Thursday, October 21, 2004
I borrowed this from Sco and added to it, just as he added to what others had to say, and I hope someone else from home will feel compelled to add to it, also. The original topic changes, but it's all people's perceptions of Plano. This is the kind of thing you hold onto for the rest of your life, maybe writing something new every 5 or 10 years, seeing if the feelings are the same. I know this is really long, and most of y'all won't give a damn or ever understand, but all the Planoites should read it when they get the chance. You can relate to it. You may add to it. Those who've moved away especially. Onward!
Jenna's post:
I was trying to figure something out about home: what it means to love or hate where you live, how to talk or write about a place, how to claim a home with words. We sat and lamented the notion that in a few years, Plano is going to die out. 7 years ago, Plano was one of the fastest growing cities in the US. New money. New malls sprang up all over. Park & Preston was the place to be, property values skyrocketed over on the west side. Now there is no room left to build, and park and Preston is littered with empty stores and "for lease" signs in windows. Friday night football seems like the only thing holding that town together now. Our senior year, all these really tragic things kept happening.... symbolism?
We used to go up and smoke cigarettes on the roof of a parking garage near the tollway. We would talk about how we could never see the stars. But that overdeveloped land that stretched for miles to Dallas-- its epic flatness-- would capture our attention but we never quite understood how we could love a city and resent its buildings. I really think that's the deepest kind of relationship you can have with a place--hating it and adoring it. Hating it, but staying. It’s the other side of officially sanctioned civic pride. A cheap substitute for a real relationship with a place.
there's this sense that when you live in Plano, the city's affluence is present in every moment, from its golden age of promise and prosperity, to its current status as a shadow of Frisco, an afterthought, a city about to fall off the radar. Everyone that's lived there carries it with them for the rest of their lives. Whether they stayed for 10 years or 10 weeks, nobody ever forgets what it's like. There is nothing unique about it. But it chews you up and spits you out. Everything is handed to you. The high schools are so big that there is no rivalry between cliques. There are 4 malls. There are celebrities living down the street. Sports are life. Sports are death. Country clubs are everywhere. Nature is out of the question. We spent years trying to breathe life into each other, making jokes about the kids on the other side of town and trying to ignore the fact that our best was never good enough. We’ll spend years trying to comprehend just how different we are from the rest of the world. for the first time we're realizing that what we considered normal-- waking up with a brand new car in your driveway on your 16th birthday, not taking out loans for college, having a starbucks literally on every corner, spending the whole week preparing for Friday night football-- is not the real world. It’s just not.
There’s something magical about a city in decline. The erasure that goes along with giant malls and theme restaurants and off-ramps and franchised everything. Then again, I guess there is a lot of potential in places that are removed from the center of power. Maybe after the big drop-off, a lot of interesting things are going to emerge. Things that have the potential not to be sullied or defeated as soon as they're created. Something with history, beauty, resilience...unlike everything else in that place. I guess cities can hover in between success and failure. We hated it when we were there. We couldn't wait to get out. But now there’s this deep-seeded hateful nostalgia that's so hard to express. In any case, after college, Plano will be nothing like I remember it.... but I won't forget what it was. I don't think any of us will.
Lauren's Response:
Now, besides the Target that closed down, I'm not sure about Park & Preston's total decline- Plano is still one of the biggest retail areas in the metroplex, and it’s not declining quite yet. But Jenna's right: it's going to. Maybe not really soon: Planonians enjoy the spotlight, and will do what they can to keep it. But Plano is not the real world. TCU is not the real world. Cornell? Never been there, but it's probably not the real world. So if everything we've known isn't real, what is it? The answer is that it is real to us, but only a dream to others. And the thing is, when you go back, it’s just like you remember it- hardly different at all, which is the sad part. And we've all become so different that returning home is really just returning to a place we used to live. As lovely Mr. Stone said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Well the more things stay the same, the more they change as well. Thanks for making me think Jenna- its more than my institution of higher learning as been able to do.
Nathan's response:
Plano is not going to DECLINE; it is simply going to become normal. I hope people that really see it like Jenna realize this process has been going on for a long time. With that point in mind... lets look at what I call the "Suburbs of Dallas reaching their peak Chart"...
1960s-Highland Park
1970s-Garland
1980s-Richardson
1990s-Plano
2000s-Frisco
2010s-Murphy, Celina, I don’t know some town even FARTHER North...
Every city has their boom, that’s how people come to live there. Look at Richardson right now, they are far past their zenith and they are still an outstanding down. Great NEW things don't just die; look at that amazing performing arts center they built just a year ago. Plano is merely going to return to how it was BEFORE the economic boom, merely with some improvements. And as a matter of Frisco getting "better", they will still be Frisco and we will still be Plano. We're still gonna have a WHOLE lot higher GPAs than them, we're still gonna send more kids to college than them. You know, if you don't want Plano to "die", tell people about it. I love my hometown, I want to go back there and teach some! I want to live in a little house on the east side, commute down 15th street every day, spend weekends with my wife and kids at Haggard Park and maybe get on the train downtown, and I want to take my kids to have JCs burger followed by a Milkshake at Henry's. Things are great back home, perhaps this "decay" the original statements was written about was one of the greatest things that could have happened because Plano can finally become a normal, financially stable community. The money isn't gonna go away. As long as Frito Lay, Dr Pepper, JC Penny, and EDS reside in Plano this will be an affluent community pushing forward with every day. Yes I know many of those headquarters are very close to state highway 121... But don't forget that their address is in the great city of Plano, Texas. That is all.
