Stressed Desserts
Uh oh - is A2’s $4.79 milliion deficit going to knock us out of our number six position on the “least stressful cities” list?
It’ll probably still be calmer than ninth-most-stressful Detroit. Reports CNN, “Detroit has high murder rate, few restaurants.” They do quote a travel writer who says that its “post-apocalyptic feel” makes it a great place to visit for foreigners unfamiliar with U.S. cities. Is anyone else feeling a little uneasy?
That most/least stressful cities piece was one of the stranger things I’ve read lately. First of all, they call Ann Arbor a “city” without even the slightest hint of irony. Plus, they maintain that NYC is one of the most stressful cities because of its “very high crime rate”, which is lower than Ann Arbor’s. And, what’s up with maintaining, “Despite these factors, Miami residents manage to maintain a positive mental attitude.”?
posted by Anna on January 11th, 2004 at 6:16 pmman you must jsut be really angry at your life, stop being so damn cynical and live your life, people like you are going to hate any city or town you live in because you really dont like yourself, so stop your bitching and just try to live a little…..
posted by Anonymous on January 11th, 2004 at 6:30 pmmy friend’s parents have arrived this weekend from iowa. we were going to take them to the car show, but i casually mentioned that detroit is the “most dangerous city” in the united states and now they don’t want to go. hilarious.
i wonder if some stress comes from traffic congestion. i had to drive to cranbrook school one time last year and i thought i was going to loose my mind on telegraph road. some of these roads are as wide as the ole miss, and congested as hell.
then again i just moved from dexter to near arborland, and washtenaw, at some points, causes the ol’ heart rate to go up.
posted by beth on January 11th, 2004 at 9:39 pmThat was a strangely written article. I wonder how the stress would look if you plotted it in the plane. Is there a “stress gradient” that increases as you get closer to Detroit?
Actually, I’ve been told that some study was done that puts the stress of being in grad school at about the same level as that of having your spouse die - every week. Now, I kind of like being in grad school, so I’m curious as to how they measure “stress,” but it’s always great to point this out to people who think we don’t do any work (people who haven’t actually lost a spouse, that is…)
posted by ann arbor is overrated on January 11th, 2004 at 9:49 pmNot to say that I don’t think grad school is stressful, just that I wonder how they separate “stress” from “crushing grief.”
posted by ann arbor is overrated on January 11th, 2004 at 9:59 pmI lived in Detroit for three years during law school. I lived near Wayne State University, with no car, rode the (overcrowded and poorly maintained) city buses, went out at all hours, and never had any problem.
But the theoretical risk of homicide death for the average Detroit resident at the time was something like four to six times the national average at the time.
And, admittedly, I did see or hear about strange things going on in the immediate vicinity. High-speed car chases. Two guys shot to death robbing the blind pig [illegal bar] down the street. A grad student couple murdered in their apartment nearby. Police with drawn guns stopping a car about 10 feet behind me. And so on.
I learned from direct experience that if you call 911 in Detroit to report hearing shots, the operator will ask skeptically: “How MANY shots?” If it wasn’t very many, they don’t bother with it. I am not making this up.
When I was in grad school at Cornell, a few years later, I knew a lot of folks from Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey. Many of them described New York City as a terrifyingly dangerous, crime-ridden place. It was hard to take this seriously: NYC had only one-third Detroit’s homicide rate; familiar old Detroit was three times as dangerous as NYC.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on January 11th, 2004 at 11:09 pmI should clarify that I’m six feet three inches tall, and look approximately like Shrek with a beard. When I was a Detroiter, I bought my clothes in thrift shops. I was probably not the most appealing target for street crime. Your mileage may vary, etc.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on January 11th, 2004 at 11:14 pmStress and fear of crime are probably products of perception. You “feel” safer as a white person in AA, yet the stats on crime experienced by whites should strees you out…depending on neighborhood.
posted by Leighton on January 13th, 2004 at 10:51 amIt is interesting how the piece defines stressful communities. I lived in Orange County, CA for a while, and would not characterize it as a low-stress place to live at all. It had fairly little crime (well, relative to LA, anyway, and Irvine isn’t exactly representative of the rest of the county) and a good job market, but the traffic, crowding, and cost of living are terrible. Not to mention that everyone there seems to be drowning in debt, which I would certainly label very stressful. On the other hand, if by “unstressful” they mean boring, then both AA and Irvine fit the bill.
posted by Nick on January 13th, 2004 at 11:08 am