anne's dispatches from sydney

...

a very wet montreal the day before term begins. i can't believe the way that I miss home. I even admire the protests against the Forbes 500 CEO's in Sydney- sound like they are actually authentic rather than sloganistic! There are some great sound bites in this article in the SMH, calling the Forbes people 'free market freaks'!! great work, Bruce! Also, the VSU and Clean Energy campaigns sound excellent!

McGill in comparison with sydney uni seems impersonal- I haven't found the eddies- the still places amid the stream of people- where I can sit and chat with people, (and I keep noticing my disagreements with the unspoken decisions made by the activists)... Apparently the Architecture Cafe is good...

I have just emerged from two days of "radical frosh" . Frosh week is a very weird tradition here- where groups such as arts or commerce go around in gangs of people in identical t-shirts and get totally drunk, act really stupid and see how many people they can score with for a few days and then boast about it - no wonder there are stories (even being warned by my mum before I left) about sexual assault here- there seems to be more peer-pressure about sex here than at home- a group of commerce frosh people ridiculously chanted 'virgins' at the radical frosh people as an insult whilst walking past us [we happened to be on a history tour of the dodgyness of the uni- from the fur trade to Indigenous dispossession to crazy misanthropic psychiatrists- this uni is proclaimed to be built on BAD MONEY].

It's not even an insult- I can't BELIEVE that kind of attitude. Its none of their business being so manipulative in such a personal part of one's life, where you require autonomy!!  I would actually take it as a compliment that we appear more civilised. They must be total sleazes.  I have just witnessed and been affected by so much misery by people close to me in my life who have been sexually assaulted. However, the Radical frosh people are just as determined to be (perceived to be) sexually free, with its sponsorship by a sex toys company- In our showbags we got a brochure with many model penises in it- which embarrasses me. Though  there is much less coercion associated with 'picking up' in progressive circles. Maybe I'm a prude but I don't care.
(actually- my issue with sex toys is that they instrumentalise sex into a 'thing' that you 'get' rather than an expression of a relationship. It becomes a commodity so that an individual can satisfy a selfish need for 'pleasure' rather than an expression of mutual care).

My critiques:

0. NO permanent place to gather
1. guilt-driven identity politics
2. lack of organisation
3. lack of long term big picture thinking
4. a determinist interpretation of history of the university
5. lack of interrogation of the stereotype of radical-as -streetfighter
6. lack of community
7. lack of cultivation of a radical intellectual scene
7. not much political debate
8. not much organiser training
9. sponsorship by a sex toys business

posted by: anneinchaosland at 19:54 | link | comments |

So...Montreal.

I have wandered your streets for days on end and what is the result?

long hours of sleep, a random offer of a date that I didnt take up (from the Peruvian guy at the jewellery stall, who flattered me by taking photos of me- and then asked me to meet him at midnight that night when the festival would be packing up... its interesting how many south american men ask me out- wonder if thats them or me!), some nice photos, of interesting street murals, some clothes from the markets, some (slightly) big holes in my ears from the wooden earrings I bought, a daze from the movies, a few coffees, a few sandwiches... a few words of French, some nonsensical exchanges of words with passers-by, A strong dislike for rowdy first year McGill students on their Frosh Week, A student card, slightly less confusion than when I started.

All of which are quite typical products of a Quebecois street, on the last fleeting days of Summer, before the cold rushes in.

I have been staying with Cameron, an organiser from Concordia, who I linked up with on the Road To Detroit, in an apartment with 3 cats, plus two other people: Yara, a Brazilian woman who is studying a Ph.D at Concordia, Garth, a nice down to earth guy, who has taught me how to do "Sudoku" puzzles, that are a total craze here and in England, even being more popular than the crossword puzzles.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 14:33 | link | comments |

So i'm in montreal it's amazing but i'm too tired to explain HOW it's amazing so i'll leave that to a later date x Anne

posted by: anneinchaosland at 03:23 | link | comments |

As part of today's "Project Democracy" training, I just did a fictional press conference as the secretary of the Harmonia chapter of NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), speaking for a bill on environmental justice, that would require polluting chemical companies in minority communities to clean up their act.

This was my script (that I wrote).- I have used US spelling.

---------------------------------------

"This bill has been a long time coming, and is overdue in Harmonia.

"We all have a right to a clean healthy lifestyle.

"Chemical polluters are industry dinosaurs that should have cleaned up their act decades ago.

"Minority populations have long had to bear the burden of harmful toxic pollution in our communities. We have seen leukemia and other cancers take its toll on our citizens.

