Sunday, August 30, 2009
Skid Row Tour II
I went on another Skid Row tour, this time with my fellow interns. It was a lot different. Apparently I'd been taken to the "nice part" of Skid Row the first time. It kind of made sense for Chrysalis to do that, because we'll be dealing with people from the "nice part" anyway. The people who come in to Chrysalis have to, at least, be a little work ready. The underbelly of Skid Row was a lot different. There were many mentally ill people on the streets and to be honest it was a little frightening and very jarring. It just blows my mind that there's a nice part and a bad part within Skid Row.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
First day at work!
Yesterday was my first real day at Chrysalis. It went well! We were really busy because all the offices were closed last week for training, so when I got to work at 8 a.m. there were already about 75 people waiting in the lobby. It's a smallish lobby, too!
From there I kind of had to jump right in because we were so busy. I did what's called client intake, which is basically just reading their application and asking them if they're homeless, felons or substance abusers. I was nervous at first because I've never asked anyone that before, let alone people I'd met approximately three seconds earlier. It was fine though. I'm assuming a lot of people in Skid Row are used to being asked these questions by other social service agencies, and a lot of them are probably then subjected to drug testing etc., which we don't do.
I got lost on my way to work because they were filming a movie downtown. Pffft, L.A.! They blocked off a bunch of streets and I couldn't ever turn left, which was all I needed to do to fix my problem. I learned they have an L.A.P.D. film unit. That must be a pretty sweet job. They all have motorcycles and all the fake movie cops were co-mingling with the L.A.P.D. film unit at the food tables. I was angry because I wanted to go left! I was proud of myself for getting back with no problem. I figured out that Figueroa meets E. Cesar Chavez Blvd, which turns into Sunset Blvd, which turns into Hollywood Blvd. Hooray!
I'm currently staying in Silver Lake, which is super nice. It's a hip part of town in the Hills. The houses are very cool (some designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) but they're right on top of one another so I don't think I could live there. The place I'll be living permanently is right downtown (in Hollywood) and you can see the Hollywood sign from my street, so that's cool! I also have to walk over Vincent Price's and Bettie Davis's star to get to the metro stop.
A quick word about public transportation!
The only places you can buy monthly metro passes are liquor stores and check cashing places, so that says something about they type of people they expect to use public transportation. This is part of the reason why Boston will always be a better city.
FIN
From there I kind of had to jump right in because we were so busy. I did what's called client intake, which is basically just reading their application and asking them if they're homeless, felons or substance abusers. I was nervous at first because I've never asked anyone that before, let alone people I'd met approximately three seconds earlier. It was fine though. I'm assuming a lot of people in Skid Row are used to being asked these questions by other social service agencies, and a lot of them are probably then subjected to drug testing etc., which we don't do.
I got lost on my way to work because they were filming a movie downtown. Pffft, L.A.! They blocked off a bunch of streets and I couldn't ever turn left, which was all I needed to do to fix my problem. I learned they have an L.A.P.D. film unit. That must be a pretty sweet job. They all have motorcycles and all the fake movie cops were co-mingling with the L.A.P.D. film unit at the food tables. I was angry because I wanted to go left! I was proud of myself for getting back with no problem. I figured out that Figueroa meets E. Cesar Chavez Blvd, which turns into Sunset Blvd, which turns into Hollywood Blvd. Hooray!
I'm currently staying in Silver Lake, which is super nice. It's a hip part of town in the Hills. The houses are very cool (some designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) but they're right on top of one another so I don't think I could live there. The place I'll be living permanently is right downtown (in Hollywood) and you can see the Hollywood sign from my street, so that's cool! I also have to walk over Vincent Price's and Bettie Davis's star to get to the metro stop.
A quick word about public transportation!
The only places you can buy monthly metro passes are liquor stores and check cashing places, so that says something about they type of people they expect to use public transportation. This is part of the reason why Boston will always be a better city.
FIN
Thursday, August 20, 2009
American Apparel
I learned something bad about American Apparel today, but it's not surprising.
