Friday, November 13, 2015
Why I Stayed
1839: I didn’t become aware of exactly how Pittsburgh I am until I went to college in upstate New York; a place where I was made aware of exactly how Pittsburgh I am by the endless questions about the genesis of my accent. An accent I wasn’t even aware of until I went to school.
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I feel the same way! I obviously have never had the race issue but, on the conclusion, I love this city. After high school a lot of my friends left and never wanted to come back. I love it here. Eventually I will move for career reasons, but I am only willing to do that because to advance my wife's career we have to. If I was on my own, I would stay here forever. There are other cities I will be perfectly happy living in, but Pittsburgh will always be close to my heart.
In recent years one of the most amazing things has been watching East Liberty grow and thrive. When I was little, to say it was dangerous would be an understatement. Growing up in that neighborhood we avoided going outside alone. Seeing East Liberty now, seeing it flourish and grow, is a dream come true.
I've noticed this really weird thing since moving to Pittsburgh that I haven't experienced with any other city, and that is - when people hear that I live in Pittsburgh, they are either confused that it is Philly, or they say "ew, gross!". When I came to Pittsburgh to interview for school, I had absolutely no idea what kind of place I was about to visit, because nobody ever talks about anything but the steelers outside of Pittsburgh's city limits. I brought my then boyfriend, now husband, with me so we could see if he'd like living here too and we were both so surprised by how much we really liked it here. I couldn't believe we had heard so many terrible things about this city, but so few wonderful things. There's a ton to do here, wonderful places to live, amazing restaurants, a very young bunch of students and people, and the cost of living is so low and manageable. I just can't understand why wanting to live in Pittsburgh isn't enough.
My fellow freshmen will probably notice that I've commented on this article and scroll right past my words, expecting just another rant about Texas or why Houston is so great or how much I miss home. Honestly, I wouldn't blame them. But that's not why I'm writing this. I connect so much with this article because it puts my own thoughts actions into words in a way I cannot. When I tell people about my home - and yes, I do mention it at least twice every day - I often feel the defensive need to rattle off one of the prepared reasons I have for loving it, like its diversity or its down home metropolis personality or its many unique neighborhoods or its sprawling art community or my family's history there or my high school or the rodeo or literally anything else. But this is only because the real reason I love it seems so insignificant in the face of my love's intensity. The truth is: I just love it. I just do. It has made me who I am in a way I know no other city could have. And I know that if I tell people this they will still try to tell me that I don't actually know that because I didn't grow up anywhere else. But I do know, I know it in my bones. It's not that I don't like other cities, not that I don't think I could still do well elsewhere. To have the career I want I know I won't always be able to stay in Houston. But if I have the choice I will always go home, because I can't picture home as anywhere else. So go ahead, make fun of me, talk down to me about how I don't know what cold is or how I've grown up around racism whether I say I have or not or how country music isn't real music. You're wasting your breath, and I refuse to waste my time listening. I am Bayou City Proud, H-Town Vicious. And I pity anyone who thinks they can take that away from me.
This article goes past much farther borders than just Pittsburgh. When people (especially people from my home in sweet, sunny California) ask me why I decided to go to college in Pittsburgh I tell them the same thing each time: Carnegie is top tier and I underestimated my ability to evaluate "cold" by the definition of the word. I'm honest, I don't like Pittsburgh. But I like Shadyside, I like Craig St. and the Cathedral of Learning. I like they way the city looks from the top of the Incline. I like the people I've met here who have never heard of Murrieta (the third safest city in the U.S. doncha know) and only have vague ideas of what the City of Angels (LA) is like. Hint: there are very few angels and a whole lot of overworked, regular people just like everywhere else. I don't like Pittsburgh, I like what Pittsburgh is made of. So when I go home and face the same questions and statements that generalize my whole college experience down to "well I bet you're FREEZING out there" I say the same thing I always have and think I always will for as long as I plant my roots in this town. I LIKE that is snows sideways, it reminds me that I'm far from the things that make up my understanding or ordinary. Pittsburgh to me is far from likeable, it's simply extraordinary.
