Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with midwest

Small town bachelor party

gregoryg — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:26:06 -0800

Bachelor party, challenge level: wholesome time, tiny Midwestern town, Thursday night, 7 people total, best man (me) arriving in town a few hours before. At this point all that's decided is a barbecue, and at some point going to one of the 3 bars in town. The groom seemed amenable to games of vague skill (himself mentioned bowling and ping-pong, neither of which are available in town that night), but I want to avoid a handful of 20 and 30-somethings sitting around playing Apples to Apples.

In my mind the constraints have made me think "low key," but I'm starting to realize that this may be the wrong line of thinking. So I'm interested in activities, themes, or any other quirky or not-so-quirky idea that you have that makes small town Iowa on a Thursday more interesting than just another night at the bars with some friends.

Also, Collin if you're reading this, stop it!

What is the Midwestern Oxford American/Garden & Gun?

mostly vowels — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 06:20:16 -0800

As a Midwestern expat living in the South, I have more Southern literature, magazines, blogs, and podcasts than I can shake a stick at. How do I find the Midwestern equivalents? I lived in Ohio my whole life until I moved to the South a few years ago. Since moving here, I've started reading the Oxford American, Garden & Gun, and a slew of great podcasts, radio shows, and blogs. I love how all these things help me connect to this region of the country. Now I want to consume similar content that's explicitly about the Midwest..... but does it exist?

I don't care about the form of the material, as long as it's reasonably easy to access and not too geographically specific to a certain area/or city in the Midwest (I'm more interested in content that covers the whole Midwestern region). I'm a librarian with great access to interlibrary loan and academic databases, so more hefty material is fine as well.

Things I'm not too interested in/already know about:
-Well known NPR personalities like Ira Glass and Garrison Keillor. Have listened to them for ages and do enjoy them.
-I hate industrial Midwestern rustbelt "falling down building porn" ...I find it profoundly offensive, grossly voyeuristic, boring, and wish it would go away forever (to put it mildly)
-I just found UrbanPlains, but sadly it looks like it's been defunct for a while.

***Extra bonus points if you can recommend any outlets that clearly have a weird relationship with each other (e.g., how Garden & Gun has picked up some OA writers, and how OA released an extremely snarky editorial against G&G. I eat stuff like that up with a spoon, although I realize that, to stereotype for a moment, Midwesterners are less likely to commit things like that to print!)

Video time capsule

Sreiny — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:28:19 -0800

Looking to make a video time capsule with my friends. What questions should I ask, what should we put in it. For New Years, I am travelling to a cabin with my dog, my girlfriend, and three other good friends. We've been prompted to make something that will commemorate the year, or this point in time.

I think it'd be great to do a video time capsule. I'm trying to imagine what this would be though. I think for sure I'd like to answer some simple questions. Nothing too aspirational (no talk to yourself in 10 years type of thing), but more matter-of-fact about everyday life at the end of 2012 in the midwestern United States. A nice slice of life. Music, objects, talking, etc.

I could use some help, what should this video entail? I've looked through the other time capsule questions, and there's some good suggestions about physical objects. And maybe any suggestions how to hide this away for 20 years.

I have a cannon 7d, and decent amateur editing skills.

Thanks!

I'm driving through flyover country. Where should I stop?

schmod — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 20:15:37 -0800

I'm driving from northern New Jersey to Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow via I-80, and returning to DC on Sunday via 76/70/270. What can I do to make these journeys less boring? I know I'll need to stop for gas, nourishment, caffeine, and amusement along the way to keep myself from going insane as I pass through [what has been described to me as] a whole lotta nothing. What are the hidden gems on these routes?

I have the entire day to complete the drive, and will be on my own. Although I don't want to push the trip too far into the night, I don't mind stopping for a bit along the way.

Thanks in advance!

