film
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Ethiopian New Year's
Monday, September 15, 2008
Labels:
los angeles
1 comments
Yesterday was the parade commemorating Ethiopian New Year's in nearby Little Ethiopia.
In case you didn't know, the Little Ethiopia section of LA refers to a stretch of Fairfax Blvd between Olympic and Pico Blvds (a non-hipster gentrifying area nestled between Miracle Mile & Carthay Circle), and is seen as the cornerstone of the local Ethiopian population & the shops/boutiques that cater to them (think: yummy Ethiopian food places and Rastafarian-eccentric vendors hawking tri-colored beanies).
Despite the Little Ethiopia name bestowed on the area by the city, the area is typical of many ethnic hoods in LA that are polyglot in nature, such as Koreatown (3/4ths Hispanic) and Little Tokyo (mainly white hipsters)... many of it's inhabitants are young whites and a more established black population.
& Like many of it's Miracle Mile neighbors (Carthay, Wilshire Vista, etc), it is characterized by a large Spanish Revival housing stock.
Overall, Little Ethiopia is another cute, electic nabe with culture and vibrance on the cheap-and lots of pride to boot.
Despite a troubled history marked by intense warfare, famine and poverty, the Ethiopian flag flies high and fluid with pride here.
Jah Rastafari. Long before dreadlocks became a fashion staple in indie,intellectual and rasta circles, they were a mainstay of African men.
Homes
Circus
King of all kings, lions of all lions, international field marshal, genera, the almighty Haile Selassie
Religious paraphernalia. Having been one of 2 African nations to escape a livelihood of bondage, repression and bastardization thru colonization, Ethiopians have a damn good reason to be proud of their culture.
Selassie
Coming to America
girl
worldwide change
In case you didn't know, the Little Ethiopia section of LA refers to a stretch of Fairfax Blvd between Olympic and Pico Blvds (a non-hipster gentrifying area nestled between Miracle Mile & Carthay Circle), and is seen as the cornerstone of the local Ethiopian population & the shops/boutiques that cater to them (think: yummy Ethiopian food places and Rastafarian-eccentric vendors hawking tri-colored beanies).
Despite the Little Ethiopia name bestowed on the area by the city, the area is typical of many ethnic hoods in LA that are polyglot in nature, such as Koreatown (3/4ths Hispanic) and Little Tokyo (mainly white hipsters)... many of it's inhabitants are young whites and a more established black population.
& Like many of it's Miracle Mile neighbors (Carthay, Wilshire Vista, etc), it is characterized by a large Spanish Revival housing stock.
Overall, Little Ethiopia is another cute, electic nabe with culture and vibrance on the cheap-and lots of pride to boot.
Despite a troubled history marked by intense warfare, famine and poverty, the Ethiopian flag flies high and fluid with pride here.
Jah Rastafari. Long before dreadlocks became a fashion staple in indie,intellectual and rasta circles, they were a mainstay of African men.
Homes
Circus
King of all kings, lions of all lions, international field marshal, genera, the almighty Haile Selassie
Religious paraphernalia. Having been one of 2 African nations to escape a livelihood of bondage, repression and bastardization thru colonization, Ethiopians have a damn good reason to be proud of their culture.
Selassie
Coming to America
girl
worldwide change
tamarind
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Labels:
bahamas,
long island,
travels
3
comments
Sorry for being AWOL these past few days, I was vacationing in the lovely rural Long Island, Bahamas.
Transportation to the desolated island,of which only received island-wide power earlier this decade was provided by the brazenly inept and unprofessional Bahamasair, replete with 17 and 27 year-old aircrafts. However, in all fairness, the parallels between Bahamasair and federal/state owned enterprises stateside were chilling.
