In my distress over not finding a yellow #2 6-sided REAL pencil I forgot to add a Indiana trivia blurb. So, I'm doing a full on blog post about Indiana and my quirky love of the state.
I have always liked history. I have always liked trivia that deals with places and things I've been or are close to. For instance, once at a car show in South Bend I touched K.I.T.T. This is as close as I have been (that I can currently remember) to a celebrity. Not that I like K.I.T.T. or really did - I have no idea why I even bring that memory up. Forget that celebrity, I met Bare Naked Ladies and shook Ed's hand and told him he had beautiful blue eyes. Which should, if I'm not already, make it official that I'm a dork!
I have liked John Cougar Mellencamp from when I first saw a cousin wearing his Uh-Huh concert shirt. However, the first "tape" that I bought was either Chicago 17 or Michael Jackson Thriller, I can't remember what came first. BUT after that it was all Uh-Huh. Mellencamp was what I believed in before I knew better. His music was the soundtrack of my teenage angst.
And he sang about Indiana.
I was in the Reamer Club at Purdue. The keeper's of tradition. I learned the words to (Back Home Again In) Indiana. And other trivial things about Purdue. Trivia alert: The tune became a jazz standard. For years, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars would open each public performance with the number.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Home_Again_in_Indiana).
It didn't help that to get a history credit while at Purdue I chose Indiana history. I thought it would be easy cause seriously what historically as happened. Well, to say the least I found it quite interesting.
I remember sunrises while waiting for the bus that should have made me a believer in God right there and then. Those sunrises over fields of corn where literally they start at what looks like the beginning of earth. In mountainous areas the sun hides a little until it's revealed not in Indiana. I L.O.V.E. seeing the some what straight line between green grass and blue sky.
It just tickles me when I hear Indiana being referenced in movies or song. Like Arsenic and Old Lace mentions Indiana. Tom Petty song Mary Jane's Last Dance. (originally titled "Indiana Girl")
"With them Indiana boys on them Indiana nights" - Which was me the summer after I turned 17.
So SERIOUSLY who is reading this drivel?
It comes down to my realization years ago that part of what makes a person is where they grew up. I like who I am. I don't like all the experiences but loving where I grew up and where the majority of those experiences happened is easy enough to love.
And after going out to Ohio I know at least the scenery can also be stated for that state as well. So calm down you Buckeye people ... When I moved away I had the never return feeling which proved to be false. I left Indiana but Indiana never left me. Ask any of the friends I made in Pennsylvania.
I ended up being homesick. To combat the sickness, I would pick up trivial needless information about Indiana, which is a sickness in of itself. It was so bad I became like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and could/can relate most things to Indiana given enough time.
I ended up being homesick. To combat the sickness, I would pick up trivial needless information about Indiana, which is a sickness in of itself. It was so bad I became like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and could/can relate most things to Indiana given enough time.
Like the state flower is a peony but only since 1957 before that it was zinnia. Really I only bring that up because I wanted an excuse to put in a picture of my peony.
Did you know Gas City, IN it was first known as Harrisburg when settled on May 25, 1867 by Noah Harris. It became something of a boom town when natural gas was found in the area in 1887. The Gas City Land Company was founded on March 21, 1892 and the town of about 150 people changed its name to Gas City a few days later.
