chat

I moved from a big California city to a "big" Southern city for school and can say that the South sucks in a lot of ways and can be unexpectedly great in others. I'm a white cis het man so I'm not subjected to racism, but I am subjected to other random white people, who I do not know, saying racist shit around me and then expecting me to nod or agree and not , which was fucking surreal to experience. The infrastructure is dog shit no one knows how to build a fucking road the concept of a turnout for busses is foreign to them and the drivers down here are the worst in the world and actively rundown bicyclists. "Southern nice" is bullshit from anyone under 80 and even then it might be, they detest their neighbors and will absolutely not help them when fucked by a natural disaster. Also the cost of living being lower is largely bullshit the produce down here is way worse than CA and is 50% more expensive, car insurance is 3x what I was paying in CA, and cars are the same price. Gas, housing, and eating out (except for "exotic" food) is less expensive but not by enough to compensate everything.

The good does not outweigh the bad, but the food scene and startup businesses thrive better here because the cost to rent a building is cheaper, there is higher turnover because so many don't make it but the variety is nice. There are also a ton of businesses (bakeries, pizzerias, BBQ) run out of homes where you get food to go, which is neat. There's a decent sized group of anarchists and communists who run public fridges throughout the city and we were able to get community garden going in the poor part of downtown because the local government doesn't give a shit.