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The other way to look at culture is not about ancestry, ethnicity, background, etc...but, rather about the arts scene. For someone coming from a larger, more established place like Boston, NY, SF, the DC area or Chicago...there is not as widespread or vibrant an arts scene here in Charlotte. But, I think that it's probably comparable to other "newer", medium sized cities. I'm talking about live music, art galleries, museums, independent movies, etc. Especially with the number of transplants here, there is not the base of support that you might have in an older, more established city where the majority of people have roots in that community. There are certainly cities with a reputation for this kind of stuff, like Austin or Nashville, but by and large, I think it takes time to build and will improve in time here. Heck, Cleveland has one of the top 5 symphonies in the country...
I think I'll chime in on this thread. I think a major point of contention in this thread is that Charlotte is not a major city. It is a bigger southern city, but its unfair to compare Charlotte's haves and have nots to those of NYC, D.C., LA, etc. I like Charlotte because its not as big as those cities, but still offers more diversity and more culture than small town USA. It's somewhere in the middle and that's why I like it. If you want a NYC Broadway, you won't find it here. If you want some shows in one or two theaters plus the opportunity to get out of the city and into the country in 10 minutes time, if you want people to greet you with enthusiasm and kindness, then Charlotte may be the place for you.
MMM I will start just saying that culture changes, grows, is not static.
I think Man moving from one place to another is as old as the hills.Moving implies they will go to a place where there was something going on and that "somethin" will be affected by this people moving.
Say your ancestors are from the British Isles.... Those island got invaded a few times so I imagine the people living there at first having simmilar feelings to the ones you are having now....I imagine some savage anglo saxon upset at the crap the scandinavian invaders were doing to the form of life as he had known it till then.
Now( (I will asume you are from English descent) your English ancestors came to America, and they did that after the Spanish ancestors of some poeple in Colorado, New Mexico,California had already settled in the "Americas" So say my husbands ancestors( he is native american) probably felt the same thing you feel about the Spanish and later the English.
We could go on and on forever. It's only human to move. Cavemen were looking for food, Spanish were looking for riches, English were looking for religious freedom, people from other states are looking for lower taxes, others just go where there is a job for them that will allow to support their families( not that far from the caveman looking for food, is it?)
Now back to modern world, you may have heard the work "globalization" so say I am lucky and able to travel and get to know different things, most probably I will try to reproduce the things I liked and learnt. Like if I fell in love with morocan food.....I don't want to have to make a trip to Africa to eat it, because it's modern times and I can buy the spices and ingredients round the corner, right?
I guess what I am trying to say here is: you think newcomers to Charlotte have to deal with " the culture" of charlotte as it is or as it was before new comers moved here and that .....that is UTOPIA. newcomers will adapt and assimilate bring new things and charloteans will be affected by the influx of newcomers and will also have to adapt and assimilate and many many years from now someone will be talking about the culture of Charlotte as something completely different from what you think it is today.
I guess what I am trying to say here is: you think newcomers to Charlotte have to deal with " the culture" of charlotte as it is or as it was before new comers moved here and that .....that is UTOPIA. newcomers will adapt and assimilate bring new things and charloteans will be affected by the influx of newcomers and will also have to adapt and assimilate and many many years from now someone will be talking about the culture of Charlotte as something completely different from what you think it is today.
Hope you can deal with it.
The problem is, many newcomers don't want to necessarily assimilate; they want what they had in NY, NJ, Mexico, England, etc. here in Charlotte. Why move here in the first place if the so-called lack of "culture" exists? Look, I miss certain pizza places and bagel joints from NJ but I can find pretty good replacements here in Charlotte. It's called adapting and not too many people will make much of an effort to adapt.
Don't you see the irony in the fact that people have chosen to move to Charlotte because of its attractiveness and the fact they want to leave where they came from because of taxes, population increases, schools, etc. Yet when these same people move here, they want to change Charlotte to mimic exactly what they left behind?? Why change an already good thing??
Reading most people's posts on the lack of "culture" leads me to believe that they aren't really looking for theatres or art galleries but instead they are looking for people that are from the same ethnicity as themselves. In many posts it seems the way that its written that since a neighborhood is "white", then there is no culture. This is quite insulting and very ignorant to say the least.
I personally am looking forward to experiencing the Charlotte 'culture' when I move I know it is different than the KC area where I live now.
