What is Something You Wished People Knew About Your State/City?

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by CookieSkoon

I'm originally from the Alleghenies in southern upstate New York. What I wish people knew about New York is that it's not all city, it is quite rural, and there are hicks everywhere. XD

My family is made up of quite a few real honest to goodness hillbillies, especially my immediate family. Yes, they exist up north to! They have the piles of rusty stuff and a dangerously bad house to prove it, among other things.

That aside, I'm tired of people instantly assuming NYC when they hear New York. I'm a country boy, a mountain man, and Appalachian for life. But I AM from New York. And I am tired of explaining it to everybody who asks me where I'm from!

New York = very rural despite incredibly high population. Most of those people live downstate anyway. :P

I think I read somewhere that 40% of New York's population lives in the NYC metro area.

I also saw a post from someone on here some time ago who seemed shocked that New York State has so much rural area. It surprised me that someone would think that. (Then again, it surprised me the other day on Jeopardy when TWO of the contestants gave New York as their final answer to "The state with the longest coastline out of the original 13 colonies". HUH????)

Upstate New York is breathtakingly beautiful. Rolling farmland, mountains, forest.

[mlp206]

That all people from Nashville don't like Country Music. That there is a pretty large and diverse music scene. Also, that we are not a bunch of uneducated, uncultured rednecks..When I travel to other parts of the country and i tell people I am from Nashville, the first question I get is " Have you heard of " fill in the blank " country star...I have not heard of most of them..Believe me I do appreciate what the music industry has done for Nashville..I just wish that folks realized that we are not all just " Boot Scootin Boogi'n " here in 10 gallon hats...

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I think I read somewhere that 40% of New York's population lives in the NYC metro area.

I also saw a post from someone on here some time ago who seemed shocked that New York State has so much rural area. It surprised me that someone would think that. (Then again, it surprised me the other day on Jeopardy when TWO of the contestants gave New York as their final answer to "The state with the longest coastline out of the original 13 colonies". HUH????)

Upstate New York is breathtakingly beautiful. Rolling farmland, mountains, forest.

It is pretty, albeit gloomy a lot (clouds). It's Appalachian, it's great lake, and it's got some of that north-east/Canadian brightly colored fall season going on as well.

%40 in the NYC area, and a large remainder live in the concentrated Rochester, Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo areas. Then a large portion of the remainder after that live on the Ontario "low lands" and in the micro cities of Ithaca, Elmira, Binghampton and Corning.

The rest of us are spread out in the Alleghenies, Adirondacks and great valleys. Small town and back woods.

I once took a Virginian friend up there on vacation with me to visit family. When he saw the vast hilly woodlands and farms he asked me if we were really in New York. XD

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by mlp206

That all people from Nashville don't like Country Music. That there is a pretty large and diverse music scene. Also, that we are not a bunch of uneducated, uncultured rednecks..When I travel to other parts of the country and i tell people I am from Nashville, the first question I get is " Have you heard of " fill in the blank " country star...I have not heard of most of them..Believe me I do appreciate what the music industry has done for Nashville..I just wish that folks realized that we are not all just " Boot Scootin Boogi'n " here in 10 gallon hats...

I love the Nashville area. Most people there are very kind. And very, very few look like the stereotype Tennessee cowboy.

[eskercurve]

Some things Seattle and the area have to endure:

1) That everyone is rich. Not true. Microsoft created a lot of millionaires, and there's a ton of small business owners for sure. But with the average annual income of $75k a year, this area is also expensive to live in. In any many parts, I would be rolling in it and be living in the nicest areas. Here, I live in an apartment, waiting to save up enough money to buy a house in a suburb.

2) That everyone is the liberal of the liberal. Not true. More than a few right-wing radio talk show hosts live or have houses here. Funny ain't it!? They scream and wail about how "terrible" being liberal is, yet love to live in liberal areas! The irony of it is hilarious.

Seattle itself is pretty liberal but the suburbs are much more centrist. Republican representatives from the suburbs in the state legislature is the norm half the time.

3) It rains, in the words of Bill Cosby, "at least 365 days a year. People work on their rain tans! 'Oh your rain tan looks wonderful Bill, you look very prune-y!' " LOL, maybe I shouldn't say this because I would rather not have hordes of people storming in, but summers and autumns here are second to none in the whole US. Sunny and 75. Perfect in every way. Festivals, concerts, artistic expressions, and interesting things going on every day. You just pay for it with 5 months of rain. And even then mostly it is more like a mist than rain. It rarely rains in buckets like where I grew up in the Midwest.

4) The Seattle Freeze. I have fun with this one. People complain it is hard to make lasting friendships here. Maybe for some. I haven't had any problems. You just have to realize people here are more reserved and won't go door to door with neighbors and come with baked pie and conversation, like where I grew up. Much more formal. Meet at clubs and hobby places and outings.


That's about it, really.