No offense but Indianapolis is the only city I’ve ever been to that I truly felt like there was nothing to do, even the food was boring. Granted I was at a convention so that’s never a great sample but it was just dismal there.
Indianapolis is actually pretty cool (I'm from Cincinnati and visit often). There are a few really cool record shops (Square Cat Vinyl and Indy CD & Vinyl, for example), and the gay bars are better than the ones in Cincinnati. Mass Ave. has plenty of cool stuff, too, like music venues and decent food. One of my favorite restaurants (Milk Tooth) is in Indy.
Don’t forget a thriving punk scene, one of the best tiki bars in the nation (Inferno Room), Fountain Square anything, the largest municipal park in the nation, and a relative cost of living. Is Indiana the greatest? No. Will shit change for anyone if we all shit on it? No. I’m proud to be a Hoosier, and I will try and fight for Indiana til I am no longer able to.
Oh gosh, my husband and I went to milk tooth a few years ago and we still laugh about how much we hated it! Our food was so terrible we had to leave and go to Dunkin’ Donuts for sandwiches. So funny to see someone mention it’s their favorite restaurant. Different strokes I guess
They forgot to mention the greatest cryptid in Muncie, Jim Davis himself. I worked an event there and everyone had stories about spotting him like he was some kind of bigfoot.
I had to spend a night in Indianapolis before an early flight in the morning. I went down to the concierge and asked where was a good spot to grab dinner.
She looked at me like I had 3 heads and asked “at na-yun PEE EMMMM!?”
Couldn’t pay me enough to go back.
For sure, I used to go to Indy just for Gen Con and thought it kinda sucked, but then I started going to Indy for work and now I'm trying to move there, lol
i got pulled over in indiana simply for having out of state plates. the cop accused me of being a meth dealer because apparently he couldn’t imagine any other reason i’d be in his state
I got pulled over in Indiana for having a broken windshield, my car was a beater and had Texas plates. They gave me a warning though. I was traveling to see a woman, and the sheriff says "are there no good women in Texas", my response was 'obviously not.'
I also got pulled over in Indiana and accused of being a drug smuggler for having out of state plates. the cop had started taking us, waited as me and my boyfriend ate and left a restaurant and had been following us the whole time.
I lived in Indiana until I was about 33 then moved away. It made me realize that the amount of police you deal with in Indiana is insane. Back then driving to work I’d see 7 cop cars easy. In my new home I see like 2 a week. Indiana is a boring, backwards state.
Indiana and Ohio cops are the worst. If you’re from out of state, NEVER speed through IN and OH! My mom took me and my sister on a lot of road trips when I was little and she always told us that lol. Now as an adult when I take a trip myself I won’t speed through that region.
Illinois here, if an Indiana cop pulls me over for speeding I just say I’m trying to get back home as fast as possible and usually it only takes an hour and a half to search my truck for nothing.
I used to see "Indiana: Lincoln's boyhood home" signs I traveled through. Seems like the real slogan should be "Indiana: Lincoln was here before he mattered"
No it is. But I mean it’s only gotten “cool” in the recent 5-10 years. Before that Cummins was moving most production, etc to other places and it really was going downhill. Once Cummins decided to come back and they righted some engine issues they have really reinvested in Columbus and have brought in quite an ethnic diversity that had changed the town.
Came here to say almost this exact thing, but I'm from Illinois. It was a great place to go get truck beds full of the good fireworks. And one of my favorite Dollop stories takes place there. (Notre Dame vs the KKK)
Of course! I was a delivery driver when I found out about the dollop and managed to listen to every episode. Some of them 2-3 times. I'm not a baseball fan, but the baseball oriented episodes are incredible.
It’s crazy how the podcast shit on the entire state of Indiana twice in two weeks and now all it’s listeners think it’s like Some hell hole. I too wanted to know the story Marcus was alluding to as I’m sure it was a little embellished.
I don't want to alarm you, but Indiana has been seen as a shit place long before LPOTL and basically across the world.
Not saying it is true obviously but I'm in the middle of NZ and I've never once heard a single positive thing about Indiana my entire life in media, from people online, in the news, in politics, from tourists, from immigrants, etc. Nobody has ever once said a reason to go to Indiana, including people I've known from there.
I've heard more positives from almost forgotten states like Montana more than I have from Indiana
Moved to Arizona 3 years ago from Northwest Indiana, and every time i’ve been asked “why did you move” my response is “to get the FUCK out of Indiana”.
Southern Indiana is beautiful in the fall, and the Indiana dunes are too. It’s a shit state for its politics and some other things, but it has beautiful spots like anywhere else.
I’m not caught up on episodes & don’t recall the boys ever mentioning Indiana, but the first thing I picture when the state is brought up is Gary, Indiana.
So…not great.
And that’s one city/town.. look at any us state and I promise you you will find a shitty town. Some worse than others granted. But you can’t look at one particular area and base your judgement on the entire state off that.
I grew up in South Bend, it's a place to be from and these red state small towns have a brain drain for a reason. Lot's of miserable people scapegoating those they don't understand or think are elitist and never embracing change.
I live in South Bend and I agree 100%. The desire to cling to the “old ways” of life is ridiculous. The only upside to being here is things are relatively cheap and you’re just a stones throw away from lake Michigan and all the nice things that state has to offer.
From Osceola, couldn’t agree more! So glad I got out of that shit hole after college. Though I did end up in the Houston area and Texas isn’t much better…
I want folks to know that it isn't that Indiana sucks because of just the politics but it also has things that are almost good or even a local delicacy until you think about the cons. So Shipshewana is Amish country and they sell really great cheese, meat, pies and furniture but then you think about the mental abuse those kids go through.
Bob and Tom makes me feel dumber as an adult and a person who pursued stand up.
