Was on Facebook today when I spotted this "community' devoted to kids who left town for college (check out the full list here). It's an amusing compilation of things that kids miss about home, and of course it was created wholly on Facebook through the power of social networking, which should never be underestimated. Facebook and like sites allow people to connect and share experiences, and the mainstream media should take notice that these are powerful tools that can be used to build community. Newspapers and media companies that define the world by what their finite reporting staffs can produce - or continue under the illusion that they set the agenda - ignore these communities at their own peril. Now back to the "list," here's a few things our kids miss about home:
* Luigi's
* FOG DELAYS!
* Smiley face cookies from Smith's
* Zingo's
* The solid walls of fog
* The tumbleweeds, roadkill and vast expanses of oil derricks
* The Kern County Fair (the single grossest fair on the planet and we love it
* Sequoia Sandwiches
* The Fox Theater
* All the 99 Cent stores
* The ghetto ass mall rates at Valley Plaza
* Seeing a 4-door sedan with 9 people in it on a regular basis
* The mysterious cars always parked at the bridge at Round Mtn. Road and China Grade Loop
You get the picture. They do miss us. Photo courtesy of the Facebook group.
7 comments:
Curious no one mentioned missing the intolerance and bigotry we are known for
"The brain drain: local kids who never came back"
You might want to look outside your local circle of elitist friends and their spoon feed kids! What have these kids produced? Without mom and dads money...probably nothing!
One might argue otherwise, anon, particularly if you know some of these kids. My point was not that there are no high achieving kids here, because certainly there are, but rather a clear lack of diversity in employment opportunities and cultural amenities drives them elsewhere.
"but rather a clear lack of diversity in employment opportunities and cultural amenities drives them elsewhere."
I will agree with you on that point
That said, there are some "kids" in this town who have done well without a last name that everyone knows or without the connections that these kids have. If you want to succed, you can do it anywhere! This is America!
(btw - thanks for responding)
Amen to that. Could not agree more.
i'm going to bust into a chorus of 'streets of bakersfield':
You don't know me but you don't like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Have ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
Our theme song!
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