[Dolphy]

I so hope you are right. I lived in NYC for a couple of years and there was, among friends, a certain arrogance about the Midwest and definitely the South. Of course I hung around with journalists who were just starting out, mostly Northwestern and Syracuse educated so it wasn't like I was getting exposed to the heart and soul of New York:)

[Torie]

This left coast chap, when he meets a genuine no BS down to earth soul, no tinsel, no BS, just straight forward, without pretense, someone you sense you can trust, finds to a shocking percentage of the time, that that person is from the Midwest. And that's a fact. Just my little anecdotal experience. Of course, I was not raised in the Midwest, and the parent who really shaped my character, was from NYC. Go figure.