4 seasons keeps you cognizant that time is passing and you learn to be a home body or get a gym membership but the extremes really suck, especially winter, being sick and then the summers also suck because of overcast humidity with none of the beach options like say a Texas, California or most of the East Coast.
The farmers market and the grocery stores are pretty good price to quality ratio.
The people that don't suck create small but tight communities and you tend to have life long friends.
Good BBQ smoked port a pit chicken, ribs and beef, thick crust, dense pizza (Brunos), a Greek food scene, a relatively moderately sized Cambodian community.
Neighbors range from alcoholic cranky old man that fantasizes killing you if you step on his grass to shovelling each others sidewalks and mowing each others lawns while both having thinly veiled bigotry that unites them on the groups that aren't present.
Lots of athletes and equestrians depending on the school district however it also highlights the disparities of redlining and gerry mandering counties inorder to isolate specific demographics.
Sidewalks on both sides of the streets was nice.
I spent 4 years in Indiana for college I’m 100% content never stepping foot in the state again.
If anyone wants clarification and specifics. I went to Purdue. The campus itself is obviously very nice but it was an island of sanity in a sea of willful ignorance and rude assholes. Anytime I ventured off campus by myself or with friends people just seemed hostile as hell and would stare at you. One of my most fond memories is watching Indiana folks struggle to use the newly installed roundabouts scattered around West Lafayette. It was both hilarious and terrifying to witness the absolute disregard for common sense and right of way.
I would describe my college years as a 4 year long mental health crisis on a low simmer so that didn’t help either.
Strangely enough, Carmel Indiana, a rich suburb north of Indy, has the highest number of roundabouts per capita in the country. I agree that most of Indiana sucks but I love Indy.
I spent 2 years at IU getting my Master's heres a few of my Indiana experiences
Every time I left Bloomington with my truck with Colorado plates I got pulled over and searched for weed. Every time. Seriously every single time. Once I got pulled over 2 times in the same 20 mile trip. At first I complied because I was clean and clear but one time I got upset and told them to get a warrant id wait. I got the 10th degree that day. 4 more cruisers, a big time cop showed up in a SUV to yell at/ try and get me to just let them search. We waited the 4 hours for the warrant. They found nothing. I got screamed at for a while and a cop followed me to my destination, that cop stayed outside for 3 hours then followed me home.
One time while doing field research on clearly public land a local farmer who's property was next to our research site shot at me and 2 other grad students because he didn't like we were there. State troopers responded to our 911 call and told him to cut it out then left and never spoke to us.
One time in Martinsville an asshole blocked in my truck at a gas station and when I asked him to move so I could leave he got a squeegee from the pumps and proceeded to break every window on my truck. Almost 2 hours after calling 911 the cops showed up.
My roommates girlfriends landlord (small mother in-law suit situation) trapped her in the rooms she was renting along with their pastor and some other church members and berated her for being a "whore" for not coming home every single night. They kept tabs.
I've since moved to Texas for a PhD. Things are better here but weird shit still happens from time to time but not as bad as Indiana. That state is fucked.
All of that sucks so hard I'm sorry. Went to IU for undergrad - Bloomington is great but once you drive out it gets different quick.
One time had friends come to visit, and they stopped in Martinsville for food not knowing it was the Derry, Maine of the Midwest. One of the guys is Latino and they sat at a mostly empty restaurant for 30 min and a server just never walked up. They left. This was like 2010.
Martinisville, IN is still better the Vidor, TX but it's not saying much.
I love Bloomington. IU was a great school. Just sad it had to be surrounded by absolute bullshit.
I went to IU for undergrad for a few years. I’m from northern Indiana and agree with you that Bloomington and Martinsville are weird, fucked up places. Anything south of Indy is like a weird lawless confederate wonderland. I actively avoid traveling south of Indy for any reason
Indiana really is terrible. I travel a lot from NYC to Chicago on road trips and Indiana is easily the worst. part of that trip. How is that every one of their gas stations off of 80 looks like they are staffed by fhe sawyer family from Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I was traveling through there once with my mom when I was a teenager. I remember stoping at some roadside cafe type of place to grab a bite to eat. I have never felt more awkward and unwanted. The whole place was very “the hills have eyes”.
Oh, but don't forget that every single time there's any crime at all, "lousy democrats are bussing in gangs from Chicago into our fine, small town, because they need the votes".
I wish I still had the picture from last time I visited Indiana, where my dad still gets a physical newspaper. The headline said something like "Chicagoification" of Northwest Indiana to blame for rise in gun violence."
The next *two* articles on that same front page were about toddlers who were shot in separate incidents because their parents left guns lying around.
Yeah, the lax gun laws in Indiana and proximity means that's where most of the bad Chicagoans get their guns. And fireworks, but that's for everyone, not just criminals...
I'm confident that every one of my neighbors buys at least several hundred dollars worth of fireworks every 4th of July. It sounds like a war zone, is professional level stuff 360°.
It's funny how long that's been going on. In Harold scheter's *Hell's Princess* he talks about how much talk and rumor there was about the crimes being from Chicago gangs. Almost all unsubstantiated, obviously.
They might have even talked about it in their series on her, I don't remember
Chicagoan here, yeah, fuck Indiana. Their lax gun laws keep a steady flow of illegal arms coming into Illinois and neighboring states. Bunch of backwards thinking inbred bigots in the legislature and plenty of constituents to keep them there for generations. Fuck Indiana.
Edit: grammar + punctuation
Hoosier here: the bitch of it is that I feel like a good number of us want change, but the whole legislative system is designed specifically to keep citizens from being able to effect any sort of change. We don't have ballot referendums or anything.
