Question about living in MS (Jackson, Gulfport: houses, transfer, neighborhoods)

[Mississippienne]

New Orleans is in better condition than the Gulf Coast? I have to disagree -- I visited New Orleans yesterday and much of the city looks like something you'd see in a bombed-out Third World nation! Biloxi and Gulfport are chugging along just lovely in comparison.

Merk -- do I remember you from the SDMB? If so, hiya!

[cbass]

I agree with Tama. Hattiesburg would be a good place to look because of the variety due to the College. It is located about a hour from the Coast and a little over a hour from Jackson. It is also a laid back atmosphere compared to Jackson and I do not believe that it has the crime level that Jackson has. I live in one of the small rural towns out of Gulfport and it is a good ole' boy area, that has the Old South image.

[Kevin64]

I'd go with Oxford too. It's Mississippi living at it's best. The charm of an old Southern town, complete with lovely town square, and many beautiful old homes. It is a college town with a georgous campus and is as liberal as Mississippi and intelligent as Mississippi gets. The only downside I can see is that it has finally been discovered and has gotten rather expensive. It seems a whole lot of people really want to live there for it's mint julip on the veranda traditions with a lively cultural scene. Racism is still an issue in Mississippi, and probably always will be. Lately though in some areas of the state it's gotten a new twist. It's reverse racism, the opposite of what we were famous for historically. I wouldnt let the old southern ways or the new ones scare you away though. Mississippi is beautiful and so are her people. I like Oxford a lot, and find it tempting to move there myself. I like it's culture, reverence to it's history (bad and good) and know I know that it has a small but comfortable gay population, that is out and proud, without flaunting it.
It's been said many times that Mississippi is more of a club than a state, and I still think it's true. C'mon down and join us!

[tdr75]

I'm with Tama. I'm a fairly recent transplant to Mississippi (within the last 2 years). The deep south was nowhere I EVER thought I'd live, but here I am. I landed in Hattiesburg, and I have been very pleasantly surprised.

The Good: It's fairly small, but has some degree of "culture" due to Southern Miss being here. It has a large, thriving medical community (plus the university), so you'll find the populace, on the whole, to be well-educated. Life here is very laid back. It's an hour from the coast and 1.5 hours from New Orleans, Jackson, and Mobile, so there are ample opportunities for events you're more likely to find in larger cities. I've found people here tolerant, for the most part, and friendlier than other places I've been within the state. I live 6.8 miles from work, and it never takes more than 15 minutes to get there...a real plus for where I came from! Housing will be dirt cheap compared to Portland, even though real estate prices have experienced a large rise since Katrina. Lots of outdoor activities available.

The Bad: It's a smallish town...nightlife, while not horrid, isn't that great. It's a politically and religiously conservative area, but you'll find very few places in MS that aren't. The difference I've found here is that it is not as "in your face" as some other places I've been. It's frustrating, but then again, change has to start somewhere I suppose. The summers are HOT, but the temperatures here at peak are usually a few degrees cooler than interior parts of the state (maybe due to our proximity to the coast). You do get used to the heat after a while though.

Overall, it's a good place to live. You may also enjoy the coast. It's still rebuilding after Katrina, but parts of it (Gulport/Biloxi) are thriving away from the immediate shoreline. The beaches are beautiful!

Good luck in your search.

[kookiecookie]

"area that tends not to judge others based on race, religion, politics or sexuality"


Are you telling me that Portland doesn't fall into one of these categories?
Here church is a "social" activity rather than a religious experience. Politics is even discussed in churches. Race issues are, well, put it this way. This "is" the south. last but not least sexuality. Are you talking about the "women should be at home" statement? I haven't seen much issues like that here, heck the men would prefer to sit at home and be couch potatoes and let us work. Actually it is pretty equal here.

[Somiss]

Hattiesburg would be my choice. Not too far from the coast, excellent health care, and growing place. Home of the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey College.

Rememer this, coming from Portland, OR you find quite a climate change. Hot, humid summers and fairly mild winters. We get about 60 inches of rain most years. Seems like we have been dry at timesthe past couple of years and now, as well. The heat is the hardest thing to get use to and I've lived in MS all of my life.

