Sunday, May 22, 2011

Brain Drain? Pshhh...


I've been thinking for months about the post I would eventually write when I finally, finally got a full-time, career-launching law job. The job would be outside of Michigan--DC, or California, or maybe Colorado--and the post would lament the exodus from this state of the young, smart people who know and love it. We've been talking about Brain Drain for a long time in Michigan, and I was gearing myself up to be a part of it.

So when I finally got a call with a Michigan job offer on the other end--while I was working at my high school job, the post-law-school reality I had accepted for myself--there was only one conclusion I could draw. If all the young, smart Michigan people are leaving, and I am undeniably young, and I am undeniably a Michigan person, and I am staying...well, drawn your own conclusions.

I'm moving to Flint in the next few weeks: where do all the cool kids live there?

6 comments:

  1. Holy cow are they lucky to have you.

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  2. I've contemplated that conclusion for myself haha. What will you be doing? -Karen

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  3. Good luck. I know nothing about Flint except for the Fuddruckers.

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  4. A friend happily lived in the land bank-owned(?) lofts on Saginaw for a few years - http://www.thelandbank.org/prop_find.asp

    There are other loft options downtown as well - http://www.uptowndevelopments.com/lofts.html

    The Durant Hotel has just been renovated into lofts, though I think it's targeted at student housing - http://www.thedurant.com/

    The Carriage Town Historic District, just northwest-ish of downtown, has a strong neighborhood association as well as a decent student population - Flint's version of A2's Old Fourth Ward, maybe?

    Southwest-ish of downtown, the Grand Traverse neighborhood is another good downtown-adjacent area - I worked with their neighborhood assn in grad school, and considered living there (but for the commute).

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  5. If your looking for a cool apartment to live in The Dupont is downtown and not that pricey in comparison to rent in Ann Arbor. Carriage town is pretty cool but kinda close to the sketchy parts of town I suggest the day for that. Blackstone's is a more college esque bar its downtown on saginaw street, much nicer crowd in this bar. I say check out Atwood Stadium sometime while youre there its my favorite view. And the Flint Institute of Art those areas are very fun to walk around. The Saginaw street area right downtown is fun to check out. Thats all the downtown Flint area things. There are plenty of small suburb cities to check out like Flushing, Grand Blanc, etc they are all small townish though. As far as restaurants there arent a ton of restaurants on par with Ann Arbor's the few right downtown on Saginaw st is about as close as you're gonna get. If you embrace the coney island style restaurants you will find those aplenty I highly recommend Flint Original Coney Island. Angelo's is also another good coney island its kinda in a more hood like area it used to be nicer and is nothing in comparison to the Angelo's of Ann Arbor. If you're big into malls Genesee Valley is not really that great but its the closest and isnt that bad. Those are my tips from growing up there and visiting since college

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