Valley Trash and the Bull
As I have lived in Alaska for four months (4 months!!!) I’m starting to learn the characteristics and stereotypes given to certain regions of the state. As someone new, you just assume one Alaskan is just like another, no matter where they’re from. But you gradually learn as you meet people and they share their opinions that there are vast differences.
I should have realized this just from the sheer fact that I met someone up here and when I said “I’m from Durham” they said “Oh, so in Chapel Hill basically?” and my blood started to boil. They are NOT the same place.
Alaska is a huge state so I’ve only learned about a small part but this is what I have gathered so far (again, these are the stereotypes and not facts, just things I have been told by the people who have lived here a long time):
-Anchorage is called “Town” (ie. I need to go shopping so I’m going to head into town tomorrow). I made the mistake many times when I first moved up here referring to Wasilla and Palmer as town and saying things like ‘oh I moved here because I have some friends in town’, was very confusing to a lot of people so I’ve had to learn to refer to Wasilla/Palmer as the Valley. Anchorage is where the sophisticated people live and work. It is also where all the young and single people live. There are many bars and restaurants, a couple big malls and tons of strip malls. You go to Anchorage if you need something that you can’t buy at Wal-Mart, Target or Sears because those are the only shopping options in the Valley.
-Girdwood is where all the rich hippies live. Hippies that are hippies by choice. I’m not talking about the non bathing, no bra wearing flower power types, but the free spirited, well off, pot smoking folks. Girdwood is where Alyeska (ski resort) is so there are a lot of beautiful quaint cabins and chalets where (apparently) the wealthy liberals reside. Alaska is, in general, a very conservative state so when there is an entire community that is full of liberal minds, word gets around.
-Homer is the other liberal community.
-Eagle River is the bedroom community to Anchorage aka the Cary of Anchorage. Eagle River is pretty much located on the sides of the mountain range so I doubt any home there has a bad view. With that being said, it is also more expensive to live in.
-Wasilla and Palmer = the Valley. Most people refer to those from the Valley as Valley Trash. Yes, Valley Trash. The Valley is where class goes out the window and pajamas with snow shoes replace skinny jeans and heels. Like I prefaced this list, I will reiterate again that these aren’t MY judgments; these are statements and opinions of people who have lived here for a while. The Valley is where you go to raise your family or just to raise hell. There are limited bar selections and even more limited dating selections. There are three fancy restaurants and Chili’s teeters back and forth on being added to the list.
Most people have noted that my moving to the Valley instead of Anchorage would not have been their initial decision. As a single gal with less than 5 friends, moving to a rather small town (oops, village? area?) full of families and married people has created extra challenges in meeting people. When people scoff at the Valley and insult the cumulative IQ of its inhabitants, I never felt embarrassed or ashamed. I would actually get a slightly comforted feeling to be honest and I’m shocked it has taken me this long to piece it together.
I live in one of the (many I’m sure) misfit communities in Alaska.
I am from Durham, which is arguably THE misfit community in North Carolina.
Being from Durham you develop a toughness to you. Now I don’t just mean the gun totin’, dope slingin’, gang associating toughness, I mean a certain underdog mentality. If anything bad happens within a 40 mile radius of Durham County, it is inevitably assumed that someone from Durham is responsible. Apple Chill was cancelled due to the ruckus caused by kids from Durham; Halloween on Franklin Street has security that rivals the FSA due to too many kids from Durham showing up with guns. People from Raleigh would rather risk being stranded on the side of I-40 before stopping for gas in Durham.
Growing up knowing that you will be blamed creates a camaraderie with the other Durhamites, hell it’s not called Bull City for nothing. There is so much culture and diversity in Durham and yet most people tend to focus on the select bad stories. I love that I grew up and went to one of the top ranked high schools in many scholastic and athletic aspects, that the parking lot was full of redneck trucks lifted off the ground, low riders with blacked out windows and bass bumping, and Barbie jeeps. That you knew what nature looked like due to the Eno River, Duke Gardens and Jordan Lake and that you also knew what colors to not flaunt in which neighborhoods due to the gang presence in places like Macdougal Terrace and Hartside. You learned sophistication, swag, and what it meant to be from the South. I can’t think of another place like it nor have met any people that combine those characteristics so perfectly.
I guess I said all that to say this; I know the Valley isn’t perfect, but no place is. Living in a town that is considered to be an embarrassment to some makes me want to embrace it even more. The people who live in the Valley hate those living in Anchorage just as fiercely, and those who live here would not dream of living anywhere else in Alaska. I can’t wait to further find out the little nuances that make the Valley what it is and will proudly smile whenever someone says in reply to my saying that I live in Palmer: ‘Oh, you’re Valley Trash.”
“the pills have been harder to find these days because meth is the craze”