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Social and economic climate of area - 12/30/2011
I and my husband have been traveling on the road for 5.5 years. We have been to many places to work and to stay for a short period and a long period of time. We landed in Carthage the first time working as a workcamper from April 2010 to April 2011. While we were not living in a house or apartment, the way in which we lived gave a very good indication of the social and economic climate of the area. Let me first say that both of us are from the North, Sioux Falls SD address but native Minnesotans. We are Yankees. That is the first strike against us as soon as we open our mouths because immediately people in this area and any southern area we have visited says. "I can tell that you are not from around here." The conversations get slimmer and people walk away." What did I do? After being here for awhile, you harden up as the women are very hard, loud and do not present themselves well at all. It is a given that 100 percent of the young/younger women up to age 40ish have long hair. There is no style or sense of it. The men own trucks, loud trucks with some having an oversized attitude while in their trucks. You find very few non Big 3 vehicles Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge. Trucks are fine as we have one. a Toyota Tundra. However, we get stares with the truck and South Dakota license plates. We left the area in April just before the EF5 tornado one month to the date. I was never so glad to leave in my entire life. I felt so out of place, unwelcomed and alone. By October, 2011, a person my husband knew from a group wanted him back to help with a business and we landed back here again until April 2012. I tried to go to a Celebrate Recovery in the area and the entire situation was strange because I had advanced education. I was hounded by a male leader relentlessly until my husband would attend because in these areas, a woman must be with her husband at groups, hair appointments etc. Up north, there is much more independence. Quite frankly it is very stifling and oppressive in this area. I hate being here but have no choice until the time comes up. Going back and forth to Joplin is no different. The people just do not care and let everything hang out. I feel for this area being hit by the tornado but if you live here long enough and pay close attention to the area, you will see that many people, not all, are apathetic, mean and uncultured. I am thankful we never bought a house here, but living here as long as we did has been very damaging. There may be alot of churches and professing Christians but as other posts have indicated on Joplin, there is meth, drugs, sex offenders, and other that really impact the quality of life that these people strive for. This entire area is bad. We have been to Springfield, MO which is like night and day difference. It is more progressive with building and construction. You can find things you are looking for there. In Joplin and Carthage, Walmart owns the city and the city council people keep everything the same for years. HyVee wanted to come to Joplin and there was a small technical issue that the city council would not deal with so they pulled out and went to Springield. All you have is Walmart, Foods 4 less with low stock, and Price Cutter way over in another town. I do not understand how people make it in these places. Do your homework extensively before thinking of moving in this area.[read more...] |
