any areas in Indiana that are rural but liberal? (Fort Wayne: relocating, real estate)

[X-Greensboro Resident]

Originally Posted by sallybell

Where were all of you when I was living in Indiana? I would have been in hog heaven (no pun intented) just to talk with a cultured individual.

I'm sorry but I really can't recommend a liberal area of Indiana for you. Perhaps Bloomington would be worth a shot, but I would definitely spend some time there before making a move. The University is there, but I never had the opportunity to make a trip there to see the town for myself.

What everyone else says is true. The housing market stinks. They keep building and building and building and there are so many new developments and such an oversupply of inventory that there is no way in H#LL that you will recoup your money if you ever decide to sell. The market is depreciating.

Indiana is chain restaurant capital of the world. Good luck finding a nice Italian place to take your honey for her birthday. You'll have to go to the Olive Garden. When we were there we saw many independents go out of buisiness as Hoosiers apparently don't like fine dining. As one lady said, if it ain't a chain I aint eatin' there.

With the holidays coming up you should see lots of xmas lights spelling out sayings on top of people's roofs like Christ is Risen, etc. etc. In fact my boss had me typing up letters at work to send to the state senator to make sure the gay marriage amendment never passed. I was invited to attend prayer meetings during the day at my office, and regaled with stories about how Jesus helped them lose weight. Apparently there is some diet that if you pray to Jesus, you will lose weight. I told the girl that she better pray to Jesus to put down that box of cookies she is shoving in her mouth.

Hey, if you decide to do it, good luck to you.

As I said earlier, most of this is true but it really is what you make of it and what kind of vibes you put off. This sort of stuff can be found anywhere really. I felt exactly like this when I first moved to Indy but in a few months, I knew a bunch of cool places and people. There are good non-chain restaurants if you get to know the city. There is very good Italian places in Broad Ripple as a matter of fact. I found a place called Mama Corolla's and it's awesome. Indy is not exactly Rome or anything but it's not a bad place either, you can find patches of coolness. If you think negative thoughts and put out negative vibes, ofcourse you keep seeing negative things and meeting negative people. With an open mind, Indy is a fabalous city, you just have to learn it. Cheers!!

[plaidmom]

Indiana is chain restaurant capital of the world. Good luck finding a nice Italian place to take your honey for her birthday. You'll have to go to the Olive Garden. When we were there we saw many independents go out of buisiness as Hoosiers apparently don't like fine dining. As one lady said, if it ain't a chain I aint eatin' there.

LOL. I'm glad someone else pointed that out. I thought perhaps it was just my West Coast snobbiness creeping in.

I've noticed the same darn thing in our small town ~45 min south of Indy. Lines around the block for Texas Roadhouse, traffic for miles when the new W-3 wings opened, Applebees is hoppin' every night...but mom and pop places struggle. I don't get it?

I have a few personal favorites in Indy (Turkish, Indian, Vietnamese). I make it a point to drive-to-dine at least once a month. Gotta keep the little guys afloat!

[AshleeMae]

I think West Lafayette, Broad Ripple, or Bloomington would be the best bet. I live in Crawfordsville (small town 45 mins NW of Indy) and it's not very liberal. I can't stand Dubya and I end up in a lot of political arguments. As far as gay rights...No one's putting on gay pride events or anything, but there is a small gay population here. Most people just leave them alone...As far as women's rights...Well, when I mention I'm pro-choice people usually look at me like I killed a kitten in front of them. I've lived here my entire life and it seems to be getting better. I've never been left out because of my beliefs and there really are a lot of nice people here. As far as the chain restaurants go, there are a lot of them. There are also mom-and-pop places that are wonderful if you know where to look.
Bottom line, Indiana isn't a bad place to live at all. Have an open mind. We're not all toothless, fat, stupid bible-thumpers!

[indyhome]

I use to be a proud Hoosier. Now, I am looking forward to moving away one of these days. The current governor and his regime have made the state his own domain and he is a dictator. Very few laws are passed on behalf of the average citizen, they are in favor of lining the pockets of the government, big businesses and foreign investors. An extremely economically poor state which is continuously losing high paying jobs and bringing in new low paying employment.

[Hoosierette]

My experience is limited to the southeast portion of Indiana, in the Franklin County area, near Brookville Having moved here from the city ten years ago, my emotions are mixed.

On the one hand we are able to own a comfortable home in a beautiful rural setting, with access to a nearby lake and outdoor recreation area. The air and water are clean. The taxes and utilities are low. We are able to garden our own veggies and have our dogs run freely on their own land. The local meat and produce are some of the best I've seen. You can see the stars in the sky at night. So, life is good.

Not so fast.

It is not just not a bastion of liberalism, it is for the most part stubbornly and resolutely conservative This means that anyone living an alternative lifestyle here does so discreetly. You won't see rainbow flags on our flagpoles, there is no such thing as a gay community. Although there are visible gay people in the community (perhaps only to me?) their gayness is only acknowledged in whispers behind hands. GLBT people, if they live here, live in what I would call "stealth", careful not to call attention to themselves. Homophobia in the very large evangelical Christian community here, which tends to have a louder voice than more moderate types, is downright scarey. Editorials and letters to the editors of local papers are regularly filled with wild eyed hysterical religious rants against gay marriage on a regular basis. Of course it isn't fair to generalize that all the locals here feel that way, but you don't hear anyone telling them to shut up either.

I've been told that if you are gay, there are only two places to live in Indiana: Bloomington, because being a college town gives it an alleged sophistication, and Indianapolis, which is every big city you've ever seen. If my experience living in a rural Indiana area is any indication, the level of comfort for gay people living in Indiana increases in proportion to the size of the city they live in. And that's a shame.

