JPull

Culture Shocked by Jerry Pullman

I am from the east coast, live in "the east coast fraternity" also known as Smallwood, drive a nice car, pay to park my car in the Smallwood garage and frequently pay to park on campus. I am continually frustrated when I am forced to dodge rusted out pickup trucks or other Indiana cars going 10mph. I do not, however, discourage any person from doing anything they desire, particularly living in Smallwood. Nor am I "just at college for four years to screw around and get stoned." And I do "mingle with, gasp, Hoosiers" even while living in Smallwood.

Upon reaching the end of the article "Down with Smallwood" I frantically searched the paper for the rest of the article, but to my dismay it was complete. I was thoroughly disappointed as I had expected an article titled "Down with Smallwood" to have something to do with Smallwood rather than simply one "Bloomingtonian" girl's expressions of how she hates people from the east coast. Having lived in Smallwood for nearly a year now, I had expected this article to raise many of the pertinent issues to Indiana Students, such as the over corporation, lack of care for the resident"s concerns, that the internet barely moves now thanks to the new virus scan, or the cheap supplies used in construction which allow me to feel a breeze when all the windows and doors are closed.

At first I wanted to write to the author expressing how the article was not only poorly constructed, lacking content and research, but was also in poor taste. Then I had the urge to write an article in response which demonstrated the horrible usage of stereo types, over use of opinion solely based on only her diminutive personal encounters with people from the east coast, and again lack of research and poor writing. Finally I decided that the most appropriate response would be to edit this article so that it actually has purpose, content, and information rather than a single person"s views of an entire coast based entirely on her very few encounters. By creating a properly constructed, well written article, I could show the author what a real article should look like and maybe give her an idea of how one must write to survive in the real world. But unfortunately, I am just a lazy east coaster who would rather do "not much of anything." Did you ever think that maybe they were taking a break from work? That "east coasters" use time management and are able to do work when they needed to and relax when they aren"t? Or that maybe they are just smarter than you and are able to complete their work quickly, allowing for more time to relax? I am not saying that I am a great writer by any means, but I can produce a well written and constructed ten page paper in under an hour if needed. Even this response, although maybe not the most well constructed response, took me very little time. I am sorry if you don"t have that ability, but don"t hold it against people who can. Maybe that"s just what they teach on the east coast and maybe one day you too will learn this gift, hopefully.

If I offend anyone during this response, I am truly sorry. Unlike the careless previous author I am not intending to offend anyone as I have nothing against any person, particularly simply because of where they are from. I have attempted to keep this response fairly unbiased although it is very difficult when responding to such an obnoxiously biased article such as this. But on that note, if you were going to have so many stereo types about New Yorkers listed in an article (rich, lazy, selfish, alcoholics, drug addicts, don"t care about school, against diversity) you should have at least added ONE counter stereotype. For example, how Midwesterners live in farmland and would not know a real city until they saw more than two square blocks of buildings. Or you could have discussed how Midwesterners are stereotyped as being less educated and slower, which I do not agree with, although the author of this article does raise a strong support for that case. A good journalist would have then discussed these and proven them wrong, but rather the author simply chose to attack the east coast.

It is ironic that this article, which the only positive purpose I can find would be to absolve the division between east coasters and Midwesterners by promoting acceptance, proves that the author is obviously not accepting of other people, particularly by referring to anyone that is not from Bloomington as an "east coaster." There are plenty of people in luxury apartments from Ohio, California, Michigan and even Chicago as well as the areas on the east coast that do not generate your "east coasters" such as Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. A more correct title for this article would have been "I Hate "east coasters" particularly New Yorkers." At least then this article would have had some relevance or purpose.

"My problem with these people is they don't understand Midwest culture because they don't try to. And believe me, it's baffling to most of us who are from here." I don"t know who is being baffled, but I have never heard even one person express this. I will speak for the "east coasters" in saying that we are more than eager to have you enlighten us on Midwest culture, although it seems that you are the one who needs a culture shock if you believe that all of east coast culture is based on drugs and alcohol. But as far as me "trying" to understand Midwest culture, I do not know how you expect me to do this. None of my friends from the Midwest seem to have demonstrate much different culture from mine, and if so, they usually are more eager to embrace east coast culture rather than enlighten me on their own. I have not seen any "Midwest culture" classes yet, but I will keep an eye out.

I would like to see the sources on stating that Smallwood is "geared toward out-of-state students who have parents with beaucoup bucks." Last time I checked, anyone can rent an apartment in Smallwood, no matter what their financial background or state of residence is. In fact, I have many friends in Smallwood from Indiana. And as for saying it is "the east coast fraternity," although I do enjoy this description, Smallwood is not even close to being entirely east coast. My friends in Smallwood consist of people from Chicago, California, Indiana, Ohio, and yes New York and New Jersey. Stating that Smallwood is entirely east coasters is simply ignorant. After reading the statement "Do you think affluent Midwesterners want to be around that?" my roommate Daniel Acree stated to me "Isn"t that what me and Alex are?" (Referring to my other roommate, Alex Kamenetskiy, both of whom are from OHIO).

As far as "mingling with, gasp, Hoosiers," I don"t know who is only friends with people who live in the same building as them. I have many "Hoosier" friends, although I don"t think that"s what they call themselves (maybe that"s a "bloomingtonian" thing?). Personally, most of my friends lived in the dorms with me freshman year, and that includes many people from Indiana. On top of that I have many friends from Indiana that either live in Smallwood or that I met from going out or classes.

