Hey there, BBS. It's your awesome BarabiSama here asking for some content help! Are you a kid in America? Yes? Welp, guess what - I Want You!

So, what the fuck am I talking about, you ask? Well, I'm writing a short story compliation. The first fifty stories will take place in each state. The last three to five will be a continuation which brings everything together; the kids from the original stories will work together towards an important cause that normally can't be taken care of. I'm not revealing that cause yet, obviously.

So, why do I need you? I don't know jack shit about any place other than NJ. I'm asking for you to tell me about the culture of your state. Not basic facts; I can get those. Tell me what adults are like, what kids are like. What's in? What's out? What's really bad to do that probably isn't bad elsewhere? Also, if you could be specific about a certain town and tell me about some small businesses and popular streets, I would be really grateful. Or even just talking about how small businesses tend to fare in your area.

Basically, just tell me about where you live. It's that simple! You don't have to give the exact town, although it would be helpful. Well, I'd like to send out an early thank you to whoever participates! Enjoy. I'll be sure to give Dollars a first sneak peak at the compilation when it's completed ;O

If you're not comfortable posting it publically, feel free to email it to me here: "masterfirerose@aol.com"

Click "thread page" to see the full post, please :O You can email more personal accounts to me.

I'll start you with good ol' Massachusetts.
I lived in the north central part of the state for my first 12 years, and I go up to visit family again every summer.


Some basic cultural facts about MA:
-Not everyone talks with a Boston accent. They are usually confined to the Boston metro and families that have moved from there. The farthest west you get, the lower the chances.

-As is the case with most New Englanders, we take our sports seriously and wear them on our sleeves. Sox, Pats, Bruins, Celtics, you name em, we're the proudest motherfuckers ever of them. Except the Sox this past year. We're kind of annoyed still. Where I lived, soccer, lacrosse, and baseball and some ice hockey are the main sports for youngsters up to high school.

-Kids there have some rebellious attitudes, and some of this can be blamed on the mostly loose parenting towards children. Some parents are strict, but most I've met either aren't, or are oblivious to it. Regardless, everyone is still a great person beneath their rugged New England attitude. Most families are pretty open with each other to my knowledge.

-There is a Dunkin Donuts at every corner and you go there at least once a day just because it's fucking Dunkin Donuts.

-As with most New England towns, most of them in this part of the state have town commons (most of which are triangular) with a park at the center and small businesses, churches, and little restaurants surrounding it.

-Most people are either Catholic due to immigration from other places (there is a large French Canadian population) or athiest due to aforementioned rebelliousness.

-I'm not sure how accurate this is since I moved right before middle school, but most kids our age dress in normal tee-shirts, shorts, and wear normal sneakers, though as of lately, I've noticed a bit more of that stupid scene-wannabe getup with some people.

-We love mini golf and ice cream. And don't think we won't be afraid to tell you if your mini golf places is dull or your ice cream preferences suck.

-It snows usually from Nov/Dec to Feb/March, followed by nor'easters and rain in spring. In summer, it can get up to about 90 degrees F, but is best with 75-ish temperatures, a breeze, and nice sun. The Cape is usually cooler, as are the other coastal areas. Fall is fucking beautiful with the brown leaves, and if you like apple pie, there's nothing better than getting one here or NH. All in all, we complain about the weather a lot in winter and spring.

-I can't say much in terms of clam chowder or lobster, since I'm allergic to seafood.

-and, last but not least for now unless you have any further questions, there is limited car parking in Harvard Yard.

>thinks a thread is less likely to get bumped down on lit
...
>decides to post something
>literature board decides to get active

bump.

