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 Quote:
In 1981 Joel Garreau, a writer for the Washington Post, wrote the book: The Nine Nations of North America (Houghton Mifflin, Boston). In that book Garreau writes:
"Forget the pious wisdom you've been handed about North America.
Forget the borders dividing the United States, Canada, and Mexico, those pale barriers so thoroughly porous to money, immigrants, and ideas.
Forget the bilge you were taught in sixth-grade geography about East and West, North and South, faint echoes of glorious pasts that never really existed save in sanitized textbooks.
Forget the maze of state and provincial boundaries, those historical accidents and surveyors' mistakes. The reason no one except the trivia expert can name all fifty of the United States is that they hardly matter.
Forget the political almanacs full of useless data on local elections rendered meaningless by strangely carved districts and precincts.
Consider, instead, the way North America really works. It is Nine Nations. Each with its capital and distinctive web of power and influence.... These nations look different, feel different, and sound different from each other, and few of their boundaries match the political lines drawn on current maps....
Most importantly, each nation has a distinctive prism through which it views the world."
My home is Ectopia. To see your own, Harper College offers a description of all nine.
Ecotopia
* Where?
* Capital: San Francisco
* Symbol: tree
* Keyword: water
* Pop. culture: Movie: Citizen Cane
From Northern California to Alaska, Ecotopia (from the words ECOlogy and uTOPIA) comprises the northern west coast of North America. Its a land where individualism and the environment are respected (Garreau says "worshipped"). It is the home of the Posse Comitatus right-wing militia, and radical environmentalists who pound spikes into trees to stop the lumberman's saw. but it is also the home of Boeing Arilines, Microsoft , and Silicon Valley.
Garreau says that Ecotopia is surrounded by hostile forces. To the south, dry Mexamerica has their eyes on ecotopia's water [napreces], but the Ecotopians defend their water fiercely.
Ecotopia's individualism is expressed in a form of xenophilia (the love of things strange and foreign). It's educational center, UC Berkely, is known for being at the center of the '60s generation. the home of LSD and the Grateful Dead. silicon valley is jus up the road. Holistic medicine, solar energy, "wierd"?
Ecotopia is a Pacific Rim nation
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Detroit is supposed to be the capital of something other than hockey and violent crime?!? 
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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wow. what a convenient way to push generalizations and reinforce stereotypes. I'll pass.
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Quote:
Captain Sammitch said:
Detroit is supposed to be the capital of something other than hockey and violent crime?!?
I wondered about that too. Detroit is the home of the auto industry. That's a huge portion of the USA's economy, let alone the midwest.
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Grimm said:
wow. what a convenient way to push generalizations and reinforce stereotypes. I'll pass.
You don't believe cultural differences exist between the different regions?
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Exactly how crazy do I have to be for this to make sense?
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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Pretty accurate. I live in Ohio (the Foundry), but I've lived in North Carolina (Dixie) visted West Virgina (Dixie), Florida (Islands), Iowa (Bread basket), and Quebec (Quebec). There is an obvious cultural difference in each of those areas.
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Quote:
magicjay38 said:
Quote:
Captain Sammitch said:
Detroit is supposed to be the capital of something other than hockey and violent crime?!?
I wondered about that too. Detroit is the home of the auto industry. That's a huge portion of the USA's economy, let alone the midwest.
Be that as it may, there are plenty of cities most Midwesterners would be less ashamed to be represented by. I live on the doorstep of the biggest and arguably the best candidate.
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Kisser Of John Byrne Ass 15000+ posts
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new york and ohio are nothing alike....
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living in 1962 15000+ posts
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Quote:
magicjay38 said:
Quote:
Grimm said:
wow. what a convenient way to push generalizations and reinforce stereotypes. I'll pass.
You don't believe cultural differences exist between the different regions?
of course there are. but I'll wait for a representation that's actually had some thought put into it by people who know what they're talking about rather than just reinforcing the standard stereotypes. "hey, it's the south. we'll call them dixie and make KKK jokes." fuck off. I'm not supporting this.
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How is Texas supposed to sit in this?
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Has someone gay assumed your ID, Nowie?
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Quote:
First Amongst Daves said:
How is Texas supposed to sit in this?
I would say Garreau was right on in his divisions of Texas. I've spent a lot of time in the state, which is HUGE. East Texas is much more like the South than it is Dallas or El Paso. You'd might as well be in different countries. In fact El Paso is closer to Los Angeles than it is Houston. The accents are different, too. Walk across the bridge joining Marshall, TX and Shreveport, LA. The only difference you'll find is which side of the river they're on. Dallas is another place entirely. Anycity, USA with a twang.
I could live in East Texas, Austin or even Houston. You can have the rest of the place.
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Quote:
Captain Sammitch said:
Detroit is supposed to be the capital of something other than hockey and violent crime?!?
Makes sense to me. It explains why New York is so fucked up.
<sub>Will Eisner's last work - The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of ZionRDCW Profile"Well, as it happens, I wrote the damned SOP," Illescue half snarled, "and as of now, you can bar those jackals from any part of this facility until Hell's a hockey rink! Is that perfectly clear?!" - Dr. Franz Illescue - Honor Harrington: At All Costs"I don't know what I'm do, or how I do, I just do." - Alexander Ovechkin</sub>
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I'd say this thing called it right as far as Miami and the rest of Florida is concerned.
I'd drive from Miami to Orlando on a regular basis, and each time it was literally like going into a different country (except there was no border patrol.)
"Well when I talk to people I don't have to worry about spelling." - wannabuyamonkey
"If Schumacher’s last effort was the final nail in the coffin then Year One would’ve been the crazy guy who stormed the graveyard, dug up the coffin and put a bullet through the franchise’s corpse just to make sure." -- From a review of Darren Aronofsky & Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" script
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Quote:
PenWing said:
Quote:
Captain Sammitch said:
Detroit is supposed to be the capital of something other than hockey and violent crime?!?
Makes sense to me. It explains why New York is so fucked up.
Sorry guys. New York City is an Anomaly as is DC. They're city states that are seperate from the surrounding cultures. Sort of like 15th century Venice.
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I was gonna say Chicago. 
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Quote:
Darknight613 said:
I'd say this thing called it right as far as Miami and the rest of Florida is concerned.
I'd drive from Miami to Orlando on a regular basis, and each time it was literally like going into a different country (except there was no border patrol.)
What makes the difference?
I find this subject very interesting. For such a young country, the US has many different regional cultural differences.
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