City of Angels 2019-20

As the arrival of spring is just around the corner, we begin to see the transformation of greenery all around us. Since Los Angeles doesn’t have a true fall season, this might be the only time where we are given visible evidence of a change of seasons. It’s a beautiful sight-- the abundance of blooming flowers creates an array of colors that brightens your mood and lifts your spirit. But why? Are we truly rejuvenated by a simple change of color? I want to know why certain colors carry such significance and why we gravitate towards certain schemes or pairings. We’ve discussed green space many times in class, but maybe the turn of the seasons can affect people almost just as much.  Since the topic of color in nature is an extremely open-ended and vague prompt, I have quite a few questions. Feel free to make up your own as well. How often do you notice signs of seasonal change/ the arrival of spring? Ignoring the stereotypical correlations of colors with em...

Our readings this past week or so have been focused on the environment and how it affects and is affected by humans, more often than not in a negative way. We talked about how the sun “denatures” things (yet nature can’t be without it?), about how the presence of too many humans can ruin a place as beautiful as Olas, and about the Santa Anas and the havoc they wreak on the region. Additionally, we’ve read and talked about shade inequity and what neighborhoods in Los Angeles get to have shade and which do not. After thinking about both of these topics for a while, I began thinking about the possible correlation between shade inequity, the effects of the weather on behavior, and the places in LA with (or associated with) the highest crime rates. So I tried my best to cross-check some data from the LA Times, satellite images from Google Maps, and weather reports.  According to the LA Times’s database for crime reports, the neighborhood with the highest crime ranking is Chesterfie...

Trees At Poly Anais Singh F/G Period City of Angels February 11, 2020 Since the second semester has started, we have integrated science into our class's curriculum with Dr. Smith! One thing that we have been focusing a lot on so far is trees in Los Angeles, and also specifically on the Poly campus. I think for a lot of us, this was the first time we have really paid attention to the trees at our school and how they may affect us. Whether it's aesthetically, the shade they provide, or even the eaves they may drop on the ground, I've noticed lately the role trees play on our campus.  There have even been studies showing the relationship between trees and the learning of students. For example, a study conducted by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Professor William Sullivan and his PhD student, Dongying Li showed that trees can reduce stress, improve students' concentration, mental and physical health. (Caseytrees.org)  ...

Disclaimer : I have no idea how this got to be so EAT, PRAY, LOVE , but I'm sorry . I don't even really go outside. The facilitators can redirect the conversation any way they see fit tomorrow so that we avoid some of the nonsense in here.  Last week, Dr. Stogdill proclaimed that “trees are just trees!” (He then quickly clarified his meaning, but I will take the quote out of context anyway.) We’ve established in the last couple of weeks that trees are anything but trees; they are sheltering, purifying, beautifying, etc. We’ve read about the palm tree whose reputation foregoes its foreignness and relative environmental uselessness. We’ve allowed it to characterize our families’ emigration stories, our tourist attractions, and our childhood streets. Oak Trees have defined southern Pasadena in a similar, microcosmic way, articulating an always-elegant and deeply entrenched history. Whatever you want to say about those who are “one with nature” or who hug trees, regardl...

This semester, our class has been discussing environmental justice in Los Angeles. Just within the last week, we created maps and graphs that illustrate the relationships between the environment and the human population of Pasadena. My group chose to map all of the public parks in Pasadena, and in doing so, I was able to reflect on the recreational use of green space. I subsequently spent some time thinking about the Los Angeles River and how its channelization from 1938 to 1960 completely changed the environmental landscape of LA.  The LA River was channelized as a response to the devastating floods that took place in the 1930s. After some further research, I realized that just 10 years earlier, Devil’s Gate Dam, the oldest dam to be built by Los Angeles County, was erected in an attempt to control flooding in Pasadena and the surrounding cities.  Devil’s Gate Dam sits above and feeds into the Arroyo Seco Watershed that stretches all the way from the San Gabriel Mounta...

Los Angeles is usually identified as a city of sunshine, clear skies, beautiful weather, and consistency. Los Angeles is Los Angeles and never changes. What happens when change is brought upon Los Angeles though?  In the Introduction of Fit to Be Citizens , Natalia Molina discusses the history of marginalized ethnic and racial groups in the Los Angeles area and the connections between the fear of the unknown and stereotypes. With increased amounts of immigration to the Los Angeles area, originally by Japanese and Chinese immigrants and then by Mexican immigrants, multiple stereotypes formed. The city of quartz that racist white Los Angeles knew was being “smudged” and “dirtied” by immigrants. Why have immigrants had a history of being classified as dirty? Molina suggests that the mistreatment and financial inequalities that immigrant minority groups faced such as “inadequate medical care, exposure to raw sewage, and malnutrition” (Molina 2) led to white Angelenos adopting the...