[nmnita]

Originally Posted by bchris02

"Big city life" in NWA? Haha. Anybody who thinks NWA is "city life" hasn't lived in an urban area. NWA is very suburban, very spread out, all sprawled along I-540. Go a couple miles either direction of I-540 and you are in rural territory. It will never have a true skyline because business is spread out among Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, and Fayetteville. NWA is so popular because despite a metro pop fast approaching that of Little Rock's, it is so spread out it doesn't really feel like a city. Though I say NWA is superior to Little Rock in several areas that makes it the overall best place in Arkansas to live, the one thing Little Rock has going for it is it is much more centralized, and therefore is denser and feels more like a city.

I don't think he said "big city life" I think he was referring to the ads he saw comparing Neosho with NWA. That is how I took it. I think people see NWA as a burb like burbs surrounding most big cities, but the "big city" itself isn't there.

NIta

[aerotive]

Originally Posted by bchris02

"Go a couple miles either direction of I-540 and you are in rural territory.

Two miles east of 540 would just about put you in the middle of Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers. Two miles west, middle of Bentonville.

[brajohns81]

I think it is a lot more along the lines that young professionals from out of state are seen as cocky and stuck-up. I know that is very true in the Wal-Mart Home Office Area in Bentonville. Fact is, there really are YPs like that in Bentonville working for the Home Office. I know you were in the medical field and you were here actually trying to help people and fit in. I think the Wal-Mart yuppies have really hurt Arkansans' feelings towards new YPs moving in regardless of what they are here for.

[drainking]

I totally get what he's saying and the purpose of laying this out for others, since these forums are sometimes influential in providing unbiased opinions. If you're not part of the network here, it ain't always easy!

[drainking]

Originally Posted by gthog61

I don't know you obviously but I would think if somebody can't "fit in" someplace where they have lived since they were approximately 9 years old the problem ain't all with the place. I grew up in a small town in eastern Arkansas that would have been a lot more insular than central AR (because everybody more or less knew everybody else or knew of them anyway) and there were all sorts of people who moved in over time and graduated with us that fit in just fine.

I would submit that someone who moves in with the attitude that they are superior to the local bumpkins because they are so much more open-minded probably isn't going to fit in all that well. Of course, I don't think there are too many places just waiting with bated breath to have a lot of folks move in who think they are vastly superior to the locals.

Hog, I'm a 40 y.o. professional and have lived in central AR for 6 years now. My wife has now lived here for 4 years. God bless this place for delivering my wife! Outside of that, it sucks! We constantly amuse ourselves by making fun of the insulated nature of most of the locals. Most have not ever left the state! The state ranks near the bottom in most measurable economic and educational categories. I have tried to "fit in" and have failed. I'm not worried about it any more. If it weren't for our financial committments (business and house) we would be long, long gone. Most people that I have met that hail from other parts of the country share this view. There's the superiority speech, now tell me how wrong I am.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by drainking

Hog, I'm a 40 y.o. professional and have lived in central AR for 6 years now. My wife has now lived here for 4 years. God bless this place for delivering my wife! Outside of that, it sucks! We constantly amuse ourselves by making fun of the insulated nature of most of the locals. Most have not ever left the state! The state ranks near the bottom in most measurable economic and educational categories. I have tried to "fit in" and have failed. I'm not worried about it any more. If it weren't for our financial committments (business and house) we would be long, long gone. Most people that I have met that hail from other parts of the country share this view. There's the superiority speech, now tell me how wrong I am.

superiority speech is what you are posting and this could be why you don't fit in...I have found too many who come to AR from other states do feel superior. People who live here really do not like that attitude. I do not live in Little Rock so can not judge the place, but most people I have met in the state, regardless of where I have been certainly have been out of the state. either they have lived other places or have traveled other places. There is noting more boring than people with elitest attitudes.

Nita

[thewizard16]

Originally Posted by drainking

Hog, I'm a 40 y.o. professional and have lived in central AR for 6 years now. My wife has now lived here for 4 years. God bless this place for delivering my wife! Outside of that, it sucks! We constantly amuse ourselves by making fun of the insulated nature of most of the locals. Most have not ever left the state! The state ranks near the bottom in most measurable economic and educational categories. I have tried to "fit in" and have failed. I'm not worried about it any more. If it weren't for our financial committments (business and house) we would be long, long gone. Most people that I have met that hail from other parts of the country share this view. There's the superiority speech, now tell me how wrong I am.

I'm not as familiar with Hot Springs (I have only been there for work), but I haven't experienced Little Rock to be anything like that. The central and northwest sections of Arkansas also don't fit your economic or educational level descriptions, either. A quick check of statistics will show that 67% of the adult population in Little Rock has some level of education beyond a high school diploma. For a reference frame- that level is 60% in Tulsa, OK and 49% in Memphis, TN.

Most people I know here aren't originally from here, (I'm not originally from here) and we all seem to be getting along fine. The only times I've found being an "Arkansas native" to even be worth mentioning is among people running for political office I've never talked to anyone that hasn't been outside the state, but it's possible we talk to very different types of people (or more likely you have heard this from a couple people and generalized it to cover a group of people you don't care for).

The closing line is probably part of the problem. "There's the superiority speech..." I'm a firm believer that no one is "better" than a place/city/state and coming in with an attitude that they are is a great way to make enemies. I've also never felt that being more educated, or having more money had anything to do with being "superior" to anyone else. I know some great people who would bend over backwards to help you if you needed them to that are neither educated nor wealthy, and I know some very wealthy, highly educated people that I can't stand more than five minutes in a room with. That's of course not to say that all people in those categories are like that, I know they're not, but it does reinforce my view that "superiority" has nothing to do with those factors. So, as politely as possible, I would like to inform you that you are not "superior" in any way to the place or the people you're complaining about. You may indeed feel that way, and it's your right to have that opinion, but if that is the case, a little introspection would reveal why your efforts to fit in have failed. People don't like to surround themselves with people that are unhappy, or people that think they're better than everyone else, plain and simple. Those people tend to group together and form nice little groups of negativity (which are quite prevalent on these types of forums, of course) that continues to isolate and ostracize them from everyone else.

I hope your attitude improves, or you find a new place to move to where you will probably be unhappy in a few years as well. Good luck!