I鈥檓 coming up on my ninth anniversary of moving to Ohio, and despite dedicating those years (minus one in Louisville) to understanding the state and its people, I still can鈥檛 wrap my head around one statewide trend: the tendency of Ohio natives to denigrate their home state.
Maybe it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 a Pollyanna, always looking on the bright side. Maybe it鈥檚 because I found my dream job and my husband here. Maybe it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 from Iowa, so anything with slightly more hills and slightly more people feels very 鈥渂right lights big city.鈥� The fact is, I can鈥檛 help but think that the people who hate it here are just not looking hard enough.
My news team goes all over the state, past the Three Big Cs (Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati), to track down stories. And yes, some of them are . But they鈥檙e always, at a minimum, interesting and sometimes they're very flattering. What other state has a billboard declaring a town鈥檚 dedicated and one that reminds you "Hell is Real?" What other state has a and and a washboard festival? What other state has a museum and a ?
And while we covered the explosion of using on social media, my favorite Ohio joke is almost exactly two decades old:
"Twenty-two astronauts were born in Ohio. What is it about your state that makes people want to flee the Earth?"
That's from a Stephen Colbert interview with then-congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones on Nov. 3, 2005.
According to a , Texas, New York, and California actually beat us in the astronaut count. But at the time of publishing, Wikipedia lists 26 astronauts from Ohio, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Ohio鈥檚 history of flight is on its license plates for a reason (). It鈥檚 easy to love the Wright brothers and John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. But there鈥檚 so much more to our contributions to flight.
That鈥檚 why Ohio Newsroom reporter Kendall Crawford came up with Buckeye Skies, a series on lesser-known Ohio aviation history.
You don鈥檛 have to make it all the way to outer space to make your mark. launched its first blimp, a hundred years ago this year.
The behemoth鈥檚 first flight marked a milestone in aviation history 鈥� during the World Wars, Goodyear manufactured blimps for the U.S. Navy as. In World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor surged their production.
But not all aviation stories are as feel-good. September also marked a one hundredth anniversary 鈥� . The nearly 1000-foot-long Zeppelin was on a cross-country publicity tour when it got caught in a storm over Noble County.
The lighter-than-air airship crashed to earth in the city of Ava and locals rushed to help, and to gather souvenirs.
Now generations later, those scraps 鈥� broken bits of metal, fraying rope and compasses whose needles have long since moved 鈥� have been passed down like family heirlooms. They鈥檙e compiled in a mobile museum, commemorating the disaster and the community鈥檚 compassionate response.
It鈥檚 just one of a number of little-known aviation stories in the state, and every Wednesday this month on The Ohio Newsroom, starting yesterday, we鈥檒l feature another. So, to paraphrase , if you care to find us, look to the Buckeye Skies.
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