I have not grown up in the suburbs and am relieved to claim this. If I had grown up in the suburbs I would be a radically different person than I am today. Since living in this beautiful shiny suburb I have realized how incredibly naive, shallow, elitist and hypocritical people in the suburbs can be.
The naive and shallow part is actually what gets to me the most. I was having an innocent conversation with an older aunt who lives in the posher areas of the Tri-Valley. This aunt is what you call "comfortably priviledged", living in her beautiful McMansion with her 3 car garage, pool, weekly trips to Nordstroms...you get it.
Anyways, this aunt was telling me how "horrified" she was when she visited the city with a friend one of these weekends. She was actually in the nearby outskirts of San Francisco shopping at IKEA around 6 PM and said she felt like she was going to get mugged any minute. I was trying hard not to smirk at her but it became evident that disagreeing with her assessment of the area would probably garner an eye-roll or look of disdain from her.
The area where IKEA is located is Emeryville, a metropolitan city that has fine dining, shopping and a very diverse population in terms of economics and race. The fact that she was scared to get mugged in this area depicts how most of the "priviledged" trophy desperate house wives feel here.
Another example of this shallowness and hypocritical behavior was given to me by a native New Yorker who by her own definition is a "city girl whose seen it all". She was telling me that many a times she has had friends who have been shunned by the PTA Mom Cliques in their children's schools. These moms have offered to help with PTA activities on numerous occasions but these elitist moms have shunned these moms simply because they have not been part of the "in" crowd. I think it is rather sad when behaviors like this prevent people from even wanting to attempt to help their child's school. I for one actually stay way from the PTA even if I am a member of it. I understand that for the most part there are well meaning parents who want to improve schools, but if it means that I will run up against the elite PTA "in" Mom's group, then I just run for the hills.
This is not to say that for the most part people in the suburbs are nice, decent, law-abiding citizens that are a by-product of where they live.
I guess my point is that people that live here in their own little suburb world do not have the exposure to so many things that are part of the world such as people of color, the poor, the disabled, the homosexual, the eccentric I could go on...
