FUNNY FEELING

Los Angeles is a new city to me since I've only begun to become more familiar with the city's character. Amy Sheppard's project about "Cerebral Cities" have made me rethink how I relate to the city. In her response to the ELSE/WHERE MAPPING essay, she describes the process of mapping a city as a "blossom effect". As soon as you learn new paths and areas of the city, your mental mapping of the city shifts. Couple that concept with readings from Norman Klein's book about the forgotten LA and you start to see Los Angeles in an entirely different way. Norman Klein teaches a class at Art Center called "Los Angeles Histories and Myths". Layers of the city that have been built up by movies, stereotypes, music and pop culture begin to unveil.

For me, learning about LA in layers have made it smaller but richer.