The Pitters' Place

I'll likely be going back to the U.S. for a year or so to work, under this paid internship programme. I have some control over where I get posted; currently considering NYC, SF or Seattle. Any advice or suggestions? A big factor for me is that I can't drive, so I need somewhere wih an adequate public transport system. Also preferably low crime, because I don't want to get killed, and somewhere liberal when it comes to LGBT stuff because at the very least my employers and landlord/lady are going to see my documents and know that I'm trans.

It's mostly the big cities that are covered under the programme - I think also LA, Chicago, Boston, and maybe a few others. I've only had experience living in NYC though, so don't have any basis for comparison.

If you want liberal, your best bets are probably the west coast states.

Stay the fuck away from Boston.

CHICAGO!!!!!!!!

BruceSmith78 wrote:Stay the fuck away from Boston New York.

Fixed that for you.

Also, Raleigh.[/thread]

Wait why

The west coast is the only area you should be considering. Those savages east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are morbidly disfigured, heartless, soul-sucking vampire shit-apples.

San Francisco sucks, though, so if you have to be in a major city, I'd choose Los Angeles. Or come live in Sacramento. Lots of people commute to San Francisco for work. Living in San Francisco, though, is something everyone should strive to avoid.

I thought we were moving to Italy. I had the bags packed and everything! You traitor.

sikax wrote:The west coast is the only area you should be considering. Those savages east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are morbidly disfigured, heartless, soul-sucking vampire shit-apples.

San Francisco sucks, though, so if you have to be in a major city, I'd choose Los Angeles. Or come live in Sacramento. Lots of people commute to San Francisco for work. Living in San Francisco, though, is something everyone should strive to avoid.

Yeah. They put broccoli on pizza, and onlh broccoli. At least that's what I learned from Inside Out.

I thought we were moving to Italy. I had the bags packed and everything! You traitor.

But Italy doesn't have broccoli pizza.

The obvious place to live in the U.S. is San Diego:

I've lived in Boston for about 5 years now, and generally I like it. It can be costly, but generally less so than NYC. It's a lot less congested than NYC, and Chicago (from my limited experience there). The public transit system isn't really all that great, though by US standards is actually not terrible - you can get most places using the subway/streetcars, and buses for the rest. Also pretty damn liberal, but that's generally true of big cities (particularly those in the northeast or west coast). There are laws prohibiting discrimination against the LGBT community in housing and employment in Massachusetts.

But BruceSmith said to stay away from Boston.

Yeah, Boston sports fans are the worst. Fuck those guys.

Isn't Boston full of racist-as-hell white Catholics too?

The more I research, the more Italy sounds like a better idea.

BruceSmith78 wrote:Yeah, Boston sports fans are the worst. Fuck those guys.

Anakin McFly wrote:The more I research, the more Italy sounds like a better idea.

I could have told you that without the research.

BruceSmith78 wrote:Yeah, Boston sports fans are the worst. Fuck those guys.

Isn't Boston full of racist-as-hell white Catholics too?

The sports thing can be overwhelming sometimes - but so many people live in Boston now who aren't from Boston that you never feel alone in your non-love of Boston teams.

And yeah, Boston is terribly racially segregated. I often don't see many black or hispanic people for this reason, since I neither live nor work in areas where they tend to live. Although I see Asian-Americans and immigrants regularly. I will say most of the racial tension comes from...older generations.

I second all negative sentiments regarding Boston. It is the East Coast's San Francisco. Ugh, terrible.

Anakin McFly wrote:I'll likely be going back to the U.S. for a year or so to work, under this paid internship programme. I have some control over where I get posted; currently considering NYC, SF or Seattle. Any advice or suggestions? A big factor for me is that I can't drive, so I need somewhere wih an adequate public transport system. Also preferably low crime, because I don't want to get killed, and somewhere liberal when it comes to LGBT stuff because at the very least my employers and landlord/lady are going to see my documents and know that I'm trans.

It's mostly the big cities that are covered under the programme - I think also LA, Chicago, Boston, and maybe a few others. I've only had experience living in NYC though, so don't have any basis for comparison.

I've lived in a few cities in the US and visiting quite a few more - my Opinion (from a foreigners perspective) on the likely candidates follows:

Cities I've lived in.

Philadelphia - you wouldn't enjoy it. I had fun but it took a while to meet people and even then, the attitude I got from the majority of people I hung with certainly wasn't "Liberal".. Also - the winter is horrible and the city is a bit busted up (or at least was).

