When you tell people in Pennsylvania that you’re from California, there is apparently only one logical response that runs through their brains; jaws hit the floor and the words “What are you doing here?” spill from their mouths in both an astounded and troubled way. As if I must be crazy for wanting to leave the 70-degrees-and-sunny coast of our country for the rainy-in-August countryside of Pennsylvania. They almost look as if something might be wrong with me for willingly deserting my Los Angeles Lifestyle.
This experience doesn’t make me feel better about my decision nor does it make me feel welcome in the northeast, and I can’t help but wonder where this critical bewilderedness comes from.
In Los Angeles, we love our home. We love it so much that traffic, poor air quality, and astronomical housing prices don’t steer us away from living on the golden coast. As if we, of all people, are the Israelites of America, living out our manifest destiny. We who have multiculturalism and agriculture. We who have sand and snow. We who have sports and fashion and film and trading and… We have it all, so what’s not to love?
This ideology shapes how we view ourselves and how we view those outside our blue bubble. Texas? Ew. New York? What snobs. Kansas? What even is in Kansas. The audacity to dismiss cultures that differ from our own contradicts the very values we are so proud of, values of acceptance and equality. And as the love and pride of our home transforms into flat out elitism, the rest of the country is left both admiring the sunny beaches and suburbs that the beach boys sing about, while also possessing disdain for the state as a whole. Because nobody likes arrogance, no matter what package it comes in.
This being said, when people ask “Why did you come here?” all I hear is, “If California’s so great why didn’t you just stay there?” Or when they say, “Are you ready for the cold weather?” It’s more like, “this isn’t like where you come from!” And although these statements are genuine, and I have found Pennsylvania people to be far more kind and personable compared to those of the west coast, all these statements do is divide us.
So when someone asks me why I left instead of why I came, when the kid behind me in Spanish whispers “Jesus,” under his breath when I say to the class “I’m from California,” or when someone doesn’t ask me if I miss my family but if I miss my state, I smile, and remember how everyone feels about where I come from. Then I say, “I like it here, don’t you?”
And if you want to save yourself a headache when you have to explain to two-hundred people in specifics why exactly you chose to leave, I suggest you do the same.
Also this is Anna Leon
It's very cool that you are from California because the majority of people at Penn State are from Pennsylvania. I completely understand where you're coming from; it must be hard to hear this question all the time, especially as you're trying to adjust to a new place. However, I am a little confused on whether you like California or not, and I would have liked to hear a little more about why you chose Penn State because I still do not know what about Penn State made you choose it. It was also very effective how you used the specific examples like the kid in Spanish class and the quotes. These made the blog more personal.