[Michelle20581]

PART 2 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 : Michelle20581, 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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