Week One • The Good Ol' Classic Introduction

Map of Los Angeles Metropolitan Region [click image to view larger]

Being born and raised in Southern California, I've always lived relatively close to the Los Angeles area, so I was never more than two and a half hours away. Before moving to Ventura, I lived in Bakersfield, which wasn't the best city to live in. For those who may not be aware of what Bakersfield is like, imagine a boring area with dreadful heat in the summer that's boxed with mountains to the west, south, and east causing air pollutants to just sit there within the city. Due to the natural geographic layout of the area, emissions produced by residents get trapped in the Bakersfield area by an inversion layer of warm air. Little needs to be said to express that Bakersfield is among the worst air polluted areas in California.

The purpose behind my short description of Bakersfield is to help you understand why it was that my family and I traveled a lot. We really just wanted to get out of this city as much as we could. So we ended up visiting lots of places within the Los Angeles area (Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and other big cities). So the Los Angeles metropolitan region has been woven into my life since a very young age.

But when I was younger, I looked at L.A. as nothing more but one large mass of different places and people and nothing more. However, pursuing an Environmental Studies/Geography major has lead me to enroll in different courses in the Geography field, for instance, 'Cities and Social Difference', which in turn teaches me to look at things in a different light. I already know that this class will challenge me to look at a region not as a whole, but an agglomeration of diverse cities, neighborhoods, and districts that, despite being a part of the L.A. metropolitan region, are unique in themselves and may or may not cohere with one another.

I'll be traveling to a couple areas I'm already familiar with, but this time observe and analyze it from a geographical angle. I'll also be visiting areas I haven't been to before so that I can push myself out of my comfort zone and analyze places I have no background with. As I carry out my field research, I'll be taking note of my experience there, the landscapes I pass through (type, size, and quality of buildings), trees and vegetation planting, the social groups on the streets, any languages I hear on the streets and even signs, as well as observe the 'personalities' of residents I come across in various locations and how they may different from another area. Along the way, I will further convey my findings through photographic and other multimedia documentation either from myself or online.

In addition, some weeks I will be reading and commenting on a number of my classmates blog posts on a location of their choice. I will be critically assessing what they write, giving constructive feedback while also providing my own thoughts and insights in relation to the topics/concepts they bring up.

This class provides an adventure into the exploration of social difference within a metropolitan region which is something new and exciting for me. I have always been fascinated that we live on a planet where places, people, cultures, languages, and cuisine is diverse. Being half Iranian and raised with the Iranian culture as a part of my every day, I have grown to be proud of my heritage and my difference which is what sparks my interest in the 'Cities and Social Difference' course and this project.

At current, I don't have a full understanding on what role social difference in any area, let alone a metropolitan region. All I know is that it exists and it's something unique and beautiful. With this project, I hope to learn more about social difference and how that difference affects the contemporary, Los Angeles metropolitan region.

So here's to the beginning of fun, learning filled adventure~!