Loving Los Angeles Overcoming My Anti-L.A. Bias

Author Jen Bilik and dog Paco in front of the Hollywood sign
This picture is clearly an “After”—as in, after I learned to love Los Angeles. It was taken as part of a photoshoot for our book "Lick" by Ty Foster. A subsequent post will explore my “Before,” both my Bay Area bias as well as the unidimensional Los Angeles of my actual childhood experience (here’s a teaser: malls, Disneyland, freeways, Sam’s Club, trailer parks).

When I moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan in 1998, exactly twenty years ago, my interest in the city had only recently been piqued. Growing up in the Bay Area as I did, hatred of Los Angeles was our birthright—though we characterized it as a rivalry (little did we know, it was totally one-sided). But New York certainly looked down on L.A. too, and I found I had to do lots of explaining about my decision to move here.

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12 GIFs That’ll Make You Want Obama Back (As If You Didn’t Already)

Obama Mic Drop Knock Knock Blog

No matter which side of the aisle you’re on, nobody’s ever going to out-cool Obama. As we ready ourselves for what feels like this administration’s impending apocalypse, let’s take a second to reflect on the White House wonder years with these most Obama-y of Obama moments that remind us what we’re missing about the 44th POTUS.

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How to Throw a Holiday Hibernation Party (For One)

Holiday Hibernation Tips - Serious Me Time Journal

’Tis the season to scour last-minute online shopping deals, wrap up hectic end-of-year projects, and plan travel with prowess you never knew you possessed. Nothing sucks up your energy quite like the holidays. Before you completely lose it in all the madness, take the night off, glue your bottom to the couch, and get some self-hibernation inspiration from these pointers. Seclusion doesn’t get any better than this.

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Poems Inspired by craigslist Missed Connections That Will Give You All the Feels

I Hope You Find Me Love Poetry Book

Since 2009, New York Times journalist and poet Alan Feuer has collected, curated, and shaped craigslist Missed Connections ads into featured poetry collections for the paper. These fresh and oh-so cheeky “found poem” compositions evoke romantic perspectives in otherwise mundane circumstances. For instance, whoever imagined a timeless meet-cute at a port-o-potty? Knock Knock combed through Alan’s NYT “Poetic Connections” section and transformed his work into a sweet, funny, and curious collection: I Hope You Find Me: The Love Poems of craiglist’s Missed Connections.

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Very Important Flowcharts for Life’s Most Challenging Decisions Make Logical Choices (Kind Of) with “Consequential Dilemmas”

Can I Dump This Person By Text? Funny Flowchart - Knock Knock Blog

Have a bothersome quandary that you need to solve, like, right now? There’s a flowchart for that. A sequel to best-seller Inconsequential Dilemmas: 45 Questions for Life's Peskier Questions, our new book Consequential Dilemmas: 45 Flowcharts for Life’s Bigger Questions was designed with realistic stumpers in mind.

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