The asterisk above is because, of course, I wasn\u2019t actually in Detroit.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be silly.<\/p>\n
But it struck me, even though we didn\u2019t venture into the city, or even much of anywhere outside the neighborhood, that Michigan is, well, different.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lived in Indiana for grad school and Illinois since then, and Chicagoans may identify as Chicagoans, but to live in Illinois doesn\u2019t really mean much to anyone.\u00a0 Michiganders, on the other hand, do seem to have more of an identity.<\/p>\n
What does it mean to be from Michigan?\u00a0 Well, of course, there\u2019s the \u201chand\u201d amp, number one on any \u201cyou know you\u2019re from Michigan\u201d list (and Michiganders scoffed at Wisconsin\u2019s attempt<\/a> to claim a mitten shape).\u00a0 There\u2019s 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.\u00a0 There are the Great Lakes \u2014 boating is big \u2014 and all the little lakes, and the traditional \u201ccabin up north,\u201d 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.\u00a0 Of course, the beach towns along Lake Michigan \u2014 St. Joseph and South Haven, Grand Haven, Traverse City, and Petoskey, the latter two providing access to skiing as well, plus Mackinaw Island.\u00a0 And there\u2019s pride in Michigan agriculture, which is more about fruit, including Traverse City\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n Of course, there are the local foods and stores and quirks:\u00a0 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\u2019s got an opinion on Michigan vs. Michigan State (go Spartans! by the way).\u00a0 And don\u2019t the \u201cPure Michigan\u201d ads give you a lump in your throat?<\/p>\n