Oh Oklahoma...

[a la izquierda]

Now you've done it. When I moved to your fine land of seemingly furnace-like summer temperatures, which of course lacked an ocean, I thought, "it's only temporary." When I had overly tanned women in my apartment complex ask if I had kids give me horrified looks when I replied in the negative, I thought maybe people here just like children. And when the same lady invited me to Fellowship, week after week, despite my kind overtures not to, I figured my soul was very valuable to her.
I eventually got used to 100+ degree summer temps, with 100% humidity and no ocean, winds that never cease and frigid winters. I got used to people staring at my tattoos and whispering. I got used to people thinking it was wrong that I lived with my boyfriend (now husband) before we got married. I eventually figured out that kids marry at 18 so they can go fuck their sweethearts, and that's why it was very odd that I, at 26, had no children.
I got used to all that.
I got used to the flatness that California did not have, and that even my native New Jersey did not have. I got used to that.
I readjusted to seasons. And damn, did I love that no traffic idea.

But I never got used to the politics. I got tossed out of a bar for an argument about Democrats. Students give me vacant, even hostile looks, when I talk about Latin American history and the legacy of brutality and chaos that the US has participated in. They shut down, some of them, and don't want to learn.
I get used to having neighbors with whom I disagree politically (even though I do love them in every other way), like my neighbor who told me yesterday she felt raped because of the new electrical meter being forced on her. I stupidly asked "Why?" I got a diatribe, walked in my house and told my husband, who laughed.
I am used to having national politicians who I don't even bother calling. What's the fucking point, I wonder? It must be nice to have politicians who might, just once GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT DEMOCRATS! Luckily, I have a local Senator who cares and a local Rep who cares. But, as the 2008 election in Oklahoma has illustrated, other parts of the state elected Atilla the Huns and other relics of the Dark Ages. How do moderate and even slightly left of center politicians have a chance?
As the recent abortion law has demonstrated, they have no pull at all. Someone is suing already, so that's a start: http://www.koco.com/health/23280323/detail.html

You know, I wasn't sure if I ever wanted kids. I'm now certain I will NEVER have them in Oklahoma. I live in a state that has many good attributes: cheap land, good family farming, good universities (for me to get a job in), two decent sized cities, low crime (generally speaking) and an economy that has not been as effected by national problems as other places. But when I graduate in May 2011, I will leave my many friends and good memories behind and say good riddance to BAD POLITICS.

Edited: Grammar

[MadMaddie]

1. I suspect that many smart people will leave OK and all that will

remain will be the Neanderthals.

[BlooInBloo]

7. "Brain drain" from hick areas is a well-known phenomenon. There's no mystery to it...

Even though we're probably not allowed to discuss it on DU (it offends people).

[Tess49]

2. Can I go with you? nt

[a la izquierda]

3. Well, surely. But I don't know where I'm going.

See, academics are like wandering minstrels their first few years after the PhD. We go where we get jobs. So, I might end up in *gulp* Arizona-a Mexican historian in Arizona, fantastic. Or, I could go to the secessionist paradise of Texas. Or the lesbian & gay-hating hellhole of Mississippi.

Wherever I go, I'm well prepared at this point. I'll be sad to leave Norman, but happy to leave the rest of this backward-ass state behind.

[Tess49]

4. Norman is a great town. Too bad about the rest of the state.

[fl_dem]

5. Let me start out with BOOMER SOONER!

and tell you I left OK in 1990 while my children were young enough to be affected by the backasswward mindset of the majority of residents. I have friends and family still in and around the Tulsa area that are liberal minded and are appalled at the recent legislation. It wouldn't surprise me if the next laws include daddy's or husband's signature required for birth control!!
I am so glad I got out while I could. My career is also in post secondary education but on the other side,I am admin. Good luck, don't look back.. I always said doom loomed over OK....

[ipfilter]

9. Doom is still looming here.

It hasn't gone anywhere. Our backwards politics don't help. I left in 1990 for the Navy. Came back in 1194 and went through culture shock in my own state. I still don't know why I came back here and I'm still suffering culture shock.

[BlooInBloo]

6. Come to Seattle.

[ipfilter]

10. I was stationed on Whidbey Island when I was in the Navy.

I don't know why I moved back here.

[a la izquierda]

11. My husband would have a freakin' cow!

He loves, and I mean LOVES Seattle. I've never been there.
I could dig it for sure.

[BlooInBloo]

14. I've always said your husband is a very smart man.

:D

[a la izquierda]

15. And he would agree

As would I
;)

[bobbolink]

8. Proud to be the 5th nomination!

Thank you for sharing your heart. What a mess we are in in this country!

