Moving to Baldwin

Hello. My husband has recently been offered a job. I'm moving from Toronto and just thought I'd drop by and say hey.

I've never lived in any place other then in Toronto and Ottawa so if you have any advice, feel free to drop a line. :)

where?

i mean, i'm always happy to offer advice, but i'd like it to be of some use...

i'll check back...

oh, and you won't find any place more cosmopolitan than Toronto. That is one great city.

whalerider55

My husbands job is in fairhope. We're looking for a good place to raise our kids. Good neighbourhood, no neo cons, ect.

wish i could help you...

google the town, chamber of commerce their, local town government, see if the library has a website (or if they have a library) check out the local paper (classifieds, police log) most school systems have a website; at the state level you could compare test scores across districts...

good luck...

whalerider55

But lots of fundies, not so good. Good luck!

Here's the official Fairhope site:

http://www.cofairhope.com/

Here's a link to political contributors in Fairhope. Heavily Pug.

http://www.city-data.com/elec/elec-FAIRHOPE-AL.html

Here are some photos of the area. At least it's a pretty place. Well, I haven't been down there since hurricane Ivan came through.

http://lightsphere.com/photos/fairhope/

And here is what Wikipedia says about the place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairhope,_Alabama

Welcome to Alabama, sweetcountrygirl! The politics suck down here, but there are some good things down here too. Hope you feel welcome!

And I must say this is novel... Canadians moving to the US now. :)

I know its conservative but exactly what am I facing?

The odd stupid backwards nascar fan or is everyone gun-ho fundi,homophobic,racist,ect.

You have no idea what you are facing when you move to that God forsaken place! Baldwin County? Whoa! That is one of the most, if not the most Republican area of Alabama.

NASCAR- Check

Homophobic- Check

Racist- Check (See how they voted on Amendment #2)

Neo-Conservative- Check
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Now, aside from politics I will tell you that Baldwin County is the most beautiful place to live in our state. Dauphin Island is not far away as well as the Mobile area and their Mardi Gras celebration. It is a nice place to live. Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama! :)

Thanks :hi:

Its a good thing that I have friends in Detroit so I know that not all Americans are like this. I have family in Alberta, which is like the most conservative place in Canada but they almost seem liberal compared to around here x(

I live in Tuscaloosa, about 250 miles up the road. I've never spent more than a few days at a time down there, soaking up the rays on the beach. Most of the people there seem nice, but once I was down in Gulf Shores with a black friend. We wanted to get a beer, it was vacation after all. So we went to a bar, and we were told that it was a private club, and couldn't stay. I suspected it was because my friend was black, but I can't prove it. Overall, it's not a bad place; most of the people are friendly, but you will probably meet a few asshats. It's a very scenic area, at least before the hurricane.

But I've been in Colorado since I was 2. The culture shock is alot for me to deal with.

The most obvious change you will notice coming from Canada is the weather. The summers can be unbearable. You can feel the air enveloping you -- when you walk outside, you feel like you are swimming in humidity. If your car does not have AC, don't bring it with you.

The most pleasant weather is in the fall and early winter and in April. It's quite nice around here today. It snows about once every 25 years down on the coast.

Alabama has some very good schools and a whole lot of crappy schools. You should research the area where you are going. But Baldwin schools are generally well above the state norm.

As for fundies and neo-cons --- I've come to learn how to deal with all that and not blow a gasket. Of course, I've been here 17 years. I've also lived in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina. And in all that time, I cannot remember anyone ever getting in my face about religion and telling me to repent or burn in hell. Which is not to say they won't do that if you give them an opening.

Neo-cons? Never heard anyone here call himself that, though there is considerable support for the war here and you'll see lots of W stickers in windshields and those magnetic yellow ribons on the backs of cars.

Alabama has produced Roy Moore, Jeff Sessions, George Wallace, etc. But we have also produced Helen Keller, Harper Lee and Rosa Parks.

Being on the coast, you'll be close to New Orleans, which is as quirky and interesting a city as you'll find in the United States. Just don't make Mardi Gras your first N.O. experience because it can be pretty overwhelming and claustrophobic. And, of course, Mobile has a very old and well-established Mardi Gras of its own.

And if you don't know anything about college football, you better start learning. It is religion here. You will be asked whether you prefer Alabama or Auburn. Your children will be asked in school to choose sides. If you meet someone and tell them you just moved here from Canada, they will be most impressed if you talk about whether the Tide should have hired Sylvester Croom instead of Mike Shula and what a shitty thing Auburn did to Tommy Tuberville when they tried to hire Bobby Petrino. Think of it as the state's soap opera.

