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Alternate Steves: Ohio High Speed Rail

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

My speculation on how different economic and cultural trends could have affected us continues. I’m taking a look at how things may have been different for all of us, using my life as a lens.Today, a fave of mine, the Ohio High Speed rail, which had been speculated on for decades. I wonder what would have happened if it had come to be in the 90s, when I first heard of it. Continuing infrastructure issues were one of my turnoffs living in Ohio.

Let’s check in on another Steve, who watched his home state evolve with high speed rail. What’s he blogging about in alternate 2025?

In college I remember applying for graduate schools, and only one was in Ohio. Turns out I was never going to leave, and I honestly credit the High Speed Rail. Yes, there was a time it didn’t exist, stop making me feel old. At one point we’d killed our rail system.

But anyway here’s my personal take on the Ohio High Speed Rail.

So there I was in the early 90s, guy with a degree, no real plans past that, and living in Ohio. There were a lot of us, judging by the overload of business majors that graduated during my time. You saw some disillusioned people pile up that was for sure.

My idea was to take my psych major and maybe work in city, county, or state services. While I applied for that I made ends meet by temping, which a lot of my friends did. In senior year I’d fallen in with some folks from the college radio station and we’d gotten a place and by place I mean “apartment that was nerd barracks.”

It wasn’t the greatest of course. But somewhere in 92 or 3 I think the High Speed Rail got approved. I hadn’t even heard of it, but I wasn’t as political then.

The High Speed Rail getting approved was both a miracle and obvious. It was a miracle as I’d never felt Ohio was as big on public works as some places, and this was linking Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. It was obvious because most of Ohio is flat and we didn’t have much of an economic identity in my humble, resident opinion.

How it got pulled off was a miracle and there’s a reason there’s multiple books and that one indie comedy film about it. It was several disparate interests coming together, a small amount of bribery and double-dealing, and a grassroots campaign that was wildly entertaining in its own way. It felt a bit out of control, which was really why it worked.

Different elements and different interests didn’t so much conflict as amplify each other. There were businesses who wanted a piece of the rail system. Small towns on the way to the major cities wanted a stop in their city (more on that later). Politicians wanted to look good and of course make Ohio about something as the last time it made history was Neil Armstrong. There was certainly more enthusiasm for it than, say, the Big Dig.

Sorry Boston, no one made a Big Dig comedy. The Big Dig was a comedy.

The economy started changing as soon as things began moving on the rail, and me and my crew, temping away, figured that this was good for us. But also I realized that temping aside, I didn’t want to bounce around from assignment to assignment even if there were more options coming up. So since I foresaw things getting better, despite my limited knowledge, I made a move in my career.

I decided to get out of the field temping and aim at being a recruiter. The way I figured is that Ohio was actually stepping up it’s game and there were going to be opportunities. Why be the guy taking the temp assignments and contracts when I could set them up? Also that was a portable skillset in case I decided to head out of the state.

Also to be honest, government looked less and less interesting. Yeah, we got the High Speed Rail, but as that was going to dominate things for a decade. I’d temped at enough construction companies I knew that wasn’t for me. Also Ohio government may have pulled off the Rail, but uh, it had it’s moments.

So as things spun up to build the High Speed rail, that was my pitch to the agencies I contracted through. “I’ll temp now, but yeah, I want to get into the office,” and just kept learning and pestering people until things worked out and I got an in-office job. I was the guy placing people in positions, which really meant interviewing people, schmoozing, and record-keeping, but I was good at all of those.

Meanwhile around me Ohio was changing. The rail project brought in interest and money, and business – especially tech. It started slow at first, but around the time the Mansfield and Jefferson hookups happened, you could feel things catch fire. It took seven years from start to finish, but things were definitely changing around the three or four year mark.

Me, I happily kept doing recruiting and, pre-emptively, started doing work further and further outside of the Columbus area (it was still called that back then). Why not spend a few days in Cincinnati? Why not do a week in Cleveland? Why not manage some phone interviews. Ohio was getting smaller in a big way.

I also have to shout-out to my very understanding wife who put up with a few times I wasn’t around for a week.

When the rail was working, then things shifted a lot more. Because Ohio had some real advantages but the big one was it was cheap.

You’ve got a state that has connected its major cities and it’s also incredibly low-cost to live in. Land is flat, there’s plenty of it empty, and you can get a house cheaper than you can on the coasts. Sure you put up with snow and maybe not quite the culture you wanted, but if you lived in Columbus, you had options. Plus on the weekends you can travel to other cities to indulge, I dunno, whatever you wanted to indulge.

