Greetings fellow Hoosier. It has been my experience as well at west coast conferences, some people think we are all from some redneck farm in the middle of nowhere. I think the close mindedness says more about them than us.

I'm from Ohio, by way of Pennsylvania, and have been living in SoCal since 2008.

When I tell people out here that I'm from Ohio they reflexively think I'm talking about Iowa.

Then you might appreciate this line of shirts from Iowa's biggest little t-shirt company: https://www.raygunsite.com/products/ohio-1

That's extremely on point, I love it.

edit/ These are so good, thanks for the link. https://www.raygunsite.com/collections/the-midwest/products/...

That's hilarious.

I recently moved to Idaho, the other I state. People occasionally call it Iowa multiple times in the same conversation! Similar to that Ohio/Iowa shirt, there's also an excellent one sold at the hipster grocery stores in Boise that has the outline of Idaho with some lovely drawings of a farmer working a field of (presumably) potatoes... IOWA is printed across it in huge, bold letters. The Idaho<>Iowa confusion must extend past my circle of friends and coworkers.

That being said, I'll freely admit I don't know where Des Moines is inside Iowa's confines.