"This is a commonsense initiative that will help lift us out of these disadvantages.

"Mr. Coburn and I will now field questions."

---------------------------------------

It was a pretty good press conference, (with good ad lib responses to questions) in contrast to the horrendous group process that preceded it. The two guys (one of whom was lying on the floor) refused to discuss our group focus for more than two minutes- they were impatient and always complaining. They just wanted to delegate immediately.

Hence a conflict arose- because I was adamant that we had to discuss it. This is because about two months ago in a Sydney Uni government class, my group had delegated tasks prematurely, before a vision had been agreed upon- with terribly disempowering, uncreative consequences- and I had resolved in my class journal to not repeat this.

There was immense tension in the group- it was interesting that it was very strong gender tension- with both I and Christina, females who have no older brothers, whereas the other two males were threatened by our leadership and continued to speak over us. The third woman was younger- 17 years old, quiet and obviously had a domineering older brother.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 02:01 | link | comments |

So now I am in Ann Arbor, Michigan- about 3 hours from Chicago- kind of near Flint!!!

I am currently at an activist training called "project democracy" run by the League of Conservation Voters- It's very US Voter oriented, but it's still useful to me in some ways.

people are playing drinking games with cards downstairs and I am up here, in this motel room, with my eyes slowly closing from tiredness and chlorination from the indoor pool. Drinking games sometimes have too much bravado for me... but my roommate Jenny is pressuring me to come down. (almost every night she has come in absolutely drunk- one night she came in and started throwing up on the carpet under where the clothes were hanging).

Today we went out door-knocking in a small town, asking people "We need stronger laws for water conservation in the great lakes area... would you be willing to support that?". There are several cases of corporate misconduct that are leading to depletion of groundwater. CocaCola and Nestle bottle water around here. I tried to explain this to one woman, saying "Lots of big companies have been using the water resources irresponsibly" and she cut me off, saying "We don't have lots of big companies around this area". Anyway- some people just want to find the smallest thing that's wrong with what you say.

Ther local area was filled with emerald green grass (at the end of summer!!- obviously they overuse water), cornfields and big barns. There were American flags in some form on every house- some as artistic renditions of it- with stars in different places. There were also reflective balls in many gardens, often on a greek columned pedestal- I was told that this is meant to reflect the garden in its spherical shape, so it can be viewed from the house. How eccentric!

Just got some links from home:

Outiv has just taken some BEWTiful photos in the bush near Newcastle at our NSW enviro network meeting... wow...

posted by: anneinchaosland at 16:20 | link | comments |

I just went to the Students against Sweatshops conference. It was great. [Note: if you are interested, here is an interesting essay comparing and contrasting USAS to the Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960's]

I arrived at the USAS conference (at the UNITE offices in Teamster City, Chicago) in the afternoon on a Wednesday, a few days before the conference was due to begin.

There was a workshop taking place, to train new regional organisers. They were talking about race oppression. I walked into the room, and sat down, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Some people were trickling in carrying big bags- with airline tags- I later found out they were returning from overseas internships with workers organisations in Mexico, Korea, Cambodia, and many other places.

I walked down to a Thai restaurant with four other returned interns- they were sharing their experiences. One guy was talking to me about government - I was talking about our leverage over the government- he was saying eventually, hopefully we wouldnt need government at all. I went to disagree with him and stopped myself- questioning my reaction. Whilst I call myself an anarchist, I still think there needs to be governance- where delegates take on decisionmaking responsibility- that rotates. Whilst I disagree with the structure of the State, I still believe there needs to be grassroots government. Too many people understand Anarchy to be a lack of responsibility. When we talk to skepical people, we just don't advocate an end to government, because that would imply an end to decisionmaking. I have done so much thinking about building institutions, and working out good governance structures, that I cannot tolerate the more abstract and vague rejection of governance in general. We want decisionmaking structures that are accountable to the people who are most affected by those decisions- and by accountability I mean a deep accountability- where delegates can be recalled.

To me just a simple rejection of government seems to be an uncredibly vague type of anarchism, hard to differentiate with right wing liberals. Perhaps this is my point of departure from mainstream anarchism to a more platformist approach (there are many models for this).

The conference itself

The conference was an interesting window into a very influential student movement in the US. It had several components. Firstly, the caucus times, where there were spaces for oppressed groups to meet in parallel with spaces for their "allies" to come together and discuss how they can address that 'ism' in their personal actions and within the organisation of USAS. During the working class/ working class ally caucuses, it was surprising for me to see their definition of class was based on socio-economic status rather than political connection to production. This definition was very broad, and not very socialist- Where I come from, many activists would call that 'bad politics'- but, however, I did not think that the definition necessarily had an impact on their strategy much at all.

