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Bloomington is very conservative and IU itself is not your typical state school; much less diversity.
I just have to say that I believe Bloomington is an extremely liberal place, for Indiana. I've never lived out of Indiana, so maybe, compared to other states, it's not, but I went to school at IU and I have stayed here in Bloomington since I graduated because I love the open attitudes here. We have all sorts of people here and people with all sorts of beliefs. I have never felt like I didn't belong here (I am a liberal). It's just a matter of finding your niche.
It is very frustrating as a liberal that Indiana is very much a Red state when it comes to the presidential election, but we have elected many democratic officials.
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Originally Posted by ivymm
Also, travel in the Bloomington area or on SR 37 is a joke on FB or BB game days.
This is quite true, if you don't know your way around. Traffic does get way backed up, but if you don't take those main roads to travel through town, it's not too bad.
Bloomington isn't very rural, but I grew up in a small town (very conservative, it was stifling!) and it is a nice balance between small town and big city. There are very nice houses just outside of Bloomington around Monroe County or even in our neighboring Brown County. It is a beautiful area. I suggest you at least check out the area for yourself and form your own opinion about Bloomington and our state. I'm a liberal but I'm also an Indiana girl through and through. I'm not saying Indiana, or Bloomington, is perfect, far from it, but it's not all that bad either, if you can find your niche.
You'll find the NW corner of Indiana very liberal. Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties have many nice homes in your price range.
Minimum wage is not the norm for most people. Both of my children haven't worked for mimimum wage since their high school days. They both do very well, and are registered Democrats. My daughter considers Hillary Clinton brilliant. Not very red of her, eh? :-)
Hunters are not necessarily "hillbillys", they provide food for their families. My son hunts for deer every Autumn, and his family eats venison all Winter. However, he does not blast at everything that moves.
I'm not familiar with the Real Estate market in Indy, but Gary is the only town in NW Indiana that has depreciating home values. The region is hot, and have a lot of people from Illinois coming across the State line to live there. Property taxes are much much lower in Indiana than in Illinois. There is a lot of new construction going on.
Here in Nashville, TN we have strip malls, churches, gas stations that sell beer, gas guzzling SUV's along with Jags, foreclosures and tornadoes.
I think you'll find that most anywhere you live, but as the old saying goes ...
"Bloom where you are planted".
We recently moved away from the Denver area, to a small town north west of Indianapolis. It is said about Denver "Denver is so open minded that its brains fell out". We are glad to leave the the rantings of Ward Churchill and the militant gay community of Denver.....far behind.
Nothing wrong with family, church and country [dirty words in the Denver metro area]. I did notice that the people here are more inclined to honor family, church and country, which I welcome.
I dont know how I will fare here? Since I was raised in Philly, I am not a narrow minded, toothless, possum eating, NASCAR fan [as some posts mentioned]. I didnt move here to change the Hoosiers, I moved here to escape the steep Denver housing market [dumpy starter homes-$200,000 and up]. So much for living among the liberal minded.
The housing here in Indiana is very diverse, housing ranges from Victorian country estate to a trailer on the interstate .....and everything in between. I find this refreshing after wrangling with the Philly and Denver housing markets.
My feelings on Indiana "when in Rome, do as the Romans". Insulting these people about their culture and beliefs will do me no good. Besides their sons and daughters are defending our rights to free speech [which include gay parades]....as they serve in the military [Hoosiers are very patriotic...bless em]
We recently moved away from the Denver area, to a small town north west of Indianapolis. It is said about Denver "Denver is so open minded that its brains fell out". We are glad to leave the the rantings of Ward Churchill and the militant gay community of Denver.....far behind.
Nothing wrong with family, church and country [dirty words in the Denver metro area]. I did notice that the people here are more inclined to honor family, church and country, which I welcome.
I dont know how I will fare here? Since I was raised in Philly, I am not a narrow minded, toothless, possum eating, NASCAR fan [as some posts mentioned]. I didnt move here to change the Hoosiers, I moved here to escape the steep Denver housing market [dumpy starter homes-$200,000 and up]. So much for living among the liberal minded.
The housing here in Indiana is very diverse, housing ranges from Victorian country estate to a trailer on the interstate .....and everything in between. I find this refreshing after wrangling with the Philly and Denver housing markets.
My feelings on Indiana "when in Rome, do as the Romans". Insulting these people about their culture and beliefs will do me no good. Besides their sons and daughters are defending our rights to free speech [which include gay parades]....as they serve in the military [Hoosiers are very patriotic...bless em]
welcome to Indiana and happy to have you in a good and growing area of the state.
I'm from the D.C. area and consider myself openminded. I've lived in quite a few places, both here and abroad. I moved to Indianapolis two years ago to help my parents who retired and moved here.
Looking at maps, my wife and I were very optimistic to see so many lakes, rivers and "green" areas. The $120,000 home prices seemed wonderful. And having worked for some big companies in D.C., I thought I'd be able to find a job right away.
