Don’t let LA Woman Fool You—I’m from the suburbs

So this is me. I’ve lived in 3 major US cities—LA, NYC, and Atlanta.

But what this glamorous picture does not reveal is that I actually grew up in a house in the suburbs that had (you ready for this?) a white picket fence (I am suddenly frantic now because I realized I don’t have a single digital picture of that house. But we all know what white picket fences look like and symbolize, right?)

That’s right folks, your cosmopolitan girl is a from a house in the suburbs of LA that looked like it could have been in the middle of the prairie. Except for one vital fact: it wasn’t.

As soon as I got behind the wheel of my first car (a red 1966 Ford Mustang) at the age of 16,  life began. I drove to three places on a regular basis: the city, the beach, and community college. Little did I know that the life that began was a scholarly one that I wouldn’t even think to question until now—at the age of 28. I’ve been through community college, an undergraduate degree at UCLA, an M.A in Cultural Anthro and now I am working on a PhD. I wouldn’t recommend getting a PhD to my worst enemy. I ‘d rather be sitting behind the safety of that long-gone white picket fence or exploring the many cities that I know and love.