Hoosiers On TV

Back at the beginning of January when all the 2013 lists come out, I noticed that a local StarNews reporter created a Top Ten list of his favorite 2013 TV shows. Lo and behold, what did I find on his list? At #3 and #9 were two shows about life in Indiana. Of course I am referring to PARKS AND RECREATION at #3 and THE MIDDLE at #9. For those of you who do not catch these two shows, PARKS AND RECREATION is about a small town in Indiana named Pawnee and THE MIDDLE is about a family in the suburbs south of Indianapolis.

I know you are asking yourself “How do I know that it is south of Indianapolis?” Well, the dad is the foreman at a stone quarry---Indiana limestone which is a very good building material is cut south of Indianapolis. For those of you old enough to remember the movie BREAKING AWAY, the son of a stone cutter competes in a bike race with local college students (A.K.A the Little 500 at Indiana University).* In BREAKING AWAY, the “townies” are referred to as the “cutters.”

It is interesting that the StarNews reporter likes PARKS AND RECREATION because of the “perky positivity” of the lead character, Leslie Knope. Does this reporter not see Leslie Knope as a grown up version of the sister, Sue, in THE MIDDLE? The unflappable optimism demonstrated by Sue every time she tries out for an extra-curricular activity is the “perky positivity” embodied in Leslie Knope. It must be inbred then why I get up every morning thinking that I will be successful today!?! I don't always know what I will try, but I always feel perky and positive about it.

The name of the town in PARKS AND RECREATION is Pawnee. According to the story line, Pawnee gets its name from a battle between the Indians and the settlers. I have had this nagging feeling that Pawnee is located somewhere in northeast Indiana. I know most people don't geographically associate Indian uprisings, like those depicted in old Westerns, to northeastern Indiana. Unfortunately, battles like the ones depicted in the “Pawnee” mural did happen. Sadly, the bad feelings about the Indian uprisings lasted well into the early 1900's. One of my grandfathers born in 1888 told of seeing signs in tavern windows that said “NO INDIANS AND NO IRISH.” We of course heard those stories because he was Irish.

However, some folks in Fort Wayne during my years in school did decide like Leslie Knope that we should remember the contributions of the Indian tribes to the local history. We had housing additions and schools named in honor of the local tribes. I remember Kekionga Junior High School. Near my home was a huge housing addition and elementary school named “Indian Village.” My sister had the privilege of attending Indian Village Elementary. Someone else of note grew up in Indian Village, the actress, Shelley Long. Shelley Long's mother taught at Indian Village Elementary. I should check the credits for PARKS AND RECREATION, maybe Shelley Long is a writer or producer for the show.

* Like the author, Jen Lancaster who has some ties to Indiana, I am going to add a footnote for clarification. While going to graduate school in Lousiana, I tried to explain to a local professor that what he was calling “University of Indiana” was not Indiana University. I tried to explain to him that University of Indiana was in Pennsylvania and that what he was referencing was Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Duh, why do you think they call it “IU!?!” As you can imagine, he did not appreciate the clarification and my final grade reflected his feelings. I got an undeserved B.