did you leave town? or did you stay?

America, sadly, has a much more total urban-rural divide in elections than Britain does: it's part of the reason why the last US election was such a horribly divisive and unfair thing. In the UK, oddly, one of the factors in breaking such a divide down was the movement of people encouraged by the Thatcher government's belief in the flexible market - the economic decline of the old Labour heartlands, and the relocation of London businesses to the south-eastern counties, forced many Labour supporters to move to traditional Tory areas and, often, have a considerable influence on swinging certain marginal seats. Has anything comparable happened in the US?

A shame the perpetrators of that movement of people were the enemies of real progressive change, but it was better than *no* movement of people.

By all accounts things are changing there, but when I was growing up Hastings was such a psychotic, insular town that I took the first opportunity to run and haven't even considered looking back. I've toyed with the idea of moving back to Minneapolis or St. Paul, but it's far too cold a climate for Joei. I have tons of good friends there and of course my parents still live outside of Hastings, and to be fair I will always be grateful for the legion of support the town showed my family when my oldest brother died.

Maybe I should've taken the easy way out and said instead that I never wanted to shovel another bit of snow or rake another leaf out of a back yard. It's a place I appreciate hella more when I'm 5000 miles away from it (Dan is right about Fargo) and want to crack skulls when I'm in the midst of it. Oh, yaah. You bet.

Umm, Dan, it could have been worse. You could have been in Jordan, home of the paedo ring.

So was Albini right and the only person who was convicted was a whistle-blower?

The thing is, I have just found out today that my parents are leaving the NOrth and moving to GLoucester. I won't really be able to come back here properly. And this makes me very, very upset as basically it means my one big tie to where I consider "home" to be gorn. I feel cut off in the North and not so much so in London however. But the thought of not going "home" makes me feel really quite upset. I can't imagine moving back to the small village, no. But I don't see myself living in London permanently.

(Whenever I objected to my parents moving, the reply was always "But we're going to be living there a lot longer than you", so presumably they always expected me to disappear off somewhere, to which I have no objection)

My own answer to this does not exist for I'm a figment of the pop imagination. But what I want to know is WHERE IS EDNA WELTHORPE'S CONTRIBUTION??? It's surely the great theme of her life.

Imagine, if you will, a winter party filled with drunken high school kids. Things being what they are in Hastings, a guy I will call Chuck decided that the perfect time to show off the brand new truck that his parents bought him. He and his best friend, whom I will call Gene, arrived at the party and were a big hit. Everyone was admiring Chuck's truck, including a girl I will call Harriet. Now, Harriet and Gene had had some level of attraction before, but had never done anything about it. At this party, however, there was the right level of booze to make them both feel that they needed to take their relationship to the next level. They both disappeared after a while, but there was so much booze and carousing going on that no one noticed they were gone until Gene wandered into the kitchen. He looked HORRIBLE; everyone thought he'd been beaten up or had fallen head-first into something. He had a drunken grin and his face and wouldn't tell people what had happened to him, but he had blood all over his face and shirt. No one could figure out what had happened until Eve staggered in the front door, hair all askew and buttoning up her jeans. Chuck stared at her, then at Gene, who was looking at Eve all goofily. Chuck then made a remarkable intuitive leap, grabbed Gene by the shoulders and began shaking him. "TELL ME YOU DIDN'T GO DOWN ON HER IN MY TRUCK!" he shouted. Gene could only giggle. No amount of cleaning could get Eve's menstrual smell out of the upholstery, which meant that Chuck was forced to spend the next two months driving around with his windows down. This wouldn't normally be that big of a deal, but this party happened in early January.

The next day, Gene was extraordinarily pleased with himself until he looked in the mirror.

Trouble breathing.

Dan, Hastings seems like Hell on Earth for anyone black - St Louis Park much better quarter for the avoidance of racism because if anything dodgy would have happened there, basketball/football types would have delivered ass-kickings to bigots *tout suite*.

Good story from my school: nasty snot-nosed hyper bully we'll call Toby used to harrass a group of girls inc. me, One day we collectively thought: REVENGE. One of our number was the cousin of a Manson Family member (Squeaky Fromme, I believe). One day we took my red lipstick and scrawled SQUEAKY SAYS DIE DIE DIE! HELTER SKELTER! on his locker. Strangely, Toby maintained a much lower profile from there on out and the graffitistas were never apprehended.