I stayed not too far from Salt Pond, the nexus of the Fox family (nearly every family on the island has a village/community of their own). The town I stayed in, called Pinders is not atypical of the island...a sort of bastion of hard working, agrarian, blue collar folks...folks who reside in a place that has largely escaped the typical stereotype of the Bahamas being a tourist disneyland, overrun by spoiled, overweight American tourists who pour out of cruise ships donning fashions from 5 years ago.
This place was much more humble, with traditions firmly rooted in the past, living in what Westerners would deem "primitive", for the Long Islanders live not much different from their forefathers. Electricity, internet, fast food and constant running water and other contemporary Western amenities are few and few here (however,many Long Islanders live rather comfortably amidst this-don't let the humble, homely look fool you, many Long Islanders have deep pockets.)
--->The residence I stayed in for the length of my stay.
Fishing and boating are almost a national pastime in Long Island (coupled with drinking), several of the days we went fishing/diving/etc. Here is my cousin Peter's recent purchase, affectionately named "Idle Time". The boat, of 2007 vintage is tricked out with all of the latest gizmos, including dedicated gps, depth finder and sonar, amongst others.
The extremely poisonous lionfish below was one of the more bizarre catches.
Way New
While there we had heaps and heaps of spiny lobsters, called crawfish by locals.
9 fishes, yo
A blighted (white) rastaman. Long Island is unique for being one of 3 Bahamian islands to host a majority white population.
Select family members riding aboard the back of a truck-something done religiously done in family islands.
Below is the highly praised and acclaimed beach at Cape Santa Maria, at the northernmost tip of Long Island. This beach is constantly in top 20 rankings for best beach in the world.
I also visited (..and jumped) Dean's Blue Hole, the world's deepest blue hole (a submarine cave or sinkhole; :wiki)
An uninterrupted 80-mile stretch of contrasting coastlines gives Long Island its name and a distinct landscape. While soft beaches greet the water on the west coast, rocky cliffs rise from the shore on the east. That said, words are inadequate.
Transportation to the desolated island,of which only received island-wide power earlier this decade was provided by the brazenly inept and unprofessional Bahamasair, replete with 17 and 27 year-old aircrafts. However, in all fairness, the parallels between Bahamasair and federal/state owned enterprises stateside were chilling.
I stayed not too far from Salt Pond, the nexus of the Fox family (nearly every family on the island has a village/community of their own). The town I stayed in, called Pinders is not atypical of the island...a sort of bastion of hard working, agrarian, blue collar folks...folks who reside in a place that has largely escaped the typical stereotype of the Bahamas being a tourist disneyland, overrun by spoiled, overweight American tourists who pour out of cruise ships donning fashions from 5 years ago.
This place was much more humble, with traditions firmly rooted in the past, living in what Westerners would deem "primitive", for the Long Islanders live not much different from their forefathers. Electricity, internet, fast food and constant running water and other contemporary Western amenities are few and few here (however,many Long Islanders live rather comfortably amidst this-don't let the humble, homely look fool you, many Long Islanders have deep pockets.)
--->The residence I stayed in for the length of my stay.
Fishing and boating are almost a national pastime in Long Island (coupled with drinking), several of the days we went fishing/diving/etc. Here is my cousin Peter's recent purchase, affectionately named "Idle Time". The boat, of 2007 vintage is tricked out with all of the latest gizmos, including dedicated gps, depth finder and sonar, amongst others.
The extremely poisonous lionfish below was one of the more bizarre catches.
Way New
While there we had heaps and heaps of spiny lobsters, called crawfish by locals.
9 fishes, yoA blighted (white) rastaman. Long Island is unique for being one of 3 Bahamian islands to host a majority white population.
Select family members riding aboard the back of a truck-something done religiously done in family islands.
Below is the highly praised and acclaimed beach at Cape Santa Maria, at the northernmost tip of Long Island. This beach is constantly in top 20 rankings for best beach in the world.
I also visited (..and jumped) Dean's Blue Hole, the world's deepest blue hole (a submarine cave or sinkhole; :wiki)
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