the few

despite living in a city of abundance, there are very many "fews" around. few public toilets, few bike lanes, (as i adjust to the city) few friends, few disposable dollars (in my paycheck), and so forth. i think the most difficult "few" to deal with in society exists in relation to opportunity for expression, employment, mobility, and diversity, in majority-minority areas of Los Angeles.

this is not a piece of writing meant to advocate social policy. i'm merely using the film, 'Rize,' and other social and cultural stimulants to talk about some messed up shit.

the level of cross-cultural, multi-ethnic communication in this city and others appals me. urban sociologists have found very little interaction across social and economic lines, particularly in major cities, with even more alarming rates of isolation and exclusivity in southern urban areas. so, "few #1" is the substantive exposure that the rich have to the poor and vice versa. the abundance, it just so happens, also manifests itself at the extremely of southern california's society - the hollywood hills' mansions and the dirt poor homeless asleep downtown - abundance in numbers at both ends.

another few has to do with my seemingly self-absorbed fascination with travel and ultimate frisbee. i only mention this in a post about "few" because, although the opportunity to travel to nationals has now revealed itself (through the kindness of my supervisor and a close family friend), my few expendable dollars will quickly dissipate into athletic gear and travel costs. my love for ultimate, and my seemingly endless supply of cash for hotels during college ultimate trips, cannot and will not inflate the few moneys i own after rent, debts, and necessities are paid. and i don't even like to talk about money... this is just a really raw time for me... learning about budgeting out of financial necessity as opposed to moral force.

i'm tired, and i can imagine that my style of writing gets more difficult the longer the post. i'll leave with a hollywood-related "few" that came up tonight as i played host to a friend, Shafiq, formerly of GW. the few that i think of when i'm around the movies and popular culture is my awareness of film, music, performance icons. shafiq and i walked around hollywood and west hollywood talking about landmarks. but, i lack the base of celebrity knowledge that seems to pervade the scene up there in the northern part of this city.

namely, i would like to know the artists whose voices are used so often in meaningful, progressive rap songs, including kanye west's use of nina simone's voice and tupac's use of ________'s voice. i would like to know who sings the chorus to this song, ghetto gospel.

i'll upload some pictures of LA as they become available. also, i welcome your ideas for future posts.