Which is the worst state in the United States of America

i feel like texas might be the right answer for this, in that, they are so big that they should be great. but instead they have doubled down on their identity as conquerors of black people, indigenous people, and mexican people. just a wonderful trifecta of brutality. also their toxic masc culture is off the charts and unique in how sanctioned / officially revered it is.

The Texas lege meets for four and a half months, every two years. Texas is ranked last in US healthcare access, last in percentage of 25 year olds who are high school graduates, last in affordability of residential electric bills - the list goes on. This is their focus: https://t.co/vWKbQboxSX

— Blue Heron Farm (@BlueHeronFarmTX) March 19, 2021

man, I do hate Texas lol

bottom 5, easy (again, of ones I know).

sorry djp i was just trying to say the ocean is beautiful i did not intend to minimize anything or excuse anything wrt the murder of trayvon martin

will bow out now

ftr Mississippi’s and Tennessee’s massive cultural exports doing A LOT of heavy lifting here.

both are extremely shitty states

The ocean is beautiful.

The Gulf is beautiful.

I am beautiful.

Florida is a racist hell.

Was this poll about the citizenry or the state electeds?

m@tt you don't need to bow out, I was mostly just reasserting why Florida sucks

it's also pretty easy to say Oregon is just as racist as Mississippi considering it (Oregon) was founded as a whites-only state and the language around that in the state Constitution wasn't removed until 2002

I've only recently began to embrace Orlando as a city I like rather than a city I just "live in" (which technically...I don't, anymore!) when Orlando City got promoted to Major League Soccer, which really created a bigger sports atmosphere that's been here since Shaq was on the Magic (no, not even the 2009 NBA Finals)....and the fact that it's getting more and more bohemian/woke.

Downtown is garbage though, and I avoid like the plague. the more boheme areas are in other pockets.

what’s the little area sort of north and east of downtown? lots of little pubs, tiny music venues maybe? idk, I spent a lot of time in Orlando from 2014-2017 and ended up over there on my stoned late night walkabouts

After Miami and St Pete Orlando might be my fave city in FL. which was quite a surprise as someone who’s imagined just Disney and strip malls until I actually i got there

That's the part of Orlando I like. Loch Haven Park, Virginia Ave bar street, St Matthews tavern, etc

I remember going to a pawn shop in Rapid City and finding a dvd of A Separation by Asghar Farhadi and when i was checking out the huge leathered-up Tex Cobb-looking biker guy behind bulletproof glass at the counter furrowed his brow and looked at it a second too long and went, "this from Iran?" I said yeah and braced myself, and he goes "you into Kiarostami too??!" and got really excited and we had a great convo. Later when I checked into a shitty motel w/slot machines in the lobby the elderly lady behind the desk was reading Naked Lunch. A very unusual town ime.

good post

After Miami and St Pete Orlando might be my fave city in FL. which was quite a surprise as someone who’s imagined just Disney and strip malls until I actually i got there

― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will),

Florida is mostly Disney and strip malls, though.

btw Walt Disney world rules

They all look pretty fxxked to me.

no beef w Disney. Orlando just exceeded expectations in ways that other larger cities in FL def did not.

another p chill place: Sarasota

Agreed. It's all the Amish.

Sarasota has fairly terrible political demographics, and while some of the beaches are magnificent, the Miami Cubans have discovered them.

ha I did see a Sarasota Republican Party gathering at the hotel (pre-Trump)

The vibe in the little downtown was old people who like to party. live music, late night food, etc. like they went down for spring break in ‘72 and just never wanted to leave.

the West coast (outside of Tampa/ St Pete) does have a very conservative feel, though, eg Ft Myers, Naples

I've never been there, but how does Key West figure into the FL equation?

There are quieter, prettier keys. It's the Bourbon Street of keys.

My husband’s parents go to Siesta Key every February so I do end up spending a week in Florida every year. It’s just about the only thing that makes me OK with the prospect of returning to two months more of Minnesota winter.

Man I was so mean to New Orleans itt and I have no recollection of what I was thinking although I'm pretty sure it was about 80% unserious. I've never even been there! Maybe I was mad about drunken frat party Mardi Gras or something.

Often overlooked is that Florida has more freshwater springs than any other state - somewhere between 700 and 1000 - many of which are lovely for swimming, tubing.

Florida has a town that has been continuously occupied since 1565, St. Augustine, with some of the oldest buildings in the country.

As far as West Coast/East Coast is concerned, I always thought of it as a Midwest US/Northeast US divide. I-75 comes straight down from the Midwest depositing Midwesterners in the vicinity of Tampa, whereas I-95 comes down from the Northeast bringing people from New England, NY, NJ, Philly etc. That's part of what gives the coasts their respective flavors.

I really hate Ft Myers, FL though. I can expound on that for at least a good 10 minutes.

I vacation on Sanibel at the end of July ever year. That's the best of Florida.

The trouble with Florida freshwater surfaces (besides wildlife): the lakes don't tend to be shallow, therefore more bacteria laden.

There was an interesting Uzbek restaurant in a strip mall outside of town but everything in downtown Ft Myers could burn down overnight and it wouldn't lose anything of importance iirc. That may be harsh but mostly it's a Disney-fied cartoonishly ahistorical center of engineered consumption. All 5 downtown restaurants are themed and all are owned by one corporation, you just go from the "50s drive-in culture burgers theme" to "mafia pizza w gatling guns" theme to "fake Irish pub sports bar theme" (to be fair this is every sports bar in America) and none of the food is above mediocre.

