State Name:
Indiana
Capital:
Indianapolis
Date of Entry:
December 11, 1816
Maps:
 |
| Map of USA. Indiana outlined in dark ink, shaded, & with name written on it. |
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| Close-up of Indiana & its neighbors. |
Neighbors:
Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois
Water Borders:
Lake Michigan, Ohio River, Wabash River
Total Area:
36,418 square miles
Five Largest Cities:
Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Carmel
Famous Geographical Point:
Wabash River
State Nickname:
The Hoosier State. People in Indiana call themselves Hoosiers. It's the official mascot of Indiana University. And yet no one knows what it means or where the nickname came from. The colorful yarn I heard when I first arrived at IU was that, after an old timey barroom brawl, someone picked a severed ear up from the floor and said, "Whose ear?"
Famous Person:
Jim Gaffigan, comedian
So many famous Hoosiers! I've done quite a few musicians recently, so I decided not to go with the obvious choice (Michael Jackson). I've seen a few of Gaffigan's shows in person & I think he's hilarious. I'm going to ignore the fact that he went to hated rival Purdue University for a year. ;)
Book Set In/About:
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
In this young adult novel, two lost souls have a chance meeting and begin to bond as they explore Indiana's natural offerings. It's on my list, haven't gotten to it yet, but I hear good things about it!
Movie Set In/About:
"Rudy" (1993), directed by David Anspaugh
Another wealth of choices for this category. I decided to go with the film that many men will say made them cry. It's the biographical tale of a young man who aspires to play football for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, despite many obstacles.
Headline of the Day:
"India-Based IT Company Plans Indiana Site with US Expansion" in US News & World Report.
2 comments:
Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! I love that movie.
I loved All the Bright Places, too. People seem to run hot or cold on that novel.
Indiana is where one of my freshman year suite-mates was from. She had a great name, which I am not going to type here in case she has a google alert on her maiden name. I wouldn't want her to read that she was kind of a mean girl.
I know someone else who grew up in Bloomington and found it to be a perfect town. And I know some other people who went to school there and found it to be a high-self-esteem town, which fit with what I know of the person who grew up there.
(And I totally recognize I live in a high-self-esteem town myself.)
I really loved Bloomington! I think it was perfect for me, coming from a small town environment. It was a nice way to ease into bigger city living. I have very fond memories of it, but it's about the only place I'd recommend living in Indiana. It's a five hour or so drive from my hometown and we used to say, "You see the three Cs on the highway in Indiana: cows, cops, and corn."
I'm reading All the Bright Places right now. Have 100 or so pages left but I already know the bad thing that happens. Might wait a while to finish.
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