All my family's down in California. I certainly miss the golden state, especially during the summers. But when fall comes around, up north, I always fall in love with Washington all over again. The persistant sweater weather, the colors, the intermittent showers, the crisp air - it's all just wonderful and beautiful, in a quiet way.
Meg and I live in Auburn, to be exact. Auburn is a strange place. For one, it's polarized. Wealthy white people live on the hills, while the poor live in the valley. There is no in-between. Distinct class lines carve Auburn into bits and create barriers between the well-to-do and the down-and-out.
Second, Auburn's large and sprawled out so there's no unifying sense of community, nor is there a happening downtown main street culture. Actuall
y, most Auburn residents despise the local city leaders for failing to renovate the improve Main Street. The downtown area has no industry, no retail, no fine dining, no theaters, no culture, period. So, with no cultural epicenter to rally around, Auburn is just made up of tons of people living atomistic lives. Auburn's city slogan is "more than you imagined." It's nothing like that. You can figure this place out in a day. Personally, it's less than I imagined. A very good friend of mine, Fred, lived here in Auburn for awhile; he calls Auburn the armpit of Washington. It's certainly a cultural armpit (though, Meg and I are going to see a local production of Bram Stoker's Dracula on Halloween night - I'm really looking forward to that); but at least the area, and especially the surrounding countryside, is pretty and overhwelmingly green. Auburn's also strategically located half-way between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass. In other words, civilization and nature are equally accessible, depending on what you want to do.
y, most Auburn residents despise the local city leaders for failing to renovate the improve Main Street. The downtown area has no industry, no retail, no fine dining, no theaters, no culture, period. So, with no cultural epicenter to rally around, Auburn is just made up of tons of people living atomistic lives. Auburn's city slogan is "more than you imagined." It's nothing like that. You can figure this place out in a day. Personally, it's less than I imagined. A very good friend of mine, Fred, lived here in Auburn for awhile; he calls Auburn the armpit of Washington. It's certainly a cultural armpit (though, Meg and I are going to see a local production of Bram Stoker's Dracula on Halloween night - I'm really looking forward to that); but at least the area, and especially the surrounding countryside, is pretty and overhwelmingly green. Auburn's also strategically located half-way between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass. In other words, civilization and nature are equally accessible, depending on what you want to do.Three, Lakeland Village, the specific part of town Meg and I live in, is very clean and pretty. It's situated on on
e of Auburn's three hills. We live kitty corner to a town center which has restaurants, a grocery store, coffee shops, a brewery, a movie rental house, and a variety of miscellaneous shops. Across the street is a large park from which you can see Mt. Ranier. There are also lots of interurban trails good for walking and running. All in all, it's probably the nicest place to reside in Auburn. But we're also smack in the middle of suburbia, which means zero diversity (always weird); it also means we're surrounded by a lot of gross, in-your-face, moms-with-plastic-surgery-driving-yellow-H2's-with-rims kind of materialism. The houses are humongous and identical. The individual neighborhoods within Lakeland Hills are virutally indistinguishable from one another. Everyone and everything just kinda looks the same. It's a study in conformity.
e of Auburn's three hills. We live kitty corner to a town center which has restaurants, a grocery store, coffee shops, a brewery, a movie rental house, and a variety of miscellaneous shops. Across the street is a large park from which you can see Mt. Ranier. There are also lots of interurban trails good for walking and running. All in all, it's probably the nicest place to reside in Auburn. But we're also smack in the middle of suburbia, which means zero diversity (always weird); it also means we're surrounded by a lot of gross, in-your-face, moms-with-plastic-surgery-driving-yellow-H2's-with-rims kind of materialism. The houses are humongous and identical. The individual neighborhoods within Lakeland Hills are virutally indistinguishable from one another. Everyone and everything just kinda looks the same. It's a study in conformity. Case in point. This morning, I was drinking coffee in Starbucks. In the span of ten minutes three different mothers, outiftted in stilleto heels and blue-tooth headsets, entered the store at different times, each with a daughter. I kid you not, in each case, each daughter was named "Chloe" (I overheard each mom call her respective daughter by name). After that, while walking home, I stopped at a traffic signal. While waiting to cross, I read a notice posted on the traffic pole. It depicted a missing white poodle, can you believe it, named "Chloe." The coincidence, here, sorta represents the suburbian homogeneity that characterizes Lakeland Hills. It reminds me of some lyrics from a song by Malvina Reynolds:
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
In spite of the criticisms we could all rehearse of the little spot of land we call home, Meg and I are happy and content, above all, finding happiness in one another and not in our external circumstances.
Anyways, I've attached a brief video tour of Meg and I's place, as well as a few snapshots of the streets directly outside our apartment, for those who live far away :)
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