World Building

The world in which I grew up is bizarre and alien in the context of the rest of the world.

In the suburban Northeast, there is a place that has been scrutinized and satirized in media for a long time. Composed of similar, mansion-esque houses all with pristine green lawns long winding driveways. The atmosphere of the town is stuffy, much like the people who inhabit it. There is unspoken competition between all who live here, a competition to succeed. Everyone wants to be more successful (read wealthier) than their neighbor who has a three-car garage occupied by a hybrid, a BMW and a never touched Italian sports car.

This picturesque place full of stressed out workaholics who masquerade as well adjusted, happy nuclear families has often been likened to the fictional town of Stepford (and is actually where the most recent adaptation of the movie was filmed). It is Darien, Connecticut, and being a father here means you work on Wall Street or in some other high paying city job where you commute everyday. Being a mother here means you work from home or are a ‘homemaker’ and you spend your days drinking wine with your “gal-pals” and your evenings drinking wine at the Darien Social. Being a child here means you’re involved in at least one sport, generally field hockey or lacrosse, and a myriad of extra-curricular and you cope with all of this on top of school stress and pressure from your parents by partying, drinking, and experimenting with hard drugs. Or if you don’t do that you just hole yourself up with a computer or a game console and try some alternative way to escape this town and the expectations that come with it.

But you don’t get all this from looking at the surface. It’s hard to complain about a town that looks so lovely. That old colonial feel permeates the streets of Darien. Many buildings are brick and look like they’ve stood for a long time, even if they were just built last year. Many interiors are decorated with nautical themes, to appeal to the families who like to vacation to Martha’s Vineyard (which is most families). Pastels and polos are common fashion tends and all men have to own at least one pair of Nantucket Red shorts.

The town itself is clean; there is little crime here and it presents itself that way. The ‘Darien Bubble’ of safety and cleanliness has lasted many years, and many fight to keep it that way. Most ascribe this safety to Darien’s homogeneity. Darien is full of white people. The diversity in this town is extremely low, and most parents and grandparents who have lived here all their lives are determined to keep it that way. Vague racism and even anti-Semitism permeates the minds of the older generation, and they negatively influence their children thusly.

Darien is a strange place. Those who wish to leave never come back and those who wish to stay never seem to leave. To remain in Darien itself is a status of wealth, and those who subscribe to the values of the town always have likeminded people to compare cars with.