I am one of those folks who grew up here in the, moved away and thought it might be a good place to come back to. Lived everywhere, East Coast, the South, the West and overseas. I have been lurking on this board for a year or so and finally decided to give it a try and have made a couple of posts so far.
Moving back here has not been successful and I can tell my wife is getting restless. We are free thinkers and that does not go with the majority of the local populace. Get much beyond "what church do you go to" (we don't) or sports and things fall flat. It has happened often enough that we know the drill. Venture into something like gay marriage or heaven forbid, your support for a liberal political candidate and it is like you had bubonic plague. You do not get invited back.
I thought TulsaNow was a spot for free thinkers but am close to revising that opinion. The minute the discussion gets going here (e.g. see recent topic "Tulsa Has Changed") – the moderators step in and close the topic. No controversy allowed! In addition, I have seen many, many people with divergent views kicked off or hounded off the board. What is about this place? Is it something in the water?
Like I said, we are starting to think that coming back to Tulsa may have been a mistake. Many people come back but you would be surprised how many turn around and leave again when they see what it is really like (we know several). I am not at the fleeing stage yet but I think it may be coming. I have heard "Denver would be nice or what about that area in Dallas" too many times lately at breakfast to ignore the signs (we have lived in Dallas and Denver).
The regulars on TulsaNow need to take a hard look at themselves. I think they mirror the general population more than they know. I can always tell when a topic or poster is about to get the axe – Brunoflipper has a tantrum and Average Joe turns caustic. Tulsa seems similar to the Stepford Wives to me and this may be its least attractive feature. It is not surface parking or the buildings downtown that are the problem – it is the Tulsa inhabitants that create a stifling atmosphere. Remember the old cartoon character Pogo who said "we have met the enemy and he is us." So true here.
I note that the one of the most popular threads on this forum is "What Do You Remember?" I will tell you what I remember. I remember a Midwest city that I could not wait to leave growing up. It may happen again.