Oh those intrepid Midwesterners -many of Viking descent - for real. :)
There's a passage I love in a novel by an Aussie author (R.I.P. Barry!) - and here is an excerpt from my Perihelion Science Fiction book review:
In the "The Small Town Musings of Russel Cowes” (yes, sounds like he’d “rustle cows”), the school principal tells us Mensa wouldn’t trawl for members in the small-town Midwest, but the "permanently stunned look" that causes Midwesterners to appear stupid was “earned.” Settlers of the Great Plains "endured the worst weather nature can whip up," such as the blizzard of 1888, 40-below-zero winters, hot, arid summers, prairie fires, grasshopper plagues, dust storms, floods and tornadoes. "Wouldn't all that be enough to make your face look like you were expecting the next disaster to come along any minute?” As a Midwesterner myself, I could only nod and smile. As an American, I can tolerate this Australian novelist’s sneering portrayal of us, because there is truth in jest.*