This area, the southeast, is bordered by Ohio and Kentucky and so many of the people who live here are transplants from Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Dayton. Many still work in Cincinnati and make the hour-each-way commute just to live in their dream country home. It is very difficult in mostly rural areas to find work, even in the smaller towns there are a very limited number of jobs, and they are mostly filled by word of mouth. Local jobs almost automatically go to local people, with only occasional exceptions. It is a tough nut to crack when you are always competing with someone's cousin or sister-in-law, who have inside connections.

This marked separation between outsiders and locals does not diminish with time. It takes three or four generations to be a local, not three or four years.

Living in rural Indiana, especially for people dreaming of an escape from the city, is a dream come true....the countryside is magnificent, the rivers, the lakes, even the cornfields. But you must be willing to live your life according to the rules here, not the rules you left. It isn't right, and it isn't fair, and, most pointedly, it isn't going to change anytime soon.

In a time when most GLBT people are embracing an open and out lifestyle, I would advise them to consider the trade-off you will be making should you decide to try the rural life here. It is not for everyone.

Anyway, that is my impression of the southeast portion of the state, in a rural county, in Indiana. I leave it to others to best sum up the rest of the state.

good luck to you in your move.

[Dancing Phoenix]

I have lived in Indiana for most of my life and have felt like 'I don't belong here' the whole time! I suppose I have a liberal way of thinking and open-minded view and I guess that's why I don't belong here... lol
I can't wait to move to Florida in 2008! Have to wait to graduate college , but it will be worth it!

[birdman61]

Indiana has its good and bad points, just as all states do, but to pigeonhole all Hoosiers into a prefabricated, red-state, Bush loving bunch of rednecks is not only unfair, but extremely erroneous. Yes, there are a lot of white trash, simple-minded, undereducated ******s here, and I can say that with authority because I grew up in rural Wabash county. But you learn to winnow away the chaff in your day to day dealings with people wherever you go, and seek those who are more like minded. I like it here, but of course it holds many happy memories for me. I'm neither liberal nor conservative. I don't attend church, and I don't believe that I'm going to hell because of this. I get a hoot out of the college girl's statement in an earlier post where she stated she wanted to leave Indiana and all its conservative trappings. They have a name for people like you. It's called refugee. I left home when I was 18 and traveled to Florida with some friends. I lived there for five years, working for little money in the construction trades, and found people there to be about the same, but with less earning power. So I returned, and since I have matured I have learned to really appreciate Indiana; with all her blemishes and all her beauty she's still home sweet home.

[Zig'sbird]

This subject reminds me of a story...

A young married couple leave their village, looking for a new welcoming place to live. They finally found a village so they approached the village elder. They asked point blank about what type of people live in the village. Instead of answering immediately, he asked what the people were like in the village that they had left.

The young couple replied that the people were very close minded, ignorant, petty, etc.

Sadly the elder shook his head and told them that they need to continue looking because the exact same type of people live in the village where the elder was.

Meaning: No matter where you are, you will view the world the same way.

I have a few questions for the OP. What is your definition of liberal? If you are talking solely politics, you have already read the answer here. However, if you are using the liberal/conservative labels for open-minded/closed-minded, I think that you might be surprised. I have found most people to be open-minded and respectful. However, also note that I've never really lived in a small town in Indiana.

Another city of note that you might think about outside of Indy and Lafayette is Muncie. Muncie is home to Ball State, which is a liberal arts/teacher's college. In Muncie you will find a strange mix of blue collar and liberalism.

I agree with several other posts here that as long as you keep and open mind and not become judgmental, there are a ton of places that you'll be comfortable with here in Indiana.

I will give one tip about the state though. Indiana is a basketball state. The state is also divided in half by I-70. North of 70 is Purdue, and south of it is IU. If you are a fan of one, do not live in the wrong part of the state

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Zig'sbird

This subject reminds me of a story...

A young married couple leave their village, looking for a new welcoming place to live. They finally found a village so they approached the village elder. They asked point blank about what type of people live in the village. Instead of answering immediately, he asked what the people were like in the village that they had left.

The young couple replied that the people were very close minded, ignorant, petty, etc.

Sadly the elder shook his head and told them that they need to continue looking because the exact same type of people live in the village where the elder was.

Meaning: No matter where you are, you will view the world the same way.

I have a few questions for the OP. What is your definition of liberal? If you are talking solely politics, you have already read the answer here. However, if you are using the liberal/conservative labels for open-minded/closed-minded, I think that you might be surprised. I have found most people to be open-minded and respectful. However, also note that I've never really lived in a small town in Indiana.

Another city of note that you might think about outside of Indy and Lafayette is Muncie. Muncie is home to Ball State, which is a liberal arts/teacher's college. In Muncie you will find a strange mix of blue collar and liberalism.

I agree with several other posts here that as long as you keep and open mind and not become judgmental, there are a ton of places that you'll be comfortable with here in Indiana.

I will give one tip about the state though. Indiana is a basketball state. The state is also divided in half by I-70. North of 70 is Purdue, and south of it is IU. If you are a fan of one, do not live in the wrong part of the state

Hey now!!! I'm a Notre Dame fan!!!

[Southside Shrek]

I am not black and gold but I live in the heart of black and gold territory. All my Purdue friends expect me to share their level of hope and excitement. One even told me today that he expects the Boilermakers to beat Wisconsin tonight up at Madison. yeah right.