There ’s a narration that I ’ve encountered time and clip again in California media that never go bad to gall me as a lifelong Southern Californian : “ I moved to SoCal from Wherever , USA , and now I ’m leave , and here ’s all the reasons why . ” * throw laptop across way *
As someone who was born and raised in Southern California ( get up in Chino , travel to San Diego to assist SDSU , and never left ) , I feel especially protective of my base . I ’ve move around a lot , and because of this , I can in truth appreciate how favourable I was to be born in a place with incredible weather , food , and diversity .
So when I see my fellow writers knock my cradle , it tends to , permit ’s say , unnerve me . In fact , I ’ve take pieces like these so often , that if I had a atomic number 28 for every time I read a storey about someone from somewhere who came to LA “ on a whim ” or to San Diego “ because it sounded fun , ” then indite a story for a national publication , telling the rest of the world what it ’s “ really care to live ” in Southern California , I ’d have $ 12,907.85 .
San Diego Waterfront Public Park|f11photo/Shutterstock
These writers are , of course , entitled to their tactile sensation and have had their own experiences that confirm their beliefs . perchance they really had a rough go of it here ; it ’s difficult start over in a fresh post . My government issue is with them telling the greater internet - atomic number 8 - sphere what they think it ’s like to be a Californian after living here for what equates to about a moment of their lives . In my reading , I ’ve found that most of these disenchanted phratry have similar colic , so here ’s my return to each . And pretend what , people : It ’s not so spoiled to live all of your life history in Southern California .
“I want to see the seasons change”
Did you not comment the beach ? The desert ? Our firestorms that have made internal news ? The fact that we ’re in a serious drought and global warming is , like , super - veridical ?
search , I get it ; I like scarf and boots too . But guess what , America ? We break them here too ! The only remainder is that it ’s not a necessity six months out of the year like it is in whatever wintry hellscape you come from . It ’s potential to wear them from about mid - December through February , and that ’s about it . Maybe we ’ll get another El Niño in the saltation , but believably not . We ’re know for our sunniness ; that ’s kind of our schtik .
If you really care about see brown parting and pumpkins , you may go up to Julian or Arrowhead and check off some out . But more often than not speak , we ’re not going to count like Connecticut in the fall . Because guess what – we ’re California . We ’ll gladly take 65 degrees and sun in January over the negative - degree windchill in Chicago during the same metre . Or year - round fresh produce vs. none in about anywhere else in the country .
Dancestrokes/Shutterstock
“No one in California is actually from California”
chastening : No one YOU roll in the hay is from California .
California has been a state of matter for 166 year , and apparently no one has in reality get up here ? Girl , bye .
San Diego is a very international town . We bring masses from all around the cosmos to work , study , and live here . What I ’ve comment is that a sight of out - of - towners be given to gravitate towards other mass also not from here . They make Quaker from work , or maybe at a Packers taproom where everyone else is also from Green Bay , and that ’s their circle – the end . So I find it unfair when the complaint to anyone who will listen is that " No one here is native . " My skinny friends and boyfriend are natives , my kinsperson members are natives , old classmates of mine are native , and I have a friend who literally has antecedent swallow up in the historical Old Town Cemetery .
City of Angels / Shutterstock.com
“Everyone in San Diego is superficial”
Everyone YOU know in San Diego is superficial .
Did you think you were going to meet genuine people try out to make it as a screenwriter in LA ? Did you have a bun in the oven to encounter your soulmate at a networking event in San Diego ?
As a author , I meet encumbrance of people every day , and I ’ve made peradventure one true Quaker out of that mix . Yes , I get along with many editors , other author , and publicists , but the group of people I consider my warmness - of - heart friends are a very small chemical group completely unrelated to my work . They ’re friend I give out to college with , who introduce me to their puerility friend , who I ’ve shared inviolable communicating with , as well as a number of plates of food .
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park|meunierd / Shutterstock.com
You ca n’t surround yourself with a very specific demographic of people ( again , unremarkably NOT from San Diego ) and then make the oecumenical supposal that everyone is out to get something from you . Unless you ’re at a networking event , in which case they are , which is usually a job .
Pro tip : If you ’re looking to make long - last acquaintance , then go where the natives go and ingrain yourself into our lodge . You ’re seldom blend in to find me attend in PB , because generally , natives do n’t hang out where non - natives do . Join a club , take a class , shop in South Bay , visit restaurants in La Mesa . Just do n’t mark yourself up for letdown by visiting place where 99 % of the clientele are tourists ; you ’re not one of them any longer , you ’re one of us .
“California doesn’t have any culture”
My big traveling pet peeve is other people comparing the plaza they ’re travel to to the place they endure . Going to France and saying , “ Hmph , this is n’t like the US , ” or going to San Diego , and order , “ Hmph , this is n’t like New York City " is whole unfair , because they ’re entirely unlike places with their own unique ways of life . That ’s why you locomote in the first place – to experience those position on their own terms .
Comparing the culture here in San Diego to , say , New York City ’s – the epicentre of diversity , food for thought , not to mention a much larger universe than ours – is irritating and elitist . Of course we have a polish here ; it ’s just dissimilar than anywhere else .
We ’re a border town with the busiest international border crossing in the country . We ’re a military town with the largest military fundament on the West Coast . We have a prosperous biotech diligence . We have a strong beach - posterior culture because , yeah , our beaches are plain great . We have the honest trade beer in the country . Our fine art gallery distich from La Jolla to Barrio Logan . Calvary Baptist Church in Barrio Logan was once visited by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Chicano Park celebrates gorgeous mural and history on Chicano Park Day every April . John F. Kennedy once spoke at San Diego State University , a top shoal ( I ’m a little colored – go Aztecs ! ) , not to mention our other extremely prestigious universities , like the University of San Diego , University of California , San Diego , and Point Loma Nazarene . We have the practiced greaser ever . Our culture is reflective of who we are as a place , and if that does n’t jive with you , that ’s fine . More tacos for the rest of us .
Dancestrokes/Shutterstock
“San Diegans are never on time”
And ?
I get that it can be annoying to have to confirm an hr before your plans to see to it you ’re not stood up , but looking at it in another light can be helpful . When I made dinner design for Wednesday last workweek , it sounded like a slap-up estimation ; but come Wednesday , I had a shitty day at study , dealings was horrendous , and I still had n’t done any form of exercise that week , so now dinner is n’t sounding capital . It does n’t stand for we ’re never going to be through with plan , or that we guess you ’re naive for holding onto them . It just means we changed our minds – it ’s nothing personal , and if you ’re the one who ’s late the next time we run into up , then you get a pass ! No shaming here , it ’s a two - way street .
Here ’s the affair : Maybe while looking at us through your own genus Lens , you observe we were n’t your cup of tea , and that ’s okay . Feel free to enjoy your experiences elsewhere . Meanwhile , I ’ll be here enjoying my own “ bona fide ” experience , like daily farmers grocery store , incredible Mexican food , spectacular sunsets , and a domicile that ’s most definitely where my heart is .
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