South Dakota: Center of America

South Dakota is the center of America -- literally. Well after the campaign crews and dutiful Coastal press have dusted South Dakota off their fancy shoes, the imaginary mass of the United States of America will continue to balance perfectly on a point in Butte County, 21 miles north of Belle Fourche, 7.8 miles off the not-so-beaten path of Highway 85.

This magical mathematical construct draws some more press for South Dakota in the New York Times, as Dan Barry offers what begs to be read as some metaphorical counterpoint to all the political coverage South Dakota's primary has drawn this year.

Over the years this dot on the map has been treated as a holy place and as a place to share a six-pack, an inconvenient place, a nearly forgotten place, a place to reflect on something larger than one’s self. Who knows why the centers of things matter — the centers of cities, of states, of countries — but they do [Dan Barry, "In the Middle of Nowhere, a Nation's Center," New York Times, 2008.06.02].

If you're worn out by politicking, give this article a read, and contemplate this paradox: at the center of everywhere lies nowhere... a nowhere that, for some of us, is everywhere.