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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,749 posts, read 23,813,296 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GreatSantaFe
Okay mountainrose, I admit that us Realtors and Chamber of Commerce folks, and arts folk, and holistic healers, and builders and interior designers and nurses and doctors and therapists and accountants and lawyers and restauranteurs and State workers and Federal workers and LANL workers and bankers and probably others I'm leaving out, don't usually have to worry about nepotism. Hey, that must mean that no one with hiring responsibilities in those fields are "natives". Your feeling that most people in these professions are Anglos who have been transplanted here and therefore aren't aware of nepotism or bad work-ethics practiced by the "natives" sounds to me a bit racist. And while there may be fewer native New Mexicans (Anglo and Hispanic)than transplants in the above professions, the fact is that there are fewer natives than transplants in all professions just due to the growth of our city (and Albuquerque and Las Cruces and Silver City....) by us new-comers - we out-populate the native New Mexican population.
So, is there nepotism? Probably. Are there folks who are hard workers but can't find a job? Sure. There is, I heard last week, around 5% unemployment rate here in Santa Fe. Is 5% too high? Yes - Ideally everyone who wants to work should be able to get a job. Are the 5% unemployed because of nepotism? Maybe some, but let's not leave the impression that that's the norm.
Am I a booster for this community? You bet I am - and proud of it.
I always appreciate your posts GSF. They make me look forward to starting a new life there. Thanks for keeping it real and keeping it positive, that's only the reality I intend to attain. If I too put much energy worrying about nepotism I can only imagine I'd draw those circumstances into my life too, but that wouldn't be a good start. Confidence, resilience and a positive outlook will bring better results.
Of course there is nepotism here in NM.... but it's everywhere! When I interviewed for teaching positions in schools on the Las Vegas side I was told by the administrator that he would love to hire me, but it could never happen. He told me that even an Albq hispanic would have a hard time getting a job- that the jobs would go to their own hometowners. But then I thought why shouldn't they provide the teacher openings to their own local kids!?
Great Santa Fe - I tried to rate your latest post positively but apparently I've been giving you too many points and I wasn't allowed. So I had to write and say how much I like your perspective. You absolutely cracked me up tonight and you're right on about there being more transplants than natives in most professions. Thanks for your intelligence and sense of humor - they're really needed on this forum!
And for what it's worth folks, my husband and I are transplants and he's had no problems finding a professional job and then starting a business here. (I work at home for a national company so I don't really count; they don't care where I live.)
Previous post is a duplicate with mistakes, sorry.
I'm Caucasian and when I lived in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque I had the OPPOSITE experience of the Portland folks.
The Hispanic folks were friendly, yet the Caucasian folks were very unfriendly. During several job interviews, Caucasians expressed very little interest and never returned emails or phone calls.
However the Hispanics were interested, and were very friendly in Social environments.
I've had the same problem in Flagstaff, Arizona and Scottsdale, AZ where the Caucasians are just not friendly.
The Caucasians in such areas tend to be very liberal, and also quite wealthy and overeducated, in Flagstaff, Albuquerque and Santa Fe (and also Scottsdale, Arizona) and therefore look down on anyone who doesn't fit those categories ! Interesting to log in and read this many years later but Albuquerque and Santa Fe New Mexico are definitely NOT friendly, since the rich liberal Caucasians don't want newbie Caucasians competing for their resources.
Sedona, Arizona, by the way - Santa Fe's sister city - is very friendly. Strangers will come up to you and start a conversation but such is not the case in New Mexico. Palm Springs is friendly. Bend, Oregon is very friendly. The Bay Area is friendly. So what is it with these rich caucasian liberals in the 4 corners area I have no idea, and really don't want to know ! They're not liberals, at least not by my Left Coast standards.
So I can definitely understand why the Hispanics resent the Rich Elite Caucasian Liberals who have moved to New Mexico. Obviously, for whatever reason, they could tell that I was not one of them, although I was Caucasian. So, I would not recommend moving to New Mexico unless you're an elite, rich, snobby, Caucasian liberal who can fit in with folks just like yourself who already moved there.
ARE THERE ANY AREAS IN NEW MEXICO WHERE THERE IS NOT THIS CAUCASIAN ELITISM ???
Last edited by JuniperRidge1; 02-09-2012 at 06:22 AM..