Chicago - is one of my favourite cities. Huge with amazing spaces and pretty much everything you could want, available.. but also a weird mix of ultra liberal with mid-western conservatism, but, given its a big city with loads of people you'd expect that there would be representation of everything but the undertone seems more conservative outside of distinct liberal districts. I don't think you would enjoy it that much unless you were wealthy enuff to live in the exact right spot. Also - Winters are terrible and long and the summers are full of tornadoes.

Portland - Oregon - Best of the bunch . It's West coast, so has a far more liberal feel in general, but even for it being a west coast city, its surprisingly accepting and actually seems to celebrate diversity. Also more surprising because its a small city. For a US city, it seems to have a better distribution of wealth than most other places I visited but still way more polarised than I'm used to.
Culturally - its not as utterly franchised as the rest of the US in so much as there seems to be a greater percentage of Mumma and Pappa style restaurants than franchises - loads of great small pubs, micro breweries and wineries. The weather is pleasant, not too hot in summer, not too cold in winter. Sort of like a small, much more affordable Seattle.

Places I've visited but spent some time in

Seattle - all of the above but - but bigger, more expensive and prettier (they have the "Sounds which makes it feel very much like a small Sydney where Portland feels like a tiny Melbourne)

Kansas -

Sorry Jordan but - stay away from at all costs. Admittedly I only went to Topeka and some city that had two names on the border (canny remember either of the names).

NY - I loved but I imagine it would be a difficult city to live in - also, the weather

Boston - I also loved and I found it fairly liberal - but having said that I travelled with a gay mate and we predominately hung out in Gay area's - I have no idea how representative this is of the balance of the city.

Buffalo - also very liberal and very beautiful but small and limited for it.

Thanks! I checked with the guy running the programme, and he says that transport shouldn't be an issue - most of the other interns couldn't drive either (yay Singapore), so they help to get them accommodation near the workplace with easy public transportation access. So at least that opens up my options.

but also a weird mix of ultra liberal with mid-western conservatism

Yeah, that's fine. I generally prefer a mix of liberalism/conservativism, because otherwise it can sometimes tend towards groupthink. The crime rate in Chicago seems pretty high; but according to Wikipedia less than 1% of the victims are Asian.

One of my colleagues studied in Buffalo for a few years, and said that it's beautiful and friendly and she loved it, but that it was also full of racists.

Maybe I'll just send in my application first and see what offers I get.

so they help to get them accommodation near the workplace with easy public transportation access. So at least that opens up my options.

That's something I also forgot to mention as a plus for Portland. They have an excellent transport system, the best I've seen in the states. Instead of Trains, they use a light rail "Tram wish" type thing that's cheap, clean safe and reliable.
Obviously New York has its subway and Chicago - the "El" .. but it very much depends on whether you want to live downtown or outside of the city as to whether this is any good to you. The further you move out of either of these cities, the harder, more dangerous the public transport becomes. Portlands transport is the only one I have had experience with that really connects the city to the burbs and makes the whole "getting about anywhere not just to and from work" thing easy and safe.

My three cents: I do like not Portland. It is full of hipsters and the (the) most gentrified city in the country. Not a good feeling ever when I'm there. So uncomfortable. Etc. Just sayin'.

I don't like hipsters either. /o
Maybe it would be a better idea to list all the worst things about each city, and then I'll figure out which is the least horrible.

Few hipsters in Boston!

Chicago's only downfall are the winters but that's about it. Yes, homicides is particularly high in Chicago but that is certain places, I doubt your company would send you to those areas.

Transportation is tolerable though again, snowy winters can sometimes slow it down but not by much because Chicago people drive like assholes. Cinemachinery lives in Chicago so you could ask him more personal questions about it, I live about 60 miles west but have been there way too many times.

I also have a best friend that lives closer to the Loop and she's really knowledgeable so I can get more info from her if you'd like.

And...it's cheaper to live than west coast cities and NYC. Not sure about Boston though.

The only West Coast city that is particularly expensive is San Francisco. Their minimum wage is higher than the rest of the state, but that doesn't really cover how incredibly expensive everything is. Again, there is a very popular practice of living in cheaper cities nearby (San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland) and commuting to San Francisco. A BART ride from San Jose to San Francisco could take up to an hour or more, from Oakland only 20 minutes. And from Sacramento you'd take an Amtrak for about an hour and a half, but it's a nice ride. There are monthly passes that make the commute very much worth it financially.

Portland is relatively inexpensive, but the gentrification thing really disturbs me. The downtown area is pretty sweet if you like bars and fun things to do, but I dare you to find a non-white person who actually lives there. Go on, try.

The Los Angeles area provides an insane amount of options, ranging in all levels of cost and ethnic make-up. There are only a handful of neighborhoods left in LA that are dangerous, and even those aren't that bad anymore. A lot of people cite LA as like the poster child for bad public transportation, but that's misleading. There is no shortage of bus routes that cover the entirety of the city as well as lightrail and subway lines that accomplish plenty. And those are being expanded.

