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Michigan is underrated--VERY underrated, even in winter. I know we've seen these before, but I'lll post them again. They have some new ones now, apparently
I'm a "native Southerner", born in Louisiana, lived in KY, OR and MI, traveled all over the US, except for North East and high plains.
The number one thing about Michigan that will be what eventually drives me away is the poor attitude here. I've been here almost 3 years, and have not ONCE had someone offer up a positive comment about their HOME state, when I tell them I moved here from Oregon. They always ask, with an astonished look on their face "Why on earth did you do that?!?" I totally agree with the poster from Atlanta. I feel like Michiganders have had it so good for so long... MUCH better than they know they have had it, that there's a strange sense of entitlement that I've never seen anywhere....not in the South, not out West. I've never lived anywhere where so many people had a second house, many of these on the water! It's almost a "right" here. And I find that as soon as I start talking about how high my medical bills are to any retired union worker, they suddenly have nothing to complain about (although that's suddenly changing, and so fast)...
As a young family, the low cost of living is exactly what brought us here, as well as the schools, which everyone here complains about, but are really top-notch. Being close to DH's family is another. I've gotten so sick of hearing people complain about things that the rest of the country was complaining about 10-20 years ago.
Yes, there's tons of natural beauty here... the Great Lakes being one incredibly awesome wonder of nature, I actually love the snow, but do miss having really HOT weather during the summer. Land is cheap, schools are really good, such hard working people making up deep rooted communities, but the attitude has really brought me DOWN! I also almost feel that since I'm not a native Michigander that I'm "not worthy" of this life of martyrdom, and it's been very hard to make friends. I feel there's this "us against the world" attitude that I just don't want to be a part of. I know that this doesn't apply to everyone. I certainly have met many many wonderful people here.
Also, being a former Southerner, what's wrong with comparisons of MI to the South? I still can't believe that this country is so stuck in the past. I faced some "discrimination and negative stereotypes" out West, being a native Louisianian, but nothing like I have here, even though I haven't lived there for 20+ years. People here see I'm white, hear I'm from the South, and immediately think I'm racist and my family must be former slave owners, when the truth is completely opposite. I get so tired of defending myself when I say I grew up in the South. I've heard racist/sexist/close-minded comments just as much here, as in Oregon, as in Louisiana, as in Illinois, as in any other place I've been to. It's just as bad as people down South calling Northerners "Yankees", etc.. People, stop living in the past, and start looking towards the FUTURE!!!! (stepping off my soapbox)
I'm a "native Southerner", born in Louisiana, lived in KY, OR and MI, traveled all over the US, except for North East and high plains.
The number one thing about Michigan that will be what eventually drives me away is the poor attitude here. I've been here almost 3 years, and have not ONCE had someone offer up a positive comment about their HOME state, when I tell them I moved here from Oregon. They always ask, with an astonished look on their face "Why on earth did you do that?!?" I totally agree with the poster from Atlanta. I feel like Michiganders have had it so good for so long... MUCH better than they know they have had it, that there's a strange sense of entitlement that I've never seen anywhere....not in the South, not out West. I've never lived anywhere where so many people had a second house, many of these on the water! It's almost a "right" here. And I find that as soon as I start talking about how high my medical bills are to any retired union worker, they suddenly have nothing to complain about (although that's suddenly changing, and so fast)...
As a young family, the low cost of living is exactly what brought us here, as well as the schools, which everyone here complains about, but are really top-notch. Being close to DH's family is another. I've gotten so sick of hearing people complain about things that the rest of the country was complaining about 10-20 years ago.
Yes, there's tons of natural beauty here... the Great Lakes being one incredibly awesome wonder of nature, I actually love the snow, but do miss having really HOT weather during the summer. Land is cheap, schools are really good, such hard working people making up deep rooted communities, but the attitude has really brought me DOWN! I also almost feel that since I'm not a native Michigander that I'm "not worthy" of this life of martyrdom, and it's been very hard to make friends. I feel there's this "us against the world" attitude that I just don't want to be a part of. I know that this doesn't apply to everyone. I certainly have met many many wonderful people here.
Also, being a former Southerner, what's wrong with comparisons of MI to the South? I still can't believe that this country is so stuck in the past. I faced some "discrimination and negative stereotypes" out West, being a native Louisianian, but nothing like I have here, even though I haven't lived there for 20+ years. People here see I'm white, hear I'm from the South, and immediately think I'm racist and my family must be former slave owners, when the truth is completely opposite. I get so tired of defending myself when I say I grew up in the South. I've heard racist/sexist/close-minded comments just as much here, as in Oregon, as in Louisiana, as in Illinois, as in any other place I've been to. It's just as bad as people down South calling Northerners "Yankees", etc.. People, stop living in the past, and start looking towards the FUTURE!!!! (stepping off my soapbox)
I lived in enough states to know that Michigan people {well exempting some of the towns listed above} dont know how good they have it. The weather here is nicer, a lot of the state has a lot of beauty, and wonderful small towns. You will not hear me or husband complain about Michigan, we lived in Illionois and could not wait to get back, {SERIOUSLY}
Ive heard the stereotypes about Southerners so understand what you are saying. When I was a little kid and move from Arlington VA to Michigan, I got made fun of [for my accent] and asked the craziest stuff. Too bad that has not changed.
