Florida Cracks Up
Saginaw questions its newfound status as “coolness capital,” derived from a Richard-Florida-penned Money Magazine list that can be read only as a cry for help from the coolness guru.
Saginaw questions its newfound status as “coolness capital,” derived from a Richard-Florida-penned Money Magazine list that can be read only as a cry for help from the coolness guru.
Amazing self-analysis in that article.
posted by leighton on May 25th, 2004 at 1:45 pmIf the AA News was as honest as the Saginaw News, then we’d get real ideas about what really needs improvment around here. Instead, we get cheerleading from the peanut gallery towards the chior.
Amazing self-analysis in that article.
posted by leighton on May 25th, 2004 at 1:46 pmIf the AA News was as honest as the Saginaw News, then we’d get real ideas about what really needs improvment around here. Instead, we get cheerleading from the peanut gallery towards the choir.
Wow, that journalist deserves a prize for honesty and showing, once again, that statistics are like dildos - you can freak ‘em any which way you like.
posted by damon on May 25th, 2004 at 2:43 pmI spent five sad years of my life in Midland, which is sort of like the asscrack of Saginaw’s shadow. This journalist doesn’t deserve a prize for honesty - being any more complementary than s/he is would take an impressive degree of mendacity.
You may find Ann Arbor overrated, but the Tri-Cities make it seem like a veritable utopia.
posted by green on May 25th, 2004 at 3:38 pmActually, I think that’s the point–Ann Arbor is probably Michigan’s coolest city. But anyone who acts like it’s America’s best city obviously has never left the state. (You see the same phenomenon with Chicagoans.)
posted by TS on May 25th, 2004 at 6:58 pmRe: TS’s comment, I’ve never run into anything like AA-centrism anywhere else. I’ve lived in several generally agreeable places, and most of the people in them seem to take the attitude that their town is almost certainly not for everyone, even if they enjoy it. AA is the only place I’ve encountered where saying you don’t care for the town is like tearing up a Bible in church. Maybe it’s the onslaught of coffeehouses at work - decaf, folks, decaf!
posted by Nick on May 25th, 2004 at 8:42 pmThis blog is evidence that A2 is way cool. But I think A2 needs more people in order to distinguish itself from Saginaw. We could send some.
Joseph Mailander
posted by joseph on May 26th, 2004 at 1:39 amLos Angeles
joseph, send the cool ones, please. Like Frank Gehry. We haven’t had a good laugh since Robert Venturi designed the Halo around the UM stadium.
posted by mucho gusto on May 26th, 2004 at 6:20 amIncidentally, Ann Arbor is ranked the ninth most expensive place to live in the United States. (With New York at the top of the list.)
posted by Lucky Jacjson on May 26th, 2004 at 9:37 amI think I’ve seen that list here before - is that the one that ranks cities on “overpriced-ness”, which is defined as a function of the town’s cost of living and the likelihood of being able to make enough money there to meet that cost?
posted by Nick on May 26th, 2004 at 10:39 amAA is the worst I’ve seen in “awed navel gazing” and non-self-criticism. But in the 90’s Autsin came close… until Gov. Bush’s victories settled in (buttressed by masses of neo-con immigrants from the North).
NYC is better than Chicago and the midwesterners have a problem with that.
posted by leighton on May 26th, 2004 at 11:23 amAfter over 6-1/2 years, I’m about to move from Midland down to the Ann Arbor area. I can only agree with the earlier poster: if you think Ann Arbor sucks, then try living up here in the Land That Adequacy Forgot. To give you some idea, I’m taking a huge pay cut just to escape from this vortex of suck before it’s too late. Ironically, the downsized salary of my new job doesn’t appear like it will allow me to actually live in Ann Arbor. (Anyone looking for a clean, non-psycho, 30-something roommate?)
posted by Dave on May 26th, 2004 at 6:44 pmPoor Dave…but maybe IT IS better in AA than Midland. After 6 1/2 years in a place worse than AA, don’t try going to a big city for a while. You should probably ease into it.
posted by marcie on May 26th, 2004 at 7:54 pmUm…New York has that same “we’re the best city in the country” complex, also. And yeah, we have it in large quantities here in Chicago. But what’s wrong with it? If your city really is a cool one, why shouldn’t you be proud of it? I find that it helps create a better sense of community.
posted by First City on May 27th, 2004 at 1:34 amI suppose a potential downside to excessive pride in one’s town is that it can make it harder to view it critically and ask tough questions about how it can be improved. I think Ann Arbor could be improved a lot if people here were willing to consider the possibility that it needed improvement. Yet as long as no one sees any problems in AA’s unaffordability, unfriendliness, lack of good jobs, or lack of energy, it’s hard to imagine them changing.
posted by Nick on May 27th, 2004 at 7:56 amThe term”vortex of suck” is brilliant.
posted by Lucky Jackson0 on May 27th, 2004 at 11:01 amExactly Nick. Ann Arbor’s problem over NYC’s and Chicago’s “egoism” is the fact that no one even cares what AA people think. It’s more pathetic than helpfull.
posted by Leighton on May 27th, 2004 at 4:01 pm