END OF A HOOSIER ERA

4/4/06 END OF A HOOSIER ERA

My home state of Indiana is only known for so many things. Corn. Basketball. The Indy 500. Corn. We produced James Dean- pretty cool. We also produced Michael Jackson- not so cool, but in the 60's we traded him to California for some oranges and a player to be named later, so I think that worked out for us. And up until recently we had one other thing that helped define us. Along with our compatriot Arizona, we could stand up and laugh the hearty laugh of those who are chronologically self-righteous, and shout at the other states, "We do not fear the rising of the sun, or the going down of the same! We do not choose to walk out of our offices in October into the pitch black night at 4:45PM! We do not all feel the need to skip church on that one Sunday in April because we 'accidently' forgot to 'spring' our clocks forward! No, we will not change our clocks, and we are proud!" But alas, this past Sunday, for the first time in my life, Indiana chose to join the wandering heard of states who blend into the anonymous bi-annual metamorphosis, leaving Arizona to hold aloft the torch alone. I guess we'll have to make due with corn.