<p>In which Kapone and DanielJ display as much ignorance and provincialism as can be found anywhere.</p>
<p>i must agree, you guys are morons</p>
<p>but then again, i grew up in ugly, beaten-down california, where everyone is non-respectable and we're all idiots, yes?</p>
<p>Hey, "TheDad" since you decided to attack me, why don't you elaborate and PROVE to us that what I said is wrong. How am I ignorant? Did I offend your suburban bubble "Dad"? Lets hear it genius.</p>
<p>Kapone, that post just further proved his point.</p>
<p>Atleast the west coast has decent beaches and good weed. All the kids here seem like wanna be elitests. Ill take a mansion overlooking the hills of fremont over some weak penthouse in new york.</p>
<p>oh p.s. most of you CA-hating east coasters and midwesterners are apparently ignorant of the very things you fault CA for lacking. The hypocrisy is astounding, and even laughable. </p>
<p>you cite Californians for being uncultured and unsophisticated boobs, yet apparently, your very same group, ironically, is the one that demonstrates absolutely no depth about the benchmarks by which culture and sophistication are measured. Now <em>that</em> is rich. </p>
<p>Dont get me wrong, NYC. Lots of history, city-life, taxis, big old buildings, prestige, "hoods", grit, yadda yadda yadda. But I WOULDNT let a few unsophisticated idiots here ruin my opinion of a fantastic universe of a metropolis where 8million hard working people live and flourish. </p>
<p>I just have to say, I consider myself fortunate that I'm enlightened enough to be able to discern between a bunch of parochialized, conservative ignoramuses, who like to look unjustifiably down their noses using trite, misapplied stereotypes of an LA and CA they dont understand, and the rest of the wonderful, sensible, truly cosmopolitan people who, in my opinion, more accurately portray NYC and the rest of the East coast. Oh yes and as much as you east coasters wont admitt it, we all know who was REALLY responsible for the success of the boom in wallstreet in the 1990's.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hey, "TheDad" since you decided to attack me, why don't you elaborate and PROVE to us that what I said is wrong. How am I ignorant? Did I offend your suburban bubble "Dad"? Lets hear it genius.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Have a little more respect. You shouldn't talk to older people so disrespectfully. Especially ones from California.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In which Kapone and DanielJ display as much ignorance and provincialism as can be found anywhere.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As for ignorance, TheDad, I grew up in Orange County, ok? So, yes, I'm also quite familiar with that SoCal provincialism...</p>
<p>Fascinating.</p>
<p>I grew up on the east coast: lived my first 43 years between Washington DC and the northern suburbs of NYC (including time in NJ, Baltimore, and NYC itself) and consider myself an east coast girl through and through. But in '97 we moved to the South Bay Area (San Jose) in northern CA. I went kicking and screaming and wailing about how much I would hate CA. </p>
<p>I was wrong.</p>
<p>It is fantastic here. The climate is without par (except perhaps in some parts of Italy), the scenery is glorious (MOUNTAINS all around me as I drive through the valley to work, ocean nearby, redwoods or skiing or Lake Tahoe or Yosemite just a few hours drive), the people are amazing. My kids (Caucasian male blonds) have grown up as distinct minorities in their school -- they are surrounded by Asians and Indians and some Hispanics, and they are much better citizens of a mixed world community than I had ever dreamed. Unlike the attitudes I encountered in the east, it is much more outdoorsy here, the entrepreneurial spirit abounds, and there is much less stress (although this in no way implies that people work any less hard!) We eat better here: the food is fresher and far more varied even than the food I loved in NYC. Our home does not have the land around it that we had in NY, but we have easy access to common areas that offer plenty of natural beauty. I have learned to love northern CA as much as the northeast, although it is quite different in so many ways. (Note that I am not terribly fond of southern CA, which I do consider a different state entirely, so I cannot defend nor respond to concerns about SoCal.)</p>
<p>All that said, it's likely my S will attend college on the east coast. We love NYC, and we love SF. Both have so much to offer. We consider ourselves truly citizens of both coasts now, and are happy in either locale. Lighten up, everyone. (PS: We will always be Yankees fans. And I will always miss the Jersey Shore and autumn in the northeast.)</p>
<p>I agree with Mootmom. I've lived on both coasts. I've also lived in the Midwest and the South. I also travel frequently to the East Coast. Every area has something to recommend it. Neither coast deserves its stereotypes, whether positive or negative. NYC is neither the pits nor the capitol of the world; SoCal is neither defined by surfboards-and-implants nor the center of all that is glamorous.</p>
<p>Btw, Kapone, I don't live in a suburban bubble.</p>
<p>DanielJ writes:
[quote]
TheDad, I grew up in Orange County, ok?
