Tolkien, The Barrow-Downs, and Flyover Country

[Nuranar]

Currently there are active threads concerning West Coast, East Coast, and London groups of Barrow-Downers who are trying to hammer out a time to meet. There is also a thread for the Midwest (used in this sense as a vague term encompassing most of the United States). Whereas the former three threads seem to be all fairly popular and have many replies, the Midwest topic suffers from a decided lack of interest.

As I was pondering the reasons behind this curious phenomenon, I wondered: Are the Midwest Barrow-Downers not interested in meeting one another? Do most of them simply not visit this area of the forum?

Or does it go deeper? Is there a true paucity of Midwest Barrow-Downers? If so, why? Is there a corresponding (relative) lack of interest in Tolkien in this part of the country? How grievous that would be!

The ancient Homeland stereotypes (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000390) thread did influence this train of thought. But what do you think? Am I only imagining things?

[the phantom]

The midwest is often viewed as being less cultured (some people think we can't even read), and unfortunately, we're not doing much to dispel this myth.

I'm not sure how many MW barrow-downers there are, but I know plenty of Tolkien fans here around Omaha who just don't happen to be members of this forum, so you'd think there'd certainly be some more out there somewhere who are members, but just aren't replying.

Is there less interest in Tolkien here compared to other places? Well, I've visited friends recently in places such as Houston, Cleveland, San Diego, and Orlando, met fellow Tolkien enthusiasts there, and talked with them not only about the books, but also asked them how many other fans there were around their area. From their reports, there isn't much of a difference between those places and Omaha (the rest of Nebraska is probably a different story).

I'm not sure what the deal is. If there really is almost no one from the MW on the downs, I guess all MW barrow-downers should start campaigning a bit harder, and try to get fellow Tolkien fans from the MW to join this site.

[ February 06, 2003: Message edited by: the phantom ]

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Interestingly, it was in Omaha that I was introduced to the LotR! I was in college, and my boyfriend lent me his to read, later on giving me the red-boxed set of paperbacks that I still have and read today. I've moved a long way from Nebraska since then, but I am looking forward to being back in Omaha for college class reunion this coming fall. Maybe there will be an opportunity to meet fellow BDers then!

[lord of dor-lomin]

Wow, Esty, what a coincidence. How'd you end up in Omaha for college? Did you go to UNO? Creighton? How long has it been since you've been here?

And yes, phantom, we mid-Westerners should try to "convert" some people to the Downs. There's a couple people at work, a couple of my buddies, and a couple classmates of mine that I know like LOTR. As a matter of fact, I talked for about half an hour with a young lady at work who's read pretty much all of Tolkien's books, and has actually visited the Barrow-Downs, but just never joined.

[Rimbaud]

I'm clearly too English to understand the term Mid-West. It appears to cover everything from New York to Los Angeles.

"'Advocate,' he said to me, and I was tempted."

[lord of dor-lomin]

In the mid-West convention thread, I believe it was loosely defined as including:
East-West (Indiana to Utah)
North-South (North Dakota to Texas)

Pretty big area, huh?

[the phantom]

Yes, it is a "pretty big area", which makes it all the more surprising that there's been so few responses. Someone suggested breaking it into smaller sections, which I would totally approve of, if not for the fact that there haven't been enough replies to do so.

[Diamond18]

I don't know about mainstream Wisconsin, but come on! We have the handwritten documents, and the world's leading Elvish expert, David Salo at Marquette University. That should generate Tolkien interest here, but so far as I know I'm the only Wisconsinite on this Forum. However, I do know people who love Lord of the Rings, so I guess I don't really have an explanation.