Reader Input. One blog to rule them all?

Dear readers:

As some of you might know we also keep a Garden Weblog.  At this point some of the authors of the blog you are reading would like to stop maintaining that site and merge the content with this one.   The expected effect would be to have a single blog with more varied content.  If you are a follower of the garden blog and would like to keep on receiving garden only updates you could check the garden category only or even get the garden RSS feed only.

We recognize there are many types of blog readers and we are a bit undecided about this merger. Please leave your thoughts in the comments. Would you like to see more garden related content around here? Would the merger affect your reading habits? Say hi and tell us what you think.   Thanks!

 

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Quick LA Eco-Village video introduction

Here is a nice quick video that features Lois Arkin doing a great job in front of the camera. Looks like we are on the news.

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L.A. Weekly Bike Article features Eco-Villagers

Check it out: several mentions of  Eco-Villagers Joe Linton, Jimmy Lizama, Adonia Lugo,  Ron Milam and Eco-Village, too, plus many bicycle activist friends of LAEV.  This is a lengthy article which will hold the interest of bike folks all the way through.  Focusing on the upsurge in bicycle activism the past few years, it culminates in Stephen Box’s run for City Council.

But, overall, the article provides a very male perspective, with just brief mention of Adonia Lugo (who with Bobby Gadda and a few other  Eco-Villagers brought CicLAvia to LA ) and too much criticism of dedicated LADOT project coordinator for bicycles, Michelle Mowery.  Really, there are so many very actively involved women in the movement, and I hope we will start seeing many of them featured in the mainstream media in the positive light that they shine on this city.

Aurisha Smolarski-Waters is one of them, having contributed in major ways during her recent years with the LACBC.  While she loves seeing our LAEV neighbors in the media, she urges our neighbors and friends to note the contributions of women when speaking with the media.

Aurisha Smolarski-Waters advocating in City Hall

“This gender bias on bicycle issues has been an ongoing conversation among a few of us here in LAEV,” says Aurisha.   “I am starting to wonder if it is not part of our mission living here to also think about this as a social justice issue, not only in the way we live, but also in the way we portray the history of the movements, which many of us are a part of, to the media.  Being highlighted in the media is awesome and a great opportunity to start shifting the way people think,” she adds.

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Dave Auerbach in the L.A. Times 2/2/11

Having a birthday lunch with my neighbor Dale today, he told me about this article that he caught in yesterday’s LA Times, and that he’d posted the hard copy on our bulletin board.  Couldn’t wait to get home to read it, especially when Dale indicated that he really understood what Dave’s research was about from this article, something that’s always been a bit too fuzzy for me.  But Lopez did clarify it for me.  Nonetheless, the critical part is about the simpletons that think they belong to the same species as we do but don’t want a rapid bus lane in their neighborhood.  Really strange, I agree.  How about an 8 lane two direction critical mass bike ride three days a week through those hoods till they cry “Uncle!”  Here’s the article (link to original):

Peering into a post-petroleum world

As protests in Egypt underscore the hazards of relying on imported oil, a bus and bike-riding scientist at UCLA is working on clean fusion energy that could wean us from foreign fuel.
By Steve Lopez

Dave Auerbach relaxing at home in LAEV courtyard

February 2, 2011

The story of how I ended up in the basement of a UCLA physics building, getting a tour of a plasma facility with a young scientist working on the development of clean fusion energy, begins with the uprisings in the Middle East.

On Monday morning, I headed west on Wilshire Boulevard with a couple of items on the agenda. First, I wanted to see if I could find any demonstrators left over from the weekend. People were still marching in the streets of Cairo, demanding the ouster of longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak, so I thought there might still be a few protesters carrying signs in front of the West L.A. federal building.

I also wanted to meet with a UCLA student who had e-mailed me to say that he was ticked off about opposition to the proposed bus-only lane for Wilshire Boulevard. David Auerbach, a doctoral candidate who has no car and commutes by bicycle and bus, called the piecemeal scaling back of the bus plan “a great example of the typical L.A. governance.” He didn’t mean that as a compliment.

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A Good article

This article is not bad. “A Village Grows in Los Angeles“  was featured at good.is the website of Good magazine. Your basic summary with a couple of quotes thrown for good measure and the common reference to fashionable L.A.  It paints the picture in broad strokes, that’s good.

Explore other L.A. Eco-Village media here.

 

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L.A. Eco-Village Home Birth Interview

Here’s a nice short documentary entitled There’s No Place Like Home: A Home-birth at the Los Angeles Eco-Village. It was created by Sophie Gosper and features Josey, Jimmy and Joaquin – discussing how Josey gave birth last year at L.A. Eco-Village.

