utah sprawls like a developer's fever dream—never-ending farmland that slowly is dissolving into subdivisions while locals have to see their world get bought out around them.
that south park episode sounds fire. if mormonism is about kindness and trains that sounds a lot better than, certain others. maybe we (as a society) should stop bullying them so much
i get what you mean about kindness being a cloy though, and maybe thats why i have 0 mormon friends.
also going out and talking to random people sounds like a good idea, but how tf does one just walk up to a stranger and say ‘tell me your life story’?
LOL we literally walked up to someone and said "we're travelers and want to learn more about the area + people with interesting stories" and see how they responded
this is so moving – i love people-watching through your eyes :) there's so much nuance and tenderness that i think we miss when we talk about middle america.
i think the profiles that you make capture some of the spirits of these people, and i love how fair your assessment is, i think. you don't pander to a romanticized version of the midwest, you bring your own coastal girl judgements, but there's respect for the way they live their lives.
i also love the small town horror + kindness observation. it reminds me of chinese communities a lot; one thing that i talked about with a friend is how high trust communities tend to have stronger us vs. them perspectives, such that every community will almost always have their own little flaws.
yeah. for the longest time i just couldn't imagine living in the midwest, this sort of unfair bias because of the culture I grew up in. and 100% chinese communities — didn't actually think of them in the small town horror concept, but yeah it's just as cloying and seemingly oppressive sometimes (but maybe less of the fake kindness and more directness?)
this was nice to read! very heartwarming.
that south park episode sounds fire. if mormonism is about kindness and trains that sounds a lot better than, certain others. maybe we (as a society) should stop bullying them so much
i get what you mean about kindness being a cloy though, and maybe thats why i have 0 mormon friends.
also going out and talking to random people sounds like a good idea, but how tf does one just walk up to a stranger and say ‘tell me your life story’?
the episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_Mormons :). Also interesting (posssibly blasphemous) mormon youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3BqLZ8UoZk.
LOL we literally walked up to someone and said "we're travelers and want to learn more about the area + people with interesting stories" and see how they responded
this is so moving – i love people-watching through your eyes :) there's so much nuance and tenderness that i think we miss when we talk about middle america.
i think the profiles that you make capture some of the spirits of these people, and i love how fair your assessment is, i think. you don't pander to a romanticized version of the midwest, you bring your own coastal girl judgements, but there's respect for the way they live their lives.
i also love the small town horror + kindness observation. it reminds me of chinese communities a lot; one thing that i talked about with a friend is how high trust communities tend to have stronger us vs. them perspectives, such that every community will almost always have their own little flaws.
good post
yeah. for the longest time i just couldn't imagine living in the midwest, this sort of unfair bias because of the culture I grew up in. and 100% chinese communities — didn't actually think of them in the small town horror concept, but yeah it's just as cloying and seemingly oppressive sometimes (but maybe less of the fake kindness and more directness?)
living there this summer :} thanks for hyping it up
such a well-written post!