So I guess I'll do RI then? xD
I'm a teenager so I'll only be able to answer certain things about RI that your looking for. Well to start off RI is the smallest state and we're proud of it we don't care about Texas being IDK 13x bigger than us. Having such a small state your bound to know quite a few people in different areas and towns, I live in Pawtucket it honestly has nothing special and really same goes for other areas and towns, the only place worth while is Providence! Thats where everyone flocks for parties, to eat out, to have fun really. And since RI is such a small place it really isn't hard to get to Prov from anywhere you live in RI. The most popular places ( as far as a teenager would know) would be the Mall, of course, and Thayer Street. I provided just a small portion of what Thayer looks like in the pic. The mall is called Providence Place Mall located in Downtown Prov, its near the Dunkin' Donuts Center, the state house and the RI Conventional Center as well as numerous restaurants that even outline the outskirts of the mall. PPM (Thats how I'll refer to the mall as) is famous for its Water Fire which you could easily look up so I won't go to into that event but its rather popular as to where the kids hang out and socialize as well as adults. Thayer street, is located on the East side of Prov, usually referred to as the nicer side to Providence. I believe its located near a college its known for its countless restaurants and this old fashioned theater there (personally I've never been inside the theater but I'll go in once and tell you how its like if I get the chance^^). As far as whats in and whats out the fashion here is basically name brand clothing T___T as you can tell I'm not a fan of it but I do know about it. Basically wear holster or aeropostle those brands and your officially a person with taste in clothes, I'm not sure if its like this in other states but around here name brand clothing = style T__T. Football, Basket Ball, Baseball and a little Volleyball is whats popular as for sports here. We live in the New England area of course so our love of sports is always shown you can never go wrong with a Jersey here. I'm not sure what else to write but I hope you can do something with the info I gave and I hope you get even more about other states or even more about this state.

>>5 ...Unnapealing wall of text is unappealing.

Sorry about that. I suppose it's better than nothing right?

>>7 Yeah :) Next time you post something long though, put in paragrah breaks!

>>1 Ill post something here about Hudson, Wisconsin.. I just need a while to think of interesting things about up here XD

>>5 Thanks :O That tells me quite a bit. And don't say sorry for being a teenager; the whole point is that I want this information from younger people. The story is going to be about the current generation of adolescences, after all.

I guess I'll weigh in.

I live in Los Angeles, CA.

California is very diverse. There are blacks, whites, Mexicans, and Asians. To the north is peace and quiet, but to the south is violence, drugs, gangs, rape, and vandalism. LA is the most notorious of all the cities in CA. In LA there are segregated communities. Poor live around poor, middle class around middle class, rich around rich, with the poor communities being the most violent.

Most kids never had to live in an area where you had to make money fast or die on the street. Places where if there was a black out you reached for a 12 gauge instead of a flashlight. Places where you were executed in the street walking to school (if you went to school) because of your nationality or gang.

It seems like there is no God to the poor, just a god to the select group of rich people that live in gated communities. Segregated from the rest of the population, it seems like the rich couldn't give a rat's ass who got shot in the street like a dog while they enjoyed their breakfast that morning, or stuck a needle of heroin in their arm while they said goodnight to their wife. Either way, the poor person didn't wake up the next morning like the rich person did.

Were you thinking I was going to talk about Hollywood and famous people? Please, don't forget about other 90% of the people because of a superficial understanding of the truth.

Virginia is basically divided into two populations: the ghettos in the cities and the country. Williamsburg has a little of both. We think we're a big town but in reality we're little.

The ghetto cities are mostly black (not being racist, just stating facts). You will get hurt if you aren't black and go to school in the cities. The country populations are mostly white. They think they are so awesome and Virginia is often then only state they've ever been in.

Our economy is funded mostly by tourism. The areas that have no tourism are normally the wwwwwaaaaaaayyyyyy backwards country or the worst parts of cities.

Williamsburg, my current home, sucks. The schools are divided between ghetto ass neighborhoods and rich idiots. Our exterior is nice and pretty, we put on a good show, but we hate it here. The fight between being a small town and a city at the same time tears the place apart.

Everyone tries to rebel but instead just ends up doing nothing.

Connecticut is pretty chill. I live a upper middle class suburban neighborhood now. Not much usually happens here, adults are scared shitless of teenagers driving. You have to have had your license a year before you can drive others.

Uhh lets see... what else can I say... oh yeah, EVERYONE TRIES TO ACT GHETTO. SERIOUSLY JUST BE YOURSELF YOU'RE NOT IMPRESSING ANYONE.

Maybe more later if I can think of it, I'm not particularly good at this stuff.

I'm from Alabama and to be put simply, it is not even close as "Southern" as most people think it is. It's pretty hot through the entire year, everyone is surprisingly nice but strong in their opinions, especially in ports. The youth behave okay but get in fights easily. Most people go to church whether they act like it or not. Birmingham is a fairly big city and has a lot of small buisnesses including some headquarters like regions, well fargo and at&t in big office buildings. The scenery is pretty much semi-green grass with small forests scattered along highways and roads. Small enough that a zombie invasion could spread but big enough that you won't recognize people n the street. Just remember that people appear nice enough but are really angry on the inside

I live in Oregon >.< But I'm not really sure much of what to say... But here goes~:

Oregon is a pretty liberal state. We're all for medical marijuana (it's legal, of course), and we're almost as excited about legalizing recreational usage as California is. We have some other weird laws, like how you can't pump your own gas (heh, I guess you can empathize, Sama), and how if the government collects extra tax money that it doesn't need, it has to give it back. People here like their freedoms and rights quite a bit. We're not super religious, we've been known to have lots of Ku Klux Klan members, and we have the most generic American accents in the country. Our weather sucks: It's warm for three months in the summer (quite hot, actually, which I happen to love), but for the rest of the year, it rains constantly. Mostly drizzle and stuff, but still, we never get a break—it only even gets cold enough for snow a few times a year here. Every year, people complain that we got more rain than the last year.

I live in a suburb of Portland, the biggest city in the state. We're so crazy here we even got our own comedy show—it's called Portlandia, and it's pretty funny (it's got people from SNL and everything). Point is, we're a bunch of hippies and hipsters and some other things that start with the letter "h." Especially hipsters. Even my big brother, a member of my own family, has turned to the hipstery dark side. Everyone thinks they're super cool for trying to be different, but they all just look stupid. Oh, and that reminds me. We've got lots of weird body modifying stuffs going on around here. I don't even notice anymore when I see people with ear gauges, neon hair, and/or tattooed faces. And like all towns on the west coast, we have lots of Starbucks. No Dunkin' Doughnuts for us. At all. It's all Starbucks all the time.

And then there's the little suburby town in which I live, which I am not going to state the name of because privacy. It's a pretty affluent community, so we inhabitants have this horrible—and not entirely undeserved—reputation of being stuck up/snobby rich white kids. With the emphasis on white. There are so many Caucasian students at my high school that you can pick out someone Asian or black in a crowd easily. And by Asian, I mean Korean girls. Overall, the main group of people that aren't white are Korean, and they're all girls. It's really weird. But anyway, back to the rich. Everyone is basically expected to have lots of money, even at school; if you don't have Facebook, email, internet, and a cellphone readily accessible, you will not do well in school. Oh, and because we have lots of rich kids, there's a lot of pot and alcohol on campus. It's pretty easy for them to afford it, and sometimes their parents even condone or allow their usage. Aaaaand....let's see, most kids wear a normal shirt and jeans, but there are the people-we-call-popular-preps-that-aren't-actually-popular-or-preppy that wear lots of slutty skirts and blouses (usually just the girls. usually.)

Lastly, people are nice here. We're friendly. Besides the homeless people smoking pot by Saturday Market, you can pretty much strike up a conversation with anyone on the street. At least they won't look at you weird. It actually surprised me when I visited Boston a couple years ago and I would say hi to people at Dunkin' Doughnuts and they'd just ignore me and/or glare.
:(
Yay! If I left something important out (I rambled a lot) ask MKOLLER; she's in a different part of the state entirely anyway, so she probably has an entirely different perspective.

>>14
Fuck yeah, Portlandia.
/o/

I live in California (central - northern part).

From where I grew up, it was known for the many Churches in the small little town. I grew up with people who strongly followed the Bible - Christians and Catholics. I went to a private school and my siblings, relatives, and I were the only "asians" in the whole school. The rest were caucasians. It wasn't until Jr. High school where it became more diverse.

Even though surrounded by such religions, I was brought up with a Buddhist background because of my relatives and family. Being first generation I was taught many Chinese traditions and got used to traditional food rather than american food (although I did get my happy meals every now and then! ^^)

My hometown wasn't even considered a "city" until the early 2000. There was so little people here. Each house was surrounded with dirt lands with weeds and hills. It was great in a sense that the whole town knew each other. Everyone was super friendly. You don't have to be scared to walk from neighborhood to neighborhood. You could ride bicyles everywhere - through the hills. You could even see cows randomly too. It's really a farmers town back then.

As a farmers' town, it is also a very hot region. Sometimes summers reached 120F. Can definitely get sunburn here. One of my neighbors grew cactus' on their front yard. If you have allergies and/or is sensitive to bad air - you definitely don't want to live here. An aquantance of mine was told by a doctor to move out of the town if she wanted her health to recover (due to bad air here). The moment she did move, her health recovered exponentially.

That's all in the past tho. Because of the housing boom, there is now bunch of houses everywhere and even half-built unfinished houses everywhere. The quality and closness of people have dropped. A lot of families buy randoms houses and grow marijuana in them and only tend to it once in a while to see how well their stuff grew. Lots of gangs now, drugs, etc. Because of the poor economy these days, there has been a rise in mugging, robberies, etc. You have to be weary of who knocks at your doors, walking in parks, and even people who crash into your car.

