bakersfield

people often tease me about hailing from a "one cow town" or, alternately, a "wannabe texas." bakersfield does have its roots in agriculture and oil and, although the city population hovers around 300,000, it feels like a small town. the city is surrounded by farm land that grows almost everything imaginable - cotton, tomatoes, different citrus, watermelon, almonds, roses, etc. - and is nestled by the mountains at the southern-most end of the san joaquin valley. although that presents a pastoral picture, residents can scarcely see the mountains, especially in the summer, because of the brown/grey veil of smog at every horizon.

despite california's reputation as being a very liberal state, bakersfield votes solidly republican in most elections. letters to the editor in the local newspaper reveal residents' support for the u.s. occupation of iraq, unsympathetic sentiments toward immigrants, and a low tolerance for "non-conservative values" (whatever that means). of course, there are dissenting opinions and debates in these same editorial pages. last spring, the furor was about whether to ban toni morrison's book, the bluest eye, from the kern high school district because of its "pornographic" nature.

as a person who leans more left, politically speaking, some of these hometown values, opinions, and debates annoy and often frustrate me. nonetheless, there is something very comforting about being here. (i mean besides my family!) there is something that still kind of tugs at me.

in bakersfield, political correctness runs at very low levels. people say what they mean to say; there is no polite confusion. you may encounter someone who is racist/classist/sexist/homophobic, but they are usually not pretending to be otherwise. unlike more liberal places i've lived, rarely do i encounter pretentious or pompous people in bakersfield. in other words, what you see is what you get. you may not like who you meet, but at least you know who they are.

i see people - friends and family - my age and younger who forgo college to become truck drivers or managers at local stores, join the service and/or become police or correctional officers. they have been working forty hour a week jobs for years even if they are "only 30." people marry and have kids. they want families. some have already divorced. sometimes relationships are a struggle. sometimes jobs are. sometimes it's family illness and lack of insurance. sometimes it's just life.

sometimes bakersfield makes my life of books and writing and academic debate seem small. or maybe it's the small-town perspective i carry with me. in any event, bakersfield has made it difficult to feel at home anywhere else.