Yeah, man, it’s a fucking nightmare for you guys. And that’s part of the reason why I was really careful to not call everyone in the state a bunch of inbred bigots. During 2020 Covid so many of my queer community friends were forced to leave the city because of well, everything really. A lot of them ended up back in Indiana because it was the cheaper option. I know there are good people who live there who are essentially trapped in a shit situation.
Indiana. Fucking. SUCKS.
I live right over the border in Ohio and our family owns a generational farm (now, not surprisingly, falling apart) over the border.
I’ve spent a LOT of time there.
It. Is. The worst. Oppressive in every aspect.
Me too. Whenever we go into Indiana for dinner or shopping my son asks if we’re in China. He’s 4 and obsessed with China for some reason but sometimes it feels like we are in China.
There is a small town in southern Indiana named China. If you're ever in that area... Maybe don't visit it unless you love mud fields and broken down cars.
I can actually commiserate. Indiana did shit all to keep Covid at bay, and when I got long Covid it was horrible trying to get to a doctor. The roads are shit and every bump felt like knives in my lungs. Not fun.
I think I broke (BROKE, not bent) 5 rims living in NWIN. Normal ones, not low profile or anything.
I grew up a Region Rat. My husband and I live not far over the MI border now and it's been a world of difference.
Thanks Michigan, love you.
Region Rat, always loved that term. Maybe I'll get out of Indiana and head to Michigan too. No potholes AND weed is legal?!? Indiana, get your shit together!
Indiana sucks in a lot of ways, and is boring in others for sure. We also produce a lot of weird religious figures and our government sucks. Ive lived all over the US, and while it’s not great I’ve been to worse places. I’d never invite someone to visit me haha. We do have good food here, just not the trendy spots. I wouldn’t touch down town Indy these days with a 10 foot pole. Our museums are surprisingly great though. And affordable. I definitely see and understand the hate, this isn’t even the only podcast I listen to that had disparaging things to say. It’s not tourist oriented. Hospitality staff work at subpar wages to afford subpar housing in a bland (but high crime!) city. The whole Hoosier hospitality thing isn’t anything more than a slogan imo.I think that many people would like to see changes our neighboring states have made but feel pretty defeated by the weirdos in charge to try, which is a shame! Always hurts when we’re called out like this, but can’t blame them. It can be isolating to live here with how loud and oppressive the majority is. We lack a culture they keep trying to buy, because they chased out the old ones.
It’s getting better? (It’s not)
I moved back here after being in Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, etc. Don’t miss the south at all for sure, but I miss Chicago sometimes. (Which I can visit easily)
Out of all the states I have heard people dislike, Indiana is second to none in terms of vitriol. Devoted to being 20 years behind the rest of the country, so resistant to change of any kind of manner, and the only state to actually bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic *back* because it might have been against God's will to help drug addicts.
The people that escape are great, though
Helped a friend move across the country a few years back and when we drove through Indianapolis on a Sunday in the middle afternoon. There were so few cars on the road the whole city looked so deserted we checked the news thinking something had to of happened.
I had gone up to Indy for their live show, was chillin in the hotel, and then learned they were cancelling that night’s show because Marcus had gotten Covid, so maybe that’s what it was all about. It was the second time my live show had been cancelled (Covid cancelled the first one) and I was so bummed!
lol when they did the rescheduled indianapolis show, he wasn’t there due to still dealing with long covid stuff and my wife and i were like “wow he must *really* hate indiana”
Yeah after that second cancellation, when they weren’t sure they would be around, I finally cancelled my ticket. I’d held onto that thing for years at that point!
It would bring in so much revenue for the state, I really don’t know why they haven’t.
I don’t smoke myself, but I don’t have a problem with it. Serving jail/prison time for a plant is ridiculous.
If they legalize weed shitty sheriffs won't get to seize college kids cars because they find half a gram of weed in their backpack, and they won't be able to harass and search anyone they want by saying, "I smell weed", and they won't be able to toss every person of color they come across into a for profit prison by sticking an empty vape cart in their pocket.
Grew up in Indiana and some of my family still lived there, even the “nicer areas” are bullshit. Lots of racism (honestly still some sundown towns), redneck conservatism, and what famous for a sport going around in a circle bc there’s not left to do. 3 good things:
Children’s Museum
Indiana Dunes
Brown County in fall (maybe loop IU in there)
It’s a trash state with trash laws. Never in my life would i live there again. Never again.
We live in Chicago and try to visit the dunes once a summer. The beaches are amazing (though many beaches around Lake Michigan are great, have one only a few miles from where I live).
Ok, I’m seeing a lot of Indiana hate here and I get it. Just please remember that not all of us Hoosiers are bigoted assholes! I’ve lived in northeast Indiana my entire life and yes it does suck but we’re not all bad.
I've visited said barn a few times. Usually around the end of June. Actually a pretty area, but I was.coming from Illinois, so I didn't have the best frame of reference.
Is that it? I know Covid laid him out for a while. Don’t know if I’d blame the state, but then, I guess I do blame my kids for bringing it home from school
The part of Indiana I live in borders Chicago. The rest of the state hates us for being anything but right wing Jesus fuckers, and Chicago, which culturally were more in line with, ignores our existence. Bright side, i grew up in the city that A Christmas Story was based on.
I know that I went to see their show in St. Louis and they cut the show short, (I'd seen them twice aleady that year cuz my friends and I had gone to two other shows cuz I have friends in different cities and we did meet ups), and they drove to the Indiana show from STL that was supposed to be the next night and the roads were so bad it apparently put Marcus fully back into a long covid incident, (could also include care he received for it while there) or they blamed it on that at the time, and they had to cancel the Indiana show the same day they were supposed to do it.
As a person who lives in MO and hates to drive anywhere that requires me to go through IN cuz the roads are atrocious, accurate.
I live in northern Illinois, and when I travel to see friends in KY I will purposely choose to drive almost the full length of southern Illinois to avoid driving across Indiana.
