Kristen Bell in Ambassador

I was flipping through this month's issue of Ambassador. I saw their headline Kristen Bell: Hometown Girl to Hero and, well, let's face it - any time a magazine puts the words "Kristen" and "Bell" on their cover, it's pretty much guaranteed to grab my attention.

For the benefit of anyone who didn't already know this, Kristen Bell grew up in one of Detroit's suburbs, Huntington Woods to be specific. She graduated from Shrine Catholic High School before heading off to New York for college and her career.

The folks at Ambassador asked her a series of questions about growing up in the Detroit area. I couldn't help notice something peculiar in her answers though. She didn't say that she was from Detroit. Instead, she said that she was from the Midwest.

Let me recap this for everyone. Kristen Bell is from Huntington Woods, but when asked about growing up she did not say she's from Huntington Woods.

Kristen Bell did not say that she's from Detroit or the Detroit area.

Kristen Bell did not say that she's from southeastern Michigan or even that she's from Michigan.

Kristen Bell said that she's from the Midwest.

I can't really say that I blame her, in the grand scheme of things. The Midwest, as a generic entity, has a fantastic reputation in Hollywood. Midwesterners are known for having a strong work ethic, without a lot of personal drama. It's a positive thing in Hollywood to be from the Midwest.

However, Michigan in general - and Detroit, in particular - don't really have the greatest reputation on the national stage at the moment. It starts with the troubles that the Big 3 have been battling from the past few years and got a whole worse with Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text messaging scandal.

I can't blame Kristen Bell for wanting to associate herself with a positive instead with something that's perceived as a negative. If I were in her position, there's a decent chance that I'd do the same thing.

It's just sad that Detroit's perception on the national stage is what it is.