On this date of December 11, I celebrate both my 26th birthday and the 208th anniversary of Indiana statehood. For the last point, I am one of the few that do so. When asking my coworkers within the government of a city in Indiana what their favorite part of the state is, I was told “its proximity to other states.” Indiana has proven to me to be a vast bastion of rich soil and ample resources. The state has enacted many policies to entice and support families and businesses. Yet, the state struggles with retention of even its top talent. While it is 14th in education, it is 40th in retention of that education. While the state is 22nd in federal dependence need, its citizens are 11th in federal dependence need. For a state that offers so much opportunity and resources, why is it that people willingly forego the prospects of buying a house, living financially comfortably, and having family service support only to live in relatively cramped and unsafe conditions for more money?

Indiana sees itself as competing for the business of enterprises and families alike. They hope to present a balance sheet to prospective newcomers and have that determine the state’s preferability. This has led the state to an inadequate position amongst its peers and has left its culture widely unknown to the rest of the country. This blank slate in the national culture has left the state’s cultural archetype to be defined by fictional cities that have scarce relevancy to the actual state e.g. Hawkins, Pawnee, Olson, and Hohman to name a few.

For Indiana to gain relevance and eventual prominence, Indiana must judge its placement not within the economic game among its peers, but the cultural game. This is the game that has turned Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit into the titans they are in the region. Solving the cultural piece is what attracts the youth in droves to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami, New York, and Boston. People will visit on holiday with an idyllic vision of the destination so strong that regardless on the outcome of the trip, they will convince themselves and others of the superiority of those lands whereas people living amongst all Indiana has to offer are blinded, conflating its peace with boredom.