What’s California Got to Brag About?
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In response to “Pardon Us, We’re Remodeling” (Jan. 29): As a newly transplanted Californian (I moved from a Philadelphia suburb in August), I find the California fascination with being first in trends ludicrous and anachronistic.
Don’t you realize that with today’s instant global communications, trends are just as likely to start in Philadelphia or Wichita?
The epitome of the California attitude about being trendsetter was evidenced by a clerk when I first arrived here. When I showed her my Pennsylvania driver’s license for identification, she looked at me in amazement. “You have laminated photo licenses too?” she asked, referring to the “new” format for the California licenses. When I explained that we had been using that format in Pennsylvania for at least 10 years, she was dumbfounded.
All this discussion about who had frozen yogurt or oversize T-shirts first is a waste of time. Unfortunately, California does seem to be trend-setting in a few areas--crime, gang warfare and social unrest have reached heights never imagined in most other parts of this country.
Now if California could come up with solutions to these problems, that would be a first worth bragging about.
ALISON K. WEINSTEIN
Mission Viejo
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