Eventually, we’re just going to have to get over ourselves.
I grew up in Aurora. I love Aurora. I love that I can tell people I’m from Aurora and not have them look at me like a Labrador staring at a ceiling fan.
Aurora has it’s own place on the map. And pretty soon, it’ll have its own light rail line. It just doesn’t need to be called the Aurora Main Line, as some have suggested.
The city doth protest too much, methinks.
That’s not because I’m not proud of my city, but branding takes a backseat to common sense.
For a long time, Aurora’s played the nerdy little brother to Denver, sticking its finger in big brother’s eye when it made sense. Remember when the pope came to Aurora? I don’t remember J2P2 kissing foreheads at Mile High. That kind of endorsement will last forever. And every time the president comes to town, guess where Air Force One touches down first? We’re just that cool, guys.
So slapping our names on the light rail line through Aurora makes as much sense as writing our names on the back of hand-me-down shirts from your big brother. Who cares who wore it first anyway?
Even I know you don’t take the “Yankee train” to Yankee Stadium from Manhattan. You take the 4. You don’t take the Cub “El” to Wrigley. You take the red line.
Consequently, let’s not take the Aurora Main Line to Aurora City Center station to shop at the Aurora Mall. Give me a break.
I like that Aurora’s natural defense is to raise a stink. I like that our inferiority complex means that some of us refer to Denver as “that city to the west” like we’re Bo Schembechler talking about the Michigan football team. I even like that we’re building a cowboy hotel — which may or may not be visible from space — on the eastern reaches of our Aurora empire. No one in the metro area is that awesome.
But I don’t like the idea that we all need to wear Aurora’s name on our shirts to remind everyone where they are.
Let’s all get over it, please.
Aurora’s identity is its own now. We’re the working-class suburb that has more diversity than the big box of crayons. We have better ethnic food than some entire New York City boroughs, and better recreation than Boulder. Yeah, I said it. What we lack in style, we make up for in spunk. Take a stroll in the arts district and tell me we don’t have character.
And as for those cranes everywhere? We’re building like we own US Steel — three hospitals and counting.
I like Aurora. I like Denver, too. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose between them.
But Aurora officials stamping the train with our name draws an unnecessary line between the two cities. Last I checked, we’re still in the metro area with Denver. The same state even. The currency doesn’t change when you get off the train in Aurora — the language might, but we like it that way. So what’s the point?
The point is Aurora’s a big boy now. Just like I’ve grown up, we’ve grown up, too. We’re looking for distinctions between them and us when there are none. It’s just we.
The Aurora line can be the Z, the F, the W, or the Mars Opportunity Lander for all I care. We’ll know where it goes, and we’ll know how to get there.
Let’s leave the name game for when it really matters.
Oh yeah, and main line may not mean what you want it to. Let’s move on.
Reach Managing Editor Aaron Cole at 303-750-7555 or acole@aurorasentinel.com