Earlier this month, Whitman students were overjoyed to finally be able to leave Walla Walla for spring break. Interestingly, many of those students traded the suburban sprawl of Walla Walla for the near-identical suburban sprawl of their hometown. Sure, their hometown may have some luxuries like a coastline or a Trader Joe’s, but these Whitties basically never left Walla Walla.
Leaving Walla Walla means finally being able to escape the endless rows of identical houses and the never-ending feeling of isolation that comes with being in the middle of nowhere. But time after time, like some strange suburban curse, students end up driving through more identical neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and driveways pressure washed just last week as they make their way home. Whitman students come from all over the world and yet somehow every single one of them returns to places like Walla Walla for school breaks.
However, Whitman students don’t mind the mind-numbing suburbia of Walla Walla. One student from Beaverton, Oregon says that they “came to Whitman because [they] love how Walla Walla is filled with houses in each of [their] favorite colors: White, gray and beige!” Rather than celebrating their ability to leave this suburban nightmare behind, they’re rejoicing in their ability to return to an even larger one.
It’s strange, Whitman students are typically known for their outdoorsiness, but apparently the outdoors they love are the endless expanses of Walmart parking lots. They could’ve spent their spring break hiking through forests and mountains or exploring new cities, but why do that when they could enjoy an extra large Costco parking space or a five lane road cutting through their neighborhood?
It’s not really their fault that they can’t escape American suburbia. Every year, suburban spawls across the country grow. They’re quite frankly hard to escape. For most Whitman students, it’s all they’ve ever known. They don’t know the joys of leaving the suburbs and prancing through the countryside, so why would they want to leave the suburbs? If this is you, there is so much more out there.
