[imgbelt img=subway.jpg.jpeg]Jon Doolittle recalled when he decided to leave the Northeast (where he was attending Harvard University) and return to the Midwest. “There was one day my junior year of college, when I noticed myself racing for a subway car in Boston, nudging my shoulder in front of other people in the crowd to get a seat,” he said. “I didn’t knock anyone over or anything, but I really took notice. I was caught up in the rat race and I didn’t want to be a part of that.” The St. Joseph News-Press’ Clinton Thomas reported over the weekend about Missouri’s “brain drain.” The Census Bureau has found that young, college-educated people are leaving the Great Plains and the Rust Belt “to establish their careers on the coasts or in the Southeast.” The local Chamber of Commerce in St. Joe, Missouri, has tried to track recent high school graduates, but has had trouble doing surveys. Meanwhile, the kids who have left northwest Missouri still think about returning, even as their careers take them to London and Beijing.In comments attached to the story, WhoisJohnGalt writes: “Perhaps it is a good thing. Transplanting midwest values to the coasts might be a good thing for the populations there. A dose of common sense so to speak. :)”