This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1425, Boomtowns and Road Trips.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 150 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Denver and Portland, USA.
What do we think will happen to large cities as a result of the health crisis in 2020?
What is a boomtown, and how can this be a great source of conversation?
Listen to get all the details today.
Do you ever feel like your English is good but not quite where you want it to be?
Maybe you can have conversations, but you still hesitate when expressing complex ideas.
Maybe you know what you want to say. but you can't always say it naturally.
If that sounds familiar, our B2 English fluency course was designed for you.
You'll learn how to speak more naturally, express yourself with confidence and finally stop feeling stuck at the intermediate level.
This week, you can save $50 on our basic plan or save $100 on our personal coach plan.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash B2.
That's allearsenglish.com slash letter B number two.
Hey, Jessica, how's it going today?
It's going great.
It's hot here now.
So I went for like an early morning run with Ozzy.
And, you know, I'm definitely noticing some changes in my urban environment, at least.
There are a lot of houses for sale.
Have you noticed anything like that in Denver?
Yeah, the housing market in Denver is still pretty tight, to be honest.
It's pretty good.
But I know, like a lot of cities at this moment in 2020, post-pandemic we're not quite post-pandemic yet, right?
Unfortunately, but we're in the midst of it.
But it leaves me wondering, you know, what is going to happen to cities?
In specific cities like the big ones New York Boston, San Francisco.
After the pandemic, what's going to change?
Right.
There have been a lot of sort of think pieces.
I love that phrase, guys.
It could be an article or even a podcast or a radio show could qualify as a think piece.
Just like you know, academics or experts in a certain field, using current situation to predict the future right.
But there've been a lot of think pieces about sort of urban flight.
People like leaving the cities now to move to smaller areas.
Yeah, it's interesting.
If you just take New York as an example, I mean New York really just became a lot safer around.
I'd say like mid 90s is when it started to get cleaned up.
And between 19, probably mid 90s and now.
It's been the place to be.
People have wanted to come into these city centers and they're calling it urban agglomeration.
I was reading this article about it in the New York Times this morning and it got me thinking.
I was actually kind of skeptical about the concept by the end of the article because I kind of doubt that a pandemic like this could have that kind of effect.
I mean, people have invested in homes, right?
Extremely expensive homes in New York City, counting on the real estate market.
But you do see it happening already.
Well, you know, I was listening to some local news this weekend as well.
And there was like a mayor or something from a smaller town. outside of Portland.
And he was like almost advertising his town.
You know, like this is the reason why people are moving here and should continue to move here.
And it was tied into the pandemic because?
Because more people are becoming flexible with their work, reevaluating their priorities, realizing that they don't need all the things they thought they did from an urban environment.
And thinking I could be spending less money if I lived in a smaller space, have room outside to walk without coming into contact with people, and work from home.
So I think these are all... coming into play now.
Yeah, that's a good point.
And on top of that, companies are having the same questions, right?
They're making the same decisions.
I mean a lot of companies are giving up their real estate, for example in New York, not renewing their leases.
And a lot of them, from what I've heard, are just deciding that they don't even need an office space.
Like, why do we need an office space?
I mean, we work online.
Yeah.
And look how well it's going, right?
I mean, we know it works.
We know it works.
It ends up saving a lot of money.
And you end up being able to spend that money on more interesting things, right?
Building greater products for our students.
So I mean honestly, I think this was already happening to cities like Boston, at least before the pandemic.
I saw that trend in friends of mine that were starting to look to buy homes outside of Boston, whereas 10 years ago it was all about being in the city.
Yeah, sure.
Well, don't you think though that also has to do with how old we are?
Because, like you know, I think this is a phenomenon that has existed for decades here in the States right,
Like if you're young and you're like career, hungry and You want to be in the middle of the busyness.
And then, as you grow older and you want to start a family, you rethink that and you're like I can afford another bedroom if I live in the suburb.
The school is better out there.
So I think that is just like tied to generations.
That ties into it for sure.
Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
I mean, so it makes me think of history, right?
Throughout history.