Secondly, there were skills workshops- pretty much standardised, similar to those at home, but augmented with the US experience and with resources from the many organising centres.

Thirdly, there were strategy sessions for the campaigns. In particular, the sweat-free universities campaign is pretty fascinating, revolving around goals that entail the following:
1. disclosure by universities of the factories where the apparrel is manufactured
2. getting the university to join the Workers' Rights Consortium
3. getting the university to source apparrel from Union factories (with democratically run unions)

There also was a very spirited protest (see photos) in the downtown area about Eddie Bauer's failure to pay the workers their entitlements in Indonesia. It was a very wet day...

That night, there was a fundraiser for the local Chicago Latino Workers organising centre. It was very fun because there was lots of Latin American dance music. Here is one photo that I took:

posted by: anneinchaosland at 04:00 | link | comments |

On Tuesday night I went to this amazing public meeting in Chicago. It was about affordable housing, which is so important because many areas of Chicago are becoming gentrified, hence pushing poor residents out, and fragmenting their communities.

I walked in and the hall was full to the rafters with Latinos and African Americans and elderly anglo people/ Seniors. They ACTUALLY all responded really loudly and excitedly when the speaker at the front said "WHAT DO WE WANT?" ... Anyway- you might be able to see a placard that says "Si Se Puerde"- It means "Yes We Can" in Spanish.

I took lots of photos, (here are some: one, two, three.) standing on the edge, in incredulous excitement about this event. I spoke to one woman from Chicago Acorn, and she was telling me about how they organise according to city blocks, meeting with friends in living rooms, firstly demanding small things like traffic lights and then gaining confidence and becoming more engaged... wow...

My friend Allyson from JPUSA did a training course with another group represented there- the training was run by a woman pastor, who was a speaker at the forum. Allyson was really proud of her.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 03:37 | link | comments |

I get off the train - "Wilson" on the CTA Red Line- an elevated train line that snakes above urban Chicago. I realise it is my stop when I see the 'dunkin donuts', Western Union and McDonalds signs. There ARE more interesting places here such as the El Salvadorean restaurant, the African Grocery store and the old buildings that signified wealth and prosperity in their 1920's heyday, but you can't see them from the train line. I get off and walk down the stairs. A young African American girl says she likes my jeans, and I feel proud of them- they're from Newtown (the gentrified Newtown unfortunately)- much better than the typical American big bum blue jeans or the tight Britney Spears ones. They're like bomber jeans for girls and I got them cos I liked my cousin Tara's ones, and also those of Tara Povey from the SRC.

I walk down the street to JPUSA, or Jesus People USA- an urban commune I am staying at for free... try sayin that like 'Jizas pipl US A' and you get the sound of the kind of unselfconscious boisterousness that evangelical/ pentecostal religious traditions in the US epitomise- except after being on the streets as an intentional community for so long- they kind of had to gain a social and political conscience- in contrast to the kind of parochialism and denial that is typical of small-town US christianity. As John, one of the key members put it- 'we realised we were in a class war'. Or maybe it was just John who had that realisation- he certainly was speaking the lingo- which could have been trying to impress us at the anarchist conference around the corner.

Unfortunately, not very many people share John's holistic analysis, at JPUSA- just bits and pieces here and there. John says that many people here rigidly support the Republicans because of their stance on abortion, which for them has ultimately become the yardstick of moral worth. I can't believe this- maybe people take for granted the fact that they are LIVING COMMUNALLY- against most of the individualistic capitalist values that Bush stands for. In the room that I am staying in, there is a compelling black poster on the wall of 'Stand True Ministries' that says "Pray to end Abortion", with a mother and child entertwined, with big wings on the mums back. Such a message in the long term drives a wedge through Christianity, building uncritical, long term support for the Republicans. It is a worry that abortion is the main life and death issue that enters peoples' minds when people here think of politics. It's a convenient (propagandistic) way of ignoring structural injustice. Such a simplistic equation makes me really concerned about peoples' political educations here... anyway...

What seems strange here is that many people are into hardcore music- death metal bands and punk bands. Most people display their body as massive artworks of tattoos, especially the people my age and younger (though not the kids of course). One of the enterprises of the commune is managing Christian bands, and organising the annual 'Cornerstone' Festival. After all, they say, "Why should the devil have all the good music?" Which is an aspect of their spirituality that is foreign to me. I find it unfathomable that you could label all things apart from rigid Christianity as 'that of the devil'. I think that the idea of a 'devil' is a useful concept to some extent- as a manifestation or representation, but ultimately shows evil to be more simple than it is in reality.

