There’s a popular opinion that if you’re living in the Midwest or the Canadian Prairies or somewhere that isn’t bloody fucking New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Toronto or Vancouver that your life is sad and poor poor you.
Fuck that, y’all. I lived in Saskatoon, 300k population, and I ate at a Japanese-family owned Japanese restaurant. Sure, it was the only one there that is ran by Japanese people, but your sushi isn’t any fucking better than the stuff I had because you got it from a trendy restaurant in San Fran. Well, it’d be better but that’s because San Fran isn’t landlocked so the fish is fresher.
Guess what? I don’t live in a damn igloo and I get daily postal service. I can get everything you can that won’t rot in transit. I have fast internet. I’m not living in some sort of cultural void where I’m not worthy because our orchestra is small enough that they need to have day jobs.
Aw fuck it, I got interrupted by actual work while writing this post and I’m out of vitriol. An hour left of work - but thanks to living in a small city, my commute is less than 10 minutes.
I’m glad you like living in a small city. I live in a metropolitan area of more than a million, and my commute is twenty minutes. That’s my commute on public transit - I neither need, nor want, a car. I’m happy in my big city, and would be very unhappy in Saskatoon. Why is this pitworthy?
Hey, people can live anywhere and be happy, and there are always advantages and disadvantages.
I used to live in the densest part of the inner city. I loved that I didn’t have to cross a street to go to a donut shop, get a haircut, or catch the bus. I hated that often the bus was full and would go right by me, so I’d have to take my car, and sometimes when I came home I had to park my car two blocks from my house. There was almost always somebody walking past my house–good and bad on that one. I liked the feeling of being where things were happening, unless those things involved gunshots.
Now I live in a much more suburban section. I can still walk to a drugstore, a supermarket, and to get my haircut, but it’s a longer walk. A much longer walk. I still don’t have to cross the street to catch the bus, but it’s a way longer wait. It is not a place where things are happening, though. Very few pedestrians, lots of bike riders. Cars parked in garage, covered, heated, plenty of places in the driveway and on the street for guests. Biggest plus: no gunshots ever.
I’m not sure I could handle country living. Certainly not high country living with 10 months of snow. But there are people who love it.
ETA: Like, see post above for someone who loves high-country living!
Because it’s such a condescending attitude to have. You’ve seen heard anyone from a really large city look down on a small one? Residents of Toronto often think of anyone from Saskatchewan as an inbred hick worthy of Cletus from The Simpsons. I think that’s BS.
Edit: Because I’m going to get asked for a link, here’s a thread in Great Debates. Suddenly living in the Dakotas is some sort of horrible thing no one in their right mind would do. I’ve also seen a similar attitude when people refer to the Midwest as the flyover states - no one wants to actually be there, they are just in the way of the East and West Coasts.
Saskatoon has three hundred thousand people? Really? That must mean you have paved streets and everything.
Or they double up on instruments. “Performing for your pleasure on flute, violin, bassoon, trumpet, French horn and kettledrums is Ansel Furnish.”
Suddenly living there would be a shock for anybody. You want to gradually filter in through the outskirts to accustom yourself to the inevitable reality.
By the way, it is a grievous insult (at least to South Dakotans*) to refer to both states together as “The Dakotas”, lumping them in with those wastrels north of the border.
I agree, “small” cities can be fine places to live, assuming that by “small” you do not mean Yankton, S.D.
I get what you’re saying about the attitude that nobody in their right mind would live in the prairies (or great plains). I lived many years in Saskatoon myself, and I have gotten this attitude from lots of people (particularly Ontarians) since leaving there. But it’s also a little ridiculous to claim that everything is equally good in every single city. The sushi really is better in San Francisco (or Vancouver). The nightlife is better in Montreal. The theatre is better in New York. Etcetera.
Saskatoon is nice because it’s quiet and attractive and safe. The university is good and the river is pleasant to walk beside and if you like hot and dry weather the summers are fun. But it’s a bit annoying when old friends ask me why I would ever want to move somewhere else. I just wanted other stuff - Saskatoon doesn’t have everything. Acting like every other place sucks is just as condescending as acting like Saskatoon sucks.
If you live in a city in the United States, you don’t live in the “Real America[sup]tm[/sup]”, apparently you live in Fantasyland unless you live in the sticks. Yes, people from New York or Toronto are condescending, and in return people in places like Toad Suck, Arkansas, Blue Ball, Pennsylvania and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan find reasons to look down on them.
Can’t we all just get along. New York is a great place, but it has it’s drawbacks and it’s not for everyone. I’m sure the same is true of Saskatoon or Regina.
Ok, seriously though. I can’t stand the flat states simply because they’re flat and they don’t have much for trees. But then, I don’t go there if I can help it so it’s all good.
No, my sushi is better because I get it from the very best sushi bar out of the dozen *different *Japanese-owned sushi bars within walking distance of my condo.
Okay, hick question. If my friend moves to the other side of the city, it’s 10-15 minutes max to get to them. What happens if your friend moves to the other side of LA? Hell, how do you even define ‘the other side of LA’ since it’s one of those cities with a bajillion smaller cities in it? I was in Edmonton once and we had to go like 70 blocks and I just couldn’t fathom going from, say, 50th Ave to 120th Ave. And that’s nothing in a big city. LA is a really car-oriented city. Is it conceivable that your friend could move an hour away by car and still be in LA? Gah, it makes my head hurt.
On the upside, after moving from SoCal to Iowa, I no longer have family members clamoring to “visit” (translation: use my place as a free hotel). After 10 year, I don’t think my sister is quite certain yet what state I live in. One of the “I” states is about as close as she gets, if you count Ohio.
Since I moved from a moderately large city to a very very small one (~50,000? Well, okay), I’ve encountered the reverse of this: people who have lived there all their lives and can’t fathom that I might not find it the be-all end-all of human civilization. I like being able to get ethnic food and I like being able to go to the store and not see a half a dozen people I know and I like having more than one movie theatre and bookstore and I like not having to order things I really want off the internet and wait for them and I like good shopping. None of which I can find in this small city.
And there are many, many, many things that I DO like about this city. I like hiking and I like the outdoorsiness and I like how friendly people are. I like rural living, and I like small towns. I am not keen on this particular place I live in. It’s not torture, but it’s sure not the absolute best place I’ve ever lived in my life. It just is and as soon as I’m done my Master’s program that brought me here, I’ll probably be moving. Not with malice, and not while shrieking about torture, but just because it isn’t my favourite place ever.
It cuts both ways. I was at a vineyard in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia and the woman asked me where I was from. I said DC and she said “oh, I’m sorry,” with one of those passive aggresive smiles that says “can’t you take a joke?”
It seems like small town people think they should just get a pass on making shitty comments about big city folk right to their face.
