[magellan]

Originally Posted by the constant gardener

Only bums give MI a bum rap. Just like a free lunch there is no such thing as a free swimming pool unless you live next to the Great Lakes!

Well even then, you have to pay to get into the parks or you have to own Amway to have a house on the big lake.

Can you imagine how nasty a pool is that is totally free and open to the public?

[xlabel]

Originally Posted by malamute

Around Dallas, they'll tell you a Yankee is someone from the north who comes to visit, (north is anything north) and a G-D Yankee is someone from the north who comes to stay.

In FL a yankee is a northerner, a GD yankee is from NY. It happens up here, I'm here transplated from FL and on the job I have heard stuff like "Your from FL, they pick cotton down there, we build cars up here". Of course I respond I know you build cars up here, that's why I have 2 Fords made in Mexico.

I don't like to engage in childish stuff like that, but I'm not going to take it either. There are good people and a-holes no matter what state you live in, but there are plenty of the later up here and this goes hand in hand with why is MI getting a bad rap thread.

[GRowing]

I'm from Boston but i'm moving to either Detroit or Grand Rapids and i've been spending a lot of time in both. Is anyone still talking about the bum rap? If not disregard. I think Michigan gets a bum rap mostly because people love to give foreign places a bum rap. Boston gives Detroit a bum rap so that Boston feels better about itself. I think its mostly all in good fun although I think there is a lot of collateral damage. The bum rap is based on nothing but the desire to give somebody else the bum rap. Not very pretty but perhaps that is life.

[daddythreepointoh]

The economy. Which is too bad because Michigan is an absolutely beautiful state, especially this time of year.

[michsnowlvr]

I love Michigan, and outside of the economy (which is really bad everywhere now)....Michigan doesnt deserve a bad rep.

Few things Ive noticed.....

*The weather giving MI a bad rep makes no sense to me. Snowy winters, warm summers, gorgeous falls and springs.....having 4 TRUE seasons is a HUGE attribute, not a cancer, in my opinion (I remember reading someone in Alabama thinking they had 4 seasons, as it got as cold as the 40s on some winter afternoons, and snows once every few years. To call that "winter" is sad).

*I cannot tell you HOW many stories Ive heard of people leaving for someplace warmer and with "more job opportunities", and then they cannot WAIT to return to 4 seasons (that they didnt realize how much theyd miss)....a reasonable cost of living.....and things not being as bad as they thought ("i thought Id get a job so much easier down south...")

but above all.........
*We are in a recession, and the economy of our entire country is horrible now, with our MI leading the pack. So yes, some things are bad. But I can tell you that the attitude/vibe expressed on these forums seems far, far, far, FAR more negative than what I experience in my daily life of living, working, and playing in Michigan. I chalk it up to the fact that the people who have fallen on hard times have nothing better to do than come online and bash MI.....rather than go out and enjoy it like the millions of Michiganders who are not posting on here. These forums are unreadable at times, thats why I only visit every so often.

[sunshineann]

Exactly.
We are one of those families that have fallen on hard times. But we love Michigan, that we will stand behind Michigan no matter what. (and we just moved here back in Dec.)
Sure alot of us here have fallen on the hard times. but the one thing we have noticed is, that no matter where you go people smile at you, they wave to you, they ask how your doing, and they ask if there's anything they can do to help you. No matter what their going through, they still care enough to ask.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by sunshineann

Exactly.
We are one of those families that have fallen on hard times. But we love Michigan, that we will stand behind Michigan no matter what. (and we just moved here back in Dec.)
Sure alot of us here have fallen on the hard times. but the one thing we have noticed is, that no matter where you go people smile at you, they wave to you, they ask how your doing, and they ask if there's anything they can do to help you. No matter what their going through, they still care enough to ask.

I must live in a different part of Detroit, huh?

[jmlowman]

Originally Posted by magellan

That applies to anywhere. It drives me nuts when people that move here complain about things they had better back at their last place.

You think that's bad? Every year, especially near the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, some people here in SoCal complain that there aren't four seasons or snow. I remind them that they aren't outside shoveling snow and that they are more than welcome to leave, since we have too many people here anyway.

It's been 84 degrees here on Christmas Day here and we love it!

After living here for almost 35 years, we forget how things are in most of the other states. When we stopped at visitor center at a state park in Washington state during an unusually snow-free time in March a few years ago, we were surprised to find the sign that said "Closed for the season."

[WheredoIlive?]

Originally Posted by sunshineann

Exactly.
We are one of those families that have fallen on hard times. But we love Michigan, that we will stand behind Michigan no matter what. (and we just moved here back in Dec.)
Sure alot of us here have fallen on the hard times. but the one thing we have noticed is, that no matter where you go people smile at you, they wave to you, they ask how your doing, and they ask if there's anything they can do to help you. No matter what their going through, they still care enough to ask.

I am pretty poor and still love Michigan.

I have seen pretty friendly parts of Michigan.

Even St. Joe most will smile and say hello. even if this is not my favorite place on earth right now.

[willowsmom]

I grew up on a farm in Michigan, but have lived on South Florida for almost 20 years. I would move back to Michigan in a heartbeat if the economy was better. I can still remember summers on the lake, picking blueberries the size of marbles in Grand Haven and the herds of deer we would get in our apple orchard in the fall. I recall cross-country skiiing along the shore of Lake Michigan with some friends one day and finding a huge ice cave created by waves washing up and freezing. It was this huge glistening blue frozen wave. The sky was crystal clear and sunny, so we peeled off our coats and sunbathed in the crest of that wave (like a tanning bed!). I remember how absolutely silent it was and the snow on the frozen lake looking like a million diamonds. I haven't seen anything like it since. Every place has its beauty though, you just have to look for it, but I do miss Michigan. It certainly has its attributes.