Comments on: American dream

By: The Great Whatsit » Identity in a state of conflict

The Great Whatsit » Identity in a state of conflict — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:31:14 +0000

[...] How much of your identity is rooted in geography? I’m from California, a place with a mythology so strong that reality can’t struggle its way into mattering, and it has a profound connection my own identity, whether I will it to or not. Stella’s recent posts about the United States, and Tim’s subsequent comments about California as the sort of extremest version of that, have got me thinking about my relationship to the state–why it is that though I’ve lived here for almost all of my memorable life, I’m still susceptible to the myth of it, the “blue heaven” of fruits and sunshine and surf and cliffs. That’s partially because that all really exists—but. It exists alongside endless dreary strip malls, cinderblock-walled wide-lane roads, lumbering “off-road vehicles” that never leave the asphalt, words like “Inland Empire” and “Southland,” dreary cinderblock walls along the roadways, people with fake boobs and way too much money who have never heard the word “no”–you know all these clichés, and they too are truer than you’d ever believe. So why do I balk at the idea of living in any other state, even though I feel deep envy for the residents of Seattle and Manhattan, Portland and Brooklyn, London and Barcelona and Berlin? What is it about this here place that all these years of critical observation have still blinded me to? [...]

By: Beth W.

Beth W. — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:19:20 +0000

I could stay in line with the most recent comments and give my two cents about living in sunny Southern California but I was intrigued by the idea of the right to pursue happiness.

When I was about fifteen I visited Washington, DC and London in the same year. After visiting both the White House and Buckingham palace, I was struck by a feeling of pride in our humble capitol. Visiting DC I felt like it was my capitol. That I posessed some sort of collective ownership of this simple, stately building. When visiting Buckingham Palace I felt a rather protestant distaste for the opulence of that private residence. Couldn’t some of that wealth invested in fancy stuff be better used helping the people of the country?

Without a doubt the United States has a lot of problems at all levels of government but, there always seems to be a glimmer of hope that things can be changed, that we have the right to demand change and justice because the country belongs to us too.

By: MF

MF — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:55:52 +0000

I have to chime a few bells for SoCal, too. I grew up in southern Utah. My mom was from Orange County, so we used to drive several times a year to visit my grandparents. They had a big house with a swimming pool a few miles from Huntington Beach. We ate amazingly delicious fruit, played with our cousins (outside during winter!!!) and went to amusement parks. As a teenager I lived there for a year and liked it even more.

I hate the traffic, but that’s, for me, the only really big downside.

Thanks for your post Stella. It’s nice to be reminded of the good fortune we have here.

By: Lisa Tremain

Lisa Tremain — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:32:27 +0000

As an honorary home grown Southern Californian (not 20 minutes from Ontario, Stella!), I must agree with Tim that we get a bad rap. The worst thing about L.A., I tell people who ask, is that it’s really difficult to meet people and establish your family of friends since everything’s so spread out. And, yes, there are all the fakey-fakey Paris Hiltons and the absolutely impossible public trans, but I was allowed to grow up running around in acres of orange groves– and we grew our own strawberries (and corn, tomatoes, etc.) right in our suburban back yard. So, I love it here, yes.

In full disclosure, I have never lived where it snows regularly…and have only seen about one-third of the fifty states, so this opinion is limited. New York City, Portland and New Orleans, I’ve got to say, are most magical places. I wouldn’t call SoCal magical…just beautiful and eassssy-going.

Anyway, Stella, your post reminded me (again) of all the things I take for granted, including the garden my dad still perenially tends. Thank you. Today is one of those post-rain crazy-clear days where, if you’re positioned correctly, you can get a 360 view of mountains, city, and ocean. You come on out and I’ll make you some fresh-squeezed juice.

By: Scott Godfrey

Scott Godfrey — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:12:52 +0000

You’re awesome Wager. This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for.

I don’t know if I could ever move back to my beloved homeland, but I do love to visit. The reaction I get when ever I walk into Ralph’s is always priceless: “Hey Scott, you still in California?” Even better is when I explain that I miss New Jersey and Gus shoots back: “What the fuck do you miss ’bout this place?”

Yes, Wager, you have the true, American pioneer spirit. I love it.