Good luck with your move. The people are great but you will have a few knotheads. By far though, you will not find any friendlier people than in MS. Of course, I may be biased but the south, in general, has some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

Good luck.

[Mr.Renaissance]

Hello acs.1979

Yes, Hattiesburg to what I know is a nice little city and being from Jackson I do not know as much as a local. Both Jackson, Hattiesburg and Oxford are nice but they all are nice in a bit of a different way. Oxford is a nice town with wonderful brick streets and so many beautiful trees yet it still has a major University there which gives the locals more shopping and dining then a usual town of it's size. Now Hattiesburg is somewhat larger and still has a big University there and has even more to it as far as dining and shopping and is different from Oxford because it is a north Mississippi town and Hattiesburg is a south Mississippi town but to what I know it is nice. Now, Jackson is really BIG. It does have a lot of colleges but not a major university. Jackson is an important city in the south for major transportation with two major interstates going through it and right in the middle of Atlanta and Dallas going east and west and right between Memphis and New Orleans going north and south so it is easy to get pretty much any where you want. It has a major international airport that travels most every airline in the United States. Plus Jackson has great shopping and dining experiences and getting better all the time with numerous new developments going on and a lot of new big urban mid-rise and high-rise buildings under construction and you can have anything from great urban city life or a great suburban life too. But they are all very nice and very different cities.

good luck on the move.

[Phil75230]

Ohhhh, Politics and culture of Mississippi - sumpthin' I'gn really eat up (said affectionately..I grew up 90 min from Jackson in Miss.-like N. La.)

If you're looking to dampen culture shock, I think Jackson's Fondren and Belhaven neighborhoods (centered on Millsaps and Belhaven Colleges) are your best bet. Strictly from election results, this is definitely one of the two or three least conservative areas of the state, as evidenced by the following. They might not impress an Oregonian, but these figures clearly are proof of relative openness in Jackson:

*Higher than NATIONAL average support for Ralph Nader's candidacy in 2000 (ranging from 3 to 5 percent in the Fondren-Belhaven sections of Jackson)

*The precinct containing Millsaps College had THE highest opposition to "gay marriage ban amendments" in the entire state during the 2004 presidential election (49%). Several areas of Bay. St. Louis and the City of Biloxi did come rather close, but the precinct containing Millsaps definitely came out on top in opposition to the amendment. Furthermore, most of the surrounding precincts also had higher than national average opposition to gay marriage amendment bans (35 to 45% is typical, compared with 33% "nationwide" in states up to that time that had the issue on their ballot).

While these neighborhoods are actually more of a moderate haven than an outright liberal one, Jackson does offer people from other parts of the nation ways to ease the culture shock if they make the effort to look.

[Kevin64]

I like Hattiesburg too, it does have a lot to offer. I'm partial to college towns because of spirit, and lively attitudes of students. If I were moving to Mississippi I would currently rank Hattiesburg as second choice. I'm partial to the beauty of Oxford, and though I dont believe it has an offical gay bar, I do know that there is a gathering spot in the upstairs bar on the square. I believe it's called "City Grocery", it is mixed bag of well educated liberal thinkers, and is welcoming to newcomers.
I love the Mississippi coast, but it's still nowhere near being rebuilt. Katrina was brutal here and the damage is stunning. I've been to New Orleans recently too, and I dont even have a word for that level of devastation of a major city. Strangely enough the French Quarter and the Garden District were largely spared the worst of it. I drove on city streets from suburbs West through the City to Suburbs East and North. At one point I stopped the car and just cried. It's as if a major metropolitan area was struck by a nuclear weapon. You really have to wonder if the City can ever be considered a major metropolitan area again. May God help New Orleans, because no one else is.

[Tama]

Kevin64-Hapened to see your post today and I was in New Orleans yesterday--for the first time since Katrina. And you described it exactly. Darkened hulls of buildings mile after mile and then the Quarter rises just like always. I heard a talk on campus here by Doug Brinkley the Tulane historian and author of The Great Deluge. He says N.O. is not going to be rebuilt. It isn't in the works or the plan. People are just being cajoled. Maybe that is the way it has to be. But they need to be honest and tell people thay aren't ever going to come home.