State-ism in songwriting and geographical ignorance

Hello. I should be job hunting, but I am not. So we're going to talk about two unrelated issues on my mind. But maybe they are sort of related.

I like songs that are very geographically oriented. Time, place...concrete details. I have overindulged my love of place in many of my songs, but hey. I write 'em, so there. Anyway...I was thinking today while walk/jogging up by the foothills that if I were to throw in a line about yucca plants or the Sandia mountains in a song...it would be kind of lame. New Mexico geography, while gorgeous and special to me, is not...universal. So what makes something geographically accepted in the larger pantheon of writing? I could throw a magnolia in to some song and no one would really think twice. I don't know if I have ever seen one, but they're used so much in literature that I feel I have. Yucca plants aren't quite there yet. I have heard many a New Mexico songwriter try and throw in these overly specific details, and it always came off as unprofessional and amateurish to me.

"Oh the sunset is alwaaaaays pretty over the arroyo...in Ruidosooooo." Or something. I made that up. But it's like that. People would be all, "WHAT?" I guess our state just needs to be a little more relevant before it's cool for songwriting purposes.

Speaking of geography, apparently something like 48% of American kids surveyed couldn't find Mississippi on a map, and people are annoyed. Yeah ok. I think that students should definitely know where the 50 states are. Then, another large percentage couldn't find Iran or Iraq. Lovely.

While yes, these kids are ignorant...I'm not so ready to call them "stupid blasted privileged lazy whiners" just yet. Think about how much MORE kids have to sort through these days. So they don't watch the evening news with Dan Rather/Katie Couric (which hasn't proven to be all that great anyway) because the family is not huddled around the TV at 6 PM, all tucked in for the night after a lovely dinner of corn and cauliflower. Does it make them dumber that they know how to connect a wireless network for their parents, or drive 40 miles to the softball game at age 16, or organize a pro-immigration rally?

I'm the first one to gripe about "kids thse days" because man...high schoolers are different than we were 5 years ago. But they put up with a lot, they know a lot, and I don't think the biggest stress in their lives are retaining map positions for Middle Eastern countries. I'm not excusing ignorance, just explaining it.