September 02, 2005

• Hi WorLord - I'm terribly sorry to hear your loss. I'll give you a bit of info on my city - I love it here and all of us in Portland OR will give a very warm welcome to you and all who, for any reason, move here. This is a wonderful and still not-yet-huge city with the one of the largest ratios of gay residents in the US. We have wifi in every cafe (thanks to the Portland Telco Project), we have fantastic urban planning, we have beautiful parks, and an excellent local music scene. Our Max and Trimet public transit systems are the best I've seen in any non major US city. We're currently undergoing a huge urban redevelopment boon, and despite the national trend of high housing costs, there is an abundance of housing available in the metro area at reasonable rates (part of our huge South Waterfront and Pearl District projects stipulated income controlled housing, built as it should be right next to the most expensive housing in Oregon). We're basically a smaller, better planned, and less traffic-jammed version of Seattle. With the music and poetry scene of Austin. Let me know if you are thinking about moving up here, I'd love to talk with you over the phone or give you an introduction to the area if you come here. We're good people, quite liberal, and we have a great art scene across the board. You might find it a good fit.
• Hi WorLord, let me just say right off the bat that I am so very sorry for the loss of your hometown and anything else that you did not mention. I have refugee friends from there as well who are back on their way up here as we speak, to start over. I live in Seattle and Seattle is all of those things you describe EXCEPT the good public transit part. It's an ongoing problem here. I will be realistic: housing prices are high; I'm unsure of the rent prices here but they seem to have kept the same for the past five years or so; if you are looking for tech jobs and especially biotech jobs, this is a great place to be employed, as the biotech industry is about to take off here; I think the music/art scene is great and very community friendly; the mountains and the ocean are just a couple of hours drive away, as is Vancouver BC; the weather is very decent (don't believe all you hear about all the rain, the weather pattern seems to be changing lately around here), summers not terribly hot, winters not terribly cold; Seattle is, however, notorious for being oddly uptight and clique-ish, for reasons I still don't understand. There's Seattle in a nutshell: not good public transit, high housing prices, difficult to make friends if you're a social moron like me, but the rest of it is why I stay.
• Austin hits thee of the four of your criteria, and I really liked living there. There are some red-state enclaves (such as the end of Congress Ave...), but my friends there happily refer to it as "The People's Republic of Austin". For a bigger city, Houston is good, too. It's the 'burbs that produce the Steve Stockmans and Tom Delays, but Montrose/Heights may be more to your liking. My district went Nader in 2000, because Gore was too far to the right...
• By the way, Ian Would Say is correct on all accounts of Portland. If I didn't live here, I'd live there. I'm just too stuck in my ways. But I know lotsa folks that fled Seattle for Portland. I envy all the green space downtown Portland has. . .
• As a tech savvy, lesbian artist who rides a bike and public transit in Chicago I'd be happy to answer questions should you consider up here. The Andersonville neighborhood, a few miles north of downtown has reasonable rents (for Chicago of course) and is a nice place to live. Good access to public transportation too. It's also lesbian central with lots of gay men and queers in general. There's about a mile of "main drag" with bar, restaurants and shops where there is increasingly little distinction between gay and straight. It's odd, but there's this integration thing happening, less and less exclusive haunts. Plus, you could literally be a couple block walk from the lake and it's parks and beaches. I'm not sure what you mean by tech friendly, but Chicago has lots and lots of business, hence lots of tech work needed. South of the loop there an up and coming arts community in the Pilsen neighborhood. Lots of arts in other areas too. Chicago has a pretty serious arts scene that can be topped by only a few cities, like NYC and LA. Public transportation is nothing to get excited about but it'll get you there. Recent budget cuts have reduced some services but I've not noticed them. Perhaps if you became a rush-hour commuter you would, but that not when I'm a user. The weather here runs the full range. Hot in August, cold in February. Spring and fall are quite reasonable though.
• It's maybe a hollow gesture in a way but all the best no matter where you decide to replant WorLord. I'm sure I can't imagine how it has been/is/will be for you all but there's millions of tiny prayers of well wishings rising to the ether at the moment.
• Wishing you well, WorLord, wherever you move to.
