"The Maine Diaspora" is a new section in the Exception Magazine which explores why Mainers move away.

If you grew up in the Pine Tree State but have found greener pastures elsewhere, email us at editor@exceptionmag.com.

Our fourth Mainer to be profiled is Jon Rogers.

Bio
Age: 28
Hometown: Standish
High School: Bonny Eagle
Occupation: Education Policy Analyst

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a socially liberal Mainer, who misses snowboarding and the Maine accent. I have a master’s degree in public policy, bike to work every day and love music. Aside from my fiancée, my best friend locally is my English Bulldog. I may have served you at some of the worst restaurants Greater Portland has to offer.

What is your fondest memory of growing up in Maine?

I grew up on a secluded section of Sebago Lake in Standish, right next to where the boundary for the Portland Water District lies. Sebago is pretty ubiquitous throughout all my memories of growing up in Maine. I remember lots of summers swimming and jumping off of Frye’s Leap and winter hockey games and walks on the ice.

Once I dared my best friend to swim under our dock, where I knew a bass spawned every spring. He thought I was exaggerating about how protective the fish was, of course. I watched with a scuba mask as the fish rammed him right between the eyes. He still has a little scar. Good times. (No fish were harmed in the making of that memory, I swear).

Why did you decide to leave Maine? Have long have you been gone?

I first left Maine to go to college in Minnesota. After college I did a year of AmeriCorps back in Portland. That following winter, I couldn’t really find a job I was satisfied with, though it was interesting combining a job at the LL Bean warehouse with part-time work with Portland Parks and Rec and the Preble Street Teen Center.

So in January of 2008, my girlfriend and I decided we were going to move to Washington, DC. I haven’t lived in Maine for over three years now. Although I really love cities and exploring regions of the country outside of New England, my biggest motivation for moving was economic. I didn’t feel like local employers valued any of my education or experience in Maine. Not to mention that even before the economic downturn, there weren’t many career options for young professionals. Good jobs grow on trees in DC. Once I visited and hung out in the great neighborhoods and saw how livable DC is (public transit and jobs that can help offset the high rent), I was sold.

Would you move back?

I probably won’t end up moving back to Maine but I’ll definitely always be one more annoying visitor during all the peak tourist seasons. I loved growing up with that kind of natural beauty all around me.

Sadly though, I feel like there’s too little opportunity in Maine. I never really experienced a diversity of ideas or types of people in Maine. I’m very proud to be a Mainer and proud of many of the values I think I gained from growing up there. But at the same time, I think the social environment (i.e. intolerance and general disillusionment) held back some of my personal growth.

I sure do miss Patriots games though.

What is the perception of Maine where you live now?

Maine has a perception that’s hard to take seriously in DC. The people who have visited (who aren’t from New England) are typically well-off and take the stereotypical vacations to Acadia in the summer or to see the leaves in the fall. They all LOVE Maine and say it’s SO gorgeous. And of course they’re right.

But, it’s just really obvious that they’ve only seen our national park, Exchange Street and had a lobster roll. Maine is an idyllic place to most people in DC, where Stephen King lives and George H.W. Bush spends his summers. If you told them about Oxycodone and marijuana or racial slurs and domestic violence, you’d probably bring a tear to their eye.