The asterisk above is because, of course, I wasn’t actually in Detroit. Don’t be silly.
But it struck me, even though we didn’t venture into the city, or even much of anywhere outside the neighborhood, that Michigan is, well, different. I’ve lived in Indiana for grad school and Illinois since then, and Chicagoans may identify as Chicagoans, but to live in Illinois doesn’t really mean much to anyone. Michiganders, on the other hand, do seem to have more of an identity.
What does it mean to be from Michigan? Well, of course, there’s the “hand” amp, number one on any “you know you’re from Michigan” list (and Michiganders scoffed at Wisconsin’s attempt to claim a mitten shape). There’s the Motor City and the auto industry (Michiganders are very loyal to the Big 3 automakers, and the Auto Show is a big deal indeed) and some gallows humor about the situation in Detroit. There are the Great Lakes — boating is big — and all the little lakes, and the traditional “cabin up north,” and deer hunting is popular enough that, back in the heyday of the UAW and the SUV, when the automakers were selling cars as fast as the could make them, the unions had negotiated the first day of deer hunting season as a vacation day. Of course, the beach towns along Lake Michigan — St. Joseph and South Haven, Grand Haven, Traverse City, and Petoskey, the latter two providing access to skiing as well, plus Mackinaw Island. And there’s pride in Michigan agriculture, which is more about fruit, including Traverse City’s cherries, and the blueberry U-picks and the apple orchards and cider mills in the fall, than it is about corn (Illinois) or dairy (Wisconsin).
Of course, there are the local foods and stores and quirks: coney dogs and square deep dish pizza, Faygo and Vernors and Sanders and Better-Made potato chips, and the party store and the Michigan turn, and everyone’s got an opinion on Michigan vs. Michigan State (go Spartans! by the way). And don’t the “Pure Michigan” ads give you a lump in your throat?
(Euchre shows up frequently on lists of “special things about Michigan” but I have the impression that it’s really more of a Midwestern thing than just Michigan, unless it was brought to Chicago by Michigan transplants, of which there seem to be many.)
Now, maybe Illinois and Indiana are the exception, and Michigan is the rule — that is, maybe most people think of their state as “special” and only a few states’ residents don’t. Certainly, Wisconsinites so think Wisconsin is special that old neighbors of ours, while still working in the Chicago area, moved to just north of the state line and felt like they were “home.”
So what do you think? Is it the norm to think that your state is special, or is it in fact something special about Michigan that people think it’s a unique place?
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