How in the world Indians can stand to live in OK has always mystified me!

Best to you...... I know the stress, and hope you land in a more hospitable area... although anymore, I don't know if that actually applies to anywhere in this nation. :cry:

:yourock:

[a la izquierda]

12. Thanks Bobbie!

I hope you're doing well!
It's very frustrating. I'm just hoping I end up in the west somewhere. Or back home in the Northeast. If I go any futher Southeast, I'm doomed to a short, frustrated life. Or, a flameout and trip to the jungle, never to return.
;)

[bobbolink]

16. You know you're welcome in Colorado! ^_^

Although I can't imagine that C.U. would be much to your liking.

Plus, there are plenty of clue-less people here, too.

:hi: from Bobbie, who used to be represented by ......Tancredo. :puke:

[a la izquierda]

13. Delete-dupe!!

Computer's on the fritz.

[RobertPlant]

17. oklahoma actually has more registered dems than repubs n/t

[a la izquierda]

18. Well, they don't vote Dem...

so what does it matter if they're registered Dem?

[RobertPlant]

19. oh and also Norman is not liberal

62% of voters in Cleveland county voted for JMC

[a la izquierda]

22. Well, duh, but maybe that's because...

Norman isn't the entirety of Cleveland County. There's a whole lotta rural out here, and a pretty big rich community outside of the university.
Norman is a liberal as Oklahoma's getting.

But of course, you didn't address my question.

[fishwax]

25. what's that matter? They haven't gone blue in a national election since LBJ

The republicans have a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature. Other than David Boren, they haven't sent a democrat to the U.S. Senate since the Nixon administration, and other than David's son Dan and Brad Carson the state hasn't sent a Democrat to the House since Clinton's first term.

[unkachuck]

20. didn't....

....the Oklahoma legislature recently pass an anti-militia law equating militias with gangs and the KKK? Maybe you ought to stick around for a while....things might be getting interesting....

[a la izquierda]

23. Um, yeah...

but I think I'll be leaving, whether I like it or not. I won't get a job in Oklahoma, unless some other university hires me.

[rainbow4321]

21. My sis moved there 20+ yrs ago

We were talking about the new law in OK and how backward the state has always been..she remembered back when she first moved there from the East Coast and would get weird looks for the clothing style she wore...two years later those same clothes were all the rage in her part of the state. Ever since, she has sworn it takes two yrs or more for styles/clothing to make their way from the East Coast to OK. I told her that OK was the consignment shop for the coastal states' designers.

[fishwax]

24. I hear ya, a la izquierda

Been there, left that. A few years ago, as I was preparing to leave Oklahoma, I posted similar thoughts in the Oklahoma forum in this thread, which you may be able to relate to ... Fortunately you can get most Sooner games on TV elsewhere, and that's what really matters, lol. (Although, seeing some pictures of friends having fun at the Norman Music Festival last weekend, I kind of missed that as well.)

Anyway, I can relate to your frustration--but congrats on being so close to finishing. Hang in there for one more year, and I hope that an improved academic job market provides you a soft landing somewhere more pleasant :hi:

[a la izquierda]

26. Thank you kindly.

You know, I really do love it here, minus the Dark Ages politics! Before the 2008 election, I was honky dory to stay here. Thank you, reactionary idiots and racists! You've driven one more educated person out the door.

Chances are they wouldn't want me. I'm too "intellectual and too radical" (these are my sister in law's words).

[fl_dem]

28. I thought the same thing

I used to think the whole unprecedented hatred and disrespect of our President was racially motivated, but i'm starting to think its more of a hatred of any form of intelligence and free thought.

[seabeyond]

27. you... are in okl. hm

isnt that something. i am in texas panhandle. i hear what you mean, in so many ways. i wish there would be the same kind of national outcry as there is with this immigration "to do" in az. other states boycotting, a nation saying no.

[ChickMagic]

29. Don't be too hard on Texas

Yeah, we have a brain dead governor and will likely have him for a while longer. However, Austin is very blue and Dallas has turned blue. Not the suburbs, but Dallas proper. Freaking Park Cities, the fancies, went for Kerry & Obama. I saw the tale of the tape myself. The lege is getting slightly more blue. All, and I mean ALL of the judges in Dallas are Dems now. And we have an openly gay hispanic sheriff. We have a way to go, but we could use you. And there's a lot of universities in and around Dallas. Just don't go to Baylor in Waco under any circumstances.