The Sunflower State

I have been trying to figure out why Kansas is called the Sunflower State since I got here. I now understand, and with that understanding has come the realization that no matter how 'worldly' I think I am, I am apparently still carrying preconceived ideas, prejudices and bias around with me.

I am not sure if it is due to the fact that I watched the Wizard of Oz too many times, or if I listened to other peoples ideas too carefully or exactly why, but I realized that when I thought of Kansas, I have always thought the following: flat, corn, wheat, flat, soybeans, rectangular and more flat. While I still think there are parts of Kansas that are flat, my knees and I are very certain that parts of Kansas are very hilly. Not little rolling hills like Michigan, great big hills.

There is a sign just after you drive onto the Kansas Tollway from the east which says something like, "Kansas farmers feed 28 people, themselves, and you!" The rich soil of the valleys have big fields of corn, wheat and soybeans growing in them, so I am guessing that sign is probably true.

But I have still been hung up on the Sunflower State motto. I have wondered if perhaps just to my south there aren't farms growing fields and fields of sunflowers, and I just haven't happened upon them yet. Or maybe they do that far out to the west... it has been a puzzle. That puzzle has now been solved.

You know how, when you drive in Michigan, Indiana or Ohio there are wide carpets of natural grasses, wildflowers and weeds growing just beyond the shoulder of the highways? Often there are huge patches of the dreaded weed goldenrod, which are very pretty to look at but evil for anyone with allergies. Well, much to my surprise, in Kansas there are sunflowers. They are growing along every fence line, along the drainage valleys, through the cement under the overpasses, by the street lights, they are all over the place!

So now I have to wonder... if I have carried all these misconceptions about Kansas all these years, are there others? I am guessing that I have similar preconceived ideas about other places, but I haven't become aware of them yet, and this makes me kind of angry with myself. I don't like the idea that I am carrying such misconceptions around with me everywhere I go.