The concept of the “North Shore Bubble” has always puzzled me. Whenever I hear someone talking about it, it’s almost always followed with: “I can’t believe a thing like that exists” or “I’m so appalled that people who live on the North Shore don’t know about the bubble.”
I always think to myself, first, people on the North Shore do know it “exists” because we hear about it every 20 minutes. And second, people aren’t totally blind to the whole rest of the world, or so I hope.
Every now and again I hear a story that confirms the typical North Shore stereotype of a white Jeep owning, starbucks drinking, lacrosse playing, world traveling kid on the North Shore.
But more often than not, people live on the North Shore understand that we are very lucky individuals and that the opportunities we have are not available to everyone. So when I first heard someone say that people don’t ever leave the so called “North Shore Bubble,” I was genuinely perplexed. Most of my friends are very eager to leave the North Shore, many considering colleges on different sides of the country. The way my peers talk about the North Shore makes me think that they are not very fond of staying here, either. As a matter of fact, I asked my whole Lit Film class whether or not they wanted to stay on the North Shore for the rest of their lives; an overwhelming majority wanted to leave and never look back.
While some might refute this argument and counter it by saying angsty New Trier teenagers might give a skewed view, I don’t buy that either.
Most families I know are first generation North Shore residents, and they, too are still aware of the stigma associated with it.
I can’t speak for my family however, as everyone but my mom lived in Wilmette when they were growing up.
That said, not all of them have lived here for their entire lives. My dad has lived everywhere from New York to Los Angeles. He even spent a good portion of his life living in Kingston, Jamaica.
One of my cousins is currently in Madrid teaching English and my other cousin is leaving for Los Angeles later this year.
So even though most of my family is here now, they still have experiences and have lived places that have made their lives substantial.
While most people are going to read this and brush it off and keep on complaining about how awful the “bubble” is, just keep in mind that not everyone living here is the stereotype. We all have different experiences and backgrounds that you may not necessarily think about.