because people keep asking me

I tell people I am from LA because I lived there for 8 years. I moved there to go to USC (Fight On!) and then ended up staying. I never really felt comfortable in high school so when I moved away I only kept in contact with a few people. And I went to high school fairly far away from my hometown, so I didn't really have friends there. I still identify with it as the place I grew up and where my family is. But LA became my home.

And it's interesting to hear people talk about LA. If I tell someone I live in LA, they ask "Oh really, do you like it?" which is a fine question, but it's usually accompanied with an I-feel-sorry-for-you tone and head tilt. Which usually causes me to wildly overcompensate and say things like "Yes, I LOVE it. I absolutely love love love it!! It's fantastic. It really is." Which probably confirms everything they were suspecting about LA....

But it's true. I do love LA.

I love LA for being the place where I came into my own and became the person I wanted to be.

I love LA for being difficult at first-- for making me decide if it was really worth it to stay.

I love LA for all the different kinds of people it attracts. And how I can relate to many of them.

I love LA for its ridiculousness. For the touristy areas, the valleys, the seedy bars, the tiny boutiques with scarves for $45, the eighteen billion Indian restaurant within 6 blocks of each other, for the horrible way the city is set up and its stubborn refusal to change, for the people who have no concept of what weather is supposed to look like.

I love LA because you can find anything there. Anything.

I love LA for my Trojans, of course.

And I love LA because not everyone can.