I really like being a writer. No two days are ever the same. Quite often, I’ll spend hours gazing at property photos and floor plans, trying to find new and exciting ways to describe a thatched cottage with a delightful garden, or a state of the art new built with marble floors, or a Victorian villa with original features. Recently, I found myself researching the history of Mozambique and finding out more about Northern Mali’s turbulent background. That’s for my freelance writing work.
Last week, I was investigating what the most on-trend towel colour is for this season (smoke blue, apparently) as well as inventing an entire family of Scottish aristocrats living in a castle on the Borders. This was for my forthcoming novel, The Trials of Isabella M Smugge.
On Monday, I wasn’t feeling too good. I’d been fighting off a cold and it got me. Reclining in my bed with a Lemsip, I thought to myself, “What can I watch to cheer myself up?” Back came the answer, “Why, you need to binge Parks and Recreation, Ruth. It’s been too long.” So I did.
NBC’s Parks & Recreation
NBC’s Parks & Recreation available on Netflix
And that’s how we find ourselves in the fine state of Indiana. One of my favourite films is set there [1], as are two of my favourite TV shows [2]. Watching the Parks and Recreation Department of fictional Indiana town Pawnee (America’s fourth fattest town!) I started musing about the state. I know virtually nothing about it, yet it’s given birth to the timeless Ron Swanson and his Swanson Pyramid, perky Leslie Knope and her deep and abiding love of meetings and grumpy April, the world’s worst personal assistant. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the entire seven series are on Netflix. Series One isn’t great. I advise you start at Series Two.
Ambrose ‘Sideburns’ Burnside
I began with famous citizens of Indiana and I wasn’t disappointed. After wading through lots of military personnel I’d never heard of, I struck gold with one Ambrose Burnside. He was a General in the Civil War and here’s the big news – sideburns are named after him! What a claim to fame. By the time I got to the next noteworthy Hoosier (as people from Indiana are known), I could see that whoever compiles these lists was struggling to find anyone of interest. This is a corker, however. Anthony Wayne, known for being mad (my italics) and overrunning Chief Little Turtle. Poor Chief Little Turtle.
Axl Rose welcomes you to Lafayette, Indiana, baby
Under the letter “J”, things livened up. The town of Gary Indiana is home to the entire Jackson clan which increased the list of famous Hoosiers no end. The state also seems to be the cradle of heavy metal with Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe, Axl Rose of Guns ‘n’ Roses and David Lee Roth of Van Halen hailing from Terre Haute, Lafayette and Bloomington respectively.
As you’ll know if you’re a fan of mega-hit, “Stranger Things”, all the weird goings-on are set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Like Pawnee, it’s got everything you’d expect in a small town. A diner that everyone goes to, a thriving main street and inhabitants who all went to school with each other. There’s something about the state that seems to fit neatly into exaggerated alternative universes. Nearly forty years ago, Oscar-winner, “Breaking Away” was set in Bloomington, a pleasant college town with a diner that everyone goes to, a thriving main street and four protagonists who all went to school with each other.
The Hoosiers
Indiana, USA
I found plenty of Hoosiers of note, none of them huge names, but I felt it was fitting to end with Allan Lane, the voice of Mr Ed the Talking Horse. Oh, and Marjorie Wallace, disgraced Miss World of 1973, who comes from Indianapolis.
For a rectangular piece of land with a wiggly bottom, that’s quite a lot of popular culture. Often, inspiration for a piece will strike from the most random of sources, and today, it was me idly thinking, “I wonder what’s good about Indiana.” Now we know.
[1] Breaking Away
[2] Parks and Recreation; Stranger Things