Sometimes things being all they’re cracked up to be is a bad thing.
A very bad thing.
Over this Memorial Day weekend, I stretched the holiday to a four day trip to the Los Angeles area. After the first three featured natural and cultural highlights from desert to coastline, we ended with a Day 4 visit to L.A.’s most (in)famous draw: Skid Row. Given my documentary on homelessness and the work of The Periphery Foundation (https://www.theperiphery.org), a visit here seemed almost mandatory, as it stands as THE representation of this epidemic in the country.
“It’s a magnified example of the homelessness problem,” said Suzette Shaw, who took me around these streets she used to inhabit. Today, she speaks about Skid Row to schools and nonprofits looking to learn and help in this crisis. A mutual friend introduced us.
screenshot of Suzette from our interview video
This magnification blew me away.
At one (of several) Skid Row blocks, a woman 50 feet away pointed aimlessly while muttering indecipherably. She stood among a group of 20 or so individuals on her stretch of sidewalk, some standing, some sitting, all tattered in their dress and composure. Across the street from them were tents, debris, graffitied buildings, and more people.
There's the pointing woman to the right, while I contain my unease.
Photo taken by my partner, Casey.
The magnification was also inferred within Suzette's descriptions. When standing before a small city park, fully populated by these residents of Skid Row, she commented on the cleanliness of the area. As surprising as it was to hear that these conditions were somehow an improvement, this also seemed to reveal another sobering indication: That short of reducing the problem, the city is just getting better at nurturing it. Because while they do have better bathroom facilities and more cleaning staff, Suzette said, there was now more to clean and provide for, as blocks empty of such residents not long ago are now full of tents.
This trip to L.A. featured several rich offerings unique to this area: the solemn and the eternal at Joshua Tree National Park, the magnificence and breathtaking views along the Pacific Coast Highway, and the spirit and expressiveness of skateboarders to street magicians along Venice Beach. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that the depths of those struggling here would be just another of L.A.'s extremes. Yet as seems to be the case with today's America, the negative aspect has become the loudest.
Look for this video of L.A.'s Skid Row coming up.
My hope is to also use this experience as fuel and inspiration for our nonprofit's efforts.
It's good to be back in Minnesota. Hope you all have an amazing Memorial Day Monday.
My homelessness documentary:
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