October 03, 2003

Go West

Posted by Brian

Brad DeLong quotes Stephen Cohen on California’s Uttermost Westerness.

Everybody knows that you can’t go west from California. There is no place wester. If we go from California to New York, we go Back East. If we go from California to Tokyo, we go to the Far East. We cannot go west. There is no way to do it.

But Tokyo isn’t the only place you can fly from California. When I’m flying from LA or SF to Sydney I certainly feel like I’m going west, not to the East. I suppose if you really want to feel like you’re on the western edge of things, you’d not only fly to Sydney but keep on going to Perth. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone whose identity was as bound up with being Western as Western Australians.

Posted on October 3, 2003 05:21 AM UTC
Comments

What about Hawaii, or (though I’ve never been), Alaska? They’re west, definitely not the far east, and also definitely not “down under”

Posted by sue · October 3, 2003 02:35 PM

If I was Hawaiian, this article would piss me off. But I’m not, so it doesn’t.

Posted by sidereal · October 3, 2003 07:17 PM

Its a perception problem. The map looks like that. He needs a globe instead. Or is he a flat-earther?

Posted by davd · October 6, 2003 12:53 AM

Of course, as an historian of the American West, I feel compelled to point out that California’s inclusion in “the West” remains a matter of some debate (especially among those living in places like Wyoming and Montana).

Posted by Rana · October 6, 2003 06:55 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.