No Place Like Home by David Guterson

As Guterson describes, the reason Green Valley is as much a verb as a noun is because it is "a place in the process of becoming what it purports to be" (pg. 183).  Green Valley, "a corporate master-planned community" (pg.183), is a former desert area that was and currently is being made into a predictable and safe community.  As Guterson describes, "Within the high walls lining Green Valley's expansive parkways lie homes so similar they appear as uncanny mirror reflections of one another-and, as it turns out, they are" (pg.183).  Nothing is out of the ordinary, giving this area a sense of calmness and simplicity.  There are no gas stations or fast-food restaurants within Green Valley's limit, and there is even a slightly scary neighborhood watch in effect with signs reading:  "Warning...neighborhood watch program in force.  We immediately report all suspicious persons and activities to our police department" (pg. 184).  All of these enforcements and community designs are changing this area south of Las Vegas into what "Green Valley" should encompass.  

Guterson's tone of voice throughout "No Place Like Home" is sarcastic.  He achieves this by presenting the goal of designers who initially create communities such as Green Valley, but by writing it so the reader can discern the mistakes and falsehoods of such plans.  For example, when Guterson describes the civic center by saying, "A promotional brochure describes its plaza as 'the perfect size for public gatherings and all types of social events,' but on that balmy day, the desert in bloom just a few miles off, no one had, in fact, fathered here" (pg.184).  By putting forward what these communities original intentions were, the ridiculous nature of some of their plans is displayed.  

Guterson supports his idea that suburbs are not safe as they claim to be by quoting Robert Fishman's ideas:  "...would agree that suburbia hasn't worked.  Suburbia, he argues, appeared in America in the middle of the nineteenth century, offering escape for the squalor and stench of the new industrial cities" (pg. 185).  As people are beginning to realize, just because a community guards itself behind "impenetrable" walls, doesn't stop evil from seeping inside.  Guterson gives countless examples, such as a rapist being loose inside of Green Valley and a killer of 23 people being a resident of the seemingly safe community (pg.188).  From my experience not necessarily living in a regulated community, but a small town, communities cannot change a person's values or curb their problems.  Just as Guterson describes Green Valley's drug problems by saying, "...the teenagers who told me that LSD and crystal meth are the narcotics of choice at Green Valley High School..." (pg. 188), problems, whether about drugs or violence, can always find a way to corrupt a town, a city, or even a well-guarded suburb community.

Home

5 Memories/Feelings about Home Drawing:
1. The circular tile floor that surrounds the front door is where my dog, which died last summer, used to always lay.
2. My house was peculiar in a sense that the front door leads to the second floor, and there is one above and below it.
3. When I was younger I wanted to play the piano, so my stepdad's mom gave us her old piano which is still in the living room even though I gave up after only a few months.
4. The kitchen has a TV, but the living room doesn't because no one ever hung out in the living room.
5. The way the second floor is laid out is one huge square room not separated by anything except for the bathroom that is the smaller square room in the center. This made my house anything but private unless you decided to go into your own room.

One memory that I will always associate with my house is my dog, which passed away this past summer. My sister and I got our dog, Mac, when we were about 6 or 7 years old and we were so excited because it was the first pet we ever had. We got the dog within the first year or two of moving into our house (more like a condo) so much of my memories associated with living there revolves around my dog. Its favorite spot to lay or sleep at was this semi-circular floor that was tile that surrounded the front door, probably because it was a cooler area to lay on as opposed to the carpet. Whenever anyone opened the door, she would always be sleeping behind it. Now, when I come in the door, sometimes it's awkward not to see her lying there anymore.