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It's a small, somewhat geographically isolated city with one main industry, college education. Because of the amount of training and effort it takes to get a job in a university, the folks who work in higher education are going to have a pretty different set of skills and values than if, say, the colleges weren't here and Cargill or Borg-Warner or NYSEG was the biggest employer instead. I can see how the academic crowd, and the people who are attracted to that crowd, would seem pretty uniform to someone whose career isn't there, especially if your values don't mesh. (Believe me, I grew up working class. I get an earful when I go home, and I hear some jaw-dropping things from my colleagues who were born into the 1%. I get it.)
On the other hand, I think those core values shared by much of the community--the emphasis on academic learning, the impractical lack of correlation between "good jobs" and "good salaries", the valuing of careers over a geographical closeness to family, trusting books over intuition--are still expressed in a wide variety of ways because of the geographic variability that exists in town. In my son's room at daycare, the 10 children's parents hail from at least 6 different countries. It would be REALLY unlikely to find that sort of diversity in a town of similar size in a fairly rural place.
Another thing that I think happens here that is part of the town is that the community is pretty mobile. Students and people who work in town alike are more likely to move away from the region, compared to similar sized towns. It's hard to make friends when you know you'll only be in a place for 2 years, and it's also hard to make friends with people you know might be moving away soon. I think that if people are sensing some reserve, it may have to do with that. Our family has found the crafting, parent, and gaming communities to be pretty open.
Two words: Carl Sagan. Forever validates Ithaca, merits of your meandering critique notwithstanding.
My next two words would be Greg Graffin, FWIW (and he's actually alive)
Edit to say that on second reading this post is better than I gave it credit for the first time around. I was guilty of skimming and getting the wrong impression based on the first sentence of the second paragraph, which I misread. Now I see your POV, although it is of limited applicability
Last edited by Matt Marcinkiewicz; 04-15-2013 at 06:43 AM..
...and then my next two words would be Matt Marcinkiewicz, because I was a onetime Cornell ILR (Industrial and Labor Relations) school delayed matriculator. Little bro will probably be studying atmospheric sciences there come incoming freshman class of 2014 (that's the plan as of now for the valedictorian-to-be).
Ithaca itself is quite cool in some ways (especially geographically), but I personally did not find Cornell appealing, at all. Could've seen myself adding to the already high suicide total associated with the city and its gorges gorgeous, or perhaps the reverse, heh.
Ithacan55's post was great. She speaks of the problematically pretentious aspect of the town; I'd add that there's a sizeable population of over-stressed blindly-achieving obvious-Ivies on the Cornell campus who made me hate walking around the place when I visited. Seemed uninviting and miserable (compounded by the cold, grey weather conditions of my visit) and just all too avoidable given that I was a nihilist in spirit if not logic even then.
Ithaca is a very acquired taste, personally, I hate it. But others love it. It's a college town, 1000%, a college town with a large number of rich students at that. So it's kind of an odd mix, it's like a college town, but with a pretentious vibe.
Ithaca is a very acquired taste, personally, I hate it. But others love it. It's a college town, 1000%, a college town with a large number of rich students at that. So it's kind of an odd mix, it's like a college town, but with a pretentious vibe.
It's Burlington VT minus most of the things that make Burlington likable IMO
As well as being a little more affordable than Burlington.
Is it? Burlington probably has a lot of options in the surrounding environs...I remember being in Colchester and seeing some affordable-seeming places...I'll defer if you show me stats though (but I do think you were probably talking about city limits only, right?)
Edit to say that "a little more affordable" probably means...a little more affordable. Negligible, perhaps. Depends on a given budget, but...honestly, both are probably pretty affordable for the average person contributing to or reading this board.
Now I see your POV, although it is of limited applicability
In looking at the thread, I just realized that when you reply to a particular post, the threading in the board doesn't show that in any way. FWIW, I was responding to Krisps' post, and specifically this part:
Quote:
are near clones of one another, having near identical ideals, lifestyles, and political views. Diversity is a word this crowd loves, but do they embrace it in reality?
I agree that the town culture can look very unusual from the outside, and was trying to explain why. I do think it's relevant to the feeling people describe here about the town culture. It also seemed relevant to describe some of the "ins" that we've found towards being part of the community, since several people described feeling frozen out.
You mention having been a student here, and the experience as a student is vastly different than the experience as a permanent resident, to the point where they almost can't be compared. I went to IC, left, and came back to work, and they're two different towns.
It's a college town, 1000%, a college town with a large number of rich students at that. So it's kind of an odd mix, it's like a college town, but with a pretentious vibe.
So.... a college town. I've lived in a Big State School college town, and within blocks of a Satellite State School, and now in an Ivy League School college town, and the sense of entitlement and unawareness shared by the undergrad population is pretty much identical across the board. Friends who work at other schools of all shapes and sizes report the same.
So.... a college town. I've lived in a Big State School college town, and within blocks of a Satellite State School, and now in an Ivy League School college town, and the sense of entitlement and unawareness shared by the undergrad population is pretty much identical across the board. Friends who work at other schools of all shapes and sizes report the same.
It's definitely prevalent in most college towns, but Ithaca is on another level, IMO.
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