This is part two in a series — read the introduction and part one here.
Name: Joe Cunningham
Age: 61
Occupation: Artist/musician
Current Home: San Francisco, California
Hometown: Flint, Michigan
When did you leave?
I left in 1977, came back in 1979 for four years, and left for good in 1983.
Why did you leave?
Break-ins and burglaries at my house and studio, which left me with only a guitar and the clothes I was wearing.
What do you miss about your hometown?
Mother’s Bread made by the Balkan Bakery. The great friends I had there, and the seriousness with which they tried to make Flint a better place. The very air I grew up in. And smoking. In Flint smoking was a given when I lived there. I miss it still. The Torch Bar and Grill, the only bar I have ever felt at home in.
What would it take for you to return home?
I won’t return. My wife would never live in Flint. After 20 years I have a lot of great friends in San Francisco. My artistic life is fed here. My kids were born and raised here. I love the weather, the culture, and the people. I could imagine returning to Flint as an intellectual exercise, but in reality I feel that I live in the coolest place on Earth right now. My only sadness is to be so far away from my siblings and my mom, who is currently in a nursing home.
***
Name: LaTanya “Tangie” Sharp
Age: 47
Occupation: Vice president, credit review officer
Current Home: Phoenix, Arizona
Hometown: Flint, Michigan
When did you leave?
1989
Why did you leave?
My parents moved to Detroit after my Dad lost his job as Mayor of Flint. My mother got a job at Wayne State University which had a benefit allowing dependents of employees to attend for half price. Since they funded my undergraduate education, I moved with them and went to Wayne State. Since my departure from Flint, I lived in Metro Detroit, Chicago, London, San Francisco, and now Phoenix. I guess I like to move around.
What do you miss about your hometown?
Mainly a sense of community and belonging. I had my own tribe of friends and family growing up who always made me feel safe and loved. Most of my core friends in Flint were peers and parents that I met in elementary school. So, we had histories and shared experiences that I find difficult to replicate. I’ve tried to build that sense of community each time I move, but it seems to get harder to do as I get older.
What would it take for you to return home?
Flint is where I grew-up, but it was only “my home” when I lived there from the 1960s-1980s. Now, Flint does not feel like home. It’s just not the same place due to depressed economic conditions. Most of my family have moved out of the area, so I mainly go back for funerals. It makes me feel sad to admit that I do not think I would ever move back to Flint.
***
Name: Ken Rhodes
Age: 57
Occupation: IT project coordinator
Current Home: Oakley, California, after living in have lived in Hayward, Alameda, Pleasanton
Hometown: Flint, Michigan
When did you leave?
October 26, 1976.
Why did you leave?
I joined the Navy. After my enlistment, I expected to return to the Detroit area as a nuclear power plant operator but Three Mile Island put the brakes on that.
What do you miss about your hometown?
The “large town” feeling that I remember from Flint in the ‘60s and ‘70s. I have never had that in any other city, and I’ve lived in several. I miss being a lifetime resident, too. In all of the other cities and towns I have always felt like an outsider. I’ll never be able to “remember when” like the locals.
What would it take for you to return home?
Between my career, my family, the unbeatable weather here in the Bay Area, and the vast expanse of California to explore, I don’t expect to return to Flint on a permanent basis.
watch this space as we bring you more portraits of Rust Belt Refugees —and if you missed it, read the introduction and part one of the series here.
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I’ve enjoyed reading these, as I’m also in the Rust Belt diaspora, too. I moved from Michigan to Oregon for graduate school in 1997, then to Seattle for more graduate school in 2000, and I’ve been in Seattle ever since.
One trend that stands out is that none of the people profiled thus far would consider moving back to the Rust Belt. That’s totally understandable – if you feel like you’ve established a good life elsewhere, there may not be a strong enough reason to move back. In my case, I find Seattle to be a great city and I wouldn’t be sad if I ended up spending the rest of my life here. That said, I have, lately, been considering the possibility of moving back – maybe not to the same place I grew up, but maybe somewhere reasonably close. I don’t have any ties of marriage or children here in Seattle and I still have friends and family back in Michigan. Like one of the respondents mentioned in his/her case, I sometimes feel not completely at home in Seattle, even though I’ve lived here for 14 years. When I go to Michigan to visit, I often feel like I’ve plugged right back in to something familiar. And every time I go back, I discover something new and interesting, which I think is a benefit of having lived away from Michigan – things are no longer “just in the background” so to speak. I also wonder if anything that I can do – however small – would have great impact in the Rust Belt than here in the Northwest, where it seems just about everyone is coming to live and work. And I do miss the lakes.
I may never go back to the Rust Belt and that’s okay. But going back isn’t unthinkable for me.
I’m from Redford. Also lived out neat and in Ann Arbor, E. Lansing, Palmer Park (a neighborhood of Detroit) and finally Royal Oak before it was hip. Left for Houston in 1981 for a job and never expected to stay in Texas but here I am still, the mother of native Texans and actually feeling less at home here than I did back in the 90s.
Retirement looms. We’ve talked often about returning, probably northern MI where there is family, but cannot seem to make up our minds. Is it just memories of being young and misplaced nostalgia for snow? Are we crazy to long for those cool summer nights? And why is our daughter such a Tiger fan?
I moved from Chicago to Miami. One thing I missed was the autumn, and wearing sweaters and boots, the crisp air, and the trees turning colorful.
The winter…not so much.
I returned to Chicago, now I am leaving back to Florida again, forever.