• Given your criteria I would also suggest Portland. I've been there quite a bit, and been impressed by the city itself and the environs. It's queer-friendly, in a consistent way, not mixed and patchy. Transit is fine near downtown, anyway, and driving in Oregon is a treat - very much like driving in western Canada, with little craziness or temper showing. The downtown area is interesting and more European in feel than most cities of its size. It is a bit like Boulder's downtown, but with better beer, Powell's book store, and more rain. Disclaimer. I live near Santa Cruz, California - but if I didn't, Portland would be my next choice.
• Damn, you people are making me want to move to Portland from Austin :) Any computer jobs up there? I looked a couple years ago, but the economy seemed a little depressed.
• Tech Friendly = I'm a PHP / MySQL / C / Perl / Bash programmer and Linux / Windows server tech and IT Administrator. I'd like to keep a job in that field, so "Tech Friendly" means "computer geek work available". ;-) I also would like the place to be lenient on people who smoke grass. Not that, you know, I'd do a thing like that, but I do enjoy the general attitude and mindset of an area that turns a blind eye to those sorts of things.
• Portland sounds way too good. Given the way these things cycle, they're obviously due for a city/state government that will decimate services while promising unrealistic tax cuts. /cynicism
• In times like these... Not that I should know about this, but I'll say that the pacific NW has long been known for it's obscenely good beers and excellent organic grass. We're just a few hours from Humboldt, Eugene, and Vancouver... the three grass capitols of the world. Suffice it to say, it's so prevalent here that I even occasionally see it in public, and the quality here is awesome. To use our current administration's color ratings, I'd say we're "orange". More on our microbrew scene, which is the largest in the world.
• Job listings currently on craigslist: Software Engineering Network administration Internet engineering Tech Support
• The Oregon Brewers Fest, which we just had. holy crap, Full Sail's People's Ale, a Belgian Golden aged 7 years in oak casks which debuted there was AMAZING. Their imperial porter aged 2 years in bourbon casks kicked some serious butt too. General Fremont's IPA is one of the best I've ever had, on par with Bridgeport's IPA, and this stuff a brewpub down the street from me made called Yeast Poop was the richest chocolatiest porter imaginable. so tasty.
• Portland, no doubt about it. My family and I just moved from La Conner, WA (a white collar town), to Waldport, OR. Gay-friendly, well that would be the whole west coast, frankly. Tech-savvy--west coast. Weed friendly, west coast. Good public transport--that would be in Portland, exclusively. Artsy--west coast. I have spent most of my life close to Seattle, love it but wouldn't live there. Absolutely adore Austin, TX, but can't take the heat. Portland is the best of all worlds and Oregon, in general, hasn't really been discovered for the fabulous gem that it is and, therefore, housing prices have not yet skyrocketed like they have in other areas. Of course, on the coastline, itself, that is really starting to change. Not only that, Oregon is spectacularly beautiful.
• One caveat, I don't know how the rest of the nation is dealing with the meth problem, but Oregon and Washington have severe problems with it. That would basically be the only drawback that I can think of.
• Yeah. It's pretty bad here. It basically came out of Salem and northern Cali, and it's hit some of the suburbs of Portland with a terrifying intensity. The good thing is that our meth problem is the top priority of our local news, with pulitzer nominated coverage going to the Oregonian's Faces of Meth, constant coverage of the destructive aspects of the drug, and strong police intervention hopefully leading to a change for the better.
• San Francisco seems like an obvious choice. It's a wonderful city in spite of being so widely thought to be a wonderful city that it can be a bit crowded...
• A plus for Seattle: we're only three hours from Vancouver, BC.
• /off topic ian would say, I have been really impressed with the Oregonian, not to mention the general attitude about how much focus needs to be put on the meth problems. In Washington, the main focus, what there is of it, is more along the lines of busting labs (which is good, of course) versus focusing on the impact it has on families and children as Oregon seems to have done. I continue to be surprised by how impressive Oregon is compared to Washington. I love Washington and never thought Oregon could be better, almost across the board, but it is turning out that way. /off topic
• Los Angeles is all of the above except good public transportation. West Hollywood (embedded in LA) is, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, the gayest city in the world. And I have a tech job, so it's been friendly to me.
