Thursday, November 23, 2006

In middle America...

I am deep in the heart of middle America. Two days ago we drove 730 miles to get to our Thanksgiving-day destination. It took a full day to recover. (By the way, the 4-year-old was a model child during our 13.5 hour drive.)

I saw, via the interstate, two new states on our break-neck journey, Indiana and Illinois as well as 9/10ths of the state of Missouri. And I have to say that I was astounded – but not in a good way. What was most striking about these states (again, seen at 75 mph from the freeway) was Christian fundamentalism. The HUGE crosses erected alongside the roadway were disturbing, like this one in Effingham, Illinois. (Impressive, no?) Illinois was really big on the crosses (pun intended) and Missourians love their anti-abortion billboards. I even saw one opposed to the stem cell research ballot measure that has been a non-issue since November 7th (it passed, allowing for this type of research).

Sometimes the U.S. seems like a foreign country.

2 comments:

Rachel said...

Bible belt. I was told when I was growing up that it was the best way to find a God-fearing husband. Exactly what I need.... a fundamentalist Protestant husband. :)

FOSCO said...

Yeah, that cross in Effingham is amazing. As far as I can tell, it's made entirely of aluminum siding.

And, when you think about it, isn't Effingham a pretty remarkable name for a town? It's like a non-cursing euphemism for a town called Fuckingham.