Trio

Hello, World:

Hi.

This is going to be a blog about the outdoors.  Kind of.

Life in Los Angeles seems to be defined by what is private.  If it’s not private, it’s indoors (your car, your apartment, class, work, etc.)  I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and am not entirely sure where public places exist and if they do, what goes on there? Who is going to these places? 

As a kid, my brothers and I would walk to the park up the hill to play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was a place to meet new kids and see what type of people I lived next too. As I’ve gotten older, the space between my house and school, or my house and anywhere is mediated by my car.  With my air conditioning, I don’t even breathe the air from outside.  My life as a kid seemed much more public, riding my bike to my friends house, taking the bus from school, picnics at the park.  Now, my life is largely experienced from my bed where I have easy access to the internet.

I want to use this blog to explore the public space outside of the enclosed areas I am so used to living in.  Going to Los Angeles parks, outdoor movie screenings or festivals, taking the bus home, talking to strangers on the street…observing and hopefully becoming part of these public environments that at this point are mostly foreign to me. To offer some form of consistency, the places I visit will contain some sort of review (what I liked, how easy was it to access, will I return?) I’m also going to drag a few of my friends along with me and see how they like it, which should be interesting since most of them are not from Los Angeles and could add an interesting perspective to my experiences.  

I also want to explore what is the phobia or the seeming unwillingness for people like me to just go for a walk in this city and see where I end up or who I meet.  I have spent time outside of Los Angeles in other cities where one of my favorite things to do was take the bus or subway, get off somewhere interesting, and then walk around for a few hours.  Los Angeles is not structured like most cities, but I wonder if that is the only reason for why you rarely see people walking on the streets.

I think my first post is going to be on Cinespia, and outdoor screening series that takes place and the Hollywood Forever cemetery. It fits my qualifications mainly because it takes place outdoors but is also one of those rare cinematic experiences where members of the audience picnic, meet, interact, while sitting on someone’s grave.  I think that’s what you do…

This blog is, essentially, a way for me to try and relive my childhood.  It’s sad. But it is also meant to be a way for me to explore the city that I have lived in for 20 years (but I don’t think the first few years count…)

Profile Post:
http://allaboutcities.ca/turning-off-wifi-and-plugging-into-cities/

The author writing it is looking at cities from a personal, professional and academic view, which I think is a good combination for a subject like this. The blog post I'm looking at is about wi-fi offerings in cafe's and restaurants and that many of them are actually shutting off their wi-fi services because they found that what initially drew customer's in, is now deterring other customers from entering. The author writes that "It suggests that this cafe is for food, coffee and socializing, as well as being 'unplugged' and thinking without the distraction of constant information" and that it is "very urban–after all, why are people in cities if not to experience other people." I'm actually writing this at Starbucks right now because they have free internet...

the author of the blog provides research and analysis related to urban economic trends for a large Canadian real estate investment management company as part of her normal "day job" and I think this background is very relevant to the topics she covers (McMansions in historic neighborhoods, race, class and urban sprawl.) Basically, her log aims to dissect how a city works by looking at its economic and social forces. She's ranked 72497 on techorati. There are definitely elements of this blog that relates to my work...mainly the blog post I just cited. However, the author definitely has a more academic/professional approach to cities and a much deeper background in the sociopolitics of how a city functions, which is apparent in many of her posts. I feel my blog will be less professional and based more on personal observations and experiences. However, I think this blog will be a great resource in maybe helping me add a level of intellect to this subject which I really don't possess...

Voice Post:
The voice of the Where Blog is difficult to pinpoint because there are 7 separate bloggers who contributed to content on the site. The voices range from ironic comments on modern cities to real in depth dissections of how cities are structured and the way people interact. Among all the bloggers there is an overwhelming connotation that we are all at the same level. In one blog post, “The Urban Path,” the blogger opens with: “Human navigation is a key component in the organization and form our cities take on. Whether we choose to walk, bike, take public transport, or drive, we are making choices that shape our experience of the city and that will transform the city itself over time.”

This is actually one of the driest blogs I’ve ever read, but blogs on my subject don’t seem that intent on infusing their personality into their subject matter. Which is strange given that many refer to “we” or “us” is their post, connoting a sense of community, which, it seems, is essential in any city. However, the majority of these blogs posts are straightforward dissections of urban developments, use of public space, technological advancements, etc, that help to characterize and forma city. For example, the post “Dhavari II: Does This Look Like a Slum” begins by quoting soundbites from international news sources on Dhavari. This post is concerned mainly with fact, consistently referring to experts in the field (ex: “According to Sharad Mahajan of MASHAL”) and citing data through links (official survey of Dhavari, Bombay Municipal Corportation, etc) to add legitimacy to their post and further their argument. Sort of like writing an essay, but shorter and less argued because essentially, they are preaching to the choir.

Other post take a slightly more casual approach, appealing to the sense of community that is connoted in an internet setting and the readership of the blog. In fact, the post in entitled “Informality, Enhanced” and just poses questions to the reader. The format corresponds to the title: it’s informal. The blogger asks: “Why is it that so many of the people out there studying/analyzing/writing about new urban trends, new technologies, new social configurations, etc. are either well past or fast approaching midlife?” insinuating that he is young and hip, or at least nowhere near approaching midlife and doing so appeals to his imagined audience (young twenty-somethings interested in new urban trends, new technologies, new social configurations, etc.) Essentially, he is like us. Then to finish up his post on how to make the modern, global world more informal, he asks “ Would anyone like to take a shot?,” simultaneously opening up the conversation to the internet/blogging community and using the modern AND informal colloquialism “take a shot.” He is also self deprecating, where earlier in the post he makes reference to his blog track record in which he receives few comments on his posts, making his asking questions irrelevant (but he wouldn’t write them if he didn’t think so) and making the discussion informal (although technically, if he thinks no one will comment to answer his questions, it's a discussion/conversation he is having with himself.)