I live in Indiana (born and raised here), and they were absolutely right about it. It sucks. I think the one good thing about it is that the housing market is a bit cheaper than some parts of the country.
And the whole “crossroads of America” thing is a joke, because you’d think that would make the state government put a little bit more money and effort into having roads that aren’t full of chuck holes and under constant construction that never seems to get finished.
I meet people who have moved here from other states and even other countries, and all I can think is “why????”.
I live in northwestern Indiana. It's not bad. Close enough to chicago that it feels fun, and has decent enough nature spots out here too.
I mean... I get it...
But it's not bad.
Indiana definitely sucks in a lot of ways, obviously mostly politically. *However*... the people here that don't suck are still unassuming, friendly, and hospitable. Whenever I travel and go to a bar, there's always some sort of etiquette or something that has to be figured out. The only two places I've never experienced that are in Indiana where I'm from, and New Orleans. People are chill here, depending on where you're at.
I think they talked about the roads being really dangerous and bumpy, which Indy construction has been pretty nuts ( not to mention the drivers). Then there’s Marcus’ long covid and digestion problems. I wouldn’t let it ruin your day.
Born in Indiana. I understand the hate. Hearing him rant about it and all I could say was “yep, I get it”
Same, man, same.
No offense but Indianapolis is the only city I’ve ever been to that I truly felt like there was nothing to do, even the food was boring. Granted I was at a convention so that’s never a great sample but it was just dismal there.
Indianapolis is actually pretty cool (I'm from Cincinnati and visit often). There are a few really cool record shops (Square Cat Vinyl and Indy CD & Vinyl, for example), and the gay bars are better than the ones in Cincinnati. Mass Ave. has plenty of cool stuff, too, like music venues and decent food. One of my favorite restaurants (Milk Tooth) is in Indy.
Don’t forget a thriving punk scene, one of the best tiki bars in the nation (Inferno Room), Fountain Square anything, the largest municipal park in the nation, and a relative cost of living. Is Indiana the greatest? No. Will shit change for anyone if we all shit on it? No. I’m proud to be a Hoosier, and I will try and fight for Indiana til I am no longer able to.
Fountain Square is great.
Oh gosh, my husband and I went to milk tooth a few years ago and we still laugh about how much we hated it! Our food was so terrible we had to leave and go to Dunkin’ Donuts for sandwiches. So funny to see someone mention it’s their favorite restaurant. Different strokes I guess
You must have gone on a bad day or something, they’re known for having incredible food.
Yeah, everything I’ve had has been incredible. I’ve been about a dozen times. Even their coffee is great.
Truly. I would do unspeakable things for their brown butter latte
Yeah. I’m with these guys here. Been to milk tooth several times when I go visit my sisters and we’ve never had a bad time.
Very glad to hear this. I’ll take Milktooth off my “if I ever go to Indy for lunch” list 😂
Muncie's saving grace is Meth
They forgot to mention the greatest cryptid in Muncie, Jim Davis himself. I worked an event there and everyone had stories about spotting him like he was some kind of bigfoot.
You forgot about the corrupt government officials and (?) Sanitation crime ring (?)
showing no love for the indie-animals
I had to spend a night in Indianapolis before an early flight in the morning. I went down to the concierge and asked where was a good spot to grab dinner. She looked at me like I had 3 heads and asked “at na-yun PEE EMMMM!?” Couldn’t pay me enough to go back.
The immediate downtown part of Indy sucks. The rest of the city is awesome.
That’s what I thought could be the case when I was saying I’d probably not had a good perspective.
For sure, I used to go to Indy just for Gen Con and thought it kinda sucked, but then I started going to Indy for work and now I'm trying to move there, lol
Yikes. Come to northern Indiana. We make Indy look like Hollywood
Same-sies
i got pulled over in indiana simply for having out of state plates. the cop accused me of being a meth dealer because apparently he couldn’t imagine any other reason i’d be in his state
I got pulled over in Indiana for having a broken windshield, my car was a beater and had Texas plates. They gave me a warning though. I was traveling to see a woman, and the sheriff says "are there no good women in Texas", my response was 'obviously not.'
I mean… he ain’t wrong.
I also got pulled over in Indiana and accused of being a drug smuggler for having out of state plates. the cop had started taking us, waited as me and my boyfriend ate and left a restaurant and had been following us the whole time.
this is literally exactly what happened to me and my boyfriend, followed us as we left a restaurant and everything!
I lived in Indiana until I was about 33 then moved away. It made me realize that the amount of police you deal with in Indiana is insane. Back then driving to work I’d see 7 cop cars easy. In my new home I see like 2 a week. Indiana is a boring, backwards state.
Your username. Am jealous.
thanks!! it is devastating to me that the vonnegut museum is in indiana because i’ve sworn never to return to that wretched state
Indiana and Ohio cops are the worst. If you’re from out of state, NEVER speed through IN and OH! My mom took me and my sister on a lot of road trips when I was little and she always told us that lol. Now as an adult when I take a trip myself I won’t speed through that region.
Illinois here, if an Indiana cop pulls me over for speeding I just say I’m trying to get back home as fast as possible and usually it only takes an hour and a half to search my truck for nothing.
Crossroads of America lol
So how did you keep the cop from finding your meth?
Their sign over the interstate says "The Crossroads of America" which tells you what you need to know. No one stays. Everyone drives through.
The first draft of that slogan was, "Indiana: Where America Stops To Shit."
Or, "the second home of the kkk"
Next to the ever present Tom Raper RV dealer signs.
