{"id":70512,"date":"2014-04-29T17:09:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T21:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=70512"},"modified":"2014-04-29T17:09:24","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T21:09:24","slug":"hoosier-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoosier State"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_70517\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70517\" class=\"wp-image-70517\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"LOVE_sculpture_NY\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-70517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Indiana\u2019s <em>LOVE<\/em> sculpture, on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Fifty-Fifth Street.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Once, when I was working as a waitress, a mother came into the restaurant with her two little boys, whom we\u2019d seen before. I must say, they were not particularly appealing children\u2014they were wild and hard to control, and frequently cruised around the interior of the restaurant on scooters. On this day, one of them, about four years old, climbed atop an empty table and wouldn&#8217;t get down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I said, \u201cHoney, you have to come down from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To which he said, \u201cFuck you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">So I lifted him down bodily.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">He ran to his mother in tears, screaming and whining. His mother said, \u201cSweetheart, the lady only did that because she loves you.\u201d <!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yesterday, I had lunch with a friend at one of my favorite restaurants, in West Midtown. It\u2019s an inexpensive French bistro that has been around since 1973; you know when you pass the Robert Indiana <em>LOVE<\/em> sculpture that you\u2019re almost there. The proprietors treat their regulars\u2014many of them older, many of them eating alone at the small tables\u2014with unsentimental respect and courtesy. When one of the regulars is housebound, they pay the homeless man who panhandles outside to bring food to his or her apartment. That\u2019s not why I go there\u2014I just like the food.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yesterday, my friend and I both needed comfort. We were in Midtown and we craved croque monsieurs. Our destination was obvious. And when I passed the giant <em>LOVE<\/em> on the corner of Sixth Avenue, my heart sang.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Writing about that famous Robert Indiana,\u00a0Megan Wilde said, \u201cThe word <i>love<\/i> was connected to [Indiana&#8217;s] childhood experiences attending a Christian Science church, where the only decoration was the wall inscription <i>God is Love<\/i>. The colors were an homage to his father, who worked at a Phillips 66 gas station during the Depression.\u201d As Indiana himself said, \u201cMy goal is that <em>LOVE<\/em> should cover the world.\u201d He got that wish, sort of.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The restaurant\u2019s\u00a0proprietors are sort of brusque. Yes, the sometimes-delivery-man takes his meals there, but there is nothing coddling about the experience. Do I \u201clove\u201d this restaurant? I don&#8217;t know; it so obviously doesn\u2019t try to be loved that the word seems besides the point. Do I \u201clove\u201d that iconic sculpture? A little bit, maybe, despite myself, only because I know I am about to experience the luxury of taking a place that is nourishing and undemanding and everyday for granted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">When that little boy climbed back onto that table, and fell off, and banged his elbow, and cried, I wasn&#8217;t happy. This is the human instinct, I guess: care and tenderness for the dependent is innate. But did I love him? Most certainly not.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once, when I was working as a waitress, a mother came into the restaurant with her two little boys, whom we\u2019d seen before. I must say, they were not particularly appealing children\u2014they were wild and hard to control, and frequently cruised around the interior of the restaurant on scooters. On this day, one of them, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[2111,13725,125,11218,13726],"class_list":["post-70512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-love","tag-midtown","tag-new-york-city","tag-restaurants","tag-robert-indiana"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Robert Indiana and the Meaning of Love<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on Robert Indiana\u2019s \u201cLove\u201d sculpture and the human instinct.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hoosier State by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April 29, 2014 \u2013 Once, when I was working as a waitress, a mother came into the restaurant with her two little boys, whom we\u2019d seen before. I must say, they were not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Hoosier State\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"love\",\"Midtown\",\"New York City\",\"restaurants\",\"Robert Indiana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\",\"name\":\"Robert Indiana and the Meaning of Love\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sadie Stein on Robert Indiana\u2019s \u201cLove\u201d sculpture and the human instinct.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny.jpg\",\"width\":2816,\"height\":2112},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hoosier State\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robert Indiana and the Meaning of Love","description":"Sadie Stein on Robert Indiana\u2019s \u201cLove\u201d sculpture and the human instinct.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hoosier State by Sadie Stein","og_description":"April 29, 2014 \u2013 Once, when I was working as a waitress, a mother came into the restaurant with her two little boys, whom we\u2019d seen before. I must say, they were not","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Hoosier State","datePublished":"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/"},"wordCount":478,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg","keywords":["love","Midtown","New York City","restaurants","Robert Indiana"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/","name":"Robert Indiana and the Meaning of Love","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny-1024x768.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-29T21:09:24+00:00","description":"Sadie Stein on Robert Indiana\u2019s \u201cLove\u201d sculpture and the human instinct.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/love_sculpture_ny.jpg","width":2816,"height":2112},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/hoosier-state\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hoosier State"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70512"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70524,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70512\/revisions\/70524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}