Which is the worst state in the United States of America

xp to myself: your "ritzy neighborhood" is basically just like Burnsville, stfu

Isn't that DFW essay about watching 9/11 on TV set in Indiana? It's the only sympathetic portrayal of IN that comes to mind, and I think I'm more sympathetic to DFW and his viewpoint in all of that than the locale itself.

I can't believe they wouldn't let you move there just cause you went to college :( xp

I'll tell you what sucks about Miami: remove South Beach and you've got Anytown, USA. Miles and miles of suburban dreariness. It's amazing that a city this big boasts only a couple of independent bookstores and record shops.

That does not surprise me in the least about Tupelo, Dan. Horrible place, nearly indefensible.

Isn't that DFW essay about watching 9/11 on TV set in Indiana?

Illinois

i think mississippi sounds ok

I was born in Columbus, MS.

Also thinking that Idaho is pretty bare, but I could be convinced otherwise I guess.

Idaho, even when it's boring, is at least strange.

I can't believe they wouldn't let you move there just cause you went to college :( xp

Ha, the "best" part is that the dude who said this to me was an alum hosting some of us as a stop on a choir trip

This was the same stop where the mother of our host told us a delightful story of how her daughter had moved to Boston and "jewed" her landlord down on the rent; the two Jews I was rooming with were not particularly appreciative.

I've never heard anyone say "Jewed" for reals, I only know the usage exists from cautionary tales like that one!! I think the forbiddenness makes me think of it more often that I would otherwise.

54,400 google results for "oklahoma sucks," divided by oklahoma's population of 3,687,050 produces a per-capita suck index of 0.01475 for oklahoma, of which i challenge any other state to beat

Anyway, Tupelo: proven LAME.

oklahoma is one of the ugliest places I have seen w/ my own eyes

still, your suck index is flawed because it mostly contains the opinions of texas football fans - and if you're a texas football fan, your opinion on just about anything in the world is most likely wrong

Idaho is probably boring and has a reputation for crazies (deserved or not) but holy crap does it have some unbelievably beautiful stuff in it.

oklahoma is rough. nevada is possibly worse, depending on how much mileage you get out of vegas. i am not a fan of nebraska, either. grand island was the most depressing city i've ever been in.

"depending on how much mileage you get out of vegas"

Oh come on the state has to get points just for having legalized prostitution.

iatee you are very right, there needs to be a control for the NCAA bias, i'll get on that

Mississippi and Lousiana and even Florida may get by just on local color and charm. Idaho scares me, but it also has some amazingly beautiful landscape. My paternal grand-parents were from SW Oklahoma and it never sounded too interesting to me, though apparently there are spots near Arkansas which approach not suicide-worthy but I am going to vote Indiana just 'cause it did nothing for me when I drove through and has continued to do nothing for me since. At least Texas has a kind fo culture.

faux culture is right

Ha, joygoat, when I said Idaho was "boring" I meant geographically. At least SE Idaho, where I grew up, you could drive through miles & miles of sage & cheat grass (boring) and then something like this pops up:

http://www.visitusa.com/idaho/images/attractions/moonriftpic.jpg

Northern Idaho is frigging gorgeous.

^^ this

NC would be a seriously ridiculous answer. beautiful mountains, BBQ, credit unions, indie rock, and like way more progressivism than the rest of the former CSA.

― 69, Thursday, February 18, 2010 4:24 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

You're opinion may be different if you had lived in rural Eastern NC from 1979 to 1999. Although there may be a few enclaves of niceness, pretty much anything east of Raleigh is a wasteland. Well, we had BBQ, but I mentioned it before.

what is there to love about New Mexico

― Wrinkles, I'll see you on the other side (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Gila Cliff Dwellings are really cool. Also, there are Aztec ruins in New Mexico.

Having BBQ automatically makes you better than any state that has no notable regional cuisine.

^^^^ this

I love MN to death but when I think of MN cuisine I think bratwurst (yay!) and lutefisk (oh HELL NO)

NM is pretty if you like desolate... (i went w/ NJ, btw)

As a westerner, I couldn't vote NJ 'cause of the forests.

I love Philadelphia so much, but if Western PA was an option I'd vote for that in a heartbeat. Pittsburgh is just horrible.

I have to say that I just voted Texas, not because I don't find that it has some amazing things going for it, but because most everything about it is directly in opposition to what I think is awesome.

(except music, etc)

oh and bbq

You people voting Texas when Utah exists are nuts.

i rafted the middle fork of the salmon river in Idaho a few years ago, one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Probably gonna go with ND (for the place) or NJ (for the people) but man some days it's California no contest.

Utah, too, was spared 'cause of its beauty.

xpost utah is gorgeous tho

no kansas hate?

oh and Utah isn't even in the running. Southern UT is one of the best parts of the country, the mormons are a minority group in SLC, and skiing is A++ there.

it is a travesty that oklahoma is so constantly overshadowed by texas in the race for last. oklahoma shares all the bad stuff about texas and absolutely none of the good. they can't even piggyback a claim to texas's bbq reputation because they're too preoccupied with their slimy seafood dredged from shit-colored water.

The Mormons are a minority group in SLC but you wouldn't know that talking to an SLC citizen!

And the rest of Utah is Mormontacular.

yeah, Mormons, as fascinating as they might be, are also completely horrifying to me. So, Utah

I would say southern Idaho is even more Mormon that UT but I'm biased.

it is a travesty that oklahoma is so constantly overshadowed by texas in the race for last. oklahoma shares all the bad stuff about texas and absolutely none of the good. they can't even piggyback a claim to texas's bbq reputation because they're too preoccupied with their slimy seafood dredged from shit-colored water.

Do go on. I have this morbid curiosity about Oklahoma, especially its panhandle.

The only reason Mormons settled in Utah, btw, is once Brigham Young & co. hit the Great Salt Lake, they saw big salty body of water + gulls & thought they'd reached the ocean. So if it wasn't for this freak inland salty lake, Mormons wld be yet another California-based bunch of crazies.

i think any state on an ocean or a great lake should be eliminated from the running.

That eliminates Indiana, which would be my choice.

As for Mormons, New York can also lay claim to birthing their insanity.

Oh Indiana has what, like 6 miles of coastline? Doesn't count.

Idaho is probably boring and has a reputation for crazies (deserved or not) but holy crap does it have some unbelievably beautiful stuff in it.

― joygoat, Thursday, February 18, 2010 4:40 PM (42 minutes ago)

oh hai, it's the little town where one of my uncles lives.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/canyon1_exposure_exposure.jpg