I'll be the first to admit that my state is not that cool.

Indiana has not garnered itself a great reputation of late. The man from Evansville who fired a gun in front of the White House has done little for our reputation. I agree with most people that his was an asinine move.

But that's usually where our agreement ends. I shake my head vehemently at each reference to Indiana as the cause of his problems and idiocy at essentially trying to kill himself next to the most guarded house in the United States.

I cringe at the cries of "only in Indiana."

No, NOT only in Indiana.

This country is full of strange, messed up people and they do not all come from Indiana. I'm not lobbying that Indiana is the hippest, most exciting place to visit. Indiana tourism experts have enough trouble doing that.

But as aesthetically and eventfully boring as it can sometimes be, Indiana is not where cows and nasty, old farmers come to die.

There's a long-standing theory that Indiana is made up of — well, corn and "white trash."

I'm from Northwest Indiana. I've never really liked corn. And as I write this, I'm confident that the Guns `N Roses I'm listening to doesn't make me white trash but someone with an eclectic music collection.

It's amazing what you learn about your hometown when you leave it. I never knew that all people from NWI lack "street smarts" and are gullible. And you can imagine how lucky I felt to have escaped the pregnancy plague that some believe has hit my hometown.

But really, when is my polite smiling supposed to end? When I'm made to feel ashamed of the home where my parents raised me? Am I not supposed to be insulted when people ask me if I've been cow tipping?

There are pregnant teenagers and toothless bartenders in the most stereotypically classy states in the country. Indiana isn't some refuge state where they all migrate.

Every town or city in America has "townies," South Bend and Indiana are no exceptions. Every state has dirty men with no teeth and bad breath.

Scan your local bars the next time you're home.

Look for the overweight, 45-year-old men singing karaoke. Look for the middle-aged women in tight leather skirts who should NOT be wearing tight leather skirts.

They're not just in Indiana. They're in your towns and states, too.

And Notre Dame is not some haven where all normal, non-white trash Hoosiers congregate. "Notre Dame doesn't belong in Indiana," I hear from friends and classmates.

How arrogant.

The fact is everyone at Notre Dame chose to attend a school in Indiana. And while South Bend is not the safest or most fun city, it is where we spend our four years. It's where we make our stories and build our friendships. It is guaranteed where you will continue to visit each year you attend a football game or visit your old dorm.

And one day you may find yourself strangely missing the city and state with all the townies. Or at least you'll miss making so much fun of them.

• More than corn