KCET's Award-Winning Web Documentary Series, Departures Launches Eight New Columns in Land of Sunshine Blog
KCET'S AWARD-WINNING WEB DOCUMENTARY SERIES, DEPARTURES LAUNCHES EIGHT NEW COLUMNS IN LAND OF SUNSHINE BLOG
The Land of Sunshine offers a unique view of the people and places in Los Angeles through a series of columns uncovering the rich diversity of Angelinos throughout time.
Los Angeles - February 14, 2012 - KCET, the nation's largest independent television station serving Southern and Central California, is pleased to announce the station's award-winning web documentary series, Departures has enhanced its popular Land of Sunshine blog with eight new columns dedicated to uncovering the rich diversity of Angelinos throughout time.
The concept is based upon the late 19th century "The Land of Sunshine" journal, which was distributed across the country to promote Southern California life to tourists and potential residents, extolling the endless beauty of the Los Angeles region and its abundant natural resources. Although the Los Angeles makeup is far from the portrait portrayed in the late 1800's, KCET's Land of Sunshine blog unearths the various factors throughout history that have caused Los Angeles to shift and shape into the city it is today.
"We're excited to offer visitors an in-depth look at one of the most innovative and evolving cultural landscapes of our time," said Juan Devis. "The Land of Sunshine blog travels the horizon--from art and architecture, to literature and laws, to environmental issues and personal stories. We believe readers will be fascinated by what they discover about their neighborhood through these unique columns."
The new Land of Sunshine columns include:
By Jeremy Rosenberg
Each week, contributor Jeremy Rosenberg asks a fascinating and charismatic Angelino a simple question: "How did you or your family wind up living in Los Angeles?" The "as told to" answers Rosenberg receives serve as perfect distillations of so many of the significant social, economic, political, historical, migratory, legal and cultural themes that KCET Departures series was created to address.
By Robert Garcia
Written by Robert Garcia, Founding Director and Counsel of the City Project, "Green Justice" addresses how parks, schools, physical education and other related health disparities are civil rights and human rights issues. The basis of Garcia's argument is due to the observation that access to such entities are not equal, and disparities are based on race, color, national origin, income and poverty. "Green Justice" uncovers what the urban greening movement is doing to create awareness.
"L.A. Letters"
By Mike Sonsken
"L.A. Letters" is a bi-monthly column celebrating L.A.'s literary landscape. Written by Mike Sonksen also known as Mike the PoeT, each dispatch includes book reviews, author profiles, scene reports from a variety of literary venues around town. Poetic recordings and spoken word video clips will also be included as well.
By Las Angelenas of @LAhistory
Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles does have history--you just have to know where to look. Written by a mother-daughter Twitter team with more than 120 years of family history in L.A., the "LAhistory" blog chronicles the stories of people and places in L.A.'s past in order to spark, reinforce and highlight newfound interest in the city's rich and diverse history.
"Laws That Shaped Los Angeles"
By Jeremy Rosenberg
"Laws That Shaped Los Angeles" spotlights regulations that have played a significant role in the development of contemporary Los Angeles. The column covers laws both civil and criminal that may have been put into practice by the city, county, state, federal or even international authority. Topics range from immigration to ecology, taxation to trademarks, public safety to public art, civil rights to public health, transportation to housing, ballot initiatives to intellectual property and more.
By Don "Roadblock" Ward
Don "Roadblock" Ward, local activist and co-founder of the night-time social bicycle phenomenon Midnight Ridazz, will pen a bi-weekly column titled "One Ride at A time," a bike travelogue exploring the cultural, social and political adventures of a bike advocate in a city on the verge of a bicycle revolution.
"TRACES"
By FFF
The architecture throughout Los Angeles is fascinating for the juxtaposed layers of time. For example, it's not uncommon to find the 1960s, on top of 1918, right next to 2011. The monthly video series produced by FORM follows FUNCTION takes a deeper look into places in Los Angeles, exploring the stories of what they were then... and what they are now.
By Ed Fuentes
"Writing on the Wall" covers the public art policy and politics of the mural aesthetic in the Los Angeles region, as noticed by Ed Fuentes, a graphic designer, photographer and muralist who previously wrote about downtown Los Angeles art, culture and politics at his blog, viewfromaloft, and for blogdowntown.
About KCET Departures
KCET Departures provides a 360º people-centric experience; is participatory in nature; and serves as a central nexus in people sharing, commenting, collaborating, and finding ways to be involved in their communities. These relationships are fostered offline and on by engaging community residents, non-profit organizations, schools and students, in the creation and procurement of relevant and relatable content. From development to production, the neighborhood and its community (the stake holders) are involved in the process of production, resulting in a tight knit between the aspirations of the local community and the station. Departures is a participatory platform, a series, and a network where people can convene information and ideas about our city and its people, and engage in the interpretation of the city that we live in. Departures is funded by The Boeing Company, California Council for the Humanities and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
About KCET
On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time weekly television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about KCET productions, Web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.
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