Im doing an essay on people that were raised in small towns apposed to people who grow up in the city?

Question

but the problem is i dont know anyone from any small towns so i dont have any reasearch to go on can any one give me there exspirence on how there life was growing up and if u feel it alterd how u grew up can u also tell me the name of ur small town and were its from for my essay please thanks

Answer 1

I grew up in a small town in Southern Indiana called Loogootee. Population about 2400 I think.

We didnt have much to do, we drove 3 hours just to be able to ride a roller coaster. My brother and I spend every summer at the local swimming pool from noon to 5 pm while our mom and dad worked. We would also go on walks in the corn fields and camp out at night, catch lighning bugs (fireflies) in the summer. In winter we'd stay inside, unless it snowed then we would get our sleds out and ride them down the hill. We'd sometimes go to the movies but there were only 2 screens so once you saw those 2 movies it'd be a month before a new one would come to it.

We only had one school so everyone knew everyone, which sucked lol. There was no meeting new people (maybe that's why I like meeting new people now). There were no secrets, if you had one, EVERYONE knew it and there was no escaping it.

As a teen we'd mostly get into trouble, smoke weed, hang out at the arcade, drive to the train tunnel and go inside and wait for a train (God, that was stupid). We'd climb the fire tower in the national forrest, and I actually barfed off it once. There were a lot of superstitions about devil worshippers (which didnt exist by the way lol) and they were looking for blonde haired blue eyed virgins to sacrifice (just plain stupid!)

High school was a bust, everyone in my school were people I had known since I was 5 years old, so it wasnt that interesting, it was all about cliques and "popularity." I had friends but these were the same friends once again that I had since I was 5.

As soon as I graduated high school I moved to a bigger town (pop. 10,000) 20 miles away and went to school and got a job. When I graduated from college I moved to a city population 125,000. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 23.

If you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them, email me at [e-mail]

Answer 2

I grew up in a small town near Fort Worth, Texas. As a child we hated living in a small town because everyone knew everyone else's business and we couldn't do ANYTHING without our parents knowing about it BEFORE we got home. We had to go to town (Fort Worth or Dallas) to shop as we had few stores other than grocery stores and some small variety and drug stores. We all wanted to get out of there as soon as we were out of high school. The nice part was we had a lot of freedom to roam the countryside and experience things that our city friends never got to experience. We knew all our neighbors. We left our doors unlocked without fear of anyone intruding. The whole town stuck together when necessary (right or wrong....and we were sometimes wrong). We made good friends at school and we've kept in touch even though most of us did move on to other small towns or big cities. Our small town has grown A LOT in the last 15 years and I would not want to raise a family there today, but it was probably the best place for my parents to have raised me and my siblings. It was close enough to the big cities that I was not shocked when I did move to the city, but it was country enough to give me some old fashioned values that some of my city friends seem to be missing.

Answer 3

I grew up in a small town and still live here. When I graduated from high school 2 years ago, my classmates would always complain about living in such a small town because "there isn't anything to do" or some other reason they came up with, but living in a small town to me is a blessing. You know most of the people which is nice because you get close to them and you have a lot of friends around. It is nice to just be able to know where everything is and not have to leave a half an hour to an hour early to get where you have to go. Yes, it is a disadvantage to not have a mall or a lot of other things that the city does have, but it is also not hard to drive a little ways to go do those things. I personally love living where I live.

Answer 4

I grew up in inner Philly and moved to the opposite corner of PA when I was 12 and my closest neighbor lived 1/4 mile away and the closest store was a 15 minute drive and school was a 40min bus ride. I think people in either situation become very narrow minded if they only know one or the other, I recommend visiting the other if not moving there. It really opens your perspective. In my small town where I went to high school I think it is the same nationwide... any small town there isn't much diversity. You have the jocks, the nerds, and the stoners. I myself with two other friends got along with all three crowds. Whereas in the city things are much more diverse. I could go on and on...

