I grew up in a Detroit suburb and lived in both Denver and NYC. I didn’t fit in in either. We didn’t have those same childhood touch points - Up North, economic dependence on a single industry, proximity to a city that was historically important but was struggling. I don’t necessarily see Detroit as Midwest. Rust Belt and Great Lakes region for sure. We have commonalities with Pittsburg and Buffalo - cities that were powerhouses, declined to the point of decay, and are now reinventing themselves. There’s a psychological mindset that comes with being from a place like this that my friends from Denver and NYC don’t share. It’s why Detroit vs Everyone is a slogan that resonates. I think a shared history and story defines a region and shapes the people. We have far more in common with Duluth than we do with Omaha. So no, I wouldn’t put Detroit in the Midwest.
Hi, Cheryl. Thanks for your comment. It's so interesting ... I grew up in Colorado, went to college in Denver (and used to be the news editor of Westword) and then moved to New York. Now I'm in Detroit. But coming here, I find Detroit to be very Midwestern -- but more Southern Midwestern because of the Great Migration than other bigger cities in the region. From my myopic experience, it feels like Detroit, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota -- the Great Lakes states -- are the Midwest. I'm listening to the fog horns on the Detroit River right now, and that feels quintessentially Midwestern to me, for example. But I'm hearing from people who are in the prairie Midwest and they feel like they are the heart of the Midwest. But I think there are many subregions that are more aligned, as you describe, with economic and cultural realities than what maps and political lines (state lines, etc., not politics) might tell us. Those don't adhere neatly to what people's lived experience is on the ground. Thanks for reading!
I grew up in a Detroit suburb and lived in both Denver and NYC. I didn’t fit in in either. We didn’t have those same childhood touch points - Up North, economic dependence on a single industry, proximity to a city that was historically important but was struggling. I don’t necessarily see Detroit as Midwest. Rust Belt and Great Lakes region for sure. We have commonalities with Pittsburg and Buffalo - cities that were powerhouses, declined to the point of decay, and are now reinventing themselves. There’s a psychological mindset that comes with being from a place like this that my friends from Denver and NYC don’t share. It’s why Detroit vs Everyone is a slogan that resonates. I think a shared history and story defines a region and shapes the people. We have far more in common with Duluth than we do with Omaha. So no, I wouldn’t put Detroit in the Midwest.
Hi, Cheryl. Thanks for your comment. It's so interesting ... I grew up in Colorado, went to college in Denver (and used to be the news editor of Westword) and then moved to New York. Now I'm in Detroit. But coming here, I find Detroit to be very Midwestern -- but more Southern Midwestern because of the Great Migration than other bigger cities in the region. From my myopic experience, it feels like Detroit, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota -- the Great Lakes states -- are the Midwest. I'm listening to the fog horns on the Detroit River right now, and that feels quintessentially Midwestern to me, for example. But I'm hearing from people who are in the prairie Midwest and they feel like they are the heart of the Midwest. But I think there are many subregions that are more aligned, as you describe, with economic and cultural realities than what maps and political lines (state lines, etc., not politics) might tell us. Those don't adhere neatly to what people's lived experience is on the ground. Thanks for reading!