I was born and spent the first 11 years of my life in New York City. Being born in one of the most popular and busiest cities in the world has always been a point of pride for me. By the time I was eight years old, I had the entire NYC subway system map memorized and I used to give directions to lost tourists on the train. My entire extended family still calls NYC home. I was even in Manhattan on 9/11. My mom, however, eventually got tired of the craziness of New York and we moved to Connecticut for a few years before moving to Ohio in 2008.
I was born in New York City, but I consider Ohio to be the place where I was raised. I went to high school in Gahanna, a suburb of Columbus. I received my bachelors degree from Ohio State. After college, I took a job in Cincinnati, where I currently live. I consider the years I’ve spent in Ohio to be my most formative. Ohio is the place where I’ve experienced the highest points of my life so far, and the lowest points of my life so far. When I first moved to Ohio in 2008, I was a scared, sheltered kid. Today I’m an adult, who admittedly still has some growing up to do. I’ve had so many formative experiences in Ohio that I wouldn’t dare say I’ve been raised anywhere else.
Being an Ohio transplant is a blessing. It has given me a unique viewpoint to Ohio a lot of people here don’t have, because Ohio is still very much a place where people born here have a good chance of never leaving. Being a transplant allows me to appreciate the things Ohio does better than the other places I’ve lived. For one, Ohio (and the midwest in general) is vastly cheaper to live in than New York City. Most people in New York can only dream of someday owning a house, yet in Ohio homeownership is attainable to most. In Cincinnati, I pay just over $1000 a month to live in a historic three bedroom apartment 10 minutes from downtown. I don’t dare estimate how much my rent would cost for a comparable apartment in NYC. Ohio has the perfect mix of rural and urban living, with large cities and plenty of beautiful rural areas. There’s so much to do here and I never find myself bored.
Being an Ohio transplant is a curse. Because I’ve lived in different places, I’ve experienced better things and ways of living Ohio can’t offer. The politics at the state and local levels here are utterly depressing. The way we fund schools is broken and was even ruled unconstitutional at one point. Our cities and metro regions are incredibly segregated, and municipalities refuse to work together to improve the quality of the lives of its citizens. Because of the segregation here, there are many places in Ohio and neighborhoods in my own city where I don’t feel fully welcome in due to the color of my skin. Ohio is incredibly car-dependent, and I hate having to drive everywhere. I find myself in a constant state of trying my best to appreciate Ohio for what it is, while in my heart knowing there are so many better places to live.
I like Ohio a lot. I’m also starting to dislike it a lot. I find myself becoming more and more discouraged by the things here that are broken. Most people who have spent their entire lives in Ohio are used to this brokenness and accept it as how things should be. Cincinnati’s bus system has been chronically underfunded for decades. Most people don’t seem to be bothered by it because everyone is used to Cincinnati being a city where owning a car is essential. The Better Bus Coalition is a local organization run by volunteers who have spent years trying to improve bus service in Cincinnati. Because of their efforts, there’s a ballot initiative this year in Hamilton County to improve the funding model of the bus system, which is a huge win for the region. However, it has been incredibly depressing to watch them toil for years trying to change the public perception of public transportation and beg politicians to take this issue seriously. It feels like in order to improve something in Ohio it requires a huge sacrifice just to hope in the end that you’ve somehow pushed the needle, and I don’t think things should be that way. Another example of this would be Cincinnati’s streetcar - a simple 3.6 mile loop downtown that has caused the city years of agony because no one in power here can come to an agreement on how to run the system. It has always felt like Ohio lacks the ability to dream big. The things that would take places like New York a year to take action on would take Ohio several decades. As I’ve increasingly become discouraged by things like this here, it has caused me to wonder why I would want to continue living in such a broken place. Why should I spend years of my life trying to fix things here when there are places more open to change? Places which have many of these issues already solved?
What frightens me most about Ohio is that many people who are born here never leave. You could easily spin this as a positive, but I’m not sure it is one. Ohio and the Midwest has always felt like quicksand - once you’re here, you’re stuck and it’s nearly impossible to leave. I love Ohio dearly, but I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life here.
I want to move. Lately, I’ve been looking at Chicago and Atlanta as places I think I would be the most happy in. Both cities have what I value the most in a place to live: good public transit, a moderately low cost of living for a big city, lots of jobs in my industry, more diversity, more progressive policies, and lots of things to do. From time to time I think about moving back to New York City, but I don’t think I would enjoy it. The city today is vastly different and more broken than the city I left 15 years ago - the subway system is falling apart, the gulf between the rich and poor has grown exponentially, and it doesn’t have the same charm it used to. The thing about places like Ohio and the Midwest and NYC and even Chicago and Atlanta is that none of them are utopias. Every city and state and region and country has its own share of brokenness. However, I would still rather live in a slightly less broken and less dysfunctional place like Chicago than continue living in Ohio.
There’s a popular adage that says people should fight for what they love. I would generally agree with that. I’m just not sure I want to continue fighting for Ohio. I don’t feel any shame in saying that. I love Ohio, but I think at some point it’s okay to throw in the towel and strive for better things.
It has been 15 years since my mom and I moved out of New York City. Embarrassingly enough, over those years I’ve still considered myself to be a “native New Yorker.” My chest has always swelled when people ask me where I’m from and I get the opportunity to tell them. 2020 is an interesting year for me, because as of August I will have lived in Ohio longer than I lived in New York City. Do I start telling people I’m from Ohio now? It has always been a source of pride for me to live in Ohio, but to have had experiences elsewhere.