While commenting on a blog by John Guillen a few minutes ago, I realize how many misconceptions, or no conceptions, I have about a lot of states (USA – I’m only vaguely aware that Canada and Australia have provinces. Actually I’m not even sure what they are called in Australia. Someone please educate me). I’m figuring that it has to do with the media, with our perspective based on where we live, with whether or not we’ve visited a place. Stuff like that.
I live in New York. Practically everyone on the planet thinks that means New York City. As if NY is just a tiny dot on the map filled with a kazillion people. Instead of a large state filled with beautiful natural resources, cities, rural areas, mountains…I digress.
So my gut feeling about NY is that it’s awesome but people think only of NYC.
If I went through all 50 states here you’d be snoring in 3 minutes. So I’ll only do 49. Kidding. Sort of. Because I think I’m onto something here. And this will, by definition, be wildly biased. I hate offending people, but I’m apt to do that just because I don’t know what I’m talking about. Here goes…..
Alaska – I was born here so there’s that bias Gut feeling? Vast awesomeness.
Alabama – I was conceived there so there’s that bias (I was for real). Gut feeling? Civil rights issues
Montana – ranches and every 700 miles a person
Idaho – the only gut feeling I have is potatoes. I’m sorry, Idaho. I’ll put you on my bucket list.
Ohio – I went to Ohio Wesleyan University and loved every breath I took there, so there’s that bias. Gut feeling? OSU overpowers everything else. Tornadoes
Vermont – Awesome summers on Lake Dunmore. GF (that’s my new abbreviation for Gut Feeling)? The most liberal state in the union.
Are you bored yet? Don’t answer.
Texas? No brainer. GF=guns
Hawaii? No brainer GF? Best-vacation-spot-ever-were-I-to-ever-go
MIssouri? GF? I’m embarrassed that I know almost nothing about Missouri. I’m sorry Missouri.
Utah. Gf is Mormons And I think the Presidents are carved in the mountain. But that might be Nevada or somewhere else. omg this is embarrassing.
Connecticut – Oh thank goodness. It’s right next door. Very New Englandy
New Hampshire – The accent sounds like people are saying “New Hampsha”. My husband went to college there so I have some inside scoop on this beautiful state.
I should stop because you are probably bored but I’m having fun. So stop reading now if you want but please press like anyway.
New Jersey – Long Beach Island which is incredible. But stinkiness near Newark. And lots of farms. I guess it’s like NY in that there is a lot more to it than people think.
Maine – I want to live there and write horror books. I’ve been to Portland and loved it.
Oregon – They have a Portland too. GF- rain
Washington – GF = rain
California – drought and I would have said shallow people in the LA area but my stepson lives there now and he is definitely not shallow. And my husband says northern California is beautiful.
Georgia – scary I think that when a New Yorker talks to someone from Georgia subtitles are needed. Peaches are good.
Lousiana – coolest accent on the face of the earth
Kansas – my cousins live there. GF = flat, tornadoes
Wisconsin – Lakes (isn’t that Wisconsin?) And the Virgil Flowers books take place there. (Isn’t that Wisconsin?) oh and cheese! I think.
Florida – GF sunshine and my in-laws are there so I’ve been there a lot. I really want to see the Keys and the Everglades.
Oklahoma – I flew over it once in a little plane and we had to fly over a paper factory which was icky. But then when we landed it wasn’t icky and people were nice but I couldn’t get the Broadway musical out of my head.
I’m stopping. This was fun and embarrassing but re-reading it makes me sound really idiotic. But it has shown me how little I know about a lot of places here and that’s just ridiculous.
When a blogger gives a writing prompt I immediately delete the post. Which is extra silly because I’m an English teacher and have to give writing prompts all the time. I don’t want to be prompted. So I hate giving them. Now that I just explained all that, I don’t want to prompt you, but I would love for people to tell me one cool thing that I probably don’t know about your state.
I’ll start. I live in Putnam County, New York which is about an hour and 15 minutes north of New York City. I work about 30 miles north of New York but have traveled extensively in the state. The United States Military Academy at West Point is my favorite place in the state.
And for my Canadian friends, I was being a little facetious because I think I know all of your provinces. Why didn’t you ever fight us over Alaska? I would have if I were you.
Australia forgive me!! I should be able to rattle off your states, provinces, whateveryoucallthems. I’m really sorry.
And I love Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia oh and Rhode Island and Delaware but I didn’t want people to fall asleep. I’ll include you in the next one. Oh and Massachusetts. I’ve heavy on the East Coast. Sorry everywhere else.
The title for this post should be “Dear States, I’m sorry.”
saneteachers 
Recently having relocated to Alabama I was really expecting much more civil rights issues, but really I feel more of a common community here than I ever did in Texas when it comes to racial issues. But as far as the more liberal issues such as gay rights I don’t hear much about it, while in Texas most everyone I knew was gay and proud. Very different.
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Yes, the two states are very different. With Alabama, I was referring more to history. The famous Martin Luther King, Jr. march was in Alabama. My family lived in Selma and Montgomery before moving to Alaska and while they loved Alabama, they often talked of the changes there. And like it most places, I’m sure the cities or much different from more rural areas. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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I’m replying to myself here because I can’t believe the typos in my answer to you!! I was using my kindle instead of my computer, but really. Now I’m sorry for that.
