The State of the City address was given by Mayor Mark Santoro Wednesday, Jan 25, and its message probably did not surprise anyone:

Cupertino is doing good.

So good, in fact, that most of our city’s students didn’t even know the State of the City address took place.

So good, in fact, that Forbes named it one of the best towns in America for “living well”.

So good, in fact, that Cupertino is one of the only cities in the area which hasn’t fired any of its city workers.

The presentation wasn’t all positive, however. Because very little happens in Cupertino, the speech highlighted the death of Steve Jobs and the shooting that took place at the Cupertino quarry. Most of our other problems can be easily summarized with the common phrase “first-world problems.” No starvation or scandals here.

But that’s a good thing, right?

It is, as we should know, and we are clearly very lucky to live in such a privileged community. However, there’s a side effect of nothing bad happening: nothing happening at all. Things are so “okay” that Santoro’s presentation was uneventful, to say the least. In fact, to liven it up a little, our honorable mayor decided to entertain us with some jokes, juggling and yo-yo tricks while telling puns connecting them to our amazing city. There were two montages, one celebrating the life and accomplishments of Steve Jobs, and another celebrating the sights and sounds of Cupertino, which, oddly enough, highlighted major franchises like Panera instead of local, unique establishments. What was stretched into a 29-minute-long presentation could probably have been condensed to five.

There is nothing exciting about the culture of Cupertino. Sure, we have a diverse ethnic community, some nice restaurants, and a mall that’s basically only used for its movie theater, but none of that makes students think, “Wow, I live in a pretty cool city.”

Also, the interests of Cupertino’s students have largely nothing to do with Cupertino itself. We depend on Youtube, Reddit, TV and foreign music for our daily entertainment, with little to no local culture to back it up.  It is well-known that we are a sheltered bunch, but by embracing and developing a local culture, we can pop this “bubble” we live in. Students who want to continue living here when they become adults aren’t very common and that should change. It shouldn’t seem too unbearable to envision a future life in Cupertino with all the opportunities it has.