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In Defense of the Midwest

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Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#161

Post by autarch »

msutherl wrote: post #89
autarch wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This afternoon I just went to see a new opera that premiered yesterday at the Minnesota Opera Company (The Manchurian Candidate). I hardly feel deprived living in Minneapolis with the The Minnesota Orchestra, The Minnesota Opera, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Schubert Club, and a dozen other ensembles I'm forgetting. And that's just classical music, which is what I'm interested in. If you're into live theater t…

Right, if your tastes line up with mainstream cultural production, you're probably all set wherever you live. I happen to find it odd that people are interested in recapitulating the same music from the 18th and 19th century over and over again irrespective of what happened in music in the past 100 years (from serial music to minimalism, spectralism, post-minimalism, Wandelweiser, whatever, not to mention electronic…

Actually, I only like 20th century music or newer for the most part. I think our local orchestras and chamber ensembles do a pretty good job of including new music. There are also new music ensembles here. More would be good for my tastes, but it's enough to satisfy my interests. I just don't think I'd go to a new music concert every week even if I did live in NYC.

Did you miss the part of my comment where I mentioned seeing a new opera commissioned by the Minnesota Opera that premiered this past Sunday?

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#162

Post by zhte415 »

re_todd wrote: post #72
kdefranco wrote: post #15

As a native Clevelander I can fully back this piece. I came back to Cleveland upon graduating college in May and have not regretted my decision one bit. While the resources are nowhere as easy to come by as in the Valley there still is a great startup community that's been building over the past few years. The cheap cost of living, beautiful seasons and plethora of things to do year-round have me recruiting college f…

I'm tempted to move to a cheaper city inland, but I've heard horror stories of people trying to get to work when it snows. Is it extremely difficult to get to work in the winter?

Another part of the world, but where snow sometimes happens.

Utilities stay up - water, electricity, internet. It is not a big deal. People work from home and understand this; those that must go to work arrive late and go home early, this is understood too. Just have a padded coat.

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#163

Post by jrjarrett »

rdtsc wrote: post #151
gradi3nt wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic Systems (digital healthcare records) employs 5,000 people just outside Madison, WI. Soon to be 10,000 according to their roadmap. I wouldn't be surprised if other corporations looking to hire gobs of college grads start popping up (or already have popped up) near other small midwest cities.

What other ones employ 10k software developers? If Epic rejected your application or laid you off. How many other software jobs would there be in the area?

It's not "if", it's "when."

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#164

Post by cylinder »

falcolas wrote: post #141
lmm wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote != data. Look at the overall stats.

Self re-enforcing loop. The investors are in SF/NY because the startups are in SF/NY, because the investors are in SF/NY... There are plenty of VC funded startups which aren't in SF or NY, and they will have slower burn rates than those who are in SF and NY, simply due to the cost of living.

I don't understand why people on here seem to believe startups are just a bunch of programmers in a room somewhere. They are a business, and sales is of utmost importance in business. You want to be as close as possible to your current and potential clients.

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#165

Post by bglazer »

sporkenfang wrote: post #50
bglazer wrote: post #9

I live in Memphis TN and I've found that comments on HN towards the middle of the US are skewed negative. Perhaps I have a bias for remembering negative comments. Nonetheless, I find this attitude perplexing from the HN crowd. I understand the value of physical proximity to lots of other like minded, smart people. However, I would have thought that the tech crowd would be the first to decry the inefficiencies of havi…

My friend, I have absolutely nothing against you, or the majority of people who live in Tennessee. In fact, the great majority of my family live in the part of the South that bleeds into the Midwest... and I live as far west as I can possibly get from them because there's a fundamental disconnect in terms of belief system and interests between them and myself, and between myself and the greater population of conserva…

I certainly understand. I do get sick of feeling like a weird liberal occasionally. But really, is it that bad?

Also, there's clear evidence [1][2] that people are leaving "mixed" communities to live in areas that are more homogenous and in line with their politics and culture. I don't want to be a part of that, as I consider it a problem.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/13/pe...

[2] http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/section-3-political-p...