Charming small-town stop between Atlanta and Kansas City?

ohsnapdragon — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:25:11 -0800

Where should we stop for the night between Atlanta and Kansas City? Sometime this winter, my wife and I will be driving from Atlanta to a suburb of Kansas City. It's about 14 hours. We want to stop for the night between 4 - 6 hours outside of Kansas City, without adding much time to our overall trip. The target area is somewhere between eastern Missouri and western Kentucky. We'll be on 24 W, 57 N, 64 W.

We would like:
-not TOO rustic cabin OR
-otherwise appealing hotel, motel, etc (no bed and breakfasts, we're gay and don't want to risk awkwardness/rejection in small-town middle america)
-quick access off highway
-something decent to eat nearby and a nice place to walk

We will also have two dogs. We don't want to spend more than $100 for lodging.

Ideas? First hand experience would be very helpful.

Should I get a fatbike?

rocketman — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:33:47 -0800

Should I get a fatbike? I'm a year-round bike commuter in Madison, WI, with additional recreational rides here and there on evenings and weekends. I own two road bikes, a tandem, a monstercross bike I use as my commuter, and usually have some weird project bike going for whatever reason. So I'm sort of into bikes.

Since I suffer from depression, getting my exercise is really important, and especially in winter. My riding tapers off a little during winter: the rec rides get cut out 100%, and the commuting slows because of either conditions or inertia. Some folks have suggested that I get a fatbike for both. I've test ridden a Surly Moonlander for ten minutes, and while it was a ton of fun, I'm not sure if those ten minutes would endure long enough to justify the price tag.

Here are my concerns:

1. A bike mechanic friend of mine said the high Q-factor of a fatbike would wreck my knees in no time. I didn't think it would be a problem since too low a Q-factor can irritate my hips, so I normally ride with some spread. This same friend didn't believe that a low Q-factor would cause hip problems.

2. Will tires still be available in these sizes in, say, 20 years?

3. My commute is 11 miles one way, though with a fatbike I could take shortcuts I'd never dream of taking today. Still: is this too long a distance to be riding on a fatbike?

4. Most of my ride is over pavement, and most of that is bike path. In winter, the paths can get pretty hairy. My thinking is that hitting the snow when the ruts and ice are treacherous would keep me from walking my bike too much. Is this magical thinking?

5. I understand the key to a fatbike is appropriate tire pressure for the riding surface. Would the variable conditions of winter riding dictate that I constantly dismount to adjust my tires? If so, I'd just keep riding the monstercross with studs (ugh, how I hate studded tires).

Any insight or opinions would be very helpful!

Last one in the clay ball room is a 썩은 달걀

koucha — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:58:37 -0800

Are there any Korean-style spas in Minnesota? In the Midwest? While visiting family in the DC area, I was taken here for the first time (please MeMail me for a complete review). In general, I thought it was fantastic, and if there was such a facility where I live, I would be visiting on a regular basis, but that all my google-fu has gotten me (once I adjusted to avoid bogus "Asian massage" type results, which is NOT what I'm looking for) is the locations of similar places on other coasts. Does such a thing exist out here, or do I need to be saving up for my next visit out east?

How do I survive a year or two in a small town after years in the city?

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:22:48 -0800

How do I survive a year or two in a small town after years in the city? I'm originally from a very small town of <1000 people in mid-northern Minnesota. I went away to college in a major U.S. city for four years. I've just graduated and moved back home so that I could see my close-knit family for awhile (and make some money, pay off loans) before the "next big step," which isn't yet planned, but will most likely be grad school.

The thing is, I'm glad to see my family, but I forgot that I abso-fucking-lutely hate it here. I've been looking for a job-- even the shittiest of jobs-- for over a month with no results, and I'm getting closer and closer to having to pay student loans back. (I'm in the classic under-/over-qualified dilemma of those with humanities degrees.) I have a driver's license, but the nearest taste of civilization (a mid-smallish port city, MN residents will know where I'm talking about) is 20 miles away, and I have a relatively bad anxiety disorder that makes driving really difficult for me. (I'm working on it, but it's been a lifetime issue, so it's not going to magically resolve itself any time soon IMO). There's no public transit, a taxi ride would cost $40 one way, and the only public shuttles are extremely unreliable and need-based. I've gotten two job opportunities in this slightly larger city, but the prospect of commuting every day is scary and even maybe impossible, due to my shaky driving skills.

