i don't really just mean nyc specifically - if you're an american who lived in a shitty place and then made it to an at least mildly cool metropolitan area in your early twenties, i want to know how you did it. if it was a job, what job was it? did you just show up with ten dollars in your pocket and a dream? did you have family there? friends? what strategy was the one that ended up working for you? what strategies ended up being a huge waste of fucking time? full disclosure: i asking this because i am really reaching my wits end with living in my hometown, and as the political and economic conditions worsen, in my worst moments i genuinely fear that i might still be here when i'm thirty, and i shudder to even consider the thought. i am actively trying things - but most of the silver bullets i thought i had have mostly turned out to be duds.