I can definitely relate to this article, although my experience isn't exactly the same as the author's. Back when I lived in Shanghai, China, me and my friends always had something to complain about, whether it be the pollution, terrible traffic or countless blocked websites (including google). Moving to Pittsburgh made me realize that despite my complaints, I need to be in a big city. But, unlike the author, I can't just leave. This article on some level is forcing me to think about where I want to be in the future, because as much as I'd like to go back to Shanghai, tech theatre isn't exactly a very safe business there (as we've seen in previous articles). It's nice and reassuring to see that the author just chose to live in Pittsburgh because he wanted to, and it did work out. Hopefully I will be able to figure out where I want to be in the future.
I face this issue often when I think of my home back in California. I moved out east primarily because of CMU, but also to be closer to the creative hubs that are Chicago and New York. However, now that I've left the California mindset and vibe I'm so used to, I find myself wondering where I'll thrive most professionally. While the author of this article faces a more segregated and polarized home than I do (even if I did, the unfair advantage my privilege affords makes segregation something that I don't have to think about as much), and perhaps even a leaner job market, he stays, out of a deep attachment. For me moving home for me would mean an easy transition to something familiar and comforting, but would mean staying within the same theater community I was raised into, and possibly being constrained by the limitations and idiosyncrasies of that same community.
I have no clue where I'll end up after my stint here in the reaches of the east, but I do know that I, like the author of this article, will most likely give many, many half truths about my true reasoning for my eventual choice.
I have heard from multiple people multiple times over that once you set foot in the city of Pittsburgh, you'll fall in love and never want to leave again. Being from New York, this article made me chuckle more than once and really re-evaluate the city I'm currently living in. I remember being accepted into Carnegie Mellon and dreading the day that I would have to actually *leave New York City* and move to Pittsburgh. I was so caught up with it being "in the middle of nowhere" (relative to NYC, of course) and was seriously heart broken about leaving the Big Apple. However, now that I'm here in Pittsburgh, I must say....it's pretty damn nice. There's a break to the city of Pittsburgh that NYC just doesn't have. There's more space here but just enough where it feels not stuffy but not enough to not feel like a thriving city. Pittsburgh is charming and definitely has its own zing to it and I'll admit that I'm excited to really start exploring when I get the chance to. Unfortunately, given the work load, I haven't hung out around downtown at all so I can't give a solid description of what Pittsburgh "feels" like, but it's better than I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, there's not a way in hell that I could convert into a Pittsburgher (NYC reppin' for life), but I'm happy here and I completely understand why people choose to stay.
This is funny, because I am the exact opposite of this guy. I am from upstate New York (about an hour away from Buffalo but still), I left Rochester for Pittsburgh, and I know I will not be going back to Rochester. I have no desire to move back to my hometown - which is a great hometown! I have nothing against it. But I have no nostalgic reasons for raising kids there or anything. I lived in the same house my entire life, I would like a new house. Just like the author of this article just WANTS to stay in Pburgh, for no real reason, I don't WANT to stay in Rochester for no real reason. I'm not trying to run away, but there's more out there to see! Even if it's just another Rochester type area just some miles to the right or left, I'd rather have that new experience than a repeat of my childhood. But Pittsburgh is a really nice area, for all the fake reasons he gave, anyways. Maybe my new Rochester will be Pittsburgh (but maybe not).