It's not all bad, but definitely not as awesome as it used to be. There seems to be hate and disrespect as of late, as well. Some new residents keep trashing our house. One came onto our property and tried to shoot our dog. Another came to bother us about not following community guidelines (when we aren't even part of their community). One keeps complaining that we aren't picking up our chihuahua's poop on their lawn (when that shit was definitely from a medium to large dog).Just stupid shit. =\

Definitely not what it used to be. :) but at least friends and family makes this place bearable.

Bump. Thank you to everyone who has put forth information :O

>>11 Yeah, our town is a nice place to visit, but terrible to live in. It seems like we are stuck in the 1700s. And the locals are mean, too

^

i live in Arizona. but i live on a Native American reservation.

>>20 And..? Would you like to tell us about this reservation, or no?

Ohio. The "extraordinarily average" person on any American TV show is normally from Ohio. Everyone knows we're here, but no one really pays attention to us unless it’s voting time.

Cleveland and Cincinnati, the two biggest cities, love to make fun of each other. One has a lake, and one has a river. Cleveland loves their football team and complains about their baseball team. Cincinnati loves their baseball team and complains about their football team. Cleveland is mainly Democratic and has Cedar Point, Cincinnati is mainly republican and has Kings Island, ect.

I grew up in the Southern part of this state near Cincinnati where we're pretty much raised loving Chili. Often we're told that we have southern accents, and any real Ohioan will be quick to inform you that we don’t have Southern accents in Ohio. We’ll also be quick to say that we aren’t all farmers, even though there’s probably more than one sizable corn field for every ten miles in the state, (at least in the Southern half.)

We like to brag about famous people that came from here, like George Clooney.

The weather changes every three hours. No joke.

In the area I grew up it was fairly quiet, though I’ve heard city life can get really crazy. Where i grew up everyone knew each other. Cincinnati was the town I visited the most often. It’s “20 years behind everyone else”, and still somewhat segregated. And there’s a chili place on nearly every street corner. That town seems to take a lot of pride in their heritage, which seems to be mainly German and Irish. In other words, there’s a lot of beer there. They love beer. And I’m not too sure about Cleveland on this, but there’s a lot of Christians (mainly Catholics) in Cincinnati.

It really is a normal state, with the kinds of regular suburbs with the kinds of regular kids you’d see on children’s shows. You’re bound to meet every type of person here. I can’t really think of a stereotypical personality or anything here, we’re just all kind of…normal. If you can find the right person we've got some great stories though.

My culture, as well as my actual race, is pretty much the birthplace of ghetto lifestyle.
I'm Puerto Rican, born from the Once great and beautiful city of Guayama, Puerto Rico. Now my family kind of supresses the expression of our culture unless there's a huge party. But that never stopped me from contacting my relatives back home and ask them about our culture (I live in Massachusetts). Thankfully, I've spoken to my grandparents of my father's side and some of my aunts and uncles. Here's what I've gathered:
1.) Puerto Rico is generally the ghetto spanish island. We created a sort of slang-type spanish language that most people that know spanish may not understand unless they've dealt with us before. We're sort of wierd like that.
2.) We refer to ourselves as Boricua. It's sort of traditional and more prideful than anything. Boricua refers to us belonging to Puerto Rico, a sort of "you live as a puerto rican, you die as a puerto rican" thing. Although we've sort of faded that tradition in America, it's still around in the bilingual farmer's market and flea markets you may see around the north-eastern coast.
3.) Although you may think Puerto Rico is a beautiful place now, you're dead wrong. We've sort of lost that beauty a while ago thanks to crime and pollution. We're hostile people, and if our mood is off, we might kill anyone for any reason. In Puerto Rico, that is.
4.) Had we not left the island and found out about America and such, we would've died off many years ago. We're pretty much the plague in life. Not like some countries that may be worse than us, but we're pretty bad.
Now don't get the wrong idea. Respect, honor, family, tradition, music and love. Those are things we truely hold dear to our hearts. Pride is all we have left to show for. That;s why Puerto Ricans will never die off, because we're too proud to dissapear.

>>21
not really its kind of boring actually.

