Unfiltered: Far From Home

Posted by Karen Dybis Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm

14 Comments • Trackback (1) • Essay , Brain Drain, Jennifer Blevins

Terms like "Brain Drain" get thrown around a lot here in Michigan. But who exactly owns those brains that are slipping away from the state?

Meet Jennifer Blevins. She is originally from Michigan, but she has lived in San Francisco since 1997.

She moved, she admits, in part to try something new. Yet she has found her roots (and heart) remain here. So there, San Fran.

Some family history: Her father and grandfather both worked on the line at Hydra-Matic for 30-plus years. The family moved around, so she has lived in Wayne, Westland, Belleville, Canton, Brighton, Howell and Ypsilanti. She went to high school in Howell at Howell High School then Washtenaw Community College then San Francisco State University, where she received a Journalism degree.

She now works an Executive Assistant at San Francisco magazine and is crafting a career as a freelance writer. She currently writes for the magazine's online edition as well as DivineCaroline.com.

***

All Fired Up
by Jennifer Blevins

Everyone has been there. You're at a bar, or in somebody's basement somewhere in Dearborn or Brighton, playing poker, listening to Led Zeppelin, and talking way too loud. Naturally, the conversation progressively gets rowdier as more booze is consumed. Everyone's all fired up about the tanking economy, the soaring unemployment rates, and the half-baked plans for rebuilding the city. Well, guess what? This conversation is happening in other places besides Michigan. Places, like California.

In the past 10 or so years I've lived in San Francisco, there's one question that comes up with almost every person I meet. And pretty much every time I'm asked this, I pause before responding. It's a question that undoubtedly always leads me to ask myself again. Why did I leave Michigan?

The answer to why I left is simple: I wanted to experience life somewhere new. But there's actually a little more to it.

For whatever reason, San Francisco lays claim to a lot ex-Michiganders. I've met more people here through jobs, through school, and through friends of friends from the mitten than any other state. We seem to be completely drawn to one another through (sometimes random) connections and most often end up remaining friends. It may be some form of instinctual Midwestern solidarity. I'm not sure. But together, we root for the Pistons and the Red Wings, argue about Ford's and Meijer's, and whine endlessly about how much real estate we could get for our money in Michigan versus what we're gonna get out here. And I shudder to think of all the late nights I've spent reminiscing about music at the Blind Pig and St. Andrew's Hall, the Big Dick, cider mills, coney dogs, Greenfield Village, and of course, that Uniroyal Tire. Then there's the incessant grumbling about the broken-down freeways and the demise of the surrounding cities and suburbs. But in the most cynical, grief-laden complaints, there is a distinct undercurrent of defensiveness. And the truth is, we can say whatever we want to about Michigan's hard times, but the minute a non-Michigander chimes in with a negative remark, it's all over. The moment someone else starts weighing in on how the auto industry really just got what it deserved or how they should have never gotten that bailout, we're there to shut them down.

I'm in California, but Michigan is everywhere. Last week, I got on the N Judah and there was a guy wearing a Michigan sweatshirt. When I got off, there was a woman wearing an EMU t-shirt. I moved into a new flat and my neighbor, it turns out, is from Inkster. I looked at my Facebook page the other day and read that a friend, also from Michigan who lives here now, had just joined “Bitch, please. I'm from Michigan.” When the Dirtbombs came to town, we bought tickets. My fiance and I went to a neighbor's house on Christmas Eve and soon found ourselves in the middle of a heated debate about Kwame Kilpatrick and unions and Michael Moore. Just like so many other times, I became so engrossed in talking about Michigan, I barely had any interest in talking about anything else the entire night. And this brings me to the self-realization I've had about Michigan.

I have, over the years, stayed very much attached to my home state. Since I moved away, I've always felt an undeniable need to maintain my Michigan heritage and to stand up for that heritage. I never wanted to lose my roots.

So the truth is that on some level, I never really left. Even though I live in California, I will always be a Michigander at heart. Yeah, people can get on my case all they want for leaving. They may call me a quitter and say that only the people who truly care for the state stick around. But I just can't help to remind anyone who gives me grief: There's a group of us here on the West Coast sitting around (OK, so maybe our booze is cabernet from Napa) listening to Led Zeppelin, playing poker, and talking way too loud about Michigan.