The Midwestern Mystique

Remember all those years ago when you were watching Johnny Carson and you thought how weird his accent sounded? Or more recently with David Letterman?

Of course not!

They sounded normal.  They enjoyed that Midwestern Mystique.

The Midwest is in the heart of the country and ranges from Minnesota to Oklahoma and from Kansas to Ohio (it can vary on who you ask). Admittedly, you might notice an accent up in Minnesota that sounds a little Scandinavian, but the rest of the region is pretty much non-accent. So the sound is plain versus the drawl in the South, to the nasal whine of New Jersey, etc. 

The Midwestern Mystique is more than just accent though. The attitude and belief systems are different. Not to promote my book (too much), but I play this up in “Writing Trash and Hunting Buffalo.”  In it the main character, a Hollywood gossip writer from the Midwest, bemoans having to be around the LA folk who he believes are obsessed with fame and fortune and seem almost whacky to his way of thinking.  Basically, it's Midwestern values versus Hollywood.

One of the big differences between Midwesterners and others shows up in their desire to avoid excessiveness. The Midwesterner is the guy drinking quietly in the corner at a party while his New Yorker girlfriend is hugging and kissing every person she runs into and barely knows. If a Midwesterner were to run into an acquaintance at a party, he'd nod and just say “hey.” A kiss on the cheek is only reserved for grandmothers, mothers and maybe a special aunt.

I remember when I released “Trash” I asked my folks to promote it to their friends. When I grilled them a month later, they said they didn’t bring it up to anybody.

“We didn't want to seem like we were bragging.”

Mommmmmmm, Dad, jeez. I finally got Dad to send an email to a few relatives telling about the book, but it was unlikely he said much more than, “Well, Jay wrote another book.”

Midwesterners are typically portrayed in movies and TV as either hayseeds or glass-wearing, shy folk (not nerds mind you).  If they tell someone from outside the region that they come from the Midwest they're likely to be perceived as coming straight from the farm. A good example is in “Star Trek IV” where Kirk tells a woman he’s from Iowa, and she later refers to him as “farm boy.”

This may be the reason that outsiders consider Midwesterners gullible.  However, it not because they are gullible, but that they are too trusting.  A perfect example of this is Kansas. Back in the old days, Kansas was a hotbed of populism.  In the 1890’s Mary Elizabeth Lease (the people’s Joan of Arc) lead a strong movement to help farmers who many believed were taken advantage of by Wall Street.

So these trusting Kansans trusted the Republican party when they moved in and claimed to represent the common man who struggled against the system.  Little did these trusting souls know that the GOP moved away from that mantra in the 1960s and actually became more in league with Wall Street than the common man. So Kansas has been solidly red for decades now, even though those same politicians were bleeding the state dry. 

As a child brought up in the Midwest (yeah, I lived in Kansas during grades school and junior high) I have to admit that I often adhere to the Midwestern Mystique and avoid excessiveness. 

I’d rather go hiking in the woods than rave at a loud party. I’ll choose to blend in to a crowd at a hockey game rather than wear some fancy clothes to draw attention at a bar.

Perhaps most telling, I like sitting home writing a blog while listening to “Kansas” on the stereo than making a scene at the latest hip night spot. 

 Of course I had to include a picture of John Brown.  It's required if you mention Kansas.  This picture is not only on a "Kansas" (the rock band) record album, but also is a gigantic mural in the capitol building in Topeka.  Although Southerners will tell you he's a vicious madman, Kansans see him in a much better light.