I'm looking for info. on Rapid City SD.

[MelissaB]

Hubby has a phone interview there. Can anybody tell me about the city? All I know is that it's supposed to be beautiful.

[existentialist]

1. Rapid City, SD

It is South Dakota's second largest city with a metropolitan population of about 100,000.


It is right on the edge of the Black Hills, which are indeed beautiful, although they lack the majesty of the Rockies.


It is Republican country, but South Dakota Republicans, or at least the ones that make up the center in South Dakota, are generally of a somewhat milder variety than some places.

The weather is generally tolerable, sometimes downright wonderful, rarely extremely hot or cold, but it can happen.

It's semi-arid, and right now in what is either one of the later years of an extended drought or the harbinger of the climate that it may soon become due to global warming.

The largest minority ethnic group are Lakota Indians; I'd guess maybe 15% of the Rapid City area population, and about 9% statewide.
They are mostly Democrats, but aside from voting they mostly seem to have little taste for politics, and generally vote for Democrats only as the lesser of two evils, and without much enthusiasm.

Other questions?

[MelissaB]

2. Yeah, I do. Thanks so much!

Hubby wants to know if they have a youth hockey program in the area? I know that's really important. :)

Also, how are the public schools? My kids are 10 and 7?

[existentialist]

4. I don't know about the hockey program

The public schools, while not absolutely top notch, are substantially better than average.

[RapidCreek]

9. yea they do

The city just built a fancy indoor ice rink. I live in Spearfish which is about 38 miles away.

rc

[liberalhistorian]

3. I just moved here this summer

from Ohio to take a job with a legal aid agency working with the Lakota Sioux, and I LOVE it! I've always loved vacationing in the Black Hills and it's a dream come true to actually live and work here. There's more than enough to do culturally and recreationally, the sky is big and beautiful and the air is fresh and clear. And the wweather is pretty decent, too. I don't think I'm ever going to go back to Ohio. My son is living with my parents right now, so I'll be bringing him here with me this summer.

[MelissaB]

5. Thanks so much liberalhistorian and wicasa!

I'll let you know if we get to move. I'm pretty excited even thinking about it.

[liberalhistorian]

6. How did your husband's interview go?

Let me know if you move out here, I'd be glad to help however I can!

[MelissaB]

7. The phone interview went fine, but

he didn't get a campus interview. Now he has a campus interview at Northern State University. I'm guessing he has a 1 in 3-4 chance. Wish us luck!

[liberalhistorian]

8. OMG, you're kidding!

My stepdad taught English there from 1968-73, and many of his colleagues became long-time family friends (two of whom just retired and moved here to the Black hills area, they taught English and speech). We moved to Aberdeen, then, in 1968 when I was three years old. That's how we became familiar with the Black Hills area, as colleagues took us there that first summer.

I was so depressed when my stepdad was laid off in 1973, due to the ending of the draft and the subsequent large drop in enrollment at the university; I loved South Dakota and the west and didn't want to go back to Ohio. That's why I'm so thrilled to be back here. It may have taken me 32 years, but I did, finally, make it back here!

NSU is a great university and Aberdeen is a nice city, but be prepared for some real cold, as it's in the top northernmost part of the state and it's VERY cold and snowy in the wintertime.

[RapidCreek]

10. Hey I don't know if you remember me...

I used to post pretty frequently here on the board. Then I had a bicycle accident, spent a week in a coma and three months in the hospital. I've posted three or four times since then. Anyway, there is another Democratic Underground fan that lives about 38 miles from you, if you'd ever like to go out for coffee or something! I suspect that you and I and two others on the board are from SD. Anyway, I gotta go, I'm getting tired. My darn head isn't working the greatest right now.

Andrew

[liberalhistorian]

13. Hey, yeah, sure

that'd be great. Were you at the meetup in Rapid City in July? I know Wicasa only lives a couple hours from Rapid City, also.

[RapidCreek]

14. No, I was still in the hospital

I suffered my accident in March....toward the end. I was either in the hospital or had just been released. I sure wish I had been able to go to the meet up. It tends to feel rather cold and lonely out here in conservative country....I've learned to deal with it though. I've found that I have to ignore things in people I would normally not ignore. It doesn't make for terribly deep relationships with my friends or "friends" though. It would really be a treat being around well informed people....well I am about to become cynical....and I made myself a promise to try and stop 'cause it doesn't really accomplish much.

I've not "met" Wicassa yet. Back when I first joined the board I was the only South Dakotan on the board....It sure is nice to see a few more South Dakotans on the board!

RC

[MelissaB]

11. Thanks for the info!

We are excited about the possibility. Tony is going up in a couple of weeks, and if he gets an offer we'll go up as a family to check the place out.

Um...am I going to freeze? :scared: I'm used to Alabama winters.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Are you going to freeze?

You're used to Alabama winters? Oh, boy. Yeah, I'd say that you are most certainly going to freeze, unfortunately. The snow starts in October and sometimes doesn't stop until May, and the temps are commonly below zero. This past winter they had the warmest winter in 100 years, though; the temps didn't get below freezing once, so maybe that'll continue, who knows.

It's too bad your husband didn't get the Rapid City job, the winters are much better there, a lot better than the rest of the state. It's considered the "banana belt" or the "tropics" of South Dakota.