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Question of the day

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Illinois

* Like many of us, I own some of the late Bob Waldmire’s fantastically complicated map posters. Here’s a tiny part of one Bob did of Springfield many moons ago…

* The Question: What is the State of Illinois?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 13, 16 @ 1:59 pm

Comments

The state most representative of America. Thus the most American state.

Comment by chi Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:02 pm
It’s a Broke

Comment by Chico Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:08 pm
Catatonic, for about the last year or so.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:10 pm
“It’s a mystery! It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!”

It’s also…

Home

The place of my fondest memories, and my saddest days. It’s warmth. It’s community. It’s unique. It unexplainable, yet known to her native. It’s urbanly rural, it’s farming industrial side. It’s immitated, it’s copied, but never a follower.

It’s where Lincoln and Reagan and Obama can ALL be from… and it makes sense.

It’s home. It’s where I’m from, not where I want to leave. It’s pride, it’s a work in progress. It’s ever evolving, it’s not close to perfect. It’s a punch line, it’s the line in the sand too.

It’s our canvass to build greatness, it’s our notepad to learn from mistakes. It’s still reaching for more, it’s still hungry for more too.

It’s love. It’s pride, it’s heartache and a black eye too. It’s perfectly imperfect.

It’s home.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:11 pm
We to the place have come, where I have told thee
Thou shalt behold the people dolorous
Who have foregone the good of intellect.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) Inferno, Canto III, 16-18.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:18 pm
Its not Wisconsin.

Comment by Groucho Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:18 pm
dumpster fire

Comment by Pothole Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:20 pm
A place with meaning, history, beauty, wealth, aspirations, sacrifice and honor. Illinois does represent America from its beginnings…Louis & Clark encampment; Pere Marquette and voyagers before them; last battles of the War of 1812; represented in every conflict through its sons and daughters; great Generals; Great Presidents; innovators; doctors; hospitals; universities; people. If there ever was a doubt - and these days there’s lot’s of that going around…Illinois really is “all of the above”. If Illinois were removed from the USA, America might have more than a hole in the middle…it would have lost its soul.

Comment by Captain Illini Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:21 pm
Failing…

Comment by HigherEd Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:33 pm
Diverse.

Comment by Observation Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:40 pm
Lost, at the moment.

Comment by JB13 Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:41 pm
Curiously, still The Prairie State, although the prairie is all but gone.

Just 2,500 acres remain, from a height of 22 million acres, according to IDNR.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:45 pm
A wounded duck

Comment by Anonymous Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:47 pm
If this is a double post, I apologize:

Pathways of Illinois:

I travel her roads.
The interstates,
The two lane blacktops,
The gravel dust,
The dirt ruts,
And, the grass lanes.
I’ve seen her from her bluffs along the Mississippi,
And on her blackest and flattest lands near Stonington.
I’ve given directions to Moonshine, New Philadelphia,
And Solomon.
I’ve been out in her frigid blizzards, her soaking spring downpours,
Her terrarium summers, and her whirlwind leaf falls.
I’ve lost a childhood homestead, and rebuilt a home.
She is a land untouched by glaciers and bulldozed down by the same ice.
These are some of the byways of my Illinois.
And there are roads yet to travel down.

Comment by Anon221 Friday, May 13, 16 @ 2:49 pm
Drove to Chicago
All things know, all things know

We sold our clothes to the state
I don’t mind, I don’t mind
I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind

You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow

We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go

Comment by Keyrock Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:05 pm
A wonderful place to live with a horribly dysfunctional government.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:08 pm
Illinois is a hostage.

Comment by Enviro Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:09 pm
It is what we choose to make it.

Comment by WIUoblivion Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:10 pm
=It is what we choose to make it.= +1

Amen.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:14 pm
Disarray

Comment by thechampaignlife Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:17 pm
A gem in need of polish.

Comment by A guy Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:45 pm
Backstory

Comment by walker Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:49 pm
Ditch weed grass bowl.
Can’t fill a pot hole.

Comment by Vole Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:49 pm
Equality for everyone.

Comment by Wensicia Friday, May 13, 16 @ 3:54 pm
At odds.

Comment by A guy Friday, May 13, 16 @ 4:20 pm
Many years ago, we used to abbreviate state names with multiple letters, such as Conn, Mass, Ind, etc. Illinois was abbreviated as ILL which seems to be a good description of it today.

Most disease is likely to improve if it is addressed promptly. Unfortunately, our State needs some help and the proper care is not being administered so our state isn’t feeling so great these days.

There is a lot of diversity here which is what made it an attractive place to live and work. We need the right kind of specialist to come in and take care of matters.

Comment by Belle Friday, May 13, 16 @ 4:47 pm