Who is she to criticize Oregon?

The other day, one of the neighboring shop owners came up to me in the store and started telling me about her recent trip to Kansas and how wonderful a place it is, how much she adores this state. "The people are soooo nice and down to earth," she says with her midwestern accent. I say, "oh yeah, just like where I'm from, Oregon" And then comes a little closer to tell me something with all seriousness, "you know which state has really weird people? Oregon." Wow, I just about want to slap her, but she could sit on me and kill me so that wouldn't be a good idea, so I say, "oh really? Well they're very nice, you know where the weird people are? here, Southern California." But she insists on telling me how strange and white trash everyone is in Oregon and how the reason is that the people who settled Oregon were really odd and not all there.

The whole problem is that if someone I respected had said this to me then I would listen and maybe consider it, but this woman is one of the strangest people I've met. We all try to avoid talking to her because we know we'll get sucked into a strange, drawn out conversation with her. Who does this weirdo think she is claiming that Oregon is full of weirdos? But really, truth be told, Oregon is weird and is full of strange people, and a nice mix of them at that. That's what I like about it. The weirdness isn't all the same variety.

So, she can have her fantastic Kansas, the whole midwest for that matter, and her California roll land and never have to visit Oregon and it's weirdos.