• As a fellow Southerner in Seattle -- and queer to boot -- I have to second/third/fourth/whatever comments about this city. The only thing I disagree with so far is the comment that we have bad public transportation. Having come from a place with awful public trans., I think Seattle's is divine. And you can bike or walk most the city in no time flat. I moved here four years ago and have been in love with it ever since. Mountains on either side, surrounded by water, some damn funky history, and neighborhood bars everywhere you look, what's better? And most importantly for a Southerner: palm trees grow here! Outside! I shit you not. Oh yeah, and it almost never snows.
• Oh my. How could I have forgotten this: four years and I have yet to see a cockroach. Those of you not from the South cannot understand the horror that is the flying palmetto bug ( A three inch long cockroach. With wings ). Hearing one in a darkened bedroom could loosen the bowels of a dinosaur.
• San Francisco is more expensive than Portland, but you're more likely to find work (tech firms are growing again) and it will pay more. Plus it's just a bigger city, which you may or may not like. Of course, it's also prone to natural disasters. Out of the frying pan...
• Seattle is nice, but it is almost literally full. By which I mean, housing prices are outta control, traffic is outta control, etc. Local government is completely impotent to solve these and other problems and plus you have Tim Eyman (Google him). Also, many people claim that Seattle people are more polite than welcoming, and it is a common newcomer complaint that it is difficult to date and make friends here. As far as I'm concerned this is actually a feature most of the time, as it means people keep their nose out of your business unless you invite them to take an interest, but YMMV. I like Portland too. I'd consider living there. If you live just across the border in Vancouver, WA, you can skate out of state income tax (WA has none) and most sales tax (OR has none, but WA will get its pound of flesh on your car, since it'll be registered in WA). Of course then you will be living in suburbia with all that that implies. But it's a unique situation you won't find in most urban areas.
• You could always move to Warrington, UK. Horrible traffic due to a half-cocked transport system, horribly homophobic, we have an "arts quarter" consisting of literally one building, and no tech industry whatsoever. but on the other hand, it is pretty easy to get your hands on grass.
• yeah, come to LA...we need more monkeys here! we'll totally take you in...as far as the tech-savvy part goes, JPL is just up the road in pasadena....JPL RAWKS!
• Asheville, North Carolina. Over-the-top artsy. So gay-friendly there are barely any children. It is actually legal to smoke marijuana that is grown in your dreadlocks. The tech thing may not be so good, and the mass-transit is probably lacking, but it is the best I can offer.
• If you're up in these parts looking at Chicago, I suggest spending a day wandering around Madison WI. Specifically, drive down Williamson Street out to the Atwood neighborhood -- take some wrong turns towards the lake while you're at it -- , turn around, find your way over to Gorham/University Ave, go left into the area SW of Camp Randall stadium -- what the local cabbies call the "president streets": Monroe, Lincon, etc. If I were to move back to town, those are the places I'd look first. Good luck, and, holy cow, what do you say to someone in your shoes. Bon Courage, ami.
• on non-preview: decent tech jobs, generations of hippies, two have been elected mayor (one is current). I bike commuted there for 3 years w/ not much trouble (it got cold in the winter and I had to push my bike through the snow a couple times though).
• Come to Houston (or stay in Houston). We want to help. Really, our hearts are aching for those in need, and we are looking for ways to help. Plus, there is the gay scene, the arts scene, and the general leave-you-alone attitude that you will not find in Dallas, for instance.
• sorry, one more answer to your questions: The last place I lived in Madison was right upstairs from a cop. I smoked weed every day back then -- no problems. Once he came upstairs to alert me that water from the tub was dripping through his ceiling, and he respectfully stayed on the other side of the threshold despite the clouds of smoke. I'll stop now. ;*)
• Much as it is my adopted home, for which I have no small affection? Probably best to skip St. Louis. It is an insular, stiff-necked place. If I got blown out of here, my first choice would be Boston - history, friendly, full of life and character. My second choice(s) would be Vienna, or Rome.
• Best of luck to you, your family and friends WorLord! I considered moving to both Portland and Seattle in recent years. I don't think you could go wrong with either. I was very impressed with Portland (having an urban planning background, it was like a dream city for me). Perhaps I will end up there one of these days... So nice to see our community, again, offering its wisdom to a monkey in need!
