I can’t help laughing. William Shatner will host the Miss USA pageant this Friday in Gary, Indiana. Y’all know that I regularly defend my Hoosier state, but there’s nothing that can be said for Gary. If you ever have the misfortune of driving to Chicago on the Indiana Toll Road, you’ll see why: it’s the ugliest city in the country. It literally looks like hell, all fire and brimstone and sulphurous fumes from the steel mills. (A helpful tip: when you find yourself rolling up the windows and putting the air on “recycle,” you’re in Gary.) And it was the murder capital of the country for, what, several years during the 90’s? I guess they’re hoping Captain Kirk’s endorsement will turn things around… but it doesn’t seem bloody likely.
Max
February 27, 2001 — 4:15 am
You know, Kris, until I drove through Gary I would have been like “Come on–it’s not THAT bad. The JACKSON 5 came from there, for heaven’s sake!”
Then I drove through it. Hell on earth–a gray and barren hell, but hell nonetheless. It was one of the most depressing things I have ever seen.
Kris
February 27, 2001 — 11:14 am
Ooh! I can’t believe I forgot to mention the Jackson 5 connection. That’s one of only two positive Gary connections I know of. The other one is the musical “The Music Man,” which takes place there (but in, like, 1902). Little Ron Howard (which, coincidentally, is my dad’s name) plays Winthrop Paroo and sings “Gary, Indiana” to Shirley Jones. I can’t tell you the number of theatre friends I had in college who would bust out a few bars of that when I told them where I was from.
But that doesn’t change the fact that nowadays Gary sucks ass.
Anonymous
January 7, 2004 — 6:02 pm
Sure does, I’m from Crown Point and I’d love to get rid of Gary.
Kris
January 7, 2004 — 6:09 pm
Ha! I knew a number of kids from Crown Point in high school who always took great pains to emphasize that they were not from Gary. They could live half a block over, within site of Gary city limits, but they’d still insist they didn’t live there. No one wants to admit it.