(no subject)
The city of Nashua, the crown jewel of New Hampshire, has been voted the best place in America to live three times: once in 1987, again in1997, and once more in 2003. This was the backdrop for my childhood: picture perfect suburban housing units lined with prim gardens, dotted with perennials, and unobtrusively fenced with neat shrubbery. Sprawling half mansions and their three car garages emerge like daffodils every spring. Midlife crisis sports cars crowd the intersections, and every soccer mom minivan has at least two DVD players in it. This is the land of Stepford Families. There is even an unspoken competition between friendly neighbors comparing the vibrancy of surrounding golf-course-quality-lawns. As community members walk their golden retrievers sipping on lukewarm Starbuck’s Soy Lattes, no one can help but let their eyes wander from lawn to lawn, surveying the competition. A chuckle can be heard from pedestrians as they tally the points, deducting for 1, 2, 3 or even 4 leaves contaminating the otherwise flawless turf. Here in Nashua,
we make stereotypical Middle America proud --one Abercrombie and Fitch at a time.
In Nashua, along with the rest of New Hampshire, the idea of diversity is aggrandized and regarded with the utmost importance. From a young age, children are taught to embrace different cultures. Though teachers, parents, and other adults try to instill these pluralistic values within the youth, they become obsolete in the face of the demographics they are exposed to - New Hampshire is 96.5 percent white. Myself, within my soul, I have a desire for culture. I believe that to become a truly well rounded human being, diversity and culture are a necessity. To fully know myself and understand my own tenets in life, I have to welcome those of others, which are different. Also, the exposure to and experience of other interesting cultures is both exciting and significant.
After 17 years of perfectly manicured lawns and the suburban sprawl of housing developments that all look the same, it is time for me to spread my proverbial wings and seek out new environments to learn from. I believe that college will give me a means to experience diversity on levels I could not fathom in Nashua. In college, I will be surrounded with students from all over the country and the world of differing social, economic, and racial backgrounds. I am excited to open my eyes to the richness of other cultures and societies, making me a well-rounded person. I know what diversity means in theory, but now I am ready to make it into a lifestyle. I refuse to let myself be limited by the cookie cutter realities of the “Best Place” to live in America.