my heart ACHES for berkeley it’s one of those spaces where tons of intersecting problems leave no good solutions, and the best thing you can do for the city is leave

I wish we could house more homeless people, but there’s no space, I wish we could give affordable housing to students, but there’s no space, I wish there was more parking, but there’s no space. and you can’t build upwards because it’s on a fault line

it’s this weird intersection where the city feels deeply gentrified because of the university, except that the university came before the city

just between the bay and the hills there’s one of the highest rates of homelessness in the US, alongside the most prestigious public university in the US. it always feels like the city should be somewhere else, would do better somewhere else

but it wouldn’t exist if it was somewhere else. i don’t think most people realize that the schools reputation for being leftist is because it’s one of the only spaces in which rich students are thrown into a space experiencing deep deep income inequality

it’s not a rich city, it’s not a poor city, it’s both. it’s diverse and wonderful and aching where the best and the worst of humanity live side by side. the city teaches you more than the university ever could and the best thing that you can do is always leave

I know it sounds voyeristic as a well-off white girl to say it’s best to take your lessons from the inequality and then leave, but it’s true. if you’re a student, the city is not for you. learn from it, ache from it, then leave it to the people who will actually take care of it

it’s not a place that exists for your learning, or your viewing, or your sympathy. if you end up here, and you can afford to leave, do. this thread is directed at students who came here for school, without realizing what that does to the city