I was born in Napa Valley, California, in 2004.
My family moved around several times in my first three years, then we moved to Reno when my dad lost his job as a transit planner in 2007.
My dad could not support us in a house with his new job at Cabela’s, so we had to move into our trailer for three years, moving from Truckee to Verdi to Stead. Afterwards, we moved into a house in the Highland Ranch neighborhood of Sun Valley, where we have been ever since.
Reno, Nevada is known as the “Biggest Little City in the World.” While this is a unique nickname that most residents of the city connect with, I believe that a more accurate nickname would be the “Biggest, Most Complicated Little City in the World.”
What most outsiders refer to as “Reno” is actually a combination of two neighboring cities - Reno to the west and Sparks to the northeast, respectively. Within these cities, there are many different “census-designated places,” which are defined as “a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.” Within the greater Reno-Sparks area, there are a total of 15 census-designated places.
One of these places is Sun Valley, which is located north of Reno, northeast of the UNR campus. In the 2020 U.S. Census, this area had 21,178 residents, a number which has consisted of me and my family since 2010.
After driving all the way down the main road of this area, Sun Valley Boulevard, you will find Highland Ranch sitting at the northern end of Sun Valley, on the border between it and Golden Valley.
Notably, Sun Valley’s crime rate is significantly higher than the city, state, and national averages. Locals, such as my dad, sometimes refer to it as “The Murder Capital of the World.” This is because Sun Valley’s murder rate of 5 per 1,000 residents is significantly higher than the average American rate of 0.064 per 1,000 residents.
The majority of homes in Sun Valley are mobile homes, which, for the most part, are rather worn down. I am lucky enough to live in a typical house. Most crime in Sun Valley takes place in the “trailer park” area, but the suburban area does still have its fair share of rowdy kids and domestic violence.
There are hardly ever any cross-street connections in Highland Ranch. Most families are friends with people on their street, and only people on their street. My street contains three distinct “cliques” that hardly ever interact with each other. The bottom half of the street holds parties, gatherings, homeowners meetings, and are genuinely young and energetic.
The top half of the street, which is where I live, is much different. Most people in this half are older, and their relationships are more of what I call “useful connections.” Most interactions between the people on this half of the street are amicable, but we don’t really go out of our way to see each other unless we either need help or wish to provide it.
The final “clique” is the two-story house at the center of the court, next to my house. This family is massive, disruptive, rude, and does not interact with any of the other families unless they have to. They hold frequent, massive parties where they blare their music, set off fireworks, park in neighbors' driveways, and are a general nuisance to everyone in the area until times as late as four in the morning. All of this is against HOA regulations. However, they are never fined for anything they do, seeing as the family has close connections with HOA members.
My house is one story, and was around 1,700 square feet when we moved in. There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms, which was perfect for a family of three. I grew up a bit spoiled, as I got two of the bedrooms, since my parents did not want me to keep my gaming systems in the same room as me.
Once I became an adult, I condensed everything into one bedroom, while my parents repurposed the spare room as an exercise area. My dad eventually got a new job as a transit planner in Reno, which allowed us to expand the house, adding around 500 square feet, when my grandma moved in with us in 2022.
Now, in 2024, I am a student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Most of my friends on campus aren’t from Reno, so every day, when I drive home from campus, I realize how lucky I am to live just 15 minutes away from my college.
Sun Valley may be a crime-infested hellhole that has hardly any notable landmarks, but, at the end of the day, it’s my hellhole, and until life takes me elsewhere, there’s no place I’d rather be.