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| Wednesday, June 19, 2013 |
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Rexburg and Provo have a lot in common. The rest of the West, not so much. (Our trip to Pleasantville doesn’t begin for another couple of weeks. Will be fun to see the family.) |
We just moved to Pleasantvillish (a small town about an hour from Rexburg) from somewhere in the Eastern timezone. Everyone’s LDS. The neighbor we met while he was outside smoking a cigarette is LDS. The other neighbor who’s divorced and speaks in a voice that led me to suspect he’s gay–also Mormon. Very strange. The parks are deserted on Sundays. I guess family outings to the playgrounds on Sundays are frowned upon here. The local grocery store is closed on Sunday. Church is crowded. Big enough ward that I can safely say it will be a long while until I get a leadership position, if I ever do (hallelujah). This has been a huge cultural shock. The ward is much less racially diverse than my last ward, although my neighborhood is more diverse (two multi-racial couples live very close–LDS, of course–and I’m fairly certain some Hispanic families live nearby too–the Eastern timezone neighborhood was entirely segregated, and in fact it was difficult to find a neighborhood in that large city that was not all-white or all-black). So the neighborhood diversity was a positive unexpected surprise. Also seems to be enough facial hair and colored shirts at church (grin) to keep things interesting. In some ways, total culture shock. In some ways, not so bad after all. The thing I miss the most? Living in a religiously diverse community. Oh, and I’m not a big fan of the desert. |
1. LRC – I think Rexburg is even more extreme than Provo given its isolation and homogeneity… Enjoy your trip. 2. Tim – did you find a job there? wow. I imagine it is culture shock. The interesting piece is that deep down I wonder if I might like it there once I get over my initial fears… |
Devyn, Still looking. We moved for family reasons. I had a couple interviews Friday. Wish me luck… And there are certainly parts I like and parts I don’t. Living by family is definitely the main reason why we’re here. |
Well good luck to you! I can relate to the “being by family” part. As our kids get older, it is nice to think about them having cousins nearby that they know as opposed to some kids they see once a year at most… |
Bill loves to fish at Henry’s Lake north of Rexburg. We were considering retiring at St. Anthony or Ashton, but on our way up last year we stopped in Rexburg and I thought it was really lovely. |
My family is from Rexburg. We used to own some of the land that the university is on. It is a nice place to live. Its a bit cold in the winter. For a conservative like me I feel at home culturally and politically. My one comment is that the LDS folks there are poorer in SE Idaho then the typical LDS ward almost anywhere else in the US. |
My husband’s parents were always asking us when we were going to move back to SE Idaho. We told them when it actually gets an economy that would pay us enough to live there, we’d move back. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Oh darn. |
Cost of living in SE Idaho is actually much more affordable than in the Salt Lake area. Houses are relatively cheap. Some jobs may pay less in Idaho; I know teachers are paid more. |
SE Idaho is a major source of people to fill wards outside of the corridor. Wards are full of folks with roots in SE Idaho here in Texas. Because of the economy there are not enough jobs there to sustain the high birthrate so folks have to leave to get gainfully employed. Those that stay in SE Idaho keep making babies and a large percentage of those new Mormons will grow up and leave. I like to joke that if everybody with roots in SE Idaho moved back there would be an extra million people there. Not sure what the real numbers are but its a lot of people. |
Anytime I go west, I am struck by the differences in people’s demeanor, both in and outside the church. People just aren’t as friendly to folks they do not know in the east as in the west. |
Ed – I agree with your point. In the East, because of crowding, folks minimize interactions. Ride the subway system in any major city and people avoid eye contact and conversation. People in fast food places are snippy. In the West, you can go into a convenience story and end up spending 5-10 minutes talking to the counter person. |
6. annegb – I fished in Henry’s Lake as well – it is beautiful. 7. bbell – You think they are poorer? Why do you think that? 8. Elizabeth – not unless you work for the University 10. bbell – I will say that I really do like the SE Idaho folks I meet – tend to be very low key and just “good” people. 11. Ed – agreed with that… |
>In the West, you can go into a convenience story and end up spending 5-10 minutes talking to the counter person Actually you will be considered rude and unfriendly if you are not willing to chat a bit with folks including strangers. |