• Can't offer much advice unless you want to come to Europe (many parts of which do admirably fill your criteria: Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Spain...) but wanted to send best wishes to you and yours. *hugs*
• Madison WI meets all of your criteria. Plus it's a bitch'in town.
• Re: Memphis. I was born there and much of my family still lives there. I think it's a bit of a frontier. I can vouch for a thriving gay community, despite this resident notorious program. Several of my best gay friends relocated from Nashville to Memphis over the last couple of years and love it there. Memphis has struggled with its identity for decades, since the civil rights movement. It used to have a notoriously high crime rate and considerable racial unrest. However, the situation has greatly improved. Over the past dozen or so years, the downtown area has been revitalized, and there is a burgeoning arts scene. I think there is decent public transport in the downtown area (bus and trolley), but I don't think this extends very far into the burbs. I don't know how tech friendly Memphis is as a town, but I bet you wouldn't have as much competition for jobs as you might on the West coast. And the cost of living is cheaper by comparison. Memphis probably has a vibe closer to what you are used to in New Orleans, with southern hospitality and a slower pace. And there's Beale Street.
• if you come to Austin we'll have a monkey meetup in your honor! heck, we'll even buy you a beer! What other city says that, hm? seriously, consider all of them. send out resumes and see what happens. chances are you'd be happy in any of the cities you mentioned. I'm sorry that you're in this situation, but I'm glad to see that you've kept your spirits up!
• Minneapolis / St. Paul might be a good choice - decent public transit, gay-friendly, not sure of the tech scene since I don't work in that industry, but Geek Squad is based here, at least :). housing is not super-outrageous, and herb is a pretty common indulgence.
• May I respectfully say to ya'll that are suggesting places like San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland (which are wonderful cities, BUT!) that would be somewhat like jumping out of the soup and into the popcorn skillet? Hurricanes and flooding, earthquakes and flooding, pretty much same, same to me. I would think someplace fairly flat and boring would be nice.
• Austin - good food, good music, and employment is on the rise. All the heat and humidity of Houston - half the crowding. We've got Sixth Street, which is sort of like Bourbon Street without the bared breasts. The employment situation is getting better here as well. I can't speak to the gay-friendliness of the town (not a part of that scene) but on the other hand, it's not gay-unfriendly as far as I can tell. We're not as weed-friendly as the Northwest cities, but you can find chronic down here and most people I know take a pretty relaxed attitude toward it. Whatever you decide, you should visit Austin at the least. Let me know if you want to come up here for a bit (email in profile).
• As far as I know, Seattle and Portland don't really have earthquake (or in Seattle's case--not too much) and flooding problems. Certainly not hurricanes. Flooding will only happen in the flatland areas. Seattle has to have a tsunami plan in place, but it still would not get hit too hard by something like that, and obviously Portland wouldn't.
• Another vote for Madison here. Maybe a little small for you if you're considering Seattle or Austin, but we're constantly topping those "Best (small) City for [x]" lists. We've got arts, we've got tech companies, the University of Wisconsin, and excellent beer. Our public transit system isn't the greatest in the world, but our mayor has a grand plan for a streetcar system similar to Portland's. We've also been disaster-free in recent memory. Besides, wouldn't you rather live on an isthmus?
• Darshon, Seattle is an earthquake disaster just waiting to happen. Most of the city and surrounding neighborhoods are built on silt from the regrades, not to mention that a huge fault runs right underneath the city. Also, big earthquakes used to happen here about every 25 years on the nose but it's been awfully quiet since 1965. "They" are always predicting that The Big One could happen at any moment and if it does, this city could be toast. I won't even go into what could happen if Mt. Rainier blew its top! Given that, I truly don't think that *any* city in this country is safe from a natural disaster of some sort.
• You could always move to Warrington, UK. Horrible traffic due to a half-cocked transport system, horribly homophobic, we have an "arts quarter" consisting of literally one building. Is it Mr Smith's?
• kittenhead, true point, however I meant that it was not something that had to be dealt with in the way SF and LA have to deal with it. And yes, as far as that goes, none of us are safe from disaster.
