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Not everyone, but some people, on the NEPA forum, seem to have a perversely hostile attitude towards the place that they call home?
Why is is that a when a poster who is relocating here from TEXAS of all places, a place with enough bluster, ego, and overblown pride to fill several states, do North Eastern Pennsylvanians seem hell bent on defaming their region, AND comparing it unfavorably to Texas? (not my cup of tea by a long shot, but I understand some folks like it quite a bit)
First of all, you are not answering the poster's question. If the same type of question were posed to a TEXAN, I am sure that many residents of that state or in this case city, would be more than happy not only to greet and welcome this newcomer, but to be helpful, point them in the right direction, and to pridefully extoll the virtues of their region. As well they should! They LIVE there! But many of YOU EXTOLE the virtues of TEXAS when the poster wants to know about life here! Honestly, not only does it sound pathetic, it's rude to the poster!
Another woman requests information about New Age activities and events in NEPA and she is made fun of, and ultimately directed to a Porn Shop! Is this the detention room of high school class of 1983, or what?
What is WRONG HERE? Is everyone aware that our constitution provided freedom of travel between states? Yes folks, that's right folks, if you do not like where you live, you can actually move!
That's one option. OR you can set about IMPROVING the place in which you live! What a concept! Plant a garden even if you live in the city and you only have a strip of land between your home and your side walk. I did, and I can't say I started a huge trend, but last summer after I planted a voluptuous English Cottage garden, little by little, hanging plants began to appear on front porches, clusters of impatients adorned modest lawns and people began talking and exchanging ideas!
Just as negative behavior is contagious - so is positive behavior!
Join a historical society, volunteer, take a class - or teach one about something you know.
Negativity becomes self perpetuating. It takes on it's own life and your perception becomes reality.
States and geographical areas that "Big them selves up" tend to have higher property values. Which came first? Honestly it's difficult to say.
Evan as I was being systematically priced out of my native North Shore of Long Island, and the stress of living there was out weighing all of the possible good points, POSITIVE TAPES PLAYED IN MY MIND - "You live on Long Island's Gold Coast! You are only 45 minutes away from the greatest city in the world" "your children attend the best schools on Long Island" "on in the United States" "famous people live here" "since 1692" ...blah blah blah....You know, I'm not sure what stats were actually true and what were not, but people begin to believe the legend, and suddenly a house that should cost $200,000 costs half a million!
There is a crude saying that I have heard, but I think it applies to this situation "DON'T CRAP WHERE YOU EAT" Or where you live. And especially, where I live.
At least have enough self respect to leave if you don't like it.
One must have a huge lack of self regard to make fum of, deride and degrade the place where they have decided to live.
And yes, I say decided, because every day that you don't move, you are making a choice to stay.
I agree 100%. But now duck, because I'm sure the "you have no right to say that and you don't know squat because you're a transplant" posts will come hurling at you....
Not everyone, but some people, on the NEPA forum, seem to have a perversely hostile attitude towards the place that they call home?
Why is is that a when a poster who is relocating here from TEXAS of all places, a place with enough bluster, ego, and overblown pride to fill several states, do North Eastern Pennsylvanians seem hell bent on defaming their region, AND comparing it unfavorably to Texas? (not my cup of tea by a long shot, but I understand some folks like it quite a bit)
First of all, you are not answering the poster's question. If the same type of question were posed to a TEXAN, I am sure that many residents of that state or in this case city, would be more than happy not only to greet and welcome this newcomer, but to be helpful, point them in the right direction, and to pridefully extoll the virtues of their region. As well they should! They LIVE there! But many of YOU EXTOLE the virtues of TEXAS when the poster wants to know about life here! Honestly, not only does it sound pathetic, it's rude to the poster!
Another woman requests information about New Age activities and events in NEPA and she is made fun of, and ultimately directed to a Porn Shop! Is this the detention room of high school class of 1983, or what?
What is WRONG HERE? Is everyone aware that our constitution provided freedom of travel between states? Yes folks, that's right folks, if you do not like where you live, you can actually move!
That's one option. OR you can set about IMPROVING the place in which you live! What a concept! Plant a garden even if you live in the city and you only have a strip of land between your home and your side walk. I did, and I can't say I started a huge trend, but last summer after I planted a voluptuous English Cottage garden, little by little, hanging plants began to appear on front porches, clusters of impatients adorned modest lawns and people began talking and exchanging ideas!
Just as negative behavior is contagious - so is positive behavior!
Join a historical society, volunteer, take a class - or teach one about something you know.