[/quote]
From your posts, I'd debate your verb choice.</p>
<p>
[quote]
From your posts, I'd debate your verb choice.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Be my guest. It all depends on what you're attempting to debate, as well as with what you would intend to carry that out.</p>
<p>Given a post like:
[quote]
Outside of the super-rich areas or certain touristy-beachy places, I find California to be homogenously UGLY. When you think of CA, forget about Malibu and think about where the average person lives. YUCK. Go to Orange County and look at the kind of dump you can get with your $400,000.</p>
<p>But above all, the first thing that always strikes me like a pile of wooden boards whenever I get out at a CA airport is that weird, hippies-never-died vibe that comes seeping out in every direction. "Laid back".....um, ok. Call it that, I suppose.</p>
<p>Grow up, folks.</p>
<p>I prefer the East Coast because of its gracefully beautiful scenery, elegant homes and lovely neighbourhoods, its worldwise attitude and lifestyle, and its respectable population...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>calls a lot into question except the lack of experience of the person who made it.</p>
<p>There's so much wrong with that post that it's hard to know where to begin. Cost of real estate is irrelevant--and you can find as much ridiculously high-priced property in the East as you can in SoCal. There's not a lot of graceful scenery and elegant homes in the Bronx. And the surfboard-surfer image is <em>such</em> a cliche...the percentage of people belonging to that culture are a fraction of one percent...it's as if everyone in NYC is an investment banker with a home in the Hamptons.</p>
<p>You misunderstand entirely what I am saying. Rather than promoting the stereotypes you mention, I am saying that the SoCal stereotype simply does not hold water. Yes, if you wish to you may hold onto the "great lifestyle" notion - fun in the sun, so convenient, et al, etc, ad nauseum. That's fine. I'm just saying that people's concept (even, or perhaps especially, Californians) of what it actually is - is only so for those certain very few who can afford it. Not all of us are so nouveau riche. </p>
<p>Give me an average neighbourhood in Connecticut, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, etc over the average neighbourhood in southern California any day. Sorry. If you disagree, which you prefer I call you - uninformed, provincial, or a liar?</p>
<p>The second quoted paragraph reads as an endorsement of the stereotype, not a refutation.</p>
<p>Now, I happen to find OC to be a vast sprawl of existential despair, myself, but OC does not define all of California or even SoCal. But I can certainly find counterpoint areas along the arc from D.C. to Boston. Just as I can identify comparably nice areas with both. And in both cases, mileage varies. Which statements like the East Coast's "respectable population" certainly set up a false dichotomy and attributions of its elegant neighborhoods and worldwise attitude and lifestyle are misleading.</p>
<p>You and CRoberts are two sides of the same counterfeit coin.</p>
<p>Sorry, but that is my impression. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me, but this does not come from a "counterfeit coin". As I have said before, I have spent a very significant portion of my life living in southern California. I lived there before I ever even so much as visited the Northeast. And I was back there as recently as yesterday. So, no, I am not some idiot from New Jersey who has never stepped out of the state borders and is just spouting lies and nonsense out the side of my face.</p>
<p>I also agree with you that the quote from me isn't properly worded. I realised that before. Regarding the people, though, that is my distinct impression, whether it is worded properly or not (and again, it isn't - and I of course acknowledge that there are all kinds of people everywhere). I have absolutely no reason to want to believe that people from southern California are the way they are. That's just the way they are. Some people call it one thing; others call it another. </p>
<p>For years, I have seen people from southern California write off almost every mention of another place by making some silly comment about the weather. It gets tiresome.</p>
<p>I think it's kind of silly to argue about which coast is better...obviously different people are going to like different things. And most people could be happy going to college on either coast. I'm an eighth generation Californian and grew up in northern CA, so you won't hear me dissing on my home state, and I second what mootmom said about it. "It is much more outdoorsy here, the entrepreneurial spirit abounds, and there is much less stress (although this in no way implies that people work any less hard!)" However, I also attend college in New Hampshire. I was happy to find that--at my school at least--all of those things still held true. It's a very outdoorsy, laid-back, and friendly environment, and felt a lot like home.</p>
<p>Both coasts have their charms. CA weather is wonderful, but since I grew up with it I never thought it was anything special. I've loved seeing real seasons in NH, and I'm even excited about experiencing the freezing cold winter. Someone said to switch coasts for college--I think that's an excellent philosophy. This is the time of your life to try something completely new. </p>
<p>I don't have any comments about southern California for DanielJ or TheDad. I've of course travelled there, and have many friends there who I don't feel fit the stereotypes, but since I've never lived there I'm not going to make any judgements.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For years, I have seen people from southern California write off almost every mention of another place by making some silly comment about the weather. It gets tiresome.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Upon this I agree. </p>
<p>However, it's a poor justification for unsustainable jabs in the reverse. </p>
<p>I've had as many wonderful experiences as SoCal as on the East coast, some of them quite surprising, like watching a family of zebra gallop across the coastal plain north of Cambria on the central California coast, as opposed to standing on the east steps of the Capitol and standing aside and the Senate and House leaders walked down to a waiting limousine to tell a President that it was time to resign. I've also found that, accents aside, people are people most everywhere: shallow and profound, kind and mean-spirited, hard-working and lazy, prejudiced and tolerant, etc. ad infinitum. </p>
<p>If you want to talk about cultural divides, there's a far greater one between urban/suburban and small town/rural than East Coast and West Coast.</p>
<p>i kind of lived on both coasts. i think west coast has better quality of life. things here are much nicer and pretier. like the people, the weather, the scenery. life is easier and happier. LA is less populated than NY. when i mean west caost i mean everything on the west coast. east coast has more colleges, probably bc the east coast is older. i seriously thought about going to east coast for college. im glad i didint, but it would be a sound choice for many people here to see something outside of their bubble here. i think most poeple here should go to college far away.</p>
<p>West siddddddde! </p>
<p>Man, so cal is the best. I've lived in chi town, manhattan, yay area, and so cal. Sure, if your high school, buddies are somewhere in your hometown, of course you'll have a natural attachment to it. </p>
<p>Anyways, we are proud of our white people in California. THey score 30-40 points higher on the SAT than white people anywhere else! We Californians are proud of raising their potential. (Jason Kidd/Magic Johnson style)</p>
<p>If California didn't have Stanford, they would have nothing at all. Unlike the West Coast, no one school dominates everyone else. If Harvard didn't exist, there would still be Yale, Princeton, MIT, the ivy leagues......</p>
<p>Without Stanford, California would look like a backwater region with absolutely no good schools. UC's are all inferior overcrowded colleges with no money, and the other private schools are no-name crapstitutions. Therefore, the East Coast educational system is a lot more sturdy than California's. We don't rely on simply one school, and so you west coasters quite simply just plain suck.</p>