Being a senior majoring in journalism and political science, I find it rather appalling that an article with such poor writing, construction, and political correctness would not only be written, but be printed. I cant believe that any news paper, even a school one, would allow an article that starts with "obnoxious east coast girls" moving on to accuse that people live in a certain place only so that "everyone can drink alcohol and smoke weed" and then move on to accuse all east coasters "screw around and get stoned" and that the only jobs east coasters can get are the ones "my daddy picked out for me." I find this not only appalling and careless, but in blatant disregard for political correctness by both the author and the editor.

Although the author states, "Regardless of what you are thinking right now, I am not a hater" it is obvious that she is a "hater". I don"t know who"s BMW stole your parking spot, but you obviously will hate all "east coasters" for the rest of your life for it. And just because your "great friends from Long Island and New Jersey" are lazy, does not mean that everyone from the east coast is. The fact that you use your lazy friends as justifying your facts is simply poor journalism as well as ignorant. I realize that this was an opinion article and therefore does not require facts, but if you are going to be making such blatantly biased statements, you should at least have some reason or backing to them.

Maybe you would prefer to not allow people from the east coast to apply to Indiana, but don't write an article complaining when Indiana residents aren't allowed to apply to NYU, Colombia, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale, etc. And by carelessly referring to any out of state students from affluent backgrounds as "east coasters," you have also eliminate any school not in Indiana. In response to the statement "In no way am I anti-development. I want to see Bloomington grow and flourish." Do you really think that Bloomington, Indiana (particularly Indiana University) is going to grow and flourish without affluent students attending Indiana University? The fact is that out of state students make up a large percentage of the Indiana Student, and an even larger percentage of the funding, which is only increasing each year. The fact is many  "Bloomingtonians" have motives for supporting luxury apartments such as Smallwood. These "monstrosities" as you have called them provide various sources of income from the construction to the maintenance and operations. Without the "east coasters" to support such projects, which include many of the bars and other structures around Bloomington, the funding would not exist and neither would the jobs.

"You know, the students who work hard for scholarships, good grades and who have part-time jobs versus those who are just at college for four years to screw around and get stoned. I earned my degree to get a real-life job, not one that my daddy picked out for me." Wow. I cannot even comprehend how you could make such a bold statement that can be offensive to so many people and how your editors would pass such a thing. Just because I may choose not to be an overachiever does not mean that I am screwing around and getting stoned. I am earning my degree just as you are to get a real-life job as well. And to make such a statement as "a real-life job, not one that my daddy picked out for me" blatantly demonstrates your jealousy for people who are better off than you. Besides the fact that any educated person knows that life, particularly in the business world, is about who you know, not what.

To say that all "Bloomingtonians" work hard and get good grades and earn their degree while everyone else does not, you might as well say that "bloomingtonians" are what makes up Bloomington and not everyone else. Bloomington would not survive without the out of state students and I am willing to say that out of state students over all try just as hard if not harder than instate students. Even so, not all "Bloomingtonians" try hard, and not all "east coasters" do not and you should not try and categorize it as such. And as far as telling all of the out of state students to go get a job, I cant wait until you are writing an article titled "The East Coasters are Stealing All the Jobs" because that is what will happen if you go head to head with the out of state students. And as far as telling everyone they need to volunteer or they are a waste of space, I am highly behind volunteering, but it is not volunteering if you are telling them to do it. However, I do encourage everyone to at least try volunteering, especially if you never have. And if you have, try it again, because it is very good for society.

I realize that your idea of journalism may simply be to attack a controversial topic in such a way as to offend people so that they will read your article and tell others to do the same. Although this does work in getting your article read, it is not only horrible journalism, but simply obnoxious as well. If you were to write a well written article based on real facts about a topic that is of interest to people, it would be just as effective and look much better for you. It is obvious that you are simply trying to get attention by exploiting a controversial topic. If you truly do "love Bloomington" and want to make it a better place, you should restrain from subjecting IDS readers to your unintelligent and futile complaints.

The bottom-line is that this "article" sounds like something that would be yelled out in a bar fight rather than printed in a news paper. And yes, having written this response only after a short breather from being disgusted by such a horribly biased and poorly researched or developed article, I may have made some ignorant comments, but I have made them in my own response, rather than something I am recklessly publishing in a newspaper. Next time, please try writing an article which has a purpose rather than to express your personal jealousy of people who were lucky enough to be better off than you. Also, maybe try using some quotes rather than simply references to your friends. Maybe then you would be able to construct an article that has structure and a purpose. The fact that I, an underachieving lazy east coaster, have written this long of a response to your article proves how concerned I was with such a poor article being published in my school newspaper. This is college, it is meant to be a balance of fun and work. Go checkout http://www.collegehumor.com/ or something because every school has students that like to party but they are all also getting their work done as well. I think that you need to travel outside of Bloomington, Indiana because there is a world outside of the Hoosiers, whether you want to accept it or not.

I could have written much more, but I think that this response is more than sufficient for this pointless and poorly written article. If anyone who should read this should wish to provide any comments or feedback, please feel free to e-mail me at gpullman@indiana.edu. Also, if anyone would like to use parts of this rambling to form an actual article, please feel free to do so, just verify with me prior to doing so.

Last Updated: April 06, 2006 at 2:00PM. This is still a work in progress so check back for the final version.

To the IDS: The links on the "print this article" don't work. You forgot the /news/. And if you click on "about the ids" and then try to use the search it doesn't work.

Original Article: