Ask Lemmy

Good reminder. I am a proud Oaklander and won't hide it, so I'll just say again. Oakland!

And the name of my first pet and my elementary school for good measure.

April 1st, 1969. Crapper. Why do you ask?

Oh, man. My condolences.

But, seriously: rural PA can be gorgeous. The issue is, as you said: the politics. When we first moved there, a new friend told me: "Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Alabama in between."

Another replier to your comment said they lived outside Allentown - I don't consider that "rural" PA. The suburbs in PA are vast, and while it can look rural, you don't know PA rural until you drive to somewhere like New Berlin: through coal country. I knew people who'd grown up within 3 miles of where their grandmother grew up, lived there their entire lives, and never ventured more than a few dozen miles from the Mainline. Never visited Gettysburg, a mere 4-hour drive.

And you're so right! The Mason-Dixon line is the Southern border of PA, and yet Confederate flags abound. That, and Trump signs; they just never take those down, campaign year or not.

We moved to Minnesota from PA (answering OP's question) and I was surprised at the political similarities. Around The Cities it's fairly liberal, and even through the few-hour drive to Deluth. But once you get off the main commuter thoroughfare, those Trump signs start appearing everywhere. Iron ore is to MN what is coal to PA, and mining is mining. Although, the property around the big Northern lakes is all lake-homes owned by urban families who can't afford lake homes around The Cities, so there are pockets of Blue out there. Anyway, I found the similarities to be surreal. The biggest difference is that the PA coal country is far poorer than MN iron country.

But I'll repeat: the countryside in PA is amazing, especially in the Poconos, but also in the farmland. Just beautiful.

I've lived in a few different states and I was born in a foreign country. I absolutely love Florida. South Florida is an amazing place with great weather and great people.

It all depends on the cultural lens which you use to look at it. One shopping plaza looks different to a Jew then it does to a Brazilian then it does to a Haitan. The Jew may come for the hummus lunch place and the Brazilian goes for the Brazilian nightclub. They exist in the same physical space but it's like a parallel universe because they don't see each other. I find this so fascinating.

When you take the time to really explore you see a massive depth of different cultures. I love living among immigrants, including many fresh people right off the boat.

Up north it simply isn't the same. In Chicago there's a lot of Latinos, but they're virtually all Mexican. In South Florida you get every single type. Brazilian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Central American.. Mexicans are a minority.

I don't know if there's another place in the world that has such a diverse mix of people from around Latin America. So many opportunities and interesting things to do.

I wouldn't trade it for the world. I hate the government, but I refuse to move.

Respect for staying and staying strong. That devolution has been rapid and concerning.

You sticking around encourages every person (disclosed or otherwise) in any of those groups to stay, and eventually force that SOB running your state out.

My partner is a huge Disney fan, and I see behind the magic and respect everything they do to hide the actual mechanics of it all. It pains us that we can’t get on a WN flight to MCO because we refuse to spend money (that we are aware of) in states behaving that way generally.

We miss Nashville, too, as well as a place between Nashville and Orlando that sells stuff people failed to “claim” for cheap.

But I’m not buying gas in GA or FL, much less anything else, in the current environment.

Miami once was a haven and a melting pot, and I personally welcome everyone to this country. But… current state of affairs.

I couldn’t do it, we are both straight and a conventional married couple (mosly, aside from things that are no one’s biz). We fled a Midwest state because, among other things, we got tired of defending that WE wore masks/used hand sanitizer over a period of years.

Fuck those people, we are not hurting them by vexing cautious. Turns out (it seems, per current research) we were right.

The diesel bros are slowly feeling the long term results.

That's depressing. Cheers.

~~Inevitable.~~ 🤷‍♂️

Literally asking US Lemmies, I somehow missed that.

And they all have cars that contribute to our THUNDERDOME traffic situation these days. I legit don’t even like driving anywhere in the metroplex these days out of safety concerns.

Bruh I'm in Hemet, CA. All desert and tumbleweeds but hey at least I can afford to live here

Hahahahaha! I'll buy you a drink. This was most unexpected Jersey pride.

I carry a bunch of pride for all of my favorite places I’ve lived in (I was easily bored in my early 20s), but…

Jersey?

Kidding, ofc, friend.

Lived up and down the east coast along the way, including places whose current inhabitants I would not want to publicly associate myself with.

South Central PA wasn’t per se “appealing,” but it was home for many years so I get it. Neither good nor bad, just home, but easily judged.

I still smile a lil when I happen to cross US 30 and notice it, so I get it. Feels like I “could” make that turn and be “home”

OC, MD was “the” vacation dest growing up so…. I have very little affinity for Jersey. A few years working for a guy who was proudly “from JC” (sorta) and a giant dick didn’t help my perspective, to be honest.

South side here

Ahem