Whitefish Bay: It’s Own Little Subculture.

Whitefish Bay, a suburb north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the only place I grew up. I have always known that it was a small, and for the most part, united community where everyone knows who everyone else is. It is a very safe community to raise your children and it has an excellent school system. Practically all of my friends were also born and raised there. But over time, the eagerness to leave the community sets in and everything from that point on seems so mundane. However, it wasn't until I arrived at school when I started realizing how much Whitefish Bay really is its own subculture. For example, one of my good friends goes to DePaul and as we would hang out with new friends, we should say certain phrases or words to one another or during a conversation and our new friends would look at us like we are crazy. They absolutely had no idea what some of the things meant. My friend and I would just kind of laugh to each other because back at home, especially with the teenagers in the community, these were common words and phrases to be used; everyone knew what they mean't- it was apart of our "language". I find it funny because now that we have been in school for almost a month and been around these new group of people, they have now begun to pick up and say the words and phrases.
I wouldn't necessarily say that there was a one specific, single place that our community would directly go to, but there are definitely places that people go to that our the "hotspots" or the "trendy" places to be seen at. Like, for the middle school age group, they will always go to our local mall. Whether it is just wandering about or eating at the fast food restaurants, the mall is "the place to go" if you want to have a good time. For the married couple in their 30's, they always go to this bar/restaurant during the weekend to have some dinner and a few drinks and then after that they will go to our local movie cinema and watch a movie. Finally, if it's a sunny and beautiful day, you will find practically our entire community at the local park.
I definitely think that whenever I "enter" this subculture, I do act a certain way. For example, in the community everyone is supposed to think a certain way and if you dont adhere to this mindset, you are appeared as an outcast. So even though I didn't conform to the typical "dress code" which is the polo shirt with your kahi pants with your coach purse and the Land Rover SUV, I would have to say that I always kept my comments to myself and my own beliefs and ideas within my family and my group of friends. Another sad fact about the community is that it has alot of negativity towards people of another race or culture. They are especially looked at as outsiders whenever they enter the community. To conclude, Whitefish Bay is definitely in its own little world, set apart from the rest of society.