I like it here and it has it's own culture - although many would argue KC doesn't have 'culture' either - whatever. KC has many great things to offer. You just have to be open to the experience and want to discover and embrace it.
When I travel, I love having enough time to experience the local 'culture' - small town, large town, rural, metropolitan, suburban - enjoy seeing the way the local's live and what they do. In touristy places, I love to go off the beaten path and experience life with the locals.
carolinaguy - as a native north carolinian, i want to ask you a question. do you think charlotte, as it stands today, really represents a strong southern culture? if you really think that, what parts of charlotte do you think show charlotte as a strong southern city?
the reason why i ask those questions is b/c i don't think charlotte has a strong southern "feel" anymore and i definitely can't find a strong southern culture here.
the best example i can give you of that is this: i lost my southern accent here. (and i had a thick one.) now when people speak to me, they ask if i'm from the mid-west.
i didn't lose my accent on purpose, and i would actually have preferred not to have lost ALL of it, but...when you're surrounded by people who are from other parts of the country, you start to sound like them, i guess.
other examples would be: i look for certain styles of architecture and food and i want to refer to certain times in history, and i can't do that in charlotte. for the most part, i can't find the architecture and the food, and the people who are in charlotte now didn't have family who lived in the south during those periods of time in history.
i'm not saying that you're wrong about charlotte not having a southern culture, i'm just saying in all the years i lived here full-time (11) and part-time (1 and 1/2), i haven't been able to find it. i've had to go to other parts of nc to find the south. charlotte is like a version of southern-lite.
that's just my 2 cents. (and for the record, that's actually why i like charlotte. i can leave the south without leaving the south.)
MMM I will start just saying that culture changes, grows, is not static.
I think Man moving from one place to another is as old as the hills.Moving implies they will go to a place where there was something going on and that "somethin" will be affected by this people moving.
Say your ancestors are from the British Isles.... Those island got invaded a few times so I imagine the people living there at first having simmilar feelings to the ones you are having now....I imagine some savage anglo saxon upset at the crap the scandinavian invaders were doing to the form of life as he had known it till then.
Now( (I will asume you are from English descent) your English ancestors came to America, and they did that after the Spanish ancestors of some poeple in Colorado, New Mexico,California had already settled in the "Americas" So say my husbands ancestors( he is native american) probably felt the same thing you feel about the Spanish and later the English.
We could go on and on forever. It's only human to move. Cavemen were looking for food, Spanish were looking for riches, English were looking for religious freedom, people from other states are looking for lower taxes, others just go where there is a job for them that will allow to support their families( not that far from the caveman looking for food, is it?)
Now back to modern world, you may have heard the work "globalization" so say I am lucky and able to travel and get to know different things, most probably I will try to reproduce the things I liked and learnt. Like if I fell in love with morocan food.....I don't want to have to make a trip to Africa to eat it, because it's modern times and I can buy the spices and ingredients round the corner, right?
I guess what I am trying to say here is: you think newcomers to Charlotte have to deal with " the culture" of charlotte as it is or as it was before new comers moved here and that .....that is UTOPIA. newcomers will adapt and assimilate bring new things and charloteans will be affected by the influx of newcomers and will also have to adapt and assimilate and many many years from now someone will be talking about the culture of Charlotte as something completely different from what you think it is today.
Hope you can deal with it.
I think you completely missed the point. My problem isn't with newcomers--I love the fact that our area is growing. It only means more stuff to do. The problem I do have is some newcomers dismissing our local culture as no culture at all. So, no, I don't have to deal with "it", and that "it" is the sorry and ignorant attitudes the culture seeking newcomers are bringing. Nice try though.
Reading most people's posts on the lack of "culture" leads me to believe that they aren't really looking for theatres or art galleries but instead they are looking for people that are from the same ethnicity as themselves. In many posts it seems the way that its written that since a neighborhood is "white", then there is no culture. This is quite insulting and very ignorant to say the least.
Thank you. This is the crux of the matter for me and why I started this thread.
I think you completely missed the point. My problem isn't with newcomers--I love the fact that our area is growing. It only means more stuff to do. The problem I do have is some newcomers dismissing our local culture as no culture at all. So, no, I don't have to deal with "it", and that "it" is the sorry and ignorant attitudes the culture seeking newcomers are bringing. Nice try though.
I'm a little embarrassed for XovertherainbowX.
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culture
I know it is different than the KC area where I live now. 
Something about relaxing with a drink relaxes my speech.
