Normal has a university...no? Isn't ISU in Bloomington/Normal?

Or are you being elitist about what kind of university makes it self-explanatory, Sett?

He may not be aware of Illinois State's location, being from Germany.  I know I wouldn't.

Quote from: BrantaiHe may not be aware of Illinois State's location, being from Germany.  I know I wouldn't.

It's why I asked.  I wanted to make sure.  Or more accurately, I wanted to probe this theory that "universityness" had anything to do with it.

Quote from: Settembrini@Pierce: California is obvious and easy to explain. Berkeley even moreso. I wasn´t implying anything besides that regarding Californian games.

A number of people think Madison, WI is pretty similar to Berkeley Set.

So's Lawrence KS. If you were back in the hippie days, and wanted to drive from Berkely to Columbia, or vice versa, the two best places to stop and rest were Madison and Lawrence. One of the coolest things that happened whie I was in school, during the 20 year annniversary of the "Summer of Love" was the River City Reunion, where a bunch of the aging beat writers and other counter-cultural figures--Hunter Thompson, Timothy Leary, etc--held a festival of aging hippie wierdness in Lawrence. It was fantastic. My brush with literary greatness is narrowly avoiding running over William S Burroughs whle delivering pizza.

I think folks don't realize that from the cowboy days through the Depression, the widwest was dotted with hundreds of little land-grant agricultural schools and engineering colleges. You have to be pretty determined not to get an education in the widwest. It's a great place to be.

Quote from: GunslingerA number of people think Madison, WI is pretty similar to Berkeley Set.

Madison seemed to have sort of a Berkley vibe in spots when I was up there.

Quote from: BrantaiAlso, fair warning: they put bacon on fucking everything here.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!But bacon?  Bacon comes from God's own butt.

Quote from: ReimdallBacon = Glory.  Sorted.

*sigh*

Why does every thread on this site eventually turn into a discussion about swine.

Or in this case tasty swine based meat products. Perhaps there are fewer swine in the midwest because we've eaten so many of them 0_o

Quote from: chaosvoyager*sigh*

Why does every thread on this site eventually turn into a discussion about swine.

Or in this case tasty swine based meat products. Perhaps there are fewer swine in the midwest because we've eaten so many of them 0_o

Shut your piehole and get in the pan, Piggly!

Quote from: chaosvoyager*sigh*

Why does every thread on this site eventually turn into a discussion about swine.

Or in this case tasty swine based meat products. Perhaps there are fewer swine in the midwest because we've eaten so many of them 0_o

Would you prefer folks started talking about Bagels again?  Omelettes maybe?

- Ed C.

Quote from: KoltarWould you prefer folks started talking about Bagels again?  Omelettes maybe?

- Ed C.

Corn?  Funnel cakes?  Beef jerky?  

...

...s'makin' me hungry.

Quote from: James J SkachNormal has a university...no? Isn't ISU in Bloomington/Normal?

Indeed it is.

And one other liberal arts college.

-Thornhammer

Thanks for all the answers. Cleared up some misconceptions I had.

Millikan University in Decatur probably played a major role in the development Judge's Guild.  The first dungeon crawl crpg was written on a computer at the U of I, here in Champaign-Urbana.  Locals here playtested both GDW and JG materials, sometimes at the annual convention.

You know, I just came back from the Corn Roast in Bonduel, Wisconsin...the 50th aniversary, no less.  I have a buzz and am full of all the grilled corn on the cob I could eat.  Seeing the whole town turn out to drink, eat corn, and polka dance is just something out of a bad movie  Tomorrow I'll go 10 miles to hit the Hamburger fest in Seymour, home of the hamburger (for real!), and watch the Ketsup slide, and eat a chunk of a huge hamburger (not as big as the world record holder, which I was there to have a piece of).

I don't know what this has to do with anything...but right now it seems awful funny!  While I was at the corn roast I saw a guy who stood up for my wedding.  He was visiting from California (oranbge Co.) where he moved.  All he kept talking about was California this, and California that...and all I could keep thinking was, "but you don't have a fucking corn roast...do you!?"

Yeah...Wisconsin, corn and RPGs!..and bear...and cheese...and serial killers, can't forget the serial killers!

That's another thing about the small-town Midwest.  One of the reasons we are often so goddamned chunky is because during the fall and summer every little town has to have a festival, fair, street dance, settlers days, celebration, fest (quite different from a festival), and approximately 500 potlucks (one for each church in town) and 124 pancake breakfasts (one for each American Legion, Kiwanis, VFW, Moose Lodge, etc., in the town).  Here, you often find incredibly fattening foods, foods that even if you saturated them in crisco for a year could not possibly be any worse for you.  Anything can be deep fried, possibly even a deep fryer.

But man--the festivals with a certain food in their name--like the Apple/Popcorn Festival up my way, or the Strawberry Festival, or, since it's Indiana, one of 300 fests regarding corn or the harvest--you find some killer food there.  You can ignore the carnies operating the rides, you can ignore that chick selling dreamcatchers in the booth over there, and you ignore the severely mulleted dude with his shirt off, tucked into the back of his rolled-up black jeans yelling at his possibly underage girlfriend--because goddammit, that was the best carmel apple you've ever had.

I love the midwest.  Summer nights here, when there's a festival in town, the insects chirping, and the heat of the day fading to a pleasant warmth--I'm happy to be where I am.