People moved in because it didn’t cost a lot and you had all the things you need. Also, as an Ohioan, I always felt my state was unappreciated.

One thing that was not foreseen was the “small town/big city” boom. As the lines were building out, smaller towns became a lot more accessible to the big cities. When the rail was done, you could save even more money by not living in the big cities. Mansfield itself, between Columbus (now Armstrong) and Cleveland, was the place for many people. Lebanon made out really well, even if it was more touristy.

I mean I won’t lie, multiple mall towns were happy with the rail, but not all were happy after the rail. But it worked out on average.

At some point the access, the good rep as we actually did the thing, and the low cost had a multiplicative effect. Me, that was the peak, since I got paid more the more people I placed, and I racked up quite a lot of money.

I also burnt out past a certain point. It took about 20 years, but there I was in my 40’s and I had the year but also it was a year. It was time to change, so I slowed down, took a break, and lept to plain-old HR. Ended up at OSU of all places, more set hours, more paperwork over schmoozing, senior recruiting and benefits.

Still in Ohio, which had changed far beyond the economics.

It was demographic. I would not have believed thirty years ago that someone would get the state to change the name of the capitol. But the whole “honor the local son by changing it to Armstrong” campaign worked. I admit “named after murderous lost guy” and “name after first guy on the moon” seemed to be an easy decision, but even I had my doubts.

It was reputational. Ohio wasn’t the place you expected innovation and there we were, being role models. You know multiple rail projects were based on ours? People don’t talk the Bay Area, they talk Ohio, when they talk rail projects. Remember the Canada conference, with the Saskatoon attendees?

Sometimes I wonder what Ohio would be like if it hadn’t happened. But by now it’s hard, I just can’t imagine Ohio without its high-speed rail lines. I can’t imagine not being able to bop over to Blue Ash on Friday to hit the restaurants. Even if I had a tough few years before my break, I can’t imagine not running around between the cities.

But somewhere out there, there’s a Steve who probably left Ohio as not much was happening. He didn’t have a High Speed Rail, and I feel kinda bad for that guy.

Steven Savage

Different Times, Different Mes

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

One of my obsessions for while has been to ask what the world could be like if our combination of technology and culture had taken different directions. In 2024 a friend said that it felt like nothing new or really good had been invented in 15 years, especially internet-wise. That has had me reviewing all the different choices and events that have led us to where we are now from a technical-cultural standpoint, and how it might be better.

So I started reflecting and asking what did I want to see? Where could things have gone different – and gone better?

That led me to some speculations of course, such as if there had been more social media regulation, or if certain technologies had becom popular at different times. But know what really got interesting?

Asking who I’d be if things had been different in the worlds of technology and culture.

This started by me imagining a world where the internet B.S. of today had never arrived – something I may write about. I tried to imagine myself in a world with different technologies, a world more environmentally conscious, a world where we weren’t doomscrolling. It was essentially writing speculative fiction in my head, but the mental exercise hit hard.

I can see how in some cases I’d have been the exact same kind of person, just using different technologies. I could see how I’d also be different a few twists and turns in the economy and I’d never have become a programmer. I could see how I’d also be the same- because I in many cases I’d still be a Project Manager, even in a semi-Solarpunk, not-quite-utopia I imagined.

Relating a possible future to a possible me, helped me grasp such trends and potentials much better.

This led me to another speculation – I began asking about what my life would be like in the case of particular technological divergences. That has proven to be a great way to understand our world the way it is and what it could be?

What if Work from Home had come early (and believe me it was seeded earlier than you think)? Or phone companies had seen things like AOL and come up with competition? What about prefab homes returning? What would it take to have technologies be different, culture be different, and what would I experience?

I find that idea of imagining “being there” really helped me understand impacts – and unintended impacts. It also helped me understand a few things about myself – such as my ability to get enthused about cool stuff even if it is kind of dumb.

I may actually write some of these ideas up and make a series of it. What can I speculate en and learn from using my knowledge of technology and history? What can I share – and what can we discuss – about possible worlds to understand this one.

But if I write it or not, I want you give it a shot. Ask about “historical divergences” you can imagine, and who you’d be if they happened. Especially if it’s about a better world – since you might be surprised at who you are even in a more ideal place and time.

