This isn't The Truman Show, or is it?

Eyes shut. Alarm. Eyes open. Snooze. Get up. Coffee, cigarette, morning paper, freeway, go to work, come home, dinner, movie night, Eyes shut. In the world of suburbia it is finding meaning in the mundane that distinguishes one day from the next. The lather-rinse-repeat cycle that brings comfort, also allows for growth on the daily level. When the seemingly repetitive nature of life is broken down and the stereotypes are re-evaluated, you are left with what is still real in the suburbs: People, humanity, and other Carbon based life forms.
Once you get past whatever side of the binary fence you are sitting on: “an oppressive, repressive, passive boring upper-class prison” versus “the best case scenario of the American dream: progress, development, and the picket fence,” then you are able to extract meaning from suburban life. Suburbia is more than a spot on the map, or a geographical location, the word itself carries connotations that are often applied (or projected) onto it’s inhabitants. It has become a spot of contention for those questioning the ethicacy of the lifestyle: a robotic rat race of a unified “vanilla” dream, the place where heterogeneity is replaced by homogeneity, where difference is leveled out by the bulldozer of peer policing, and meticulous attention to formula has allowed for the “one shopping center” theory of architectural ambition. The other side is that it is idyllic, a veritable paradise for the masses, where equality (albeit by virtue of rather strict cultural policing) allows for a peaceful existence without the feeling of inadequacy. A little side note: what has become problematic recently for the last theory is the “marketability” of the suburbs. Places like Orange County are distinguishing themselves as “la crème de la crème” of the suburbs, and slowly adding layers the suburban class system. For lack of a better word, they are considered “the suburban elite” and shows like Laguna Beach focus on making them appeal to national/international audiences the same way a city would…but I digress.
Let’s be honest, from the outside all of our days aren’t going to look that different. We’re probably all doing variations of a pretty short list of activities. That isn’t the point. The point is that what is routine becomes a clean slate from which people can find meaning, actively. By questioning, and wondering if you really do look ridiculous from outer space (read: alien perspective) when you are on the treadmill, freeway, or in the symmetrical tract home that is your neighborhood. The goal is to keep breaking down the stereotypes until what has meaning is placed back into the individual’s subjective hands, and to make “different” a word that doesn’t always imply judgment or power relationships.