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I really like Irish & Celtic-inspired music, to the point that I might have a St. Patrick’s Day playlist going on my phone at any given time of the year. On one of these the other day, they played the song “Goodbye Mrs. Durkin,” as sung by the Dubliners. There’s a lot of old Irish songs, especially from the mid-1800’s, about leaving Ireland to work in America, often specifically “Californ-I-A.” And there’s examples of that tradition continuing into recent days: we saw Flogging Molly in concert earlier this year, where frontman Dave King talked a bit about how he moved to Cali for lack of jobs in Ireland. Of course, I may have said “recent days” but that was back in the 80’s.
Now, in 2022, this Californian feels more like the auld-time Irish migrant singing that song than like someone who’s already in the Promised Land. And the fact that California’s population is in decline proves I’m not the only one. To be sure, I have loved living here. A lot has changed since childhood. We’ll be talking a lot in this blog about the different reasons California is not good for us anymore, but the biggest and simplest is that there is no path for a family like mine to support itself in this state.
When I was growing up, my dad was able to support a family of 6 on one income. That included home ownership. Granted, it was a high-paying job and he worked 60 hours a week, but even if I could have that same job today, it’d barely pay today’s cost of living in most parts of Cali. Living with family is the only way we’re making it work right now, and that has also become unsustainable. And so we go abroad (so to speak) to seek our fortune. Unlike most of the Irish migrants in the songs, I’m bringing my family with me, because we don’t have extended family that they can stay with while I’m off where the work is. More on that in future posts as well.
While money may be the greatest reason for leaving, the plan is not to come back to California even if we do become able to afford it again; we’re seeking a forever home, a new Promised Land. Neither is Californication the plan; we intend to play by the rules where we land. Sure, some California will inevitably come with us, and there are good things about it that we hope we’ll be able to find elsewhere, but we mean to leave the greater part of California’s culture behind for good. Exactly what that looks like, we’ll have to find out.
Which calls to mind another funny parallel to the Irish migration: the Internet abounds with stories of how people don’t like their new Californian neighbors. While my wife has yet to spot any pictures posted online of “No Californians Need Apply” signs, one person on Tiktok from another state said (without much context) “It’s better to say you’re from prison than from California.”
What that means, we’ll get to explore more over the course of our journey. All we know is that there’s got to be a place for us out there, and it isn’t here. So no matter where it is, one way or another we’re resolved that the day will come when we sing:
“Goodbye Mr. Newsom,
Your state is turning gruesome
No more I’ll chase your fool’s gold
To build your mansion wall!
As sure as me name is Alias
I’m off to somewhere, hell yes!
Where instead of digging garbage
I’ll be digging Yukon Gold.”