You are right about the bad attitude, its like Michigan has a collective inferiority complex...{yeah there are bad places like Detroit and Flint} but come on....!
I'm a "native Southerner", born in Louisiana, lived in KY, OR and MI, traveled all over the US, except for North East and high plains.
I was born and raised right here in West Michigan and have lived in the South (Dallas, Texas area); as well as the Northeast (Northern Maine). I have traveled to all but 3 states and have spent over a week in each before I count it as being there. (All this just for a bit of background and so everybody will know where I am coming from)
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The number one thing about Michigan that will be what eventually drives me away is the poor attitude here. I've been here almost 3 years, and have not ONCE had someone offer up a positive comment about their HOME state, when I tell them I moved here from Oregon. They always ask, with an astonished look on their face "Why on earth did you do that?!?" I totally agree with the poster from Atlanta.
Total agreement here on these points!
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I feel like Michiganders have had it so good for so long... MUCH better than they know they have had it, that there's a strange sense of entitlement that I've never seen anywhere....not in the South, not out West. I've never lived anywhere where so many people had a second house, many of these on the water! It's almost a "right" here. And I find that as soon as I start talking about how high my medical bills are to any retired union worker, they suddenly have nothing to complain about (although that's suddenly changing, and so fast)...
We have had it very good here. All over the State has/have it very good. I think many of the people who complain haven't been out and about the Country in a while. I think the "second house" thing must be a NE corner thing maybe? I don't see that in this area except for a very few people, and then for most of them, their second house is in the South someplace and they winter there. I did see that to a greater extent in Maine than here, but that was a very regional anomaly I think.
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As a young family, the low cost of living is exactly what brought us here, as well as the schools, which everyone here complains about, but are really top-notch.
Great point. I hear so much griping about the schools here that I could scream. Again I think it is a perception problem and those who haven't left and SEEN how crappy schools are in most other places have no reference point. We have GREAT schools here for the most part. Sure there are some real stinkers, but they are the exception, and not the rule.
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Being close to DH's family is another. I've gotten so sick of hearing people complain about things that the rest of the country was complaining about 10-20 years ago.
Family can actually help smooth out the negative view IF they are not the ones with the downer mentality, then it just gets old FAST.
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Yes, there's tons of natural beauty here... the Great Lakes being one incredibly awesome wonder of nature, I actually love the snow, but do miss having really HOT weather during the summer. Land is cheap, schools are really good, such hard working people making up deep rooted communities, but the attitude has really brought me DOWN! I also almost feel that since I'm not a native Michigander that I'm "not worthy" of this life of martyrdom, and it's been very hard to make friends. I feel there's this "us against the world" attitude that I just don't want to be a part of. I know that this doesn't apply to everyone. I certainly have met many many wonderful people here.
I have heard people refer to the Great Lakes as "just lakes, and nothing like the beauty of the Ocean" and have to remind myself that most people cannot picture a LAKE than is larger than most New England states, and one there is no way you can see across it. Say "lake" and people picture a little pond with a few row boats and old guys fishing. Even here, I know people (am related to some in fact) who live less than 3 miles from Lake Michigan and haven't been to the beach or to the lake in YEARS. It is too close and taken for granted. You don't know what we have until you are away and no longer have it. Deep rooted communities - For sure! My kids can take you to their Great, Great, Great grandparents graves, there are roads with the family name, there are building downtown with the family name on them, there are sections of town still referred to by the family name because the land was given to the town for expansion. We are also NOT unusual here in these things. I didn't appreciate i these things until I moved away and saw the schools, saw the transient nature of towns elsewhere, and experienced how good I had it here. That is why My DW and I made the choice to move back here when we had kids of school age. All my kids were born in Maine, my wife is from Massachusetts, but they all consider themselves Michiganders after living here a few years. It is because if the value placed on what really is important and not the car you drive or the brand shoes you wear, that is what has appealed to them.
Upon seeing the Great Lakes for the first time, my wife (who was raised in Mass, and always went to be Ocean, and then lived in a house right by the beach when she was on her own after school,) just stood there with her hand to her mouth and exclaimed it was simple beautiful, and amazing.
My sister-in-Law who grew up visiting the ocean in Maine actually cried when she first saw Lake Michigan. She sat at my table that evening and said she had never been to a place that was so beautiful and felt so much like she belonged. She said she felt for the first time in her life, truly "home" as she did here. My Nephew just stood there and kept saying how much he wanted to stay.
