[Vision2020] National perception of the Palouse

[Ry Jones]

My spies in Orange County tell me there are far more rednecks there than in
Indiana (where we both grew up) and south-western Washington combined. I ran
into far more overt racism in the "liberal" Bay Area than up here.

My experience in the Bay Area was that every once in a while a California
team would have to go to Pullman and the sports-talk radio would light up
with ha-ha-only-true jokes about how backwards the area was. Oddly enough,
my calls to counter these lies would never be connected. (Note to sports
geeks: after dark you can pick up 680 KNBR from SFO just fine... better than
those poser stations in GEG)

This from a place where driving 10 miles to work and having it take 2 hours
is considered OK.

Regardless, it's worth pointing out that some of our most infamous residents
came from Southern California.

Before you think I'm anti-California though, I will say the weather down
there does strange things to your mind. It's Very Nice. And the ocean...
mmmm, Santa Cruz.

Ry Jones

(along with two other Hoosier expats I wrote "You Know You Live In The
Silicon Valley When...", copied
http://www.stokely.com/lighter.side/know.in.silval.html . It's a slice of
life I don't miss.)