snip: ( not because of the Jersey remarks , but rather because I am refering to this statement ) ;>)
However, I’ve always considered loyalty to one’s STATE, or “state patriotism” as some posters here have called it, really silly, even if you like or love the state (or nation, for that matter) you live in. IMNSHO, loyalty is something given to individuals who earn and reciprocate it, not to organizations or governments. **
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I agree !!
Me too. I haven’t had the opportunity to move out of the southeast US because the only grad schools that would give me financial aid are here, but I can’t imagine not wanting to give other locations a try. In a way, I’m glad the academic job market is such a crapshoot; I think it will be fun to start over in some place that I’ve never given a thought to before. (Bonus points if it’s in another country.)
I really don’t understand the people who say that they’ve always lived in their state and never want to leave. There’s a whole world out there; I’d never want to deny myself of it.
What gets me is people who have always lived in some really tiny town – like my hometown in Kentucky – and don’t want to leave.
I can’t imagine living ALL MY LIFE in the same place, from birth to death.
To each his own, I guess.
I live in Ontario.
I don’t really care about Ontario at all. I like living here and few places are as good, but the fact that it is ONTARIO is an issue of absolutely no importance to me whatsoever. If I were to move my family to Montreal or Vancouver that would be just fine. If Ontario were to split into three provinces, so be it. The only thing I personally identify with is being Canadian. Provincial boundaries are, IMHO, an administrative inconvenience.
I guess there’s a reason why folks who are life-long residents of an area love it. I’m just not sure which side of the chicken-egg thing they’re on, however. Do they love the area because they’ve never left, or have the never left because they love the place?
Me? I was born in Maine, raised in a suburb south of Boston, spent the latter half of Jr. High and all of High school in a suburb south of Baltimore, moved back to Maine for college and a few years of post-college career building, moved to New Hampshire due to a job and then moved to Oregon due to a job.
While I’m not in the “Army Brat” category of folks that moved all over hell and gone, I don’t thing of any particular place as “home” right now. I don’t HATE any of the places I’ve lived, but I’m not overly fondly attached to any of them either. Yes, I can see myself retiring next to the pond in Maine, but that’s still out there a good 25 years plus.
I think of places I might like to live for a while to try them out though. I’ve thought about the desert SW - Phoenix, Tuscon, Las Cruces; I’m not fond of hot weather though, so I don’t know about that. I’ve thought about someplace in the heart of the heartland like Des Moines, Witchita, Kansas City; I’m not sure those places might be a bit too conservatice for me, however. I don’t think I’d like Florida or some other places in the SE that I’ve visited - it’s just my opinion, and a nastily biased one to boot, but I’ve run in to vast numbers of really stupid people in those areas…
I’ll probably just continue to go where jobs take me, honestly.
What I DO know, however, is that I can’t stand the idea of living in the heart of a giant city like NY, LA, Chicago, Houston, etc. Even Seattle’s too big for me, honestly. Hell, Portland, OR gets on my nerves once in a while and I live here.
I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and I care about it more than the state I currently live in, Missouri. I also care more about Iowa than Missouri because most of my family lives in Iowa.
I can’t imagine leaving Texas. I love my state. I spent 4 years in Germany as a soldier. I would love to go back to visit, but I could never leave here for good.
In fact, where I live is better, all others must bow! nyaaaaaah! 
You and me both, Kyla!
I moved to “Hooterville” (unnamed midwestern town) several years ago. Born and raised in Southern California. My dad, also a native, loved California. He took the family on many day trips and vacations around the great state. He loved California poppies, beaches, Joshua trees, redwoods and (of course) Yosemite National Park. He loved San Francisco’s cable cars and Angel’s Flight in downtown LA and Disneyland and Descanso Gardens and everything else. He loved it, and he transferred that love to me and my sisters. So we love it too.
However, due to personal family obligations, I had to move out of state (to Hooterville) a few years ago. I thought I’d be OK with it; it was for the “greater good”, and I figured I’d adjust. But, like Kyla says, it’s just “off.” All of it is off. I absolutely understand that the natives here in Hooterville love it. It’s their home just like L.A. is my home. But it’s “off” to me, just like I’m sure the folks in Hooterville would find L.A. “off.”
So, I feel absolutely nothing for this place. I used to bitch and gripe about it, but I don’t do that so much anymore. It really isn’t that bad; there are some good things about it (and some sucky things). So it isn’t a personal thing. I just feel nothing. I don’t watch the local news. Partly because I’m boycotting the local news (long reason for that) and partly because I simply do not give even the remotest damn about what’s going on here. (If there is ever a highly publicized trial held here, I would be a perfect juror. I would have heard nothing about the case beforehand.)
Sometimes the local people here get pissed off about that, as if I MUST love it here. They try to put down California in hopes of offending me, but that doesn’t work. I think many Californians have a pretty strong sense of self-assurance about the many merits of California, so any attempts to denigrate CA don’t make much of a dent. (By “merits” I usually mean things like Disneyland, Yosemite, Highway One, and so forth.)
I freaking love South Carolina. Especially the upstate. People who live south of Columbia are losers. 
My body lives in New York, but my heart remains in Texas.