Inspired by the debates around their green card clampdowns etc, where would you live in the USA if you were to. For the purposes of this thread, saying "I wouldn't live in America" is not an option. We are instead all being forced to move to the USA. So which part and why? Which parts definitely not and why?

I would happily consider Manhattan (either side of Central Park), and parts of greater Los Angeles (but categorically not Beverly Hills). Potential for Pheonix, Arizona (Scottsdale) too.

I would discount absolutely everywhere else.

Somewhere in California because the weather's nice.

Birmingham.

Area51

Or somewhere near Flagstaff.

OR close to Yosemite, loved it there.

I'm one of those rare people who likes pretty much all of America and its fascinating(ly annoying) people, from the exciting east and west coast big cities right down to the Deep South and the God-fearing Bible Belt. Ideally I'd probably live in the mountains of somewhere like Virginia or New York state, pretty and rural yet within easy reach of the cities. Or northern California, the greener parts.

Butterfield wrote:

I'm one of those rare people who likes pretty much all of America and its fascinating(ly annoying) people, from the exciting east and west coast big cities right down to the Deep South and the God-fearing Bible Belt. Ideally I'd probably live in the mountains of somewhere like Virginia or New York state, pretty and rural yet within easy reach of the cities. Or northern California, the greener parts.

I like Americans too. In general I find them far more courteous* than British people, and I enjoy the energy. "Can do" is a fantastic outlook. "Let's try it/see what happens" is as well. Even working out together a fully worked through answer to 'why not?' adds a positivity, stemming from a starting point that we in the UK don't even see the value in considering. Particularly, I love New Yorkers - they have heart and humour. The way they shout a compliment across the street without breaking their stride is just great. It's the kind of thing that just makes you feel great and energized.

Ohio is as out of the way I've gone and I didn't like it much. It was of passing interest as an example of how drained of beauty and pleasure life can be. The whole Bible Belt thing in the south really frightens me, and I'd be concerned about the wisdom of buying a wooden house in a tornado zone. I also like to wander round the supermarket/go to a club or cinema/work/send my son to school without worrying about being shot. Evangelicals seem to build really ugly churches, which I don't fully understand.

Arizona for me purely because I love the climate and the scenery. LA I just really like, and I could have a garden without the plants I like dying in the winter. I think Spanish colonial revival houses look fab.

My one concern about LA is that it might allow me to super indulge in my less appealing traits - namely vanity and being slightly neurotic. I wouldn't need much encouragement to fall into a lifestyle of juggling various shrinks and therapists in between plastic surgery updates and interviewing pool boys/gardeners/personal trainers. A related point here is that the healthcare system makes zero sense to me, and I don't just mean morally or financially. It just seems unbelievably complicated - even with professional guidance you might find yourself absolutely f*cked by some clause or oversight.

*If I was a black male, or a Hispanic youth, or trying to access a medical procedure in certain areas, the luxury of that courtesy might not have been extended so widely. So I do recognise the privilege in that.

No surprise at all to find NJ, with his languid indifference to prosaic hypotheticals, suggesting Birmingham.

Butterfield wrote:

I'm one of those rare people who likes pretty much all of America and its fascinating(ly annoying) people, from the exciting east and west coast big cities right down to the Deep South and the God-fearing Bible Belt. Ideally I'd probably live in the mountains of somewhere like Virginia or New York state, pretty and rural yet within easy reach of the cities. Or northern California, the greener parts.

You and I are about the same age, couple of years apart. I think it's impossible for the so called 'xennial' (78-83) generation not to have a fondness for lots of Americana - the films, the music, the attitude. Coming as we do just after Vietnam so not having seen that unfold, and to have our whole formative years pre 9/11, there was nothing hugely negative in the way.

I was watching a Netflix thing about old cartoons and the 'Masters of the Universe' intro was something I'd completely forgotten but instantly remembered and felt transported back in time. Same with the intro to The A Team, which I didn't enjoy but could still quote accurately if asked. Shameless propaganda against the USSR no doubt, but very effective.

And of course, no sappy housewives without their own income/blushing brides being pushed as the way adult life should be...



Kylie gets a pass on the bridal thing, because Charlene was a mechanic with a mind of her own.

Somewhat embarrassingly, I also like their national anthem. It's a jaunty number. To avoid being rude I've even stood for it, in the Lincoln Center before the ballet, 'Afternoon of a Faun'. Obviously without doing all that hand over heart stuff.

Where would you like to go darling?
Mmm...Vermont...Wyoming? Wyoming...huh huh

Kansas, by the time the snow begins to thaw.

Not really, I think I'd hate Kansas. New York would be more me. It depends how much money I'm given when I arrive for forced resettlement?

If I could afford it, I'd retreat to a hilltop fastness out in the woods in New Hampshire. Or a sinister compound in the New Mexico desert.

cosmictanya wrote:

No surprise at all to find NJ, with his languid indifference to prosaic hypotheticals, suggesting Birmingham.

I don't want to go anywhere.

Dunroamin'
Duncarin'
Dunlivin'

Fangirl Three wrote:

Kansas, by the time the snow begins to thaw.

Not really, I think I'd hate Kansas. New York would be more me. It depends how much money I'm given when I arrive for forced resettlement?

If I could afford it, I'd retreat to a hilltop fastness out in the woods in New Hampshire. Or a sinister compound in the New Mexico desert.

$1.5m

cosmictanya wrote:

You and I are about the same age, couple of years apart. I think it's impossible for the so called 'xennial' (78-83) generation not to have a fondness for lots of Americana - the films, the music, the attitude. Coming as we do just after Vietnam so not having seen that unfold, and to have our whole formative years pre 9/11, there was nothing hugely negative in the way.

I think I'd agree with all of that.

In fairness, that could be in Edgbaston.

I knew about Edgbaston but not Alabama. There are some nice houses in The Birminghams.

Birmingham is not a nice place at all.