South LA

"This chart sums up why South LA consistently gets left behind when funds are divided," reads the post on the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council's facebook page (referring to the image above).

TONIGHT Sitting in a room full of California journalists and their editors last week as part of my training for a journalism fellowship, I was incredibly surprised to learn that few of them knew that fracking was going on in L.A.'s back yard. The lack of awareness has been of great concern to many of the local environmental organizations because it makes it harder for them to gather support to counter powerful lobbies in favor of the practice. It is one of the reasons representatives from a number of the organizations have gathered this weekend for a California Fracking Summit; they hope to cobble out a common position against regulations proposed by the Department of Oil And Gas (DOGGR) and decide upon strategies that will facilitate their fight. While the summit itself is closed to the public, the festivities of the evening are not.

"They've been receiving it pretty decently, I must say," Karen Whitman, the "Mama" of Mama's Chicken, told the riders with the Healthy Food tour regarding her customers' response to the fresh produce she recently began offering at her shop. "The more people that know about it, the more that's coming in."

As a cyclist, I do my best to avoid Vermont Ave. like the plague.

The little boy tearing through the hallway at the All Peoples Community Center pulled up abruptly when he spotted Crystal Gonzalez, the Peace Education Coordinator with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Whenever I travel in and out of LAX, I do my best to Metro my way there.

"I'm lonely," a man half-jokingly testified at the LADOT's Public Hearing in support of the First Year Bike Lanes last Thursday night. "My friends find [riding in the street] terrifying."

When I think "Valentine's Day," I think "bike lanes."

Rejoice! We shall not die at the hands of a rogue asteroid next week. Which means you make plans to can cleanse your body and feed your spirit by helping out the community in South L.A. this weekend.