Show OPINION 1 r I r j JJ r j i t I I l r Ie 1 I I i JJ t ii j 01 v U W rh N lve kOroA i 1 JD tL By H Holly lIy McAffee Staff Writer Which side of State Street do you live on Do you know which is the correct side or the better side Of course you do Ludicrous as it may be but some people see huge differences I think it has to todo todo todo do with money our experiences and our own perceptions This fact didn't come to my attention until I was 14 I was raised in West Valley and I was under the impression that my family was very wealthy I had no idea some people would look down on me or think we were poor because of where we lived When we were about to move to Holladay my friends tried to clue me in They made it sound like snobby people on the East Eastside Eastside Eastside side roam about in large palaces while we dwell in run down shacks on the west side People are just people and they are the same everywhere F For or the most part there was no difference at Cottonwood High School than other schools The people were mostly the same in Holladay as in West Valley Its It's not exactly like people have a stamp on their foreheads saying BORN ON THE EAST SIDE or vice vIce versa Soon comments were made to tome tome tome me I found highly interesting t g 1 r V Vy fA y z f t r A II y Photo by Brandon Wilde One girl asked me what junior high I was from and when I said Kennedy Jr High she nearly gasped She asked me if gangs roam about the school on a daily basis I was quite shocked Another girl later in the year asked if there were murders committed committed committed com com- often in my old neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood and one guy even asked me sneeringly if the schools and neighborhoods in West Valley were just full of Polynesians I Iwas Iwas Iwas was disgusted and surprised by these comments I felt like they were cuts to my hometown or something But then I remembered remembered remembered about my friends in West Valley and how some of them were narrow-minded narrow and despised everything about the East side I ran into students at Cottonwood who drove from Taylorsville because they said they were too scared to go to Kearns Taylorsville or some other West side high school I have found in later years a stigma still does exist between the east and west side Its It's just a fact some people would never choose to live in places like Magna West Valley or I have now lived in Holladay twice West Valley twice and now live near the University of Utah I have probably spent about half of my life on each side of State Street and the differences have b been eE- eE very interesting I now work in West Valley and its it's such a big joke to talk about Valley Fair Mall to anyone as they call it it The Gangster Mall I have to admit the theatres theatres theatres the the- atres can be a little scary as they are old and run down but I frequently fre- fre fr fre frequently shop at that mall Maybe I just narrowly escape from a fate worse than death as my stamp BORN IN WEST VALLEY temporarily lights when I visit there I seriously about lost my temper temper temper tem tem- per with one of my friends once She is from Idaho and lived in West Valley for a time and hated it She could go on for hours about how the area stinks and how the people are not classy etc etc She admits when she moved from there she didn't care where she was going to move as long as asit asit asit it was on the east side She now lives about 2 blocks from State Street in a very scary neighbor neighbor- hood Its It's worse than any area Ive I've every seen on the west side but she likes it because the address says east I cant can't help feeling a little misplaced misplaced misplaced mis mis- placed nowadays Im I'm proud to say Im I'm from West Valley and I always will be But its it's funny sometimes now when people comment about where I live now I live near the University of Utah and you cant can't drive half a block with out seeing at least three Mercedes up there Occasionally someone will comment I must be doing pretty well or think Im I'm snobby when they learn where I live Little do they realize I live with my Grandpa Those who haven't need to put the whole east side vs west side thing aside and just see people for who they really are But then maybe I shouldn't criticize everyone else as maybe I am becoming something of a snob myself Im I'm somewhat ashamed to admit but when I drive through my old neighborhood for forone forone forone one of those trips down memory emory lane I think about how run down and ugly the place is That horrible horrible horrible horri horri- ble term white trash comes to mind And the funny thing is I dont don't know if they've just started to let the place go recently or if it always looked that way and I never noticed C |