suburbia

Keeping in theme with its title, Dirt Femme is both gritty and glittering in tandem, raw and rising from the earth with elegance.

Until more disadvantaged children rub shoulders with middle-class peers, worsening segregation will exacerbate gaping disparities in learning — even in seemingly serene suburbs.

I wanted to remember what my childhood was like, but I was terrified that every trace of it would be gone — scraped away, painted over and torn down.

Although Orange County is a land of suburbia, this county named after a fruit holds a nostalgic place in my heart. For my birthday last year, I went on a quest to have a fun-filled escapade in this land designed for suburban families.

On my computer, I wrote troves of poetry and metaphorical stories, burdening Microsoft Word documents with lamentations about the depression I had been dealing with since fourth grade, and about my parents divorcing. Alone in my room, symbolic pen in my hand, I began, in earnest, to cement my career as a writer.

Arriving in California, I was slapped in the face with the realization that the suburban myth was actually a reality. Goodbye to convenience and excitement, hello monotonous chill.