Steven Savage

Competence, Knowledge, and Intellectual Cosplay

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Gods, I miss competence and knowledge. Yeah, this is going to be a rant, but know what? I earned it.

I really miss competence and knowing things as an ideal. The idea of setting a goal, taking measurable steps, and getting there. The competence that did big things like get us to the moon or electrify America. The everyday knowledge that lets doctors save lives and mechanics turn a pile of junk back to a working car. I feel America (and perhaps other cultures) don’t appreciate knowing stuff and doing things.

There’s a joke I’ve seen going around that today’s scientists don’t have time to invent robots or clone sheep because they’re too busy explaining the earth isn’t flat. A nice metaphor, but it’s more like they’re not only explaining the earth isn’t flat, but a Senator wants NASA investigated for concealing the flat earth. Oh, and people are selling Flat Earth Crystals that will protect you from COVID and 5G.

What’s worse is I’m trying to be sarcastic and I feel I haven’t been sarcastic enough.

I don’t get it. I grew up with science and education, in white-collar family from a hard-working and self-educated blue collar family. I knew people who worked their way up with a high school degree – who also had a huge personal library or ended up so knowledgeable they taught college. I grew up with educators and mechanics, people who knew how to get stuff done and were respected for it.

I grew up with people who got their damn vaccinations so they and their kids didn’t die. Yeah, sometimes there was smoking, drinking, and foods that were 50% lard, but that was sort of different – at least that’s what I tell myself. Also a lot of stuff was brown and green, that style where mid-century modern gets depressed, but that’s another story. Anyway we used science despite the lard and bad color scheme.

Of course America has always had an anti-intellectual streak, running through parts of its culture. Despite being very much an intellectual myself, I don’t like intellectualism, I don’t like pretentious putting on of airs and putting on a show of knowledge – because that often becomes a show only. I think that has been an issue in American – and other – history where people use the annoying pretension of some faux-intellectuals as a reason to hate knowing things in general.

It’s Ok to hate pretentious posturing, but people end up hating being intelligent period.

Most anti-intellectual activity I see appears to be resentful. How dare someone tell me what to do! How dare someone be smarter than me. How dare someone hurt my feelings by noting I may be wrong! There’s a weird entitlement in a lot of American anti-intellectual attitudes where people want to be treated as equals to people know something they don’t.

(Of course it seems said anti-intellectuals also hate any idea of treating OTHERS as equal. Bigotry goes hand-in-hand with being anti-intellectual).

What’s funny is that people who are anti-intellectual in America miss the value of hard work – which they usually want to praise otherwise (at lest for others). Being knowledgeable, skilled, and informative takes work. That doctor, that car mechanic, that person that knows something you don’t probably put in the work, so show some respect.

Ultimately I find the American anti-intellectual attitude is lazy and emotionally insecure. It’s an incompetent form of oppositional defiant disorder. It’s “you can’t tell me what to do” mixed with “I don’t wanna do the work.”

Which is why it’s easy to grift people. It’s easy to manipulate people with anti-intellectualism. Hell many anti-intellectual grifters – which are a huge amount of our political and media and Influencer class – are lazy in their own way. They don’t want to do work, they just want to lie and get their way. They’ll work very hard at not actually understanding stuff.

But know what’s weird? Watching anti-intellectuals dress themselves up as intellectual. Dare I say they’re a form of intellectualism, the posturing know-it-all attitude that they supposedly decry. The anti-intellectuals seem pretty damn intellectual sounding.

It’s the pretentious faux-Federalist papers rants by supposed Constitutional experts who read a meme. It’s the “just asking question” anti-vaxxers who throw terms around to sound smart while showing they don’t know anything. It’s the people who try to tweak science to justify flat Earth or whatever. All these people who supposedly hate “the intellectuals” are cosplaying as intellectuals, meaning they’re the intellectualism that supposedly annoy people.

It’s like those conspiracy theorists who decry the mainstream media while quoting from it extensively to justify their stories. Ultimately these kinds of people, the grifter anti-intellectual types, can’t avoid wanting validation. This makes them into what they supposedly hate and they still don’t know anything or if they do they don’t use it.

I’m ultimately an uncomplicated person. I like real learning, real results, and people who get stuff done. I like competence. The modern parade of anti-intellectuals putting on cosplay and decrying what they’re pretending to be is dangerous, exhausting, and unsustainable. I know it’s for political power, but these days I think a lot isn’t going to last.

You can’t outrun the changing climate, disease, and decaying systems. Real intellectuals know this.

Steven Savage