There is a real gothic aesthetic among the young people. Apart from random references to God and the Holy Spirit in contexts I wouldn't normally expect, and 'being saved' and 'waiting for the coming of God' the community is very familiar in some ways and easy to connect with. It is good to be here, meeting people I wouldn't normally come into contact with. Whilst I have quite a different sense of spirituality to them, I really admire the communal institutions they have created. Last night I played rummy (a card game) with some guys from the place - its actually a really interesting game- will have to teach it to ppl when I come back- they guys were a bit younger than me and really goth- did I say that almost everyone in the place has lots of interesting tattoos?

JPUSA has several properties around Chicago, where residents work (for free-outside the mainstream economy) and see themselves as carrying out the simple lifestyle that is required of them as Christians, a la the early christian communities. [this makes me wonder- I wonder if there is a parallel between this and the industries that Hillsong runs? BTW a person I met asked me enthusiastically about Hillsong in Australia, and I did not know how to react- other than to say that I am skeptical about their 'prosperity theology' and also their uncritical appraisal of conservative politicians.]  It was interesting hearing the story John told about the JP-USA community/ commune and its politicisation- when they got involved in helping defend Cambodian families from being evicted from apartments across the street several decades ago.

Anyway... In the local area, I have started counting nationalist t-shirts and the ratio of people wearing them. At one stage it was 1 in 2, but now its gone down to about 5%. Maybe there are some hotspots around where I am staying. They are usually worn by very poor, overweight or migrant people. There are also stickers on the bank windows saying "God bless America", and lots of stickers on the back of SUV's saying 'Support our troops', or something about the army. It's funny that whilst travelling, I meet people who I think to myself- I would love you to meet my friend (who is in Australia) - because their personalities are similar. Also, certain situations remind me of Australia. I think about people from home and how they would react to the experience-

Anyway- I heard that Sydney Uni Lefty people had their first election meeting today. When I think about it, I cringe. I am still emotionally upset about elections in general -because it is just so easy to become overcome by the power games, and to fit oneself into a rigid shell in protection from the factional nastiness. I feel totally sorry for all the younger activists who are taking on such a great burden by running in elections. It's funny that I feel a responsibility to be there- its not as if their difficulty would be alleviated much by my sharing in it. I still believe that student electoral processes in Australia can be run in better ways- however i have never felt qualified to work out exactly how to best reform them, so keep asking the question in a pointless circular type of inquiry, not really getting anywhere. Maybe the point is to change the culture in the long term- rather than to work at the coal face of the nastiness.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 22:46 | link | comments (2) |

So I'm in Chicago now- still kind of weirded out by being in the US.

I wrote this a while back about my purpose in going to the US:

SINCE i am a collector of symbols and detritus from western civilization, I thought i might come to the US, the world's biggest producer of crap.

I find cities to be suitably depressing, and without an american guide to animate my perception of the smog, the suburbia and the squalor, I am little disturbed from it all.

I have to get used to doughnuts, bad coffee and bagels, and now, strange religious sincerity sometimes.

Anyway- went to a conference on Anarchism and Christianity here. My favourite workshop was given by a former black panther, Ashanti Alston, who talked about the Zapatistas, and what we have to learn from them.

Some of my notes-

The Mexican Govt portrays the Zapatista struggle as one of polarised support between Catholics and Protestants- the Catholics supporting the Z's, the P's opposing them. Similar to the portrayal of the Nth Ireland and Palestine conflicts as between religions rather than about imperialism.

Caracoles: the EZLN has made a concerted attempt to decentralise experience of decisionmaking among ordinary people, with the rotation of participants- seeing this as the factor that makes the revolution stronger. It takes the mystical factor out of the leadership positions.

They have been very self-critical, trying to constantly learn from mistakes and to have a more smooth system, and include more women. This is hard because usually the women don't speak spanish- only the men do.

The zapatistas don't call themselves anarchists- since this would label them into a box. Instead they call the decentralisation 'zapatismo' which really just expresses the local distinctiveness that comes out of genuine respect for diversity and decentralisation. They see the unity in diversity as a 'uniting of dignities'.