I used to see "Indiana: Lincoln's boyhood home" signs I traveled through. Seems like the real slogan should be "Indiana: Lincoln was here before he mattered"
Have you ever been to Indiana? It’s a whole lotta nothin…with mad strict laws against weed…it’s just not a chill place (and I live in Ohio…)
We gave you Mike pence… and this is the thanks we get. Sheesh. /s
My hometown gave you Mike Pence….ugh
Thank you mother
Pence aside, I thought Columbus was really cool the one day I spent there.
No it is. But I mean it’s only gotten “cool” in the recent 5-10 years. Before that Cummins was moving most production, etc to other places and it really was going downhill. Once Cummins decided to come back and they righted some engine issues they have really reinvested in Columbus and have brought in quite an ethnic diversity that had changed the town.
Neu! rules!! When are we going to get a new No Dogs Krautrock episode?!
Had a buddy treated like a federal-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison candidate for simple possession in Indiana. Think he had one single joint. Ridiculous.
Came here to say almost this exact thing, but I'm from Illinois. It was a great place to go get truck beds full of the good fireworks. And one of my favorite Dollop stories takes place there. (Notre Dame vs the KKK)
Thanks for the rec on the episode. I’m new to the Dollop.
Of course! I was a delivery driver when I found out about the dollop and managed to listen to every episode. Some of them 2-3 times. I'm not a baseball fan, but the baseball oriented episodes are incredible.
He grew up in bumfuck Texas, I don’t think Indiana should have any surprises.
They also pull you over for going 5 over.
I think Darius Rucker just got in trouble for weed in Indiana
Nope! Tennessee. Lol I live here and just saw the news popup this morning lmao
Only very very rural Indiana. I’d say it’s not fair to judge the state based on that, but even those folks seemed to barely tolerate living there
I forget Indiana is even a state until I hear about something horrible happening there.
Almost the entire state is rural.
It’s crazy how the podcast shit on the entire state of Indiana twice in two weeks and now all it’s listeners think it’s like Some hell hole. I too wanted to know the story Marcus was alluding to as I’m sure it was a little embellished.
I don't want to alarm you, but Indiana has been seen as a shit place long before LPOTL and basically across the world. Not saying it is true obviously but I'm in the middle of NZ and I've never once heard a single positive thing about Indiana my entire life in media, from people online, in the news, in politics, from tourists, from immigrants, etc. Nobody has ever once said a reason to go to Indiana, including people I've known from there. I've heard more positives from almost forgotten states like Montana more than I have from Indiana
Moved to Arizona 3 years ago from Northwest Indiana, and every time i’ve been asked “why did you move” my response is “to get the FUCK out of Indiana”.
Yeah, Montana may be backward too, but at least it's gorgeous in places. Not NZ pretty, but, it has its own charm.
Southern Indiana is beautiful in the fall, and the Indiana dunes are too. It’s a shit state for its politics and some other things, but it has beautiful spots like anywhere else.
I’m not caught up on episodes & don’t recall the boys ever mentioning Indiana, but the first thing I picture when the state is brought up is Gary, Indiana. So…not great.
And that’s one city/town.. look at any us state and I promise you you will find a shitty town. Some worse than others granted. But you can’t look at one particular area and base your judgement on the entire state off that.
Many of us have considered it a hell hole for so much longer. I mean, the place gave us Mike Pence. It was never going to win any good awards 😂
I grew up in South Bend, it's a place to be from and these red state small towns have a brain drain for a reason. Lot's of miserable people scapegoating those they don't understand or think are elitist and never embracing change.
Went to school in the 46556 for 4 years, and all of this is true.
I live in South Bend and I agree 100%. The desire to cling to the “old ways” of life is ridiculous. The only upside to being here is things are relatively cheap and you’re just a stones throw away from lake Michigan and all the nice things that state has to offer.
From Osceola, couldn’t agree more! So glad I got out of that shit hole after college. Though I did end up in the Houston area and Texas isn’t much better…
But hey, we got Bonnie Doons Ice Cream!!!
I’m from SB as well and 100% no reason to stay
I want folks to know that it isn't that Indiana sucks because of just the politics but it also has things that are almost good or even a local delicacy until you think about the cons. So Shipshewana is Amish country and they sell really great cheese, meat, pies and furniture but then you think about the mental abuse those kids go through. Bob and Tom makes me feel dumber as an adult and a person who pursued stand up. 4 seasons keeps you cognizant that time is passing and you learn to be a home body or get a gym membership but the extremes really suck, especially winter, being sick and then the summers also suck because of overcast humidity with none of the beach options like say a Texas, California or most of the East Coast. The farmers market and the grocery stores are pretty good price to quality ratio. The people that don't suck create small but tight communities and you tend to have life long friends. Good BBQ smoked port a pit chicken, ribs and beef, thick crust, dense pizza (Brunos), a Greek food scene, a relatively moderately sized Cambodian community. Neighbors range from alcoholic cranky old man that fantasizes killing you if you step on his grass to shovelling each others sidewalks and mowing each others lawns while both having thinly veiled bigotry that unites them on the groups that aren't present. Lots of athletes and equestrians depending on the school district however it also highlights the disparities of redlining and gerry mandering counties inorder to isolate specific demographics. Sidewalks on both sides of the streets was nice.
Used to drive through there on the way to Watervleit and South Haven ti see family. Seemed nice when we stopped to pee haha
I spent 4 years in Indiana for college I’m 100% content never stepping foot in the state again. If anyone wants clarification and specifics. I went to Purdue. The campus itself is obviously very nice but it was an island of sanity in a sea of willful ignorance and rude assholes. Anytime I ventured off campus by myself or with friends people just seemed hostile as hell and would stare at you. One of my most fond memories is watching Indiana folks struggle to use the newly installed roundabouts scattered around West Lafayette. It was both hilarious and terrifying to witness the absolute disregard for common sense and right of way. I would describe my college years as a 4 year long mental health crisis on a low simmer so that didn’t help either.