You better know your college football, we follow it with a passion. If you think you have an idea of how big it is down here, blink, then you will realize that you don't. ;)

http://www.rolltide.com (THE GOOD SITE)

http://www.auburntigers.com (THE BAD SITE)


http://www.mikeshula.rolltide.com

...Yeah, the university in Tuscaloosa is the one that has churned out this state's closed door, old boy network of "leaders" who have run things here forever. The reason George Wallace stood in that doorway in Tuscaloosa is because he was protecting his good old alma mater.

Of course, Auburn is eaten up with conservatives, too. In fact, arguing about which school and support base is more conservative is about like doing the same with the Klan and the Aryan Nations.

Thanks. I've taken the time to reasearch all the teams.Its a good thing that I know a bit about football. Huge Argos fan here. :) I'll try to love it like I love my hockey.

...Here's a column I wrote on it a couple of years ago. Needless to say, it engendered a lot of local ill will.
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I just don’t get it.

For two decades now, I’ve had the opportunity to understand, to dissect and participate, to observe and indulge, but to no avail. Still, I’m left with the same old feeling of “the outsider,” the one unwoven into the local tapestry.

I don’t really care about Mardi Gras.

There, I said it.

This heretical viewpoint is not borne of enmity, even though I see a lot of problems with the pre-Lenten cavalcade. But neither am I blind to its benefits and potential.

Since my relocation to the Coast, half a lifetime ago, I’ve found the phenomenon curious at best. I don’t know quite what I expected, but it was certainly different than its reality.

Mardi Gras at times can seem to clarify some ancient problems with this town. Sure, the troubles are hardly endemic to the Azalea City, but Carnival unveils them unabashedly.

The extraordinarily strict racial lines running throughout are most obvious. Basically, Plessy v. Ferguson still rules Mobile Carnival, in spirit if no longer in code. When I attended my first ball, those of color were not allowed at the “white balls,” and vice versa I was told. And it was no accident that every last face serving the lily-white throngs I stood amongst was black. No accident at all.

And it’s true there is correlation between the town’s high society movers and shakers and it’s Krewes and royalty. Yes, many of those whose lack of vision and parochial motives kept this town mired in its “greyness of being” for so long have strengthened and strutted those networks via the Carnival cabals.

Big deal; similar things happen elsewhere. What’s the U.S. Congress, for goodness’ sake?

The financial strain the season puts on the city coffers is noteworthy. Annually, hundreds of thousands of dollars flow from municipal accounts to facilitate events. Mobile is hardly wealthy.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand Mardi Gras in my head. I am completely empathetic with the desire to blow off steam, to celebrate life and the oft-overlooked joys of simply being alive. But, I don’t find those pleasures while taking elbow shots from prospective Sally Ricki Springer audience members diving for an individually wrapped snack pie.

Also piquant is how the subject of Carnival reveals the massive chip on Mobile’s shoulder about New Orleans. Okay, so Mobile was the first to celebrate Fat Tuesday in the New World; so what? We should at least be forthright enough to recognize that Louisiana was where it was first observed. After all, the Brothers Le Moyne christened Pointe du Mardi Gras, Louisiana three years before Mobile was even founded. So, the Pelican State was first to observe; Mobile was still first to celebrate. End of story.

Who cares if the Crescent City’s proceedings are more famous? Should a teacher be jealous if the student succeeds? We should be grateful for the public relations rampart they breached by making the world aware of our unique way of life on the Gulf Coast. They took the ball and ran with it. Good for them.

And you can never completely obscure the backhanded inference to the Big Easy when Mobilians defensively sputter about their version as “the FAMILY Mardi Gras.”

Here’s news. Essentially, the very inception of Carnival is debauchery. Take a look at the name, folks, and exercise a little etymological acumen. Bone up on your history. Does “festival of flesh” sound like a good idea for the next PTA fundraiser?

Or is it that, in Mobile, nothing quite says “family” like an eight-year-old holding Mama’s hair so the bent and retching elder splatters less regurgitated funnel cake on her favorite “Who Let Da’ Dogs Out?” cut-off tee shirt? There’s more than enough trailer park drama on Mobile streets come Fat Tuesday. We indeed have our fair share of vomitus and violence, of mullets and methamphetamine.

Secondly, there are certainly sections of New Orleans’ much lengthier parade routes more civil than the famous downtown tourist morass. I’ve sat on a Crescent City porch, facing one of the large Uptown boulevards, and watched a crowd of kids and parents and just general “neighbors of a diverse lot” clamoring for throws from the passing floats. There was no trouble, no bared breasts or gunplay, nothing of the sort that some people here would prefer you associate with the younger sister’s celebration.

Each town has its own panoply of Mardi Gras experiences from which to choose. What point is a rivalry over something that’s supposed to be about sheer celebration for its own sake?

