small town vs big city

Turn and Burn said:
Two part question

1. Were you raised in a small town or big city? or if you'd rather say rural area vs urban area you can
2. What are the goods and bads of each in your opinion?

For me I was raised in a small, rural town of about maybe 6,000 people in the town and surrounding areas combined, really it was about 20 minutes outside of town, and my parents still live there now so when I go home that's where I go. Where I currently go to school though, Abilene, is what I would consider a pretty big city of close to 200,000 people and it's obviously different from where I grew up in my opinion although it's not in the same league as like Houston or San Antonio or Dallas. I'm biased but I prefer the small town feel and the openness and feeling of community. I get anxiety sometimes in Abilene and so I couldn't imagine living in a place like Houston or New York or Los Angeles. The goods in my opinion of small rural towns is the shared morals and beliefs, the wide open country, the close community feel, and simpler way of living. The bads I would say is that sometimes it can be tough to get things that you need that are much easier to find in a big city, not a whole lot of restaurants to choose from, it can be kindof boring at times, and when friends leave it can get kindof lonely.
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Both.
Grew up in a town with 6000 year round residents but 50,000 summer residents.
Lots of babes in the summer.
Summer people and some aren't.

Also heard frequently: Why call it Tourist season iffen ya can't shoot 'em?

I like small towns to live in but I like to visit cities frequently.
 
Turn and Burn said:
That's a pretty wrong assumption in my opinion. Racism and intolerance can and does exist anywhere including suburbs and big cities. Small towns in my opinion breed moslty people that are more self reliant and down to Earth. There are bad people that can come from a small town too but all the people ive ever known have been good people.
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i grew up on a farm till 14, lived in small town and rural areas about half my life and urban/suburban areas half and in my experience it's been the other way around. Met far more snobby and stuck up small town and rural people who think they are the cultural center of the Universe than in urban areas. I've met more self reliant urban people and I know more rural people on welfare than urban.

In fact when a friend or colleague of mine makes a decision to relocate to a rural area who has never lived in one I warn them to be prepared for their insular, unfriendly and sometimes hostile manner. That it takes time...and often lots of it...to become accepted.

If having lots of friends and a very rich social life is important to you I would not recommend small town/rural life. If having space to breath, a place to feel safe and everyone else can bleep off, than it probably is.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
i grew up on a farm till 14, lived in small town and rural areas about half my life and urban/suburban areas half and in my experience it's been the other way around. Met far more snobby and stuck up small town and rural people who think they are the cultural center of the Universe than in urban areas. I've met more self reliant urban people and I know more rural people on welfare than urban.

In fact when a friend or colleague of mine makes a decision to relocate to a rural area who has never lived in one I warn them to be prepared for their insular, unfriendly and sometimes hostile manner. That it takes time...and often lots of it...to become accepted.

If having lots of friends and a very rich social life is important to you I would not recommend small town/rural life. If having space to breath, a place to feel safe and everyone else can bleep off, than it probably is.
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What you describe is the "townie" mentality, where anyone from outside of town is held under suspicious distrust even after many years of residence.
I have seen it in a small town I lived in, in rural New Hampshire.
I've actually heard a "townie" say, about his neighbor; "He has lived here for fifty three years, but he's not from here".
Lol
 
Mott the Hoople said:
i grew up on a farm till 14, lived in small town and rural areas about half my life and urban/suburban areas half and in my experience it's been the other way around. Met far more snobby and stuck up small town and rural people who think they are the cultural center of the Universe than in urban areas. I've met more self reliant urban people and I know more rural people on welfare than urban.

In fact when a friend or colleague of mine makes a decision to relocate to a rural area who has never lived in one I warn them to be prepared for their insular, unfriendly and sometimes hostile manner. That it takes time...and often lots of it...to become accepted.

If having lots of friends and a very rich social life is important to you I would not recommend small town/rural life. If having space to breath, a place to feel safe and everyone else can bleep off, than it probably is.
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shallow and no depth.......seems true to expectations......
 
Mott the Hoople said:
i grew up on a farm till 14, lived in small town and rural areas about half my life and urban/suburban areas half and in my experience it's been the other way around. Met far more snobby and stuck up small town and rural people who think they are the cultural center of the Universe than in urban areas. I've met more self reliant urban people and I know more rural people on welfare than urban.

In fact when a friend or colleague of mine makes a decision to relocate to a rural area who has never lived in one I warn them to be prepared for their insular, unfriendly and sometimes hostile manner. That it takes time...and often lots of it...to become accepted.

If having lots of friends and a very rich social life is important to you I would not recommend small town/rural life. If having space to breath, a place to feel safe and everyone else can bleep off, than it probably is.
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My crazy Uncle is ridiculously unfriendly to any neighbor that moves into our old road. He'll build fences on the paths that we use to block them off from visiting the creek nearby (even though he doesn't even own the land, that's some logging company, he still pretends he has a right to control it). He's passive aggressive and builds paths through the forest on his property, as close to theirs as possible, where you can see their backyard and everything.
 
