I was recently hired at USC and I live in DTSA (that’s Downtown Santa Ana, in case you didn’t know) and I don’t mind driving BUT I do mind traffic. So I commute by Metrolink and in the last week, I’ve reconnected with my past lives in Tokyo and Taipei where I’d commute daily by train, bus, and on foot. Creative energy, better sleep at night, and a kind of internal Spring are the result of this new commute.
I had forgotten how important it is for me to walk in cities. I am a flaneur—that is a person who has a litmus sensitivity to feelings of wonder and awe (and sometimes sadness, pity, and even shock) when walking in the urban circuitry of a real city. And here I must disclaim that LA is not a city, and declaim that it is indeed a walker’s city. Please read Enda Duffy’s The Speed Handbook for a brilliant examination of the rise of the automobile and the fall of the walker.
In any case, I’m the perfect picture of an urban hipster sitting in a cafe writing a blog about art! This is a type, a trope, a cliche and a joy. I invite you to loafe, to linger here (WW, of course) and see for yourself the overlay of the cliche and the original, the moire, the mirror, and in so doing, I hope you can take a break from the car, get on a train, find a cafe, and do something creative yourself!