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Certainly, Lexington and its high-society, horse farm culture are "genteel," but then what might be concluded about Cincinnati's own high-society that permeates not only Indian Hill, but also Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, and East Walnut Hills? Many of these superbly educated residents have familiarized themselves with Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism not only through collegiate course work, but through actual travel to the Far East--and, for the most part, they neither flaunt such knowledge nor share it with strangers. (just my observation)
Again, you make a good point although I have to admit that my experience with folks from specifically Indian Hill is limited to a handful of families. It also may be of interest to the OP that the Indian Hill ZIP code yields one of the perennially highest dollar amounts in the country in terms of contributions the Republican party and Republican candidates. The few people I've known personally from Indian Hill were well-educated, well-mannered, well-to-do, and quite conservative in their political, economic, religious and social views.
As for the other neighborhoods, they are surely among the areas I would recommend the OP look for a compatible sense of community if they move here. I still would maintain that even under ideal circumstances they would experience considerable culture shock, mostly because of prevailing attitudes and conditions in general. But certainly there are more or less congenial parts of town for them to choose.
If the OP is still reading, I was in a similar situation ~5 years ago, and I'm making it work in Springfield OH (coming from Oakland).
Great point. I think the only difference is in Cincinnati one need not go anywhere else. It's all here. Cincy may be surrounded by some very conservative suburbs that do not fit the bill. But Cincinnati itself has it.
If the OP is still reading, I was in a similar situation ~5 years ago, and I'm making it work in Springfield OH (coming from Oakland). It all depends whether or not you & your partner feel the need to be surrounded by those of a similar disposition, or can make it work anywhere you go. I've learned over here, you need to seek things out which are more readily available to you where you are now. But they are there....if nothing else, a weekly shopping trip to Jungle Jim's and occasional trip to Yellow Springs or even Bloomington can give you the fix you need. Ohio is also a great distribution point for craft beer...we get the best of the West, Great Lakes and East Coast breweries, plus some decent local brands.
In some respects you hit the nail on the heqd.
Within reason, many rational people can "make it work." I did that in Lexington for a long time, even though I never stopped looking forward to the day when I could leave for a place that better met my own needs. Most of my commentary has been based on what I read as an implication from the wording of the original post that the OP was indeed looking if not to be surrounded by similar folks, at least wondering if they could easily find a community they could fit into. IMO they could do so more readily in Lexington than in Cincinnati, desipite the size differences.
This does not make Cincinnati a bad place. Insistence on the notion that it should be Nirvana for everyone does make it sound provincial, though.
^
...what do you think of Oakley, Columbia/Tusculum and Mount Adams and perhaps Mnt Lookiut in re the thread parents criterea? (honest question).
Well, Mount Adams may certainly be a nice fit. The other areas I can't comment on because I am never there, except occasionally passing through. The only reason I recommended the neighborhoods I did is because I can say from first hand experience and observation.
Even though I am in other parts of Cincinnati many times. For example, a close friend of mine is from Fairmount and has extensive family all over the west side. I spend a lot of time with his family (playing dominoes, bbqs, game day crowd, etc) in Westwood and elsewhere. But these areas would not be a good fit. So I don't rec them.
Is it not true that the University of Kentucky Medical Center handles most of the difficult cases for the greater portion of the state? My granddaughter was born in Lexington. A few hours after her birth a night nurse noticed she was turning blue from a lack of oxygen. She immediately contacted the UK Medical Center and they sent an anbulance to pick up the baby. They quickly determined she had a closed heart valve and informed my son-in-law she needed an operation as fast as they could organize an operating team, which they were calling in. They said you are in luck because we have one of the best child heart surgeons around right here on staff. She was born early Friday evening. Fortunately the night nurse at the neighborhood hospital recognized the condition and immediately contacted UK. The surgeon and his team were assembled early Saturday morning.
He looked at the information which had been compiled and said open heart was more dangerous than warranted. Instead he decided on what I call his miniature roto-rooter. It had a very tiny fiber optic with a camera about the size of a pin-head on the end of it. Around the camera was this tiny inflatable balloon.
Later I saw a video of the entire actual procedure. Absolutely miraculous. A less than 12 hour old infant. He snaked that tiny instrument up through the groin area and through an artery to the heart. I don't remember the type of scanner they used, but it projected an image of her body on a TV screen and super-imposed on that was the image from the tiny camera. The surgeon used the TV picture to guide everything he did. Think about how small the arteries in a newborn must be.
Finally he got to the affected heat valve and penetrated it. Then he inflated this rediculously small balloon to force the flaps open. The heart has 4 what are called flap valves, one for each section, which open and close as the heart beats. In her case the flaps of one valve had grown together during development so the valve could not function. It was basically frozen shut. This procedure forced the flaps apart so they could function.