I tried to get my parents to try restaurants outside of downtown but they're afraid of anything too strongly flavored.

xpost As opposed to much of the population, which is shallow *and* bacteria laden.

The entire town is founded on the absolute worship of cattle barons and industrial magnates and Thomas Edison & Henry Ford, whose winter homes were built there. The slavish veneration of like 5 dead rich white men is choking. Also you're a really long way from the ocean and it didn't seem like there anywhere to actually go swimming in the river that the town is built on.

We drove to Sanibel one day! It was lovely there but the traffic in and out had like a three-hour waiting time to find a parking space. Amazing used bookstore though. If I could stay on the island and never leave it, I can see the appeal.

My aunts live in Ft Myers. I made my last visit there to see them in 2000, and went back for Fort Rock there in 2016 and was surprised how much it changed.

It was boring and mundane then, but they had built it way the fuck up, like in orbit said. Idk that it works for that city though!

As far as West Coast/East Coast is concerned, I always thought of it as a Midwest US/Northeast US divide. I-75 comes straight down from the Midwest depositing Midwesterners in the vicinity of Tampa, whereas I-95 comes down from the Northeast bringing people from New England, NY, NJ, Philly etc. That's part of what gives the coasts their respective flavors.

As far as West Coast/East Coast is concerned, I always thought of it as a Midwest US/Northeast US divide. I-75 comes straight down from the Midwest depositing Midwesterners in the vicinity of Tampa, whereas I-95 comes down from the Northeast bringing people from New England, NY, NJ, Philly etc. That's part of what gives the coasts their respective flavors.

lol fuck yes in orbit otm re Ft Myers, Ford, Edison etc

it does feel kind of silly

I know it’s goofy and yes the fratastic invasions of the Quarter in the reg are painful but I will always love New Orleans. it’s mostly what keeps LA out of the bottom tier for me.

*on the reg

could we reconsider Kentucky as being worthy of being higher placed in the worst state poll by the mere fact that it is represented by Mitch McConnell? That people there have regularly voted for this horrible person?

Getting back to Mississippi, the state government is now refusing to help Jackson fix their water system problems from the big storm over a month ago, despite the fact that tap water is not safe to drink for many (most?) residents of the city.

There was a video I saw about one city in Oklahoma that basically had white supremacist billboards on display, could have been a Daily Show piece? I can try to dig it up if anyone cares to see it.

xpost, sorry sarahell. Moscow Mitch is the devil incarnate.

Recent research: I have been in Florida, Georgia, and Texas today. They all kind of such but Florida is still the worst.

today? I hope you got sleep

I've never been to Florida (or the USA) but from the evidence I've seen (Will Smith's video for "Miami") it looks pretty good.

I've lived in Florida and I've lived in Georgia and Georgia is worse, believe me

The board knows I'm no sentimentalist, so I'm curious: the fuck makes Georgia, Alabama, etc. better than Florida?

I should also note: South Florida is not Florida.

North Florida is culturally similar to Georgia but still better. Gainesville as a college town is better than Athens. Plus North Florida has other charms that Georgia lacks.

the fuck makes Georgia, Alabama, etc. better than Florida

Atlanta.

Last year I spent a week in ATL with my mom (flew in from China, we met there -- in January to be clear.) It was so nice, we had so much fun there, everyone was friendly, we went to some great restaurants, saw a stand up comic who killed us with her dry stoned wit. I want to live there. I know stoned comedy isn't for everyone tho.

I found some very affordable tickets from Tampa to London, but for me the best route was to go to Orlando first. The difference between Orlando and Tampa was striking to me. Maybe it was just the areas of the respective cities I saw but people in Orlando seemed positively hostile much of the time, Tampa was much more welcoming. (I was in downtown Tampa, and the area of Orlando was between the airport and downtown.)

Charleston is also not far from home to me, and what I usually tell people is that they really specialize in their own unique brand of racism in Charleston. Although my cousins went to college there and say the cops will often profile poor looking white people if they're in the wrong neighborhood too. Of course I'm sure the brutality is much much worse against minorities.

Josefa why do you think Gainesville is better than Athens?

between the airport and downtown = yeaaaaaaaah, hard pass. best parts of Orlando to check out are the areas surrounding exits 84 and 85, really.

downtown DOES have some nice areas - the trick is to hit the 'other' side of Orange Ave. once you start to hit the 'club' area, yer fucked.

I have had some lovely experiences at Orlando City Stadium though. having professional soccer in my backyard and also being able to see touring squads come play there has been a godsend (like the US Women's National Team, World Cup qualifiers, etc).

I adore East Atlanta (the artier, more woke side near The Earl, at least)

I’ve only had 3 experiences in Florida, 1) first with a college friend’s parents in Naples for the holidays, the beach was beautiful and the ambience seemed unreal, it was almost a clichéd country club atmosphere. I watched Some Like it Hot with his family and was embarrassed because I thought that they knew I was gay and that that was the reason we were watching it, but they seemed to love it and they accepted me, 2) the second was going to parties and bars in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale with gay friends some years later, 3) later had a more sedate time in Sarasota going to restaurants and walks on the beach with my sister, her husband, and her in-laws

They were all different but pretty good and not like any other experiences I’ve ever had. They were all in the wintertime though, not sure I would like it in the summer

Josefa why do you think Gainesville is better than Athens?

Better local music scene ime, and a less pretentious one, although none of the bands I liked from Gainesville ever made it big. Admittedly my frame of reference may be way out of date. I just thought what was happening in Gainesville in my day was more creative, and what was happening in Athens was too constricted by the idea of being "Southern."