How To Learn to Love Your City
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It wasn't long after Melody Warnick moved to Blacksburg, Va., that she realized its nickname—"Bleaksburg"—wasn't a joke. Feeling stuck, she devised a research-based experiment to acclimate to her new city. On this episode: Melody explains how she went from hating Blacksburg to loving it (and how you can deepen your connection to the place where you live).
Listen to part one of our conversation here: How to Move to a New City.
If you liked this episode check out: How To Survive a Disaster and Quick Fix: Meet Your Neighbors
Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you |
| 0:24.8 | on April 17th with a first guess you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.8 | Sometimes when we land in a place that doesn't immediately feel like a fit, we have to figure out |
| 0:37.4 | how do we put down roots here? |
| 0:40.1 | How do we go from, I can't believe I'm living in Blacksburg, Virginia, to feeling like, |
| 0:45.7 | oh, this actually is home, and I love it. |
| 0:49.7 | Welcome to how to. I'm Courtney Martin. As many of our listeners know, I moved about a year and a half ago. |
| 0:56.0 | I only moved about 10 miles away, but it is often felt like 10,000 miles away. All new neighbors, |
| 1:02.4 | a new school for my kids, a new rhythm to each day. Whereas I used to walk my kids to school along |
| 1:08.0 | dense urban blocks and then maybe grab a coffee on Telegraph Avenue |
| 1:11.4 | with a friend. I now have redwood trees, the occasional coyote, and a whole bunch of strangers |
| 1:17.4 | surrounding me. I have found it difficult to make new connections. Neighbors seem more private |
| 1:23.0 | here, maybe a result of them being more spread out, and I still haven't found the ideal coffee shop scene despite a pretty formidable effort. |
| 1:31.7 | Last week on the show, we talked with a listener who is aching to do what I just did, |
| 1:36.4 | move to a new place. |
| 1:37.9 | Journalist Melody Warnick helped her think through her options. |
| 1:41.6 | This week, I'm going to talk with Melody about what comes next, learning to love a new |
| 1:46.4 | place. In her book, This is Where You Belong, Finding Home Wherever You Are, Melody wrote about her own |
| 1:52.8 | experience moving to Blacksburg, Virginia for her husband's job. She thought she'd love it immediately, |
| 1:58.5 | but she soon found out why it's nicknamed Bleaksberg. |
... |
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