Local People

Overall, I am going to try to take away from this course some of the more positive and hopeful topics that we discussed. I appreciated that while we did learn about some very deep and unjust issues, we were presented with examples of ways to take action and to right those wrongs. By finding out about what local people are doing to improve their communities and environments, I developed a new, more fleshed-out understanding of Los Angeles.

Like Aerienne, I found learning the South Central Farms to be a particularly interesting part of the course. I am also very interested in environmental issues and would have liked simply reading about the work of these organic farmers; having some of the farmers come to class, though, made the subject all the more interesting and personal. After seeing both the short documentary the South Central Farms representatives showed to us in class and "The Garden" outside of class, I was struck by the number of people participating in the organization. Both documentaries, I felt, did a really good job of representing many different people working at the farm, from people in leadership positions to general members of the community. Hearing the stories and views of the individuals who came to class, I got a sense of the importance of the South Central Farms for the community on many different levels. This was a very positive part of the class, and inspired me to find an organization that I feel equally passionate about to work for.

I was also really interested by the LA River expedition from 2008 which was briefly mentioned in class. It was really fun to see this alternative approach to protecting the Los Angeles river, and to see the potential ways this river could be used for good by the people of Los Angeles. I have not had a chance to look into this expedition in more depth as I would like to yet, but it made me curious about the hundreds of other small-scale actions individuals are taking to try to improve LA. It makes sense for a city that has made its fame from creating movies and the like to have creative individuals finding inventive ways to protest environmental and social injustices taking place. This class has made me want to look at these smaller movements in LA started by local people.