They see their struggle as a 'struggle to go home'- because home is a place where we are free-
This I find beautiful because the utopia is something known, that is just a recorrecting of destiny- showing that the current world order is an estrangement from ones' roots.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 22:49 | link | comments |

I'm here in San Francisco still, listening to The Waifs (an old album- shelter me) on my computer, drinking beer at Marty and Amy's place near the beach on 44th Avenue. I met Marty and Amy at SoS in Melbourne 2004, and it was crazy that the first activist event I attended in the US (the STARC fundraising training) had them in the small group.

I went to the University of California Berkeley today, was excited- It kind of had an air of nostalgia about it, because of the radical history- (shown in movie 'Berkeley in the 60's' and that Nina Simone song young, gifted and black that goes 'Id like to dedicate this song to all the black students at Berkeley')... I soon found myself the library (one room with a very sophisticated bookish atmosphere where I sat on a nicely upholstered seat, reading Douglas Coupland's Eleanor Rigby with an air of deliberateness). [what's so good about Coupland's style?- Most other fiction writers make me totally restless and bored- Ever since high school, I've been like a troublesome child in regards to fiction- maybe I gained ADD after finishing primary school- Maybe it's cos I am proud and try to read lots of 'high literature' that doesn't really relate to everyday life].

I wandered through the student union building and bought a copy of the magazine Tikkun, an interfaith/jewish progressive magazine. Almost every article was so insightful, especially two on Catholicism, I felt like getting out the highlighter. They are setting up a very needed 'network of spiritual progressives'... look on their website and see... There was one article that was a bit controversial- (that was probabaly published for the sake of healthy debate)- about the environmental credentials of the Zionist Jewish National Fund, that buys up land in Syria and Jordon etc and plants trees there. (A speaker at Sydney Uni, Uri Davis, gave a presentation on the problematic status of this fund in dispossessing Palestinians). The article was advocating greater representative involvement in the World Zionist Organisation by progressives. This only would seem to make the org more legit... I need to learn a lot more about zionism, because it is something that obviously stirs up a lot of emotion among most Jewish people, hence is a very deep-rooted and powerful concept. (random comment...I guess the christian tradition represents a departure from the zionist tradition of the 'chosen people' because it allowed people to be 'chosen' not from a matrilineal line of Jewish heritage, but rather from their commitment to 'god' and to a faith journey.)

final conclusions:

I'm actually glad I did not study at Berkeley. The only 'activists' I talked to were not real organisers- the first people asked me for money for their group that is trying to stop a chemical plant, and the second person had to run off to a class! What kind of activist is that? I would gladly be late to a class to talk about politics to an interested person! That is why I am always late to class at home! Anyways will write again soon.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 04:53 | link | comments |

Why have I come to the US?

Well, we in the rest of the world get so much mass-produced information and media that is taken of its context in US culture. US culture is presented as something monolithic, and yet on closer inspection it is so complex, full of contradictions.

Ever since I was little, I have always enjoyed reading between the lines of US books- reading the World Book Encyclopedia- I remember comparing the hundreds of pages they dedicated to the US, to the six or so pages they dedicated to Australia- and the self adulation of so much US writing. At the same time, I also read a lot of awesome US books when I was in primary/early high school: Bridge to Terabithia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Homecoming. Also, the whole series of Little House on the Prairie books. These books really connected to me on a big-picture level.

In more recent years, I have been really inspired by progressive movements in the US, and have followed several student-based websites, for example, The Student Environmental Action Coalition, Campus Activism, STARC, United Students Against Sweatshops.

I also really love a lot of political compositions that come from artists in the US, who make politics into such beautiful, moving texts; (I wrote about some of this in my blog last yearfrom Ani deFranco's lyrics, 'do your politics fit between the headlines', to David Rovics' folk music to hiphop (sorry, I have to say Eminem's Mosh), poetry, such as the poem 'Why are we here' to , No RNC poster art, inspiring (NoRNC) websites. Also art-inspired political educators/propagandistsCrimethink and the beehive collective.

so here i am in San Francisco.

On the table in the youth Hostel, there is a magazine on the coffee table with Jessica Simpson on the front cover in a US flag string bikini, and khahki army pants undone at the fly. On the cover, it says '75 reasons to love America'

I will have to update you about my wanderings so far... but maybe tomorrow- too tired tonight.

Maybe I will share a short email I sent my brother- it will fill in some details for you- just enough to whet your palate for some stories.

Hi James,

hope you're having fun.

