Been here about 13 months and bored to death. (Milwaukee, Madison: living, safe)
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The other thing I have realized as an adult is that most people in Madison aren't even from here. Growing up here you of course go to school with everyone that is fromhere (elementary, middle and high). But when you come back as an adult, most people have moved on and away to greener pastures, and the people you now meet are almost always originally from small Wisconsin towns up north...so I suppose that has something to do with a lot of the mentality and the newness and uniqueness of people being "different." Perhaps the Madison natives aren't quite as sheltered and they are doing the ego boosting for themselves but they really aren't in the majority when you ake into consideration all of the newbiews and college students and people from surrounding rural areas. I just wanted to throw that out there too, one more ingredient to the pot! LOL
I think the root point and to come back to it. People often have too high of expectations when visiting and moving to a place. Madison is what Madison is and LA is what LA is, to expect small town values and attitudes and vibes in LA is unrealistic not impossible but unrealistic. Madison, to expect a big city vibe and culture is not going to happen. It's like buying a fusion and expecting it to handle and drive like a vette.
Hey Madison is not my cup o' tea but it is bother some when people expect cities to act bigger than they are. Compare Madison to other cities in it's class. I don't mean city proper pop. but metro pop. So go ahead and compare madison to the Scranton area or Winston Salem but not DC.
The other thing I have realized as an adult is that most people in Madison aren't even from here. Growing up here you of course go to school with everyone that is fromhere (elementary, middle and high). But when you come back as an adult, most people have moved on and away to greener pastures, and the people you now meet are almost always originally from small Wisconsin towns up north...so I suppose that has something to do with a lot of the mentality and the newness and uniqueness of people being "different." Perhaps the Madison natives aren't quite as sheltered and they are doing the ego boosting for themselves but they really aren't in the majority when you ake into consideration all of the newbiews and college students and people from surrounding rural areas. I just wanted to throw that out there too, one more ingredient to the pot! LOL
And a very good and spicy ingredient indeed, Chelito. Gracias. I concur. lol. My sense of it is that for the big events--the Art Fair on the Square, today's La Fete de Marquette, Maxwell Street next weekend, etc.--Madison is probably a big attraction for out-of-towners. I don't want to put the blame on all out-of-towners, but I think this a huge factor. It certainly has been at the Concerts on the Square as well as at a convention I participated in at the Concourse last Spring. Thankfully, the organizers and presenters at this convention did address the issue of the demographic makeup of the convention participants. I found it a relief to finally have some analysis of why or how a convention in Madison, WI has been so historically and consistently filled with racial strife, i.e. beyond the usual. What're ya gonna do? It takes all kinds...
I think the root point and to come back to it. People often have too high of expectations when visiting and moving to a place. Madison is what Madison is and LA is what LA is, to expect small town values and attitudes and vibes in LA is unrealistic not impossible but unrealistic. Madison, to expect a big city vibe and culture is not going to happen. It's like buying a fusion and expecting it to handle and drive like a vette.
Hey Madison is not my cup o' tea but it is bother some when people expect cities to act bigger than they are. Compare Madison to other cities in it's class. I don't mean city proper pop. but metro pop. So go ahead and compare madison to the Scranton area or Winston Salem but not DC.
So true. In my case though, my overblown expectations came from buying into the hype coming from dreamy Madisonians--e.g. many of the folks right here in this forum and other online friends I made when I was still in NYC--hype I probably wanted to hear at the time, being weary of the hustle-and-bustle lifestyle of NYC. I think I was still attached to how Madison was back in the eighties--not problem-free of course, but more willing to try to be accepting of diversity and to openly protest injustice. If it appears that I have been unrealistically comparing Madison with NYC, scratch that. I can only speak for myself, but I for one came to Madison looking for a very different lifestyle: a cool, laid-back, artistically vibrant, medium-sized city where I could live, work, write, and enjoy life in freedom and in peace. Oh, the hype. Oh, the dream. Ai yai yai. lol. I'm glad in a way though: Now my writing is juicier and my work out in the community (yes, "the hood" by Madison standards...South Madison, Allied, Northport, etc.) is so much more meaningful, and my life so much more full.
Now I wonder just how sheltered forum regulars and other online regulars are--or how out of touch with reality. Oh well. Who can blame them? Looking back, I came to Madison looking for Shangri La, too. At this point, I find myself with a renewed sense of awareness, acceptance, and a willingness be a part of the solution and have fun in the process--while I am still here. It's a kind of dance between being the positive person that I am, open to life as it unfolds, dealing in healthier ways with my anger and disappointments, and being also willing to set some boundaries with folks who will hopefully one day welcome themselves into the here and now and not try to drag us all back to our segregated past. The Madison hype is wishful thinking, I think. Just goes to show you that--yes, Mom--actions do indeed speak louder than words. People are people are people. Everywhere. You live and you learn. I will continue to live my life, to grow and learn, to speak out in ways that work, to try to be a positive influence here, to hang in there when appropriate, to let go when appropriate, to bypass or deal with the nonsense, and to stick with the winners.
Madison. Boring? No way. For me this has been a life-changing experience. I would not trade this leg of my journey in for anything.
Now, back to my day and later on to La Fete de Marquette. Lasseiz les bon temps roulez.
