UP'ers, Iron Mountaineers, Check in!

[elehhhhna]

I visited your Lovely lower UP last week. Gorgeous.

One question, though. Why do y'all cringe when you see Illiois plates, hear a Chicago accent, or GOOD FORBID, an intentionally exaggerated East TX accent?

TELL YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY, please?

[jeanarrett]

1. Who said we did?

I have a friend driving up here right now from Texas and I can't wait to hear his good ole sexy Texas drawl. And it's Ohio license plates, not Illinois that we cringe at! :D

[1gobluedem]

2. Also Indiana

Indiana and Ohio drivers are the WORST. Slow and erratic.

[jeanarrett]

3. Yes. And they don't understand the concept of the passing

lane--as in "get out of it!"

[1gobluedem]

4. Or that if you push the little stick on the steering wheel

It will indicate that you plan to turn....

[elehhhhna]

6. lol. That stick is only used in TX to remind the driver to turn.

Hell with everyone else.

[elehhhhna]

5. It was quite obvious. I slapped on a Tex drawl and acted churchy

and it got MUCH worse. Someone needs to educate their elders about staring and gawking soooo blatantly. Especially loved the "Let's kill the Liberals" tee shirts, too!

Having travelled a bit, in US & out, I've NEVER seen such behavior so consistently, and frankly never noticed it up there before, either. Just wondering if it's gotten worse since Bush or what?

[jeanarrett]

7. Y'all must have been on the west side of the state, eh?

[elehhhhna]

8. Yuppers. Da UP.

[weeksbr1]

9. I'm a little insulted...

First of all, it's spelled "Yooper," not "UPer" and certainly not "Yupper." It's said pass-tee not paistey. And what are you talking about? I would be happy to address any concerns you have about the UP and its rich (tongue in cheek) culture, but I don't really understand from your post what exactly happened. From what I gather, you are a Texas native who lives in Illinois who travelled to the UP and put your liberalism on display. Apparently, from what I gather, a majority of the people who you encountered treated you poorly because 1.) your accent, 2.) your Illinois residency, or 3.) your liberalism.

FYI: The UP is full of Democrats. Where I live, in Manistique, we are represented by a Democratic Gov., two Democratic Senators, a Democratic Congressman, a Democratic State Senator, a Democratic State Representative, a mostly Democratic county board, our clerk and treasurer are both Democrats, our district court and circuit court judges were (MI has non-partisan judicial elections) Democrats, our mayor was a Democrat (we currently don't have one), and we went for Kerry in the last election. And we aren't even a college town like Marquette which is even farther to the left than we are.
Granted, there is a strong belief that the Democrats are trying to take away hunting rifles (not true) with their crazy communist gun control laws, but that has been incited by the gillions of dollars the NRA has spent trying to beat Rep. Bart Stupak over the years.
Granted, most residents of the UP are extremely sheltered. Many have never traveled outside the UP more than a few times - many never have at all. Please forgive a great group of people for exibiting a little xenophobia. After all, atleast (unlike Texas) we don't want to build a huge, multi-billion dollar fence to keep out people who are different than we are.

[elehhhhna]

10. Uh oh, Kreskin, you are mistaken. Sorry. I'll explain:

"Yuppers" means "yup/yes/aye/ya/affirmative etc.)

Last time I checked the Upper Peninsula was sometimes referred to as the U.P.

I'm B&R Chicago, now in Sugar Land (DeLay's district) so have a Little Sympathy, eh?

Note I've spent lots of time in No WI & UP over the last 20 years visiting my husbands fascinating Grandparents and fantastic parents.

No liberalism on display whatsoever. (I'm not a complete idiot.) I was driving a rental--the OUT OF IRAQ NOW bumper sticker was firmly attached to my personal car back at home. In the garage. My party was not loud or inappropriately dressed.

I've traveled much of the Caribbean, Mexico, a bit o' Europe, Latin America, Canada (where I was flashed my first peace sign in 1968) and the US of A.

NEVER have I encountered such staring, rudeness, and downright surly behavior. Oops, forgot to mention mouth-breathing.

There were also many lovely, helpful, good humored people, as well, but GEEZ. Some of y'all were a bit too "Deliverance" for my taste, thus the OP.

I heard all about alleged lib'ral gun-removing policies. Yes, it's misinformation. There is valid hunting culture in IL TX WI & MI and about 46 other states. No big deal. They seem to really fear that without lots of guns the dreaded Hmong or blacks or Mexicans will sneak in and slit their throats while they sleep. Quite paranoid, imo.

Re; Texas. Come on down. You'd be pleasantly surprised at the salad bowl we have here. On this block alone we have neighbors (who all do impromptu bbq's & swims, watch out for each other, help each other like family...it's beautiful) from: NY, NJ, MN, PA, Central TX, E TX, CA, Mexico, India, China, France, Germany, Vietnam, Nigeria, Bolivia, Iraq, Iran, and even some--eek!-- Jews! We're 100% less segregated than Chicago.

I have been able to get on well with people from EVERY culture you can imagine, often on their home turf, by being soft-spoken, friendly, and eager to listen & learn.

I have NEVER had an experience like my visit to Iron Mountain, MI.

[Lefty48197]

11. I always enjoyed my visits to Iron Mountain

[elehhhhna]

12. Lefty, I LOVE it there, but it's getting pretty red, evidently...

My fave sight is the billboard on 141 in Pembine that sais "Ho-Made Donuhts"

[weeksbr1]

13. How is it... "evidently getting pretty red up there"?

prove it. Meeting a bunch of biggots in one town in the UP does not take away from the fact that Democrats hold most UP offices, and that Democratic statewide and national candidates always have and still do fare better in the UP than in most of the rest of the state. Some of us may be backward, but we're not ALL stupid.

