move away from iowa

i didn’t want to move. but i did. and it sucks. i want Iowa.

I am from Keokuk, IA and am moving to Des Moines. I think that I’ll never leave Iowa because it is my home state. I guess I’m just kinda scared to leaved my familiar surroundings. I would like to move but to scared to do it alone. Maybe someday.

Yes, i live in iowa and it is boring. There is nothing here except for the view of endless miles of corn. Except for Des Moines.

Last year I taught high school in Iowa. I graduated from UNI in 2004. I have lived in Iowa for 23 years, growing up in Burlington.

One cloudy day I said, I’m out!!! I moved to Austin, Texas without a job and in 2 days I had a job. I now work at the IRS as a Tax Examiner (2nd shift) and substitute teach during the days.

There are so many jobs here and everyone is YOUNG and no one is from here!! Everyone is from somewhere else in the U.S. Adios IOWA

so far so good, but it’s only been a few months and we live in alaska, a land with even less live music shows to go to. eventually we’ll make our way back to the lower 48 as they call it here and return to civilization. for now, i love the mountain views and snowy days.

...or visit. Sure, Iowa isn’t the biggest tourist destination, but last time I went back, I saw the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend…a definite “must see” in Palo Alto county.

But if you grew up wanting an urban experience, you just won’t be happy. I hate to drive, I like being around a variety of strangers, and I hate those hot, humid days with all its mosquitoes. Mostly, I am depressed and scared by the vast, mind-numbing landscape of a relentless monoculture of corn and soybeans. Farm life was a lonely, monastic experience I may be all the better for, but it wasn’t that enjoyable.

Love my college, but I’ll be glad to leave rural Iowa. (Cedar Rapids is not a real city…Iowa City isn’t really either.) I love the Twin Cities (where I grew up, where I go in the summers, where I still call home) but who knows where I’ll end up, but I know it won’t be Iowa. 2 more years in Iowa.

I now live in Canada and I love it. I will never leave Canada, if I can help it.

But if there’s one place in the United States that I would live, it would be Iowa. I’ve lived in Illinois, Missouri, Texas, California and Iowa and Iowa is the one place I’d return to.

If Iowa were annexed by Canada, I’d move there. I have friends and family there, yes, but it’s more than that. There’s good people there – perhaps a little conservative for my taste – but good people nonetheless.

So for those of you whose goal it is to “leave Iowa” I don’t blame you: get out and see, but it’s a wonderful place to come home to.