Community, sadly, doesn't scale; any platform that is available to everyone starts out special and spirals from there. Ultimately, public social media sites became personal entertainment sites, tuned for engagement, culminating in TikTok, a social media site with basically zero social component.
Being in Soldier Field packed to the rafters with a predominantly Hispanic audience at a time like this wasn't lost on me. It's hard not to look at it as something that does have a broader philosophical message.
It's a real place, one of the last places with a genuine regional atmosphere. It hasn't been completely beaten into a strip mall, or a "galleria," or something that looks like anywhere else. And the people have maintained a lot of pride in their uniqueness.
2mo ago
We are faces of the same humanity, and what injures one of us injures all of us; accordingly, let us stretch out our hands to those who have fallen. Above all, let us stretch them out as widely as possible, for those who have fallen farthest.
4mo ago
The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.
"If there is something like a political life to be, to remain for us, in this world of technology, then it begins with friendship. Therefore my task is to cultivate disciplined, self-denying, careful, tasteful friendships. Mutual friendships always. I and you, and I hope a third one, out of which perhaps community can grow. Because perhaps here we can find what the good is."
You can find the artist's work all over the Eastside: In Silver Lake (where a sign says DO NOT ACT LIKE A TRASH NO LOUD NO SPIT NO TOUCHING NO FIRE NO LITTER NO DRUG A HIDING MAN WILL GRAB YOU), in Los Feliz (where one sign reads HE DO SEE YOU HE TAKE PICTURES A HIDING MAN WILL GRAB ON YOU SOON YOU WILL BE GOT), in Atwater (where a sign warns NO DRUGS OR BMS).
When we listen to music with others, the great rhythms of our bodies — heartbeat, breathing, hormonal fluctuations, sexual cycles, bodily motion — once separate, merge into a synchronized pattern. We sense that we are part of something larger, a community, a pattern of energy, an idea of the times — or what we might call the sacred.
6mo ago
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future, and bonds to each other. It is the most basic and fundamental institution in our lives—and one that requires more care, protection, and support than ever before.
