April 2011 Archives
History:
105 years after a 7.9 earthquake shook San Francisco and left much of the city in ruins, L.A. as Subject turns to the region's archives to discover the damage, the fear and the politics that marked the Southland's seismic history.
Commentary:
Visiting relatives this past week in Vegas--that great exurb of Los Angeles--has been wonderful. But it also reminds me of how they got there.
Arts & Culture:
Spring is definitely here, and media art is moving to the streets this week with trans-feminist political resistance, interactive outdoor 3-D projections, and films about art in the streets.
Commentary:
You can take the Asian out of Asia, but you can't take the Asia out of an Asian. But what if you're Chinese-American?
Commentary:
President Obama declared this week to be National Parks Week. Are these just empty words?
Commentary:
The desert spring bloom this year isn't as spectacular as it was back in Ought-Five. But even an “unspectacular” desert bloom can be pretty darned good, and now's the time to go see it.
Movie Miento:
You must see the 20th anniversary staging of "Real Women Have Curves," Josefina Lopez told me as she handed me a flyer. Yes, a Chicana has been born, graduated from high school, and is halfway done with college since Lopez wrote the seminal play about a precocious undocumented teenager from East L.A.
Commentary:
Austin Beutner has joined a game with harsh rules, pitiless opponents, and a goal that is ambiguous at best.
Environment:
Power plants burn dirty coal, which releases mercury into the atmosphere. When it rains, mercury seeps its way into our oceans and streams where fish become steeped in it. When we sit down for a scrumptious meal of seafood, we put mercury into our bodies.
Commentary:
Gone are the days of California legislators being the only lawmakers in the country to each receive taxpayer sponsored-cars. But the question is, as bad as it looked, was the old car program actually good policy?
SoCal Focus is a daily blog about the people, places and issues in and around Southern California.
