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I spent my first 30 years in California (Santa Barbara and the North Bay area around Santa Rosa) and changed significantly after moving to Austin.
The main thing I noticed was that people weren't as clearly defined here as they were in CA. People were more independent politically, and I couldn't guess someone's politics by the way they looked (which I was able to do easily in the Bay Area.) For example, I met a guy with dreadlocks to his waist who was a Republican at the same Austin party where there was a radical leftist who looked like Dan Quayle!
I allowed this to seep into me because I find it very appealing. Now I feel very put off by the dogmatism of my leftist friends on the west coast, as contrasted with open-minded and very tolerant progressives here in Austin. It's much friendlier and much more open to different ways of thinking. It HAS to be, it's a crossroads of several cultures. But there's also a home-grown "live and let live" attitude in West Texas that has influenced Austin. Unfortunately it's becoming more uptight as it urbanizes and gets flooded with impatient Californians who don't grasp the down-home relaxed style of Texas.
Absolutely. We moved here after living here for a year about 10 years ago. I retired and the wife got out of college. We had a great time the first time and my wife grew up just 30 miles north of here.
I wanted to start a business here and she continued in her field. What we got here was. The damn yankee treatment. Almost told face to face to "go home". Several times. I had the business just getting started and several sprang up up and down the road from "locals" that weren't there the year before. We had built and planned this business for over a year here. Also the county changed it's laws on the business. While the year was ongoing. I had the old laws in writeing and it was just alittle better than toilet paper by then.
We put over 45 persent down on our house and land, this was our home until death so to speak. The business was just a dream. We're paying off the house in a few years and moving.
Just sign me SCREWED IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Absolutely. We moved here after living here for a year about 10 years ago. I retired and the wife got out of college. We had a great time the first time and my wife grew up just 30 miles north of here.
I wanted to start a business here and she continued in her field. What we got here was. The damn yankee treatment. Almost told face to face to "go home". Several times. I had the business just getting started and several sprang up up and down the road from "locals" that weren't there the year before. We had built and planned this business for over a year here. Also the county changed it's laws on the business. While the year was ongoing. I had the old laws in writeing and it was just alittle better than toilet paper by then.
We put over 45 persent down on our house and land, this was our home until death so to speak. The business was just a dream. We're paying off the house in a few years and moving.
Just sign me SCREWED IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Some of those rural areas look bad. Try Arkansas corridor or Missouri along I-55 (Blytheville, Osceola, New Madrid.) Places that are yeah backward and not meant for you to live there. Only people who grew up there as locals live there and own a business. The only yanks are the hotel owners near the Interstate.
Some of those rural areas look bad. Try Arkansas corridor...
What's the Arkansas "corridor"?
My most recent experience in AR was slightly scary but also touching. I was driving through the Ozarks a couple days after Katrina hit the gulf coast, and the motel I stayed in was an independent that was taking in a bus load of refugees from the MS coast.
Good news, bad news: The manager was so sweet and talked about all the ways they were helping evacuees, and I had a wonderful experience giving away most of the contents of my car to elderly people who sobbed and hugged me in response. But the motel manager informed me that "We specifically told officials not to send any Black people here because the Grand Wizard of the KKK lives here and it's not a very good place for Blacks to live."
Sorry to hear about the TN experience, Shadowwalker. The "new South" is a lot more accommodating, sounds like you were in an "old South" area.
My most recent experience in AR was slightly scary but also touching. I was driving through the Ozarks a couple days after Katrina hit the gulf coast, and the motel I stayed in was an independent that was taking in a bus load of refugees from the MS coast.
Good news, bad news: The manager was so sweet and talked about all the ways they were helping evacuees, and I had a wonderful experience giving away most of the contents of my car to elderly people who sobbed and hugged me in response. But the motel manager informed me that "We specifically told officials not to send any Black people here because the Grand Wizard of the KKK lives here and it's not a very good place for Blacks to live."
Sorry to hear about the TN experience, Shadowwalker. The "new South" is a lot more accommodating, sounds like you were in an "old South" area.
- Harv
Yes I was Harv.
The Arkansas corridor I refer to is Mississippi County, Arkansas and perhaps another county that extend along the Mississippi River in the Northeast corner of the state.
I had the misfortune of my car breaking down (alternator trouble) and was stuck there for a day.
The corridor extends roughly from MO-AR border along I-55 to around 10 miles out of Memphis in Marion, Arkansas. If you are going to set up a new town business you should do so in metro Memphis or metro Little Rock, etc not an old area with a kind of depressed backward feel to it that you know nothing about.
The KKK is headquartered in Harrison, Arkansas in the Northern half of the state. No I would not want to bring a bus full of black tourists through this area, very unpleasant to have that kind of hate going on. Most of the South is fine, but I would not set up a new business in an Old south area with zero newcomers.
I think moving out to the greater Washington DC area (after living in small town Minnesota), really changed me as a person. Because it is so harsh and unfriendly here, I find that I am more likely to treat people in the same way. I am much more abrupt and cold in my interactions with people because that is how many people out here treat me.
I wonder if I moved to a smaller town in the more relaxed part of the country I would start interacting with people in a different way. Maybe I would expect people to be nicer and would interact with neighbors and coworkers in with a more relaxed and friendly touch.
Did your personality and "outlook on life" change after relocating?
Yes and no. I think my personality stayed the same but my "outlook on life" where people are concerned changed.
Yes. I don't sweat the small stuff.
After immigrating almost 28 years ago, living in NY for 25 years and now living in Pittsburgh, I do not want to climb the ladder, I am not as angry as I was in NY, and I can actually sit and read a book nightly.
I love it. The big house is gone, the race to see who finishes with the most toys is gone.
What we have is more family time, more time to enjoy our boys, more places to explore.
Well, one thing big changed for me after moving to Phoenix from DC; I learned that you get what you pay for. I moved to Phoenix for several reasons, but the biggest was that I thought I could buy a big home out in the burbs and "settle down." After being out here for about two years I learned that is not what I want. The entire Phoenix metro area is essentially the burbs and I HATE IT. It is so boring, fake, and devoid of culture. I'm miserable and I live in what many would consider to be the "urban" area of Phoenix.
I've come to appreciate the history, culture, and charm of older things. New is not always better! I've also learned that bigger is not always better either! And finally I have learned that there is a reason some places are cheap and some places are expensive. And that cheap places to live often lack a lot of the desirable things that make an area have a high quality of life. I guess I took so many things for granted living in Washington.
I've constantly thought that I made the biggest mistake of my life by moving out here and essentially wasting two years in this place. In some respects I do think it was a waste, but at least I can take solace in the fact that I learned what is really important in life.
Fantastic question. For me, no, nothing changed. I gained new experiences and met new folks, but my personality stayed the same. I think mainly I found a city that matched my personality. If I were to move anywhere else, I'm sure I'd say differently.
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