Chandler Leer

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I have spent the weekend in Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix (and, evidently, home of the annual Ostrich Festival which, appealing as it sounds, is not the reason I am here). Whenever I travel somewhere, I like to notice what stands out about the place. Since this is only a 90 minute plane flight from San Francisco, it’s not exactly an enchanted, other-worldly place, and there’s plenty of “Generica” all around (Best Buy, Starbucks, Yogurtland, and so on). But there are a few things I’ve noticed in my short time here:

  • They Live Behind Gates – All the houses (which seem pretty much carbon copies of one another) are within the confines of gated communities. I’m not quite sure why this is, although the vast majority of this area seems quite new (there were only 29,000 people here in 1980, and there are nearly ten times that many now). Is it supposed to feel safer? More privileged? It seems kind of soulless to me. I’ve never lived behind the walls of a large compound, but I’d rather not live in a house amongst dozens of other houses that were all cranked out by a large, for-profit housing builder.
  • Retail Academies – As I pass by the (many, many, many) retail malls, there seem educational “academies” in every one of them. These seem to be a form of substitute for public school. It’s fitting, I suppose, that these institutions of higher learning are plunked between Petco and Forever 21, since it’s important to indoctrinate kids into being an active part of our consumer culture. Still, it seems pretty charmless.
  • Where’s the Grafitti? – My impressions aren’t all negative: I’ve been very impressed by how seriously the town fathers seem to take art. On the freeways, the sound barriers, the empty stretches of land, there are many murals, sculptures, and other charming native-American inspired renditions of art. It’s all very tasteful, and I think it makes the public infrastructure a lot more appealing. Where I live, there’s an increasing amount of grafitti on the freeway (particularly as you drive toward not-so-nice San Jose), so it’s pleasant to be in an area where things are still pristine.
  • Buy, Buy, Buy – I’m not picking on Chandler in particular, because most of the country is guilty of this, but God in heaven, there are a lot of places to separate you from your money. Block after block is packed with malls. I kind of stopped needing to buy “stuff” a long time ago. I really have everything I need. How can all these places stay in business so long?

I passed by one apartment complex with a sign I found sad and amusing, shown below. One really wonders if the tenants in the complex feel as passionate about their new multi-dwelling lifestyle as they were promised. Probably not.

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