Kansas is so much more than farms and cowboys, I promise.
Even if it's common, not everyone here wears the same getup, speaks the same, or lives near a farm. You might need to wait longer than a day to see that, but it's true. However, there's some stereotypes about Kansans that give us a hard time with outsiders, so I'm here to put those to rest.
1) Firstly, Kansas isn't all flat, no matter what the highway tells you. Catch a country road, and you'll find that we have hills and trees, too.
2) Second, sports isn't that important for most of us. Yeah, we occasionally have a team we root for when they're playing on a public TV, but a large number of us couldn't care less who wins.
3) Those of us who do farm, also have a life outside of it. Unless they own more than one, that is. It doesn't make them less intelligent, either. If anything, they'll know more about the land and crops than you probably ever will. If you have ever eaten bread, you'd better be thankful!
4) Not every small town we have is full of farms. It's true that we have quite a few farms in between them, but they aren't always surrounding every community. We also have big cities like Wichita and (our half) of Kansas City.
5) We're not the worst drivers in the Midwest. We do have our days, but if you drove here full time, you'd know that people from Oklahoma or Missouri give us trouble on the roads too.
6) We don't all own cowboy boots. We don't all own even regular boots, either. Some of us just walk around all year in sandals or tennis shoes, contrary to some people's belief.
7) Kansas is only boring if you stay home all the time. Just like any other state, really. If you explore, you'll find that we're not boring, flat, or otherwise.
8) We don't all listen to country or pop country music. In fact, I myself hate both of those genres. You'll also find lovers of rock, metal, and indie music in every town, not just the cities, too.
9) Not everyone likes living here. It's true that we usually make the best of what we have, and we don't worry about not having beaches or mountains. However, there's some that will tell you just how much they hate everything about Kansas and it's people.
10) We didn't copy our BBQ from anyone. It's a signature KC style, and you guys just need to respect that. It's delicious, anyways.
11) We don't tip cows for fun. First, that's disrespectful to the farmer and his expensive property. Second, you don't want to be near a cow that doesn't know who you are, especially it's feet. Do you want to die?
12) We do have crazy weather sometimes, and it has snowed in May a few times. However, we don't see anything strange like an August blizzard or 100 degree temperatures in January. Even Kansas' weather has a limit.
13) Walmart isn't a fun pastime, and most of us don't really care if you wear your pj pants to the store, either. They're just pants. Plus, so many of us wear flip-flops 24/7 anyways, right? Walmart is just a store, like Dillons or any other grocery/misc store.
14) Though most of us really don't appreciate Wizard of Oz jokes (that we've heard ten million times), we actually don't mind the movie, usually. If it's on, we won't complain, because it's a classic.
15) People who live here aren't always nice. True, most of us won't be outright mean to others, but there's always a good amount of people who are downright nasty.
16) Here's a bonus stereotype that's actually true: Our roads are always under construction somewhere, and we're not kidding. Somewhere in every one of our cities, there's a road being blocked for eight months while they resurface or fix potholes. It's insane. Don't even get me started on Wichita.
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