Champaign, IL (Urbana: business, friend, live)

[illini84]

Originally Posted by Mr Bigman

...we seen alot of blacks hanging on the corner of Kirby and not sure of the street which pretty much told us to look elsewhere.

Wow, that might be the most racist comment I've seen in these forums for awhile. Just because someone is black means they're seedy and dangerous? Where do I begin...and I'm white, by the way...

[Mr Bigman]

Hey, one or 2 of them are cool. but when you have more than 5 hanging out on a corner and there ages are in there late teens, than you can make a judgement.

Its not a black thing but i know there is trouble brewing.

I lived in a small town in rural illinois and we snned 3 black kids go into a bowling alley and me and my wife were standing tiere and we heard the cop come in and say, do you have business here? If not than leave or there will be trouble.

Yea i watch out for this stuff cuz its gets downhill form their.

Hey same works for whitey too, if i see a bunch of mexicans or young punks hanging out on a corner, it makes things not so good.

[Drover]

Quit being a wally.

[illini84]

Originally Posted by Mr Bigman

I lived in a small town in rural illinois...

I never would have guessed.

[M TYPE X]

I went into the McDonalds on Neil at Kirby for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Relatively clean for a McDs in a central location in a Big Ten university town. If you feel unsafe in the Kirby Avenue area ... you're probably over at Merry Ann's Dinner. (The newspaper always has reports of sketchy happenings there.)

Originally Posted by illini84

People hate on Champaign (namely the townies and Chicagoans), but try living somewhere else for awhile...

Yeah, like Ann Arbor, Evanston, or Madison. What's your point again?

Old people and academic types love Champaign-Urbana. The UIUC main portal has an article posted boasting about how all the junior professors (especially in the social sciences) love it. I have a spreadsheet of salary data, where in the area they live, what they drive ... you'd love it too.

JUST KIDDING! Go back to Chicago and have some fun, and leave the 'Inconvenient Truth' to all the crazy old scientists rolling around in their PRIUSes. Sticker says "ENDLESS[ENDTHIS] WAR" ... guess what, end one, start another. But the crazy old scientists will be around, so you ask their opinion on that one too.

Bottom line: you either like university towns, or you do not. This place is up to its ears in Wal-Marts, Steak n Shakes, and corn (dah). But, my parents want to move/retire to State College. They're also fond of Erie, which I should check out sometime (i.e. like a bat outta Illinois when I get some time off, that means June).

[Lotus Gal]

Originally Posted by Mr Bigman

Its a nice area to attend school, but we checked out the area and we seen alot of blacks hanging on the corner of Kirby and not sure of the street which pretty much told us to look elsewhere. Good schooling and a friend of mine lives there, but its kind of of seedy cuz of that element.

Okay, I was just here idly to check out what people were saying about C-U because I used to live and go to school there. But I gotta call that out.

Black doesn't equal seedy. Seedy equals seedy. Period. And what can you possibly tell about whether a person is seedy or not by whether or not they're standing outside? I'm not trying to be nasty or childish here, just honest: that's dumb!

I don't imagine you actually meant any harm, Mr. Bigman, but please, please, please rethink this. I'm sure if you think about it for a second, you'll admit that a person with a bad character just has a bad character. This has absolutely nothing at all to do with their race. Ignorant, ill-mannered people come in every single color and from every single background. Obviously. The evidence is all over C-U (and all over these forums).

There are jerks in C-U just like any other place. There are Asian jerks, and Latino jerks, and White jerks, and Black jerks and gay jerks, and straight jerks, and stupid jerks, and genius jerks, and rich jerks, and poor jerks, conservatively dressed jerks, and jerks with a rainbow of hair colors and degrees of tattooed-ness. There are also kind, interesting, open-hearted people of every sort, too. That was the coolest thing about C-U to me. It was a small town with the attending environment (slow pace, lovely open skies, wildflowers) with this unexpected breadth of things going on that you generally only get when you have lots of different kinds of people interacting with one another.

Okay, end of tirade. Just couldn't let that one go.

[M TYPE X]

Originally Posted by Lotus Gal

It was a small town with the attending environment (slow pace, lovely open skies, wildflowers) with this unexpected breadth of things going on that you generally only get when you have lots of different kinds of people interacting with one another.

Okay, end of tirade. Just couldn't let that one go.

No, keep going. Basically you're saying that college towns have a lot of different types of jerks. You have four-way intersections with the girl in the Jetta, the old man in the Subaru wagon (likely my advisor!!), the moron in the Prius, and the nasty old woman in the Volvo are all being passive-aggressive about WHO goes first. You're more likely to see this in "the People's Republic" Urbana, rather in Champaign, which is 'right-wing' in comparison. Or, at least the people are sexier and have cars that don't scream "dorkmobile." (I have this odd fondness for the 1980s-era Volvo 780 coupe parked on the east side of campus everyday ... I might yet be a college professor. We'll see.) Basically there are a lot of jerks that can't drive, but because they're all different, that can't agree on how to mess up traffic. Diversity for the win!

I love college towns. If you don't like college towns and like only white people, guns, and pickem up trucks, try upper Michigan, Wisconsin, or midstate Pennsylvania, i.e. places where you will find me when I am "on vacation" (from what? the internet, of course!). Just remember to vote for Obama, because you're all bitter-and-clinging to religion-and all. yeah. wink wink eyeroll.

Anyone that is surprised that Illinois has a lot of blacks, or southerners, or people that drive slow (Ohio people) needs to look at a map and a history book. Illinois is something of a northern state, but also a southern state in terms of proximity to 'The South.' I see Alabama and Arkansas and Mississippi license plates all the time, which are much rarer in Indiana and Ohio. Midstate is a mix of influences from the south, east, and north (people coming DOWN from up north, like me). Read Nardulli (1989) on the effects of this on Illinois state politics. Very interesting.

Or, don't read the book. Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio are all large, industrial-ish states. There is bound to be a variety of demographics and economic activity. The world isn't Indiana or Iowa, no matter what the presidential primary schedule says.

[Katiana]

^^^ For the most part M TYPE X, I agree with you, but I have a few areas of disagreement also. People in Urbana seem to think Champaign is an entirely different culture, but really, the vast majority of all the working people in both towns are associated with the University or their spouses are. My DH's advisor has lived in Champaign for decades (he is now retired).

Indiana has similar demographics and culture as Illinois. NW Indiana is basically suburban Chicago. That is why it is on central time, rather than eastern. There are a lot of southerners, blacks and hispanics in Indiana. The accent gets more southern as you go farther south. Indiana is also an industrial state. Even Ohio gets southern as you go, well, south.

[M TYPE X]

I was being facetious. Champaign-Urbana is one city, as is Bloomington-Normal. Why not merge the municipal bureaucracies? Of course, that is heresy.

Residential Champaign and residental Urbana are both quiet, and there are upscale and downscale areas of both. Of course, there is more of a magnitude scale in Champaign.

Urbana is for the people who like snoozy, quiet downtowns and NO major chain stores/restaurants. I don't know why I live here.

Then again, my nose was interacting with the blooming 'southern' (remember, I'm from Michigan) flora on campus today (lovely flowering trees, aah-choo) and I was curious why I'm not up in Evanston. Oh, that's where I was yesterday. Bueller took a well-deserved day off.

[Katiana]

^^^You may have been facetious, but we have friends who live in Urbana who actually believe there is a difference, think Urbana is more "intellectual". Whatever. I think they've been there too long!