Originally from Chicago, Lizabeth Yandel has lived and worked as a Vocalist/Guitarist/Songwriter and writer in cities around the country, including New Orleans, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Portland, OR. She now lives in rural Oregon with her husband, Sebastian Pigott, with whom she’s building an independent film production company called Dog Unlimited. The Oregon-based indie film production house is currently in post-production on its 2nd feature film. Its 1st feature, Bring it all Back Home, was acquired by Gravitas Ventures and is now streaming.
Lizabeth received her MFA in poetry from UC Irvine, where she also taught undergraduate poetry craft & writing composition for 3 years. Upon graduating, she was awarded the 2022 University of California Graduate Prize for Excellence in Poetry. Her poems are published or forthcoming in the 2023 Best New Poets Anthology, The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Rattle, Narrative Magazine’s Poem-of-the-Week series, The American Journal of Poetry, and took 2nd place in Palette Poetry’s 2023 Sappho Prize.
Her first screenplay, a feature-length coming-of-age narrative called Freight, was chosen as a semi-finalist in the reputable Blue Cat Screenwriting Competition in 2022. Lizabeth Yandel
In 2023, my partner and I left Los Angeles and moved to a more rural part of Oregon to save money.
We spend less on rent, groceries, and activities but often have more limited options.
Our internet and garbage services have been surprisingly frustrating, but we love living here.
Back in 2022, we were a childless, broke-but-not-poor filmmaker couple in Los Angeles.
We adored our Koreatown apartment, but between soaring rent, gas, utility, and grocery bills, we were truly scraping by.
With our dreams of financial stability and having a child in the next couple years, we decided it was time to leave LA. We were able to work remotely so we had flexibility to do it.
In July 2023, we packed our dog and belongings into an F150 and made the move to a small town in rural Oregon.
Living here has been cheaper, and we’ve made some surprising adjustments
One reason we chose Oregon is I lived there before and felt confident our dollars could go further here, especially in a smaller, more remote town.
Although our rent isn’t quite as low as we’d hoped, living here is decidedly cheaper than LA. Plus, many properties here have way more outdoor space, which is a huge value add (especially for our dog, Stella).
Although Oregon is not immune to current inflation, our groceries are still more affordable now. What’s more, food quality is often better since we have easier access to locally grown produce and lots of farmers’ markets.
That said, our options can feel a bit more limited since there are only two grocery stores near our home and absolutely nothing like a Whole Foods, which was everywhere in LA.
The main one is that leisure activities are generally cheaper, but there are far fewer of them. Going out for drinks sets us back way less than it did in LA, but there are only four bars in town — and only two are worth the visit.
Thankfully, outdoor leisure here in the Pacific Northwest is plentiful, mostly free, and requires almost no commute.
Even so, we’ve run into a few extra costs and higher service fees
Although living in a major city can get expensive fast, our more rural life still has still come with costs and inconveniences we weren’t anticipating.
For example, reliable internet is not guaranteed in our area. Our first Oregon house wasn’t set up for internet at all and it took months to get fiber internet installed (Spectrum would have taken even longer).
To survive the first few months after the move, we paid through the nose for a high-powered mobile hotspot.
Our garbage service is also significantly more expensive than it was in Los Angeles, in part because our local provider has to travel farther for collection and disposal.
At our first house, trash service cost us a whopping $70 a month, far more than it ever did in LA. Worse, the garbage truck couldn’t drive down our narrow gravel road, so we had to drag our trash can some 200 yards each week.
Still, we’re grateful to be here — especially now that we have a kid
Our daughter was born this past January. Walking her around the sleepy streets of our charming little town has been an experience I know we’ll cherish forever.
We feel lucky we can make a living as filmmakers without living in LA. After all, making this kind of move wouldn’t be possible for many families, as finding work in such a limited commercial pool is vastly more difficult than in a city.
I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss La-La-Land’s never-ending stream of entertainment, cultural events, and unparalleled people watching. But if I had to make the choice to move to the country again, I would.
Overall, our new small-town life has saved us in more ways than one: money, stress, hours of sitting in traffic, and time spent deciding between too many options for just about everything.
In a recent interview with BBC News, Shakira was asked what it’s like living in the U.S. as an immigrant. The four-time Grammy winner gave a somber but honest response.
“It means living in constant fear,” she said. “And it’s painful to see.”
She continued, “Now, more than ever, we have to remain united. Now, more than ever, we have to raise our voices and make it very clear that a country can change its immigration policies, but the treatment of all people must always be humane.”
Immigration has been top of mind for many Americans as President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation tactics tear through homes and communities. The backlash against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as the Trump administration, began last week with protests in Los Angeles. The fight went nationwide on Saturday with the “No Kings” protests, seeing thousands of Americans marching against Trump.
Earlier in the same interview, Shakira spoke about her own experience immigrating to the United States and how American musicians came to influence her upbringing and musical style.
“I was only 19 when I moved to the U.S., like many other Colombian immigrants who come to this country looking for a better future,” she explained. “I got into poetry and started reading a little bit of Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan, trying to understand how the English language works within songwriting. I think that’s how I got good at it.”
I have a great idea. Instead of deporting the illegal criminals all you “humane” folks can take half dozen of them. You can be responsible for feeding them, housing them and their healthcare.Reply131
@George Washingtonmy thing on this is that immigrants could become legal & b a citizen., get jobs, etc.. but immigrants got free stuff under Biden/Harris admin.. free food, food stamps, housing etc that took away from us Americans, even when tornados came last yr, there was no $ bc it went 2 illegals.. if ppl wants them here, I agree w u, let those ppl pay their way.
Total fan of Shakira, but if ur not legal, it’s only natural that u will always be scared of being caught. there is a process. but these mass deportation directives are nazi like, and that is unacceptable. whether u r an illegal or on visa or getting ur green cards or going through the process, or have already been granted citizenship.
They don’t even need citizenship you have to be in this country 6 years on a green card in good standing have a good work history and new criminal background there’s two things here there’s legal immigrants who have paperwork and there are illegal aliens those who just came here with no paperwork there’s a big difference
Yup. They conflate the Illegals with the Legals. The Illegals are alien to the country not a Legal Immigrant to the country. And seeing that many are not abandoning their country of origin flag, they never intended on assimilating. And honestly, no country should permit dual citizenship. Pick one.
@Ti13r C.I hear you loud and clear The thing that gets me is that they come here supposedly to become an American and live the dream, right? So why do they always refer to the place they just left as “my country”. Then, when they die, they want to be buried “at home.” Isn’t America their home, cause they didn’t have a problem taking them benefits. Heck, they can just stay right where they are in “their country” for all I care!
Jason Kohut She is a Colombian Citizen just getting rich off American fans . Her country would not permit her to speak down about it. Don’t come here and do it to our’s
USA
The thing that gets me is that they come here supposedly to become an American and live the dream, right? So why do they always refer to the place they just left as “my country”. Then, when they die, they want to be buried “at home.” Isn’t America their home, cause they didn’t have a problem taking them benefits. Heck, they can just stay right where they are in “their country” for all I care!