Stereotypes In Placentia

I am a part of two very different worlds. I experience both of them differently and act accordingly. I live in Placentia in an area inhabited mostly by Hispanics of the lower middle class. My mom is the manager of two neighboring apartment buildings with us living in the better one. I go to one of the newest, nicest, and most privileged schools in Orange County, Yorba Linda High School. My best friends are kids that have been very fortunate in growing up and having plenty. I too have been more fortunate than others, as my parents are managers and have made it possible for us to live in a large, three bedroom apartment. I have traveled to: Washington DC, New York, Paris, Spain, and Mexico. But in the neighborhood that I live in, I have seen constant drug addicts and alcoholics lurking in the corners …show more content…
A mentally disabled person has even come into my building with a knife one night and walked towards my mom when she was in the hallway as if it was a scene from a horror. I have been subjected to stereotypes when people seeing me with my baby nephew, make the assumption that he is my son and are surprised when they find out he is not. I have also experienced having to live paycheck to paycheck on tougher weeks, and seeing the look of desperation on my parent's face. Being a student in the land of gracious living, I have seen a comparison to a contrasting way of life that has motivated me to push away from my stereotypes, while still maintaining my roots, in order to become something greater than what is commonly expected of me, a Hispanic teenage girl. For 12 years my parents have driven me twenty minutes away to schools which they believed could benefit me far more than my residential schools ever could. I have been called white washed by many of my cousins who sometimes criticize my parents for going out of their way in sending me to a farther school. I am also criticized by my cousins who think my parents keep me on a leash because I don’t drink and party