My month in Illinois

where I went this month

What I learned from spending this month in Illinois
(in no particular order)

I learned that the affection people have for Chicago is reasonable - I found it to be a very likeable city.  I see in the news that their politics are somewhat bizarre, but I also saw for myself that there is an incredible variety of people living there.  I saw all ages, all races, living together in a way I don't see everywhere.  (Honestly, I was surprised to see so many elderly people there - residents, not just tourists.)  I saw energy and scenic beauty and a wide range of income levels.

I learned that the vast majority of Illinois's land is used for farming - mostly crops (not livestock).

I learned that Illinois has a beautiful forest - the Shawnee National Forest - that covers much of the southern part of the state.

I learned that, aside from Chicago, Illinois doesn't have much for population centers.  The Peoria-Bloomington/Normal-Champagne/Urbana area in total has only about half a million people and, besides Springfield a little way to the south, that's it for anything other than smaller towns.

The fact is, most of Illinois is rural; town life is what there is.  I learned that many people, including most young people, prefer it this way.  They like small-town life and deliberately choose it over city life.

I saw that a lot of Illinoisans like to go camping, and many like to go fishing, but that there didn't seem to be much interest in outdoor sports otherwise.  At least, I saw few signs of it anywhere.  There's that one place that offers scuba diving, and I think I saw one ad for whitewater boating, but that's all I can think of.

But then, Illinois doesn't have any mountains for skiing, its rivers are mostly huge and not conducive for pleasant paddling trips, and there aren't that many lakes.  Illinois has just a sliver of the state that fronts on Lake Michigan, but no other shoreline.

The research I did before I came here told me 80% of the land is in agriculture, but only 20% of the people work on farms; that now farming is primarily big business, rather than small family-owned farms.  I could see for myself that most of Illinois is being used for farming.  And I could see for myself the vast tracts of land used for crops.  I don't know how much land one family could afford to own and work these days.

I learned that the divide I keep hearing about between Chicago and the rest of Illinois is real, and I can see that likely both sides are to blame.  Chicago is one of the largest cities in the United States, after all, but the fact is Illinois's other population centers aren't particularly populous, so Chicago is on its own.  Literature and history are replete with examples of miscommunication between city mice and country mice, and I see no reason for Illinois to be any different.

I honestly didn't find folks in Illinois to be particularly friendly.  They'd talk to me when I'd say something to them, but they certainly aren't a chatty bunch.

I didn't hear any particular praise of their state from most people.  Only occasionally would someone suggest I go see some particular place, and almost always it was Shawnee National Forest.  The forest is heavily wooded and lies in hilly land.  It is a pretty area, but I'm wondering if part of the attraction is just that it isn't flat cropland.

Illinoisans don't claim any particular scenic beauty, and I couldn't see that they had any reason to.  Instead, I found it to be pleasant country to drive through, but if you don't like farmland then there's not much to look at.  In that sense, too, Chicago has a leg up because of its location on Lake Michigan.

Overall, I'd have to say that, to me, this is a really odd state.  It's not a very well-balanced state, I think, and I'm not sure Illinois is clear about a state identity - other than Land of Lincoln.  I think it'd do them some good to do some collective thinking about why Lincoln loved it here so much, and maybe pursue whatever those strengths are.  Instead, they seem to be locked in a rural vs. urban, Chicago vs. everywhere else divide, and I doubt if it's doing the state much good.