Upon first notice the night before the wife and I had driven to Lexington. Upon arrival we found the son-in-law in a state of absolute terror as they were about to perform the operation. I asked where his wife Kelly was and he said she is still over at the hospital where the baby was born. So in the car I go, find Kelly at the other hospital, ask if she can walk, she says fine, and I reply OK we are out of here, your baby is about to be operated on. Got some flak from hospital personnel about proper checkout procedure and told them to kiss off we are leaving, period.
Later that morning, the daughter, son-in-law, wife and I had contact with the surgeon at the UK Medical Center. I said Doc we have just been shown the video of the procedure - absolutely amazing. He remarked he had been performing the procedure for about 1-1/2 years, and had studied it for about 2 years before attempting it on his own. He was an extremely nice guy. But he remarked he was trying to train other doctors in performing the procedure, as the number of cases being referred from surrounding states were beginning to overwhelm him.
I just asked, Doc you say this procedure is relatively new, what happened before? He simply looked and said in a calm voice, the majority died.
The granddaughter is now in the 4th grade, doing well, and just ventured onto her first competitive swimming team.
Besides my personal story, which is obviously dear to my heart, my point is many locations in the country have fantastic facilities and people which operate them. I could care less whether Lexington is in Eastern KY or TimBukTu. What is important to me is people associated with the UK Medical Center were there when my granddaughter needed them. The same is for Childrens Hospital in Cincinnati, one of the best in the country. But do not overlook the smaller Shriners Hospital in Cincinnati which provides for a smaller population of patients.
As the entire subject of Progressive Society is discussed, I guess my thoughts continually go back to Progress - what is the definition of that? I do not doubt we will disagree on many points of the subject.
I just know this, when the lives of newborns are saved by the skills and abilities of medical professionals all over this country I am encouraged. This is a society which cares for its progeny.
On the other end of the spectrum, when the lives of the unborn are sacrificed simply due to the wanton personal selfishness of their destroyers, I am very discouraged.
But one thing I am convinced of, the personal I am King and deserving of everthing I can get, is making much more headway than I am concerned about the plight of my fellow man.
Thank you for all the thoughtful and helpful replies.
TomJones123 and others who have recommended specific neighborhoods in Cincy, thank you. We will definitely look into these. My fiance agrees that these neighborhoods seem to be where we should look. It has been a while since she lived in Cincy, and it seems that both she and the city have changed a lot, in ways that may be helpful. From what I gather and guess, it seems Cincy has become a little more progressive, while I know she has become little less flamboyantly liberal, lol. And she really loves her family, some of whom are very conservative, but a few of whom actually really share our views on a lot.
When visiting Cincy, I was happy to see that the brand of conservatism is more along the German/Irish Catholic demographic. Of course, there are also many Catholics who are quite liberal, and Catholics generally promote education, the arts and progressive social works. I grew up in a small Catholic town in Wisconsin, so this demographic is familiar to me. Not to mention Cincy is a Jesuit hotbed, and the Jesuits were actually some of the first Western scholars to open up dialogue with China and translate some of our medical texts.
By the way, while I have definitely emphasized our liberal traits (because these seem to be the factors that have the greatest risk of not meshing well in Cincinnati), I don't actually identify as radical and definitely not the "in your face" kind of liberal. My partner is a little more leftist than me, but if you saw or interacted with me in person, you'd probably think me more of an "urbane moderate." I don't dress weird, definitely no punk/alternative clothes, no bumper stickers, I don't mimic political views just because they are liberal, etc, lol. I have definitely encountered a few people out here on the West Coast that were "too radical" for me, such as people who believe that disciplining your kids is fascism, people who hate religion, extreme political correctness, etc.
Also, of course, we don't have the need to be validated by everyone sharing our views on everything. I will admit that it has been nice to be in Washington state where we take certain progressive views for granted. However, as long as there is a decent contingent of people we can relate to, speak openly with and agree with, we will personally be fine.
But, for example, I really love that Seattle has banned plastic bags and styrofoam take-out boxes and implemented a composting program for food and yard waste. And it is fiscally-viable because the city profits off making and selling the resultant compost! I would love to live in a city where there's enough of a contingent of progressive individuals that we might actually be able to make something like that happen...
But, for example, I really love that Seattle has banned plastic bags and styrofoam take-out boxes and implemented a composting program for food and yard waste. And it is fiscally-viable because the city profits off making and selling the resultant compost! I would love to live in a city where there's enough of a contingent of progressive individuals that we might actually be able to make something like that happen...
Columbus is probably the only Ohio city which would welcome something along those lines. The rest are too stodgy and old-school, even Cleveland with its blue-collar Democrat demographic. Yellow Springs is the "Berkeley" of the state, but it's a small village and not an option if you crave urban living.
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