My mom and stepdad visited this weekend. After I graduated from high school in New Wilmington, they told me that they were planning on moving to Florida to join the rest of my family which has migrated down there, and by the time I finished college they had bought a house down the block from my grandparents. But they come back to good old PA every once in awhile to visit, and it doesn’t hurt that I have a free place to stay when I want to be a beach bum.

Every time they visit, they can’t believe all the things that have changed in Pittsburgh. When my mom graduated from college, back in 2000, young people were leaving the city in droves. They couldn’t find good jobs to keep them here, so they left for bigger cities like DC and New York. But this weekend my mom asked me where all my friends were moving to, and I could only think of one person - a friend of mine from college who’s moving to New York to go to grad school. Everyone else has stayed here. Sure, a few of them are continuing their educations, like my best friend Andi, who’s in law school at Pitt, but most of them have found good, stable jobs and are saving up to buy a house.

I think the work of organizations like Students for a Sustainable Pittsburgh and the progressive politics that have been on the upswing the past few years are mostly to thank for these changes. I’m glad that I don’t have to leave the region I grew up in to find a job that’s meaningful and pays reasonably well. I hope to never have to leave this place - although if I ever decide that hurricanes, bugs the size of small animals, and gaudy tourist attractions galore are for me, my mom has assured me I’m always welcome in Florida.