I mean, in our course, Connect to Communicator, we focus a lesson on this concept of boom towns.
So what is a boom town, Jessica?
What does that mean?
Today in the episode, we're talking about boom towns.
And, as we said, this is a big part of your trip around the US, over 12400 miles that you get to take when you join the Connected Communicator Fluency course.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash connection to join the course today.
Don't you hate it when you're trying to buy something online and when you finally make all of your selections and get ready to check out, your credit card is nowhere to be found.
When this happens, I love seeing the purple pay button at the top of the checkout, because I know I won't have to dig for my card.
This simple purple button is one of the best features in all of the online shopping world and can make a huge difference in sales for your online business.
Shopify is the e-commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 of all e-commerce in the US.
From household names like Skims and Thrive Cosmetics to brands just getting started.
Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you.
Easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling.
Best yet.
Shopify is your e-commerce expert, with world-class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping, to processing returns and beyond.
See fewer carts go abandoned and more sales go... with Shopify and their Shop Pay button.
Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash A-E-E.
Go to Shopify.com slash A-E-E.
That's S-H-O-P-I-F-Y dot com slash A-E-E.
So a boomtown is is a place that like skyrockets in population because of some specific industry like, for example, Detroit.
Right.
The car industry or a lot of cities throughout California, even Nevada, where I grew up.
That skyrocketed because of mining or in the Pacific Northwest where I am now because of timber.
And so all of these towns were boom towns.
They like skyrocketed at a certain point.
But as those industries changed in the face of globalization, in the face of automation, then people left because the industry started failing again.
And now those towns are in dire straits in a lot of respects.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's why we made that a big part of that course.
We went to the Rust Belt, interviewed people there about real estate, about what was going on.
And this weekend I was thinking about boom towns because I was in this town of Leadville, Colorado.
We were camping in a really beautiful part of Colorado.
And Leadville is an old mining town, a silver mining town from the 1800s, from the gold rush time, you know.
And you know you could drive through there and see the oldest saloon in the West or just these historical places that have stayed up.
You could see how old the buildings are.
You can feel that there was a real moment here that this town had, and then it didn't have it anymore.
Something about that is kind of haunting, but also romantic to me.
I don't know what it is.
It is both, though.
It totally is.
There was a city.
There's a city called Virginia City.
That's near where I grew up in Carson City, Nevada.
And it's the same thing.
Like it was a boom town when there was like silver mines.
Same exact thing.
Yeah.
And then now it's a population of like a few hundred, I think.
And literally I think the town exists of like one main street that's like maintained to be some sort of like old timey saloon.
You know what I mean?
So it's just tourists and it's kind of sad.
Well, I mean, although it depends on where these towns exist, because some of them come back around.
Like what I what I noticed in Leadville is the cool kids are moving there now.
Some of them, not all of them.
Yeah.
I mean, some of the artists are moving in.
They're having – you see little galleries popping up.
You see an overpriced coffee shop.
Like you see the stuff coming in, right?
You know what's going on.
So I found that interesting too.
Like why are people moving back and then what's going to happen with Leadville now?
It's not – it's probably a good hour and a half from Denver.
So I don't think much really can unless there's a new industry that crops up there.
I think it all has to be rooted in some distinct and profound industry.
It can't just be gift shops.
No, for sure.
And like overpriced coffee shops and places where you dress up and take old timey pictures.
Like that's always a feature.
Yeah.
And maybe younger people that do have more flexibility with their time and their resources.
Maybe they will invest in like cool open spaces.
And if you're you know, if you're like within two hours or an hour of a big city, that's probably enough for a lot of people, because maybe they just need access to that airport sometimes and that might be fine.
Yeah.
I mean, maybe our concept of what's desirable will change.
I mean right now.
I personally don't like the idea of living in like a typical subdivision and being isolated from the city.
Only around you know family.
It just doesn't feel very like interesting to me.
Like I want to have a coffee shop around the corner.
I want to have nice restaurants in my neighborhood.
But maybe things will start to become more integrated.
So it's not city and suburbs.
It's both mixed together.
Who knows?
