thoughts on Cleveland and NEO culled from BFD would do so much more to sell this place, not to mention resonate with many more of us, or at least a different segment than the book you've received.
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