Brain Drain Chronicles: Madeline, 27

Editors’ note:

This is part of an on-going series of posts on the Valley’s creative movement and its counterpart the central valley brain drain. We’re tracking down former Valley residents (with a preference on educated “creative class”-types) and finding out what they’re doing, why they don’t live in the Valley, and what it would take for them to move back.

If you are part of the brain drain and would like to participate, answer the questions you see below and send them to valley.notes AT gmail DOT com. We’re working on tracking down a more diverse array of participants (i.e. not our classmates) but alas, you have to start somewhere!

Please give us ideas on how we can improve this series. We admit that this is sub-scientific, but we’re finding the answers enlightening nonetheless.

Brain Drain Chronicles: Madeline, 27

Name: Madeline

Age: 27

Where did you attend high school? Clovis High School

What is your educational background?

B.A. Literature in English with a minor in Vocal
Music and Spanish Literature from U. C. San Diego.
Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS)
from San Jose State University.

What is your current occupation?

Youth Services Librarian II, San Jose Public Library

Where and how long did you live in the central valley?

First grade–12th grade (1986-1999). I consider Clovis
my hometown.

Where do you live now?

Los Gatos, CA (Silicon Valley).

Why do you (don’t you) live in the central San Joaquin Valley?

I always felt judged in Clovis… for not being Christian enough or conservative enough or middle America enough….

What are the secondary reasons?
No major university, lacking diversity (or least a supportive environment to encourage it), car culture, chain store culture, suburban sprawl, poor air quality.

Actually, the heat never bothered me…
What are the top 5-10 adjectives that come to mind when you think of the central valley?
Close-minded, flat, religious, uniform, hot

If you do not currently live in the central San Joaquin Valley, what changes/acts of God would need to occur in order for you to move there?

The fact that God factors into this sentence is so
telling…

I think the entire culture of the Valley would need to change before I’d feel comfortable there. If it suddenly filled with progressive people, I’d make an easy transition back.

If you do not currently live in the central San Joaquin Valley, what price would make it worthwhile?

A higher paying job couldn’t lure me back. The Bay Area pays me well enough, and my current high cost-of-living seems worth it considering the amount of beauty and culture I regularly experience here.

Feel free to add any comments.

I do love to visit the Valley. I feel like I’ll always have a special bond with the friends I made in Clovis, especially those who went away for college, experienced something new, and returned to experience Clovis in a new light.

 

Brain Drain Chronicles: Justin, 27

Editors’ note:

This is part of an on-going series of posts on the Valley’s creative movement and its counterpart the central valley brain drain. We’re tracking down former Valley residents (with a preference on educated “creative class”-types) and finding out what they’re doing, why they don’t live in the Valley, and what it would take for them to move back.

If you are part of the brain drain and would like to participate, answer the questions you see below and send them to valley.notes at gmail.com. We know using our network alone will have an inherent bias.

Please give us ideas on how we can improve this series.

Brain Drain Chronicles: Justin, 27

Name (First name or shortened name OK): Justin

Age: 27

Where did you attend high school?

Buchanan High

What is your educational background?

BA, High Honors, Swarthmore College (Music Major, English Literature Minor)

MM, University of Nevada-Las Vegas (Music Composition/Theory)

DMA, University of Texas at Austin — Beginning in Fall 2008 (Music Composition)

What is your current occupation?

Assistant Director of a Huntington Learning Center
Where and how long did you live in the central valley?

I was born in Fresno in 1980, but moved away before I was 1. We moved back to Fresno in 1990 and then to Clovis in 1992. I left for college in 1998 and my family was no longer there as of July 2000.

Where do you live now?

Henderson, Nevada (soon to be Austin, Texas)

Why do you (don’t you) live in the central San Joaquin Valley?

When I left, I was eager to get away from the social, political, and ideological identity that the valley held in my eyes. I wanted to go to a “good school”, and in the sort of elitism to which young people are often predisposed, that meant I had to go somewhere else. It was valuable because it gave me a broader worldview and a set of different experiences, but it was a bit wrongheaded.

What are the secondary reasons?

There’s no reason left for me to return. Without family attachments and without real job prospects in my chosen field, Fresno and Clovis are novelties — places where I can go and see that the city and town I knew aren’t there anymore.

What are the top 5-10 adjectives that come to mind when you think of the central valley?

Changed

Boomerang (Not an adjective, but I feel like people struggle to stay away once they’ve been there for a long time)

Hot

Agrarian

Close-ish to “Home”

Reactionary

If you do not currently live in the central San Joaquin Valley, what changes/acts of God would need to occur in order for you to move there?

There would have to be an extraordinary opportunity as a composer or professor, or I would have to be seized by a horrible fit of nostalgia and my wife and daughter would have to agree to the terms of fog and heat.

If you do not currently live in the central San Joaquin Valley, what price would make it worthwhile?

There would have to be sufficient pay to allow a ridiculous standard of living, replete with waterfront home, measurable land, and a fully-equipped music studio.

Feel free to add any comments.

I misjudged the Valley when I left. In my youthful posturing, I convinced myself that it was nothing but a breeding ground for early breeding, mental mediocrity, and provincial political ideas, and that was not an altogether accurate assessment. However, for the foreseeable future, there’s no conceivable reason or justification for us (my wife, Emma, and our daughter, Zoë) to move back. Interesting side note about Minkler — I discovered it while aimlessly driving out toward Reedley for an Honor Band rehearsal, and was amused (I suppose) by the statistical happenstance that would lead Minkler (then population 34) to attain the highest murder rate in the country if one person snapped over some sort of cooking mishap.