>>24 Who cares? The whole point is that I want to know the culture of where you live. If you don't want to tell me about it, please don't waste your time commenting :V

>>25 okay okay sorry. i will tell you about it.
i live in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. our tribe is the Pima (or Akimel O'odham). Akimel O'odham means river people.The Akimel O'odham lived along the Gila River, Salt River, Yaqui River, and Sonora River in ranchería-style villages. The villages were set up as a loose group of houses with familial groups sharing a central ramada and kitchen area with brush round houses surrounding. nowadays we are more modern. we have normal houses some (like mine) that have been here since the early 1900's. The Pima were strong runners, basket weavers and farmers who could make the desert bloom. They served as trusted scouts for the U.S. Cavalry and continue to serve their country today in various forms of the armed forces. we are very proud people who love the land we have been given. but very few of kids my age appreciate that. we have a lot of traditional customs and ceremonies.
From age ten until the time of marriage, neither boys nor girls were allowed to speak their own names. The penalty was bad luck and the name of a deceased person is not used. The word or words in the name however are not dropped from the language. Children were given careful oral instruction in moral, religious and other matters.The men never cut their hair, but wear it in massive plaits and folds, which frequently descend to the calves of their legs. The front hair is cut even with the eyebrows. The women wear short hair and are not permitted to have it more than eight or nine inches in length. we are exceedingly superstitious. They are hospitable, chatty, and exceedingly proud of the purity of their blood. we have rain making ceremonies and harvest dances. we hold a lot of pow-wows. i'd tell you more but im at schol and have to go to my next class. you can email me at YHernandezvigueras@gmail.com for more info.

>>26 If I'm wrong, sorry. But you live in Arizona? If so me too! ^^

I live in southern Tennessee. Lived here all my life. It could easily take me 10, 15 minutes for me to drive and I'd be in Alabama.I live out in the country where there are open fields and woods. so beautiful; I love it. Lots of curves and back roads, and most roads are long and can be several different ways to get those roads.

If you get lost, ask someone, and they'll give you directions. It may be confusing with all the winding roads, but i'm used to it. Oh, and it's not unusual to see tractors or other farming machines on the road.
Not everybody around here has a country accent. I will admit though, you WILL find some with an accent where I live. (but I don't have one). There are few people that cannot make good food. That's why I love family get-togethers(reunions or whatever)and homemade icecream..!
Not being racist!- Majority of population is white, then second greatest is Mexican, and there are some blacks.

Most are not afraid to take pride for their beliefs and aren't afraid to fight for it. Stubborn and will-powered. Even if it's stupid-which gives "country folk" bad names...sadly that's true for some people. Proud southerners, but call someone redneck, they'll either be proud or pissed...You don't anyone pissed around here.
Yes, I know it sounds like the stereotypical country, but it's the truth.
Also, I come from a small town school and where if someone is not considered what people think is "normal," then that person is quickly judged. (Which bothers me so much!)

Beautiful wilderness, great food, hospitality, and proud people.

>>27 yeah I do live in Arizona! What part of AZ are you from?

I'm honestly surprised nobody has spoke of Texas yet. ._.

Challenge accepted.

I'm a born and raised North Texan, and have lived here all nearly 21 years of my life.

Everybody has the image in their head of the stereotypical Texan. 10 gallon hat, flannel shirt, ostentatious belt buckle, jeans and boots with the accent. The "howdys" and barbecue, rodeos -- you get picture. In Mesquite, the city I live in, it's all pretty much true. Mesquite happens to be home of one of the world-class rodeo facilities, so yeah.

Texans are very proud creatures. Our pride stems from mainly two causes: Our moment in time where we won our independence as a sovereign republic, and in a nutshell, the size of our state. Really. Many Texans (mistakenly) believe we have the right to secede (and advocate it), and the our flag is the only one allowed to fly as high the the U.S. flag. (Any state can as long as it's flown on a different flagpole, otherwise it must be flown directly below the U.S. flag on the same flagpole. Fun fact.) Otherwise, Texans are rather hospitable people most of the time.

There are Texans who fit perfectly into this stereotype, and then those who don't quite fit that stereotype at all. I classify as the latter of the two categories. I have never dressed cowboy of my own free will, nor do I really desire to. I also happen to have a rather neutral accent, compared to those of some of my yokel friends.

Texans love sports. Football, especially collegiate football, is practically a religion in Texas. Many are familiar with the bitter UT/A&M rivalry, and confrontation can and do get heated between Longhorns and Aggies. In Dallas, we have the Cowboys, Rangers, Mavs, and Stars. We've got a lot of love for our teams, especially the Rangers as of now with the hot streak the've had the last couple years.

