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Picturing paradise
1.
Hey Greg, Aren't you the guy who wrote a story about a month ago of going to a Mexican University and not being able to answer a question of why Americans were afraid of letting in more Mexicans. I think you just answered it. LA is getting overcrowded. It is now common for people in California and Florida(our two destination states) to speak of how wonderful it used to be.
2. Decent public transportation, funding of schools and libraries; funding of arts programs in schools. Diversity in my nieghborhood, but not divisiveness. Less cars and less people. More room. That is the LA in which I was born and raised. That is the LA I miss. Then it WAS paradise.
3. John Fante would be spinning in his grave. If, that is, his corpse hadn't long ago turned to "dusk." Regards to the copy desk!
4. Every person out for them selves here in LA. That's why you have some rich people living feet away from a very poor person. LA is thought to be this great place, and it is, if it's your first time here. But I and the people who live here know that LA is great, but under all the things that make LA great, it's a place were gangs, corupt officals, rascist, and attention hollywood whores gather to milk the stupid out of this thing called money. What a place!
5. Don't know.....I left almost a year ago for Houston, and am still realizing that L.A. is a cess pool. Can't say I miss it at all.
6. middle class flight is in full effect. we've been invaded by poverty that is ruining our state. ....in our case, however, California is just too great to abandon...so we try to wall off the poverty. creating the third world city that los angeles has become and will never recover.
7. This really hits home for me. I recently returned from a two-year stint in Europe where the whole time I dreamt of returning to LA. Why? The possibilities. The creativity. The entrepreneurial spirit. In no other place do you feel like you can achieve anything you want. Unfortunately, I had to come back to realize how poor a quality of life you have here without tons of money. Everyone here works constantly to chase the dream but few get where they want to go. Mostly..... because of traffic.
8. This is a great essay. LA is a land of bi-polar expectations, isn't it? I've lived in a lot of cities, and people here are some of the more self-absorbed individuals you will find. I suspect that when you are off in a quest to find your fantasy, you will live only in your own head.
9. We Angelenos don't really want to see our own social reality. If we did, wouldn't we demand world-class public transportation and get out of our cars? Wouldn't we fund our public schools and libraries? These are the places we encounter the Other and build civic awareness and spirit.
10. Are we truly moving beyond the facile dichotomy of paradise and squalor in L.A..? Cloistered in our own cars, our gated communities (literal and by privilege and policing), how often do we question the underlying social reality that our radical isolation is false and self-imposed? L.A. lacks civic spirit by design; just look at the lack of political will to build world-class public transportation and fund our public libraries and schools.
Submitted by: Justin
2. Decent public transportation, funding of schools and libraries; funding of arts programs in schools. Diversity in my nieghborhood, but not divisiveness. Less cars and less people. More room. That is the LA in which I was born and raised. That is the LA I miss. Then it WAS paradise.
Submitted by: BJS
3. John Fante would be spinning in his grave. If, that is, his corpse hadn't long ago turned to "dusk." Regards to the copy desk!
Submitted by: te
4. Every person out for them selves here in LA. That's why you have some rich people living feet away from a very poor person. LA is thought to be this great place, and it is, if it's your first time here. But I and the people who live here know that LA is great, but under all the things that make LA great, it's a place were gangs, corupt officals, rascist, and attention hollywood whores gather to milk the stupid out of this thing called money. What a place!
Submitted by: Wake up people
5. Don't know.....I left almost a year ago for Houston, and am still realizing that L.A. is a cess pool. Can't say I miss it at all.
Submitted by: dmorris
6. middle class flight is in full effect. we've been invaded by poverty that is ruining our state. ....in our case, however, California is just too great to abandon...so we try to wall off the poverty. creating the third world city that los angeles has become and will never recover.
Submitted by: MB
7. This really hits home for me. I recently returned from a two-year stint in Europe where the whole time I dreamt of returning to LA. Why? The possibilities. The creativity. The entrepreneurial spirit. In no other place do you feel like you can achieve anything you want. Unfortunately, I had to come back to realize how poor a quality of life you have here without tons of money. Everyone here works constantly to chase the dream but few get where they want to go. Mostly..... because of traffic.
Submitted by: Alan-A
8. This is a great essay. LA is a land of bi-polar expectations, isn't it? I've lived in a lot of cities, and people here are some of the more self-absorbed individuals you will find. I suspect that when you are off in a quest to find your fantasy, you will live only in your own head.
Submitted by: I.C.
9. We Angelenos don't really want to see our own social reality. If we did, wouldn't we demand world-class public transportation and get out of our cars? Wouldn't we fund our public schools and libraries? These are the places we encounter the Other and build civic awareness and spirit.
Submitted by: susan y-l
10. Are we truly moving beyond the facile dichotomy of paradise and squalor in L.A..? Cloistered in our own cars, our gated communities (literal and by privilege and policing), how often do we question the underlying social reality that our radical isolation is false and self-imposed? L.A. lacks civic spirit by design; just look at the lack of political will to build world-class public transportation and fund our public libraries and schools.
Submitted by: jojo
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