I think, deep down, this man loves Pittsburgh simply because it feels like home. I am on the same page as Michelle here. I think we can all relate to this article because we all came from a place where we lived for 18 years of our life. Similarly to this man, I came to college and was told I had a strong Long Island accent when I didn't think I had one at all. Like many other people, I expected way less of Pittsburgh, and it surprised me. I think even in the last 5 years Pittsburgh has grown into not only a livable city, but an enjoyable one. The food scene, art scene, and overall culture has really flourished. I have seen many people I know who lived in New York for many years take the leap and move to Pittsburgh. Not only is Pittsburgh one of the cheapest cities in the country to live in, but it also is a great blend between an urban and suburban lifestyle. I completely understand this man's predicament about *why* he's decided to stay in the city he grew up in. I know, for me, I will be in New York because it feels like home, and it is the best place for me to be growing my career surrounded by all the things that inspired me to take this path in the first place.
This was a really interesting article. For one thing, I was not aware that Pittsburgh is the "whitest metropolitan area in the U.S." I actually didn't believe it when I read it, so I looked it up and it turns out that, yes, with almost 89% white people, it is.
I really love Pittsburgh. The first time I expressed interest in going to Carnegie Mellon, a lot of people would ask me where that is, and as soon as I said "Pittsburgh" I would get all kinds of negative response, usually with an "ew" or two thrown in there. Before I visited for the first time, I would laugh with these people and say things like, "Yeah, but it's a great school so I'll just have to deal with it." And then I actually came down here. Having spent my life living in a suburban town in Massachusetts, and all my city-time in either Boston or New York, this wasn't really a "city" to me until I went downtown. But I really liked that. I really liked that this wasn't all huge buildings and fast-paced people and honking taxis. Pittsburgh has such a great charm about it that just feels right. The neighborhoods, the history, the people, the food(!), the architecture...It's a very neat place. I don't think I would want to live here post-grad just because there are places I like better and fit my career better than here, but Pittsburgh will always be the first city I lived in on my own, and I'm proud to say that I lived here.
If someone asks where I'm from, without variation I will respond "Northern Virginia", with any lack of specificity (i.e. "Northern") immediately corrected. Northern Virginia - often called NoVA - is also a place I have been trying to run away from, or get out of in some capacity since the moment I got their. It's not "mine". So when I went away to college, and was able to pick where I went, the pressure to pick someplace that was of me, that made sense to me, and appealed to my core being was intense. I was searching for a city soulmate. Or rather, that's how I started out.
I ended up in Pittsburgh - specifically at Carnegie Mellon - through copious amounts of sheer dumb luck that guided a rather arbitrarily made, uneducated decision. My choice on where to go to college was made by a series of conclusions about where I didn't want to be. So when I got to Pittsburgh, I was surprised. And across the board, both in terms of Carnegie Mellon, and the city, I ended up exactly where I was supposed to - and wanted - to be.
Resident curmudgeon checking in.
Do we really need a reason for why we live in the city we live in? I've fielded my fair share of questions about Pittsburgh (Isn't it just a dirty steel town? Wow it made the top of XYZ list! etc.) and I'm always quick to encourage people to check it out, because it really is a cool, as-yet unpretentious city. But it's such a tritely modern idea to me that these days not only do you have to find your one true vocational calling, that can satisfy you completely until you die (because LOL retirement LOL), but you must do it in a city that you have some deep, well articulated, inner sense of exactly why you're living there instead of anywhere else. That kind of serendipitous synchronicity is lovely, the stuff of fairy tales even, but let's not pretend that it's invalid to live somewhere simply because you never left and don't really feel the need to.
This guy's only in his mid-thirties. He still has more than half of his working years ahead of him. If in ten years he decides he can't live in Pittsburgh any more, he can pick up and move, and it'll be ok. But he doesn't really need a reason to do so.
I don’t know what it is about the place you are born, but for some people, myself included, where you grow up helps define you to a certain degree. I don’t exactly have the same feelings about Pittsburgh as this fellow does, but I think I might understand his love of the place he lives on a baseline level. I love where I’m from (in my case, CT) and eventually I think I might want to live there on a more permanent level depending on where my career takes me. I don’t want to say I know exactly what this person means when he says that he just wants to be in Pittsburgh, but when you think about it, I’m sure there are more than a few people out there who understand his feelings, and I think I’m one of them. I guess I’m failing to articulate that feeling in a similar way the author did.
