Son Goku writes:
Do people associate themselves more with a region, such as seeing themselves as a Southerner or a New Englander or is it common to identify with their state?
Well, to some extent I think I do both. I'm from Michigan, and have lived here for most of my life (since I was six). I think that being a Michigander has some unique qualities to it that no other State can claim. We are, after all, a peninsular State, being surrounded by The Great Lakes (
Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circum spice), making us distinctive from any of our neighbors. So as a State, I think we're sufficiently different from others, such that I generally associate myself primarily with my State, more so than with any of my neighbors.
And speaking of neighbors, look who we have to our south...Ohio and Indiana. Why would I want to associate myself with either of those two States?
At the same time, however, I do consider myself a part of the upper mid-west and do not mind being associated with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and/or to some extent...even Ontario.