• I'm from Memphis. Memphis has a very large gay population, the only bars that last are either gay bars or Beale St. tourist trap white boy blues dumps. The gay population tends toward bears rather than the urbane and stylish. We have no subway, and a subpar bus line. The population is friendly and rather tech savvy, although the economy doesn't support many high paying tech positions. Companies locate here to exploit the vast techie crowd, paying $10/hr where in other metro areas they would have to fork over $25/hr or more for equivalent expertise. Fedex, International Paper, and Autozone pay very well for tech workers though. As for the arts, they're here, but the scene isn't as thriving as it could be. Memphis is a friendly but cliquish city, so your experience would vary depending upon the filter of friends and aquantances you make. Midtown is generally the most appealing area of the city, where you would find all of the qualities that you desire. As for areas outside, only the University district is at all appealing.
• Personally, I'm relocating to Pittsburgh. It's a slice of heaven.
• Re: Seattle, Portland earthquake. Yes, it is a disaster waiting to happen. However, we're pretty well prepared here architecturaly. This has been a known issue for a while, and while both cities have a large number of old brick buildings with severe danger of collapse in an eq, the majority of the metropolitan areas are quite earthquake proof (either through initial design or retrofits. tons and tons of portland buildings have had retrofits). My cafe is in a 1926 built building which has all spiral rebar reinforced concrete. Mi madre is a civil engineer specialized in seismic analysis here in the NW, and while this background gives her the occasional alarmist edge on our potential earthquake problem, she really believes we would fare a huge earthquake rather well. I've also got somewhere a huge map of the portland metro area's ground composition. They took core samples from about every street corner for this, and I could tell you all the areas built on bedrock.
• *doesn't know anything about how SF, Vancouver would fare an earthquake. Imagines Vancouver would probably giggle, dust off shoulders, shrug it off. damn city is built too well*
• Say, WL, how about dropping us all a line when you make the big decision. Best of luck to you.
• Seattle may be architecturally prepared but again, not built on bedrock like Portland. Just silty landfill stuff, most of the whole dang city. That is the disaster-waiting-to-happen part that gives me the heebie jeebies at times.
• First of all, my thoughts are with you. I used to spend summers in NOLA with my friend's grandparents. I still can't get my little monkey brain around all the devastation and hardship the Gulf Coast is facing. Wow. Didn't know I had so many fellow Monkeys in Seattle. Especially techy gay ones! So most of my sentiments in choosing Seattle have been echoed by previous posts. After looking at Austin, Portland, Seattle, and DC, I chose Seattle because that's where a lot of my friends from High School had ended up. Moving to Seattle with a social network in place made things much easier. But I've found Seattleites to be very friendly. Maybe it's my charming Southern social graces... Just don't expect people to smile and offer a hello on the street as you walk by. However, once they can contextualize you and recognize you from someplace (the grocery store, a neighbor's party, the workplace) they are very friendly. Having moved from a place with zero public transportation (Raleigh/Durham) I can only rave about the public transit in Seattle. It's not NYC, Boston or DC though. Of course in a few weeks they're closing the bus tunnels downtown to retrofit tracks for light rail. I live in town and my commute to work is less than 2 miles. The bus goes most places I need to get, and for other things there is always Flexcar. Being gay is a non-issue in this area, as it should be. There are the typical gay clubs, but most of the really interesting places are mixed. As for smokables, I don't have any first hand experience, but I know that SPD has made marijuana enforcement it's last priority. What this means is that you will get busted for jaywalking before possession. The negatives are pretty severe though. The tech industry is recovering here, but still lagging behind most of the rest of the country. The housing market is expensive. It's always overcast. We have large homeless, drug addict, and street kid populations, mostly due to indifference. We're great at ignoring problems, hoping they'll go away. We're bursting at the seams in population, and there is a lot of tension between us and the very conservative eastern regions of the state. I'd suggest a weeklong visit in Jan or Feb though, just to make sure you can tolerate the dark and the dampness. There's also a lot of tension between the very laid back attitudes of long-time residents, and more recent yuppie and bourgeois-bohemian transplants. We're secretly hoping an earthquake will wipe them all out. I'd say your options are wide open. I've visited many of the other cities Monkey's have suggested and enjoyed every one of them. I think a vast, continental road trip is in order!
