KFEAZELL'S BLOG
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Walking
- Posted on 03.03.10
Related causes: Environment
Not having a car involves much more than riding public transportation. I also walk a lot. As a result, I'm getting to know my neighborhood and neighbors more than I would have if I jumped in my car for everything. I feel like I'm actually part of my neighborhood because I'm not always trying to leave it. Here's the highlight reel of what I've noticed from walking around my neighborhood:
* Speaking of highlights, my hair is actually getting lighter. I'm spending more time outside on a daily basis and getting more sun.
* I'm getting to know one of my neighbors who is homeless. I see him a few times a week and chat with him. He's looking for a full-time job in the restaurant industry if you know anyone who's hiring.
* Grass is incredibly resilient. After a few rains, there's a bright green patch--much healthier than what I could ever get to grow in Colorado--in the gutter.
* People throw out so much stuff! At any given moment there are at least 3 couches on the sidewalk i...Read More -
"Please don't go to Hell": Characters on the Bus
- Posted on 01.30.10
Related causes: Community, Environment
The bus is one of the best places I've found for people-watching, which actually tends to be people-staring for me. I have no doubt that I get stared at too for things I've done like frantically putting on makeup on the way to work, unzipping and zipping my backpack obsessively to make triple sure I have all the documents I need for a flight, or carrying a 1920s typewriter swaddled in bubble wrap and held like it's a baby. I do weird stuff too so I try not to judge. But there are a few characters who really stand out to me.
The Evangelist
One of my favorites is The Evangelist. I was on the local 20 yesterday and encountered her. She wears a green vest with "Please don't go to Hell" embroidered on the right and "Believe in Jesus" on the left. I live in Koreatown and have seen The Evangelist around town recently and as late as ten years ago when I lived in this neighborhood before. She is a wonderful stereotype--relentless, a little bit pushy in handing out tracts, and completely...Read More -
Carless in LA
- Posted on 01.28.10
Related causes: Environment
For me, 2009 was a bad country song. I know I'm not alone, but c'mon folks...I lost my house, I lost my job, I lost my credit, I lost my DOG, and I lost my car. This blog is not about whining--mostly--but I don't want to start out pretending that I'm an environmentalist saint who is carless by choice. I'm broke. I'm not pretentious about being an environmentalist, I'm pretentious about suffering with the poor. I may not be able to slap an Obama sticker on my Prius, but I can experience the martyrdom of mass transit with a Causecast pin on my backpack.
Let's just be blunt: there are very few people in my demographic (white and not elderly) who use the bus on a regular basis in Los Angeles. (Commuter trains don't count.) Only poor minorities actually rely on the bus here. But I have a feeling that people in my demographic wouldn't give a second thought to giving up their cars in San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, or Boston.
In my forced experiment with public tran...Read More
