February 9th, 2016 Spring
GERO 380: Diversity in Aging
Prof. Brown, Bates, & Dr. Shannon
Writing Assignment #1

McFarland, CA is a small farming community located about 2 hours north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Through my experiences living in this town, I have witnessed first hand what it means to age in a place where diversity takes an entirely new meaning. McFarland is considered a small-sized town by state standards, and because of its lack of diversity the city has taken a pause in terms of its progression as a society. I often find myself hesitating to respond when I am asked about the name of my hometown. Too often, I am quick to state that I am from Bakersfield, which in retrospect is one of the fastest growing cities in California. The reason to my promiscuity lies in the fact that all residents of McFarland lack a few essential resources that appear as commodities in bigger and more established cities, like Bakersfield. There aren’t any skate parks, shopping plazas, or enough after-school programs to keep the youth occupied. This is an issue when we consider how our juvenile decisions affect the way we age. It is in my greatest understanding that the progression of the McFarland community is hindered due to two sociological factors like a large skew in ethnic diversity and by an inefficient low wage-paying agricultural industry.
With a population of 12,420, this statistic accounts for three large ethnic groups that make up more than a majority of the size. Of the three, the Hispanic population amounts to 91.9%, only to be followed by 5.6% Caucasian, and 1.9% Black. The reason as to why the ethnic groups are heavily skewed toward the Hispanic population is because McFarland is one of most prominent farming communities in the state of California. This can be supported by the gender statistics, which state that the male to female ratio is