Sinners, Venus, and Cowboy Carter: Legacy, Resilience, and the Fight Ahead
Themes from Sinners bleed into the real-life story of Venus Xtravaganza. Venus takes us back to the 1980s drag ballrooms in New York—the birthplace of countless cultural references. Then Cowboy Carter (and Renaissance before it) celebrates Black womanhood (cis and trans), Black queer men, defiance, and joy.
These aren’t just performances and films. They are history lessons. They remind us where we come from and hint at where we’re going. Sure, they make us cry. But they also give us hope and remind us to dance.
GAZA: To Kill A People Is to Kill Their Culture
If we lose the spaces that tell our stories, that remind us of our humanity, we lose ourselves. When we destroy all the beautiful things, it’s difficult to find the will to live in a world that is dark and gray. It’s difficult to live without reminders of one’s own beauty.
The Piano Lesson: Memory is the Thing
The field of historic preservation in America still tends to prioritizes architectural significance over cultural significance in important places. The West also prioritizes written history over oral history, and oppressor history over those that have been oppressed. What do you do when preserving your culture is a call and response instead of a thesis, when it’s carved into a piano instead of documented on paper?
Post-Election Statement
The only way to live forever is through history, memory, and shared traditions. We commit to highlighting all the ways you create meaning in YOUR life. All the beautiful things. Whatever waits for us on the next page is a reality we can and will face together.
Two Angelenos Meet Inside Lana Del Rey’s L.A.
One local and one transplant discuss the Lana Del Rey's connection to Los Angeles, the city as a lover, and their own connections to this baroque-pop narrative. For irony’s sake, they meet outside of Los Angeles. In Pasadena.
Preserving Worlds Inside Screens: The Case For Video Games
I hold on to games like Pokemon or Animal Crossing to hold on to my memories and to places I can only see when I press play. It’s always been hard to identify buildings that I would be devastated to see torn down, but if I lost my Pokemon games, that would devastate me. Losing these games would mean losing something intangible, something intrinsically attached to a time or feeling.
Vida Gives Us Life: Diverse Storytelling In Hollywood Is Possible
Saving community landmarks is never just about the building. It’s about how the community benefits from spaces that allow for the continuation and evolution of tradition. It’s not about staying static; it’s about having a safe space to flourish. It’s not about the bar. It’s about the energy that the bar makes possible.
A Love Letter To JAWS (1975)
Tourism has talons and these talons dig into communities in unflinching ways. Therefore, these places are complicated. Tourism touches most parts of the planet, but certain areas get more heat than others. This leaves locals stuck inside some twisted catch-22. What IS the cost of closing a beach? In the case of JAWS, the cost is four lives and 24 hours of income lost.