I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, which is and remains a fantastic place to visit for a few days. After college, I came back home and worked in a comic book store for six months until I woke up on my birthday and thought "What am I DOING?!?" I'd always loved New York, every time I visited, so ten years ago (minus two weeks) I packed everything in a car and drove out here.

Actually, when I drove away from E.L. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to go to New York or to Seattle. But I was in the left lane when I hit Highway 80, so New York it was.

However, the next day Harry has a job interview first thing. Hungover to buggery, he oversleeps and has to rush out of the door sans shower. The interview goes surprisingly well, and he's congratulating himself at pulling it off when the interviewer says "um... did you know you have "tosser" written on your forehead?"

He got the job, the over-achieving bugger.

!!!!

!!!!!

!?!

No one has to air their truck for 2 months because of a little blood...

"copycat pregnancies"?

poor eve harriet

i've "left home" multiple times but i haven't abandoned home -- i just like to experience new places. but this is my seventh year living in los angeles and i feel pretty comfortable here tbh. the rents are cheaper than other big cities, and there's enough "culture" (blam.gif) to sustain me. i guess because i didn't grow up here, the gentrification of certain neighborhoods doesn't affect me on quite the same personal level as it would in new york. whereas in new york, i head-desk whenever i hear about some $10-per-pickle-jar specialty store opening in bushwick. not that i prefer the crackhouses of yore! i just... can't you move to canarsie or dyker heights and make THAT cool? i get emotional.

I left my home and I ain't ever going back

It's all anticlimax from here on down.

Re: "copycat pregnancies", there was a circle of female friends two years younger than me where one of them got pregnant and all of her friends said "ooh a baby, how cute! I want one too!" and all ran out and got themselves pregnant so they could all be mommies together

there's nothing more i want than to leave this godforsaken place once and for all.

I left, I got dragged back, I hope to leave again.

it would probably make sense to move back! it's a decent place and cheap as hell. can't do it tho -- too depressing

I have considered moving to several unlikely places just because of their names. Like Flatlands. Or Canarsie. Canarsie is kind of a comedy name, really.

marine park and mill basin are nice.

I know but I lived in Midwood for 3 months and for not actually being that much further than other normal places, it took an extra EON to get there after midnight. I just can't.

The Q was skipping stops for construction for most of that time so late-night service was a total crapshoot but still...the number of times I had to pee desperately while still at least 20 minutes from home put me off.

I mean I would get out at Atlantic just to pee at a bar on 4th Ave and then get back on the train, that's how desperate I became. This is not a good look for a grown woman.

haha <3

Stayed in my home town until my mid-late 20s. I'm glad I left, but I miss it, and if I had to move back there I wouldn't mind. It's a proper city, though, and I made my own life there rather than being dependent on school friends.

I live less than a ten minute walk from the flat I grew up in and work a five minute walk from the university I went to. I have never spent more than two months away from London at a time. I would be open to leaving though. I did briefly consider moving to Hong Kong at one point and have recently been looking at jobs based overseas. As much as I love all the things London has to offer, I could see my quality of life being better somewhere else.

Never had a home town cos of multiple moves tbh, but i'd happily settle on achill for a life of contemplation and simple living if theyd sort out the internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmWW8pZS7ys

w the exception of my first year of college, I have lived in san antonio my whole life.

i left town directly after high school, and then a year later my parents moved to another city, and then moved again. so i haven't had a "home" in a long time (boo hoo, poor me, waah). i keep moving every 3-4 years to a new city, so i wherever i am never feels like home either.

When I came back after college and living on my own, I had the attitude that I would only be home for a little while before moving on again.

That was 18 years ago.

I'm starting to feel like a yo-yo, and my home town is the hand. Age 18, left town, 4 years away, came back for 3 years. Went away for 3 years. Came back, been here ever since (11 years at the end of this April).

We'd moved house 16 times by the time i was 16, i moved out at 17, what is 'home' pls

left the first chance i got - 21 years ago. closing in on the point where I'll have lived where I live now longer than I lived in that very stupid and dumb town. my parents still live there. it is still crappy.

Most of the crappy people who were here while I was growing up left while I was away, so it's considerably less crappy here now. Or maybe just the same number of crappy people, just a different set who I'll never have much occasion to be in contact with.