Stop slandering my city!!

So funny, on the heels of my last entry, that I should suddenly feel a surge of almost ferocious optimism. Maybe it's because my 5-day headache has finally let up. But I noticed that one of my friends, who is forced to move out here to L.A. for job-related reasons, was being besieged by well-meaning(?) "friends" who decided to tell her how awful L.A. is, how she should move anywhere but there, some even with colorful anecdotes to back up their prejudices.

So I wrote a little rant to her, which I will post here, somewhat edited.

Dear Friend:

There is always more than one way to look at something. Why SO MANY people persistently choose the more glum, depressing, terrifying way... I just don't even know. Our outlook is our choice. Sure, some things it's hard to see the blessing in, like cancer... but even that, many people can take a positive spin on (and their survival rate goes up drastically, by all accounts). But this? How on earth can so many people see a move to L.A. as a horrible thing to complain and wring their hands about???

Los Angeles. The city of angels. The birthplace of cinema. Home of celebrities and year-round sunshine.

If something is coming to this country, and is only going to happen in TWO places, it comes here, and it comes to New York City. Period. No argument.

Now, New York City has its own charms, which I won't list here, but for a person such as myself who is prone to depression and/or anxiety, looking at the two undisputed metropolitan hubs in this nation, Los Angeles is the hands-down choice. L.A. is sunny, balmy, laid-back, friendly, and can even put me at ease. Me.

Yeah, there are certain disadvantages to living in a big city. People complain about traffic, crowds, smog, blah blah. Well first of all, there are ways to deal with those so they're not so stress-inducing, if you're smart. Second of all, who gives a rat's ass? I'd gladly pay the price of crowds and traffic to get the kind of astonishing cultural, educational, and entertainment opportunities that L.A. offers, second only to New York in some respects and second to none in others. You can have anything you want in L.A. An amazing zoo. A jaw-dropping library. Not into that kind of stuff? Prefer to go out dancing? Or go to rock concerts? Attend political protest rallies? Volunteer at a charity? Sit peacefully in a setting of unsurpassed natural beauty? Stay at home and read a book? You can do ALL of those things in L.A. You can do damn near anything you want in L.A. except ski, and even that's within driving distance.

Like you say, L.A. probably won't be your final stop on the road of life. All the more reason that you should get the most out of it you possibly can. All the more reason why you should stop to fully appreciate what L.A. has to offer. There is quite literally no other place like it. It has been written about, sung about, and filmed ad infinitum.

Take the opportunity to learn more than you ever wanted to know about movies and their amazing history. Spend time at the beach, see the Chinese Theater. And yeah, see homeless people and traffic jams and smog. Why does everything have to be perfect? Where's the beauty in that? "To live is to be marked, to acquire the words of a story." Or so says Barbara Kingsolver, and I agree wholeheartedly. What more fascinating chapter could a life possibly have than one set against the same backdrop as Charlie Chaplin and Steve Martin and Walt Disney?

Life is what you make of it. Don't let your "friends" build fences around your experience and tell you what L.A. is going to be for you. Hell, don't even let ME do that. Make L.A. yours. It's a multifaceted gem; you can turn whatever face you want toward you and ignore the rest. All life is like that, really, but honestly, L.A. more so than most. To paraphrase Steve Martin, it was a vast barren desert that people filled with their dreams.

Now it's your turn.