Sacramento is the best of the bunch. We are statistically the most diverse city in the country. In most "diverse" cities, each ethnic group will kind of have its own area to live in, and technically that city is diverse, but in Sacramento, everyone shares the space; there's no separation. We are a major city that feels quite laid back, and there's no hipster bullshit like in Portland. We're also an hour from San Francisco and an hour from the mountains, if you like that kind of thing. Our summers are long and hot, but between October and March, the weather is lovely.

I know nothing about Seattle or San Diego (only been to each a few times), but neither of them interest me at all. If I remember correctly, San Diego's public transportation is very much lacking.


Anyway, there's the West Coast. Every city is going to be LGBT-friendly and provide wonderful weather.

Could someone explain the hipster shit to me??

A hipster is basically someone who does things that are subversive or a part of a counterculture or are strange/unorthodox for the sake of being strange/unorthodox and think it's super cool. What's interesting is that these seemingly subversive things become trendy among the community of hipsters and therefore a common image arises, cheapening the subversive origin of the trend. When that happens, the hipster takes note and stops doing that thing that is now the norm and finds some other bullshit to do or to wear. A hipster is identified immediately by his or her attire, and very soon after by the way they speak and by their attitude toward everything. Given enough hipsters, a city can grow to be known for its hipster image (e.g. Portland). There are many factors that contribute to a city's appeal for the hipster, mainly institutions that are presented in discreet or otherwise subversive ways, like a dive bar in a nondescript location or with no signage. Once that place becomes populated with too many hipsters, though, they'll move on and ruin another place, eventually spreading throughout the city.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what hipsters are. It's a plague.

sikax wrote:A hipster is basically someone who does things that are subversive or a part of a counterculture or are strange/unorthodox for the sake of being strange/unorthodox and think it's super cool. What's interesting is that these seemingly subversive things become trendy among the community of hipsters and therefore a common image arises, cheapening the subversive origin of the trend. When that happens, the hipster takes note and stops doing that thing that is now the norm and finds some other bullshit to do or to wear. A hipster is identified immediately by his or her attire, and very soon after by the way they speak and by their attitude toward everything. Given enough hipsters, a city can grow to be known for its hipster image (e.g. Portland). There are many factors that contribute to a city's appeal for the hipster, mainly institutions that are presented in discreet or otherwise subversive ways, like a dive bar in a nondescript location or with no signage. Once that place becomes populated with too many hipsters, though, they'll move on and ruin another place, eventually spreading throughout the city.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what hipsters are. It's a plague.

Beautifully put.

sikax wrote:My three cents: I do like not Portland. It is full of hipsters and the (the) most gentrified city in the country. Not a good feeling ever when I'm there. So uncomfortable. Etc. Just sayin'.

Lol - yeah\, Portland looked different than this to me. Sure there were hipsters, probably more than you get in the Midwest but I didn't find the city particularly hipsterish - if I had to walk away with one impression of Portland's inhabitants is that it was more baseball cap and flannel than chequered skinny shirt and broad rim glasses. It was more of a beer culture than wine, alto both seem to have a healthy following. Sure, there is a sort of coffee culture hipstersh thing going on but that means good coffee, and good coffee was something I was craving in the States.

The gentrified thing I'm not sure I noticed and I guess it depends on what you mean by gentrified. My first thoughts when I hear gentrification are old suburbs that have been restored rather than redeveloped or underutilized.

My brother once said he's a post-modern hipster because he's so hipster that he's mainstream.

I'll keep Sacramento in mind if I end up near SF. Although according to Wikipedia: "On average, there are 73 days where the high exceeds 90 °F (32 °C), and 14 days where the high exceeds 100 °F (38 °C)"

That's more than two months of the kind of weather I'm going to the US to escape.

The heat is easily avoided by heading to the beach!

And, I didn't know you and DA were related?? Weird

Fun fact: both my brother and I have DA as our initials.

My dad said don't go to the west coast because they have earthquakes there and people die. He just watched San Andreas.

Yeah, well, the East Coast has hurricanes and people die. And the Midwest has, um, tornadoes and humidity.

But earthquakes are fun!!! If you are not poor and live in a danger zone.

The last earthquake that was news-worthy here happened in Chile, and the "tsunami warning" that hit Southern California caused six inches of an increase in sea levels for about an hour.

The most recent earthquake that caused any real damage was last year in Napa. Some buildings fell and exactly one person died two weeks later as a result of his injuries.

I KNOW! I feel bad liking natural disasters because I know they are damaging to people. I wish we could experience them without any casualties or damages.

