Presuming your question is directed at me, Catherine, I’d reply, Absolutely! Marriage among cousins is common among Muslims, both majority Sunni and minority Shia.
Having been to a distant family wedding an learning about this, it was that sense of “ah! Now I see why everything seems so perfect, and everyone is getting along! It’s like they were meant for each other!”
I was appreciating the comparison between the cousin wedding and Irvine for its rich allusiveness. Suspected there might have been some reality to it. Yikes
This reads like Joan Didion, I deeply enjoyed. The fact that you can post a photo of a random house and it’s not a privacy issue because there are probably 100 houses that look just like this 😭
I used to live in Irvine! Moving from North Long Beach to Irvine was WILD. Just a Quail Hill townhome renter. But appreciate the experience. I remember one Thanksgiving the cops were stopping cars-not to check for drunk drivers-but to hand out pumpkin pies 😵💫My generations deep LA and IE fam couldn’t believe it. Another planet…
enjoyed the bodily comparisons, and how you are “leaning” into it and the influx of better Asian goodies is hard to quibble with. My Chicago burb not so quite high-end, neutralish, but no authentic Asian food, regrettably.
You are a great writer. I couldn’t articulate what bothered me most about these houses (which are in other subdivisions!), and after this sentence I will not be able to unsee this palette. “The colors you can paint your house in my community are carefully controlled. Any color that cannot be found in human excretions is not permitted: poopy browns, urine yellows, all shades of mucous beige tending toward green, milky spermy whites, these are permitted and even welcomed.”
that was my next thought! but it’s too bright as you say. Maybe the color of dried scabs? The classic mission style (white walls and blood red tile) is just too much for the burbclaves
Irvine is like going to a wedding and finding out the bride and groom are second cousins.
Oh my god, I'm laughing so hard, I'm kind of crying....at this comment...still laughing, but also about to cry
Irvine isn’t that bad: it’s conveniently close enough to the original Panini Cafe on PCH to make whatever color the houses might be tolerable 🤔
Many better food choices now. And it is pretty bad but so comfortable
I know, was just slipping a plug in for my still fav afterall these years Med’n joint
That particular marital arrangement is half of the Mideast, Shervin, as I think you already know!
Is this true? I can’t get over this…and the analogy to Irvine it is just too much!
Presuming your question is directed at me, Catherine, I’d reply, Absolutely! Marriage among cousins is common among Muslims, both majority Sunni and minority Shia.
Yes, although I wasn’t thinking about that.
Having been to a distant family wedding an learning about this, it was that sense of “ah! Now I see why everything seems so perfect, and everyone is getting along! It’s like they were meant for each other!”
An almost too perfect homogeneity.
I was appreciating the comparison between the cousin wedding and Irvine for its rich allusiveness. Suspected there might have been some reality to it. Yikes
This reads like Joan Didion, I deeply enjoyed. The fact that you can post a photo of a random house and it’s not a privacy issue because there are probably 100 houses that look just like this 😭
God, I needed to read this. Love the rage. Thank you Catherine
I used to live in Irvine! Moving from North Long Beach to Irvine was WILD. Just a Quail Hill townhome renter. But appreciate the experience. I remember one Thanksgiving the cops were stopping cars-not to check for drunk drivers-but to hand out pumpkin pies 😵💫My generations deep LA and IE fam couldn’t believe it. Another planet…
So well written with not a single expletive required!
But where are the clear garage doors?
Ahaha I found a news story. Perfect.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/police-deliver-pumpkin-pies-to-socal-community/27967/
It’s against HOA rules in Irvine to have culture or happiness.
People are no more or less happy anywhere else. Maybe more happy bc they have $$$.
The comedian Pablo Francisco used to joke that the gang members in Irvine do "drive-by sweaterings"
This is before the Asian take over I imagine
I thought I bought a Snoop Dog poster there as a kid, where the hell would that shop have been!?
Maybe. Irvine doesn’t allow weed shops or McDonald’s so I doubt you could have bought a snoop poster here
Maybe LA?
Costa Mesa
enjoyed the bodily comparisons, and how you are “leaning” into it and the influx of better Asian goodies is hard to quibble with. My Chicago burb not so quite high-end, neutralish, but no authentic Asian food, regrettably.
Your description of these dwellings nailed it. I visited once and I felt like I’d entered Camazotz from A Wrinkle In Time.
I live in one of those houses.
You are a great writer. I couldn’t articulate what bothered me most about these houses (which are in other subdivisions!), and after this sentence I will not be able to unsee this palette. “The colors you can paint your house in my community are carefully controlled. Any color that cannot be found in human excretions is not permitted: poopy browns, urine yellows, all shades of mucous beige tending toward green, milky spermy whites, these are permitted and even welcomed.”
I was thinking about how I left out blood. That is a bodily fluid, but red is really verboten in the enclaves of neutrality.
that was my next thought! but it’s too bright as you say. Maybe the color of dried scabs? The classic mission style (white walls and blood red tile) is just too much for the burbclaves
BTW, did you every read Snowcrash? The dystopian cyberpunk novel’s first scene is a car chase in a SoCal Burbclave. You really do live in the future.
I read it a long time ago!