Sending love from Chicago: Des Moines, you're da best

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capitalcityguy

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2007
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Des Moines
Wow...you couldn't pay a PR firm to create a better story to tell about Des Moines than what this parent of an ISU grad has to say about his experience in DSM. This is gold...

Des Moines offers a degree of stimulation that isn’t estranged from meditativeness. The city is not pretty or petty or pious. It is neither Paris nor a prairie town. In Des Moines, mankind need not behave like ants, or preen like parrots. Des Moines is my “lost city,” and one of my dearest “found things.”


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...e-chicago-des-moines-youre-da-best/547808002/
 

capitalcityguy

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2007
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Des Moines
Meh. This is just cliche on top of cliche. Just my opinion.

But the entire article is specific examples of what they appreciated. Very specific. Not just broad brush - "it is a great place to work, live, and play" talk.

Yes, you have the right to your opinion, but I guess I'm not getting your point that this is full of cliches. Can you elaborate?
 

Gunnerclone

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2010
68,681
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DSM
But the entire article is specific examples of what they appreciated. Very specific. Not just broad brush - "it is a great place to work, live, and play" talk.

Yes, you have the right to your opinion, but I guess I'm not getting your point that this is full of cliches. Can you elaborate?

Butthurt that Des Moines is on its way to being a 70/30 ISU/Hok split in the next 20 years.
 

Gonzo

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2009
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Behind you
But the entire article is specific examples of what they appreciated. Very specific. Not just broad brush - "it is a great place to work, live, and play" talk.

Yes, you have the right to your opinion, but I guess I'm not getting your point that this is full of cliches. Can you elaborate?

German food and antiques in Amana. Tulips in Pella. Tanger outlets in Williamsburg. Feeling small and insignificant in Chicago, something Des Moines surely doesn't thrust upon its residents because it's small and, Des Moines. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that this family discovered a wonderfully comforting community in Des Moines. I just cringe a bit when people talk about Des Moines as this place you can find the comfort of community and not be overwhelmed by the skyscrapers an bigness of other cities. **** that. I lived in Chicago for several years, in the city, and I loved every minute of it. Now I live in the Des Moines area, and I love it because of its great neighborhoods and amazing restaurants and bike trails and youthful energy and willingness to grow and progress. I don't like Des Moines being presented as this kind of quiet, slow, homesteader option for people who are tired of life in the big city fast lane.
 

Al_4_State

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Des Moines is a nice town but the weather sucks!

I'd take Des Moines weather over places like Chicago or Detroit. Basically that Rust Belt area. They have bigger snows, more cloudy days, more rain, and the highs and lows are about the same.

Des Moines is an awesome city. It's big enough to have top notch amenities, but not so big that it's just a suburban wasteland. A lot of the neighborhoods have their own individual character, and it really provides a surprising amount of diversity in a reasonably sized area.
 

dmclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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Certainly not just one mans opinion. Did my 4 years grad school in Chicago. Always said it’s a decent place to visit, never cared to live there.

I find this to be the case with most large cities around the world. I love to visit places like NYC but if I had to deal with the crap they have to go through every day, I would go nuts.
 
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CloneFan4

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Aug 5, 2010
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West Des Moines
I've never been fully happy with where I lived until I got to West Des Moines and immersed myself in the WDSM/DSM area. I LOVE it here. It makes Ames feel like a **** hole
 

JP4CY

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German food and antiques in Amana. Tulips in Pella. Tanger outlets in Williamsburg. Feeling small and insignificant in Chicago, something Des Moines surely doesn't thrust upon its residents because it's small and, Des Moines. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that this family discovered a wonderfully comforting community in Des Moines. I just cringe a bit when people talk about Des Moines as this place you can find the comfort of community and not be overwhelmed by the skyscrapers an bigness of other cities. **** that. I lived in Chicago for several years, in the city, and I loved every minute of it. Now I live in the Des Moines area, and I love it because of its great neighborhoods and amazing restaurants and bike trails and youthful energy and willingness to grow and progress. I don't like Des Moines being presented as this kind of quiet, slow, homesteader option for people who are tired of life in the big city fast lane.
And hanging out at the dump Merkle's.
 

ZB4CY

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Dec 17, 2012
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Alexander Lee can have Des Moines as long as Iowa State can have Chicago's prized basketball recruits.