~~~~~~~~
Two years later, we can tell you this...
There are some very nice people in Indiana.
However, coming to Indiana was the biggest mistake we've ever made. Most of those lakes, streams and green spaces either charge you a $5 entrance fee or have HUGE signs saying "PRIVATE PROPERTY -- KEEP OUT!" (very Christian) --Even around Lake Michigan! The Indiana portion of lake Michigan looks like Buffalo, NY and is equally dirty/polluted. The "Private Beach/Private Property" signs continue around the lake into Michigan. Many of the lakes and rivers in the state are virtually inaccessible. We have to drive 45 minutes to get to a halfway decent state park. But now there are hillbilly hunters running around blasting anything that moves. How charming... And don't even think about eating a fish caught in Indiana waterways!
Homes? Homes in Indiana DO NOT appreciate. Considering inflation, they depreciate. Indiana has the highest rates of home foreclosures in America. They sell plastic-sided houses for $120K (special financing, it's cheaper than rent!) to kids who work at Wallmart, who then run up their credit cards and get foreclosed on.
Indiana is a big RED state. Bush won in a landslide. --Many people here work for minimum wage. Many work as laborers for $9 or $10 per hour and have NO health insurance. Many live in extreme debt. Many live in poverty... But if you dare mention "HILLARY CLINTON" to any of them -- be ready for a fight! They hate 'Librals' since Rush Limbaugh tells them to. An acquaintance recently told me, "I'm still pi$$ed off that France didn't support the presidunt in I-raq." (My wife is French) --I told him I'd call Jacques Chirac personally and let him know. (I kid you not!) This is the mentality here, too often. Liberal bastions here? --I don't think so.
As for work? I've worked in the IT/Media field for over 10 years. The last job I applied for was 1/2 of my previous salary. They received 90 applications for one position. I didn't get it. (I was in the top 3 though!) I've heard nepotism plays a big role here. I think it helps to know people, or at least go to the same church.
So our advice ... unless you like hamburgers, all-U-can-eat steak buffets, booze --they sell hard liquor at grocery and drug stores; but NOT on Sundays!, cornfields, churches, strip malls, 'no trespassing' signs, foreclosures, tornados and gas-guzzling SUVs, you might want to consider another destination.
Oh, and PLEASE TAKE US WITH YOU!!! (the scream)
where do you live in Indiana?
You can move to Chicago. Very liberal. They'll blow your head off if you look at them wrong, taxes are very high and everthing is expensive. But the liberals like to pay for the welfare recipients so where do you think the $$ comes from? 100% Democrat so you can watch the deterioration in live time!
I'll trade you any time. But to me, you're that close to Lake Michigan, you probably did not pick a good area.. Any place around the lake or close to Chicago I'd run screaming from.
Oh, and I can get a job anywhere in Indy as I work in Insurance and my hubby is a programmer. No prob...
Indiana is a big RED state. Bush won in a landslide.
It's probably a bit overboard to call Indiana a big Red state (side note: I hate the red/blue state terms).
In the 2004 election, the vote between Bush and Kerry was split 60%-39%. Not what I'd call a landslide, but to each his own. You want something more like a landslide....take a peek at some of the western plains states, where Bush was getting 68%, 69% or 72% of the vote. The margin of victory in '00 was even smaller by a few percentage points.
Other things worth mentioning regarding the liberalness of the state: several cities there have (gasp!) Democrats as mayors. Indy's Democratic mayor is on his second term; every mayor except for one since 1979 in Fort Wayne has been a Democrat; at least the past two mayors in South Bend were Dems; and we can add Evansville's mayor to this list. Also, I didn't pick these cities just to fit my argument, these were actually the first four cities that I looked up. I'm batting 100 percent here
I think all but one state governor since the late '80s has been a Democrat, too. And there's one Democrat and one Republican from the state in the U.S. Senate. Shall I go on?
I don't think any of this answers the orginial question that started this topic. I lived in Indiana my whole life up until two years ago. Most recently, I was in Fort Wayne, which for someone my age, has a wonderfully large hippie/earthy population and even puts on a well-recieved gay-pride festival. There are lots of churches in that city, but I've never seen a protest or heard anything that would make me consider the city to be anti-gay rights. It is a big Christian town, but most of my friends didn't go to church at all, and I don't think there was any scorn about that. Where I live now, I have more people knocking on my door to preach to me than I ever had living in Indiana.
Lastly, I'll end with the housing situation. For most of the area, as someone mentioned, housing prices are pretty stagnant. "Flippers" won't make any money in that state. That said, the average housing prices are way more inexpensive than much of the rest of the U.S. I remember reading a couple years ago that South Bend had the cheapest housing prices of any mid- to large-size city in the nation. Rural areas are even better than that. For the price I paid for my house in Virginia, I could've gotten 2500 square feet in a nice region on at least two acres. Right now, I live in 1100 square feet in a lower middle income area on about an eighth of an acre. If I could bring the Indiana housing situation with me to Virginia, I would've done it, because Indiana has some ideal prices.
