So, I dreamed, in a round-about-way, about Wyoming the other night. This should be a dream post, but there’s more to say, so here we are.
What was the dream? Fucking weird. I was in The Childhood Friends kitchen, only it looked… industrial. Then beside some section of hanging pots & pans, there was the state emblem. The bucking horse & rider. They were alive & real, but in that position. The guy kept his hat holding hand extended just like that. “You can pet her if you want.”, so I petted the horse, which was a girl in my dream. She was beige & did move her head. I just kept getting bombarded with “Wyoming” over & over again in my head, like it was a good thing, a good idea.
That was basically the highlight of the dream, so why the fuck was I dreaming about Wyoming? I don’t know, so I looked up all it’s facts & figures since they don’t have a dream interpretation of that. Which we’ll get to in a minute.
Lil’ Small suggested that I look up the other places that I’ve dreamed about. There was a dream where she was getting me ready for prom in our parents room & I kept asking her a question & she’d only respond, in Valley Girl speak, “Because there are two Dakotas…”, so I’ve looked those up as well.
Dreams of Los Angeles, which I think I can guess at that, but I’ll look into that anyway. Those were the only specifics I ever dreamed about. However, there is another place. I wanted to cover the electrical interface of my window unit at the time, so I could sleep without that glaring in my eyes. ‘I’ll choose a postcard.’ & I looked through all of them & randomly picked one that drew me in. When that window unit died, I wanted to keep the postcard. ‘Huh… I wonder which one I even chose…’. It was Las Cruces, New Mexico, which I did do a post on already.
Back to Wyoming… my first thought upon waking up, well, besides, ‘What?!’, was ‘Wait… aren’t they the state to give women the right to vote & all way back?’
Yes, they were. In 1869. I’ve always liked that since I first learned about it. They also had the first female court bailiff & the first female justice of the peace, both in 1870. The first female governor in 1925. Awesome.
They were once owned by Mexico until 1848. Their state dinosaur is the triceratops, & well that’s me. Ya know, if you’ve ever seen the animated film, The Land Before Time, because her name was Cera (Sarah).
Besides the Arapaho, Shoshone, & Lakota calling the land home, there’s also the Crow. I’m well aware that Crow (the people) are not the same thing as Crow (the bird, my favourite bird), but it might not have been a people with the same name as my favourite bird, so that’s cool.
Only a 4% sales tax with no income, retirement, or inheritance taxes. I know, blahblah taxes, but that sound pretty fucking awesome, right?
It’s also pretty, with the rocky mountains there off in the distance. So pretty!
And then we get into the weird. It’s the least populous state in all of the US. I mean, I do want to get away from people, but I think this would be a bit extreme, yeah?
There’s… not a lot of rain. The highest percentages of precipitation is mostly from snow way up in the mountains. I don’t know if I could go with out rain, man.
The entire state is pretty much Republican. It’s also a sea of white people. 92% white vs 2.4% Indigenous (They have 7.5k Eastern Shoshone & Northern Arapaho living in the state. That’s a lot of people to me, so with them only being at 2.4, that’s a lot of fucking white people, man.) 0.8% African & Asian American. Oy.
At least there’s a surge in Latino. I mean, people can go wherever, but part of me wants to ask… ‘What drew you to cold Pennsylvania or po-dunk Mississippi or Wyoming?!’ just because I’m curious why people would want to move places where they aren’t from. I like that there are more people, whether Arabic, Indian (India), African, or Latin American people here. I dig it. Makes things less white. So an 8.9% for Hispanic/Latino is a good jostle for that sea of white.
Also mega Christian with a lot of Mormons & Evangelicals & also just Protestants. Eh… I mean, it’s fine. You do what you wanna do, but I’m already hailing from a state with a lot of Protestants that constantly votes Republican & tries to pass laws in the name of religion. Why the fuck would I wanna jump from one frying pan to another, ya dig?
They’re called Wyomingites. I don’t like that ending demonym. At all. As a Mississippian, I’m sure that you might can see why. Ian just rolls off the tongue better than Ites.
They’re shit on transportation really with only some highways, but that makes sense since it’s so low on population, big on land & why would they keep up anything else. But I was a little saddened to know they have no train service at all anymore. That’s a bummer.
Big industry, besides tourism for all those public spaces & national parks, is agriculture, mineral extraction, & Taco John’s. Oh, to move to the middle of nowhere in a sea of white (people) & red (political) & work at a Taco John’s. Livin’ the dream, man. Hahah
I’m not knocking on Wyoming. I’m really not tryin’ to. Maybe Wyomingites are proud of their state, but perhaps they also think weirdly of other states, like ‘Who the hell would voluntarily go & live in Mississippi?!’.
I wouldn’t even be mad if they thought this way, because I think the same thing & it’s my home state! There’s a lot I love about my state, but mainly it isn’t the controlling nature that stems from… people.
I’m sure people, for the most part, in Wyoming are swell & it’s probably a very lovely place. I’m just wondering why the hell I dreamed about it & what it’s supposed to mean, to me, in my personal life yeah?
Wyoming, however, fared better than the Dakotas. There was nothing really pinging for me when I looked them up, so I don’t know why they were in a dream.
North Dakota lists a fuck ton of notable people, whereas South Dakota & Wyoming do not. It is the 4th least populous state. South Dakota is the 5th least populous state.
It’s kind of the same deal as Wyoming though. Minerals & agriculture. Neither having been previously owned by Mexico though.
8.8% Indigenous vs 84.7% White in South Dakota, having nine reservations of the Lakota & Dakota nations. The Wounded Knee Massacre happened there. There’s also Mount Rushmore, which is a desecration of the sacred Black Hills.
4.1% Indigenous vs 94.6% White in North Dakota, having six reservations comprising of the Lakota and the Dakota, the Blackfoot, the Cheyenne, the Chippewa, and the Mandan nations.
South Dakota’s fossil is also the triceratops, so that’s cool.
Both Dakota’s seem to be primarily Republican, White, & Protestant. Oy.
South Dakota is kind of similar to Wyoming in taxes, where North Dakota is squirrelly (like this post, am I right?).
I dig that North Dakota has Norwegian, Icelandic, & German influence, these people having come over & settled there.
I don’t know, man. I’ve really got nothing. I need more isolation in my life? More nature? More… calm? That’s really what I’m picking up, as a life focus sort of deal, from the Dakotas as well a Wyoming.
Alien Tea Shoppe 