You are right, we as a state don't appreciate what we have, and need to see it again through others eyes for the first time to regain that feeling of pride in our State.
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Also, being a former Southerner, what's wrong with comparisons of MI to the South? I still can't believe that this country is so stuck in the past. I faced some "discrimination and negative stereotypes" out West, being a native Louisianian, but nothing like I have here, even though I haven't lived there for 20+ years. People here see I'm white, hear I'm from the South, and immediately think I'm racist and my family must be former slave owners, when the truth is completely opposite. I get so tired of defending myself when I say I grew up in the South. I've heard racist/sexist/close-minded comments just as much here, as in Oregon, as in Louisiana, as in Illinois, as in any other place I've been to. It's just as bad as people down South calling Northerners "Yankees", etc.. People, stop living in the past, and start looking towards the FUTURE!!!! (stepping off my soapbox)
I haven't noticed that so much here as I did when I lived in Texas. Man, every single day I was referred to as "G-D Yankee". The term Yankee and Rebel meant nothing to me until I spent time down there. Same thing though, to draw impressions about someone because of where they are from is just wrong. Being from the South, I wouldn't assume you were racist, or generations past your family were slave owners. There are those that do, just don't let the few idiots color your view of the entire state.
You are right 100% about the defeatist attitude in Michigan, and as a deep-rooted, born and bred, Michigan native and Michigan lover it gets to me as well. It is one thing that HAS to change, but I don't know how it will to tell the truth. In order to know what we are blessed with here, people have to see first hand usually what the alternative is. For some it is better away, for others it is eye-opening.
I lived in enough states to know that Michigan people {well exempting some of the towns listed above} dont know how good they have it. The weather here is nicer, a lot of the state has a lot of beauty, and wonderful small towns. You will not hear me or husband complain about Michigan, we lived in Illionois and could not wait to get back, {SERIOUSLY}
Ive heard the stereotypes about Southerners so understand what you are saying. When I was a little kid and move from Arlington VA to Michigan, I got made fun of [for my accent] and asked the craziest stuff. Too bad that has not changed.
You are right about the bad attitude, its like Michigan has a collective inferiority complex...{yeah there are bad places like Detroit and Flint} but come on....!
You're right about the inferiority complex. It seems that Michigan cities have made so many "worst place for....." lists, that it starts to sink in after a while. Plus, we're going on close to 10 years of downtrodden economic reporting in the local media, Detroit newspapers being the worst. Whenever I travel outside of Michigan and meet people, they seem surprised when I actually defend Michigan and what we have here. It's like they've never heard anyone say anything good about it.
Here's some good news: Michigan has now left the "top 10 states for foreclosures" list. We're number #11.
As a side note, the negative comments about the South were from a troll poster from Chicago.
OK... Felt bad, and just had to post a positive thing....
One thing that MI has that half of the country doesn't, is fresh water. I think this'll be a salvation is some way or another.
Even though manufacturing jobs are going overseas, the US is incredible rich in natural resources. MI has TONS of them, and that's what is the base of its wealth from the beginning. Don't underestimate them, and please take care of them! Natural gas, wood, water, iron, copper, rich soil, clean air....
Just as some have said that MI has TOO many people, the West has WAY too many people, especially the SW. People need water to survive, and MI has tons. Just as gas prices have forced people to change their driving habits, water prices in the West is already changing the way people build, live, recreate (yes, for those who've never lived anywhere out West, water is $$$$$$). IMO, California has already far surpassed the population that the water supply out there can handle. People can live without gas, cars, etc (look at the Amish). They can not live without water.
OK. nuff said!
Oh, and I'm sure you don't see the "Southern stereotype thing", because you're not from the South. Reverse the Texas situation and there you have my life up here. At least living in Oregon made me lose my accent and my "ya'll", so it's not as obvious, unless I say "soda", instead of "pop" LOL! And since Katrina, most people focus on that rather than the Southern part, since my family was all in New Orleans. But that's another saga.
I left Michigan in 2005 for Arizona--not for the sunshine, but a job. I looked for a job in MI when I graduated from CMU for nearly 2 years, but to no avail. A company here hired quickly, so I moved. You have to go where the job is, and it 'aint in Michigan. My immediate family is still back in East Lansing. I'm trying to get them to move out here, and they are considering. There is just NOTHING for them to live in Michigan anymore. Although Arizona is only OK, in some ways its better: lower taxes, better roads, and abundant sunshine. Although people in Michigan are much friendlier with their 'Midwest' values and the air is more fresh. People in AZ have inflated egos for some reason and are California wunnabees. The only reason I would ever consider moving back to Michigan is if I met a girl there or got a job there. But so far leaving Michigan was a good decision. Sorry to hear about the state's severe ills.
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my 2 cents
