Re: Being a Notherner or Yankee
 

Does Canada count as the North?
Well, one thing I like about winter is NO BUGS!! World Class skiing (Whistler, Banff).
Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are all diverse cities.

I'll be honest, there's NY and there's everything else. And by NY I mean the 5 boroughs, none of that upstate crap. Once you leave NY, people don't know how to walk correctly, they talk slowly, and just act weird.

-Rudey

The thing I love about the North is the Fall. I love everything about it, the changing leaves, the cooler weather, the smell (I don't know exactly what the smell is; rotting leaves maybe? lol. I just call it "The Fall Smell").

You were never more correct

For some reason, I associate smells with certain memories. I know what you're talking about when you bring up the "Fall Smell". That's what I smelled all those years walking to school. It felt great having that slight wind in your face and wearing sweaters for the first time that year. I love the fall.

-Rudey
--New England is so much prettier in the fall than anywhere else though.

That about sums it all up!!!! :p :D

We are a bunch of uppity snobs - LOL. :p

Yes! I *love* the fall. It's football weather. :)

I like snow at Christmas time. Even better, snow days that let you stay home from work. :D

From what I have seen, it seems like people in the North do cling to their European heritage. A friend of mine is very into the whole "being Irish" thing. I'm very proud of my Polish heritage, not so much of my Ohio heritage.

Hell yeah!

Things are segregated in New England to be sure, but the diversity here in Providence trumps that in my hometown, which has been listed as one of the most integrated cities in the US (in part due to the military bases). I love the fact that I can get Portuguese sweet bread, buy the same Italian groceries I was able to get in Rome, and get my hair cut at a shop run by Nigerians--all in the same relatively small town. If that is not diversity, I'm not sure what is.

On the other hand, segregation exists here, and much of it is on socioeconomic lines. On my side of town (the East Side), there is little integration because it caters to the student bodies of two universities, their faculty, and the professionals who want to live in the most elite section of town. This population is almost overwhelmingly white. The poorest sections of town, separated from the downtown and East Side due to 1960s urban renewal in the form of the construction of I-95 (which I blame entirely for the segregation in Providence), are overwhelmingly African-American and Latino. However, if one was to go to some of the other neighborhoods (Mount Pleasant and Silver Lake come to mind), they are extremely diverse, yet working class.

As another Southerner in New England, I love it here (although this past winter was trying). I've had opportunities here that I did not have in my smaller town, and since I'm becoming quite the pedestrian, the fact that an amazing rail network exists between the major cities of the Eastern Seaboard makes this the perfect place for me for this stage in life.

Ditto to all the fall remarks. Especially Rudey's post.
There's actually a logical explaination as to why you associate certain smells with certain memories. It has to do with the hypothalamus. I'll have to do some research in order to give a detailed explaination.

I absolutely love New York. And I love, love, love the fall.
I miss the feeling of that crisp fall air or the smell of burning wood/leaves (?) in the winter.

I appreciate the beach and all that is associated with it, but not year round. I am not a beach girl (tanning is so bad for the skin...it looks pretty to a point and I wouldn't mind a little tan, but I feel too guilty...I don't want spots and premature wrinkles). I do not belong in Florida. I belong in New York. I need to at least make it up to the Viriginia area! LOL

Oh well, I'm in New York in spirit. And at least I can visit my family at anytime. Oh BTW, there are so many New Yorkers down here that it almost feels like NY...if only I can change the weather patterns, or global positioning...eh, I guess it'd be easier to just move my butt up there!LOL:D

hmmm...I really rambled on in this post.:rolleyes:

Umm...I live on the East Side...and I work in Pawtucket...

I guess when you move somewhere, you compare it to wherever you are from. In Houston, my family was upper-middle class, living across the street from an African American family, next door to a Hispanic family and two doors down from a Vietnamese Family. That has not been my experience here. It is unusual for me to be living in a segregated area. I look at diversity through different eyes, more as an intermingling and constant interaction, not merely as tallying up who is represented within the metro area...Does that mean that I am right and others are wrong? No. I am sure that some people would find Houston different if they moved there from Providence.

Side note: Why the heck can I not find Malt-O Meal anywhere? I have tried Shaw's, Sto and Shop, Eastside Mktpl., Target, Wal-Mart...no Malt-O Meal!!!

Side, Side note: This past winter was my first winter...I had never seen snow other than on mountaintops...so please, tell me that was a fluke winter or something:)

Side, Side, Side note: We have nothing like Waterfire in the South and I like Waterfire. I went for the first time last weekend and it was really neat. :p

Fall in New England is great.

Baseball season - between the Yankees and Red Sox, it's a hell of a great time.

Boston - I love this city, and as someone who grew up in a semi-small town in Connecticut, I never thought I'd get as into it as I have.

Honestly someone should make a "Being a NY'er" thread. I could put in so many things. I literally want to cry every time I think about how great this city is.

-Rudey
--I love NY.

Ditto to everything...except I don't call myself a Yankee. I'm from MA and up here YANKEE is a dirty word.

-I love the "Fall Smell," and you really haven't lived until you've driven around on a crisp Sunday afternoon looking at the vibrantly colored foliage. There is nothing like that in the WORLD.
-Yes, this past winter was a fluke but I LOVE SNOW so, for me, it was the best winter we've had in a while!

It's not that the north isn't diverse, it's just that the different groups (cultures, minorites, etc.) don't mix. They're all there, just not really living together, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it segregation. That word just seems too harsh.

NY Yankees