This past Monday, March 4th, our newsletter quietly completed its second year in publication. We published stories about our neighbors (and their plants), histories of East Hollywood, reports on local elections, articles on legacy street-vendors, the sensory experiences of gentrification, co-operative housing models, and even on our very own ofrenda for Dia de Muertos.
In two short years we also witnessed L.A. shift in political dynamics, including with a new mayor and other freshly minted representatives. The past year also saw a hot labor summer, not to mention rent hikes and higher costs of living. Yet none of these things could prepare us for the October 7th attack on the state of Israel and the subsequent war on the Palestinian people, which in less than six months has taken tens of thousands of lives—mostly women and children—and uprooted nearly 2 million Gazans from their homelands.
We know we haven’t been alone in feeling overwhelmed by these and other events, but this newsletter has served as a form of solace and sense-making for us as journalists, writers and storytellers, which is hopefully true for our audience too. It has also allowed us to hone in on uplifting and preserving the voices of land and place, epitomized by Karen “Kiwi” Burch’s four-part essay series on the history of her family in the neighborhood, which took us from Reconstruction Era Mississippi to 1900s Los Angeles and into the present day.
There’s more to note about all of these stories soon, but first, it’s time to celebrate the hard work and collaboration of the past two years at our beloved Bellevue Park again; once again with pupusas from local staple California Grill, delicious cafecito and music. Our team will also have Making Our Neighborhood magazines available for purchase.
Our gathering will also hold a small healing and remembrance space with respect to so much news to process for our communities over these past two years. This will be facilitated by Mayan Indigenous and Ancestral Healing Practitioner Monica Garcia.
We hope our gathering creates an opportunity to come together during these extraordinary times. Please RSVP here to help us plan our food and drink setup, and let us know in the comment section if you have any questions or concerns.
Oh, one more thing
As we plan for our next year of storytelling with the neighborhood, we’d love to hear from you, our loyal readers. The following survey will help us fine-tune what you want to read, hear, and see from us. Please take a moment to fill it out via the button below, and we look forward to seeing you at our celebration soon! RSVP here.
— The team at Making A Neighborhood