Week of June 14th – Indiana

I know everyone out there has at one point wondered what a Hoosier is, I know I have. Well, I’m going to share with you the 2 explanations that seem the most plausible. Because, trust me, there are some whoppers out there.

The 1st one comes from early Indiana frontier times when neighbors were few and far between. When one heard a noise coming through the woods, a person would yell out "Who's here" which eventually evolved into the word "Hoosier”. OK, I’ll buy it.

I’m, however, fonder of the 2nd tale. Apparently during this same time those neighbors, that didn’t know each other very well, got into a lot of scuffles in the small taverns scattered throughout the state. Often the next morning the bartender would find an ear on the tavern floor and inquire "Who's Ear?" This, of course, evolved into the word "Hoosier." You had to ask, didn’t you?

Indiana is a great sports state, with the Indianapolis Colts (wrong season), the almost 30 year dynasty of the Bobby Knight Hoosiers basketball program (dynasty over), not to mention Purdue & Notre Dame football and, of course, the Indy 500 “the greatest spectacle in sports” (missed that by a couple of weeks). This makes it understandable that some of the most significant sports movies take place in Indiana. “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” were to be on the celebration marquee.

Random stuff - John Dillinger is from Indiana but I don’t think we’ll be robbing any banks for this celebration. The Jacksons are from Gary, IN but I promise I won’t be doing the moonwalk. The 1st successful goldfish farm opened in Martinsville, IN in 1899 but I stopped buying goldfish when I realized they were just becoming raccoon dinner. Speaking of raccoon food.....never mind that’s for another blog.

The historical reports are somewhat sketchy but somewhere between 1914 and 1918 the Raggedy Ann doll was created in Indianapolis. Interesting enough I was in a store this week that had a display of Raggedy Ann dolls with a large 95th Anniversary banner. So I’m going with 1915. I’m sure little girls these days are way too cool for Raggedy Ann and Andy but when I was very small they were the “bomb”.

Indiana is home to some perfect movie watching food. So we settled in with our corn dogs (apparently a major food group in Indiana), Van Camp’s pork & beans (developed in Indianapolis) and Orville Redenbacher (born in Brazil, IN) popcorn for an Indiana film festival headlining “Hoosiers” and “Rudy”.

The table would not be set with the Indiana state flower, the Peony, since it’s past the peony blooming season but you can see Raggedy Ann peeking out from behind a huge peony in our map image.

Color in the “Hoosier State” without the expected sports imagery and travel back to the southwest and the “Land of Enchantment” – New Mexico. 32 down – 20 to go.