I'm starting to get quite depressed. I have only one remaining friend around here. I've started smoking again. I want to see a therapist (used to be on medication until my student insurance expired), but I know once I get a job my health insurance will disappear, and everything feels like an uphill battle (hello again, poverty). I love my family but there are currently about five of us living in a tiny house, and I'm going crazy-- I don't have a dresser or a closet for my things and I've been living out of a suitcase, plus there's a spirit of negativity here ("why'd you even go to college if you can't find a job now?") that makes me want to scream when I'm already in this stressed and frustrated state. My dad has been trying to help out all his kids financially for the last few years, thus there's not a lot left over for me (I was very self-sufficient in college). In a lot of ways I feel like I'm reverting to my teenage years, thanks to living in my childhood home and feeling generally overloaded. Basically I feel like a child and have started regressing to the "learned helplessness" state that I thought I grew out of.

I had a job in the major city where I went to college, plus I had friends, and the excitement of living in a constantly changing environment. There were cheap, entertaining things to do all the time. Public transit was the most beautiful boon to me-- I could go anywhere nearly anytime without the stress of operating a vehicle, and I was no longer limited by my difficulties with driving. I'm genuinely an adventurous person when I don't have to rely on a car. I desperately want to live in the city again. But everyone knows how hard it is for college grads to find jobs these days, so I'm not counting on being able to go back soon. In all likelihood I'll be stuck here at home for at least a year (my loans are so small I'd really like to pay them back before embarking on a new endeavor) and I just need some coping strategies ASAP.

I've thought about moving out of the house, but since I don't have a job (or a car, or insurance...) it's going to be awhile. How do I handle this? And maybe even make it into a positive? I thrive on independence, and it's so hard to feel independent in this environment. I also forgot how different I feel from most people at home; I felt like I genuinely belonged at university. Here, I don't have the skills my family values, and they have almost no interest in my skills or talents (I was just notified that I got honors on my degree and the apathy was palpable). I feel pretty useless and upside-down most of the time.

Relief from the interstate

aught — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:13:15 -0800

In late August we'll be driving from upstate NY to the Black Hills in S. Dakota, almost entirely on I-86 in NY and I-90 the remainder of the way. We take this trip to visit relatives periodically and over the years we've found some good but brief diversions along the way to give small breaks from the monotony -- great Japanese gardens in Rockford, IL; the kitschy Spam Museum in MN; Amish restaurants in Shipshewanna, IN; the West side market in Cleveland on weekends (our timing is bad for that this time); Carr's cheese in Mauston, WI. We take 2 days out (stay in W suburbs of Chicago), 3 days back (stays in Tomah, WI and Bowling Green, OH). Any recommendations are gratefully accepted, noting that we don't want to get detoured from our route (nothing that's more than 15-20 mi from the interstate, pretty much) because we do have a destination with relatives waiting to see us, and that it'll probably be mid-week travel each way.

Travel ideas U.S. midwest

wallawallasweet — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 02:50:13 -0800

[Very last minute U.S. Midwest travel filter] Going to be in Bloomington for a conference and then have a couple days planned in Chicago...what to do with the three extra days? Will be flying over to Indiana on a conference later this week and then meet up with a friend in Chicago. Afterwards, I'll still have three days to play with (but no car) and will eventually fly out of Indianapolis. Any ideas on what to see in the vicinity of this area?

Note: never been to the Midwest, but if I could I'd love to explore the surrounding nature and wildlife (don't have much gear though)...what are my options like? Wish I had more time to plan ahead, but my brain has been a bit fried with this presentation, and I'd certainly appreciate any ideas to help me along in the last minute logistics.
Thanks in advance!

What are the best vacation destinations within driving distance from Chicago?