Answer 5

Hi... I'm from a small town in Louisiana. I grew up rather sheltered. I didn't go to alot of parties nor did I socialize a whole lot. I had a couple of best friends and that was pretty much it. When I became older, I ventured out and realized that I lived a rather isolated life somewhat. I remember not having but only two neighbors and the houses were at least a half mile apart. It was quiet there. No crime hardly. I lived a pretty simple life.

Answer 6

I've grown up in a small town in an ex-communist country, so I can't generalize these things about life in small towns everywhere in the world. But, here's what it was like to me.



Small towns are very similar to traditional societies from a certain point of view. They are face-to-face communities, where close to everybody knows each other, and since exciting things rarely happen, the favorite pass-time is social interaction (which usually means gossiping). It's very difficult to live in a place where you constantly have to care about what other people think and keep up a good reputation. You have to ponder 'What will everybody think of me if I do this?' before everyday activities and decisions, which is not a good thing, and it cuts a good deal of your freedom. But you have to do this nevertheless, because your good life in a small town depends on your reputation.



Also, usually whenever you get out of the house, chances are you will meet someone you know and they will stop you for a quick chat. Then, they will go home and say to their family 'Guess who I met at the market today?' and gossip some more. Well, I assume it's a positive thing to be surrounded by familiar faces. But whenever you want to get out of the house and have some privacy or just be left alone by prying eyes, it's difficult. It's also difficult to keep secrets in small towns.



Another downside of living in a small town is there are only few alternatives to choose from when it comes to education and entertainment. In my town there were only two good high schools, few clubs, and no cinema. Basically there aren't many places to hang out, especially if you want some privacy with someone you're dating. Also there aren't many places to get a job, and just going to the town centre in the middle of the day and seeing how many young people are just sitting around gives you an idea of the unemployment rate.



Positive things are that small towns are less polluted than big cities. The crime rate is usually minimal, they are easier to supervise by law enforcement which makes them a relatively safe place to live in. When I moved to the capital for university it was a great change for me. I was not used to walking down the crowded street among so many strangers, people who don't even glance at you, each one with their own worries and lives.



Something interesting I noticed is how people say 'hi' to each other. Two businessmen meeting in a crowded city will walk close to each other, then shake hands. In a small town, two people who meet will not get close prior to shaking hands, but instead stand their ground and lean forward until they reach the other person's hand. In the countryside, people don't even get that close. They just wave from a distance! I think an explanation to this is how much personal space you're used to having. In a big city people are crammed, whereas in a small town and the country people have more personal space.



Hope this helps...

Answer 7

It really depends on how small you mean by small town. I grew up in a town that when I was growing up only had about 10 thousand people. Whereas about 15 minutes away I had some friends that grew up in a town so small that if you blinked as you drove through you might miss it entirely lol. So really it depends on how small you mean lol. Feel free to email me.

Answer 8

Hey, I am from a small town. I love living in a small town because i know everybody who lives here. I have good realationships with people because i see them all so often. Its peaceful here, quiet. it's nice to be able to walk around town and be able to go to the library, corner store and such. How does this make me different from "city people" im not exactly sure. I wonder if this even helped, but i tried. :)

Answer 9

sure



Ansonia CT, circa 1970, i was born 1963

north end

20,000 people maybe, mostly a nice mix of factory workers and their kids and grandkids, a mill town



there was safety and strength in it, knowing who lived where, usually for 2 or 3 generations for a mile or two around, Halloween was rough though, always invited in and a guessing game, oh I know your grandma, etc., istead of just collecting candy



there was an easy nice safe feeling, runing around the neighborhood with or without friends or even aquantances, many of my friends from then and there are now doctors and other types of respected positions in society



the safety and support and ease that comes with small town living helps later in life for most people

Answer 10

I think growing up in a small town makes people less materialistic. It gives you the ability to have a good time even if you aren't in the city, at the mall, or at the movies. You learn to enjoy simple things easier.

Answer 11

Growing up in a small town offers much that is missed in the big cities. These may include; knowing your neighbors as friends, trusting your neighbors, slower pace of life, knowing how to supply your needs from the land, surviving without Wal-Mart, cleaner air, lower cost of living and so on.



