a hoosier is...

This post also appears in the Flickr discussion group Indiana. The description of the group is simply "What is a Hoosier, exactly?". For my readers who aren't familiar with the term, a Hoosier is simply someone from the state of Indiana. A Hoosier is also so much more than that. I started to think about it as a Hoosier who has lived in Alabama for the past 10 years, and this is what i came up with.


What is a Hoosier?

A Hoosier is the all places he or she has lived and visited as much as anything else. Whether it’s the open fields, rolling hills, big cities, or small farming communities, a Hoosier is tied to these familiar places. Even if a Hoosier leaves Indiana, Indiana never leaves a Hoosier.

A Hoosier is the family farm on a hot summer day where the only sounds are the hum of insects and the breeze rustling the corn in the fields. A Hoosier is the interstate into Chicago, and the taste of air around Gary. A Hoosier is Indy, and knows that all roads in that city do one of two things – they take you to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, or they take you in a loop around it. A Hoosier is the plains of the North and the rolling hills of the South. A Hoosier is the small, rocky holler that was a childhood home, nestled among the trees. A Hoosier is the winter snow, the summer heat, the spring storm, the autumn sun. A Hoosier is a favorite, secret fishing spot. A Hoosier is the Saturday night hang-out where friends gathered. A Hoosier is the Wabash River, winding through the trees and past fields.

Love it or hate it, if you’re a Hoosier you carry a part of Indiana with you everywhere you go.