Also, yes, it is troubling that so many who are so eager to throw so much money away on Mardi Gras membership are also among the first to complain when asked to helped fund more long-lasting, generally beneficial civic sponsorship. How many of those masked riders whine when a property tax increase tantamount to a box of moonpies a month is proposed? No one is questioning their discretionary rights, just revealing how it looks from the outside, what it reflects about the region and priorities.

Now, before you start another chorus of that locally popular tune from Xeno and the Phobics, “If You Don’t Like It, LEAVE,” please bear in mind that worn chestnut of pop psychology, “The opposite of ‘love’ isn’t ‘hate,’ its ‘indifference.’”

Within this yearly ritual lies a chance to further our standing in the eyes of others, particularly, those with dollars to spend or generate. As long as we insist on using regressive tax structures, we might as well exploit it. Every “outsider” that we can draw into the fold with Mardi Gras, the more monetary influx we reap. The more inclusive we make it, the more everyone stands to gain.

The richness of our Creole culture can reap dividends, but only if we retain the ability to discern between the “celebration” and “life” itself.

...you are relocating to the middle of what you aren't looking for.

The entire Eastern Shore area (Spanish Fort, Malbis, Daphne, Montrose, Fairhope, Point Clear) is White Flight Central for the most traditionally conservative section of the one of the most conservative states in the Union. It is exploding with suburbanites fleeing the people of color in Mobile.

The best asset of living in the area is its proximity to New Orleans. It's a great city (crime aside) that is loaded with gustatorial and cultural delights.

My husband and I just picked out a house on Saturday. So far I haven't had too much of a problem with the locals.

Its my 3 year old adopted son that I'm worried about. My husband and I adopted him from Iran and I'm worried about the backlash that may occure.

I was trying to get him into a play group and everything was fine until I was asked the country of birth. Then they refused and were right out rude to myself and my son. My son has been in Canada since he was 4 months old. He isn't a freaking terrorist!!

:puke: :wtf:

Is everyone this bigoted and racist?

I'll be checking out New Orleans.

But I have to admit, it is pretty..

...So was Stepford. Be careful.

Mobile is cool-looking, too, just in a different kind of way. You can definitely see more of the Creole influence over here. Lots of Garden District neighborhoods of the type people normally associate with New Orleans.

If you go to New Orleans, try to day trip over at first. You can go to the Quarter during the day (when its MUCH better anyway), hit bookstores and galleries, wander around the French Market and get something good to eat in a variety of places.

There's a lot to do over there other than lubricate your gullet. Good music, good food, good art.

...about cultural divides in this area. You can pretty much supplant "West Mobile" in this piece with "Eastern Shore." Except the folks in Fairhope won't allow apartments over there. They don't want the hoi polloi about, you know.
-------------------------

Topographically, Mobile is pretty blasé. A flood plain and some ridges to the west are about the extent of it. But, that’s only if you go by the USGS survey. The contours of its inner landscape are much more dramatic.

Unseen to the uninitiated are two chasms that dominate our civic terrain. And without better attempts to bridge either of the crevasses, this community is ill-fated.

The first of these canyons is plainly self-evident, physically represented by the concrete axis of Interstate Sixty-Five bifurcating our street maps. The well-trod West Mobile/Old Mobile saga yet exists.

Between the two, visual differences alone are stark. Midtown is Spanish moss and ironwork, Creole cottages and Georgian manors, narrow concrete streets and undulating sidewalks beneath the live oaks. Small shops and entrepreneurial ventures are commonplace, sprouting up in quaint little buildings that may predate the owners’ grandparents. When coastal fog creeps through the wee hour streets, it’s a place unlike most any else on Earth.

West Mobile is asphalt, and neon, and plastic, and strip malls, and traffic under a despotic Southern sun, and oil burning-burning-burning, and Wal-Mart, and billboards, and pine trees, and traffic, and chain restaurants, and traffic, and shimmering heat dancing from your hood, and all the obnoxiousness our ultra-petro, mega-techno, limited-warranty civilization can muster. But that’s just Airport Boulevard.

We can’t forget the subdivisions filled with cookie cutter homes where every window pane on the block is made from aluminum. To stand at any corner in West Mobile and look around is to be in Anywhere U.S.A.. There is nothing unique, nothing that specifically nails down a place and character. It’s the same amorphous continuum that stretches from sea to shining sea.

Look for an apartment in the Garden District and you’ll find a garage unit, a duplex or subdivided historic house. In West Mobile, you’ll be assigned a cubicle in a complex that houses five hundred.

Old Mobile is all that was before the mushroom cloud.

West Mobile is the fallout.

Old Mobile lies roughly within the high-speed loop formed by Interstates Sixty-Five and Ten, and the One Sixty-Five connector. The nearly three-quarters of town beyond that track are the echo of the local post-War boom of the last century. This surge in population answered available jobs at the new Brookley Air Base. The influx was mostly from the hinterlands, its people a sort typified as provincial by many longtime natives. They helped push the emergence of West Mobile.