The factory is about 7 blocks from our office. A lot of our clients get jobs working in the factory. They're excited, because AA does actually pay fairly well, but they are more excited about the benefits, which are rumored to be good. These benefits don't kick in for 90 days, however, and many (but not all) clients mysteriously lose their jobs on day, oh, let's say, I dunno.... 89. While I think it's good that there's a large, entry level employer right Downtown (this is rare) if this is true it sucks so bad! I never liked Dov Whateverhisdumbfaceis, and I pretty much only like their T-Shirts and Sweatshirts, but it makes me sad that they'd do this. I wanted to believe that they gave people in Downtown L.A. good jobs. I'll let you all know if I get to the bottom of this!
The factory is about 7 blocks from our office. A lot of our clients get jobs working in the factory. They're excited, because AA does actually pay fairly well, but they are more excited about the benefits, which are rumored to be good. These benefits don't kick in for 90 days, however, and many (but not all) clients mysteriously lose their jobs on day, oh, let's say, I dunno.... 89. While I think it's good that there's a large, entry level employer right Downtown (this is rare) if this is true it sucks so bad! I never liked Dov Whateverhisdumbfaceis, and I pretty much only like their T-Shirts and Sweatshirts, but it makes me sad that they'd do this. I wanted to believe that they gave people in Downtown L.A. good jobs. I'll let you all know if I get to the bottom of this!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Skid Row
I do not have the energy to write everything I observed/learned about Skid Row today, so I am going to make a list of things I need to remember to write about tomorrow.
1) Toy District
2) The Soloist
3) SRO, LAMP, Union Rescue Mission
4) Community
5) Gentrification
Edit 8/20/2009
Ok! I'm ready now.
I work in Skid Row. That sounds totally badass/terrifying, but allow me to explain!
Skid Row is an officially recognized district in L.A. and if you looked at it on a map you'd see a very well defined section of town. However, the Skid Row culture is not so well or easily defined. I'm going to refer to the officially recognized boundaries of Skid Row as "Skid Row" and Skid Row culture, i.e. the rampant homelessness and drug use as Skid Row, sans quotes. To edit my earlier sentence, I work in "Skid Row."
As gentrification happens at a rapidly increasing pace downtown, the homeless population moves further east. Main street, where my office is, has historically been the western border of "Skid Row." Basically, in Los Angeles, the further west you go the nicer it gets (hence Dangerous Minds is set in East L.A. All of my judgements about this city are based on Dangerous Minds or L.A. Story). My office, however, is part of "Skid Row" in name only (though I'm still glad I get out of there before the sun sets). Right now I'm catching Skid Row at an odd transitional period. We went on a tour of Skid Row/"Skid Row" (which felt a little like going on a tour of like, the psych ward or a disaster area, but it was for a good cause (i.e. helping all us white kids understand a little better the level of poverty we'll be working with)) and it was pretty weird. I often saw a beat up old van with people living in it parked in between a new Audi and a new BMW. There are loft apartments that go for 4 or 5 thousand a month on the same block as Single Room Occupancy housing. SRO housing is emergency shelter housing. Only good for 30 days, it's where many chronically homeless people will crash on occasion, when they're not in the streets. When I saw these types of housing next to each other the difference between "Skid Row" and Skid Row really hit me.
Anyway, the area still sucks. I have never seen so many people just living in the streets. Cars don't seem to drive through it much, so everyone is just in the street. It's dirty, full of trash and it smells terrible but, as I was told by my co-worker who has been around forever (and, incidentally, loves Star Trek) it used to be a whole hell of a lot worse. We toured some SRO housing, a few transitional/substance abuse housing/counseling programs and a mission. The mission was huge and cavernous. All of these programs seem great and the people that work there are like, superheroes. I mean, these places really are in the heart of Skid Row, and they do serious stuff like needle exchanges and mental health counseling and free clinics and HIV/AIDS work. It makes my job seem like a piece of crumb cake! Skid Row needs a Harvey Dent more than a Batman, I decided. But it could probably use a Batman, too. The level of urban poverty I saw actually did remind me a little of a Gotham City Narrows type scenario (which shows how little experience I have in the less pleasant areas of American cities).