I'm actually too hurt by the fact that such a free thinking person such as yourself would make such a generalization about the entire UP based on a bad experience in Iron Mountain.

And you're right... Texas is the epicenter of racial harmony... that's why the minutemen and the Mexican immigrants get along so well. :P This is from their blog.

"HatchTX reports that the police around them now are completely ill-equipped to control the shoving Mexicans all around them.
The police have brought up a group of ambulances that they appear to intend to use as an emergency evacuation method for the White patriots that are cornered at the Dallas City Hall.
The police have escorted some of the White patriots who wanted to get away from the screaming Mexicans into the basement of Dallas City Hall to get away from the bottles being thrown at them by the Mexicans.
Mexicans and other non-White invaders by the hundreds of thousands appear to be set to take to the streets all over the U.S. with their demands for complete capitulation by White America to the Mexican invasion of our land."

Copied from http://www.txminutemen.blogspot.com/

I think I prefer "ho-made donuts".

[elehhhhna]

14. You make a good point. They may not be bigots at all. I'll restate it:

A large percentage of them were extremely, overtly rude.

Sorry if I slammed MI or WI -- I love them both and camped them for 20 years.

I have no more reason to defend Texas than you do MI--there are positives and negatives everywhere.

So. Could someone would explain what the crankiness was all about up in the UP?
I suspect it's the economy and perhaps Iraq, as they seem to join the Mil at above-average ratios. But I made that up. Hell, it might have been the heat (mid/high 80s).

That's why I asked. What do you think?

[weeksbr1]

15. They join the mil because they're all poor...

no one has any money in the UP... that's part of its charm, but also very sad since lots of kids think that they have no other choice after high school. Poverty is a big problem because all of the mines closed years ago and the lumber companies now have huge machinery that does all the cutting so employment went way down, and nothing has taken their place. The UP is dying. The only young people who stay there after graduating stay because they are either financially trapped there or, because of the f-ing poor excuse for sex-ed in this country, they get pregnant at a young age and have to grow roots there. I'm very lucky compared to many people that I graduated with (2003) because I got out with a lot of help from my mother. Lots of people don't have that. The over-zealous Iraq sentiments might be a coping mechanism for having so many young people there. I can imagine that saying the war is pointless would be pretty hard if your kid is getting shot at.

And I'm not defending Michigan... I'm defending the UP (the bastard child of Michigan). In the LP there's a lot of discrimination against people from the UP. It hurts when people think that I'm an ignorant biggot who probably can't read because of where I was born. So I think I do have a reason to defend it.

As for the crankiness... I have no idea. I've never experienced or expressed it while I'm at home unless people start knocking the UP (that's another story all together). Everyone I've ever talked to except you has raved about how friendly everyone is there.

As for Wisconsin... screw them. Let them eat their cheese, get constipated and vote republican all they want! ;) just kidding. But '04 was a little too close for comfort there.

The edit is because I accidentally typoed Wisconsin and put a "g" at the end of it and I didn't want you to think that I'm a moron.

[Lefty48197]

16. I think you can't see the forest for the the trees

I've only met friendly people in the U.P. The motel keepers love me. The shop and restaurant owners love me. I'm sure it's me and not my money, but NOBODY has EVER been anything less than friendly to me in the U.P. and I've gone up there at least 40 times in my life. I think my statistical sample is much more accurate than yours. And, I've been just about everywhere up there, even places that nobody else goes. I've been to the Porkies, the Soo and everywhere in between, and St. Ignace to Menominee and everywhere in between there too. You just had rotten luck. Better luck next time.

[Jokinomx]

17. From Another Born & Raised Yooper...

I think your profile says it all... your hobby "smartin off". I can't speak for all Yoopers... but the vast majority treat others as good as they have been treated. I was a door to door salesman for two years in the U.P. and I have been in just about every little town up there, so I think I have a good handle on the attitudes of the population. Yoopers are a kind hearted people that do not like disrespectful behavior. I am not saying you WERE disrespectful ... just whoever you pissed off thought you were.

Your experience reminds me of a ancient parable I once read... though it was about a couple (not a visitor) that had to move to a different city. Being apprehensive about this new city, they chose to meet the the local wise man and ask some advice about settling down in this new city.

The wiseman only asked one question.... How were the people from the city you came from?

They answered "Terrible, So many liers and cheats, you always had to watch your back."

The wiseman returned "You might as well continue on... because the same type of people live here."

A week later a different couple from a different city met before the wiseman and asked the same question about moving to this new city.

The wiseman asked them about how they felt about the place they used to live?

They answered..."The people were wonderful, we really hated to leave, but finances forced us to have to relocate".

The wiseman then said... "Don't worry, you will find the same type of people here".

====================


Now a relocated Yooper living below the bridge, I have found even Lopers can be nice. Since, I married one. In fact, I may be making a trip to Norway, Mi in a couple of weeks as my niece is getting married.

Peace,

Jokinomx

[TahitiNut]

18. That 'parable' is from Carl Sandberg's "The People Yes," iirc.

As related to me 50 years ago, it was a man moving and stopping to ask a farmer standing along the road.

I've found it to be perfectly true. I've moved a LOT - and lived all over the country, from small town to large.

[Jokinomx]

19. Interesting...

I read this parable in a book by an Eastern Indian I believe it was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Rajneesh was very well read and used stories to convey his message and meanings. I guess he could have read Sandburg's version and changed it a bit...or it could have been the other way around also. Just as I changed the story a little bit..since I read it several years ago.

Either way, the message is the same and very true.

Peace,

Jokinomx