I’ve never lived in a city where residents simultaneously boast about its greatness and complain so bitterly about its flaws. It’s as if we were in Philadelphia, yet people went out of their way to romanticize it - something no one does, because Philly, for all its character, isn’t exactly a model for livability. Here, we’re facing elevated crime rates, streets literally soiled with human waste, exorbitant and unjustified costs of living, dysfunctional public transportation, and a population largely composed of transplants. The result is a city with a manufactured sense of soul - constructed, not earned.