Another weird thing is that the "Skid Row" area is also called the Toy District, or at least the two districts overlap. There are all these banners on streetlights that say "Toy District" in cutesy font with like a teddy bear and blocks, but they're hanging above the most sorrowful scenes I've ever witnessed.
My first celebrity sighting was "The Soloist." There was that movie that came out about him, that I didn't see because I thought it looked preachy/dumb and I got the idea from the preview anyway. Jamie Fox plays this guy, The Soloist, who lives in Skid Row and he plays the violin and he is kickass at it. But he is also crazy! Robert Downey Jr. plays a reporter from the L.A. Times who becomes interested in this guy's story and it turns out he went to Julliard (my boss told me this stuff). Anyway, I saw him playing the cello a few blocks from work and his cello was wearing a bra that had a bunch of crazy stuff written on it!
1) Toy District
2) The Soloist
3) SRO, LAMP, Union Rescue Mission
4) Community
5) Gentrification
Edit 8/20/2009
Ok! I'm ready now.
I work in Skid Row. That sounds totally badass/terrifying, but allow me to explain!
Skid Row is an officially recognized district in L.A. and if you looked at it on a map you'd see a very well defined section of town. However, the Skid Row culture is not so well or easily defined. I'm going to refer to the officially recognized boundaries of Skid Row as "Skid Row" and Skid Row culture, i.e. the rampant homelessness and drug use as Skid Row, sans quotes. To edit my earlier sentence, I work in "Skid Row."
As gentrification happens at a rapidly increasing pace downtown, the homeless population moves further east. Main street, where my office is, has historically been the western border of "Skid Row." Basically, in Los Angeles, the further west you go the nicer it gets (hence Dangerous Minds is set in East L.A. All of my judgements about this city are based on Dangerous Minds or L.A. Story). My office, however, is part of "Skid Row" in name only (though I'm still glad I get out of there before the sun sets). Right now I'm catching Skid Row at an odd transitional period. We went on a tour of Skid Row/"Skid Row" (which felt a little like going on a tour of like, the psych ward or a disaster area, but it was for a good cause (i.e. helping all us white kids understand a little better the level of poverty we'll be working with)) and it was pretty weird. I often saw a beat up old van with people living in it parked in between a new Audi and a new BMW. There are loft apartments that go for 4 or 5 thousand a month on the same block as Single Room Occupancy housing. SRO housing is emergency shelter housing. Only good for 30 days, it's where many chronically homeless people will crash on occasion, when they're not in the streets. When I saw these types of housing next to each other the difference between "Skid Row" and Skid Row really hit me.
Anyway, the area still sucks. I have never seen so many people just living in the streets. Cars don't seem to drive through it much, so everyone is just in the street. It's dirty, full of trash and it smells terrible but, as I was told by my co-worker who has been around forever (and, incidentally, loves Star Trek) it used to be a whole hell of a lot worse. We toured some SRO housing, a few transitional/substance abuse housing/counseling programs and a mission. The mission was huge and cavernous. All of these programs seem great and the people that work there are like, superheroes. I mean, these places really are in the heart of Skid Row, and they do serious stuff like needle exchanges and mental health counseling and free clinics and HIV/AIDS work. It makes my job seem like a piece of crumb cake! Skid Row needs a Harvey Dent more than a Batman, I decided. But it could probably use a Batman, too. The level of urban poverty I saw actually did remind me a little of a Gotham City Narrows type scenario (which shows how little experience I have in the less pleasant areas of American cities).
Another weird thing is that the "Skid Row" area is also called the Toy District, or at least the two districts overlap. There are all these banners on streetlights that say "Toy District" in cutesy font with like a teddy bear and blocks, but they're hanging above the most sorrowful scenes I've ever witnessed.
