Accents

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How to make it in Los Angeles

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Stacked.

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The whole world in his hands

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Loose camera

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Yellow

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It's in the face

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Freedom is not free

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Christmas

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Frames along Melrose

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Our history in lightbulbs

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Ending 2015

I am back in LA, a place that never surprises. Sitting at #ALFREDOCOFFEE on Melrose. Opposite me a couple who are in retail discuss their work and products they have bought. The stylist, wearing a trilby, talks about processes and not being able to focus. He is straightforward. Mature for his age (he looks like he’s 21 years old). A matt, black helmet is placed at his elbow. 

The girl, blond hair, sometimes looks out of the window, sometimes mirrors his gestures. Her smile is beautiful, makeup impeccable. Three years is a long time for them to be in one company she says. 

You read about this in research papers about Millennials but to hear it in a coffee shop is different. 

Where I stay in LA, people look real. They focus on themselves and their talents. They are kitted out for the world. Outside on Melrose, shops are closing, new ones are opening, mostly interiors. 

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Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is because we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity — but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography," our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards… It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are

Sogyal Rinpoche 

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A weekend past

Los Angeles held its annual Aids walk today. It takes place at Beverly Blvd, just two seconds south of where my parents live and a couple of minutes more to the hospital where my mother is. There walkers are cheered on by volunteers and a band sponsored by Macey’s. Traffic is redirected with beautiful flourishes of the hands. By 230pm, the roads are cleared and West Hollywood is back to normal. 

To be alive is to have convictions. Civil society is often seen as a nuisance and unrealistic in the East, but in the States and Europe, it is a potent force, a reminder that we have it within our hands to make a positive impact.