Opinion: In today’s pages: White people, water, and meat
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Columnist Gregory Rodriguez finds out who’s behind the hit blog, Stuff White People Like:
Six weeks ago, 29-year-old Culver City Internet copy writer Christian Lander started a blog, stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com, on a whim, thinking he’d poke fun at himself and fellow white people....Lander, who arrived in L.A. from Toronto 2 1/2 years ago, came up with the idea for the blog after talking to a Filipino friend about how much they both liked the HBO police drama ‘The Wire.’ For some reason he’s already forgotten, they both wished that more white people watched the show. Which got him thinking: What exactly do white people like?
Author Christopher D. Cook says mass recalls show we’re all playing meat roulette. Writer Jim Henley argues that an $8 million program isn’t enough to get Americans reading again. Yale Law School student Ronan Farrow explores a growing conflict in Ethiopia, where the army is attacking its people.
The editorial board launches a series on water in Los Angeles and around the world:
The early history of Los Angeles was defined by its struggle to get water wherever, and whenever, it could. William Mulholland and his colleagues did such a good job of securing water supplies...that those of us living here today take for granted our lush gardens and year-round blooms. They appear a native bounty when they are, in fact, a work of man. We offer pious lip service to the notion that water is scarce when the weather is dry, only to forget our concerns at the fall of the first raindrop. Implicitly, we behave as if water will always be available and unlimited. This must change.
Readers react to the city’s plan to require homeowners to pay more for sidewalk repairs. Sherman Oaks’ Gerry Swider says, ‘Is the city also going to grant homeowners the right to control usage of their sidewalks as a way to limit possible damage?’