The World in LA; Los Angeles in the World

This past week, I had the pleasure of hearing Kalyanee Mam, the creator of the award-winning film A River Changes Course , speak and screen her newest film, Lost World . To begin the event, Mam asked the audience, “What is home to you?” Members of the audience responded with common ideas about parents, friends, safety. One said it was where their family is, the next where laughter is heard, and a third where worries are absent. The unifying theme was one of security in place, where home is a constant, guaranteed. The relevance of this conversation would become clear with our watching of her film Lost World . Where we members of the audience found comfort in things beyond the strictly physical nature of our planet, the subjects of her film grieved losing the very land beneath their feet, the soil that supported the ecosystems of those that came before them. We came to understand that, to conceptualize home as something that supersedes terrestrial elements, we must first have precisely ...

A few days ago, Alec and Rory, graduating seniors, presented on the process and culminating achievement of their capstone project: a book entitled Invest Yourself: Pasadena , which was made in collaboration with another student, Calvin Heartfield, and the original creators of Invest Yourself , by the Commission on Voluntary Service and Action. To begin the event, the two first offered background on how they became interested in global studies and their respective conclusions that this endeavor would best suit their goals and abilities. Both having travelled to Argentina this past summer, they shared a unique investment in the state of Latin America. As a result, each turned to service here in the States, understanding that, while grand idealism inspires greatly, hard work in “glocal” communities can also make positive change. (Glocal, the compounding of “global” and “local,” refers to the global nature of communities within American regions and cities.) The two set out to compile v...

Reyna Grande, published author and immigration advocate, spoke recently about her two novels, The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home . During the event, she discussed aspects of her most recent novel and talked about her progression as a writer, from one who writes to escape her reality to one who writes to better that reality. Her works often engage with the topic of immigration and the duality of foreign-born citizens. Grande herself emigrated from Mexico when she was nine years old, crossing what was perhaps the most significant but certainly not the last barrier in her life. Before her immigration, her parents had worked in the United States for some time. The distance she felt from her parents and their work, the harrowing disconnect between a daughter and her mother and father, served to transport the audience from the relatively safe seats of the Garland auditorium to better understand Grande’s uncertain upbringing. Later in her speech, Grande offered a metaphor...

This past week, I had the privilege of hearing Vanessa Hua, an Asian-American author based in San Francisco, speak. She works as a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and has published two books, Deceit and Other Possibilities (2016) and A River of Stars (2018), works for which she has received numerous awards. At the event, Hua talked about her most recent novel, read a brief excerpt from her 2016 anthology, discussed current events, and shared parts of her creative process. A River of Stars follows Scarlett Chen, a pregnant Chinese woman, who, in an attempt to gain citizenship for her soon-to-be-born son, takes up residence in Los Angeles. Complications ensue, and Scarlett must navigate a country in which she does not speak the language, all while evading immigration authorities and attempting to gain a foothold in the United States for her son. The novel stands at the intersection of several dynamic populations: pregnant women, immigrants, Chinese Americans, and those who ai...