Awesome Article

Another great PR piece on OKC.

Many know I moved to Southern California in 1990, after spending my first 30 years in Oklahoma. I was sad to go but the economy was horrible and there was almost zero opportunity in OKC.

I have started to think about moving back myself. The biggest deterrent is the brutal, long summers... I just don't think I could handle that.

No kidding about the summers. I visited CA for the first time back in 2003. Had a blast there but was glad to head back home to my family. I will never forget as the plane flew into OKC I though "Wow Oklahoma was really beautiful with all the green". As we were forming a line to exit the plan still feeling proud to be an Oklahoman, the doors to the plane open and my first thought was "Oh I forgot how humid it is here." I was amazed the humidity about made me legs give out. lol

@lovokc

The low humidity cabin also plays a role in the feeling. After a few hours normal humidity 40-60% would feel fine. But stepping from a cold, pressurized tube that was at 10-25% humidity for the past few hours into a "normal" humidity range would create the overwhelming feeling. A lot of it is in the mind.

I agree, our humidity here isn't that bad in reality.

@lovokc

The low humidity cabin also plays a role in the feeling. After a few hours normal humidity 40-60% would feel fine. But stepping from a cold, pressurized tube that was at 10-25% humidity for the past few hours into a "normal" humidity range would create the overwhelming feeling. A lot of it is in the mind.
We noticed that coming back to Austin from Denver this past June. Austin has a bit more humidity than OKC and when we walked out the doors at midnight the humidity here hit us like a wall after being in Denver for almost a week and the plane ride back.

No kidding about the summers. I visited CA for the first time back in 2003. Had a blast there but was glad to head back home to my family. I will never forget as the plane flew into OKC I though "Wow Oklahoma was really beautiful with all the green". As we were forming a line to exit the plan still feeling proud to be an Oklahoman, the doors to the plane open and my first thought was "Oh I forgot how humid it is here." I was amazed the humidity about made me legs give out. lol

I have flown into LA countless times and it's always great to fly back into OKC without going through a brown haze before you land.

And a follow-on article/letter on the USAToday website:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/letters/2010-10-19-letters19_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

One response bolsters the positive; another is a nice bashing from a Californian who claims to have lived in OK for 9 years.

I agree, our humidity here isn't that bad in reality.

OMG, after ten years near DC, this is heaven.

And a follow-on article/letter on the USAToday website:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/letters/2010-10-19-letters19_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

One response bolsters the positive; another is a nice bashing from a Californian who claims to have lived in OK for 9 years.

I've lived here 26 years, and have to agree (to an extent) with the second letter. I think the major cities themselves are very tolerant and diverse, but I can attest that a good portion of the suburbs and rural areas of this state are not very friendly to certain groups. If you don't see that, you are either a W.A.S.P or have your head in the sand.

I've lived here 26 years, and have to agree (to an extent) with the second letter. I think the major cities themselves are very tolerant and diverse, but I can attest that a good portion of the suburbs and rural areas of this state are not very friendly to certain groups. If you don't see that, you are either a W.A.S.P or have your head in the sand.

I'd say that's the case in most states though. The rural areas and small towns are way behind their urban counterparts. I drove through Oregon once. There are towns in the eastern part of that state that could be mistaken for Oklahoma or Texas, both in how they look and the type of people that live there.

This thread is so far off topic, I forgot what the original USAToday article even said.

I've lived here 26 years, and have to agree (to an extent) with the second letter. I think the major cities themselves are very tolerant and diverse, but I can attest that a good portion of the suburbs and rural areas of this state are not very friendly to certain groups. If you don't see that, you are either a W.A.S.P or have your head in the sand.


I think it's quite a stretch to pretend that major cities don't have problems of their own. I always think of the lyrics to "Rednecks" by Randy Newman when talking about the myth that minorities are treated better in places other than the South:
"Yes he's free to be put in a cage
In Harlem in New York City
And he's free to be put in a cage in the South-Side of Chicago, the West-Side
And he's free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he's free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he's free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he's free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston"

I've lived here 26 years, and have to agree (to an extent) with the second letter. I think the major cities themselves are very tolerant and diverse, but I can attest that a good portion of the suburbs and rural areas of this state are not very friendly to certain groups. If you don't see that, you are either a W.A.S.P or have your head in the sand.


I'd say that's the case in most states though. The rural areas and small towns are way behind their urban counterparts. I drove through Oregon once. There are towns in the eastern part of that state that could be mistaken for Oklahoma or Texas, both in how they look and the type of people that live there.
Yep, pretty much true of most burbs. For as "liberal" as Austin is reputed to be just go up to the adjacent county (Williamson County, home to Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander) and it is the extreme opposite in almost every way. That dynamic pretty much exists in every large Texas city.