Angel de Lune — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:28:46 -0800

What are the best vacation destinations within driving distance from Chicago? My husband and I need a vacation, but forking over the cash for a plane ticket is not in the cards this year. We are exploring our options as far as driving somewhere exciting. We will be departing from Chicago (Schaumburg, really, for those of you who are familiar with the area). We can take up to a week off of work, but are planning on a 4-day vacation, unless something is really worth our while. We have been to most of the usual nearby spots (Galena, Starved Rock, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Dells, Indianapolis, Springfield, Milwaukee, etc.). We don't mind driving ~10 hours, but too much longer will be pushing it. Most of the exciting places seem to be on the coasts; is there nothing exciting in the Midwest? :)

Our interests include nature (gardens, hiking, wildlife viewing, etc.), culture (museums, religious sites, local landmarks), nerd culture (tech and video games), and quirky sites (i.e. House on the Rock). We're not really beach people, and we're planning this trip for mid-to-late May anyway, so it won't be warm enough for that (for me, at least!).

Does anyone have any suggestions? Right now Niagara Falls is ranking high on our list, but if there is something closer that is comparably cool, we would love to hear about it. Thanks!

Sometimes we hear banjos and pigs squealing out there in the woods and it's scary...

youandiandaflame — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:20:17 -0800

We live in the sticks. I'd like to take my 7-year-old out to where the people are! Can you help me conceive an awesome, week-long-ish trip for $1000 or less? I've saved up about $1000 for the annual vacation my son and I take. Typically we visit the Lake of the Ozarks and relax and read and swim, all the while camping out in a house much nicer than the one we live in the rest of the year. However, this year I'd really like to TAKE him somewhere. I grew up and he's growing up just 30 minutes from this Lake and while the vacation is nice and does the job I'd like it to do in terms of a trip for us, I'd like to expand his horizons if I can afford it.

We are located about 2.5 hours south of St Louis and I thought the hive mind might be able to direct me to a vacation for the two of us. Typically, we're not so much interested in things like theme parks though state parks are right up our alley, if we can hike and see pretty things that will awe him and his 7-year-old brain. I have a reliable car so we can travel but I'd like that to take as little time as possible. I'd also like the 1000 bucks I've got stowed away to get us at least 5 days away from home, if that's possible.

I could actually come up with a couple hundred more dollars if someone knows of something right outside my price range, if that helps too. Anyone in a state bordering Missouri able to offer suggestions to get us out of the sticks for a week?

A good book about the immigration of Norwegians to the Midwest?

Lutoslawski — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:47:44 -0800

I'm looking for a good book about the Scandinavia to Midwest America immigrant experience (non-fiction). The Midwest is filled with Norwegians who arrived seemingly in droves to Minnesota and Iowa and Wisconsin in the late 19th century. I'd like to read a good history of how this came about.

Resources other than books (websites, documentaries, etc) are welcome also.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hokey medical spas near Indiana?

ChrisHartley — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:25:55 -0800

My wife really likes run down tourist attractions and old fashioned "medical" spas, both of which are found in Hot Springs, Arkansas. For her birthday this month I need something closer to Indiana (within 200 miles of Indianapolis). Recommendations? If the two can't be found together within range I would be interested in hearing about good run down tourist attractions near Indiana and then I'll try and find some sort of indulgent experience close to that.

We have already been to Mammoth Cave, KY and staying in a cement teepee motel as great fun.

Afforable day trips around chicago, Metra/public transit accessible

faeuboulanger — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:02:10 -0800

Afforable day trips outside of chicago, Metra/public transit accessible I am looking for excuses to get out of the Chicago proper (probably during weekdays) and experience a little more of Illinois. The caveat? I'm a poor student without access to a car and I'd like keep these excursions relatively short--a day or less. I love art, eating, shopping (record/thrifting/antiquing especially)... I'm open to most anything! Thanks for the suggestions in advance!

Ut oh, road closed ahead

batikrose — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:22:17 -0800

Need routing help, RV traveling from Winnipeg to Memphis ... our usual route has closures and detours. So in about 10 days we take our annual journey from Winnipeg to the Memphis area. Usually we go I-29 from the Canadian border to Kansas City, then east, but I just learned that parts of I-29 in North Dakota and Iowa are closed, with lengthy detours.