Negativity becomes self perpetuating. It takes on it's own life and your perception becomes reality.
States and geographical areas that "Big them selves up" tend to have higher property values. Which came first? Honestly it's difficult to say.
Evan as I was being systematically priced out of my native North Shore of Long Island, and the stress of living there was out weighing all of the possible good points, POSITIVE TAPES PLAYED IN MY MIND - "You live on Long Island's Gold Coast! You are only 45 minutes away from the greatest city in the world" "your children attend the best schools on Long Island" "on in the United States" "famous people live here" "since 1692" ...blah blah blah....You know, I'm not sure what stats were actually true and what were not, but people begin to believe the legend, and suddenly a house that should cost $200,000 costs half a million!
There is a crude saying that I have heard, but I think it applies to this situation "DON'T CRAP WHERE YOU EAT"
Or where you live. And especially, where I live.
At least have enough self respect to leave if you don't like it.
One must have a huge lack of self regard to make fum of, deride and degrade the place where they have decided to live.
And yes, I say decided, because every day that you don't move, you are making a choice to stay.
While I do not think this post was directed at me, I did say that Nepa is not my cup of tea, and a choice between Texas and Nepa, I would pick Texas. I do not think that qualifies as blasting the area. Little things like the long dreary winter, compared to Texas is one major factor I used in my suggestion. Also having lived in both states I stated what would be my choice.
I do take exception with the "if you don't like it, leave" rant. I think it took you a number of years to relocate to Wilkes-Barre, it took us two years to come to Scranton. We own a house here now, and have a 11 year old child, also not everyone is in a profession that allows them to move when they decide they are not so thrilled with where they are living.
I try not to bash Scranton, but it is not what I hoped it would be. I think offering a honest opinion is just that. Many here have seen a decline in the area, I have seen it and I only moved here in 2007. It is wonderful that your relocation is all you hoped for and more, some of us have not been as blessed.
No matter where you live, there's good & bad aspects.
Personally, I think it's great that a few posters have the balls to write their experience w/the negative parts of NEPA. It gives the OP a more "rounded" view of the place, as well as something to investigate. If I didn't know about all aspects of living in Florida before I moved, I'd have been SORELY disappointed 'cause it's not 365 days of sunshine, boat drinks & fun!!!
Not everyone has the ability to just "uproot & move". This involves money, family, employment, etc., & until we can walk a mile in their shoes, we needn't judge.
Some posters just like to paint the area they live as sunshine & roses, without stating any negatives. Personally, I think this misleads the OP just as the "negative" posters are being accused of....
No place is perfect but really if they hate it that bad, I don't understand why they stay. Okay, with jobs and such you can't just pick up and move but it's a goal to work toward.
There's an old saying, "no matter where you go, there you are."
If you focus on the "you" instead of the "where" it becomes apparent that some people hate where they live, where they work, where they go to school, etc, no matter where it is.
While I do not think this post was directed at me, I did say that Nepa is not my cup of tea, and a choice between Texas and Nepa, I would pick Texas. I do not think that qualifies as blasting the area. Little things like the long dreary winter, compared to Texas is one major factor I used in my suggestion. Also having lived in both states I stated what would be my choice.
I do take exception with the "if you don't like it, leave" rant. I think it took you a number of years to relocate to Wilkes-Barre, it took us two years to come to Scranton. We own a house here now, and have a 11 year old child, also not everyone is in a profession that allows them to move when they decide they are not so thrilled with where they are living.
I try not to bash Scranton, but it is not what I hoped it would be. I think offering a honest opinion is just that. Many here have seen a decline in the area, I have seen it and I only moved here in 2007. It is wonderful that your relocation is all you hoped for and more, some of us have not been as blessed.
Bloom, you are not one of the people to whom I refer.
I never hated Long Island. I loved it too much, I never bashed it, and I rarely bash it now. If you earn 350,000 a year I think Long Islanf is awesome!
But I love it here too. And honestly, if I knew then what I know now, I would have taken my wedding money and bought a house cash.
If you can not move (and I am a can do person so this is hard) then RESPECT yourself and MAKE IT BETTER! Join a neighborhood watch group, write letters to the editor, protect the value of your property, join a church, a special interest group, be active in your kids school and support it! I think you do these things or some of them.
And you don't strike me as negative and miserable in the least! I remember being happy for you when you bought your home.
Not all transplants are "dirtbags" - places grow when people move there and stay there.