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KPCC Video Showcases L.A. Eco-Village

Lara's cameo in the KPCC video - click to watch at KPCC website

KPCC’s Pacific Swell website acknowledged Eco-Villager Joe Linton (me) as an everyday hero. Click for KPCC video showing off Los Angeles Eco-Village’s fruit trees, chickens, greywater, las trincheras (terraced water harvesting garden looking neglected), and more!

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Living Eco Visits and Videos

“The first phase of the eco-village solution is using lots of mulch”

A video crew from Living Eco created these two 15-minute videos showcasing a recent visit to LAEV. The above video covers chickens, composting, greywater, the bicycle morgue, the “multiple centers of initiative” gate, and las trincheras. The below video covers stacking functions, permeable pavement, carrots, participation, the bulb-out, the free table, floor materials, and the community room.

And here’s their interview with Eco-Villager Melba Thorne, mostly focused on ecological packaging used for her Native Gardens vegan treats:

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Posted on Green Building Blog

The Green Building blog wrote a nice informative post about us. it feels concise and to the point and it packs a fair amount of data. it’s a good “about us” link i wouldn’t mind having people read to get an idea of the project.

the pictures are cool too.   the colorful bits are in color and some of our sad, barren interiors are depicted in black and white making them seem stylish and even interesting.  nice trick.   in the picture to the left you can see the nice work my friend/neighbor Heather did as her window right and the urbanite table i blogged about recently next to the picture of the staircase in cool heavily contrasted black and white.   the picture betrays the reality of the stairs and their drab old pastel colors and in this i see the sharpness of the photographer because, not only does the post look good, also the plight of those spaces to be given back colorful life is portrayed.

only one thing will i correct from this article: they say there are plans for bees but instead we have reality.

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Video featuring Julio “Eco-Maya” Santizo

there is something charming about this video.  my favorite parts are the music and the shots of Joe’s garden.

update: this is part of a series, here is another one:

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Documentary Fundraiser for “Seen Also In Men” Friday, July 30, 2010 7:00 pm

“Seen Also In Men” needs funds! We are showing (unofficially) the film and asking for your support to help us send it to festivals!

This film tells the story of three black fathers who are choosing to be there for their kids even though their fathers weren’t there for them. It’s about a growing movement to break a cycle and stereotypes in the African-American community and create a positive change. This film truly deserves a wider audience. Please come and tell your friends! Suggested donation $5-$25.

For more info:

http://seenalsoinmen.tumblr.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seen-Also-In-Men-Documentary/136268776398482?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/VelissaRobinson

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BBC Mundo and what is the L.A Eco-Village anyway

here is short video about the LA Eco-Village recently published by BBC Mundo (embedded video below) .    it’s not that bad. i certainly commend the makers for packing that much into just 2 minutes – a palatable format for the attention deficit humans of this century.  but  as you compress things (specially information) you loose definition  and  that is a problem of every endeavor in description, not only of journalism.

anyway, they only fact checking i’m going to do is related to the numbers.  they say that the eco-village is composed of 500 people and that isn’t quite accurate by any of the definitions (and there are several) of what the L.A Eco-Village is.

when most of us refer to the L.A Eco-Village we are talking about two buildings and between 30 and 40 people that inhabit them and feel involved in this vaguely defined sustainability project.  some factions among us use the  words “L.A Eco-Village” to refer to the neighborhood we inhabit (the L.A Eco-Village Neighborhood if you wish).  but, see, there are problems with the latter.  without denying we affect the neighborhood in many ways (some good, some bad), the people living in the adjacent blocks do not self-designate as members of any eco-village – it would be interesting if they did- but i wouldn’t want to impose that upon them, more than 500 that they are, so i simply do not.   i certainly don’t want the eco-village ambitions (visions?) to be the colonialist ones.  please continue the discussion in the comments. videoafter the jump:

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Melba on the Tavis Smiley radio show

our very own l.a. eco-villager melba thorn was interviewed last week on the tavis smiley show promoting her delicious vegan chocolates in time for mother’s day. click here to check out the interview. great job, melba!

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Food Lobby’s Jaime Farms in the news

people often ask me “where do the veggies come from?” when i talk excitedly about the delivery of abundant, locally grown, organic, affordable produce that gets sorted in our lobby for distribution every sunday. i say “Jaime Farms, a local farm”, but can’t say much more.  so i was happy to see that Jaime Farms’ co-owner Sotera Jaime, was featured in an LA Times article yesterday.  it doesn’t describe the farm itself so much, but adds a human face and credibility that the farm does exist and it is local.  if you want join the “food lobby” and partake in the volunteer-run sharing of healthy deliciousness, you can check out the food lobby website.