Well, you know, I'm on the other side of the trend from where you are.
I feel like I would be totally happy if I just lived in a cabin in the woods as long as like...
As long as I could reach Portland in like 45 minutes or whatever, I would be fine.
Now, this might change after James and I go on our huge camping trips.
Maybe I'll be like, hmm.
Actually, no, I do want more access to stuff.
But as I stand down, like I don't like this stuff isn't open right now and I'm fine.
So maybe I don't need it.
I don't know.
The pandemic has caused us to really rethink what we actually need and want.
Right.
I mean, that's for sure.
Whether it's this concept of cities changing or whether it's something else, it's going to make us all think long and hard.
Yeah.
Totally.
And you know this is guys, listeners.
This is going to be really the basis of a lot of ways we connect with other people from now on, having conversations about these changes, right.
Like contrasting our life, our city, our family before the pandemic and after the pandemic.
And that's why this Boomtown, this Rust Belt module ties in so well to these connections.
Because there's a lesson in there called Andrew's Reality.
And he describes Detroit in the past and now.
And he has all these really interesting time phrases.
Yeah.
For doing that.
And we teach you those time phrases and how to use them.
You hear Andrew using it in that speech.
And it's just really interesting to me that this whole Rust Belt module has so many language skills that we can use right now to connect to other people.
Yeah, Andrew was a very articulate man.
I remember sitting there in his living room with his girlfriend and him and his dog Bella, on the ground.
You know, they had just come back from a weekend away.
And they were they he just gave me all the details.
He just told me everything from his insight as a native Rust Belt, as a Rust Belt native, as a native of Flint Michigan.
You know what life is like in that area.
And guys, you get that inside perspective.
It is so cool.
It's so cool.
It's so fascinating.
And the ultimate lesson in that module is with Izzy, the man that had that nonprofit idea for cleaning the water stuff like that.
And this also is applicable now, guys.
I mean, there are people coming up all the time with ways they can help others, right?
Like new ideas for nonprofits, organizations, volunteering efforts.
This ties into protests.
This ties into healthcare rights.
I mean so many conversations we're having now could be made better or easier or facilitated by learning the skills in this module.
Yes.
And you guys want to be able to have.
You know, these are the conversations that make life interesting.
Right.
You want to be able to have these conversations in English with the right grammar.
Right.
And the right vocabulary.
I mean, it's just so much more satisfying when we can have those connections.
Yeah, exactly.
And I mean, this episode today came because Lindsay and I keep up on the news, right?
Like we're listening to the news, we're reading the news.
And guys, you want to do the same.
I know you do.
You want to be plugged into what's happening in the world and to understand all of these people talking and writing.
Yeah.
Language skills, those are the tools that we need, right?
So that's another way that fitting more native English into your life, natural English, will help you make future connections, because you have stuff to talk about and you understand what other people are saying to you.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So guys, come back to the website for this episode.
I'll try to leave the link to that article from the New York Times that I mentioned earlier in that episode.
But where should our listeners go to go deeper?
Where should they go to kind of to experience that Rust Belt module?
First of all, Jessica.
Yes, guys, go to allearsenglish.com slash connection.
And then you'll be a part of our Facebook community as well.
And I post two questions, little practice activities in the Facebook group every week.
People are always looking for speaking partners.
But it really comes down to having access to all of these modules that take you across America and In a time pre-pandemic, when people were traveling and talking face to face and like really connecting.
And I think that in itself is also nice.
Yeah, I know.
I mean, just the feeling of traveling again, right?
I miss it so much.
I know.
Road trips are the best.
So if we need to do it virtually, then that's how we need to do it for a while.
So guys, that's the other cool thing about this course.
It's like no other course on the internet in ESL.
We have seen nothing like this, Jessica.
Nothing.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So guys, definitely check it out.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash connection.
Travel across America with us and learn these language skills to connect right now.
All right.
All right.
Good stuff.
I'll talk to you very soon.
Have a good day.
Sounds good.
You too.
All right.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to all ears English.
If you are taking IELTS this year, get your estimated band score with our two minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash my score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
