[RogMar]

Originally Posted by sskkc

We drive AROUND Arkansas when we take our roadtrips.

Hey.......

Don't think we don't appreciate that!

[strumpeace]

Originally Posted by sskkc

In the meanwhile, I couldn't open a checking account, cash my checks (including tax refund) even through Dad's account, buy cigarettes, go out with my old friends, get paid or get a new license in my new state (I had packed away my birth certificate & it took 8 weeks to get a new one - I didn't order one initially because for the first 6 weeks in CA, I was being assured my DL was "on it's way", plus I was fighting an "outstanding DUI" in ARKANSAS!!!!). Although I did get a job, legally, they couldn't hire me without ID... they let me have the job, which in a tough economy others can appreciate, but held my pay until the license arrived.

You should thank the officer who stopped you for adding a few more days to your life.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

You broke the law, challenged the law enforcement officer when he stopped you, and subsequently had legal problems because of this. But it's because the state is so bad. Right?

haven't you heard, it isn't my fault!!!!!

Nita

[Waldiferous One]

I am from Wisconsin and my in laws recently bought a place down in Glenwood. Nice place, a lot like here actually with the exception of a few unnecessary critters like the fire ants but other than that, a very nice place. Now I must be in the quasi damned Yankee/Yankee crowd but being from Wisconsin, I know our people overall to be much like the people I met in Glenwood. There is no nobility in driving a fancy car and having lots of money coming from up north anymore than there is feigning ignorance and living a simple lifestyle and proclaiming yourself a hillbilly from down south. Rude people come from all walks of life and exist everywhere and that is just how it has always been. One could say that I could be just as incensed when eating at a local restaurant in Glenwood and the locals seemed to stare at us just a bit too much and I know that they were talking about us because I heard one older couple suggest that we had some nerve bringing our children into the restaurant at that time of day. I also encountered a woman at a local video rental store who talked to me as if I were ignorant for simply asking if there was a late charge on the videos we rented or if I had brought them back on time. Be careful of the knife you wield when talking about the differences others have who visit where you live because sometimes knives can cut both ways. Now being a Badger, I can get along with pretty much anyone and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed a majority of the people I met or had contact with in Glenwood. From the kind lady who wasn't feeling so well at the Chamber of Commerce to the attendant at the gas station to the couple I met at the local laundromat. I never felt off or out of place or anything like that except for those times I mentioned above. Now my wife wants to move there and her parents have consented to giving us an acre if we want to relocate. I have to admit, there is a slower pace to life down in Arkansas but that isn't a bad thing. Sure I may have to drive to Hot Springs to do major shopping and sure I may have to travel there everyday for work but the trade off is peace and quiet and a chance to transplant ourselves into a community that is friendly and warm. I like that and that isn't something that is necessarily regional or "southern" or anything else that one might attach to some long ago notion of carpet bagging or southern hospitality, it is just people being how they want to be and nothing more. Now, I am sorry if you have had some people from up north who have made off color remarks but to make sweeping generalizations about everyone from up north based on that makes about as much sense as my swearing off moving to Arkansas because of two occasions where I met people who were less than hospitable to my family and myself. I could well believe the myths and the stereotypes associated with people who live in Arkansas, the state itself, and the whole "Hillbilly" mentality but I choose to see them for what they are and believe in what I have seen and experienced which was not as the myths and misconceptions portray. I choose to see us all as Americans and not Northerners or Southerners or Easterners. We demean ourselves when we start using labels to define who we are. I always think back to the movie Rough Riders when the train carrying them passed through the South on the way to Florida. As the train passed by one station, a young boy called out to his Grandfather and said, "There go them yankees grandpa." The Grandfather, wearing a Confederate kepi and coat said, "No son, those are Americans." It seems that some choose to confuse history with regional pride and a way of life. The War Between The States is over and I like to think that our nation has healed from that sad time and we could all see ourselves as Americans but after reading some of the posts I have seen on various websites recently, I really have to wonder. I am an American of Scottish and German decent. I place my family above all else and as long as our needs are met, I am content. I love my freedom and I love my country. I try to get along with everyone and give all the benefit of the doubt but if you cross me once, you won't get a second chance to cross me again. I am all about family and knowing where you come from and whom you come from and helping out a neighbor who helps you out when you need it. I believe in God but refuse to sit in a pew every Sunday because I find I can speak to God whenever I need to and don't need someone else to help me do that or read the words of the Bible. I am fiercely independent but also willing to accept that there are some things I cannot do and ask for help. Sound familiar? I bet we are a lot alike even though we come from different parts of the same country. Listen, I personally don't like many of the people I have encountered from Illinois. I think that those I have met are loud, opinionated and they keep buying up all the waterfront property here in Wisconsin so I can't fish anymore. They are rude and everything is about them. Oh, and then there is the Bears/Packers rivalry but I won't get into that. My long winded point is that people are people no matter where you go. You have some you can get along with, some you can't and some you won't. I don't consider myself a carpetbagger and I don't want to change the entire community of Glenwood but I do wish they had a small movie theater there so that people wouldn't have to drive so far to see a good film once in a while. By the definitions I have heard thrown around, does that make me a Damn Yankee or a Yankee?
I really loved Glenwood and I could perhaps see myself becoming an Arkansan some day down the road and moving my family there. But I hope that people will see that although we may not have a drawl and we may not speak as they do or know all the local slang for things that we are no less members of the community with value and things that we can contribute that could benefit everyone. I'm not looking to join any enclave or anything like that, just be part of the community if we move there. I am not looking to replace anything but I am not going to give up some of the things we have come to know and incorporate into our lives just to fit in. It is unreasonable and unpractical to expect or to ask that of anyone. I would no more expect that of the long time citizens of Glenwood then they should ask that of me and my family and somehow, I don't think they would.
I respect everyone's right to live as they see fit and as long as it is not to the detriment of me and mine and I expect others to do the same. We only have a limited amount of time on this bright ball in space so we can either choose to live it as best we can or live it being at ends with others all the time. If you are going to be confrontational, you need to expect confrontation and if you are going to expect people to be civil to you, you need to be civil in kind. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I think that pretty much says it all.
Thanks for letting me present my views on the matter. Have a great rest of the day and week.