Start your research here: http://www.google.com/search?q=growing%20up%20in%20small%20towns&sourceid=groowe&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Make it a great day!

Answer 12

Everyone knows each other. Everyone knows each others business. Lots of gossip. Small towns are basically like one big High School. Most of us are good friends. We all know who is unstable, or weird.

Answer 13

A small sleepy town of Mt. Vernon, Indiana is on the most southern tip of Indiana you can get.



Years ago in my grandparents day & my daddys day, there actually use to be horse & buggies that drove the streets and there use to be courthouse hangings for the public to see.



There was a passenger train that ran through our town until the depot burned down. The they used a bus that ran from Evansville, In. twice a day for the workers that use to work in the factories that helped build plane and ship parts for WWII.



They use to have a movie theater in town, a couple of stores, and a feed store. They people from Illinois use to use the farry to cross the Wabash river to trade at our markets for grain and livestock.



The Ohio river was swam across by my father as a child twice in his life time. He walked to school everyday after he got up early in the morning and fed the livestock 2 miles away from his school.

Back then they had country schools for the rural children. Most did not go past the 5-10th grade due to having to help out on the farm in order to get the crops taken care of to survive.



When I was a small child I witnessed the highway 62 being built right from my own back yard. They built a bridge between Ind. & Ill. over the Wabash river. It is still used today.



We had a movie drive-in that I went to as a child. We got to park our lawn chairs outside in the lot and watch the movie or kids make out. All 8 of us ate popcorn, played at the playground. Wow! They tore it down when I was a young lady and now the property is owned by a river port. Exports of soybean products by 1 company, ground and crushed rock for women's makeup are their neighbors, and barges along the Ohio river are daily occurances.



Not too far from that use to be a small airport for a local plane crop duster. My grandparents were next door neighbors to the airport.

When the Bull Island concert came about in the early 70's I got to take a ride in his plane over the island and see thousands of people down below. Look up Bull Island concert and see the names of people who performed there!



Lots of people had outside toilets and was not use to having indoor plumbing a few miles from us growing up. We had plumbing, but most of our relatives did not.



We had no air conditioning. If we were good and it was real hot, we got to go to a Dog 'n Suds and get a gallon of rootbeer. We bought a gallon of ice cream and made rootbeer floats. We set under the shade tree and drank lemonade, had grandparents to visit every Sunday and have a big Sunday dinner.



We played Red Rover, raced barefoot in gravel, target practiced with all kinds of guns and bow & arrows, swung across ravines on grapevines, hunted indian pottery and arrowheads across the road from our house.



We hunted squirrel, fished, hunted deer, rabbits, and all kinds of wild game. We raised our own hogs, cattle, ducks, chickens, & we had a pet racoon. Our pet squirrel was named Quacky! We rode our pony and sometimes our hogs.



All of us knew how to hunt, shoot guns, clean wild game and chickens, respect wild life and respect the fruits of our bounties whether it be from our meat, veggies, or wild fruit trees along the lane where we rode our bikes to get them. We picked wild blackberries and got galores of chigger bites.

We utilize 1&1/2 acres for livestock, gardens to tend to for coldpacking, canning, freezing, and fresh food meals. We survived off of those skills.



Back then we washed most everything with an old wringer washer and hung out the clothes on a clothes line outside. Rain & snow dictated we hang them in our basement. We ironed everything!!! Even sheets and underware!



We had what they called a coal stoker furnace. We use to get the cinders from the bottom of the burner and take out to feed the hogs. Back then we had to haul trash off and dump along the side of old dirt roads with reviens. Even the ashes after they built up for a while. We use to burn trash outside in barrells.



It sounds crewd what I have told, but to me, it was the best teacher I have ever had. If I had to do it again, I would! I know how to survive today because of it while others struggle if they have a power outage. Just think...I am a female!



Now we have what use to be called G.E. plastics here, B&W plant that builds pieces for NASA, refineries, golf courses, banks, roofing factory, fences are manufactured here that you see in people's yards these days and many antique stores. The town is small in comparison to my city now, but it has grown almost 7000+ people since my day there in good ole Mt. Vernon.