Reason: THIS post is CORRECTED. please Ignore the Previous Post that can't be Deleted
Man, I just can't relate to any of this. My wife and I moved here 3 years ago due to a job transfer for me. I've had no problem making friends of all ethnicities, and she had no problem getting a good nursing job at the hospital in Santa Fe. We're Caucasian, not particularly liberal, not "rich" or "elite". I try to be easygoing and outwardly friendly and find that is usually reciprocated. The people that I observe not fitting in very well are those who move here and expect it to be just like where they came from, then spend all their time complaining how "different" everything is...
Let's just say the couple has it a little backwards. White people (educated or not) have been coming to Santa Fe for over a century and treating the locals like dirt (not all of them, but enough of them), buying up property, forcing them into English-only schools, marketing it as an artist's mecca, driving up the price of housing and everything else. So there is a current of resentment on the part of SOME locals towards newcomers and deservedly so. And if you think that being "educated" should afford you privileged treatment, you'll be disappointed.
Those who have an understanding of the local history and have a respectful curiosity about other cultures, and are down-to-earth, unconcerned about their own social status, will do fine here.
When speaking of local history, you need to take it back a bit further and include the time when the Spanish came here and treated the 'locals' (Native American people) like dirt and forced them off their lands, forced them to speak Spanish, forced them to adopt a new religion. So the problem you're pointing out goes back much further than the Anglo invasion. If anything, the Anglo invasion has been quite a bit more peaceful and less disruptive than the Spanish invasion.
That being said, I agree with the other posters who stressed that the most of the current 'local' folks are actually pretty friendly and tend to be more respectful than many of the new 'transplants' that I've encountered here.
As far as 'educated' 'transplants' being treated poorly, there are many people who move here and have the mistaken idea that they know what's best for the people of Santa Fe and resent the fact that everyone else here doesn't agree with their self endowed 'wisdom'.
I've seen this same arrogant attitude everywhere I've lived, except the 2 years I recently lived in Mexico. The Mexican people we lived near had more of the 'live and let live' spirit than I've ever experienced in the US and the majority of the current 'locals' in Santa Fe have this same spirit.
there's gonna be class resentment as long as there's class levels, no matter where you are.
I think you're right since I was discriminated - in housing and employment - as a as a Middle Class Caucasian newbie by the Upper Class Caucasians who originally emigrated from California.
These left coast Caucasians in Santa Fe (and also Albuquerque) are upper class and arrogant. They run all the businesses, the real estate, and their kids are trustafarians or whatever. These rich caucasian kids hanging around Santa Fe should take a lesson from the local Hispanic population on what real work is, since the Hispanics run and own the state due to their 400+ years of hard work.
The elite Caucasian emigrants from California have made the class resentment even worse. They should move back to areas on the West Coast like central Arizona or Santa Rosa, CA where they would be downgraded in status to middle class and would have to actually work for a living.
Are there any friendlier neighborhoods in Santa Fe and the Albuquerque metro for newcomers who are middle class and not from California?
Last edited by JuniperRidge1; 02-10-2012 at 12:21 AM..
Just wanted to comment that for the past week I have come down from our cabin up on the high rd. and rented a casita for a week right by the plaza- great rates, $40/night for a week.
Anyway, I have found the business owners around the plaza incredibly friendly and helpful. All the locals Santafeans I have met have been very down-to-earth and kind.
Of course, that's just been my personal experience as a quasi-tourista but I've had a delightful stay downtown. Thanks, Santa Fe!
Man, I just can't relate to any of this. My wife and I moved here 3 years ago due to a job transfer for me. I've had no problem making friends of all ethnicities, and she had no problem getting a good nursing job at the hospital in Santa Fe. We're Caucasian, not particularly liberal, not "rich" or "elite". I try to be easygoing and outwardly friendly and find that is usually reciprocated. The people that I observe not fitting in very well are those who move here and expect it to be just like where they came from, then spend all their time complaining how "different" everything is...
I couldn't agree more. Thanks zumaboy.
Some folks really should look into themselves if they think they are being treated differently because of their race or socio-economic level. I'm not saying that they haven't had the negative experiences they describe, just that it could possibly be due to their beliefs/pre-conceptions and attitudes which cause them to act in a way that yields those results.
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