I experiened a real live hurricane in one of the Belizean islands, where there was no buildings or civilization around. Except tents, and since the first groups of tourists couldn't leave, we were overcrowded. It was awesome.

Chicago is great if you like art, theater, music (especially Irish and Blues), sailing, skiing, swimming, good food, etc.

Chicago is not so great if you want good schools, don't like segregated neighborhoods and hate snow.

Chicago winter is tough but doable. Layers help.

Chicago summer is gorgeous but short.

Public transport is awesome *if* you live along certain train lines. (Brown, Blue, some of the Red line). The burbs are doable but, again, only if you live somewhere along the branching Metra lines.

All in all I love Chicago, but I may scoot further out soon just to get my kid in a decently rated school.

Best cities in the U.S.:

1) Asheville, NC - beautiful, just big enough to be a city while still small enough not to feel crowded, unless you suffer from severe anxiety and can only stand being there for a few hours at a time.

2) Las Vegas, NV - truly a city where you can do everything you'd ever want to do and never venture more than four city blocks in any direction. As long as you are independently wealthy or have a job paying $5,000 a day Las Vegas is the place to be.

3) Flagstaff, AZ - Asheville moved west with even bigger mountains and the Grand Canyon just a few hours away.

4) Nashville, TN - used to be #1 until it was taken over by mega-corporations and the number of record companies shrank from over 100 down to five, all with the philosophy "Let's see how long we can market the Taylor Swifts of the world as country before people figure out the truth." Music Row used to be legendary for a one-way street, now it's just pathetic.

5) Panama City, FL - Okay, not at my age, but it was a great city when I was 20- 25.

6) Reno, NV - Las Vegas with the Asheville/Flagstaff small(er) city vibe.

7) Billings, MT - has anybody figured out I like mountains and my idea of a city is "small as possible"?

8) Huntsville, AL - the only place in the state where the number of people with triple-digit IQs outnumbers those with double-digit IQs, thus the only thing keeping Alabama from just being more Mississippi. From there it's only a short drive to Decatur, AL where you can have the most free fun you'll ever have just pointing and laughing at the yokels. I used to work for a company called Cook's Pest Control which has it's HQ in Decatur where they have their "Natural Science Museum" where you can learn all about God's creation and be taught that the "three kingdoms' are (I'm not joking) animal, plant, and mineral.

9) Cheyenne, WY - used to go for the greatest rodeo on earth every year when I had money. Once again - small, although it becomes a metropolis for a few weeks during Frontier Days.

10) Only because there has to be a #10 - El Paso, TX - I'm not even sure why I always liked that city, I just do.

Now, out of all of those the only one where a trans-person would feel comfortable is probably Las Vegas, so how much money do you have Anakin?

Well, my last U.S. job paid $1600 a month, but this time I should get more.

So in a month you make about enough money to live in Las Vegas for three days. Just spend 25 - 28 days a month sleeping in the desert and you've got it made.

Ok, math major. You need $5,000 a day to live in Vegas, but if you make $1600 a month you can live there for 3 days.

El Paso has a relatively low cost of living, btw.

Math works different in Las Vegas.

If you can handle gray, rainy falls and winters (get a seasonal affective disorder lamp) -- and make it till the almost unparalleled summers (high temperatures in the mid-70s Fahrenheit and low tempeartures in the mid-50s) -- then Seattle is the place for you. Population approximately 650,000, so it's a Big Place, with all the hustle & bustle expected of a Big Place, but it's not an endless sprawl of concrete and people. It's a cultural hub in the Pacific Northwest, as is nearby Vancouver, BC (reachable by train in about 4.5-5 hours) and Portland, OR (4-4.5 hours). Liberally governed -- e.g., Seattle's city council raised the minimum wage to the highest in the country, and it's very easy to get on with life as an LGBT person there -- relative to other cities in the U.S. Culturally, it's a mixture of technology, arts, and coffee.

The Pacific Northwest is astonishingly beautiful. I love it here.

I love rainy days and great scenery and tech and arts and coffee, and so far Seattle is the most appealing to me; the main downsides are the high cost of rent and potential difficulty in getting around.

The public transit system in Seattle is a perfectly serviceable one. There are also plenty of taxi services, Uber -- or, depending on where you live, you could walk many day-to-day places. Rent is definitely high -- it's true of Bellingham too (where I live now; it's north of Seattle by about 1.5 hrs by car), and it's obscenely true of Vancouver, BC. This region is a great place to live though; beautiful, and in my limited experience so far, friendly too (though people do talk about the "Seattle chill," a kind of social distance that strangers maintain; difficulty getting to know people. . . I don't know how true that actually is however).