Sorting Navels from Valencias
Since I lived in Orange County until I was 33 years old, I am privy to what goes on in the subcultures therein. I’m not sure if this series will ever end because I truly have volumes to say about this indefatigable county and I believe blog entries should be short. The OC is full of people: good and bad. The way they treat each other is often tacit, but the caste system is undeniable. Just like in the royal days of King Arthur, there are knights and there are peasants. Also just like I do about things then, I question the fairness of these class systems.
One thing is relatively sure in Orange County: educated people do better. If you choose college in Orange County, you can buy yourself a good 8-10 years going to school without really applying yourself to a career. Not that you would want to do that, but I find it incredibly shocking that an uneducated person can toil away for decades in a service job, a restaurant for example, and get nowhere . . . and I mean NOWHERE.
Just like when Orange County first began, there are still “pickers” and “growers” of metaphorical oranges. The growers have the land and the abstract dreams and the pickers have the ability to live anywhere just to make concrete survival money. Of course, many of these lower caste workers in Orange County are illegal immigrants from Mexico. We are just 2 hours away from the border and it is getting more and more common for me to come across people in my line of work (namely parents) who cannot produce a social security number. I do not judge them. I recently found out from my mother that 2 generations ago I had relatives that outstayed their visas from Germany and the rest is history. My great great grandfather is listed on his Visa as being an “itenerant peddlar.” I assume that meant he was sent out to beg for items. Far cry from any low-paying job I ever thought I sufferred through.
When in Orange County at a fancy restaurant like say, The Fishermans in San Clemente, you find yourself asking the question: “Who is the busboy/girl? Where do they go to college? What do they want to be when they grow up?” The truth is, they are nobody in the eyes of most of the Orange County upper class. To suggest they go to school is almost an insult to them . . . in their eyes dooming them to inevitable failure.
I have had a problem with this more than once . . . going through all the phone work and attempts to help someone from this realm into a college career only to find they took their free grants and went back to Mexico to aid an ailing relative or even to buy property down there.
In the final analysis, you are in a sense born into a caste in Orange County. Because of your raising, you know what is possible for you. You will see many in the upper caste fall and go to jail or succumb to drugs (Todd Marinovich of the NFL comes to mind). I have known a handful of upper caste socialites who have fallen into trouble. Usually family money and housing will save these people. One aspect of the upper caste is that they take care of their own. Rarely will they find a place in the lower caste. In much the same way the lower can’t function in the upper caste world, neither can they function in the lower eschalons.
I still say an education is anyone’s best bet to have a good life in the OC or anywhere. Whether you are lower or upper, legal or illegal, star-bellied or non, I say that broadening your mind in a classroom shows a lot toward one day earning a good living. All I can say is that I probably would have had a heart attack by now without a job that paid me just because I have college and work with my head. The world is so unsure nowadays. Can you sort the Navels from Valencias in the denizens of your hometown? How possible is it to change class there without college?
Great post and great questions! I think it’s possible to begin to change the perspective of college and its future benefits. However, the problem is that most folks are in the “now.” They need to support themselves, children, and families here and in their home country. I’m the daughter of an immigrant from Germany. My father came over from Ellis Island on the big boat! So I understand somewhat of the dilemma. I wish that I had finished College, but like the lower classes in OC, I didn’t have the finances to take care of myself daily. I also had no car. I quit after a year, but than took several courses toward an accounting degree while working for a CPA firm. That became a dead-end too. My future plans include a degree in Journalism before my daughter graduates high school and my husband retires.
That’s great Rosemarie! Let me know when you get it going, I’d like to help you max out your financial aid possibilities! People who don’t go to college because its too expensive in the "now" (money-wise anyway) don’t know the fin aid system! Yoiu can get much more than you’d get working as a busboy. How do I know? I did it and I have 3 advanced degrees! I do understand that not everyone can see the light through the trees though, your point is well taken.