On Thursday, June 20th, West Virginia turns 150 years old.

As someone who grew up here, I tend to be (extremely) defensive about the state.

Here are some of the reasons why: these are things I regularly saw when growing up.

I know, you don’t get it. Let’s try a couple close-ups.

I grew up knowing that the people who made kids’ maps couldn’t be bothered to accurately represent my state.

“Panhandles? No one’ll notice if they’re missing! Just make it a weird shaped blob and stick it in there. It’s not like anyone’ll care!”

Why was this so maddening? Because we also grew up with this:

Go to about 9 minutes if you want to see what I’m talking about, though of course, the Pride of West Virginia is always worth watching.

And if you’re wondering why the stands are empty on the east side of the stadium, it’s because this was for the high school Band Spectacular, not a game.

And just for the hell of it, here’s a video of the band from 1978.