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Why are American Suburbs So Weird?

Lisa Martens
3 min readMar 31, 2019

I spent the last seven months in Latin America. When I came back to USA, I entered through Las Vegas (which was pretty bizarre in and of itself) and now I’m with family in Burke, Virginia.

I was raised in the suburbs, but since I was 16, I haven’t spent much time in them. And I feel a bit like a Martian instead of a Martens.

I’ve noticed some pretty surreal things in the short time I’ve been back.

Individually-wrapped everything.

These are individually-wrapped potatoes for microwaving, because apparently baking a potato…takes too long?

Sorry for two questions back to back, but don’t potatoes kind of come with their own rappers?

Nothing is called what it is.

I saw liquid chocolate described as “milk enhancer.” I shit you not.

It’s chocolate. It does enhance milk, sure. But it basically enhances everything. I don’t call my mouth a “dick enhancer.”

Yard sales with things like this.

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