Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Find a new city

austinkleon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 192 posts

Re: Find a new city

#81

Post by stonogo »

smt88 wrote: post #68
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

You shouldn't make blanket statements about entire states you don't live in. Cities are liberal in every state.

I've been called 'nigger' more often in brief visits to downtown Nashville or Birmingham than I ever have during years of living in rural California. If those cities are liberal I shudder to imagine rural TN or AL.

Re: Find a new city

#82

Post by bufordsharkley »

forgotuser wrote: post #79
bufordsharkley wrote: post #48

This idea that cities reach a point of maximum growth, become unaffordable, and should be abandoned by potential newcomers: this is currently true, but it's a broken system, and it's time we look at ways we can improve it. When a city becomes unaffordable, when rents skyrocket-- those expenses are someone else's windfalls. When people expect the value of real estate to rise and rise indefinitely-- those windfalls are…

I think Community Land Trusts are a great example of the sort of thing people should be looking into as an alternative to the current model. Don't see people talking about them much. The basic idea is that a nonprofit purchases the land in a community and holds it in perpetuity. It rents the land long-term to residents (and for the most part, they're required to be residents), instead of selling it. It's still possib…

I've wanted to look more into CLTs, but haven't yet--

What's stopping CLTs from existing today? Is it merely the novelty and relative complication of the CLT? Or is there policy that makes them impractical?

Re: Find a new city

#83

Post by honkhonkpants »

merpnderp wrote: post #74
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

Oklahoma City has a very prominently placed trans officer. And hate crimes are harshly punished at the federal level. If it is dangerous for trans people outside of dark blue cities, the statistics aren't capturing it.

They're not going to murder you, but in Oklahoma City a gay or trans person will be constantly told how people are going to pray for them. It's obnoxious.

Re: Find a new city

#84

Post by modoc »

nostromo wrote: post #60
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

Have you actually spent time in Raleigh or Atlanta? The idea that trans people are getting murdered in the street is just not correct. I'm gay and I've spent a lot of fun nights in Boise, Idaho because a gay friend of mine lives there with her wife. We always have a blast. She has a great career in Boise and I don't think she's experienced more homophobia there than when she lived in New York City. (I know she had at…

I can't say for sure about Trans issues locale to locale, however as a Boston/Seattle person I was horrified at the pervasive loud and very publicly accepted levels of racism and homophobia in most of the South and parts of the Mid-West.

Re: Find a new city

#85

Post by abtinf »

initram wrote: post #37
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

For me it's not only about being safe. I don't have to worry too much about that sort of thing because I blend in most places in my country. But I've lived where people had different values than me and it just gets exhausting. Constantly being bombarded with messages you fundamentally disagree with 24/7. Billboards; local TV; newpapers/web sites; overhearing conversations of the people around you; having odd things s…

This is a major reason why I left the bay area.

Re: Find a new city

#86

Post by bradleyjg »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #80
bradleyjg wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're a software engineer I don't think the article is aimed at you or me. It's aimed at young people that want to be artists, musicians, writers, and so on. They don't need to be near tech hubs. He argues it is better for them to create their own new bohemian art communities than fight the high cost of living in NYC and SF. That said, I think there's a case to be made for e.g. the Bronx that he ignores in favo…

> That said, I think there's a case to be made for e.g. the Bronx that he ignores in favor of something like Poughkeepsie. Housing isn't the only cost that drives people out of NYC. For many, if not most, it's actually the school systems that make people move. Yes, you can get an excellent education in NYC public schools, but it requires you to work the system (applications at every step of the way), and there is con…

> it might be a pretty solid option for unattached twentysomethings, but the cost of living for a typical middle-aged engineer

Again, I think the article is aimed at twenty-something would-be artists, writers, musicians and so on. Not middle-aged engineers (like me).

I get that it was posted on hacker news and people are going to try to apply it to their own lives, but in this case it really doesn't translate all that well.

Re: Find a new city

#88

Post by compiler-guy »

dionidium wrote: post #45
anamoulous wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's worth splitting hairs on Crown Heights real estate prices being exorbitant. They are. I moved here two years ago right when the 2nd wave of gentrifiers flooded the area. It's stark. You might be able to get a 1500-1700 if you _compete_ for one because landlords are beginning to mobilize crappy housing stock (like these apartments).

Plus, let's not forget that $1500 is still a lot of money to most people.

Especially if you are working as a server in a small restaurant or the floor of a small music shop, which is how starving artists survive while trying to build a career.

All the focus on absolute cost misses the income side of the equation, which hasn't kept up with the cost side.

Re: Find a new city

#89

Post by dexterdog »

modoc wrote: post #84
nostromo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you actually spent time in Raleigh or Atlanta? The idea that trans people are getting murdered in the street is just not correct. I'm gay and I've spent a lot of fun nights in Boise, Idaho because a gay friend of mine lives there with her wife. We always have a blast. She has a great career in Boise and I don't think she's experienced more homophobia there than when she lived in New York City. (I know she had at…

I can't say for sure about Trans issues locale to locale, however as a Boston/Seattle person I was horrified at the pervasive loud and very publicly accepted levels of racism and homophobia in most of the South and parts of the Mid-West.

Compared to Boston?

Re: Find a new city

#90

Post by mbillie1 »

nostromo wrote: post #63
mbillie1 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who will inevitably say things like "this is just oversensitivity" or "it's an exaggeration to act like a whole city is outside your comfort zone" are either unbelievably thick-skinned or simply live in a relatively insulated, homogenous environment. I'm a straight white married upper-middle-class man and there are decidedly places I feel very uncomfortable in the country (I am thinking of highly conservat…

Those rural mountain west folks feel just as odd and unsafe in New York City, btw. That feeling may or may not be an accurate representation of actual danger.

Totally agreed on both counts, but what matters really is whether you feel too uncomfortable to live in a place.
Post reply on HN