Bill Lascher 9/21/09 Bill Lascher 9/21/09

Los Angeles in Your Eyes

How would you give a tour of Los Angeles with only a short time to do so? What would you show? Why? What do you think is quintessential L.A.? What can be ignored? Do you have a universal trip you'd share with every visitor or are there certain ones you'd reserve for certain people? Would there be a specific flow to your tour? Would you use the strict geographical boundaries of the city, or would yours be more a tour of Southern California with Los Angeles as its center of gravity? If you're not from Los Angeles, what would you want to see here if you only had a few days to do so? What is this place to you? Why would you want to visit? What type of tour would you want?

Bill Lascher 9/1/09 Bill Lascher 9/1/09

Mt. Wilson Observed

As important as the landscape and the history is, I know two families have been shattered by the loss of the firefighters who perished, and I realize there are at least dozens more whose lives have been permanently changed by the loss of their homes. I'll treasure those men's sacrifice fighting to save this place that, in just two short slivers of time, meant so much to me.

Bill Lascher 8/24/09 Bill Lascher 8/24/09

Rearranging Our Pieces, Playing With Our Future

Is our imagination so limited that we think anyone will survive by doing the exact same thing we've done for half a century? Why can't we take the same simple wonder of an afternoon of play and build a new world with the pieces we already have? Why can we not take our bricks and track and blocks and rearrange them, as we did countless times as children, into new buildings, new cities and new transportation networks? Why can't we put our architects to work redesigning the decrepit spaces that already pepper our world? Why can't we put builders to work reconstructing our destroyed communities? Why must we mine new materials and continue the urbanization of our wild lands when so much unused housing stock and other structures sit vacant?

Why can't we rearrange the pieces we already have? If we could do it endlessly as kids, we really can do it now.

Bill Lascher 7/20/09 Bill Lascher 7/20/09

More and More

We need to share the message that the culture of more is not the answer. More wealth is not the solution. Economists lament that Americans are saving too much money, they're not spending enough to support our economy. Is anyone willing to suggest that might be a good thing, that, for once, some Americans are living within their means? Consumerism's weaknesses are so visible. Why are we so eager to return to where we were, and why are we so eager to bring the rest of the world into our mess?

Bill Lascher 6/22/09 Bill Lascher 6/22/09

Cooking Up Frustration

I understand – trust me I understand and kinda don't want to discuss – that the publishing world is rapidly changing. Even if it weren't, it takes time and patience to get something published. But I wonder about the rules of the game. With information spreading so rapidly how am I supposed to do this, to wait patiently on a story that is constantly evolving? Even if things go well with this story, how do we publish, how do we write or report anything? How do we set boundaries? Do we just say “that's the story” even as it continues to change? Do we just cut convenient slices of ever-lengthening timelines out?

Bill Lascher 6/14/09 Bill Lascher 6/14/09

Will Going Green be the Next Way We Go Bust?

With enthusiasm echoing the early days of the dot-com boom and the heady days of sub prime loans and home flipping, would-be entrepreneurs are starting to gamble that the solution to their economic puzzles is spelled e-n-v-i-r-o-n-m-e-n-t. But are they kidding themselves? Will a wind turbine manufacturer or biofuel harvester generate stock prices beyond everyone's wildest expectations, only to tumble like the next Enron? Will green investment lead to gold, or more empty pockets?

Bill Lascher 6/10/09 Bill Lascher 6/10/09

McCourts Keep Dodging the Trolley

It's inexplicable that the Dodgers resist supporting access to Los Angeles' baseball team. Of course, I can only imagine that the team was all too happy to oblige the city in restricting access for drivers to streets surrounding Dodger Stadium. Sadly, as long as transit options to the stadium remain so limited most of these drivers are likely to pay the $15 (or just stay home, turn on the TV and listen to Mr. L.A., Vin Scully, wishing he would call the entire game on the radio too).

Bill Lascher 6/10/09 Bill Lascher 6/10/09

Trial by Blogger

When suspects are treated in the media as guilty from the moment of their arrest, it not only affects the quality of the jury pool, it also increases the dissonance the public feels when a jury, examining the facts and arguments presented by both sides in a trial, does not side with the prosecution. The more the public feels our legal system "protects" criminals or otherwise carries unexpected consequences, the less able it is to operate effectively and fairly. This legal system, while imperfect, is the core of our democracy as we know it, and we should work to fix its flaws, ensure its fairness, and remain committed to the ideals of justice we purport to believe in.

Bill Lascher 5/27/09 Bill Lascher 5/27/09

Undercutting the competition

If publishers and other hiring managers want to succeed, they will need a committed, loyal and stable staff, and they must develop sharp, insightful contributors. An investment in skilled journalists ready to take risks to lead publications into the future is a wise choice. It may seem counter-intuitive to talk about investment in a time of economic malaise, but those who take such leaps of faith will be best positioned for future success. Those, however, who treat their content producers as chattel will continue to struggle to maintain a stable source of original content, and thus, they will spend all their time watching editors and writers leave for greener pastures while their competitors invest in competent, devoted teams passionate about the work their doing and the success of their organizations.

Bill Lascher 3/31/09 Bill Lascher 3/31/09

Take-Offs

I am convinced in this moment that Los Angeles is limitless, recreating itself as it crawls across the landscape. Too many discount it as a disjointed whole lacking some maturity shared by the world's great destinations. But it is only here, it is only this sea of stories crashing upon each other, glittering from the ripples in the water. As the waves draw near I know I am here, only here, perhaps realizing only further that home means far less than a mindset. It is just another constructed identity.