it’s just really not the big deal you’re making it out to be. From where I sit in suburban Illinois, I could easily find a Chinese restaurant within 5 miles open on Christmas Day, and almost all the movie theaters are open on Christmas Day. No need for “all day driving around.” Really.
Even when I lived in Missouri, that’s what a lot of Jewish people did. (There is actually a Jewish community in St Louis! Amazing but true! Lol). You’re just acting like this is such a great logistical nightmare when it just isn’t. Movie theaters open on Christmas is just not a big deal. Honest. Just say - “oh, I wasn’t aware that other places had this.” It’s not so hard!!
I do not know much about Harvardland (never visit that part of the country.) But this does not prevent me from hearing something closer to that area. There is a very tall twin tower just across the river and close to MGH: a one-bedroom apartment there costs $3000 a month and a suite costs $2400. So I think it is likely a very moneyed area.
Actually I read many years ago that, because Harvardland is in general in, or next to, an expensive area in terms of real estate, their school could not offer the UG students much spaces for the student club activities. In comparison, Yale is in relatively a slump/cheaper area (mostly thanks to the economically suppressed minority population in that city who used to rely on manufacturing jobs because New Haven used to be an industrial city but the manufacturing activities there (and in US in general) have gone offshore a long time ago); as such, the school can afford more spaces for UG student’s cllub activities because of the relatively cheaper real estate. The school’s atmosphere becomes very different because of this reality. At one time, it is said Havard may even need to hire some “fun czar” in order to help raise student’s spirit in clubbing (maybe somewhat biased here, but you get the point.) Also, because there are so many fun things to do in a more moneyed city like Boston, the students there tend to go all over the city during weekend or break. It could be harder to attract the students to the club activities on campus. (less club-like activities on campus.) Yes, this was written on Harvard’s own newspaper.
Back in the 80s when we were in New Hampshire or Maine, the Chinese restaurants there were more Polynesian then Chinese. Not authentic. But things must have changed when I went back recently.
I’ve sent a daughter to Boston, and now she’s back. And I love Boston as a destination - but omg, people have got to get over how much they perceive people elsewhere think and dream about Boston. I think they might be shocked, just shocked, that to most people they’re just another city, not The Meaning of Life.
That said, St. Louis is not Manhanttan, and Seattle is not Lubbock. It’s not a good/bad label, but there are fairly significant features and affectations to most large metropolitan cities…
I just think some of this is amusing. There was a poster on CC from Boston who had a friend whose son did some kind of stint in a major southeast city and the poster was all golly-gee-whiz that it was like a real city with sidewalks and restaurants and everything. I grew up in the east coast and I was “trained” to think that it was all cornfields and hayseeds between there and California, but now I realize how ignorant and provincial such thinking is. So I call it out when I see it.
You really did think that one couldn’t find Jewish people going to Chinese restaurants and movie theaters on Christmas Day outside NYC? Really?
Note that in the NYC area, there are many Greek diners that are open on Dec. 25 because they celebrate Christmas on a different day. Really there are a lot of choices.
The only thing that shocks me is that you can get relatively rural in NJ and CT, and really really rural in NY state. My brother still has a septic system and oil heat and lives in NJ. There is still land to be bought in NY state, and you can get pretty insular.
NJ in particular has a lot worse rap than the Midwest. We don’t get the benefit of the doubt, and a bunch of New Yorkers (Staten Island no less) represent us to the public on TV. Even our sports teams want to be called NY.
Sorry Boola, but you are wrong. Believe me, I do NOT live in or even near a major city and its very easy to go out for Chinese and go to a movie on Christmas. This is NOT unique to residents of major cities.
Gee boola, you seem to really want someone to say that NYC has the most tippiest, toppiest, Christmas day, movie and Chinese food, Jewish experience in the whole wide world. Not sure why this is so important to you but just to make you happy, I’ll agree and even link to the best SNL video ever on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhKQyRAo6k
How would you even know about the quality of Chibese food elsewhere, when you apparently haven’t even been anyplace that qualifies as “elsewhere”? I’m quite certain your experiences appear limited to the cities that you have lived in. See, people who travel more aren’t “surprised” by the existence of a lot more than what they know.
Boola, even in Topeka the movies are open on Christmas Day. Just face it - your notion that “one has to drive around all day to find an open theater” wasn’t accurate. It’s ok to be wrong sometimes. I don’t wish to live in Topeka either, but that’s not the point.
Btw - is there something different about the immigrants who move, say, to Bloomington that would make their food inferior to those who move elsewhere? I just think you didn’t even know that smaller cities even had Chinese restaurants. That’s ok. Again, it’s ok to be wrong sometimes.
Although it is true that small US cities have Chinese restaurants, most of them are Chinese-American restaurants, offering little one would find in China. When I lived in Rome, I ate at a Chinese-Italian restaurant, no surprise Singapore has many Chinese-Singaporean restaurants. It took me a long time to appreciate the Malay-Chinese fusion for itself. Bottom line: for restaurants to survive, they need to cater to local tastes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had spicy Sichuan foods made w/o Sichuan peppers.
One can be surprised; I once had a great Chinese meal in rural Vermont. That said, having lived in China and eaten in Chinese restaurants across the US, it very hard to find CHINESE food in smaller cities.
This isn’t a matter of “provincial NY,” but a matter of local taste, economics, and American willingness to consider knock-offs the real thing.