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Published: April 5th 2008
I initally intended to update this blog everyday (or so), but recent events - trying to write, learn and present a conference paper - have slowed progress. Now though, sitting in my hotel room, eating my ridiculously fatty 'Carls Jr' Bacon Burger whilst having a root beer and watching the baseball, I feel at peace, pleasantly numb, so it is time to catch you up on the last few days.
April 1st,
With the conference getting scarily close, I decided to sacrifice much of today to work on my paper, which was only partially successful. I did get some work done, but not enough to take the pressure off. As a break I decided to go for a run to the North of Santa Monica, opposite of the previous days journey. This run turned into a exploration which consisted of more walking than running, taking me pretty close to Malibu and taking around 2 1/2 hours. On the way I checked out the Santa Monica Pier and Aquarium, plus a hell of a lot of beach.
Nothing spectacular to report, but interesting all the same. Overall I have taken a bit of a liking to Santa Monica. It
has a cool beach culture, along with an affluent alternative community (I enjoyed an organic coffee from some green cafe). There appears to be a strong ecological consciousness here, perhaps stronger than in New Zealand. Earth day is relatively strongly advertised and there is a clear effort to clean up the beaches. There is also a strong cycling culture. Of course, all of this means nothing if the affluent Santa Monicas continue to consume at current level, but that is another debate.
I do feel I could happily live here, with the exception of the huge homeless population. I have never experienced anything like it, they are everywhere. In the space of a 2-3k stretch of beach there must have been 50 homeless people. A lot of them have built up a lot of junk, suggesting that they have been homeless for quite a while. In the middle of the afternoon most were asleep, but I wonder what happens at night. Nonetheless, I felt more safe in Santa Monica than Venice (which I have subsequently read becomes a gang/drugs/prostitution area after dark). The Santa Monica Pier was structured similarily to Venice, with its combination of street vendors and
homless, but they were much more passive. Instead of asking for change, they simply went through the rubbish. On reflection I think that I have found that my relative comfort in the face of this passivity has proven more disturbing for me than the more aggressive homeless that I have encountered.
2nd April
Today was the big day for me; I booked an all day tour of LA, taking in celebrity homes (not by choice), the Getty Centre and the tourist highlights of LA.
Leaving at 8am, we set up through the hills to see where the rich and famous liked. Our group numbered around a dozen; a bunch of working-class poms, some Irish and me. The driver, Dunko (from Croatia) kept things interesting. The homes, however, were a bit of a disappointment. This part of the tour was a compulsory part of the LA city tour, but I though I might get some guilty pleasure from it, a bit like being forced to eat fast food. However, I found the whole thing rather dull. I was aware that the famous were rich, and lived in big houses. This tour preached to the converted, really. The houses
Rare White Whale
Urban whale ponders the prospects of de-evolving back into the sea so as to get rid of his pesky legswere nice, sure, but what else would you expect? I think a tour of urban slums would be more enlightening.
Following the houses, we moved onto the J. Paul Getty centre, a massive art Musesum located right in the hills. It turned out that I was the only one stopping, so I will continue the story without the tour group. The Getty (as we locals call it) was a pretty impressive place, even just the archtecture and views alone, which you can see in my photos. The centre, founded by the death of Getty, literally has more money than it knows what to do with. Suprising, given that he was legendarily tight; he installated a pay-phone in his home for his guests!
Legally, it has to spend 25% of its income each year (interest on $12 billion dollars I think) which means that it can buy any piece of art it wants. Apparently it has so much money that it buys well above market value, pushing prices up world wide.
Anyway, it turns out that the most expensive art they could buy was pre-modern (before 1800) art, which is not really my thing. I don't know a
hell of a lot about art, but I prefer pieces that make me think, that construct reality in a certain manner, rather than simply trying to represent it. While there is a like of skill in the earlier work - they certainly look like the things they look like - it didn't really interest me that much. More interesting where the experimental film and photography sections, which I enjoyed.
After my four hours at the Getty I was picked up by another bus to continue my tour of the city. We went through Rodeo drive, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood and up Mullholland Drive to see the Hollywood sign. I enjoyed the experience, but couldn't help but think that I had missed the real LA, in two different senses.
Firstly we missed to heart of the city, the inner city suburbs which drives the city. This may not be the best tourist destination, but it would tell a different truth about LA than what I experienced. Secondly, I felt like there was something missing from the glitzy places we visited - and you probably couldn't get glitzer than Rodeo Drive. While it was flash, it the same time it
Phallic Symbol
Phallic symbols; old school homeland security was very, very mundane. Sure there were expensive shops, but so what? For I while I have thought I was denying myself the chance of opulence, but, you know what (five days over here and I am writing like a Yank) now I couldn't care less. Plus there were none of the beautiful women I had heard so much about. Plently of large ones, very little in the way of eye candy. I think I will stick with Victoria after all (Love ya hun!). I was left with the feeling that the real LA/Hollywood didn't exist here at all; the real LA existed only on TV.
Still was fun to have a look around though. The views from Mullholland Drive (one of my favourite movies) was pretty cool too. LA is a vast place. Vast.
Coming home to find that I had lost all my work from last night was disappointing, to say the least, but still a good day
April 3rd
Fairly quite day today as I said goodbye to Santa Monica and moved onto to Riverside, where my conference was being held. My Riverside hotel is pretty good, with all the expect ammenties, plus
House
Apparently much of the architecture in this area is inspired by Lou Gehrg (and the Springfield opera house) free (if automated) breakfast in the morning. That said, the bed is very strange, it is really hard, but you leave an impression in it after a while. Difficult to explain, difficult to sleep in! I spent much of the day working on my paper and getting nervous. I did go for a run/explore to have a look around the campus. It is very nice really, the buildings are quite old, but its nice and green with a real multi-cultural feel (18% white). As usual I got lost and ended up between the soccer and softball fields. Not only were the facilities amazing (better than anything we have in Auckland), but the standard of the women playing was pretty superb too. The rest of the day was spent fixing my paper and feeling a little nervous about the next day
April 4th
Today was the big day, what months and months of stress (and a little bit of hard of work) had led up to. After a pretty nervous morning, I was on. There were around about 40 presenters at the conference, plus about 30 grad students etc. This group was divided into two streams. Our stream was
fairly packed, about 40-50 people in a room built for 35, with quite a few sitting on the floor. Three of us were presenting in the session, me the last of the three. I barely listed to the first two presenters and instead focused on not bolting out the door!
However, when it came to my turn, things went swimmingly. My delivery was fine and a got a few laughs, which was great. Question and discussion when over well and lasted over time. People even came up to me to after the session to discuss my paper. After the last paper I gave, which barely generated a question, this was a great relief. I felt so relieved afterwards, its hard to express it here. Perhaps that I spent the next two hours (lunch break) having lunch with a middle aged Afro-American women, discussing the state of ethnic studies here and in America might express how energised I felt (taking to strangers is so out of character for me - they are usually strange). This energy has continued throughout the day; it is great being able to put names to faces and talk about interesting issues with like minded people.
I picked up so much in just the one day.
Now though I feel pretty knackered - Ready for bed.
Tomorrow is the final day of my conference and my final day here in Riverside. It is also my final day travelling alone, which I have mixed feelings about. At the start of the trip I felt quite uncomfortable that Victoria wasn't with me, lacking a bit of confidence. Now, however, I feel a lot more independent and confident. You certainly do learn more about yourself when you are forced to be alone. That said, it is great to experience things together and I am really looking forward to seeing Victoria again. Let the good times continue!
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