phineas wrote: 

stop with the gibberish...

 hippiechick wrote: 
Well...

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
Where you live is in your head. You can experience joy, no matter what the circumstances.

 triskele wrote: 

Filnt's been a virtual ghost-town since the mid-80's.
One of the first victims of the "What do you mean all those people we laid off so we could have our obsolete cars built cheaper overseas can't afford to buy our cars??"

This whole discussion reminds me of a comment from my aunt.  She was talking about living in Rawlins, Wyoming, which, as home to the state pen and nothing else but two or three truck stops, a half-dozen seedy hotels, and seven hundred and fifty-three scummy bars,  and located in the middle of a stretch of landscape that might very charitably be described as "spare," a lot of folks would consider to be less than the ideal place to live.  Nonetheless, says my aunt one evening, "the best years of my life were there."

Geographical place really as very, very little to do with it.

(Says the guy who sacrificed anything like a career so he could stay in the place he loves. . . .)

 oldviolin wrote: 
I guess, because I am really not understanding you.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Try living where I was brought up, I think you'd soon change your opinion

 triskele wrote: 
To be honest the only place I've been in the states is New York so I was just being curious to what people thought of the 20 cities given as really I have no idea. I speak with Jaclyn a lot on msn and she lives in Columbus, OH and she's often said that she thinks Columbus has 'potential'. I never realised how Big Ohio was, it would seem it's a state of many cities, a few which come up on the list.

 hippiechick wrote: 
What, am I speaking gibberish?

 oldviolin wrote: 
No I am saying that everything is beautiful, if you allow yourself to be present and make the best of what's around.

 hippiechick wrote: 
So, you're saying that a place is ugly or beautiful depending upon a persons assignment of memories to a resonant inner beauty ; your emotional investment as it were.
That is measuring the marigolds...

 oldviolin wrote: 
I'm sorry OV, I don't understands what that means. Would you explain it to me, please?

BTW, I have lived in Akron, Kent, Cleveland, Detroit, Erie, PA (Yes, all the hot spots of the Midwest), and I enjoyed each one of those cities. Cleveland has wonderful parks (the Emerald Necklace is a contiguous string of forest preserves that run like a necklace around the city)  and museums, and I enjoyed my childhood there. All the snow meant that we could go sled riding all winter, as well as ice skate.

Detroit itself is very sad, but I lived in Brimingham and Southfield, and Cranbrook was a beautiful place to hang out, Greektown had good food, and there were plenty of snow opportunities. Michigan's old growth trees are so beautiful throughout the year.

I have never lived in a place where I haven't been able to find wonderful gems, some of them very hidden.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
no, but i will agree with some of the cities indicated at the above link.  rockford, il has been completely overrun by gangs and poverty, and gary, in has gone as belly up as flint, mi in recent years.

 hippiechick wrote: 
I'll bet somebody there measures the marigolds...I'll betcha...

 Danimal174 wrote: 
Sure, but where else can you find Cincinnati chili?

My friend described Cleveland in winter as a black and white photo. No color, no sun, just drear.

 Danimal174 wrote: 

Oh, yeah, and 3) it's too hard to find sweet tea in Cincinnati.

 Alexandra wrote: 
The IT department for my company is in Mason, just outside of Cincy, and I've been up there quite a bit over the years. I always look forward to going up there for a visit. Of the bigger cities I've visited, Cincinnati is one of my favorites. I've thought about transferring with my company to move up there, but A) almost all of my family (and my wife's) live in the Carolinas, and B) we both like the Greenville, SC area and don't feel the need to move anywhere.

 mzpro5 wrote: 

There is something in human nature that ensures that no matter how wretched the place, it is home to someone who believes it's a pretty good place and who will rise to its defense. The truth is that some good can be found anywhere, whether it be Darfur, Sudan or Gary, Indiana. Well, maybe not Gary. Since Forbes has declared that the Crescent of Misery is in Ohio, valiant Buckeyes will give testament to the liveability of this place or that and cite instances of knowing someone who once lived there and liked it.

I've lived in two of Forbes' cities of miserableness and spent extended periods in three others (none in Ohio  ) and don't dispute their worthiness to be included in such a list. The criteria for inclusion, though, seem arbitrary. Assessing the misery level of a place by including the success of pro sports teams as a measure is a sign not to take it too seriously. In any case, the skewed values that exist in the Forbes world would be just about the last thing I'd pay attention to when rating the misery index of any city.

As Phin noted, the intangibles of any place can make a difference. Beanie's presence alone lifts Cleveland and Akron off the list and might elevate Canton and Youngstown, too!

 Alexandra wrote: 
Yeah, what's with those meanies  at Forbes, anyway? They should have just asked someone from Ohio. Maybe they couldn't find anybody who hasn't left or doesn't want to.