not all of Ohio is a problem, but like. if we use my own family as an example: Many of my Ohio relatives were Trump supporters. Many of my cousins and both of my aunts had kids young and never made it to/through college, so they're struggling to make ends meet and didn't get as much education as would be ideal.
Several of them made transphobic comments while visiting my dad when he was on hospice, so I couldn't even call them out on their bullshit because my dad did nothing to deserve me ruining his last day with his family.
I don't have the energy to be the oversensitive liberal Massachusetts cousin all the time, plus the smoke makes me physically ill, so I'm pretty much done visiting the Ohio family now that my dad's gone.
some of this is not their faults, and they do often have good intentions, but a LOT of them have fully bought into some very harmful political views + decided that their politics trump (pun sort of intended) public health concerns and social issues that are extremely important to me
Same with my Ohio relatives. The bad political ideas, the misogyny and the drinking mainly. It's a whole culture where they are and it's weird to go out there and see myself but worse.
Like my Ohio grandmother was the quintessential Christ-like Christian. She loved you no matter what. She did so much volunteering, meals on wheels and salvation army and giving everything she had to everyone and getting a community together.
And you could make a thing about how most of the midwest could be like this but Ohio gets special attention because every four years it becomes The Most Important Fucking State and everyone hates it
Superman's creators were also from Ohio... so were the Wright brothers, originally. Ohio's most famous residents are famous for doing everything they can to get out of Ohio
The economy sucks. The one thing you can say is that the cost of living there is rock-bottom but it sucks because then when you go on vacation OUT of Ohio it costs you way more.
Also I think?? most states in the midwest have a major city or tourism point to focus on. We struggled to think of why we'd ever wanna go to Ohio if cousins didn't live there
my dad once saw me playing drinking games with my Ohio cousins when I was like 19 and freaked out a little, and I had to tell him, "Dad, I took all my shots from this bottle and when it was empty, I stopped. I'm barely tipsy." His responsible daughter.
I live in Columbus and I love it but wouldn’t really live anywhere else in Ohio. But it’s pretty much a nice little liberal pocket. And 5000x nicer than Cleveland. But people also tend to forget we exist for some reason despite the fact that it’s like the 14th largest city in the US.
But we have lots of arts and science stuff. Second largest pride parade in the Midwest (after Chicago). So part of me does get indignant about the Ohio stereotype...and then I drive anywhere else and I remember I live in a bubble.
Many of my Ohio relatives were Trump supporters. Many of my cousins and both of my aunts had kids young and never made it to/through college, so they're struggling to make ends meet and didn't get as much education as would be ideal.