research questions

How can Los Angeles continue to grow and adapt for the future while reducing traffic congestion and improving its mass transit?

Where I get my stuff

For economic planning in Los Angeles
http://www.laedc.org/

Articles, Links and Info all Los Angeles
http://losangelestransportation.blogspot.com/

Nationwide Transportation search database
http://gulliver.trb.org/

DON'T TAKE OFFENSE BE HAPPY

Being offended seems to be an part of everyday life ever since we could identify the feelings of ridicule and resentment. I believe in not being offended easily, to laugh instead of being upset. The decision to not take offense and to relax has become key for my sanity and much success in my life.

As a teenager, I was bitter, I was negative. I disliked or hated everything, it either sucked or was stupid and I never remember being happy. Being negative also meant I was a very serious and melancholy kid. Apathy was how I felt towards everything. Being apathetic meant that I was never offended, because I didn't care. It was my way of dealing with puberty, parents and family. The constant nagging from my family about my attitude and simple things like cutting my hair only increased my negativity. I spent a lot of time being unhappy. My parents always called it negative and went through great lengths to curb this attitude. I am so grateful for all they did. The idea of forcing me into extracurricular activities was genius. My behavior and attitude of not caring defined who I was at that time. They were inseparable. That is until I decided to believe something different and actually start to care.

Things started to change midway through High School when I was released from sports prison and no longer forced by my parents to be actively involved in anything. I did not take advantage of this time after school, to pursue artistic or creative endeavors (such as learning to play an instrument or making short films). Instead I spent as many hours a day watching television as I did attending school. Except it was television and movies that brought excitement and happiness into my life. Because of this, things begin to change in my mind about people and the situations I was in. Something finally mattered and interested me.

When we start to care about people and things, we run the risk of being offended and upset by any negativity directed towards them. I began to change my apathetic attitude from childhood. This allowed me to care about things and not take offense when others would either attack me, the people or the things I cared about.

In High School this was a blessing. As we know kids as well as adults can be cruel, with their comments, criticisms and jokes. Instead of taking offense to these comments I decided to agree with the people and made it a joke myself. As long as the joke was clever, I would laugh at it. It means a lot to me that I can laugh at myself. I was no longer being negative about everything. I began to think of myself as happy negative person. Today I can view comments about me and things I care about objectively. I now hunger for criticisms as a way to improve myself or at least lighten the mood. No longer taking offense to those things that our society defines as offensive or serious has made me a happier person.

I have learned over time while practicing this belief that there are appropriate situations to take a subject seriously. Most of those times depend on the context and the other people present. For example a religious discussion can be taken seriously when all present also are approaching the subject seriously. In this situation I can only feel free if I know that those present will not take offense to what I say. So everyone present is in agreement that whether religious, political, familial or personal, whatever is said is not intended to offend. In a setting where one might take offense or one is not taking the situation seriously, I choose to lay off anything offensive directed towards the non-serious person. I love one-on-one situations or small groups because it is easier to decipher these sort of feelings.

The greatest blessing I have received from living this belief is the openness it has created in my mind, heart and spirit. I cherish my ability to be able to hear every opinion. We have beliefs to change our character and our lives. Looking back I see the reason for making this decision. I was unhappy, because of the over-analyzing of myself. I was trying to define who I was, what I thought and how I behaved. Luckily I know what I believe.

The Obama & Me Photo

One day while riding the bus home from work I spotted an Obama “Hope” poster. This is not unusual for the Los Feliz neighborhood in which I live but it was the markings on the poster that bewildered me. I took a simple photograph of this poster located down the street from my house. The markings and the location of the photograph provided me with a story and some insight to the people that live around me as well as making me laugh, still today.

The photo was taken on a bright Sunday afternoon. The picture with me (cut out) standing to the right of the electricity box on the sidewalk. It is to this power box that the Obama poster has been plastered. The poster is one designed by the famous LA street artist Shepard Fairey. In this poster design half of Obam's face is red and the other light blue. Underneath the bust of Obama is the in capital letters is the word “H O P E.”

Also in the photo underneath the poster of Obama is a smaller poster. This is a poster of a light turquoise “O.” The poster represents the band The Germs which was an early Los Angeles punk rock band. Because the sun is shinning so brightly in the photo the colors are bursting on the poster.

A most striking aspect the photograph is the scratches of black and white on the letter “H.” This is the reason the photo was taken. From the top left of the “H” to the bottom right corner a black line hard been drawn on the poster. This black line creates the letter “N” which in turn spells out “N O P E.” However there is one more discrepancy. Apparently someone had made an attempt to scratch off the markings to the letter “H.”

There is a story here that tells about the person who plastered the poster there. The neighborhood is definitely predominantly in support of Obama for president. There are no McCain posters anywhere. At first seeing the “O” underneath of the Obama poster I automatically assumed that was another piece of propaganda for the Obama campaign. My wife informed me that this was a symbol of the punk band The Germs. I do believe that the person who posted the smaller “O” poster, put it there as another greater symbol of Obama as well as showing their support for the reunion of the band The Germs.

It is incredible that someone had enough courage to approach that poster, which sell for hundreds on ebay by the way, and create a sly visual joke. Not exactly the most mature thing to do but to the vandal's credit they did not paint a short cropped mustache on Obama. Now there exist this unseen political battle in the neighborhood.

When I took the photo the black markings on the letter “H” had been altered and look they do in the current photo. Someone had decided to twist the famous Obama poster and it's word around, in what appears to be a humorous statement. The rebuttal to the black markings on the poster shows that the person who made the second markings was not in possession of a sense of humor. This person must have taken the marking as an offense to them and to Obama, whom they very clearly support. So much like a child tagging his opponent back, the offended Obama supporter attempted as best as they could to erase the damage that was done to the poster.

Now if anyone other me were to take the time to look at this picture or even the real poster on the street, they would notice all these things. They would see the poster in three different periods all at once. First, one easily recall the imagine of the poster with no markings at all because more than likely they just saw another one down the street. Second the black markings are still visible yet they no longer serve their purpose of turning the “H” into a “N.” No instead the scratched out portion leaves some black markings but clearly attempts to return the letter to its original shape. Why would they care so much about a poster. Democracy is important. Voting is important. Posters are not and neither are politicians. You would think the only people with time to scratch and re-scratch the post were taggers. However the poster was scratched not painted. These were ordinary citizens who did this. The first perhaps disapproving but definitely mocking the image of Obama. The second clearly offended and trying to restore the poster to its original message. All there, right on a street corner in my neighborhood and now I now more about the people the live around me.