The Rez

After reading Alexie's novel The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian, I realized that there are several parallels between the description of the reservation and my very own community of Beverly. These commonalities, auspiciously for me, are not as extreme or pronounced as exemplified in the novel, but are undoubtedly apparent in my life. One shared aspect is the familiarity of my neighborhood and the clique-like behavior emitted from its people. Like those that dwelled on Arnold's rez, most of the people in Beverly know each other, even to the point where some family names are common to hear from time to time. At my old school, Sutherland elementary, it was very frequent for families to have their children and the younger siblings of those youth attend the same school, creating a simulated legacy with the same linage learning in the same environment. Teachers often asked students if they were related to certain previous students and make comments such as, "I taught your brother before," or "you're just like your sister." The parents of these children often worked on the PTA and on the sports teams, so it was high improbable that a student did not know of that surname.  Speaking as an child with three step brothers much older than me who did not grow up in Beverly, I was excluded from that group of acclaimed long lasting "Sutherland" families. The density of the community does not cease at grammar school, however. Most kids that attended Sutherland or any grade school in Beverly often went to the local high schools nearby. Out of a graduating class of 70 students in 2012, approximately 25 of my former classmates went to the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences or CHAS. The majority of the rest went to Catholic high schools like Mother McAuley, Brother Rice, Marist, etc and about 12 of us attend selective enrollment high schools close to downtown, miles away from home. Those local high schools retain some of the same "legacies," even to the extent where that school might be a parent's alma matter.  Now, I am not insinuating that there is anything wrong with a legacy, not in the slightest, but what is problematic for me is how those legacies create limitations for people excluded simply because of their name and history. The children well known in the area and their parents are not very inviting to those who are "out of the loop," and often times the well known kids are friends with other well known kids and their parents frequent bars with other well known parents. My mother worked with other parents on school events and in some instances did not have her fundraising ideas fully acknowledged or credited because she simply wasn't "friends" with the other parents and, as absurd as it sounds, because she denied their requests for drinks at Cork and Kerry's or Bourbon Street. My father was treated is a similar fashion, much to his mutual apathy for them of course. As for me, I wasn't offered the same opportunities that the kids in the clique were, (especially not the same parties and events) but I believe what made people truly acknowledge me was my intelligence and desire to be an individual despite the actions of others; just being myself. To conclude this blog, I will say that I love my neighborhood, but for reasons mentioned above, I do enjoy exploring other areas of Chicago to see new things and not fall trap to the routine of knowing the same people. I want to meet other people that have different experiences than I do and have new perspectives on life so I can grow as a person instead of knowing the same people and excluding others.