It's always a tiny weird moment of silence after anyone asks me where I'm from, as I try to figure out exactly which answer they want. My parents and I moved to Chester Country about an hour outside of Philly four years ago. That is where my permanent address is. That's where I went to high school. That's where my most recent group of best friends are from. But is that where I'm from? No. Not even a little bit.
I'm from the rainy streets of Bellingham, WA. I know that city like the back of my hand. From the marina to my ice cream store on Railroad Ave. From the Fairhaven green with it's farmer's markets of Wednesdays and outdoor movies in the winter to the Henderson book store, a tiny place right near the library with long narrow aisles of book that you can get lost in for hours. I grew up in that city and I will forever be "from" there, no matter where I live. So when you ask me where I'm from, do you want to know where to send me mail when I'm away from campus, or do you want to know the city that shaped me and gave me the basis for the person I am today?
I think this article is so special, for a lot of reasons. I am from a very small (a square mile) town right outside of New York City, in New Jersey need Hoboken. I have lived in the same house my entire life, played sports on the hoboken teams since I could walk and been a part of Hoboken Children's theater since I could speak up until the summer before I moved here where I taught for them. It is always going to be my home, and until I moved to Pittsburgh I really believed that Hoboken was one of a kind, and that it was the most special place in the world. But it's not, I think it is just because I grew up there. As we get closer to thanksgiving and I talk with my fellow freshman about going home, everyone seems so overjoyed, not only to se their families but just to be back around what made them who they are. I imagine for some people. they will realize that they enjoy Pittsburgh more than home. But for some, myself included I will be reminded of why I loved the place so much at all. I have really enjoyed living in Pittsburgh for the past three months, and I look forward to the next three and a half years, but it's not home. At least not yet.
Going back to my hometown in NJ over midsemester break was an interesting experience for me because previously Maplewood had just sort of been the town where many of the people who are most important to me were situated. Home for me is usually defined much more by the people than by the actual environment, but now that my good friends are all scattered across colleges, I've developed a new appreciation for the town itself. Especially now when I walk around in Maplewood, I'm not recognized by quite as many people except people I knew from my old high school, which has significantly cut down on the number of awkward conversations I've had to have on the street with adults who swear to me that they know my parents and think they're fantastic people who raised great kids (ma'am I'm really sorry but I have absolutely no idea who you are). Pittsburgh is a lovely city ("oh Pittsburgh! Such a nice city, lots of Art and Culture!" was the most frequent response I got when telling family friends where Carnegie Mellon is), but it can't quite beat Maplewood in the fall.
Where you live or the city you are from is very important to a person. It defines who you are and what you are. If someone asked me the question, “where are you from?” I never hesitate to answer with Boston. Most of the time they can already tell, but that goes along with the idea of it defining who you are. Sadly the more I think about it the more I think I wont end up back in Boston, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love every second of living there, of course I’m going to be Bias and say it like The Standells would, “Boston you’re my home”.
Picking to go to cmu was a big decision that I made, it was the first time I world have ever moved away from home and had some level of freedom. I wouldn’t consider Pittsburg to be a home for me but I defiantly would say that I love it here and although the people talk a little funny, they are much nicer than my fellow Bostonians.
I think that this article is great. The author really gets his love of Pittsburgh across. I think that this is something we all face at one point or another. Everyone has to decide whether to to stay or go from the place where they grew up, and if they leave, what to take with them. There is always something to love about where you grew up, hidden underneath all of the complaints about how boring or crowded it is. I think we all give these half truths about why we are where we are. Everyone leaves a bit of themselves in the places they have lived and learned from. I think that it is admirable that the author of this article realized that and stuck with his decision to stay in the city that he loves, though there are no words to describe it.
