Cakewalk
Erin Aubry Kaplan is journalist, essayist, and poet who writes about politics, culture, and identity with an eye to L.A.'s black communities. She has been a staff writer for the L.A. Weekly and opinion columnist for the L.A. Times. She was born in South Central and lives with her husband and animals in Inglewood.
Cakewalk:
Just when you think you know everything about where you live, you find out that you don't. Sometimes the information can be too much.
Cakewalk:
Celebrating community spirit should be easy. Not this year.
Cakewalk:
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington -- and despite some memorable words from notable figures in the capitol, it was a day in L.A. like any other.
Cakewalk:
A half century after the March on Washington and King's galvanizing speech about American possibility, we have not realized nearly enough of it. Lost in the mists of time, but still very alive, is the crisis of black employment.
Cakewalk:
A visit to Oakland highlights the uneasy realities -- and the possibilities -- of gentrification.
Cakewalk:
The departure of my block's oldest resident, one of the first to move here, ushers out a whole chapter of Inglewood history. But the legacy remains.
Cakewalk:
Valerie Shaw is one of those political appointees who has not only done her job, she's held up the world.
Cakewalk:
Driving a less than lovely car in L.A. doesn't mean what it used to. That's both bad and good.
Cakewalk:
The protests in Crenshaw about the George Zimmerman verdict are deja vu all over again.
Cakewalk:
For blacks in Inglewood, moving into a desireable neighborhood once denied to them was hardly the end of the story
Cakewalk:
The beloved scene on Degnan, the symbol of black cultural life in the city, is in trouble. So what else is new?
Cakewalk:
In Inglewood, retail therapy is usually a political revelation.
Cakewalk:
Little Saigon and other places like it have transformed space in SoCal, and that's a good thing. But African-Americans as a group are still struggling to plant the flag.
Cakewalk:
For students who never thought they were traditional college material, graduation is not just about a piece of paper. It's about peace of mind.
Cakewalk:
What we don't say about about the realities of black/Latino relations can hurt us.
Cakewalk:
The Crenshaw Subway Coalition is making a difference -- really.
Cakewalk:
The end of the school year compels me to write another story -- though certainly not the last -- about one of LAUSD's most successful but most beleaguered campuses.
Cakewalk:
The finer pleasures of Big Lots, a store for our times.
Cakewalk:
The mayoral runoff is almost upon us, and every four years I think about how great it would be if all of us could vote for mayor. By "all of us" I mean everybody in the county.
Cakewalk:
It's been 21 years since the April 29 that will live in local infamy. But what are those who weren't even around back then think about it?
SoCal Focus is a blog about the people, places, and issues in and around Southern California.
I Am Los Angeles: Strings of Success
Sasha is content just to be living his life on his own terms, doing something he thoroughly enjoys: building and playing guitars.
Watch