I go to IUSE. Online. Not going there in person !!
Hello fellow Boilermaker! I’m a Hoosier by birth but a boilermaker by the grace of god!
Awesome! I met lots of cool people from Indiana. Boiler up!
IU?
naw, gotta be Ball State
Strangely enough, Carmel Indiana, a rich suburb north of Indy, has the highest number of roundabouts per capita in the country. I agree that most of Indiana sucks but I love Indy.
Same, except I hated it so much I spent a semester abroad then graduated early so I only did 3 years there but it was more than enough
Spared yourself the 4th year there at least.
I worked on campus for about a year or so before moving to Phoenix! I hope you visited Von’s, it’s the one place I really miss since leaving.
I went there a few times. I stayed in Hawkins Hall my last two years there so I was about a block away.
I spent 2 years at IU getting my Master's heres a few of my Indiana experiences Every time I left Bloomington with my truck with Colorado plates I got pulled over and searched for weed. Every time. Seriously every single time. Once I got pulled over 2 times in the same 20 mile trip. At first I complied because I was clean and clear but one time I got upset and told them to get a warrant id wait. I got the 10th degree that day. 4 more cruisers, a big time cop showed up in a SUV to yell at/ try and get me to just let them search. We waited the 4 hours for the warrant. They found nothing. I got screamed at for a while and a cop followed me to my destination, that cop stayed outside for 3 hours then followed me home. One time while doing field research on clearly public land a local farmer who's property was next to our research site shot at me and 2 other grad students because he didn't like we were there. State troopers responded to our 911 call and told him to cut it out then left and never spoke to us. One time in Martinsville an asshole blocked in my truck at a gas station and when I asked him to move so I could leave he got a squeegee from the pumps and proceeded to break every window on my truck. Almost 2 hours after calling 911 the cops showed up. My roommates girlfriends landlord (small mother in-law suit situation) trapped her in the rooms she was renting along with their pastor and some other church members and berated her for being a "whore" for not coming home every single night. They kept tabs. I've since moved to Texas for a PhD. Things are better here but weird shit still happens from time to time but not as bad as Indiana. That state is fucked.
All of that sucks so hard I'm sorry. Went to IU for undergrad - Bloomington is great but once you drive out it gets different quick. One time had friends come to visit, and they stopped in Martinsville for food not knowing it was the Derry, Maine of the Midwest. One of the guys is Latino and they sat at a mostly empty restaurant for 30 min and a server just never walked up. They left. This was like 2010.
Martinisville, IN is still better the Vidor, TX but it's not saying much. I love Bloomington. IU was a great school. Just sad it had to be surrounded by absolute bullshit.
I went to IU for undergrad for a few years. I’m from northern Indiana and agree with you that Bloomington and Martinsville are weird, fucked up places. Anything south of Indy is like a weird lawless confederate wonderland. I actively avoid traveling south of Indy for any reason
It's a shitty state run by christo-fascists.
Indiana is what they want all of America to be.
Indiana is the worst state I’ve ever been to by a long shot.
Indiana really is terrible. I travel a lot from NYC to Chicago on road trips and Indiana is easily the worst. part of that trip. How is that every one of their gas stations off of 80 looks like they are staffed by fhe sawyer family from Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I always push my gas tank to the limit to get to the one Sheetz right off the highway, it’s basically an oasis.
Love Sheetz. I do try to pull off for a rest stop there when I’m on my road trips. I love their sandwiches
I was traveling through there once with my mom when I was a teenager. I remember stoping at some roadside cafe type of place to grab a bite to eat. I have never felt more awkward and unwanted. The whole place was very “the hills have eyes”.
Missouri wins the worst state prize from me
Ohio over here….
I complained about Ohio to my dad once, after a particularly boring business trip. His response was “At least it’s not Indiana.”
Now im super curious. I’ve only been through Indiana, never stayed…
Arkansas takes the cake for me, and I lived in Indiana for about 10 years
What do you dislike about Arkansas?
The rickets.
the pronunciation
Arkansas for me, but to be fair, that was mainly the result of being bit by like 70 misquotes while I stepped out of my car for 20 minutes.
Interesting. Which states are next on your list?
You ever been to Indiana? Fuck Indiana.
Hoosier here, he is not wrong. Indiana is an absolute hell scape. It is somehow authoritarian and lawless at the same time
Authoritarian or lawless depending on what color you are
I'm from Chicago, but we have family in Indiana. While yes, Chicago has a bit of a problem with crime, Indiana has like... *Stephen King* crime.
Oh, but don't forget that every single time there's any crime at all, "lousy democrats are bussing in gangs from Chicago into our fine, small town, because they need the votes".
I wish I still had the picture from last time I visited Indiana, where my dad still gets a physical newspaper. The headline said something like "Chicagoification" of Northwest Indiana to blame for rise in gun violence." The next *two* articles on that same front page were about toddlers who were shot in separate incidents because their parents left guns lying around.
Yeah, the lax gun laws in Indiana and proximity means that's where most of the bad Chicagoans get their guns. And fireworks, but that's for everyone, not just criminals...
As a Chicagoan, I do enjoy the absolutely bonkers variety of fireworks and fun explosive things available just over the state line.
I'm confident that every one of my neighbors buys at least several hundred dollars worth of fireworks every 4th of July. It sounds like a war zone, is professional level stuff 360°.
Yes! In my neighborhood fireworks are an all summer long thing. My dogs hate it, but as someone who was young once, I get it. ‘Splosions are cool 🎆🎇
Yeah, the month leading up to it there's some, but the 4th is really over the top.