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I think of New Jersey as my ancestral homeland, although I’m getting the hang of Michigan. Most of the time. Apparently we should be ready in case a tornado hits, even though I’m quite sure from the New York City news that tornados are things that happen once like every three years, when a small one wanders down a street in Brooklyn. I don’t see why that should bother us in Michigan.
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When I lived about 30 minutes north of here we had a mini-tornado that seemed to just touch down on the mountain where we lived. I fell 3 trees into our new house. It was snowing in our bathroom. But when i lived in Ohio we had quite a few. When I think of Michigan my GF is cars and a mitten.
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When I think of New York I think of yellow taxis and angry people inside of them. I also think of New York accents. By the way, we have 10 provinces and 3 territories up here.
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Territories!! That’s what I was missing….now hopefully someone from Australia will chime in. Of course, I could always look it up. And haha to the taxis. Most are yellow, but I’ve only seen angry people inside them on the movies. Maybe a couple of times in real life. And I’ve been in a lot of taxis. My son lives in NYC. And we have a lot of accents….you’re right about that. I think it’s the hub of immigration here. I read somewhere that you can walk down a street in Manhattan and hear up to 400 languages. I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, but is partially true.
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Movies always make New York look like their stop lights are constantly red and taxis are impatient. 400 languages…sounds like Toronto!
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Oh I think there is a lot of truth in the stop lights. It seems like they are green for blocks and blocks or red for blocks and blocks. I’m sure there is a rhyme and reason for that but it does cause gridlock at times. And if the President comes for any reason everything comes to a grinding halt. Which is both cool and annoying.
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I’m going away for a couple of days, so unless I have a spare moment or two I won’t be blogging. But I always read yours when I’m on.
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Enjoy your time away! I’ll try and write some good ones for you to return to haha
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Yes, then you can give me ideas to steal.
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Texas – guns? Eh. I guess. I was expecting horses or cattle. Or cowboys.
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That’s funny because my second gut feeling is oil.
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I live in South Africa, so I glazed over when you were in Alaska. 🙂
Did I miss anything?
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hahahaha I’m definitely not ready for the African Continent! It’s odd, though, that I’ve traveled a lot but haven’t been to a lot of places in the USA. I was being tongue-in-cheek a little bit, but I really know very little about a number of states.
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Don’t feel bad. I don’t even know where America is. Somewhere near Afghanistan?
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lol…….um……no. I do know Senegal, though! I’m working with a school there.
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Hi Barb, sorry for the late reply. Anyhoots, I got some info. on Australia and put together by my other half & I. We are not experts and I’m sure other Aussies can add their own places of interests and thoughts.This is just a rough intro. Hope this helps.😉
Australia has 6 states and 2 territories.
The 6 states are:
– New South Wales and its state capital is Sydney and well known for its harbour and cafes, among other things.
– Victoria. Historically was developed after gold mining became important in the 1850s-60s. Its state capital is Melbourne. It’s popular for arts and culture scenes as well as ‘Melbourne Cup’ (the nation’s huge horse racing).
– Queensland is semi tropical known for the Great Barrier Reef and beaches. Although other states have beautiful beaches too. Its capital is Brisbane.
-South Australia is known for its vineyards and world’s cycling event called ‘Tour Down Under’. Adelaide is its capital.
– Western Australia has famous beaches and surfing in the south west while large mining activities to the north associated with iron ore. Its state capital is Perth.
– Tasmania is the 6th state and its capital is Hobart. Like Hawaii, Tasmania is a separate island to the south of the mainland of Australia. Generally people associated Australia with Koalas and kangaroos. Animals which are natives to Tasmania are called ‘Tasmanian Devils’.
The 2 territories :
– the Northern Territory which is to the northern end of Australia. Heaven knows how it got its name. Ehem! Famous for tourism especially the desert outback of Australia and the famous rock formation that the aborigines named ‘Uluru’. Darwin is its capital.
– Australian Capital Territory and its main town is called Canberra. It is like Washington or capital of the USA.
Well after that i think you might need a cuppa ? Just a suggestion.
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It’s all coming back to me now from school. And while I could have certainly looked up this, I wanted people to weigh in because your impressions are very different from what I might see on an atlas or look up on the internet. This was great. Here’s another question….What’s the difference between a territory and a state? When I was born, Alaska was a territory, along with Hawaii and Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and I think Guam. Oh no…embarrassing time again. I’m blaming the US for being so big lol. So there was a different relationship with the federal government. Now, of course, Alaska and Hawaii are states. There is CONSTANT discourse in Puerto Rico about fighting for statehood, versus staying a territory.
I know that Canada has territories as well ( thanks Paul of https://captainsspeech.wordpress.com) but I wonder if they have the same function in relation to the government. Thanks for your insight into this! And see…..the teacher in me has given you
homework, if you chose to do it.
Thanks so much for reading my blog and commenting!
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Wikipedia says: “The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces receive their power and authority from the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly called the British North America Act, 1867), whereas territorial governments have powers delegated to them by the federal government.”
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And that means……..
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I don’t know. haha
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Somehow I think it means that provinces are more British and territories more federalist. Constitutionally speaking. Don’t throw tomatoes at me.
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Not sure if that’s accurate but it’s better than what I can come up with.
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I made it up but it sounded good.
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I just went the https:/captainsspeech.com and told Paul that I have him a shout-out in my reply to your comment. And that made me realize that I also gave you a shout-out by telling him that. Just FYI. 🙂
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Finger Lakes! Love em’ 🙂
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