[Michelle20580]

Here is a list of where I lived and when, a bit about the racial and class mix to provide some context and a few observations:

Pacific Northwest (late ’70s-early ’90s)
–I grew up there in a middle-class, white part of a mostly working class, racially diverse city. –Not too much concern about if you’re rich or poor/black or white…friendly people, you can talk to anyone in the grocery store…people talk slow and loud…there’s a notable American Indian and Asian/Pacific Islander influence but not many Mexicans until you go east of the Cascades…that’s a real difference, if you’re from eastern or western Washington – there’s a rivalry there…the food is bland, meat and potatoes kind of fare, plus salmon and berries.

Northern California: Suburban San Francisco Bay Area (early-mid-’90s)
–From the Northwest my family moved to an upper-middle class, almost entirely white suburb. Blech! Enjoyed lots of good food I’d not had in the Northwest…Mexican, Indian, Thai, real ‘Californian Cuisine’…folks in NoCal are obsessed with food and can be elitest about what they eat…lots of great grocery stores and such…really dull architecture…people were cold and fearful of strangers, you could barely stop someone on the street to ask directions…family-oriented, not a friendly place for singles or young people (not to mention minorities or poor people)

Northern California: Central Valley (mid-’90s–early 2000s)
–From the suburbs I moved to a small town in the central valley that was mostly white with a substantial Mexican population. –Agriculture is the economy and that’s reflected in everything from who lives there to what is in the grocery store and so on…people were much warmer than in the Bay Area…slow paced, not a lot of traffic or anything…segregated, Anglos on one side, Mexicans on another…growing really fast, lots of sprawl and pressure to grow.

Northern California: Urban San Francisco Bay Area (early 2000s)
–From the central valley I moved to San Francisco, where housing was so expensive I ended up across the bay in Oakland. Very racially diverse, though becoming I think less economically diverse as housing costs rise and the less wealthy are forced out–I ended up moving back to the central valley. –Loved the food…an overwhelming amount of cultural activities and events to see…lots of Asian infuence…segregated neighborhoods…very image consious….very P/C, like to be cool you have to drink free-trade coffee with soy milk while you’re on your way to a reading by some ex-political prisoner and so on…lots of homelessness…everyone hates Los Angeles.

Southern California: Urban San Diego (present) –We live in an older part of town that is mostly white and pretty upper-middle class. There’s a strong gay/lesbian presence in our area and a huge Mexican influence being next to the border. –Everyone wears flip-flops year-round…a real beach culture, laid back, carefree…less cutting edge than the Bay Area as far as cultural events and diversity issues…ladies pay lots of attention to hair and nails and wear really tight clothes…tacos are a cultural phenomenon here…right on the border but most people don’t seem to know Mexico is there, let alone go there…a military town so lots of people from other parts of the country…Los Angeles is nearby but feels like a whole other world in terms of the pace and the values and so on…it does, however, look like the movies here, lots of palm trees and beaches, somehow seems more like real ‘America’ to me than other places I’ve lived, since it is the setting for so many of the media’s portrayals of ‘American’ life.

Northern Nevada –My folks live there now in a sort of rural area outside of Reno. –People smoke a lot, tourism is huge, really friendly people, folks seem to hold traditional values (conservative), few Asians or blacks, substantial Mexican population in some areas, generally lower-class…even the rich people don’t come off as being rich…it’s …isolated, no other big cities nearby…beautiful with mountains and lakes and everything.

User Detail :  

Name : Michelle20580, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 25, City : San Diego, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Community Researcher, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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