City of Angels 2019-20

This past week, we read Who Killed the Los Angeles River and learned about the turbulent and eventful story of the Los Angeles River. Most of the chapter seems like a critique of the way the government, flood management companies, and individual citizens seemed to both minimize the importance of the river to the city’s landscape and history and capitalize on its limited resources; water companies tried to manipulate natural resources, adding reservoirs and building in an infiltration gallery in order to accommodate for the water needs of the rapidly growing population. The reading stated that this human interference with the natural flow of the river actually ended up running the river dry by the late 1800s, way before the U.S. Army Control of Engineers began constructing the concrete river we know today, which took place between 1935 and 1959. The chapter explains that developments like the ones described above were at the center of Los Angeles public and political debate...

My littlest brother was born a few weeks ago, days before Governor Newsom announced the "Safer at Home" order for California. My stepdad and I were planning on both going to the hospital with my mom to welcome my baby brother into the world. When the time came to go to the hospital, we piled into the car, leaving my other little brother at home with my grandma, and drove off to Huntington Hospital. Arriving there was eerie. A few days before, we had learned of the first case of COVID-19 in Pasadena and subsequently found out that there were some COVID patients being treated at Huntington. That being said, there was a lot of nervousness surrounding going to a hospital, but you can't put the birth of a child on hold. We walked over to the maternity ward to check in, only to be told that two hours earlier the hospital had changed its visitor policy. Only one visitor was allowed for each patient. My family was upset, but we understood the rationale and importance of the new r...

Questioning Unity As the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic continues to dramatically alter the way people around the world lead their daily lives, the true characters of communities, whether it be large metropolitan areas like Los Angeles or small rural areas, are beginning to surface in ways in which they may never have. In a matter of what felt like only a week or two, Los Angeles went from its ground state of noise, action, outings, traffic, and smog to a truly never-before-seen state of clear skies, crisp air, empty freeways, and overall eerie tranquility. This radical transformation was of course achieved by the city taking action against the spread of COVID-19, arguably the most important measures being California Governor Gavin Newsom’s statewide state of emergency announcement on March 4th and the implementation of the “Safer at Home” initiative for LA County as a whole on March 19th.  What I’m wondering is what, if anything, has come to light as a result of C...

Over the course of the semester, and really all year, we have been discussing public problems and the broad spectrum of behaviors that people exhibit in response. We have looked at air pollution, green space, criminal justice, disease, and more to develop a better and more honest understanding of the different ways people react to these issues. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (Yes, WHO DG Dr. Tedros Adhanom started using the “p” word last week), we have seen a huge spectrum of responses. Some media outlets use language such as “hoax” (by the democrats, of course) to dismiss the severity of the situation, while others can’t wait to boost their viewership by putting together some of the most bizarre banners I’ve ever seen, complete with eerie music and the word pandemic in the same font used for horror movies. You know, with the blood dripping from the letters. On a personal level, we probably all know some people who are perhaps unnecessarily terrified, refusing to leave their ho...

This past week, we watched Panic in the Streets (1950). The movie takes place in New Orleans, where Dr. Clint Reed is called in to overlook an autopsy of an unknown man who had been murdered. Dr. Reed discovers that if the man had not been shot, he still would have died of pneumonic plague. Revealing his discovery to the mayor and city officials, Reed is informed that he has 48 hours before the public will be told about a potential outbreak. Dr. Reed and Captain Tom Warren run around to find out where the unknown man came from and who he could have spread it to. I noticed that everyone that was questioned in the movie was an immigrant. Immigrants seem to take on the role of the villains and spreaders. The Coronavirus outbreak has brought Panic in the Streets (1950) to life. Coronavirus or COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan, China and has continued to spread across the world. The Asian culture of “wet markets” and people of Asian descent have been ridiculed and blamed for the spread of ...

Over the course of the semester, something we have discussed is the idea of stereotyping people in relation to disease/illness due to the mass panic surrounding that disease/illness. Recently, as I’m sure you all know, coronavirus (COVID-19) has captured the attention of the entire world because of the speed with which it has spread throughout the globe. Coronavirus is part of a large family of viruses that can range from simple colds to severe diseases. This new strain, COVID-19, is an acute respiratory disease that had not previously been identified in humans. Many diseases have caused panic throughout the world, but coronavirus has been particularly alarming and prone to causing mass stereotyping because of its similarity in appearance with the common cold. Today, even a simple cough can deeply frighten someone. Coronavirus’s prevalence in the news and in everyday conversations has led me to think about the stereotyping and panic that surrounds it. I have heard countless storie...