This article is so true. As a freshmen I can relate, and scrolling though the other comments it seems my other peers do as well. We all our homes because of the connections we made. The friends and family that we left are hard to say good bye to, but when I think about what I miss most is the feel and vibe of home. I'm from Newtown Connecticut which is one of the most loving and accepting communities, not that Pittsburgh isn't like that, it's just different. With the semester coming to a close soon, I wonder if I will be feeling the way this author does about Pittsburgh when I leave to go home. It's an interesting concept to think that Pittsburgh and carnegie Mellon is my home right now, and i still have my home home in CT. I can't wait to go home and see everyone again, but I also can't wait to just drive around the streets and see everything again. Maybe in a few years I won't be missing home so much, I'll be missing this home.
This article does communicate how much the author loves Pittsburgh- even though he may not be able to put it into words, that he can recognize that and try still manages to get the message across. I know some people hate where they are from, but I feel the same connection to my hometown that the author does. I'll always have a reason why I love Seattle, but the eco-friendly, mountainous, oceanic, friendly, artsy city will never be the real reason why I will always return. There's something about the air that just makes it the best place in the world.
Still, I think it's important to leave your hometown and see the world. It might cement just how much you belong at home, but it might also provide some new reasons as to why you will always want to return to the verdant mountains and salty air where you grew up. I love Pittsburgh for how much I have learned here, for it's stark hills and boxy houses. But there's comfort in knowing that no matter where I go, I will end up back in Seattle someday.
I am grateful for the people who satisfied what they have and live with it happily and love the city they were born. I really wanted to be like that but I can't! I just can't. I came from a big city in Thailand where you have to be careful and cautious about the surroundings yet it's a crazy beautiful city with great food at every corner of the street 24/7, I' e been to many places in Europe and in Asia and within the U.S. and got inspired by all the places and see myself spending time in each place for couple years. I moved here 2 years ago only for registered to cmu dungeon and as much as I adore the quietness and peaceful and how safe this city is, I can't see myself living here for long, I need jump on the bus and hit the big cities every 2 months because the quietness and still live drags down my energy. I wish by the time I'm 40 I would start thinking about settle down somewhere and never leaves because I am satisfied with the place and I feel "enough" but that will not happen any time soon.
This city is really growing on me but I do have my moments where I need to go home and be where I am most comfortable. The saying home is where the heart is really resounds with me because I come from a place where family means everything. Aloha means family and sticking with them till the end. Hawaii thrives on it's community and the people working together. I am proud to be from there and to know that this mindset of family and life will always be ingrained in me.
I feel like this article resonates with all college students, from freshman to seniors. As it is often said, you never really know what you have until its gone, and entering a new space can make you realize how much your home has shaped you. What's funny is that when I tell people I'm from Wisconsin, the surprise on their face says it all--usually a mixture of "people actually live there?" and "you don't look like you belong in the Midwest..."
There have been so many times when all I could think about is leaving Milwaukee to pursue my bigger dreams and aspirations, but before, during, and after my departure I realized the community that I built around me and supported me was something so truly special that I couldn't discard it as easily as I had initially thought. Having the opportunity to leave has probably been one of the greatest gifts, as for the first time I can see how much my home has impacted me, and vise versa.
I have lived in Pittsburgh in for twenty one years, and I can truly say that I would not have wanted to have lived anywhere else! There are so many things that are so great about Pittsburgh that I have no idea where I should start with this comment. Pittsburghers take a lot of pride in their city for everything ranging from sports to arts to education (and everything in between). One of my favorite things about the city is the way that it is set-up. What I mean by this is that each neighborhood has their own unique “purpose” and they do not mix. For example, I live in Squirrel Hill, go to school in Oakland, shop in the Waterfront, and party in the South Side. None of those things mix. This allows any given person to not feel “stuck” in one place. I could go on and on, but I really do love Pittsburgh and I am sad to leave it at the end of next year!
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