Essay on NotCal (critique appriciated)

“Notcal” appears to strive towards differentiating Arizona as a state independent and different from California, while being oh so subtly anti-Californian. Tacky “Notcal” logos can be seen plastered on old, gas guzzling Fords and on young poser skateboarders. I met a few young men sporting Notcal t-shirts, bumper stickers, and hats, and asked them what it was about. They stuttered and didn’t really seem to have the slightest idea themselves, other then to mumble “Arizona isn’t California… Arizona is cool… not Cal.” …Right.

Whenever you have two states next to each other, there’s bound to be some integration and you’re bound to have a bit of a melting pot of cultures. Notcal’s goal seems to be to further divide people and encourage hostility between Arizonians and the Californians living in Arizona.

I can see where Notcal is coming from, to a point – they want to preserve Arizona’s independence, tradition, and identity. The thing is, if Arizona’s identity is so strong and “cool”, then Arizonians shouldn’t have to worry about the evil peace loving Californians “taking over”. Arizona culture should be able to stand on its own two feet without a wannabe skateboarder clothing line to back it up. Yet Notcal is proof that in fact California and Californians are having a cultural impact, and perhaps, California is taking over. Furthermore, Notcal is proof that perhaps some Arizonians are scared and intimidated by the new, progressive California culture. If Arizona culture can’t stand up to California culture, so be it; that’s social Darwinism in action.

 

Isn't it anti-californian? What about other than, shouldn't it be other then? Other than that, seems good enough to me.

I do see a lot of anti-californian stuff though. Maybe because they seems to try to push their culture onto other people?

 

The "company" has personally contacted me and stated that "its just a joke guize" and "pro Arizona, not anti-Californian". lol get your story right. It seems when you confront any of these red neck NotCal people they get scared and make excuses.

 

No, I was talking about grammatical stuff in the first sentence. The second sentence was my opinion. I hope your not calling me a redneck. I am just saying it how I see. When I say I am from the rockies, I mean it. I am not really from one state, so I don't have to claim any of them. I also am with quite a few californians in my job.

Whats wrong with my story? I don't have a story. Please elaborate.

 

edited for grammatical errors, thank you. It pisses me off enough that they're encouraging hate against Californians (like me), and are so cowardly they don't admit it. They're called NotCal, but they say they have nothing to do with Anti-Californian, that they're all about Pro-AZ.

 

Well, if there is a name like NotCal I think thats somewhat anti-californian. I don't know. There are a lot of states that don't like californians. Why do you think that is? (I don't care either way. Sounds like a cool state to me)

 

Its those damn liberal peace loving hippies with their radical ideas of equality and rights and freedom!!

 

Lol, I don't know about that. I guess I don't know for sure anyways. All I do know is that californians love their state. They must love it for a reason. California is known for its liberals though...

 

it seems like the same people backing NotCal are the ones with the gigantic domestic gaz guzzling trucks, calling Californians "hippies" and "fags". And yes, I am a proud Californian!!

 

Eh, I don't think I am as liberal as some californians. I don't think driving around a 87 blazer is a good idea though...

2 questions,

1. Are you a hippie?
2. Are you gay?

Where at in cali are you at? I was thinking about moving there.

 

1. I don't try to proclaim myself a hippie, I could say i guess I'm a young hippie at most. I'm just me.
2. Bi curious maybe, but I do fully believe in LGBT rights.

I grew up in SoCal, not there anymore though. Beautiful place to live, expensive as fuck however. Some great towns are Encinitas, Solana Beach, Carlsbad, Cardiff.

 

Where do you live now? Why did you move away from socal?

BTW your answers kinda say "liberal" to me. Its just a different culture though. Even if I was those things, I wouldn't say so. But that's because most other states culture look down on those.

I have experienced Californians as more judgmental though they are supposed to be open minded. Eh...

 

notcal should read notwater