This is incredibly condescending but also pretty funny: Kansas as a Burmuda Triangle of dullness and vacuity. “The last known communication from Corcoran was sent from somewhere within the Rectangle, and made reference to plans to marry a large blond woman and enroll in a local technical college.” I remember one holiday party in Cambridge, a year or two after moving to Indiana, when we had the distinct impression that people were racking their brains to remember something about the difference between Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. It was then, perhaps, that I truly started to become Midwestern (as a mode of resentment of/opposition to bi-coastal condescension/ indifference).
I guess since the Onion is Midwestern (at least in origin) it’s OK for them to make jokes like this.
Ivan Kreilkamp 