• If you don't mind coming to Canada, Montreal is just amazing. It easily satisfies all the things you're looking for -- they're in a tech boom, extremely gay-friendly (esp. with that annual gay-rave in the Big Owe), incredibly artsy and open to the arts at every turn, very good public transit which is heavily subsidized, etc., etc. Sure, at some point you'd have to learn French (I assume), but you'd only be the richer for it. You certainly don't need French to get by, but you'd be missing out on a lot. Plus, Quebecois love their Cajun brethren. Not the Acadians who actually live in the Maritimes, just all the ones who were booted out.
• Both Portland and Madison, WI are great places. I would like to suggest another, Iowa City, IA. It is a college town with a lot of tech jobs in the area. They have a large gay population, plenty of nightlife, and a good bus system. Housing prices aren't too bad and, if small town living is more to your taste, there are plenty a short distance away to choose from. Schools in Iowa are wonderful and the people are very open and friendly. I grew up in that area and I still love it more than just about everywhere else I have lived. Iowa City University of Iowa iowa City's Press Citizen Downtown Iowa City If female gladhands is more your style, Juneau, AK has a very large lesbian population. Of course, the view from every window in the city is a beauty and it is a very liberal city with good state jobs. The only problem is housing is way WAY too expensive. Last time I checked, the cheapest house on the market was $200,000. But, having lived here now for over four years, I have to say it is a great place.
• Whoa! I had no idea that housing prices were that high in Juneau.
• Portland = in the shadow of an active volcano. IN THE SHADOW OF AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. How is this an improvement over New Orleans? =/ I'd recommend Columbus, because it has the desired qualities, but it also doesn't. Like, there's a huge queer community here, but Ohio itself is not gay-friendly. It's arty, but the art doesn't really sell. Too much obsession with college football. Much urban decay. Etc.
• I'll second housepig's recommendation of the Twin Cities, and add that I had a very successful six years in the tech industry here. Our winters are more impressive than you may be used to, but our summers aren't quite as brutal... That said, I'd maybe live in Portland if my parents didn't. If public education is a concern, look carefully at OR -- when I was in high school there (a dozen years ago, much may have changed) various ballot initiatives had gutted school funding by limiting property taxes. Whereas in Minnesota, you can't buy beer on Sundays. I guess people are stupid about something wherever you go....
• But you can ski on that active dormant volcano! And it is very beautiful.
• You guys rule.
• What, 60 posts and no one suggested Toronto yet? It's the safest big city in Canada, and has some of the mildest weather Canada has to offer. I think we've got all your other needs taken care of as well - Transit, tech jobs, gay-friendly, artsy... all-in-all an easy city to love.
• What about British Columbia, calimehtar? I've spent only a couple of days in Toronto, in the middle of winter, and, being a Calif. person, BC has always seems like something I'd like to look into
• Isn't it really difficult to get a job in Canada if you're a foreign transplant? Someone who lives in Canada, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that in order to work in Canada, you must be able to fulfill some sort of position that no other Canadian can fill. Or something like that--I'm not wording what I want to convey very clearly. Anyway, an American and his/her family wanting to start their lives over in a different city might have a heck of a hard time moving to Canada (or any other country), yes?
• kittenhead, my family moved from the US in 1980. Both my parents were offered jobs and took them, and I believe it was no more complicated than that. Canada is generally easier to get into than the USA. The way I understand it, if you're not a refugee then you need either a job offer or else a certain level of education. Many of my friends in Toronto immigrated to Canada and almost all of them just applied to live in Canada and were accepted on the basis of their education or work experience. They probably give preference to people with skills in certain industries and I don't know which those are. path, I live in Toronto and there's a bit of a regional rivalry I think. So don't expect an honest answer :). Vancouver has a higher crime rate, and may have a worse climate depending on what you're looking for. Toronto has typically brutal winters, while in Vancouver it rarely snows. But then in Vancouver it just rains all the time. The best weather in Canada is in the Okanagan Valley (inland BC) or Victoria (Vancouver Island), both in BC. Southern Ontario has the next-best weather, and Toronto makes up for the winters by having good transit, high density (I haven't had a car in the 5 years I've been here, and always been able to walk to work) and a particularly vibrant cultural scene.
