Julia, et. al. - Perhaps the "Midwest" is that region which lies between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountain foothills, and the specific regions of the Midwest can be determined by more artifical boundaries. As a southerner by birth, my education was begun in northeast, continued in southwest and then followed by professional move to Michigan and then Iowa and then Illinois. You know, I always felt I was in Midwest in MI,IA,&IL. But I never felt, or as a curator seeking artists about me, wanted to be constrained by mileage boundaries. With Canada to the North and the high plains of the western states to the South, why not start with Kansas/Missouri and go northward to North Dakota/Wisconsin? Indianapolis is certainly a big part. But the Ohio River seems to start the trend towards S.E. region. What do others think?