Other major sports in Texas include Hunting (or Shooting in general), Fishing, and NASCAR. Don't eeeeeven get me started on NASCAR.

Because of our location in the Bible Belt, you can be sure that there is no shortages of churches in any town anywhere. It's rather annoying, sometimes.

Texas weather is legendary. Between the violent storms of Tornado Alley in the Spring, the fucking shit-hot Summers, the unpredictable Autumns, and the annoyingly cold Winters, our weathermen have quite the task to handle.

Trucks. Pickup trucks as far as the eye can see, usually piloted by the yokels fitting the stereotype, sometime caked in mud. I really don't understand the appeal of it all. Oh, and good luck trying to drive around, Texas drivers can be fucking madmen.

Barbecue, Steaks, Burgers, cooking out on the grill in general. We love it, quite a lot. Texans can eat improbable amounts of food. Oh, and many Texans love to relax with a cold beer.

Country music is the music of choice of a majority of people around here, and Texans enjoy line dancing, two-stepping, whatever, to said country music. Yet again, I really don't understand it all too well.

Texas has a variety of locales and climates, much of it overwhelmingly beautiful. Once you get out of the metropolitan areas, the wide-open spaces go on forever. Although, Eastern Texas is just a forest with some cities scattered in there. The Texas Gulf Coast is my personal favorite, it's just...amazing. No other way to describe it.

I don't really fit into the Texan stereotype at all, but I'm pretty damn proud to be a Texan, and with that I will close this summary of mine.

In jest, I leave you with THIS parting video as another reminder of what makes Texas great. :P

^

>>30 When my dad passed through Texas when he went a trip down South, he said that there was still a lot of racism. Is that true?

>>32
Not going to lie, it still happens quite a lot around here. That's yet another thing I don't quite get.

Contrary to popular belief, Arkansas isn't all hicks and country bumkins.
We're pretty normal, but we have a lot of music festivals, and our hippie population is large.
If you ever visit, go to Eureka Springs.
Practically oozes hippie style mixed with early nineteen hundreds.
Weird, I know...

Bump for Barabi.

>>34 do i spy with my little eye a fellow arkansan???if so i fist bump you my good sir.

Okay, so heres michigan.
Alot of the boys like rap.Drake is EXTEREMLY popular.Alot of the guys in the area where i live(mid east in Michigan) alot of the guys do pot.Dubstep and that techno stuff like skrillex is popular in my school.All this is my persona knowledge of my school.But i'm not like that...

Here's Oregon's summary. (The Karloz version)

I was not born in Oregon, or even in America. My parents brought me to Fairview, Oregon from Mexico and ended up living most of my life here. Here in Oregon many people prefer bikes over cars because we are environmentally sensitive. There's a lot of forests and plantlife too. At school, people like whatever is mainstream and known like Eminem, Linken Park, Justin Bieber ect.. Not much gang violence at all, crime is uncommon, and most people are treated equally. No racism or homophobia either. Small businesses flourish here because of the lack of Walmarts and stuff like that. Yup, it's very peaceful here in Oregon. That's all I have to say.

CALIFORNIA!!
i wasnt born here its just the only place ive stayed at for more than a year (im goin on my 6th year now)

okay im from the san joaquin county, tracy.
which if u meet anyone from tracy or places nearby the number one thing we all complain about, both adults and children, is
"THERE IS NOTHING TO DO IN THIS CITY WAAAH!"
ya that pretty much right skateparks, parks, and the mall are boring because the aren't grand, like malls in big cities.
one question asked alot in this area is "where did you come from?"
this is because everyone seems to come from a different city. in tracy its so obvious you can classify the 3 different high schools by cities majority of the people come from or love. (those cities would be oakland, san francisco, and stockton)
most adults in smaller towns in california commute to work in bigger cities like LA or san francisco.
people in california also have a general slang like in a highschool full of hipster and hype beasts you hear
"hella"
"yolo"
"fish"
"tounchi"
"clap cheeks"
"be gettin it in"
"you be hella hurt"
"its slappin up in here"
"creeper"
etc.
all of this slang comes from two sources
jersey shore and songs that they hear and like
in california you can go to an elementary school to the kindergarden kids and hear them say things like "your my boyfriend/girlfriend so add me on facebook and twitter and i'll give you my number from my iphone. now lets share juice boxes"

-_-"
its ridiculous
and in california it completely determines on which part of the state you go to because california is very diverse ^^ hope that helps a bit for cal

(bump)