• Late to the party as usual, but let me second Bernockle's recommendation of MY hometown: Asheville. Yes we do have kids here btw. ;-) And I hardly ever smoke the dope I grow in my dreadlocks, I give it out for free to my fellow monkeys in need! Asheville is great: beautiful, artsy, fun, an incredible live music scene, a lot of really nice people, tons to do, very gay friendly, very progressive, great weather and just generally the best place to live I've ever been. Downsides: housing is getting more expensive by the moment, jobs which actually pay a living wage are hard to find, no public transportation (but we are small enough where you can use a bike or a scooter to get everywhere.)
• I lived in Austin for 6 years in the 90's. It's a nice town - but very hard to secure a good job - and you do have redneck and backwards elements creeping in all around, even if not in the central city. And the traffic/SUV/suburb/big box culture seems to be making it a little more like Dallas every day. There's nowhere in the country I'd rather live than where I am now - San Francisco. Yes, rents are high - but that is counterbalanced by many things, especially since you don't have the need and costs of immediate car ownership and plentiful, high-paying tech jobs. Come to SF: there is tons of work, whether it be permanent or contract to start. There is a lot of housing now that the market is dipping. There is so much culture and so much that contributes to a high quality lifestyle here - I don't think you would regret it. Let us know if you do end up here. We'll take you out for some good food and good beer and fill you in on tricks of affordable living in the city that easily counterbalance the high rents.
• WorLord, I of course vote for Seattle. But I just read a post on BoingBoing about colleges across the country cutting various great deals for Gulf state refugees. Do you have a college degree? Have you been thinking about going back to school? This would be a great time to matriculate at one of the colleges listed here. Lemons out of lemonade, start fresh, and so on.
• Wow. Wow. Thank you, everyone, for the responses. It's given me a lot to think about. All of you well wishers have really boosted my spirits, and helped us all try to find a little light in a dark situation. The big decision both has, and hasn't, been made yet. That is to say, where we ultimately end up is way up in the air, but we need to start somewhere now, and that now is going to be Austin is we can swing it. This is because of a requirement I hadn't really thought about: half of us are homeowners in New Orleans, and my wife has family in Lake Charles who are at death's doorstep. Proximity is a factor I can't ignore, in those cases, and I don't know how much unfinished business I'm going to have to take care of in Lake Orleans in the next year. So all you Austinites, lookout. This is your official Incoming Cajun warning. As for long term: I lived in SF for about 5.5 years before moving back here in '04 (perhaps not the smartest idea, but hey, you know what they say about hindsight...). I loved it, but missed home, and natural disasters are really a little more real to me now - I'm trying to avoid places that get destroyed and rebuilt on a semi-regular basis. Portland and Seattle sound very good, but I'm still skittish about those for the very same reasons. Canada: Canada is where I've really wanted to be for a long, long time now, but I don't think they'd have me... I lack the degree / 2nd language that would give me enough points to enter the country. I'm bummed about that, but have hope due to the suggestion that it is easier to get into Canada than I'd thought. I'd love nothing more than to end up there in a few years, when all this is settled and I can snag enough money to get up there... I just don't know how. Maybe I'll learn french. I'm rambling now, perhaps I needed the distraction. Again, thank you all for your suggestions - I've saved the thread, so once I have things like a proper Mailing Address and Work in the Morning, and a little leisure, I can mull them all over with the gang and plan for the future. (And they say that the Internet has nothing to do with real life. Ha!) Again, thank you all for being who you are. You really are halping carry us through this thing.
• I'll check in with a suggestion I'm taking on, as I've just lost a relationship only weeks after dropping everything and moving to Ann Arbor, which is very nice in its own right... Consider Louisville, KY. I lived there, in the hometown of my parents, for about ten years before I moved to Chicago for the last 18 years. Louisville is vibrant, weird, young and has great parks, great springs and falls. I'm looking forward to being back there. E-mail me if you'd like more info... I'm headed back to apartment shop in mere days.