If you can't say something nice ... print it in your national magazine.
That's the way Forbes goes at its Most Miserable Cities list, of which eight California cities placed with prominence in the top 20.
The "top" of the most miserable list is, once again, Stockton. (Apparently Forbes hates asparagus and Asparagus Festivals.)
The San Joaquin County seat is 13th-largest on California's chart, but first in Forbes' heart -- with the magazine factoring unemployment, foreclosure and violent crime rates.
Civic leaders are not taking the recognition lying down. An April 23 rally is planned where residents will don "Stockton Is Miserable!" T-shirts -- with "miserable" crossed-out and replaced with "magnificent!," according to the LA Times.
The photograph will be forwarded, poster-size, to Forbes' New York headquarters.
Stockton Symphony Music Director Peter Jaffe referenced the magazine mention during a recent performance: "...we won't be the most miserable experience you've ever had."
Local
The symphony then played Gershwin's "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'."
"It was on the program," Jaffe told the Times.
Other Cali cities on the list: No. 3 Merced, No. 4 Modesto, No. 5 Sacramento, No. 9 Vallejo, No. 17 Fresno, No. 18 Salinas and No. 20 Bakersfield.