I currently live in a very liberal, rural area in MA. I love it here but may have to consider job prospects in other areas. Are any of the areas outside Bloomington or Gary rural but liberal? By "liberal" I mean pro-gay rights, accepting of non-Christian religions, pro-environment. By "rural" I don't necessarily mean middle-of-nowhere -- just a place with trees and open spaces, little traffic, quiet.
Also, what's the cost of living like? Would an old farmhouse on a few acres be within reason for someone making a salary in the mid-40s? (It's not in MA! I'm laughing as I write this! But I figure it can't hurt to ask...)
Thanks.
Ignore that moron from D.C.
Bloomington is probably just what you are looking for, but you will have to commute to find that farm house on a few acres for anything I'd call with in reason.
I think you'll find everyone in Indiana has the same rights rather than any special pro gay rights, minority rights, blah blah what ever. Right is right and it's right for everyone or it's not a right for any one.
It might be said that Bloomington is liberal for Indiana- being pro envirionment pro women and pro gay rights- And Indianapolis is not all that bad.
Housing/real estate DOES NOT appreciate here- in fact during the greatest RE Boom in US history, prices have actually fallen in the state.
But from my visits to the state a majority of the people I met where anything but but progressive- and I do not mean radical left wing.
Churches that preach 'hate' toward gays seem to be everywhere, with red faced white suited 'evangelicals' begging for your money (and sweating out some kind of posion) Phoney balonies.
Politically for the most part the majority of the populace will believe just about anything Bush and company will say.
There seems to be a pretty strong undercurrent of racism, anti intellectualism, strong conformity along with draconian local laws and a brutish repressive police force.
The food in most of the restuarants tends to be mostly third rate.
Lots of chain restuarants, and yes all you can eat steak joints. The ethnic restuarants (Italian, Asian etc) are not good at all.
There are plenty of strip malls, auto body shops etc-
There are some nice people in Indiana- but the state is hardly moderate to progressive- but mostly regressive and YES a very RED state for being this far North. It is generally out of touch with a diverse, changing world of new values and ideas.
Sadly to say the individual from DC was mostly right- if moving from a cosmopolitan place like Denver, Boston, Seattle or DC- be prepared for cultural shock.
It might be said that Bloomington is liberal for Indiana- being pro envirionment pro women and pro gay rights- And Indianapolis is not all that bad.
Housing/real estate DOES NOT appreciate here- in fact during the greatest RE Boom in US history, prices have actually fallen in the state.
But from my visits to the state a majority of the people I met where anything but but progressive- and I do not mean radical left wing.
Churches that preach 'hate' toward gays seem to be everywhere, with red faced white suited 'evangelicals' begging for your money (and sweating out some kind of posion) Phoney balonies.
Politically for the most part the majority of the populace will believe just about anything Bush and company will say.
There seems to be a pretty strong undercurrent of racism, anti intellectualism, strong conformity along with draconian local laws and a brutish repressive police force.
The food in most of the restuarants tends to be mostly third rate.
Lots of chain restuarants, and yes all you can eat steak joints. The ethnic restuarants (Italian, Asian etc) are not good at all.
There are plenty of strip malls, auto body shops etc-
There are some nice people in Indiana- but the state is hardly moderate to progressive- but mostly regressive and YES a very RED state for being this far North. It is generally out of touch with a diverse, changing world of new values and ideas.
Sadly to say the individual from DC was mostly right- if moving from a cosmopolitan place like Denver, Boston, Seattle or DC- be prepared for cultural shock.
While I agree with you, I have to say that there are a few of us who don't prescribe to Hoosier thinking. It's hard, and I hate having to speak in hushed tones when talking politics in a crowd because I have been shouted down before. But overall, I enjoy living here ... the cost of living is great. The schools are top notch and I have managed to make my own way and find like minded friends. I've even managed to find some righties who aren't psycho evangelical buttheads.
Bloomington is definitely a town where you won't have to work hard to find liberals. But up here in Indianapolis and it's 'burbs, there are a few of us too!
While I agree with you, I have to say that there are a few of us who don't prescribe to Hoosier thinking. It's hard, and I hate having to speak in hushed tones when talking politics in a crowd because I have been shouted down before. But overall, I enjoy living here ... the cost of living is great. The schools are top notch and I have managed to make my own way and find like minded friends. I've even managed to find some righties who aren't psycho evangelical buttheads.
Bloomington is definitely a town where you won't have to work hard to find liberals. But up here in Indianapolis and it's 'burbs, there are a few of us too!
Domergurl
I fully agree with you. Even uttering the word 'liberal' can cause a flurry of criticism in many parts of the Hoosier state, and can get you branded as a 'Leftie; 'Frenchy', 'Godless enemy', etc. Religion mixes into politics here in a big way and that's just a general fact of life.
Last edited by Southside Shrek; 09-14-2006 at 08:19 AM..
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New to Indiana
(the scream)