It's funny how long that's been going on. In Harold scheter's *Hell's Princess* he talks about how much talk and rumor there was about the crimes being from Chicago gangs. Almost all unsubstantiated, obviously. They might have even talked about it in their series on her, I don't remember
indiana is truly the state you have to drive through to get to a state you want to be in.
facts. I've only ever been in Indiana cos I was forced to drive thru it. then again, I was headed to Missouri which isn't much better lol
Chicagoan here, yeah, fuck Indiana. Their lax gun laws keep a steady flow of illegal arms coming into Illinois and neighboring states. Bunch of backwards thinking inbred bigots in the legislature and plenty of constituents to keep them there for generations. Fuck Indiana. Edit: grammar + punctuation
Hoosier here: the bitch of it is that I feel like a good number of us want change, but the whole legislative system is designed specifically to keep citizens from being able to effect any sort of change. We don't have ballot referendums or anything.
Yeah, man, it’s a fucking nightmare for you guys. And that’s part of the reason why I was really careful to not call everyone in the state a bunch of inbred bigots. During 2020 Covid so many of my queer community friends were forced to leave the city because of well, everything really. A lot of them ended up back in Indiana because it was the cheaper option. I know there are good people who live there who are essentially trapped in a shit situation.
Exactly. We have pretty much no power to do fuck all.
Indiana. Fucking. SUCKS. I live right over the border in Ohio and our family owns a generational farm (now, not surprisingly, falling apart) over the border. I’ve spent a LOT of time there. It. Is. The worst. Oppressive in every aspect.
Me too. Whenever we go into Indiana for dinner or shopping my son asks if we’re in China. He’s 4 and obsessed with China for some reason but sometimes it feels like we are in China.
I love when kids get random obsessions like that. When my nephew was 4 if you asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he’d say “a skeleton”. 💀
I love this story
There is a small town in southern Indiana named China. If you're ever in that area... Maybe don't visit it unless you love mud fields and broken down cars.
By Richmond? Have you driven through some of the small towns right on the border? Straight up fucking scary meth cousin fuckin towns.
I grew up in an Indiana town that’s on the Indiana/Ohio border. I understand the Indiana hate.. and I now live in Ohio.
I live in Indiana and honestly I’m with Marcus. Between the state legislature and the pollen, this state is definitely trying to kill me.
He had long covid symptoms when they were on tour and the roads "almost killed" him. Potholes almost killed him...POTHOLES.
I can actually commiserate. Indiana did shit all to keep Covid at bay, and when I got long Covid it was horrible trying to get to a doctor. The roads are shit and every bump felt like knives in my lungs. Not fun.
I think I broke (BROKE, not bent) 5 rims living in NWIN. Normal ones, not low profile or anything. I grew up a Region Rat. My husband and I live not far over the MI border now and it's been a world of difference. Thanks Michigan, love you.
Region Rat, always loved that term. Maybe I'll get out of Indiana and head to Michigan too. No potholes AND weed is legal?!? Indiana, get your shit together!
That actually rings a bell! Was that the issue?
He's definitely mentioned the potholes on the tour stop in Indiana, so I'm connecting the dots. I'm guessing that's what he meant.
So it really had nothing to do with the state of Indiana or it’s people, and if he had died it wouldn’t have been murder.
Indiana sucks in a lot of ways, and is boring in others for sure. We also produce a lot of weird religious figures and our government sucks. Ive lived all over the US, and while it’s not great I’ve been to worse places. I’d never invite someone to visit me haha. We do have good food here, just not the trendy spots. I wouldn’t touch down town Indy these days with a 10 foot pole. Our museums are surprisingly great though. And affordable. I definitely see and understand the hate, this isn’t even the only podcast I listen to that had disparaging things to say. It’s not tourist oriented. Hospitality staff work at subpar wages to afford subpar housing in a bland (but high crime!) city. The whole Hoosier hospitality thing isn’t anything more than a slogan imo.I think that many people would like to see changes our neighboring states have made but feel pretty defeated by the weirdos in charge to try, which is a shame! Always hurts when we’re called out like this, but can’t blame them. It can be isolating to live here with how loud and oppressive the majority is. We lack a culture they keep trying to buy, because they chased out the old ones.
From Indiana and can confirm
It’s getting better? (It’s not) I moved back here after being in Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, etc. Don’t miss the south at all for sure, but I miss Chicago sometimes. (Which I can visit easily)
As a Hoosier, he ain’t wrong. Hi Marcus!
Out of all the states I have heard people dislike, Indiana is second to none in terms of vitriol. Devoted to being 20 years behind the rest of the country, so resistant to change of any kind of manner, and the only state to actually bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic *back* because it might have been against God's will to help drug addicts. The people that escape are great, though
Helped a friend move across the country a few years back and when we drove through Indianapolis on a Sunday in the middle afternoon. There were so few cars on the road the whole city looked so deserted we checked the news thinking something had to of happened.
I had gone up to Indy for their live show, was chillin in the hotel, and then learned they were cancelling that night’s show because Marcus had gotten Covid, so maybe that’s what it was all about. It was the second time my live show had been cancelled (Covid cancelled the first one) and I was so bummed!
lol when they did the rescheduled indianapolis show, he wasn’t there due to still dealing with long covid stuff and my wife and i were like “wow he must *really* hate indiana”
Yeah after that second cancellation, when they weren’t sure they would be around, I finally cancelled my ticket. I’d held onto that thing for years at that point!
TIL a LOT about Indiana and that it sucks.
it's not all bad. I can't wait to leave, but if you love nature trails and camping it's a lot of fun.
I mean, I live in Indiana. It’s not too bad here, I just wish they would lighten up on the marijuana laws because Jesus Christ are they ridiculous.
It's crazy that we can drive in any direction and hit a state that sells, but never our own.
It would bring in so much revenue for the state, I really don’t know why they haven’t. I don’t smoke myself, but I don’t have a problem with it. Serving jail/prison time for a plant is ridiculous.
