Life in L.A.

Rashidah Shakir
Instructor of English, Los Angeles Trade Tech.

Student musings on life in the communities and barrios of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles. The city of dreams. The city of dream crushers. On any given day, a jubilant actor finally gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, only to have his acceptance speech upstaged by a cacophony of police sirens. Just a block or two away, an unlucky tourist is simultaneously being swindled, mugged or worse.

When described by outsiders, L.A. is alternately portrayed as mythical and incorrigible--a two sided postcard. On one side are the lush and extravagant images of Malibu Beach, Beverly Hills, and Rodeo Drive. On the other is the jungle-like guerrilla warfare of the reckless inner city. Los Angeles is certainly mercurial, unpredictable, and indeed violent. In Alejandro Saenz's "Drive-By" the moment of paralyzing terror prompted by a barrage of bullets is almost palpable. But as the French say: Regarde bien le monde autour de toi. Demain il sera deja different: Observe the world around you well. Tomorrow it will already be something different. Those of us who inhabit this vast urban sprawl know that what was yesterday's crushing blow can be tomorrow's quiet victory.

There is proof of this in Patricia Morales' "Forgotten Neighborhood," and Queenie Filey's, "Fifth Avenue: Taking Back the Pride." Radically different than they were just a few short years ago, these communities have metamorphosed. Both residents and police have rallied together to make their previously chaotic streets cleaner, quieter, and safer.

There is a certain purpose to our living here that is often overlooked. Perhaps more than any major American city, Los Angeles provides a critical cultural and social juncture for those who immigrate to the United States from other lands. In "My Neighbors," Jeff Yang discusses the cautious but warm welcome he received from his East Los Angeles neighbors after emigrating from Taiwan. And Pablo Rivera traverses a similar cultural juncture in "A Tour Through Hell", comparing his Los Angeles neighborhood to a foreign curiosity: New York City. Though, like most New Yorkers, it is Los Angeles that he ultimately deems "foreign."

For those born and raised here, Los Angeles has always been a cornucopia of cultural treasures, accessible to all but appreciated by a select few. In "Central City," Stephen Barber pays tribute to the mŽlange of ethnicities in his neighborhood, people who have helped enrich and enlighten his life. April Jacobs recounts a spontaneous outburst of "Laker Fever" in her South Central community in "And then There was my Block," and Antonia Alvizar reveals the source of L.A.'s best tortillas in "Living in the City of Florence."

Life in L.A. is remarkable. Though many of us struggle each day to make ends meet, we are still deeply imaginative and firmly optimistic. Between the distant snow capped mountains and the restless edges of the Pacific lies an infrastructure of ten million people, each an extraordinary blend of hopes, dreams, wonder and evolution. Unpredictable we may be. A two-sided post card we are not.

Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.

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