Where am I from? I’m from New York City. But I never felt more like a New Yorker than during the year I moved to New Orleans.

Every place has its own distinct half-life: the amount of time you must reside there before you can credibly identify as a local. A resident of Maine whose grandparents were not themselves born in Maine is “from away” (and if those grandparents lived on the coast, it’s a debate).

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Where am I from? I’m from New York City. But I never felt more like a New Yorker than during the year I moved to New Orleans.

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