I grew up in a rural area in the South in Appalachia and it was crushingly poor. My parents were both white collar professionals who worked in an urban area, so the conflict was really fucked. My hometown still had the segregated school where all the Black kids had to go where I practiced basketball in their gym. During integration, the KKK blew up part of the high school, but that was obviously well before my time. I remember one school project I had to interview older people in town and they told me all about it. My grandfather always casually used the n-word, but he also rarely talked.
The South is littered with private schools that all opened right as integration took place. No one wanted their kids to go to schools with a Black person. They're all still in operation.
Education funding in the US in general is fucked. Most funding comes from the local community instead of federally, so rich communities have better schools and higher graduation rates.
You have to drive everywhere. Even if you have a place nearby that you could theoretically walk to, you drive. I know two mothers who were killed walking because there were no sidewalks in their neighborhood. Driving is safer than walking. Never walk.
American flags are fucking everywhere, in front of homes, businesses, on cars. My next door neighbor had a fucking flagpole installed in his front yard. Every day he'd hoist that fucker up.
I moved to New York City, which is one of the least American places in the US. But don't let that fool you, it's still pretty fucking American here. We invest nothing in infrastructure. Our subway is massively underfunded despite being asked to run 24/7, and our bridges are all in desperate need of repair. New York still struggles to have its character and identity--which I think and hope it always will have--but it has been significantly theme parked for the rich. New construction in the city is all luxury condos. Coops are still affordable, but they're all starting to go up in price, and they're incredibly hard to purchase. The way a coop works is that you own part of the building rather than an individual unit, and so you have to show financials and get reviewed by the coop board. It's like a Homeowners Association on steroids, basically. But some coops are run by fairly leftist teams so that's kinda cool.
Homeowner Associations are fucked. They're like private authoritarian governments that exert massive amounts of control over your property. They're also tacitly used to keep brown people out.
Oh and I fucking hate this but white transplants in New York City are complete motherfuckers. They don't want their kids to go to public school. Or if they do they do fucked up shit like Samantha Bee and Jason Jones did.
There's a ton of racism in New York too. The NYPD is terrifying. Never run afoul a cop. They'll fuck you ten ways to Sunday before you can catch your breath. I remember once I was at a house party and they broke the law by walking straight into the house, intimidated everyone, had us turn off the music, and fucking left me shitless. Just absolutely unnecessarily belligerent motherfuckers. And this is as a white dude.
Oh and fuck me, nothing government-related is every straightforward. I struggled for days to figure out getting my unemployment benefits when I got laid off. Couldn't tell you to this day if I violated the ACA because I did or didn't have health insurance. Getting a driver's license is a baffling ordeal. Voting is confusing and convoluted. Even reentering the US is ten times worse than going through customs at any country I've flown into.
I grew up in a rural area in the South in Appalachia and it was crushingly poor. My parents were both white collar professionals who worked in an urban area, so the conflict was really fucked. My hometown still had the segregated school where all the Black kids had to go where I practiced basketball in their gym. During integration, the KKK blew up part of the high school, but that was obviously well before my time. I remember one school project I had to interview older people in town and they told me all about it. My grandfather always casually used the n-word, but he also rarely talked.
The South is littered with private schools that all opened right as integration took place. No one wanted their kids to go to schools with a Black person. They're all still in operation.
Education funding in the US in general is fucked. Most funding comes from the local community instead of federally, so rich communities have better schools and higher graduation rates.
You have to drive everywhere. Even if you have a place nearby that you could theoretically walk to, you drive. I know two mothers who were killed walking because there were no sidewalks in their neighborhood. Driving is safer than walking. Never walk.
American flags are fucking everywhere, in front of homes, businesses, on cars. My next door neighbor had a fucking flagpole installed in his front yard. Every day he'd hoist that fucker up.
I moved to New York City, which is one of the least American places in the US. But don't let that fool you, it's still pretty fucking American here. We invest nothing in infrastructure. Our subway is massively underfunded despite being asked to run 24/7, and our bridges are all in desperate need of repair. New York still struggles to have its character and identity--which I think and hope it always will have--but it has been significantly theme parked for the rich. New construction in the city is all luxury condos. Coops are still affordable, but they're all starting to go up in price, and they're incredibly hard to purchase. The way a coop works is that you own part of the building rather than an individual unit, and so you have to show financials and get reviewed by the coop board. It's like a Homeowners Association on steroids, basically. But some coops are run by fairly leftist teams so that's kinda cool.
Homeowner Associations are fucked. They're like private authoritarian governments that exert massive amounts of control over your property. They're also tacitly used to keep brown people out.
Oh and I fucking hate this but white transplants in New York City are complete motherfuckers. They don't want their kids to go to public school. Or if they do they do fucked up shit like Samantha Bee and Jason Jones did.
There's a ton of racism in New York too. The NYPD is terrifying. Never run afoul a cop. They'll fuck you ten ways to Sunday before you can catch your breath. I remember once I was at a house party and they broke the law by walking straight into the house, intimidated everyone, had us turn off the music, and fucking left me shitless. Just absolutely unnecessarily belligerent motherfuckers. And this is as a white dude.
Oh and fuck me, nothing government-related is every straightforward. I struggled for days to figure out getting my unemployment benefits when I got laid off. Couldn't tell you to this day if I violated the ACA because I did or didn't have health insurance. Getting a driver's license is a baffling ordeal. Voting is confusing and convoluted. Even reentering the US is ten times worse than going through customs at any country I've flown into.