And what's so wrong with the Midwest?

I'm from the Midwest.

This isn't something I say with braggadocio in my voice, nor something I confess with shame. It's a mere fact.

I was born in Nebraska, grew up and went to university in Missouri. As an adult I've lived in Illinois and Indiana.

For the record, I have been out of the Midwest. I've lived in Texas, and I've even lived out of the country, in England in Germany. I have traveled - a lot - and have visited 35 of the 50 states.

And when you get right down to it, life here in the middle United States is not all that different than life anywhere else. People have careers and families, friends and houses, hobbies and vacations. People here are educated, or not; they are cultured, or not. And they are nice. Or not so much.

Which is why I get irked when I get the impression other Americans are looking down their down nose at we Midwesterners. Or when I read a piece like this one from Chris Erskine with the Los Angeles Times.

(It was at a wedding reception in Chicago. As if somehow the mere fact that your drivers license says "Chicago" - or one of the surrounding suburbs - makes you superior in some way. Dropping into the conversation that we had just moved back from a two-year stint in Europe earned us some points. But is that really necessary in order to garner some modicum of respect?)

Erskine's piece details his trip to West Lafayette for his daughter to check out the Purdue campus. It was probably intended to be tongue-in-cheek as he made little observations about the town, the campus, the wholesome, friendly, farm-grown folks he encountered on his sojourn through the farmland. His less-sophisticated counterparts.

He meant to be funny. To entertain. But you know? I can do without those on the coast, the elitists from New York and California, who seem to feel a need to poke fun at people who live in those "big, square states" or the "flyover states."

I mean, really. Cracks about a waitress and her "corn-fed" smile, or about the lack of designer jeans on campus - what is that about? Does he really for one minute think that everyone here works in agriculture? Or that no one here can afford designer jeans?

Maybe there were brands his little darling had never seen before. Ever think of that?

I could also do without the comment about "prairie princesses" in Ohio. Is all of Ohio a giant prairie? How did he know those girls were even from Ohio?

It doesn't do much good to be too thin-skinned and get all worked every time someone ignorantly bunches all residents of a single state into one category. Nor does it serve any purpose to be the one doing the lumping.

I'll just need to remember to note the diversity I see around me - people from various ethnic groups, from differing backgrounds and income levels.

And be glad I have the sense to know that not all writers from Los Angeles are superficial.