September 15, 2007
The other day while waiting for the green light to make a left from Griffin Ave. onto Main St., some veterano crossing in front of me told me:
“Hey man, you should ride on the side, you’re gonna get hit man.”
I responded: “Well, I gotta ride in the street…it’s more fun.”
To which he gave me the thumbs-up and responded gingerly: “That’s right man, that’s right.”
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Now playing: Devendra Banhart – Cristobal
via FoxyTunes
September 11, 2007
Working at a high school has its perks, its cons, and its very close-view of youth culture. At Lincoln High, as in most schools, the students are by-and-large cut by ethnic lines; mainly Latinos, Asians, and some Black students. It is also composed of different cliques. The cholos, the wanna-be cholos, the recent arrivals (whom don’t fit into their own ethnic groups because they’re not as assimilated, or don’t speak English), the metal-heads, the skaters, the punks, the stoners, and the more geeky among them.
Watching the kids everyday you realize how much technology is imbued into their lives. Most kids almost always have headphones on, inside or outside the classroom. Some do have the real iPods and others have the $50 ones you can get in the alleys in Downtown LA. There are kids that may not read well in class but always know the newest website to bypass the LAUSD proxy that blocks MySpace and Email sites. I still don’t know how they do it.
Another observation is how poorly funded schools really are. During summer school the LAUSD claimed it didn’t have any money to rent a bus for a field trip for my ESL, yet they recently spent $95 million on a payroll system that doesn’t work (plus I only make $10/hr as a TA). (more…)
June 11, 2007
Earlier today I had a conversation with my dad about people that hate on LA. Covered most of the reasons why people hate LA and why they opt to live in the suburbs around LA instead of in LA or why they even choose to leave the state.
My dad succinctly summed it up as pure complaining. That those who complain about LA are the some type of people that will complain about any place they move to and that “que ellos no aprecian lo que hay aqui.”
I agree and surely plan to blog further on this soon.
April 27, 2007
After a conversation in the cool evening with my dad I decided to once again venture into the hills of North-East Los Angeles, as when I was a kid.
Compared to other neighborhoods in L.A., NELA has many barren hills where no development has been allowed or has actually been stopped by neighborhood folks. This giving the possibility of wandering through these hills where old roads still abound. My dad told me that there’s even a lake, somewhere up in them hills. If you have GoogleEarth, here are the coordinates to get there: 34° 5′40.00″N 118°11′43.85″W
It’s not a big body of water but I was told you could see the ocean, as the sun sets from this vantage point.