My first celebrity sighting was "The Soloist." There was that movie that came out about him, that I didn't see because I thought it looked preachy/dumb and I got the idea from the preview anyway. Jamie Fox plays this guy, The Soloist, who lives in Skid Row and he plays the violin and he is kickass at it. But he is also crazy! Robert Downey Jr. plays a reporter from the L.A. Times who becomes interested in this guy's story and it turns out he went to Julliard (my boss told me this stuff). Anyway, I saw him playing the cello a few blocks from work and his cello was wearing a bra that had a bunch of crazy stuff written on it!
Monday, August 17, 2009
L.A.-brary
I work somewhat near the downtown public library branch and I thought you might like to see it because it's big, weird and looks like it belongs in Mesopotamia.*
*Thanks, Tim Barwise!
I had my first day of training today. It went swimmingly. Everyone seems really dedicated, and the Chrysalis training is basically what res life wishes it could be. It's all very orgranized, which is great. A lot of community service/non-profits I've worked with in the past have been all over the place, and it has really had a negative impact on their effectiveness. Everyone is really honest (which is something res life never was) about the problems we will face. For instance, they will talk about how often they feel like they are common sense counselors, because a lot of the clients just don't have any common sense. (Res life doesn't have any common sense, either.) I got to know the other interns (from Americorps, not my specific program) as well as the client host. His job is to maintain order at the downtown office, because we have about 220 people walk through the door every day. It turns out he loves sewing and can make pants, from scratch, in like an hour. Pants are really hard. I tried to make pajama pants once and the crotch, just the crotch, came out 3 sizes too big. He told me he was a licensed machine operator so I asked him how he got his license and he said he learned in prison. Turns out he was a client before he got his job as a host. I think it's awesome that Chrysalis hires their own clients to work at their own company. It illustrates how much they believe in what they do. I had a bit of naive moment when I was all "I'm talking about pattern making with a former inmate. This is kinda crazy!" but within 30 seconds I forgot about it. I don't know, I always thought that would be something you always had in the back of your mind when speaking to someone who'd been incarcerated, but it's not. It probably also helps that he's very soft spoken and sweet. I've heard that the California prison system is insane, and you can be incarcerated super easy here, but I don't know the specifics. I do know that 70% of our clients have a felony on their record, but I'm not sure how many have spent time in prison. It seems like a lot have.
I had a very good day. The Chrysalis office is on one of the borders of Skid Row. The borders are actually well defined, even though it seems like it would be more of a nebulous sort of thing. "Skid Row" is official and used by the city (it's on fire trucks and stuff). Downtown L.A., at least the part I saw, was nothing like it's made out to be. There are lots of people walking around, fancy hotels, a dog groomer, etc. We will, however, go on a tour of skid row tomorrow so I will let all of you know how that goes!
BONUS: I drove on the 405 yesterday. And I didn't die! And I might drive to Inglewood today! WOW!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
FIRST POST
I am in Santa Monica, where I'll be for a while before the rest of the interns get here. I'm about to go for a walk. Then I'll have dinner with two really nice, cool priests (Episcopal). I am very EXCITED.
Edit: Walk completed. I went for a walk down to the water. I included a jaunt along muscle beach, just for kicks. NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT. (I thought it would be funnier.) The houses in Santa Monica are great. I'm not talking about the big ones right on the water, but the little ones with neat front yard gardens. They're painted in pretty colors and have neat style. I could live here (but I couldn't afford it and my mom would kill me). The weather is, of course, fantastic. The ocean breeze here friendlier(?) than it is at home. It's more refreshing, I guess.
I went into the American Apparel because I realized I didn't bring a sweatshirt (but I won't pay 42 dollars for one so I have no idea why I went into the American Apparel) and I found the sales people to be less snooty than they are in Boston, but the store itself was just as annoying.
I have always thought of L.A. as being somehow stuck in the late 1980's/early 1990's. I don't know why; I think there may have been a lot of movies made about the area during that time period. I also know that I'm not the only one who thinks like this (Parker, among others, has agreed with me). I am sad to report that, despite an abundance of rollerbladers, this is not true.
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