One of the best feelings in the world is discovering a new place where you know you’ll find yourself again because it’s somehow an integral part of you the instant you find yourself in its space. I felt this way the moment that I saw the radiant photo for JT, and I still feel this way about the site now, as I enter its 101st post with this text!
That feeling goes beyond the web-page though, as it extends across to so many of the places I find in my travels through the city. Earlier today I visited Miguel Contreras High School with The PLUS ME Project, and there was just such a brilliant sight there that I can still see it now: nestled just outside of downtown on 3rd street, the school has an absolutely magnificent view of another skyline besides downtown’s that a lot of L.A. aficionados aren’t as familiar with: that of Mount Baldy’s snow-covered mountain tops! It was galvanizing. And even now, to think that while I enjoyed the warmth of rich sunlight this morning in L.A., not far away there stood this an entirely polar universe of snow and temperatures below zero, I mean it was just humbling!
The world is so vast, but even for The L.A. Storyteller, there are moments where it feels like I’m just so crammed in by all the concrete and metal and fumes which surround me as I make my way through the city. Still, while it might be true that L.A.’s traffic can feel overwhelming at times, it’s also true that it just depends on the particular moment in which one finds themselves in.
For me today, as I stood on 3rd street in front of MCLC’s doors at 10:00 am, with the heavy morning commute out of the way and most people tucked into their offices, the entire place was free of traffic, noise, and the tensions that spring from these things. And as I took a breath before it all, it just dawned on me how no matter where we are we’re always just a small part of things there. The world and its movement are infinitely bigger than we are, but rather than sulking over this, it’s exciting to rejoice over any little bit of the universe that we get! And especially so if we get to stand amid sunshine and warmth on one end to muse at snow-covered mountain peaks on the other end!
And so it looks like I’ll have to go back to 3rd street soon, and not just for an appointment with the school there.
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