I'm currently in San Francisco- got in here at 230am this morning on a greyhound bus from LA (its currently about midnight now). Had a good day learning about fundraising from the student coalition STARC(in the presbytery of a church in the rough 'tenderloin' district where there are many homeless men, then going to a house in the 'mission' district (hispanic community and student area), where the group I was with had vegan ice creams at a place nearby- sundaes with lots of vegan cream and cherry on top- Americans eat SUCH UNHEALTHY FOOD- pizza all the time and so much wheat and GROSS processed food. It is hard for me to eat healthily- I have to eat as much as possible at Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants. (at a japanese restaurant I ordered sashimi by accident and had to eat it- slimy...

Anyway. Thought you might be in need of some inspiration.

In a comment on Sydney Indymedia, someone has posted aspeech by Martin Luther-King about Vietnam. I think it's great. I want you not only to look at the content, but also the method- the rhetoric. Look at his sentence structure. Ask Elizabeth to identify any parallelisms, that culminate to 'end focus' at the end of the sentences.

Anyway say hi to everyone for me

seeya
Anne

LOS ANGELES (click here for more photos)

I get into Los Angeles (LAX) airport on Tuesday arvo, and it seems a regular sort of place, no probs with immigration. I stay around the airport for several hours working out what to do and where to go.

There is this strange announcement every 20 minutes or so, saying,

"Attention passengers: You are not required to give money to Solicitors. This airport does NOT sponsor their activities."

I really puzzle over this for a while- the image of lawyers walking around the airport, bullying passengers into legal contracts seemed a bit bizarre. I thought that maybe the boss of the airport is a bit weird and has this thing against law suits or maybe there are insurance issues with the planes or something.  (anyway later i discovered that solicitors are people who solicit and are part of the informal economy.)

I pick up 'USA Today' whilst in the line in Starbucks, and see the headline that some unions have split from the AFL-CIO (the national body) at their national conference. Also, there is a weather segment on air pollution, saying that air pollution/haze is caused by hot cloudless days. (a little bit of propaganda). I panic when I realise that I have to pay for the coffee and don't know how much it is appropriate to tip, so I ask someone else in line. They say "you don't have to tip anything if you don't want".

I stay around trying to use public phones and the internet for a few hours. I cannot contact the people I had hoped to stay with.

So I go to travelers' aid and book a room for $42/ night (all the other places are booked out), then go wait for the free pickup.  A couple comes with me, one of whom is Australian. We get there and check in in the lobby. There are two local men standing there who tell us that this place is really dodgy.  "I wouldn't stay here if I were you" he says. [Will- I know you told me NOT to stuff up first nights accomodation like you did in LA- anyway it was a learning experience]

There are young girls- hookers we are told- who come out of the lift, and then we hear there are several police cars out the front, since they are dealing crack cocaine. 

I go up to my room (near that Australian couples' room) and close the door and lock it, hoping the door and the third floor level is enough of a fortress to keep people out.  I dump my stuff on the bed.

I try to have a shower. It doesn't work. The floor is slippery and sticky with soap I think. The light doesn't work. Ants crawl between my toes in the carpet. But it is a relief to have a bed.

I get a random phone call at about 2am, and it freaks me out totally, so I stay awake for ages.

In the morning, I survey the area from my window.  Here is a picture of the view:

And zooming into that little red patch that you can see:

Next Morning:

I catch the bus from Burger King along Broadway to First Street. The plaque on a building has a quote dated 1905:
"Los Angeles is destined to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest city in the world".  Broadway is so rundown that it reminds me of Vietnam.

I go to the central market- It is bustling- with mounds of beans, fresh fruit and vegies. I order a strawberry, carrot, celery and beetroot drink. Everyone in the market is speaking Spanish- Even the proprietors of the China Cafe are Mexican. We sit around on red vinyl stools facing a central counter. I go to the bathroom. You have to pay 25c. A Latino woman tries to usher me in behind her without paying- but the cleaner picks us up.

Anyway- after, I ask around for where I can use the internet. People point me to LA library- which is a magnificant multistory polished purple granite building, with a big plaque showing all the wealthy donors to the library fund.

After a few hours I leave, lugging my bags- with the aim of reaching Hollywood- a better place to stay the night. I walk down towards the subway station, past vacant lots that I realise are carparks, past homeless men who have NO DIGNITY (unlike the Homeless in Australia)- they have defecated in corners and stink badly.

The subway to Hollywood is a breeze (they DO have good public transport for the more well-off in LA) - and I walk to the hostel, past the glitzy Hollywood Boulevard, past a nice big flash hotel, then past a church and some more vacant lots.

posted by: anneinchaosland at 00:29 | link | comments |