If they legalize weed shitty sheriffs won't get to seize college kids cars because they find half a gram of weed in their backpack, and they won't be able to harass and search anyone they want by saying, "I smell weed", and they won't be able to toss every person of color they come across into a for profit prison by sticking an empty vape cart in their pocket.
not me driving on southern Indiana backroads with a grinder full of weed and smoking a bowl while reading this comment.
Clearly you've never been to Indiana 😂 Even Mississippi isn't as depressing as Indiana.
At least Mississippi has great food and decent football
And good music.
Yeah indiana is a basketball state for sure, didnt truly get it til i got to purdue
We are but a humble people from a tough land. Hoosiers mean well…our politicians and cops are fuckheads though.
“You have to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new (mid) west. You know… morons”.
Because fuck Indiana.
Grew up in Indiana and some of my family still lived there, even the “nicer areas” are bullshit. Lots of racism (honestly still some sundown towns), redneck conservatism, and what famous for a sport going around in a circle bc there’s not left to do. 3 good things: Children’s Museum Indiana Dunes Brown County in fall (maybe loop IU in there) It’s a trash state with trash laws. Never in my life would i live there again. Never again.
I live south of Louisville. Love Brown County and children’s museum! Haven’t yet visited the Dunes.
We live in Chicago and try to visit the dunes once a summer. The beaches are amazing (though many beaches around Lake Michigan are great, have one only a few miles from where I live).
Ok, I’m seeing a lot of Indiana hate here and I get it. Just please remember that not all of us Hoosiers are bigoted assholes! I’ve lived in northeast Indiana my entire life and yes it does suck but we’re not all bad.
I've only ever gone to Indiana to buy fireworks at a sketchy place off the highway.
Shelton fireworks perhaps? lol
Big Red Barn!
Yepp lol I live right of the highway there. Not shit to do in Indiana trust me 😂
I've visited said barn a few times. Usually around the end of June. Actually a pretty area, but I was.coming from Illinois, so I didn't have the best frame of reference.
I refuse to spend money in that hateful state outside the tollways. Fuck indiana.
I think he might be referring to the Indy show they had to cancel because his long Covid came back with a vengeance.
While they were already in Indy I believe
As an Indiana native, he has every right to hate this place
Maybe he caught covid in Indiana?
Is that it? I know Covid laid him out for a while. Don’t know if I’d blame the state, but then, I guess I do blame my kids for bringing it home from school
He had it before coming to Indiana but it got worse while he was here and caused the show to be postponed. Iirc.
i just keep finding out more and more Marcus lore. like the baseball card! also commenting cause im curious about this too.
I grew up in Michigan riiiiight on the state line to Indiana. I don’t like Michigan but god damn Indiana is a cesspool
The part of Indiana I live in borders Chicago. The rest of the state hates us for being anything but right wing Jesus fuckers, and Chicago, which culturally were more in line with, ignores our existence. Bright side, i grew up in the city that A Christmas Story was based on.
I know that I went to see their show in St. Louis and they cut the show short, (I'd seen them twice aleady that year cuz my friends and I had gone to two other shows cuz I have friends in different cities and we did meet ups), and they drove to the Indiana show from STL that was supposed to be the next night and the roads were so bad it apparently put Marcus fully back into a long covid incident, (could also include care he received for it while there) or they blamed it on that at the time, and they had to cancel the Indiana show the same day they were supposed to do it. As a person who lives in MO and hates to drive anywhere that requires me to go through IN cuz the roads are atrocious, accurate.
I live in northern Illinois, and when I travel to see friends in KY I will purposely choose to drive almost the full length of southern Illinois to avoid driving across Indiana.
I live in Indiana (born and raised here), and they were absolutely right about it. It sucks. I think the one good thing about it is that the housing market is a bit cheaper than some parts of the country. And the whole “crossroads of America” thing is a joke, because you’d think that would make the state government put a little bit more money and effort into having roads that aren’t full of chuck holes and under constant construction that never seems to get finished. I meet people who have moved here from other states and even other countries, and all I can think is “why????”.
It's by far the worst and most embarrassing Great Lakes state. Even Ohio gets to look over and say, hey, at least we aren't Indiana.
Anyone who has spent time in Indiana knows exactly what Marcus means. Sorry Indiana but you suck, hard.
I live in northwestern Indiana. It's not bad. Close enough to chicago that it feels fun, and has decent enough nature spots out here too. I mean... I get it... But it's not bad.
10 bucks says it happened in Gary.
Everyone just saying Indiana sucks but nothing about his Marcus was almost murdered .. I need more infooooo
I’m pretty sure that’s where Marcus got Covid. They cancelled the live show last minute and he’s been dealing with long covid issues ever since
they call it shitty indy for a reason
Live in Southern Indiana and can confirm, it is atrocious.
Indiana definitely sucks in a lot of ways, obviously mostly politically. *However*... the people here that don't suck are still unassuming, friendly, and hospitable. Whenever I travel and go to a bar, there's always some sort of etiquette or something that has to be figured out. The only two places I've never experienced that are in Indiana where I'm from, and New Orleans. People are chill here, depending on where you're at.
Maybe where he got Covid? He had really bad struggles with Covid...
They should just build a tunnel under Indiana.
I mean yea, fuck Indiana
I think they talked about the roads being really dangerous and bumpy, which Indy construction has been pretty nuts ( not to mention the drivers). Then there’s Marcus’ long covid and digestion problems. I wouldn’t let it ruin your day.
Completely justified. Garbage state.
Indiana is terrible. I assume Marcus caught covid there cuz I thought he said Indiana tried to murder him.
Hoosier here: Indiana sucks and I’m planning my escape.
If I remember correctly, weren’t they driving through Indiana on tour when Marcus had long-covid?