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LA Times April 29, 2010

Sotera Jaime always has a lunch date

The co-owner of Jaime Farms is up before dawn to help out at one of the farms’ 20 or so farmers market stands. But she still finds time each day to make a hearty hot lunch for family, friends and employees.

By Jenn Garbee, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Sotera Jaime and her trusty 10-quart stainless steel stockpot have seen a lot of mileage over the years. As the matriarch of one of Southern California’s most popular farmers market families, almost every day Jaime cooks up a hearty hot lunch for an ever-changing cast of a couple dozen extended family members, farmhands and part-time sales employees.

The 61-year-old co-owner of Jaime Farms hits the road before dawn, driving from her home in Chino to one of the farm’s 20 or so farmers market stands, scattered across Southern California — at the Pasadena market on Tuesdays, to Santa Monica for the Wednesday market, even all the way out to Palm Springs on Saturday…  read full article here

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a taste of Hardcore Punk

this really took me by surprise.   last weekend we had an event called Eco-Maya and some bands came over and played in our lobby.   it wasn’t organized by ecovillagers but some of us were very amused by the sudden and unexpected transformation of our normally tame space into a sort of mini venue.  there were several bands ranging from 50′s rock and roll to 80′s heavy metal.  and of course some punk and death metallish bands.  not everyone enjoyed the stacks of amplifiers vibrating the hell out of their apartments but a lot of people had a pretty good time.

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Healing an Inner-City Neighborhood by Lois Arkin

Our dear Lois wrote this article in 1996, and although it is currently hosted at the “Fellowship for Intentional Community” website i decided to put it here as part of our hErstorical records.

Eco-Village is a state of mind. You think; you play around; you talk about and work on all these interactive systems; then other people join with you. And soon, it just jumps out at you — you start thinking in Eco-Village systems about everything.

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A visit from the San Francisco Equitable Pioneers Society

an excerpt:

So, for starters, what exactly is an “eco-village”? It brings to mind Swiss Family Robinson-style living. Drinking out of coconuts and living in trees. In reality, it’s different (though the vibe is similar). According to the Los Angeles Eco-Village website, an “eco-village” is “a human scale neighborhood where people know their neighbors and care about them. People can live close to where they work and play and have access to other essential services without use of automobiles. Together, neighbors try to minimize waste and pollution of all kinds. Residents and friends work together to create a healthy community socially, physically and economically.” So, like Swiss Family Robinson with a bunch of socialists? Hehe, not exactly. Let’s see for ourselves…

read the original post.
Thank you sfpioneers!

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Brian Watt visits our Eco-Village in L.A.

dead radio

So the radio to the left might be dead but Radio Radio is not.  Here is a piece produced by Brian Watts for the Tavis Smiley Show, which airs Friday nights on KPCC.  If you visit the site you can hear the streaming audio or you can download an mp3 (and this explains, partly why radio is not dead, yet).

It features a few local Eco villagers and it really is a nice little snapshot of current events.  You can hear our dear Lois saying things like “Cool and groovy” and Jimmy talking about the greywater bathtub he is building.

It’s not too long, enough to be done halfway through your lunch, and it’s optimistic enough that you may utter things like hurra! and yay! Although, remember, it’s just a snapshot and it couldn’t possibly tell the whole story.

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Photoshow, Article and Sound by Daniel Doperalski

Here is an article about the L.A. Eco-Village titled An Eco-Village In The Urban Jungle. It features a nice black and white slide show with our own Lara talking about living here for the last 11 years.  I think it makes a good 900 word little window into our place.

If you want to see more media related to the L.A Eco-Village or and those who are related to us check out the media category on this blog.

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LAEV Article at Shareable

Photo of LAEV's Bike Room - from Shareable

The website Shareable has a new article about Los Angeles Eco-Village. It’s by Danielle Davis, and the title is Happy Together? It features LAEV and another local intentional community called Synchronicity Los Angeles. Here’s an excerpt, go to Shareable for the full article. 

Living in community, while it may pose unique challenges, never fails to inspire. In fact, dreamed up and fleshed out projects are make the Eco-Village so charming. Like spokes of a bike wheel, everyone is contributing his or her own unique part to make the thing go.
 
There are also plenty of activities that spring up spontaneously. On a typical day residents may ride bikes together, take the subway to the farmers’ market, mulch, give a passerby starter plants, attend an event, or pick produce to make a salad before heading off to the potluck.
 
There, Joe recounts how “conversation goes from open-source mapping applications to permaculture to how we might build an outdoor oven.”
 
It reminded me of a college dorm in terms of aesthetic—the dimly lit hallways, community room complete with kitchen and mismatched furniture and a Nikki McClure print on the wall—and in terms of lifestyle. Joe concurs: “Maybe it’s a little like a college dormitory—or maybe a small town…. people know most of their neighbors and interact with them socially.”

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