Stephanie Tavares
Class of 2004

I'm currently on one of the most difficult and thought-provoking adventures of my life! I'm living in a strange land with stranger weather: extremes of heat in the summer and cold in the winter coupled with some of the foulest air quality in the world.

The locals are friendly but strange. Just when you think you have them pinned down, you meet someone new who makes you realize you are guilty of stereotyping.

That's right. I live in Bakersfield. The land of Buck Owens and that guy from Korn whose name nobody, even here, can remember.

And hummers. Lots of hummers.

Until I started thinking of living here as a new and intellectually stimulating experience in a new and exotic culture (how can you be a small town with 200,000 residents? Why is Olive Garden considered gourmet? How can someone hug you for no reason in the grocery store and then try to run you down in the parking lot?), I hated it. Now that I've learned to drive like a local, it's more fascinating than anything else.

I work here as a newspaper reporter for the very large, very balsy Bakersfield Californian. I love my work, although it's incredibly challenging. More than anything, it gives me an insight into the lives and cultures of these incredibly stubborn, hearty, generous and proud people.

I am a fish out of water, but I'm growing legs!

Stephanie Tavares
stavares@umail.ucsb.edu

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