“God help them all, and God help us for tolerating such soul-crushing blandness as a life option.”

I’m an award-winning writer and editor living in New York City, where I currently work at BuzzFeed as the Senior Lifestyle Editor.

"YEP. I visited Memphis years ago and decided to swing into Arkansas just to say I’d been there. Even being from Baltimore, I felt so uncomfortable and turned right around."

"Every time I pass that place, I’m just like, 'WTF kind of failed investment was this?' Looks like one of those places in a cheesy horror film that a family stops at because it looks cool, only to realize there are no people there and everything just seems 'off.'”

"Holy fuck. I was about to say Lubbock, and I am glad someone else got there first.

Now, if anyone grew up in that area and was raised to believe that 'there couldn't possibly be anything [better or] more to experience,' I want you to know that the world has so much more to offer. Please take a chance to get out.

"I’m from Greeley, and you are correct except that there are way worse places than Greeley. It might win for worst-smelling, though."

"While on a big move as a single woman driving from Washington to Arizona with my entire life packed into my car, I booked a night in a hotel in Barstow because it was the cheapest in the area. While walking past an abandoned, torn-up In-n-Out to a Mexican restaurant where the enchilada sauce tasted like Chef Boyardee-canned ravioli, I walked past a guy sitting on the sidewalk sharpening his knife on the curb like it was straight out of a cartoon. The businesses that were open had their dumpsters locked away behind razor wire. It was bizarre, and I barely slept in fear that all my stuff would be taken."

"Years ago, my friends and I were in AC and stopped in a 7-11 or other convenience store, and the two guys who came in to rob it were kind enough to let us leave before they held up the guy at the register. So, there's that."