have you ever seen the state seal of indiana? it's f'n crazypants! from what i can tell, it depicts a bison fleeing from an axe-wielding maniac. i'm SO jealous. growing up in NH, all we had on our seal was a picture of the richmond, some warship from the revolutionary war. LAME. here in new york, the seal depicts liberty, justice & a river. LAME. bison + axe-wielding maniac = AWESOMESAUCE. with a state seal like that, it must be the best state in the union, right? well...not exactly. i visited the northwest corner of the state just south of chicago a few years back & even though i only saw that one corner of the state, i'm pretty sure it's not the best state in the union. it's got a lot going for it though. i mean, to the untrained eye, indiana is nothing more than sports & corn, but a closer look reveals that it's actually a land with a rich history full of famous events & people & whatnot. you know johnny appleseed? dude wasn't born in indiana, but he totally died a sudden death one day in fort wayne, IN. history!
a few fun facts...let's start with the state nickname: "the hoosier state." folks from there are called "hoosiers." why this is is sort of a mystery, but i'm pretty sure it has something to do with the phrase "who's your daddy?" the state motto: "the crossroads of america." why? because a million interstate highways run through indiana & it has more miles of interstate per square mile than any other state in the u.s. um, i guess that's something to be proud of. get this: the state capital--indianapolis--is the second-biggest capital in the nation, behind only sprawling-ass phoenix...not that indianapolis isn't sprawling-ass in its own right.
but yeah...sports & corn. when i think of indiana, that's what i think of...that & little pink houses (for you & me), a type of structure that i believe is prevalent across the state. sure indiana's covered in corn. it's the fifth-largest corn-producing state in the nation. at times, half the state's farmland has corn on it, but it turns out that the calumet region, that same area in the northwest corner of the state that i visited, is the largest steel-producing region in the country. suck on that pittsburgh! you should probably rename your football program accordingly. but still, there's a good amount of corn in indiana, so i'm not entirely making shit up. also, there's at least one turkey farm in indiana. i know this because i totally know a guy who runs one.
as for sports, ever heard of a lil car race called the indy 500? yeah yeah, i know. auto racing isn't actually a sport but let's suspend disbelief or something for the purposes of this post, k? so the indy 500 totally happens in indianapolis. dudes (& danica patrick) driving cars in ovals for 200 laps. it's a friggin tradition. the legendary notre dame fighting irish, who until 1994 were actually a relevant college football team, play their games in south bend, which is on the central north border of the state. my fave basketball player as a child, larry bird, was born in french lick, a small town at the bottom of the state. the iconic sports film hoosiers is based on the 1954 milan high school basketball team. these days, the town has NOTHING going for it at all but for years there's been talk of revitalizing the town by building a museum celebrating the basketball team. um, ok. good luck with that. i once read an amazing article about milan & its quest for the museum, but i can't find it at the moment. it's somewhere on the internet & if you can find it, it's both interesting & sad. indiana also has a good nfl team but as a patriots fan, i don't acknowledge their presence.
since i'm essentially obsessed with music, i'd be crazy if i didn't mention all the badass musicians who hail from indiana. first off there's MJ & all his assorted siblings, who grew up in gary, a crime-ridden city of 80K just south of chicago. if you're into the hip hop, freddie gibbs is also from gary (& uses squarespace for his website just like me!). he very well may be the best lyricist out there right now. recognize. john mellencamp is from seymour & now lives outside of bloomington in a house that is neither little nor pink. two-fifths of the original guns n' roses lineup (axl & izzy) are from indiana, as is david lee roth. for those into indie rock, jagjaguwar/secretly canadian records is stationed in bloomington. if old timey music is your thing, cole porter was born in peru, IN. could you imagine the collective indiana band they could form? yeah...me neither.
okay...i have to come clean with you, other than the sports, corn & a handful of musicians, there's not much else about indiana that's interesting. sure james dean & david letterman & will shortz are hoosiers, but a state's got to be more than who was born there, y'know? famous events? eh. rich history? eh. i guess at some point they probably kicked some indians out of the state but the indians were TOTALLY COOL with it because they got a state named after them. once the civil war came, indiana was the first western state to join the fight, siding with the union. three presidents are from indiana. some guy named lincoln lived there in his teens & the ineffectual harrison presidents--benjamin & william henry--both spent time in indiana. other than that, it's a pretty meh history. so yeah...some spectacular people are from there but as a state, it's not very spectacular. sorry, indiana...i tried. at least you have that sweet state seal to be proud of.
snack: endangered species chocolate dark chocolate bar w/ cacao nibs, yacon & acai
drink: dad's old fashioned root beer
indianapolis is home to endangered species chocolate, a company that got their start in oregon back in 1993 before they moved the company to indiana. their chocolates are all-natural & in love with the planet & stuff. they're so in love with it that they give 10% of their profits to "fund species and habitat conservation efforts." out of their twenty-or-so 3 oz chocolate bars, i went with the dark chocolate bar with cacao nibs, yacon & acai. it'll probably come as no surprise that like with the snack from our last edition of the fifty states project, i had to step foot in a whole foods to procure it. luckily, i got it during the same trip as my last snack, so my whole foods exposure was limited. each of their twenty-or-so 3 oz chocolate bars supports a different animal & has info about the animal inside the wrapper. mine supports the red-eyed tree frog. they're FRIGGIN ADORABLE & i want like fifty of them as pets...if only i had a rainforest to keep them in.
as for the chocolate bar itself, it's made from a chocolate that's organic & clean tasting. as far as dark chocolates go, it's acceptable...nothing spectacular. out of the cacao nibs, yacon & acai, the one that makes the most difference in the taste of the bar is the cacao nibs, which add a crunchiness to the chocolate. the traces of yacon (a sweet root) & acai (a berry) add a subtly sweet, fruity element to the chocolate. all told it's a pretty good chocolate bar but if i ever buy another one, it'll only be because of my newfound love for that adorable red-eyed tree frog. don't you just want to pinch his cute, bulgy lil eyeballs?!!!
for my indiana beverage, i got a bottle of dad's old fashioned root beer. dad's has been making root beer since way back in 1937 & after getting their start in chicago & going through a few acquisitions, they're currently headquartered in jasper, a city of 15,000 near the bottom of the state. they've been around for so long that they were the first company ever who sold their sodas in a half-gallon bottle. they were also the first company to use the six-pack designed by atlanta paper company (which apparently became the standard). these days, dad's is responsible for such sodas as bubble up, suncrest orange & dr wells, three sodas that (along with dad's root beer) i haven't seen anywhere in this country except for in one store in brooklyn. word is that costco carries at least the root beer but since i've only been in a costco once in my life & have no plans to return, i can't confirm this.
it's made with cane sugar and natural & artificial flavors. while it doesn't specify what those flavors are, it's obvious that one of them is mint because it tastes like root beer with a bunch of wintergreen tic tacs tossed in it. the mint's the only flavor i really notice. there are no hints of vanilla or anise or cinnamon or anything like that in it. while it's not bad, it's too minty for a root beer. i mean, i've been trying a lot of different root beers over the past year or so & out of all of them, dad's is on the lower end of the awesomeness spectrum. in fact, i've had a few bottles of the stuff over the past few weeks & after doing so, i've decided that unless i need to calm a soda fix & freshen my breath all at the same time, i think i'm all set with dad's root beer for a while.