Meet my new roommates; my upstairs roomies Mitch and Brittney, and my downstairs roomie and sister Mariah. We have a cosy townhouse in West Valley. It’s ironic to live in West Valley because as a kearns native, I talked shit about how much more ghetto West Valley was than where I lived. Truth be told, I like living in West Valley now. It reminds me of the kind of working class immigrants and Mexican- Americans that I grew up with in Kearns. People work harder here.

I just spent the last ten months living in a neighborhood in the foothills of the mountains where people can drive Teslas and live in houses worth a half mill. Forgive me for stereotyping but notice a lot of patterns in the types of people when a look around during trafic hour, or at the mall, and especially at school. The Orem and Provo area are incredibly non-diverse in comparison to people in the areas I grew up in. Generally speaking, cars in Utan County trafic are very nice.

I the neighborhood that I was raised in, there were a lot of middle and lower class citizens and immigrants. Those were the kinds of crowds I’m used to being around so it feels really good to be back in the city.

I must be honest, I’m really going miss Woodland Hills. From the freeway in Utah County, its a 20 minute drive up elevation, and away from civilization into the forest-covered hills. Deer own the hills. They roam freely through the neighborhoods. Turkeys wander around in flocks. There live racoons, skunks, eagles, all kinds wild animals. The view from Woodland Hills of Utah County during the evening hours is unparalleled. The view of the nightsky, away from the light and air pollution is so much better than it is from the city.

It’s become a habit for me to look at everything in perspective. It helps me stay grateful and see the good in all. It would be easy and true to say that there is less class in West Valley. On that note, it’s also true that the people in West Valley are more relatable because of how hard they work to pay the bills. This is what I think about on days when I moss my cosy giant bed, bedroom, and basement.

Erik Hight