We are on a time schedule (3-4 days to get to Memphis), and driving a long pickup towing a 32 foot fifth wheel, so (non-freeway) detours through urban areas, etc. are undesirable.

I am looking for the following things:
1) alternative routes without detours... perhaps through MN
2) information on road closures/detours on major alternative routes, as well as on I-29
3) websites to find specific, current, information now and just before we leave ... keeping in mind I will not have internet access while on the road and do not have a smartphone. For that matter, no phone at all.
4) anything else pertinent

Thank you much mefi for the help!

Don't let dad hitchhike with the serial killers

treehorn+bunny — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:43:25 -0800

How can I safely get my father from Des Moines to Rochester MN? My dad's 'hobby' is doing things that other people might consider outlandish in order to save money. He's got the cash, but it's like a game for him to figure out how not to spend it.

He's going to be in Des Moines, Iowa on Sept 30th, and he wants to come up to meet me in southeast Minnesota that evening or the next morning. He feels that a car rental from one place to the other is too expensive, so he tried posting in the Craigslist rideshare boards looking for a ride, but hasn't been able to find one (although he is willing to pay for gas). He knows that there is a bus at 6am on Saturday, but it costs money and is inconveniently timed, so last I asked, he said "I'm just going to hitchhike." Now, my dad's the type of guy who can generally take care of himself, but the idea of him hitchhiking through the night along interstates in unknown areas really freaks me out. But it's a significantly long drive, so I can't just go down to pick him up.

Does anyone know of other ways to look for rideshares in that area of the midwest, or know of other ways to get between the two places that don't involve renting a car or taking the bus?

movinonuptothenorthside

nakedmolerats — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:10:32 -0800

Yet another where should we move? question: the liberal gay Northern edition My partner and I are currently in grad school in the southeastern US. We're hoping to move sometime in the next year, fueled by our mutual decision that we don't actually want to be professors in the field we started in anymore. I have an MA in linguistics, a graduate certificate in women's studies, and a BA from a liberal arts college. She has an MS in Instructional Systems Design and work experience in that field, but she doesn't want to keep doing it, besides as temporary income if necessary. She will also have an MA (maybe ABD) in linguistics.

We don't know where to move next. She's in her mid-30's, me mid-20's. We like cities, we're gay, we're liberal, and we need somewhere we can theoretically move with not a lot of money and get jobs that will at least support us for awhile. I have a lot of student loans. I went to grad school right after college, so my only work experience is food service/random college jobs, and then I've taught freshman composition and worked at a writing center while being a grad student.

We might like to go back to school eventually, but that's not a given. She might do library science and I might do public policy or women's studies. We're both kind of taking a post-grad school leap: we don't have a set plan on careers, though I'd like to do anything involving feminist/women's rights/LGBT rights. I figure moving to a large city will afford us being able to get whatever job we can at first and see what paths present themselves.

Things we want in a new city:

Public transit - We have one car and would really like at least one of us to be able to get to work on public transit. It'd also be nice to be able to do social things with public transit instead of driving.

Walkability – we'd really like to live in a neighborhood that has a walkable grocery store, maybe some bars or restaurants, bookstore, etc.

Four Seasons: we're both cooler weather people. Anything in the South is pretty much out: we've been here several years and I HATE 100+ degree summers. We can handle hard winters.

We like cities that “feel” more Northern too: compact instead of sprawled out.

Diversity/Culture: I'd like at least the opportunity to see lots of different lectures/plays/movies/restaurants, etc. This probably means a pretty large city. We don't mind smaller cities in theory, as long as they have a lot of cultural stuff going on.

Liberalness: we'd like to get married someday and hey, it'd be nice to live in a state that recognized our union, so bonus points for states that recognize gay marriages or civil unions. In general, the more liberal/gay friendly the politics, the better.