What's unique about the NEPA sub-forum compared to many other sub-forums I participate within and/or "lurk" within is that unlike most other parts of the country where people will RELOCATE if they're miserable there seems to be some sort of vacuum that keeps the malcontents rooted here in NEPA, for better or for worse.
I happen to agree with Jungle George most of the time, but in this particular circumstance I'm inclined to dissent. Life is short, and none of us is really certain if there will be an afterlife to enjoy. As such why would you want to spend the majority of your formative years living in misery when you could uproot yourself and make things unpleasant in the short-term for you and your family in order to yield a better life in a few years for everyone? If some of the malcontents on this sub-forum had taken this advice when I first started interacting with them back in 2006 they'd be fully re-established now in whatever new area they chose. Instead they just offer up excuse after excuse, often laced with personal attacks, whenever someone offers up that mere suggestion that if they moved elsewhere they just MIGHT be happier in the long-run.
Take myself as a prime example. I needed to move out of NEPA when I graduated college so I could freely date and pursue a personal life as a non-heterosexual without repercussions from socially conservative relatives and even some in the community who don't take kindly to anything that trends away from the "norm". I snatched a high-paying job offer (or so I thought) and fled the coop to Northern Virginia, which I thought was Nirvana, given all of the "hype" surrounding it. Well, perhaps some people don't think it's unpleasant to pay $500,000 for mediocre tract housing, pay $1,100+ per month in rent on a 1-BR apartment in the 'burbs, or sit in traffic 20 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store just a few miles away while we were supposed to feel "ahead of the curve" because none of our service workers could speak anything better than broken English, but I found it to be gut-wrenching. Instead of sitting around whining long-term I empowered myself to bring about positive change in my life. I quit my job, found someone to replace me on my lease, and hoofed up to Pittsburgh, hoping for a better life. I found it. After accepting a job offer yesterday I am now once again gainfully employed in my field by one of the nation's largest financial firms and have a lucrative second job as well to help build up the savings I decimated with my ill-fated decision to move to VA in 2009. I'm in love. Friends flock to me. I live in a very historic neighborhood within walking distance of the heart of the city. I know my neighbors. Finally, at long last, I'm happy.
It took me several years and thousands of dollars to find this inner peace, but now that I have I never look back. I personally didn't leave NEPA because I found it to be a bad place to live in general terms. I was a unique case of being the wrong type of "diversity" amongst a conservative crowd and felt like I was unwanted there. I miss many aspects of the area very much---watching the televised Scranton city council meetings, seeing the good that came from Joe Snedeker's annual bike rides, listening to an enthralling speaker at King's, attending charity spaghetti dinners, savoring Lent fish fry events, the Bloomsburg Fair, La Festa Italiana, the Scranton St. Patrick's Day Parade (no, you don't have to be a drunken moron to attend), hiking at Ricketts Glen State Park, doing my photo tours for this forum, the Pittston Tomato Festival 5K Run, stuffed French toast at Agolino's in West Pittston, Tony's Pizza in Jenkins Township, shopping at Wegman's, shopping at the Boscov's and Barnes & Noble in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, and much, much more. NEPA offers skiing, whitewater rafting, numerous bodies of water for kayaking, canoeing, or jet-skiing, some of the best hiking I've ever enjoyed, an international airport, two casinos, several major malls and outlet malls, a gorgeous mountain backdrop, friendly faces, mom-and-pop restaurants out the wazoo, and four distinct seasons.
I feel as if I could have done a world of good if I had stayed in the area and run for an elected office if I hadn't felt as if I was run out of town for being "different". With that being said I'm happy where I'm living now, and I wish those on here who find nothing better to do than to bash NEPA (or especially Scranton for that matter) would also relocate instead of being cowardly. One member on this sub-forum will blast me for that statement, but so be it. He could uproot his mother, wife, and child and take them ALL to a place where they'd live happily ever after. Isn't being inconvenienced for a year or two with your child making new friends at school, you and your spouse finding new jobs, acclimating to new experiences, etc. better than living another 20 years in misery?
There's an old saying, "no matter where you go, there you are."
If you focus on the "you" instead of the "where" it becomes apparent that some people hate where they live, where they work, where they go to school, etc, no matter where it is.
I think there is a lot of truth to that.
I always felt that way about miserable North Easterners who move to Florida and expect it to be a magic cure. It's not a va-ca when you move and the misery lies inside, not out.
But if you hate where you live, and you have lived there all of your life - GET OUT! Hope that makes sense. Maybe you want another climate or just a change - give it a shot. The old place will be there if it doesn't work out.
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