Let’s debunk some myths about America’s urban centers…

Does Detroit Hustle Harder? Are we especially special, uniquely unique?

Is the town really all about GRIT, hard work and determination? Are the hardhats and hammers more than clever marketing? Do the Ford trucks here carry anvils and wrecking balls? Or are they parked at Whole Foods, surrounded by Honda CRVs, with not a speck of mud on them?

Is Detroit especially tough? Is it hard as nails, rough and scary? Or is it soft like the sweet drippings from an overstuffed paczki? What’s the soundtrack of these streets? Eminem or Piano Trio No. 9 in E-flat major performed by Itzhak Perlman?

Can you really buy a house for a dollar? Gun to your head, is Coney Island actually the tastiest?

Come on now… tell the truth Detroit…

And are New Yorkers really more beautiful? Or are they just underfed? Do they eat more mindfully or do they subsist on a diet of bagels and hot dogs? Are they working out all the time or are they walking twelve miles a day when the subway breaks down? Is a Midwest 9 really a New York 7? Or is she just starving for a snack?

Does the city never sleep or is there a lot of napping going on?

Are the townies riding the coattails of outsiders?

Is it a Big Apple or a Huge Lemon?

Search your feelings New York… you know the answers…

And are southern Californians chill? Or do they just live in paradise?

Would they riot if they couldn’t go surfing before heading to the office in the morning? Would they spill blood in the streets if the local farmer’s market was sold out of their favorite kind of organic cucumber? With their long, unkempt hair, and refusal to wear socks and close-toed shoes, would they rush to violence in places like Malibu, Santa Barbara and Pasadena, to kill and pillage over ranch-seasoned cashews and smoked ghost pepper cheddar cheese?

Are they dolphin-loving amateur musicians or are they wolves in sheeps’ clothing?

It’s uncomfortable to admit SoCal… but I think we all know…

And are people from Massachusetts actually more intelligent than the rest of us? Are they publishing articles in the New England Journal of Medicine every other weekend? Is brilliance spilling out of Harvard and MIT, spreading over the metropolitan area, and filling the populace with superior brain power?

Or is it a place where awful people scream back and forth at each other over the salami counter, drink lukewarm coffee and enjoy successful sports franchises?

Is Boston some enlightened Ivory Tower or are they just pretending it’s true.

Are they playing dress up like Philadelphia - a city of “brotherly love” that decided their mascot should be an Italian man with traumatic brain injury who loves fighting other people so much he refuses to retire from boxing despite desperate pleas from family members and friends!

Tell me again how any of these stereotypes reflect reality?

Did we overlook your city in the listing of these myths?

Perhaps you’re from Miami, a supposedly glamorous place where really everybody is deeply sad from the outside in. Or Music City - Nashville, Tennessee, a gigantic factory manufacturing art bound for the trash bin. Or Chicago? A massive midwest metropolis that’s good for nothing beyond catering mostaccioli for the upcoming cub scout fundraiser. The list goes on and on. There’s so many brands these places have tried to develop over the years.

Can any of this be real? Does Detroit truly Hustle Harder?

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of compelling evidence indicating ‘no’. Data suggests the ratio of hardworking people to lazy people is the same here as anywhere else. Sadly, it seems, we are neither the best nor the worst.

In fact everywhere is kinda the same, which is quite damaging to stereotypes:

New York Naps

Californians Flip Out

Bostonians are Wicked Nohrmal

Itzhak Perlman was deeply inspired during his last trip to Nashville.

Chicago also makes a delicious Tuna Melt

And I guess Detroit Hustles…an average amount.