[donaldeoff]

Couldnt have said it any better if I tried!!!!

[jacksonian]

I ran across some interesting data today - it actually surprised me a lot. According to the US Dept of Labor, Arkansas ranks 1st in the nation as the top paying state for the architect occupation, with an annual mean salary of $92,720.

Also, the Little Rock metro ranks 4th in the nation as one of the top paying metros, with a salary of $104,750.

Source:
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval

[jenni-b]

I would love to read your post, Waldiferous One, but I just can't get through it. Please consider paragraph breaks!

[HANNU]

I would like to read it too. Can you or the mod do an edit and break it up into breaks and paragraphs. Thanks.

[RTTNFAM]

I have to say, I have lived in Arkansas most of my life, and though there are times I have wanted to leave (many personal reason that don't reflect badly on the state), I can't think of a better place for people to live. Arkansas has so much varied terrain and so much natural beauty. Not to mention it is a relatively cheap state to live in when you compare it to the other 49 states. Taxes are low, we have some great schools, and people are generally nice. We have four distinct seasons, and with the exception of July and August, they are generally mild. I hate to see threads that bash our state... such a shame.

Originally Posted by linicx

I spent a lot ot time in southern New Mexico. It is no exaggeration to say you can cook breakfast on the hood of your car in the morning if it was outside all night. By 8 am it is 100 degrees. The desert will be over 120 degrees at the same time. Once you go north of I-40 or go up into Cloudcroft it is cooler because you are in the mountains. But then comes winter. Mountain towns are isolated and it isn't that unusual to drive an hour for groceries or to a bank or a hospital.

I lived up around NW Arkansas for 25 years and loved it. .

Just had to say how much I love Cloudcroft and the surrounding area. Though hot indeed, the are is absolutely beautiful and I will revisit. But I agree, it isn't always economical to live in such areas. Glad you're loving Arkansas!

[strumpeace]

Originally Posted by RTTNFAM

I have to say, I have lived in Arkansas most of my life, and though there are times I have wanted to leave (many personal reason that don't reflect badly on the state), I can't think of a better place for people to live. Arkansas has so much varied terrain and so much natural beauty. Not to mention it is a relatively cheap state to live in when you compare it to the other 49 states. Taxes are low, we have some great schools, and people are generally nice. We have four distinct seasons, and with the exception of July and August, they are generally mild. I hate to see threads that bash our state... such a shame.

I sometimes wonder if there's some alternate universe out there with its own version of Arkansas where this kind of stuff is true.

Arkansas has the 14th highest tax burden of any state in the nation.

Arkansas' education system is generally regarded as one of the worst--if not the worst--in the entire nation.

Low taxes? Good schools? Not in Arkansas for the most part.

Arkansas does have some good qualities, but taxes and education aren't among them.