terra non firma

monday media

easing back into blogging after the long thanksgiving weekend. lots of turkey, a little shopping, plenty of napping throughout the weekend. so now back to blogging:

• CA is bigger, older and more diverse than other states. or at least it will be in the next 15 years. according to this huge pdf file, the three most significant demographic changes CA will experience:

Between 2000 and 2020, the state is projected to add approximately 10 million people, roughly equivalent to the population of the state of Michigan.

By 2020, whites’ share of the state’s population is expected to shrink to 33.7 percent, while Latinos’ share is projected to rise to 43.0 percent and Asians’ share is expected to increase to 12.7 percent.

The number of Californians age 65 and above is expected to increase by 71.3 percent between 2000 and 2020.

• One of the things I miss most about new york is the convenience, authenticy and variety of chinese food. I grew up in flushing, queens - now a predominantly asian community so we didn't just discuss going out for chinese, the discussion included a debate on sichuan vs. cantonese vs. shanghai. travel + leisure covers the SGV, LA's answer to flushing. less convenient, but pretty much the only spot to score xia long bao, possibly the world's greatest dumpling ever. ever.
  
• a unique solution to preservation: sell an architecturally and historically significant home for $1, spend $1 million to saw it into 24 pieces and move it to pasadena, another $2 million on renovations. paul williams is a fascinating architect to me - in a way he represents LA in a way no other architect can. LA exercises a certain kind of historical amnesia, forgetting or ignoring racial biases, its spatial polarization and restrictive housing covenants designed to separate whites from minorities. williams built homes he wasn't allowed to live in. but its also easy to assign a certain mythology to him that intersects with LA's self-perception as a city for re-invention, of limitless possibility and opportunity. I'm just waiting for jamie foxx to play him in the inevitable biopic.
  

posted by marissa @ 10:06 AM