From: epc1@quads.uchicago.edu (Merlin)
Subject: Re: What's it like outside California?
Reply-To: epc1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:06:56 GMT

In article <76084@apple.apple.COM> lin@Apple.COM (Judy Lin) writes:
>Since moving to America as a child, I've always lived in the San Francisco
>Bay Area. Except for short vacations, I really haven't been out of California.
>I'm curious about the Asian American experience in other parts of the country.
>

I find this quite remarkable because traveling does so much to broaden
one's perspectives and knowledge of not only places but people and situations
as well.  I really advise you to travel and visit other states and if you can,
other countries.  It will do wonders for you.  And it will most likely be
great fun.

I've lived in three places for the majority of my life.  I've lived in
the suburbs of Philly, the Raleigh-Durham area, and Chicago.

Each has its charm and pluses and minuses.  I've almost never experienced
discrimination except for one instance in Durham where a hairdresser
claimed that it was "unnatural" for me to have my hair dyed (I happen
to be male).  While this may not be entirely racial, I feel that
a caucasian with black hair would not have had this incident occur.  
Needless to say, I do not frequent the place anymore.  

Raleigh-Durham is a nice area with great weather, a beautiful and rural
environment, and a strong personality in its mixture of the traditional
South and modern liberalism.  My views are slightly biased because
I am associating with almost entirely with people from Duke, NC State,
and Carolina.  Obviously, these three academic institutions may not
be indicative of the rest of the state in general.  However, when I leave
this area, I only go to the mountians (as shown in Last of the Mohicans) and
the beach (some of which is near the locale shown in Cape Fear).  Anyway,
my point is that there is great tolerance within the Triangle and I've
rarely encountered any evangelists or Jesse Helm fanatics.  Speaking of
Jesse Helms, that larger than life personality who dominates the pages
of conservative literature, I've never met a Helms supporter who was not
as nice and considerate as anyone else.  As a staunch democrat infused
with some of the Marxist ideas of my professors from college, I had
some condescending ideas of the conservative, pro-business Southerners.
Needless to say, after meeting with people with ideas very different than mine,
I was able to increase my respect for people with different ideas and
backgrounds.  Tolerance and respect, I believe, is abetted much more
within a heterogeneous environment in which you are willing to assert
yourself and have others assert theirs.  So while the ivory towered walls
of Duke shaped my ideas, the people without have definitely made a strong
impression.

The only disadvantage of living in Durham is that they consider themselves
Redskins fans.  Hence, my Eagles are sometime pre-empted for the Redskins
games.  For those who do not know what it is like to live in this area
of North Carolina, let me say that events exist in abundance.  I will 
leave the following montage of impression:  the Durham Bulls, the Blue Ridge
Parkway, the Raleigh Symphony, Basketball(!), the Outer Banks, pastoral
settings, swimming in a quarry, Burlington outlet stores, and jazz,
alternative, and rock bars.

Of all the cities I have visited (most of the major ones on the East Coast
and South), the one which I have the most memorable impression of is Chicago.
Chicago is the center of so much action, events, food, and architecture.
Walk down one street in downtown Chicago and you will see at least a dozen
buildings built by world renouned architects such Frank L Wright and
Mess Van der Rohe.  Chicago has the best jazz clubs in the world.  Chicago
also has incredible ethnic food, from Persian to Ethiopian to Korean.  
And perhaps most importantly, the people are from all over the Midwest and
are not jaded to their surroundings as people are from New York City.
Hence, Chicago offers the friendly people as well as all of the pleasures
of a leading metropolitan area.  

Having lived in Hyde Park which is on the south side of Chicago (an area
with greater amount of ethnicity and, in some areas, poverty) and working
in the Sears Tower in the financial district, I received the full gamut of 
what Chicago offers to its inhabitants.  Chicago can be dangerous but 
oftentimes I walked along the streets at 2am with little thought.  The flavor
of Chicago can be experienced by the following little story:  
I happened to live near Louis Fahrakhan (head of Nation of Islam) and one
night some of my friends and I decided to walk around the neighborhood.
In that walk, we saw the bodyguards of Louis in their tuxedos looking like
their formidable selves, saw the building of one of the oldest congregation 
in the country, saw a house designed by Wright declared as a state site
and wondered if the people living in it would be hospitable if we knocked and
asked for a tour, and finally walked several blocks to have some mocha
cappucino.  I have never experienced that type of serenity, solitude, and
variety in a city besides Chicago.

As for the people, there are people who accost you for money and saunter
through the streets being aggressive to people who look like that you're
affiliated with the University of Chicago (because you are presumable well 
off).  But there is no more racial tensions there than any other multi-ethnic
city.  And New York doesn't offer you the best fried chicken and pizza in the
country.

Well, this is far longer than I expected so I'll forego my description of
Philadelephia.  But let me just end up saying that in my experience, racial
problems do not affect me and the environment which I choose to live within.
I think that lifestyle, tolerance, and understanding goes a long way
in removing negative things in ones life (this is not to say that I am
any more tolerant or understanding than anyone else).  I hope you
get a chance to visit some other places soon.  As for me, I have never been
to the west coast.  However, in March, I will be in Anaheim for a week because
of a medical conference.  I am sure that my time there will be as rewarding
as other places I have visited.  The trick is to be with good friends and
never taking the scenes around you for granted.

Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA