Home Sweet Home: Stayin' or Leavin'?

Note: I wrote this blog a few years ago and am reposting since journalists have recently questioned as to why anyone would want to live in this area of Alabama, specifically Wilcox County, but hey, that is right next door to Dallas County!

SOME OF MY TRANSPLANTED FRIENDS FROM THE NORTH have remarked more than once that young adults of the rural South, especially Alabama, don’t want to leave home.

Apparently, our high school graduates mostly think alike: Go off to a state college, then return to where they came from…or close to where they came from. 

I guess sometimes it takes “outside” observation to reveal trends that longtime homefolks don’t find unusual or maybe never even thought about. 

This "phenomenon” wasn’t exactly at the top of my cultural events list,  but once they mentioned it, I recalled one of my sons saying in high school that he didn’t plan to date until he finished college and headed out West.  

“Why on earth?” I think I asked.

“Because most of the girls around here want to stay around here, and I don’t want to have to stay around here forever,” he explained. 

And yes, my friends noted that this “Sweet Home Alabama” trend is especially true of girls.

Well, they have a point.

Females of the Piney Woods and Black Belt are just as comfortable in creeks and rivers and on four-wheelers and deer stands as they are in antebellum gowns at the historic homes Pilgrimage.

Their mamas or grandmamas still bake cornbread without sugar, and they are never far from a vacation at the mountains or beach. 

So, who wouldn’t want to immerse themselves in such surroundings for the rest of their lives?

In some other regions and especially in cities, children are expected to take the most lucrative job offer wherever it may be, even if that means frigid Fargo or windy Chicago! Then, they’re groomed to stay mobile and move halfway around the world if that’s what it takes to advance.

However, while the theory of our progeny loving their land to the point of perpetual homesickness sure seems plausible, it just doesn’t compute.

A 7^th District congressional candidate once remarked on local radio that despite a wealth of natural resources, “We’re losing our children to other states.”

And I noticed online where the Small Business Administration compiled  research that shows more “brain drain”  across rural America, especially the South, particularly Alabama and even more specifically the Black Belt, than in most cities.

It’s the metropolitan centers that attract and keep our professionally trained kids. While our farm-grown  and small-town raised children still love home, they’re moving to   Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville, and some even venture to ...well…Chicago! 

Still, I can’t help but agree with my northern sistas’ keen revelation. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to the contrary. My boy, who vowed to remain unattached until on his own and out of state, started dating anyway, and our state’s job market suddenly had much stronger appeal! 

Besides, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Alabama leads the nation for its drop in unemployment. 

So, I guess it won’t be long before we’ll know:
 Will he stay or will he go?

Update:
He went! 

South instead of West. 


For more on this subject, please visit my friend and former co-worker Jackie Walburn's latest blog post, "Wilcox County: Why on Earth People Live There."  

I addressed similar issues in yet another column by John Archibald of AL.com in my post, "What's Hot and What's Not, or Dare to Defend Our Town" in February 2013. 
 

What's Hot and What's Not, or Dare to Defend Our Town

It's "D" Week over at ABC Wednesday,

 and I'll just be DARNED that I've got to DEFEND my town!

DO you live in a hot spot?

And if you DO, what makes it hot?

I learned from AL.com the other day that one of my sons lives in one of the hottest spots in the state, while I, on the other hand, DO not.  In fact, my town is DESIGNATED as one of the least hottest spots, and it’s not talking about climate.

It’s all about quality of life, but hey, my town got lumped in with the likes of Mountain Brook, which is DEEMED the hottest spot in the state.

The writer compared cities with populations over 20,000 (a population we barely top), and more than half the places cited as “hottest” are all suburbs of Birmingham, which by the way, is not so hot!  The rest are suburbs of large metro areas like Huntsville and Mobile…except for Auburn, home of Auburn University, which in my opinion is a category apart. So, War Eagle!

