Community Services Unlimited, Inc.: Cultivating Communities by Cultivating Gardens
"LOOK AT THE STRAWBERRIES!!" squealed a student, pointing at the luscious red berries peeking out from under the leaves.
April 13, 2012
It’s a Small World: How Gang Activity Impacts the Livability of Streets
WHEN THEY JUMPED HIM IN to the crew in 10th grade, he tells me, the actual beating didn't last very long. There may have been 6 guys, but Fidel, a natural fighter, was swinging more fiercely than they were. After he connected hard with a couple of the guys, they decided they had had enough and declared it over.
April 5, 2012
Riding with the Real Rydaz: Planning for a July Tour of South L.A.
Although a few state parks will close on July 1, Shuntain Thomas, the Real Rydaz, and We Are Responsible People (WARP) want you to know that the streets of South Los Angeles will be open for riding.
April 3, 2012
Spring Into Health this Weekend at a Family Festival at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center
"Celebrate Health!" is the main message of the the Spring Into Health Festival that will be held this weekend at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
March 30, 2012
Do I Look Suspicious to You? Livable Streets Starts with Equal Access to Streets
Mikey, Jonathan, and George were waiting for a friend just a few feet from the corner of Ave. 50 and York Blvd. in Highland Park when a police car pulled up. Two cops got out and told them to turn around, spread their legs, and put their hands behind their backs.
March 29, 2012
What Lies Beneath: Using Community Gardens to Recapture Shared Culture
We are most sad about being unable to pass on our agricultural traditions to our children, said an older gentleman in Spanish.
March 27, 2012
Go Frack Yourself, Part II: PXP Blames Cracked Home Foundations on Pesky Earthquake Faults
(Part 1 of the series is here.)
March 23, 2012
Has Ball, Needs Field: A Parking Lot Becomes a Fútbol Field for an Afternoon
RIDING BACK FROM an interview at a school garden off King Blvd., I came across a dozen guys engaged in a serious game of fútbol in a Coliseum parking lot. Curious, I plopped myself down next to Oscar Villatoro, a sweet guy in glasses who was sitting out the game because of a bum knee.
March 22, 2012
Transforming Transit-Oriented Spaces into Theatrical Happenings: A conversation with the Artistic Director of the Watts Village Theater Company
YOU CAN SEE GOATS from the Blue Line, Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez, Artistic Director of the Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC), told me excitedly.
March 20, 2012
Rock Me Like A Hurricane. Or a Tornado. Or an Impending Ice Age: the carbon cost of the LACMA rock.
Like a lot of kids (or maybe not), I had a fascination with rocks when I was younger. That said, I was rather nonplussed by the idea of LACMA spending $10 million to put a granite boulder on its lawn. Thinking perhaps I was too cynical, I headed to Figueroa St., where the rock was parked just north of Florence, to see what everyone else thought about it.
March 13, 2012