However, the most integral fuel of West Mobile growth was the same force building suburbs across the nation. It drove us into a ranch-style refuge to huddle in Nuclear Age oblivion before our cathode fireplaces. It was, and is, White Flight.

That, too, is a result of Mobile’s other big spiritual chasm, our other chief obstacle to true growth.

It’s America’s biggest canard and conundrum: Race.

Though Mobile escaped the conflicts that pockmarked the Civil Rights era South, there exists a sublime racial tension in this town. Look at Mardi Gras. Look at our churches and nightclubs. Everywhere, we divide our potential; we fail to maximize our chances to improve the world around us.

And our tendency to paint dark faces with the colors of fear and suspicion affects everything. It fosters the unease many West Mobilians feel about venturing east of I-65. I’ve heard it over and over and over again.

And it’s a lie.

Look, what is everyone so worried about? The usual suspects—“violent crime” and the ever-attendant “drugs”? Well, statistics, cold numerical facts, bear witness that Downtown Mobile is actually one of the safest places to be in regard to violent crime. And the drug question is laughable in light of the meth labs sprouting like fungi across the rest of the county.

It’s all perception.

One of my favorite interchanges concerning this subject was with a man who fled Mobile for the Eastern Shore a few years back. “Downtown revitalization is never gonna’ work,” his twang rang with confidence.

“Why?” I asked. “I’m just curious as to what you’re basing this on.”

“Because it’s too damn dangerous down there,” he continued. On weekends, he would perform at Drayton Place, long before the eatery relocated westward in unstated acquiescence to paranoia and bigotry. He said that during breaks, he and a bandmate would often stroll down Dauphin Street to see what else was happening. He specifically cited the “bugaboos” and others they encountered in the Bienville Square vicinity as a volatile element.

“What, so something happened to y’all? You got mugged?” I asked.

“Well, no, but its still dangerous.”

“And you’re sure it was like that all the time,” I asked still, “not just one night or so?”

“Yeah, we must’ve walked down there twenty or twenty-five times and we saw some real shady characters.”

“But you never got mugged?” I asked again.

“No, but it just don’t look good,” he emphasized.

I silently smiled. So blind was this guy to his own preconceptions, he couldn’t see what he illustrated. He strolled through a self-described “dangerous” situation many times, the equivalent of once a week for almost six months, and not once did anything happen to him. But, he only saw what he wanted to see, only found what he convinced himself he would find.

He walked to the edge of the deepest gorge in town. He didn’t soak in the sights; didn’t wonder what treasures could be found on the other side. He just surrendered to fear and ran the other way.

Look upon your relocation as an opportunity to study close-hand a different culture. I offer you the following as a welcome to Alabama.

Desiderata By Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

:hi:

Um?? In Baldwin? I live on the opposite (southern) side of the state in Houston, which is probably the only real competition Baldwin has for "most conservative" in Bama. I think you'll probably find the heat a bigger problem than the politics though, and in fact the heat probably explains a lot of the craziness you will come to witness in Bama politics lol.

As far as football goes, definitely learn the college nuances. I have to throw in here though that both Auburn and Bama suck lol :P. Hey, I live in Bama, didn't say I was from here. We're all about the Dawgs at my house. :D

:hi:

Born and raised in Ga. Hell, my third child was born in Athens lol ;) (We were in the Army so they were born all over lol.) *sigh* I would move home, but I'd freeze my rear off lol, too used to the south Bama heat. :D

Oh wait, they didn't play in the SEC championship game.

That was Auburn. :)

beautiful. The Bay sparkels. The seafood is delicious. The shopping will be good. In the spring they have a big festival of the Arts. I love that. My cousin is a dem and she lives in Foley down the road from you. When you can receive PM's, I let you know how to get intouch with her.:hi:

Hi sweetcountrygirl.

I live in Fairhope and there are actually quite a few progressives here. I realize the county goes strong Rep. but you will be surprised how many of us there are in this small area. I think some of the more northern and southern parts of the county are very heavily conservative, but the Eastern Shore seems to be a bit better. I wouldn't recommend hanging out in Bay Minette.

I am shocked by what happened to your son. There is actually a very large community of internationally adopted children here and they have a parade in downtown Fairhope every year. My husband and I are going through the local international adoption agency right now to adopt a child. I don't know where you went, but I believe it would be the exception and not the rule, at least here in Fairhope.

I am a member of the Eastern Shore Democrats and they are definitely trying to grow.

You should definitely get in touch with me, I would love to meet up with you some time!

Peace!
Heather

Glad to have another Alabama DUer!

Be sure and put your username down in the thread "Check In Alabama DUers" :)

Thanks, BamaLefty.

I'm glad I found you guys as well.

I have added my info to the "Check In Alabama DUers."