NATIVE and GO HOME bumper stickers in Colorado. (Denver, Colorado Springs: get credit, how much)

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I don't know "where it is written" that a person, or family has to stay where they were born forever.

If it were, there wouldn't be anybody there. Go back a few generations in any family and you'll find a transplant. In Virginia we often refer to that person in our family tree as "the emigrant" and he or she generally enjoys somewhat exalted status as the one who got us to The Promised Land.

[CosmicWizard]

jazzlover wrote:

And I've watched a whole lot of 'em come and whole lot of 'em go, too. I'm still here--they're not . .

Obviously, being rooted on a long term basis is something you value highly, but not everyone values rootedness as highly as you do. I have lived in many different places over the course of my life. I cannot recall ever moving somewhere having an intention of staying there for life. When I move to a new location, my attitude is more like...as long as I'm happy with my lifestyle, I'll stay there. I'm always open to the possibility of moving somewhere else.



new2colo wrote:

It isn't. I think people who stay close to where they were born their entire lives are doing themselves an extreme disservice.

As you can see from my statement above, I myself have been a frequent mover during my time on this planet. That works for me, but some people seem very well suited to living in the same place their entire lifetime. EG: Just about all of my relatives in Pennsylvania have spent their entire lives within a 25 mile radius of their birth location. Not my cup of tea obviously, but some people seem to thrive on that. I think it is a matter of personal values and lifestyle preference more than anything else.

[Katarina Witt]

^^To comment on the above regarding Pennsylvanians, that is the case with a lot of my family, too. Or, someone went "away" and came back. I think my whole family thought DH and I were nuts when we decided to come out here after our marriage. (DH is not from PA.)

However, the last time my brother was out here he told me we'd made a good life for ourselves out here. Mind you, we had never planned to stay 30 years here; it just happened.

[Vanskills]

People move around the country.

Why does this shock people?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

And I've watched a whole lot of 'em come and whole lot of 'em go, too. ... .

If anyone wants to see them come and go, try the DC metro area. Every time there's an election, the moving vans show up. Same for the approx 100k military personnel in the area, most of them move in/out every few years as Uncle Sam rotates their assignments. My wife was one of the few "natives" who was born/raised in that area, seems everyone is from somewhere else, including at least 100 countries from around the world.

Originally Posted by Katiana

...I don't know "where it is written" that a person, or family has to stay where they were born forever.

T'aint writ nowhere. Forty years ago I worked at the Domino Sugar plant in the Locust Point area (waterfront) of South Baltimore. Many of those folks had been there for generations, and many of their extended families lived within walking distance, as the area was stuffed with small, old, row homes dating back to the late 1800's. In a way it was nice to have 3 generations within walking distance, they even walked to work on the docks, etc. But times have changed. It's all changed.

Originally Posted by new2colo

It isn't. I think people who stay close to where they were born their entire lives are doing themselves an extreme disservice. ...

Believe me, if money were no object, I'd have a home in Germany (for the transit, train travel and beer) and one in Manhattan (for the transit, culture and so much more.

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

... not everyone values rootedness ... I have lived in many different places over the course of my life. I cannot recall ever moving somewhere having an intention of staying there for life. When I move to a new location, my attitude is more like...as long as I'm happy with my lifestyle, I'll stay there. I'm always open to the possibility of moving somewhere else. ...

Much of the rootedness of yesteryear stems from the poverty of the working and farming classes, where large families were needed to work the land, to make ends meet, to survive cruel levels of early death, and because the relative lack of education made people unemployable elsewhere. That's all changed. Mechanization of farms started a migration to city life 125+ years ago, and once there, good educations created skill sets and levels of income that still allow moving around as opportunities arose. Other factors play in, like having transportation systems able to support our mobility.

But we're getting deep in the weeds. The bumper stickers are silly and should be ignored. People should go where they weather suits their clothes. If I had my way, most young people would spend a summer in Europe to experience real culture, food, and how good life is WITHOUT cars.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Much of the rootedness of yesteryear stems from the poverty of the working and farming classes, where large families were needed to work the land, to make ends meet, to survive cruel levels of early death, and because the relative lack of education made people unemployable elsewhere. That's all changed. Mechanization of farms started a migration to city life 125+ years ago, and once there, good educations created skill sets and levels of income that still allow moving around as opportunities arose. Other factors play in, like having transportation systems able to support our mobility.

Actually people back then were plenty mobile and often for some of the same reasons. My great great grandfather was born and raised in WV, moved with his parents and siblings to MO and started a family, moved that family to KS, then moved them again to La Plata County, CO , where he died and is buried. His son and his family then moved to CA. All that happened between 160 and 90 years ago. They were cattlemen with not much education who were always looking for greener pastures.

[Katarina Witt]

WW II also stirred things up. My father from PA met my mom from WI d/t the war. There were a couple of other families in our social circle like that, plus a couple of "war brides" from Europe.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Actually people back then were plenty mobile and often for some of the same reasons. My great great grandfather was born and raised in WV, moved with his parents and siblings to MO and started a family, moved that family to KS, then moved them again to La Plata County, CO , where he died and is buried. His son and his family then moved to CA. All that happened between 160 and 90 years ago. They were cattlemen with not much education who were always looking for greener pastures.

True. I have maternal relatives in WV that moved, though many stayed and farmed. Mobility came when the railroads provided it, mostly post-Civil War. Farmers, orchardists and ranchers had some mobility, as most of country was locally agrarian in nature so they could move elsewhere. In many respects a different story today, as farmers, orchardists and ranchers can no longer migrate to Orange County, CA, to do their thing. I suspect that today farmers aren't generating the large farm families of yesteryear, and that new farm land is hard to come by compared to the ease of the past when governments and railroads often gave the land to people who'd settle it. Today's mobility belongs to people with non-farm skills.

Katiana is right about WW-II. In 1941 it got my mother off the farm in WV and into Baltimore to work in a factory producing piston rings for airplane engines. She never went back to the farm. Same for millions more. After WW-II the G.I. Bill and better education opened the gates for suburbia and transient lifestyles and if anything I see that trend accelerating as people stay single and without families for more of their younger years.

[suzco]

As Jewish people, my family has been relocating and moving from place to place for as long as we have recorded history, sometimes managing to stay in an area for some generations, but then needing to move on. . .

(by Jazzlover's definition of native, I qualify as Colorado native; if I've remembered correctly, Jazzlover says he's Colorado native; he was born in Denver, his parents moved here from elsewhere; my grandparents were the ones who moved to Colorado, so I'm third generation?). I have no clue why that would make me more or less "entitled" to live here.

[wanneroo]

Anytime in human history that a stable population exists in one place and then all the sudden huge masses of people move in, there is always conflict. The Colorado that I grew up with in the 1980's has expanded to a large degree. When all these people come from elsewhere they bring a lot of their culture or ideas with them and don't always adopt the standing culture. I've seen it in Denver with a lot of the distinct Denver culture being diluted over time.

Some of it I don't like any better than anyone else, but also I understand human history and migration and that everything just changes.