Turn and Burn said:
Two part question

1. Were you raised in a small town or big city? or if you'd rather say rural area vs urban area you can
2. What are the goods and bads of each in your opinion?

For me I was raised in a small, rural town of about maybe 6,000 people in the town and surrounding areas combined, really it was about 20 minutes outside of town, and my parents still live there now so when I go home that's where I go. Where I currently go to school though, Abilene, is what I would consider a pretty big city of close to 200,000 people and it's obviously different from where I grew up in my opinion although it's not in the same league as like Houston or San Antonio or Dallas. I'm biased but I prefer the small town feel and the openness and feeling of community. I get anxiety sometimes in Abilene and so I couldn't imagine living in a place like Houston or New York or Los Angeles. The goods in my opinion of small rural towns is the shared morals and beliefs, the wide open country, the close community feel, and simpler way of living. The bads I would say is that sometimes it can be tough to get things that you need that are much easier to find in a big city, not a whole lot of restaurants to choose from, it can be kindof boring at times, and when friends leave it can get kindof lonely.
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socal in he 1960 and 70s


Urban sprawl

so many people don't understand what socal is really like.


you want horse country with ranches and fields of grass...we got em


you want big city fast pace....we got em



you want beach town with piers and surfers.....we got em


you wan mountain life with hillbilly hippies....we got em


you want long loney deserts with whispering winds in your ears......we got em



you want hollywood glitz....we got em




I like middleclass masses



I like people



I love being able to see kids everywhere.


I love to people watch



I just have never understood why people think its cool to NOT want people around.




when you suggest people in the city dont have communities you are wrong.


we have neighbors and friends.


the awesomeness of a city is you can pick and choose better who your neighbors are and who you get to pick from as your friends.


not just "well hes lived down farm from me my whole life"



but


"When we first met she cracked me up so hard my sides ached the next day"



most people who live in cities like cities.


that means most people like cities huh




I would love to live in nature


its beautiful


its inspiring



its claming.



It lacks people



so I live where the people live and choose Socal because I have the desert , the mountains, the beach and the lakes right at my fingertips and can come home the same day to all my people


man I didn't even touch he subject of the live music.


I could do this stuff forever about my socal
 
I have really enjoyed both experiences having lived in a Wyoming town where my address only consisted of my name and the name of the town.... No street address because there were only about 45 of us in town, and the post office knew us all - to - having lived in Washington, D.C. and Miami and Tampa.


Currently I think I have the best of both worlds, I live in a smallish village of about 10,000 people, but within an hour's driving distance to Miami.


No traffic, but access to the amenities of the city.
 
Turn and Burn said:
Well I couldnt disagree more. Many people choose to stay in their town not because they are too stupid to leave like you are saying but because its their home and they love it there and they have the livelihood there. As for bigots they exist in all types of places.
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Oh I have no doubt there are small towns that I would love.

ones where just he right mix of people live and that the people are hell bent on being good to each other.



but just go and Find the one that fits YOU?


I'm fine in socal
 
Yea my experience is that unless you were born and raised there small towns are not a lot of fun. It's not so much because of the life style. Nothing wrong with that, just the way you get treated as an outsider. So if they feel that way about their own people from different towns or cities imagine what like can be life for a foreigner in small town America. It's not that you can't assimilate. It's that often the locals won't let you. That is, even if you do try to assimilate they won't accept you as part of the community.

I know a lot of friends where I grew up (Coldwater, OH, population 4,400) who had a similar experience that I had. Went off to college and came back and were branded as heretics. Couldn't find work locally after graduation so moved to urban area to find work. Went back home and found out we were lepers who were no longer welcome back home. We had sinned. We had seen the outside world and actually liked it. I definitely harbor a lot of resentments towards the small town where I graduated from high school. The religious discrimination I put up with there turned me off of religion for life. Small town social cliques of dirt farmers who had been inbreeding for 10 generations would look down their nose at you cause you weren't from one of the dirt farming families. The notion that they have these magical superior values cause of the accident of being born in a small town. Never have figured out how being born and raised in a small town magically gives someone superior values to someone who wasn't.
 
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evince said:
socal in he 1960 and 70s


Urban sprawl

so many people don't understand what socal is really like.


you want horse country with ranches and fields of grass...we got em


you want big city fast pace....we got em



you want beach town with piers and surfers.....we got em


you wan mountain life with hillbilly hippies....we got em


you want long loney deserts with whispering winds in your ears......we got em



you want hollywood glitz....we got em

You want psychotic, crack addicted, landlords...we got em
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ftfy
 
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