Cost of Living: I like Boston, but I can't see any way we could afford to live there unless we were way out in the suburbs. Same for Washington DC. I know all cities are expensive, but which ones are less expensive to live relatively close to the city center? We'll be renting an apartment or small house if we could afford it.

Scenic: we enjoy hiking/camping sometimes. I really like to live by water, and she likes mountains, so both somewhat close by would be ideal. I love the ocean but don't need to live by it: lakes or rivers are fine too.

Pet Friendly: we have a 50-lb dog so we would need dog friendly housing and parks to take her.

Places we're considering:

Twin Cities
Madison
Burlington, VT
Seattle
Denver
upstate New York
Portland, Maine
Anywhere New England (don't know the region that well)
Pittsburgh

Places we're not really considering:

Chicago (my partner has already lived there and wants to try something new. This is a little unfortunate because I love Chicago and think it fulfills a lot of our criteria. Basically we're looking for the feel of Chicago, but somewhere else).

Austin (also meets a lot of our criteria, but it's just too hot)

Portland, Oregon (I could be swayed, but it seems like every 20-something unemployed liberal arts graduate moves here, so I can't imagine my aimless self will have an easy time finding work)

Are there cities not on our list that meet our criteria? Do you live in the cities we're considering and can tell us the positives/negatives of living there? Does anything jump out as the perfect place we should live? We haven't been to a lot of these cities, and can't afford to visit them all – I just don't know how to start narrowing down a list.

Ambiguity is scary

Lobster Garden — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:18:52 -0800

I'm moving from Small Town, Midwest to Big Metro Area, East Coast within the next month. What do I need to know to prepare myself mentally for the transition? I have lived in the midwest almost all my life and am only vaguely familiar with the east coast (lived there as a young child and have made a few short trips there). I haven't spent a lot of time in big cities and the town I'm in now is half an hour's drive away from the next town. I know it's going to be a big change and I need advice for how to adjust. Things like--how does a normal city dweller cope with traffic? I have hardly ever encountered a traffic jam in my existence.

I'll be living in the suburbs but will be very near big cities and in an area that is much more densely populated than what I am used to.

Apologies if this is a repeat question. I wasn't able to find anything in a tags search.

Why are the farmers tilling so early?

Chrischris — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 08:31:26 -0800

Why, in the middle of winter (now, in Central MI), would a farmer plow under only a strip of land in the middle of his (previously harvested but un-tilled) field? I live in rural mid-Michigan. On my drive home, I've noticed multiple otherwise snow-covered fields that feature a fairly wide section (usually in the middle of the field) of recently (as in, within the last week) tilled soil. Most of these fields appear to have had corn planted in them last year. I can't think of any plausible explanation for tilling only the middle strip of a field so early in the season (the ground is still frozen). Any farmers or Ag folks who can enlighten me?

Understanding Ohio's SB 5 legislation

mandymanwasregistered — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:32:32 -0800

Help me edumacate myself on Ohio SB 5! As a former resident of WI, I could find news easily enough because the internet already existed when I lived there and I was familiar with online sources. In my attempts to read more about Ohio, I just don't know where to turn. Obviously national media is out as it's been crap at covering recent events in the midwest. Is there an Isthmus equivalent? A few possibly wonky blogs that are right on? Something with smarter analysis/more info than say, this Columbus Dispatch article.

OpenSourceMusicGeekProjectFilter question

LMGM — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:56:47 -0800

I need some advice on how to build a database-driven site around an archive of ephemera (mostly flyers). Essentially, I want to build an online archive of scanned rave flyers from the Toronto-London-Detroit rave scenes (plus some Midwest US flyers). Here's what I have: Here are my resources so far:
- a dusty file folder full of about 10 lbs worth of flyers, pamphlets, and mini-zines from the rave era from 1995 to the early 2000s.
- through a university library, access to a scanner where I can get full-color images
- an undergraduate minor in comp sci, which gave me some basic project-development workflows plus an intimate knowledge of C++, Java, and Perl.
- Some experience coding HTML and CSS, particularly through Dreamweaver (which also does PHP)
- Some self-taught proficiency with MySQL and PHP
- An installation of MySQL on my home computer for testing
- space on a server with MySQL and PHP activated.

