I CAN SEE how some people find LA impersonal. I can even imagine people living here right now who feel that same way. The way that you feel when you are in a place where there are a million people around you, and you still feel so alone. It breeds the tropes that are attached to LA as a dangerous place, a place where celebs live, and one filled with materialistic people who are good looking and tan all the time. These stereotypes are damaging, as we have already seen in class, and are quickly quieted by a closer look into what we might refer to as the "real" city. But, what about those that are still lost in the shuffle? Would they still feel like this if they were living in another city? Should I set my sights to an examination of the human psyche instead of this city, where many still leave feeling empty? The fact is, LA is not what it is cracked up to be for many people. We love to discuss the people who live in and love the city, but for every one, there is probably someone out there who doesn't love this place. Did they just not look for what we try to find? Did they not see the hidden gems that we seek out when we decided to discover the real city? Is it just too big, too impersonal for many to find a real connection with it? It could be as simple as it's just not their thing, that they just don't have a taste for this place, but I wonder if anyone has an answer to this question that has kept me thinking...
-- Kimberly Dennis
(photo credit: nate vawser, flickr creative commons)