I can relate to your experience too Nala. I don't have the typical preppy, upper class look like many people in Madison, so I get the feeling like I'm on the outside looking in a lot. That translates to people assuming I'm not from here or I just am stereotpyed or labeled or "watched" or even stared at as well.
Now, here is the thing. This does go on in Madison, but it goes on EVERYWHERE as well. Police officers do profile, and it's even "legal", just look at Arizona. People do have stereotypes here, Madison isn't above that, but who thinks anyplace is? My issue is when people single Madison out as being specifically intolerant when in reality it isn't "that" bad here, just the same as everywhere except for one thing: the percentage of the population that is very similar in their beliefs, style, culture, etc is very predominant and the minority population here are very small in comparison and has much less of a voice or influence in the community. It is far worse in other places, for instance, Arizona, where there is an open and hostile climate towards certain people. Same goes for other places. It also happens here, but to a lesser extent. So for me, being in Madison and experiencing minor things are not big deal. That is life if you don't fit into the predominant mold wherever you go and you accept it and brush the minutia off your shoulder, and fortunately, most of it in Madison is minutia and people that just don't have contact with people that are different from themselves.
I have heard the same stuff you and I complain about Nala from many people in Madison, especially people who aren't from here, so it is not a perceived problem, rather a very real one *if* you don't fit into the typical All American mold. Not that you can't be happy here if you don't, just that you may feel like the outsider and will have to go the extra mile to break the ice and knock down stereotypes and walls that people will have.
But like I said, this goes not only for Madison but almost any area that is a small city or large town outside of a major metropolitan area.
With all that said, Madison is MUCH more diverse and cultured now then when I was a kid growing up here, it has gotten a lot better, so imagine how it was 15 or 20 years ago!
Thirty years ago virtually all middle-class white folk who lived in Madison were totally of the opinion that Madison was the city on the hill, paradise on earth.
Now that its apparent that Madison , like Milwaukee, might just become a majority minority city, the cognitive dissonance caused by the reality that Madison is just an american city subject to all the problems thereof, is more than many can adjust to.
Thirty years ago virtually all middle-class white folk who lived in Madison were totally of the opinion that Madison was the city on the hill, paradise on earth.
Now that its apparent that Madison , like Milwaukee, might just become a majority minority city, the cognitive dissonance caused by the reality that Madison is just an american city subject to all the problems thereof, is more than many can adjust to.
Well put. I concur, BigCur. "Cognitive dissonance..." Yep. I think on all sides. Very thoughtful. Thank you.
I think the root point and to come back to it. People often have too high of expectations when visiting and moving to a place. Madison is what Madison is and LA is what LA is, to expect small town values and attitudes and vibes in LA is unrealistic not impossible but unrealistic. Madison, to expect a big city vibe and culture is not going to happen. It's like buying a fusion and expecting it to handle and drive like a vette.
Hey Madison is not my cup o' tea but it is bother some when people expect cities to act bigger than they are. Compare Madison to other cities in it's class. I don't mean city proper pop. but metro pop. So go ahead and compare madison to the Scranton area or Winston Salem but not DC.
I think the issue with Madison specifically is that it has such a grandiose image of itself and does such an excellent job marketing that image that it sets some people up for disappointment -- it overpromises and underdelivers. Madison does deliver more than a city at the core of such a small metro could be expected to, but it has become like the slightly awkward high school girl who suddenly blossomed, had everyone tell her how hot she was, and it started going to her head. Yeah she's hot, but her hotness is diminished by her tendency toward narcissism, she still has some of her social awkwardness, and she forgets she's not the only hot girl in school.
I think the issue with Madison specifically is that it has such a grandiose image of itself and does such an excellent job marketing that image that it sets some people up for disappointment -- it overpromises and underdelivers. Madison does deliver more than a city at the core of such a small metro could be expected to, but it has become like the slightly awkward high school girl who suddenly blossomed, had everyone tell her how hot she was, and it started going to her head. Yeah she's hot, but her hotness is diminished by her tendency toward narcissism, she still has some of her social awkwardness, and she forgets she's not the only hot girl in school.
Then college comes and now she is no longer in the top 5 of beauties.
I think the issue with Madison specifically is that it has such a grandiose image of itself and does such an excellent job marketing that image that it sets some people up for disappointment -- it overpromises and underdelivers. Madison does deliver more than a city at the core of such a small metro could be expected to, but it has become like the slightly awkward high school girl who suddenly blossomed, had everyone tell her how hot she was, and it started going to her head. Yeah she's hot, but her hotness is diminished by her tendency toward narcissism, she still has some of her social awkwardness, and she forgets she's not the only hot girl in school.
Haha I love it. Well put. I've lived here my whole life and this is a pretty good description. Gladly I've never bought into it.
One of the few gripes I have with the city is how everything is polarized politically and everything needs a damn committee.
Just gotta take Madison for what it is. You can't expect to be entertained without any legwork. The real trick is finding hobbies in the winter. Snowboarding, snowmobiling, etc. Summer and Fall are completely worth the months of brutal cold for me at least.
Comparing Madison to Chicago or DC? No basis for comparison. If I'm craving the fast-paced excitement, I drive 2 hours to my sister's in Chicago.
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