D. I think that they are poorer based on having family live there for 120 years. Plus I have seen the data for Madison county which is where BYU Idaho is. Even with the university employees Madison county is a pretty poor place. Not that I would’nt live there I would. I like the town. |
Actually there is a lot of wealth in SE Idaho if you know where to look. Some of those old farmers may not look like much, but many of them have millions at least on paper. In a ward I lived in there was never a missionary that couldn’t serve for financial reasons because there were many people who were willing to finance them. However, if you don’t farm or own your own business there aren’t many employment opportunities. I would love to live in SE Idaho, but I gotta pay the bills. |
Not all of SE Idaho is lower income. The Idaho National Laboratory is premier science laboratory with over 7,000 high paying jobs for scientists and engineers. Idaho Falls and Pocatello have lots of small to medium high tech companies. In the Spring, French nuclear giant Areva will begin building a multi-billion dollar nuclear reprocessing plant west of Idaho Falls. It will create hundreds of high-paying jobs (average is $77,000). Hoku is opening a solar cell plant in Pocatello. Allstate is in the process of opening a large facility. Melaleuca continues to expand in Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls is the regional shopping center for much of Montana, Wyoming and most of Eastern Idaho. In fact, for a couple years running, early this decade, Idaho Falls had the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. Farmers are doing very, very well. Cattle, potatoes, wheat and hay are all high. Land prices are high. Many are millionaires. Rexburg is a different story. College towns tend to be poor. |
The “friendliness” you guys are talking about is a small town thing, not a western thing. Very many eastern small towns and even small cities would match up, greeting for greeting. I have never ever gone to New York City, for example, and not had strangers carry my stroller up and down the subway stairs every time, without me asking for help. That kind of physical commitment to a stranger is worth a heck of a lot more than a “how are you?” in passing. Also, many women in my ward comment on how they are totally ignored when they visit Ut or ID–no one every smiles at their kids or talks to them. Whereas here, they get much more attention from strangers. Maybe due to the relative scarcity of children, although I believe the numbers of children are probably evening out. What you WILL see more of in ID, though, is people with their names on their belts. |
Kids in other places definitely get more attention from adults. When we left our last ward, our kid was the only kid in nursery. He was the most popular person at church. Now, here in our Idaho ward, his nursery’s crowded and there’s a baby blessing every two weeks. He’s going through attention withdrawals. Our kid got even more attention when we took a road trip and spent a couple of days in Quebec. The amount of attention a child gets from adults is directly related to how common children are. |
15. bbell – interesting, although I am guessing the large number of married college students on welfare skews the data :) 17. Steve – wow, you must live there to know so much… 18. ESO – that has not been my experience in the East and I now live in a small town in New England. 19. Tim – fair point on attention, although it is also dependent on whether those we are interfacing with have kids, grandkids or like them… |
Devyn–is it a “small town” or a suburb of a city? Some of the difference is that people from small towns are more likely to be from there, and are therefore more interested in new people, whereas people in suburbs are more likely to be fellow transients, and less likely to invest in their community. |
#21 ESO You hit the nail on the head. |
ESO – it is a suburb like city and not a small town. I just think Easterners are less friendly until you break through the hard exterior |
I served my mission in a series of small towns in Connecticut and upstate New York – and did not find the people initially any friendlier than the sprawling D.C. suburb where I grew up. |
Ed, People on my mission weren’t all that friendly either. I went back later, dressed in ordinary clothes and alone, and found that they were very friendly people after all. They’d give me, a complete stranger, a ride, were over-eager to give me directions the second I pulled out a map, etc. Great people. They just weren’t as friendly to missionaries. |
Frankly, I have found people in the midwest to be the friendliest around, but I’ve also had some amazing experiences in the northeast, not an area one normally thinks of as friendly. I have decided it’s probably a bad idea to stereotype. |
I don’t know, I always found the people in Seattle very friendly–and the people in San Antonio were a pleasant surprise that way, as well. |