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#166

Post by larrywright »

micro-ram wrote: post #8
larrywright wrote: post #3

As a fellow Midwesterner, I say "Amen". I live halfway between Chicago and St. Louis - a two hour drive in either direction. We've got everything we need, including great schools and tons of dining and entertainment options. I own a 2500 square foot house that will be completely paid for in 10 years, and my mortgage is ~$700/month. I've been to both coasts and many large cities in the US and abroad. I'd still rather…

Agreed. Hi neighbor. Have 200mbit fiber now. Getting gigabit fiber in a few days. Welcome to Central Illinois. NO TRAFFIC!

Whoa. I don't have anywhere near that. Are you in Champaign-Urbana?

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#167

Post by cylinder »

msutherl wrote: post #24

(1) Cleveland gets all the Broadway shows once they go off Broadway, but at about half the cost, (2) We have great music here, including the world-renowned Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and tons of bands come through, (3) We have some great sports teams (hi, OSU) and a ton of great sports fans (hi, Browns fans), (4) We have great food at very affordable prices Yes, exactly. As someone who lives in New York, this is the v…

Come on, I live in Manhattan, this place is so incredibly stagnant and uninteresting these days. And don't talk about Brooklyn, it's full of vanilla transplants from the suburbs of middle America like myself.

Culture is people living their lives, pursuing interests and hobbies, being happy (not always), working, raising families. This is culture to me ... New York is just: either work all the time, talk about work, or be in poverty, talk about New York, be angry about New York, talk about leaving New York, talk about your rent.

And I can't even see any of the "mass produced" culture because the prices are absurd and the things sell out in minutes anyways.

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#168

Post by sporkenfang »

bglazer wrote: post #165
sporkenfang wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend, I have absolutely nothing against you, or the majority of people who live in Tennessee. In fact, the great majority of my family live in the part of the South that bleeds into the Midwest... and I live as far west as I can possibly get from them because there's a fundamental disconnect in terms of belief system and interests between them and myself, and between myself and the greater population of conserva…

I certainly understand. I do get sick of feeling like a weird liberal occasionally. But really, is it that bad ? Also, there's clear evidence [1][2] that people are leaving "mixed" communities to live in areas that are more homogenous and in line with their politics and culture. I don't want to be a part of that, as I consider it a problem. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/13/pe... [2] http:…

Again, this is personal, but people in the South and Midwest seem to generally have and occasionally let fly... sentiment... against those who don't appear fully white on first glance. Yeah, combine the conservatism with the racism, and it really is that bad, sorry. The conservatism alone probably wouldn't have chased me away though.

The sort of sentiment I occasionally encountered seems to be a cultural thing, really. Ergo I left.

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#169

Post by cylinder »

re_todd wrote: post #72
kdefranco wrote: post #15

As a native Clevelander I can fully back this piece. I came back to Cleveland upon graduating college in May and have not regretted my decision one bit. While the resources are nowhere as easy to come by as in the Valley there still is a great startup community that's been building over the past few years. The cheap cost of living, beautiful seasons and plethora of things to do year-round have me recruiting college f…

I'm tempted to move to a cheaper city inland, but I've heard horror stories of people trying to get to work when it snows. Is it extremely difficult to get to work in the winter?

Snow is a major quality of life and safety issue. People from snowy climates will tell you it's not a big deal, but I'm from somewhere without snow, now living in the NE, it is definitely an issue and a major reason I won't settle here. Prepare to spend a few months every year basically stuck inside doing nothing. But that's a minor inconvenience compared to the issues with driving and even cycling. It's flat out dangerous to drive in snow, and more dangerous to drive on the black ice that remains.

There are cheap cities in America in much warmer climes.

Re: In Defense of the Midwest

#170

Post by pionar »

jackmaney wrote: post #159
Ollinson wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The subway makes the culture in NYC different than almost any other major city in the US. If you lived in NYC maybe you understand. In other cities you can get around with public transportation, in NYC it's unquestionably the way to get around by everyone from day laborers to movie stars. Also, your narrative of grittiness is very different than the other popular narrative, that NYC is now "disney" full of tourists,…

> In other cities you can get around with public transportation In a lot of cities, the quality of public transportation lies somewhere between non-existent and abysmal.

This is mostly because of General Motors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...

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