NY vs LA: AWP 16

Writers at the NYU happy hour (at AWP 2016 in Los Angeles) respond to the terribly vague question: New York vs. LA: what are your thoughts?

- Laura Creste

“I don’t like the palm trees.” – Emily Wallis Hughes

[re: palm trees] “I found out they’re not native!” – Alisha Kaplan, web & pr editor

“I used to love LA.” [emphasis mine] – Nicholas Carlos Fuenzalida, layout editor

“I like New York because I don’t live there.” – Angela Stubbs

“Neither are as nice as Portland.” – Melissa L. Amstutz

“This isn’t really on topic but I think the funniest thing you could say to two people roughhousing near a shelving unit…” – Michael Sarinsky [who I cut off], fiction editor

“Sunshine trumps everything.” – Ama Codjoe

“I like public transportation.” – Matt Rohrer, executive editor

“There is a lot less body hair in Los Angeles.” – Angelo Nikolopoulos

“LA: open spaces a buttery sun so much kale // NY: bodega grit the clouds pizza beauty.” – Francisco Márquez, assistant interviews editor

“I like something about LA’s lack of a center and totally self-conscious ways. Like the hotel I’m staying at has screenplays on the wall. The weirdness appeals to me.” – Meghan O’Rourke

“We’re aggressively zen.” – Isabel Kaplan, soon-to-be student, LA native [no relation to our own Alisha Kaplan]

“The light is unforgiving out here.” – Catherine Barnett, former Californian

“I miss the subway.” – Linda Harris Dolan

“I don’t like this question.” – Alisha Kaplan