Sco's thoughts:
It's always a bizarre experience thinking and talking about Plano. It's a strange city, unlike many others. Where else do you find a quarter million bounded in one suburb? Where else does the school system split their high schools? Where else do GPAs reflect your specific grade, and not just your letter grade? Where else is there one valedictorian and one salutatorian in the largest graduating classes in the state? Where else do you find a church, Blockbuster, and Starbucks on every corner? Plano is a center of material possession - a city fueled with money and material.
But how is that unlike other cities? Sure, maybe we have more spoiled kids. Maybe we have more developed areas. Maybe the stars don't shine from our sky from the light pollution of the stadium that never seems concerned with saving electricity. Maybe we can proudly boast that our school is 2500 strong and East side has more pride or West is the best or Plano is the original, dammit, leave us alone.
But is that so different from any other town, to an extent? When I came to Norman, I came alone. Not many people from my borough of Plano followed me north. Yet, I see the same story in every person. Love and hate mutually for their hometown. I'm so glad I'm away, but damn, I miss it.
Plano is unique in many ways, sure. Every town is special for its own reason. But the magic and spirit of Plano doesn't dwell in the new cars or the football or the miles upon miles of suburbia. It lives within us. Like it or not, no matter how much time you spend in Plano, it will live within you. Plano isn't a place you can escape. It binds you. It captures you. And just for a moment, any visitor imagines what it would be like to live in a place such as this.
Mon's thoughts:
What is Plano? Plano may or may not be like any other city out there, but I've yet to know one quite like it. Plano is home. I only lived there for 7 years and in 4 or 5 different places in the 13 years I attended its schools, but it will always be home to me. Even so, I don't miss it. I enjoy going back, but I can't say I miss any of it- the traffic, the materialism, the high school drama/rivalries, the drugs, the crime, the cement metropolis, the complete disregard for anything or anyone outside of it.
You know, when you live in Plano, there is no world outside of it. Nothing exists beyond Plano. For as long as you live there, you never even think of anything beyond the city limits. There is nothing bigger or better or worth thinking of outside of Plano. We only acknowledge the presence of neighboring suburbs when our high school teams play, and we win, of course. Because Plano is a city completely entranced by and in love with itself.
Plano is enamored of itself, of its malls, of its cars, of its academics, of its sports, of its history, of its theaters, of its lights, of its highways, of its greatness. Have you ever seen anything so self-absorbed? That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. The city's love for itself is its beauty. I don't know what it is, but it's entrancing. Sure, there is plenty to hate: the weather, the scenery (I mean lack thereof), the traffic, the pollution, the litter, and disregard. But all these seem so minor with the eternally endearing trait of Plano being in awe of itself. Don't you just love it, too?
Growing up, you hate it. There's nothing to do but see movies, bowl, drive around, or tip cows. You never see the stars. There are no forests, no mountains, no lakes, no rivers, no wildlife. Some parts are incredibly run down, falling apart, and crime-ridden. Others are too wealthy, too snobby, too ritzy, too good. Plano had the highest teen-suicide rate in the country when I moved in, and the highest incidence of drug usage and under-age drinking when I moved out. One can't help but feel more and more jaded the longer you live there.
How does such a city become so enamored of itself? I don't know, but the feeling pulses through everyone's veins. As much as you hate living there, and hate even more to admit it- you love Plano. You always will. You'll never forget it. However long you stay, it gets under your skin, and it affects you in some way. Somehow, it touches you, it touches your heart. And it will always be home. How many people out there call Plano "home"? Do you think they all feel the same way? I want to know.
Mattie’s thoughts:
Of all the places I’ve lived in my life, Plano is the one I’ve lived in the longest. I’ve lived in Plano since I was six. Growing up I couldn’t wait to leave. After 12 years of living in one place, one does run out of fun and exciting things to do there. But, now that I’ve gone to college and am in Provo, Utah which is much smaller than Plano, I do kind of miss it. In Provo there is nothing to do but the movies and the mall. And as a college student with no job or money, that means there is absolutely nothing to do here.
I hate to say it but I do miss Plano. I do have some friends up here with me from Plano and they all miss it too. I loved Friday night football games where your team actually wins and you expect it to. (Here, everyone’s surprised if we actually do win.) I loved the “Plano Pride” we showed for our city. I thought it was funny how much rivalry we had in our own little town. We fought about which side was better, East, West, or central. (East is the best by the way).
Plano will never decline as long as the people in it cherish it so much. Yes there will always be some teenager expecting a car on their sixteenth birthday, and there will be another who would be happy with shoes. Our little city is so diverse, and that is what makes it awesome.
I love Plano and I am so happy to tell people here in Utah where I’m from. Believe or not, most of the people I tell actually do know where Plano is. Living in Plano helped me become a better person, and I am definitely not as sheltered as the people here in Utah, let me tell ya. Plano in some ways helped me realize the good and bad in the world. And, I still believe there is more good than bad.
I don’t believe Plano is “enamored” with itself. Everyone is proud of their hometown no matter who you talk to. Here at BYU, since everyone is from so many different places, our hometowns are what we cling to and will always stay a part of us. No matter how small their home was, they shout out where they are from with pride. People talk about how big their graduating class of 300 was, but they are shocked when I announce that my graduating class was 1237.
No matter how long you’ve lived in Plano albeit a year or your whole life, it will always be a part of your heart. I know I will never forget Plano as long as I live. It will always be a part of me and my life. No matter how much it changes, when I return, there will always be something familiar about it. I love Plano, Texas and I will shout where I’m from with adoration, love, and pride!