So, I want to be able to scan a pile of these flyers, attach metadata of various sorts to them (location, date, headliners, description of event, etc), and present them as a searchable, web-accessible archive. Any advice? re: platforms, data structures, useful utilities and tutorials, examples to work from, etc…

I'm a bit of a bedroom coder and actually get a kick out of coding things by hand from the ground up, so I'm not looking for solutions that involve plugging one online app into another and putting a glossy skin over it.

Give me the boot, or al least a place I can buy it...

sandra_s — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 10:53:24 -0800

Stripper shoes / stripper clothes stores in or between Akron, OH - Columbus, OH - Indianapolis, IN? Bonus, along or near I-70 or I-71. Lot of shoes (very important) and selection. Not that interested in toys. Selection is important, I would like to stay away from places that show me 10 catalogs and tell me they can order it in (I have an internet that can do that nicely, thank you :-)

Thanks in advance!

Midwestern Urban Fiction: Great novels that exemplify the industrialized cities of the U.S. Midwest?

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:05:30 -0800

Midwestern Urban Fiction: What are the great novels that exemplify or characterize (as opposed to "are set in") any of the industrialized cities of the U.S. Midwest (St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, the Twin Cities, etc.)? I'm a reader, but I'm no great student of literature. It strikes me that most anyone can reel off a list of seminal Southern/New England/American West/etc. novels; but I can't for the life of me think of much of anything urban and Midwestern past "The Jungle". Surely this is my ignorance; there must be a ton of fantastic novels that I am overlooking.

I usually like mid-20th century and later stuff, but for this question era is not very important to me. I am placing very high importance on novels that are not only set in the Midwestern cities mentioned, but that feature them extensively and explore or characterize them in ways deeper than occasional dashes of "local color". I'm interested in cities like: St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Cincinati, Cleveland, Omaha, and others.

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with me. I look forward to reading some of your recommendations.

Looking for a suitable Chicago/Midwest place to have a really big party. Outside. Unless it's raining.

booknerd — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:46:18 -0800

Looking for an indoor/outdoor venue for our wedding/party in the greater Chicago area, that isn't astronomically expensive, and would offer some pretty scenery, and accomodate my ridiculous desire to dress my dog up as a ring bearer. We moved to Chicago a couple of months ago, and has a quick-and-dirty courthouse ceremony before moving, with the intention of having a Real Wedding Type Party in 2011 with all of our friends and family. I'm currently running very behind on the planning of this event, because I'm having a much harder time than I thought I would finding a suitable venue. Not being familiar with the area, it's been difficult to find things that are appropriate, so I come to the hive mind seeking assistance. Does anyone have suggestions that might fit these criteria?

What we're looking for:

Must accommodate 75-100 people or so (extremely rough estimate)

Must accommodate one dog, very adorable, 65-lb boxer

Outdoors, preferably involving some trees that may be pretty colors by October

With an adjacent indoor area that can be rented out for events, in case of inclement weather

Within half a day's drive of Chicago

If more than an hour or two away from Chicago, with some sort of overnight accommodations for us and our guests

Will allow us to bring our own caterers/food, not restricted to their vendors, because I'm picky about food

Not astronomically expensive. Now, this is tricky because I don't have a very good idea of what expensive is. We'd like to do the whole shebang for under $10k though, for around 100 people, with great food and really nice invitations, so I'm thinking our venue budget is probably pretty low.

I realize this is probably a tall order. I think my ideal location would be a sort of state park or forest area with a pretty lodge, surrounded by trees, with tent camping or little cabins people could stay in. People can fly into Chicago, come out to the forest for a day or two for our wedding, and rent cars or carpool to the location. Or if there's somewhere within the city, that would be fantastic too. The Chicago Parks District locations seem really expensive and restrictive as far as vendors go.

What we don't want:

A church

More photos of dog and/or husband can be furnished upon request.