Aug 10, 2026 · 40 min · 14 segments
Alex Sujong Laughlin talks to writer Morgan Jerkins about how she made the move to New York for her writing career, and how she's managed to protect her softness in the process. Episode transcript…
Morgan JerkinsGuest
Alex Sujong LaughlinHost[laughs] What is the experience that you are here to talk to me about today?
I think the prompt was just like a, an exper- a decision that changed your life.
I, I wanted to stay as long as I could, but because I came from a community where many people went out in the world and came back a year or so later, I really thought my time here was very transient.
Um, and so most of my fondest memories come from the church and its structure and a lot of the older people, older like youthful people, they would travel and then they'd always come back.
Um, and so I never would've thought that I'd be approaching my 11th year living in the city.
And I don't know if you ever, if you've ever seen Girlfriends but there is a character on Girlfriends named Toni Childs and she is always afraid that she's, uh, gonna have to move back to Fresno.
She's living in LA working as a real estate agent and, and it's a comedic bit that, that, that is recurring throughout the series but I really resonated with it because I think I worked myself really hard during those years.
One of the elements was because I was afraid that I would financially collapse and have to move back to South Jersey where there were a lack of opportunities, particularly those who wanted to be writers.
[laughs] What is the experience that you are here to talk to me about today?
I think the prompt was just like a, an exper- a decision that changed your life.
I, I wanted to stay as long as I could, but because I came from a community where many people went out in the world and came back a year or so later, I really thought my time here was very transient.
Um, and so most of my fondest memories come from the church and its structure and a lot of the older people, older like youthful people, they would travel and then they'd always come back.
Um, and so I never would've thought that I'd be approaching my 11th year living in the city.
And I don't know if you ever, if you've ever seen Girlfriends but there is a character on Girlfriends named Toni Childs and she is always afraid that she's, uh, gonna have to move back to Fresno.
She's living in LA working as a real estate agent and, and it's a comedic bit that, that, that is recurring throughout the series but I really resonated with it because I think I worked myself really hard during those years.
One of the elements was because I was afraid that I would financially collapse and have to move back to South Jersey where there were a lack of opportunities, particularly those who wanted to be writers.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
