You should have lived my life as an employee at the University of Iowa living in the center of Iowa City. It was a huge nightmare. The whole mid-western world is a place I had to live in, as a foreign languages and literature professor, for a few years. I just tried to survive avoiding using English. Stuck around with my Spanish-speaking pals. Until I escaped. Disguised as a Spanish speaker, I was actually better off. Otherwise, I spoke English, to be humiliated by higher-ranking administrators with their smooth, mid-western neutrality. So many times I had to hear about how my accent was just a matter of the forgetting of the letter R. Thankfully, I found a job back East, in Boston, in fact.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dang, that sucks and I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I'm actually from Iowa, so I feel extra bad--at the state's flagship university no-less. There's certainly plenty of judgemental and close minded people around here. I'm glad you found a better environment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Don't worry! As soon as I knew I had to move to there to have a job, I was looking for another job. I really didn't want to live there. I just kind of put up with it and found a way to go back to my east coast, where I could speak freely with my trashy accent and be in good company. No offense to you and where you live, which I dislike. Just not a place I wanted to live in. I worked there and found my escape. If you ever wish to secede from the United States, by the way, feel free. I'll vote in favor.