12 comments
Being one of those “permanent” transplants you speak of, I can identify. I’ve been here for more than a decade now, and I think I have more friends who have left here than I have friends currently living here. Thus is the danger of befriending so many grad students (or partners of grad students), I suppose. It does cause me to put my guard up (or to just stop trying).
I fucking hate the movers. There are two types of people in C-U: the stayers and the movers. The movers BLOW.
Alex Davis
As a mover, I am slightly offended by the previous comment.
Tony C.
Can’t totally hate “movers” as they are good contacts for someone who wants to travel on the cheap and couch surf - they might even have a guest bedroom. The “movers” often end up somewhere interesting.
That, and I’m in the mover category. Only two more years left on my sentence (Steph’s Degree).
Good to meet folks while I’m in CU. Feel free to bug me after I’m gone if you want to visit where I’m living on the cheap. Hopefully that place will have hills and water, plus a city that’s almost as awesome as CU.
Almost everyone here is, and is talking about, the university community.
In the academic racket, you MUST leave town—unless you’re one of those research scientists whose work can continue to progress in the same lab/who doesn’t need the academic credibility and publishing opportunities that come via an expanding CV.
Seth is talking about bands.
Hah. Thank you Rob, for clearing that up.
I may be a mover at heart, but I’ve got at least 7 1/2 more years ahead of me, and you stayers have been the loveliest human beings I’ve met since I moved here. I need real C-Uers to show me this town and be the kind of warm-hearted people I need to make it in the long haul. So I hope I can weasel my way into your hearts, and if and when I do finally go, you will always have a place on my couch wherever I end up!
No — not just bands, everyone. Everyone should stay in Champaign-Urbana for the rest of their lives. :)
OK — seriously, I was being just a touch sarcastic, but I do get the feeling that there is a silly “the grass is greener” notion with most everyone I meet that is here for school, or whose girlfriend is finishing a degree, blah blah blah.
I really don’t think it is. It might be green over there, but it’s pretty fucking green here too. I stand by that. I am here, and here for that reason. Great people, great things to do, great experiences to create, great opportunity to do WHATEVER you wish to do, and a whole community to support you and left you up when you feel like you can’t do it anymore.
Not so everywhere else.
That’s me. I love C-U.
And for all you movers, it’s not that I dislike you. I miss my friends. That’s all.
Hi, I’m Mark. I’m one of those guys whose girlfriend is finishing a degree, blah blah blah. I love this town and would stay if I didn’t fall in the same category as everyone else that rotates out. But I’ll be back. C-U still offers things that many other small or large towns can’t and I know that shows or games won’t blow through my Louisville home-to-be like they will here. The grass is always green if you know where to find it.
Well put!
I’m experiencing a mini-exodus of “stayers” right now. Which, of course, kind of defeats the purpose of calling them that.
I have no problem with folks who see the grass as greener somewhere else. As long as they’re not the type who think Chambana is a barren feedlot, devoid of any vegetation at all, I tend to get along with them just fine.
Timbo
I don’t care about who you are talking about, moving too much gives you a permanent case of itchy feet. I get bored once I spend enought time in a town to try all the restaurants, learn to hate the politicians, make some new friends, and tell them all my lame stories. Once the conversation lulls, I’m eyeing the door of a U-Haul the fuck out of here. C-U is just another interesting stop in the positive feedback loop of restlesness that I do beleive is ubiquitous to my generation.
Amanda B.
As a stayer, I think what makes me sadder than movers is when stayers dis my town. I love CU, and knew I’d be a stayer as soon as I got here twelve years ago. When folks who claim to be “stuck” here talk about how awful these two cities are I get piiisssed.
The flip side of having a lot of friends who have left the CU, and the missing them that goes along with that is that there are constantly new folks, with new interests and new shit to talk about, moving into CU. The main reason I’m lucky enough to have so many great friends all over the world is because I’ve lived here for twelve years.
shamika
the grass seems greener on the other side because you can’t see the manure from here.
Most Recent Culture Comments
Best Neighborhood Bar (& Grill) : Urbana - My ‘hood- the ‘Boom! http://www.boomerangbarandgrill.com Go on a Wing Wednesday or Fish Friday, or see a band play some night. Local blue-collar Urbana terroir galore. My only beer snobbish gripe is lack of a pale hopped ale, but you…
The one thing that’s bothered me for a while about the Friar is that, for most commonly purchased adult beverages, you can actually walk down the strip mall to Schnucks and get them cheaper. It makes no sense, but there it is. I suspect it’s because Schnucks…
Maybe I complained enough in person. One time I even explained to the (wholly uninterested) clerk how to navigate the Illinois Statutes web page, and Savoy’s Municipal Code database I wouldn’t know because I only go there when I want to pay 30% more for anything, which is never.
@Rob: You seem to have the weirdest experiences. I’m in Friar Tuck every other week (don’t tell my mom that I’m a lush). They never fail to ask for my birth date but never my age, they never card afterwards, and they often allow me to use…
This column affords me a long-awaited opportunity. I’ve wanted to write my own column called Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors. but I always thought it’d be too pithy. Here, I can say Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors and not feel bothered to stretch it out to 750…
Ha! Exactly. You, sir, are welcome at the bar in My House.
Why wait ‘til 3 pm?
I’m excited to go tonight- should be very fun!
Next, I want to know about growing up on Ennis Lane. Or the neighboring Surbana Estates. http://pathfindergroupil.com/index.php/surbanaestates
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Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
This makes me so sad. (Happy to live in Urbana, though!) Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away. This town should be supporting small businesses. I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market. Check it: http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
@Dan - Wow. Unfortunately, I have to refrain from further comment due to a previous employment relationship. But with that brief context you might be able to imagine possible comments or responses I could have.
Oh, by the way, the “Champaign County YMCA” no longer exists. The official name is now the “Stephens Family YMCA” (the website has not been updated, but check out the latest program guide). And no, it’s not just the name of the building. It’s the name of the organization.
Very inspired Photochops as well….
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@Jason: You’re right about that. I get groceries at Schnucks (they carry what I buy, which I can’t say of any other single grocery store in town), and if they have a beer I’m in the market for it’s usually a quarter or two cheaper per 6-…