Friday, February 23, 2007
MO Money, MO Money, MO Debt
Oh, the suburbs. God, help us all when the Pilates addicted mother gets out of her CL 300 Mercedes, picks up her dog carrier and goes inside Starbucks. As if the dog’s life is so hard that it can’t walk on the 4 legs it was born with. What is it about a suburb that aggravates me so much? Is it that I never lived in it? Is it because I moved 9 times in my lifetime thus far and don’t understand what a suburb has to offer. Well, I can say this much, I know people that live in suburbs and after listening to some people in class I have come to the conclusion that there are better environments to grow up in. Personally, the words usually not associated with the suburbs is dependency, 400 cc’s of ‘why the hell did u get them bigger’ at age 45, and the preposterous $2000 Louis Vuitton Dog carrier bag the lame excuse of a dog is going to shit in anyway. Again, my outlook on the suburbs is negative because I have a hard time disassociating places like the OC with other suburbs and products of that environment. Shows like “My Super Sweet 16” and the “The Real Desperate Housewives” makes me sick to my stomach. These environments create youth that depend on mom and dad’s credit cards, rarely creating relationships with people that don’t live similar lives. Meanwhile, the competition in that exists in the suburbs creates a long line of debt. The consumerism and over consumption that we are obsessed with distracts us from the poverty and tyranny that plagues the rest of the world, including our own country!
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7 comments:
This image of a suburb is more or less what I grew up in. Not initially, but by the time I reached high school, the focus had gone from education to image, at least for a lot of the girls. Perhaps it was because by that age we all had the whole education thing down. We knew the value of the high GPAs and perfect SAT scores. But we wanted more than that. We wanted flawless. Freshmen year a girl came in late to first period math because she had a hair and make-up appointment at the local salon for the school pictures we were having taken at lunch in the cafeteria. That shocked me then, but by the time I graduated, it was normal.
First of all I thought the original post was quite funny, so thank you. It is also very true of many upper middle class suburbs. Allegra's comment also hit home with me. I recall at my high school anytime there was a formal dance about a third of the female population would take the whole day off to do whatever it is women do to prepare for a dance, often times making it seem as though they were burdened by only having one full day to beautify themselves.
There was also a "can't have it all" attitude that pervaded my school. By this I mean the guys and girls either sought to make their physical appearance and social standing "flawless" or they chose to excel academically by going for the "high GPAs and perfect SAT scores." This always irritated me because regardless of potential many students would slip into certain molds. I bring this up in relation to the suburbs because I feel there two types of suburbanites: those who see the suburbs as a stepping stone to bigger and better things and those who see the suburbs as the terminal stop on their journey to middle class living.
I too could identify with the original picture of the suburbs painted in the post, but also feel that such a community does have something to offer. While the suburbs are by no means perfect, nor do i wish to become the spokesperson for all suburbanites, I have, in my experience. seen many people who break free from their sheltered experience and do something different. By break free, I don't mean that they leave the suburb, head to the big city, explore their creativity, and never look back (although I am sure there are plenty of those), but more so those that use the cushioned lifestyle they have been given to do amazing things. Despite all of those terrible reality shows that can suck people (including me) in with their vapidity and superficiality, it is not the only type of lifestyle exists. Not everyone wants a sports car, labradoodle, and Chanel sunglasses (although plenty do), but there is a space to dream and to create in the suburbs, it may just be a little harder to find.
Haha! What a perfect image. I can't imagine living in a place where all that is the norm. I guess where I grew up isn't rich & self-important to make it to TV. I think part of what sucks so many of us in to those shows & images is the frustration you describe with how these people can be so superficial. However, I find it hard to imagine that this doesn't exist in cities too. I tend to associate the mentality of that world with income level more than location.
I do think that this generalization dehumanizes the suburbs a little too much. This drive to be the best (best looking, best test scores, best bank account) is not just suburban, it is American. My friend showed me a poem that his elementary school teacher gave the students titled "Good Enough Isn't Good Enough!" My town also prided itself on the high quality of our public schools, yet my AP English teacher specifically sent his son to public school in Berkeley. He believed that the kid would receive a more complete social education in an environment where learning to be the best at everything was not the primary goal. Like the multicultural school in White Boy Shuffle and the white audience at the poetry reading, white people even try to be the best at social consciousness, which is hypocritical to say the least.
I think that you have a very passionate writing style and your disdain for the 'burbs is apparent. My only criticism is that not all suburbs are sickening; everyone who lives in a suburb is not necessarily fake; I am from Orange County and feel that MTV has misrepresented the population as a whole. Sure there are those type of people, but I am sure that you could find extremely shallow elitists in the boondocks.
I agree, isn't it strange how you can be quite comfortable making 60 grand a year, then a year later be making 100 grand and be more stressed out about money than you were the year before. (this is the story of my dad, who switched jobs and now makes more money but somehow, we have more debt....)
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