I like Pocatello
-
11/23/2014
I grew up as a Jew in Pocatello, graduating from high school in 1965. While were a distinct minority in a 40% LDS (Mormon) town, I didn't feel any particular religious prejudice. Pocatello was then a small town with many of the benefits of an urban area - because the diverse faculty of Idaho State University drew in international and national level entertainment and demanded high quality education for their families. While there are fewer minorities throughout the West, Pocatello happened (happens?) to have a significant black population because it was the place where railway porters changed their shifts. They were/are well integrated into the community with a black high school contemporary of my sister serving as mayor for a number of years.
I haven't lived in Pocatello for over 40 years, and I understand that an inclux of right-wing haters from California has increased tension levels - but I remember Poky as a great place to grow up and my parents lived there comfortably through their retirement years. The essential reason we didn't move back was that there was no work for my Anthropolgy professor wife.
Leon | Norristown, PA