I won’t bore you with the stats, but they were retrieved from places like the Census Bureau, FBI and DEPARTMENT of Public Health. They measure things such as unemployment, health, crime, taxes, education, access to arts and cultural events, restaurants, DISTANCE from work, access to DOG parks…

Access to DOG parks?

Seriously?  DOG parks made the quality of life survey?

DO these so-called hot spots not have tree-lined sidewalks DRAPED with Spanish Moss or big picket-fenced yards or winding riverfront parks where both people and DOGS are welcome to walk? 

Well, Selma has all that!

Now obviously, I cannot DEFEND some of my town’s not-so-hot DESIGNATIONS, bless its heart!  But, I can surely DARE to DEFEND the categories with biased Yuppie (Young Upwardly Mobile Professionals) influence, and I consider the inclusion of DOG parks to be biased.

Any such survey has got to consider that Selma is in the middle of the rural Black Belt prairie, an hour  from metropolitan Montgomery and the interstate, and our DEFINITION of quality and culture is a whole DIFFERENT software program.

To start with, we live a RUPPIE rather than a YUPPIE lifestyle. 

I wrote about RUPPIES (Rural Under-appreciated People) a long time ago when I worked DOWNTOWN,  and for a city to make the RUPPIE Top 10 Hot Spots, the survey would have to include the following:

• Access to hunting DEER, turkey, quail, squirrel and raccoons. (I am pretty sure Selma ranks No. 1 since most of these game animals can be hunted just outside the city limits!) In fact, a lot of YUPPIES from those Top 10 Hottest Cities travel here to hunt. Just listen to Rick and Bubba!

•  Access to farm-raised catfish grown in America. (Again, Selma ranks No. 1 since we live in the No. 2 county for catfish production in Alabama.) Don’t tell me tilapia, swai, pangasius or any other foreign import is a better, cheaper or healthier fish. Just google all the health hazards!

•  Access to meat-and-three restaurants. If you have ever eaten at The DOWNTOWNER, Steak Pit or Golden Ranch, Selma wins again. 

• Access to fishing. Just go to the sandbar across the river or head to the marina, launch your  boat or enter a fishing tournament.

• Commute time to work. About five minutes, unless you live in the suburb of Orrville or Plantersville, in which case the 15- to 20-mile trip will take about 10 minutes.  

• Stress levels on the main highway. Our main highway is U.S. 80. It is four-lane. It is mostly straight and doesn’t have too many hills. It has a reasonable speed limit. We don’t have to drive 85 mph to keep from getting run over. Try driving 60 on the interstates near those “hottest” cities, especially during rush hour, or hey, just head on over to Highway 280 and see how you like it!

• Local utility fees to pay the urban bankruptcy bill. If you live anywhere around six of the top 10 hot spots, then your water and sewer bill just might be as much or more than your power bill each month! How towns in a county (yes, that would be Jefferson) that is bankrupt ever made the top 10 is incredible!

• Walkability. Try walking “downtown” Vestavia Hills or even Alabaster. Then come to Selma and walk our downtown. Here, City Hall, the library, convention center, courthouse, restaurants, museums, ice cream shop, coffee shop, newspaper office, lawyers’ offices, drugstores, riverwalk, Pettus Bridge, churches and jewelry stores are all within walking distance of each other. 

• Patriotism. Few towns are as patriotic as Selma. This place ranks among the hottest as far as support for our country, and we cried enough tears to fill the Alabama River when the government came and took Craig Air Force Base away. 

• Housing affordability. I am well aware of the exhorbitant rental rates in some of the “hottest” cities, but here, rents are reasonable, and I guarantee you can buy a lot more house that is a lot better built for a lot lower price.

I could go on and on, but honestly, I need to get outside and plow my backyard garden. Oh yes, home gardening is another RUPPIE category, and I’m betting you just might be a YUPPIE living in a “hot city” IF you don’t grow your own food and preserve it!

Linking to ABC Wednesday Meme
and Rurality