Californians, in general, have to be the friendliest people I have had the pleasure of visiting.
LA is a place of wild contradictions and quite clear racial tensions and divisions. But the warmth I've felt from people across the board is, I believe, genuine and a shared uniting characteristic.
My travelling companion has received a non-sleazy compliment from a different stranger everyday. This doesn't happen at home.
Yesterday I had brief but illuminating conversation with Leo, a mature student and former graffiti writer, local to the area, who had come into SPARC to volunteer his time and skills in helping to conserve what he sees as an important visual heritage. The belief in conserving this kind of work is infectious and has made me consider the importance of what we do.
As I'm learning about the impressive work SPARC has produced, work that represents the people, stories and communities that are often otherwise ignored or deliberately overlooked the mainstream promotion of 'culture', it is comforting to be sent the following article from home.
http://www.journal-online.co.uk/article/11328-the_nation_live_work_union_civil_war_faith_roots
a review of a community based project Robin Baillie and I have spent the last two years developing at the National Galleries of Scotland.
In other news we saw an opossum last night on the way home. weird wee thing.
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