Your name: William Bonney

Presenters name and title: Luis Rodriguez

Date watched or attended: 30 October 2014
1) Who is in attendance? What are they doing? (brief summary of what the event was about)
Based off of my observations there are approximately 300 students as well as several Pathways
tutors who are attending this event to watch Luis Rodriguez present on his experiences as a
former gang member and his former years of youth spent in Echo Park. Of the people
constituting the audience a majority is engaged in the insightful oratory being presented by Mr.
Rodriguez, however there is a small population who seems to be suffering from intentional
blindness due to overt cellular device use. The progression of Mr. Rodriguezs speech was rather
straight forward as he would advocate for continued support of minority populations present in
the greater L.A. area and use strong personal anecdotal support to demonstrate every facet that
contributes to the greatness of our esteemed city. Furthermore he went into extensive detail about
the plight of the Brown sing they are being systematically removed from their communities
because of enterprising fiats sanctioned by corporate entities, such as Starbucks. Mr. Rodriguez
wishes for people to cease its worship of big money and help those who are need rather than
pushing everyone out in favor of wealth.

2) How does this event connect to the larger picture of our class?
This particular speaker event provides an insiders point of view of gentrification or in
colloquial terms the mass brown exodus from up and coming neighborhoods. This is an
phenomenon frequently portrayed in the novel The Madonnas of Echo Park, seen after major
time lapses the one change that is universal throughout all of the perspectives is the prodigious

change in culture and advent of upscale cafes and coffee shops. Another important aspect
discussed in the speaker series was the diverse ethnic groups that have congregated within the
confines of Echo Park. In the novel we have witnessed interactions between groups ranging from
Chinese to African American to Hispanic which were all groups touched upon in Mr.
Rodriguezs presentation. However, what is perhaps the most harrowing similarity is the explicit
dominion held by affluent groups capable of defining the neighborhood to their liking based
solely upon their discretion. The simplest conclusion that can be derived from Mr. Rodriguezs
speech is that there is an increasing lack of diversity in these modernizing communities due to
the working class inhabitants being bullied out of town by imperious forces. Coincidentally, this
aspect coincides with my poster project topic: social mobility, were certain demographics receive
easier access to monetary ascension and others are not.

3) What are some of the speakers most important points?

The overarching theme tying every concept presented by Mr. Rodriguez is that affluent groups
hold definitive control over society and therefore are able to act with complete disregard for the
well being of others. Another significant point that was fervently discussed was the corrupting
influence of money. Our enthrallment with money is causing persistent selfish behavior and
continued nonchalance to the suffering of others. This is a contributing factor that leads us to
exploits others to further our own personal agendas often to the detriment to those who are not
fiscally stable enough to endure the profound shifts in monetary terms. Mr. Rodriguez is
advocating for all of us to collectively gravitate away from this behavior and begin adopting
more community minded pathologies. It is his desire that we begin focusing on culture and
intrinsic values rather than ascertaining extreme stockpiles of wealth. One of the prominent

principles is that there should be corroboration between culture and money that benefits people
of all the races and ultimately prevents any demographic from having authoritative control.

4) Some quotable quotes (try to catch them word-for-word!):

We were invisible but we were there
When Mr. Rodriguez said this in his presentation he meant that the Mexican people were always
present however they were just simply overlooked by those with power. This shows the depths of
some people disregard for their neighbors and how easy it is to simply not acknowledge the
existence of others in order to further your own desires.
You had white people, you had gay people, but that was all good as long as you had
community
This quote explicitly demonstrates how strength is not derived from what demographic we fall
into, but rather how able we are to support one another to grow stronger. The essence being
exhumed from this is that it really does not matter where you come from or who you are and that
as long as you cherish your neighbor then your city will truly prosper.
People dont know how weve lost so much industry
This sentiment perfectly articulates how with the exponential influx of wealth in communities
such as Echo Park there is manic displacement that is destructive to the livelihoods of much of
the population. With the continued gentrification the jobs that the working class relied on are
being cast out leaving many people unemployed with essentially no means for rectifying this
grievance.
We feed the system of prisons, of homelessness, of social services, of recovery and we dont
provide the answers to it

We are punishing people yet we are not working to rehabilitate anyone. It is a twisted we have
become enslaved too by condemning those who suffer rather than helping to provide services
and allow those people to get back on their feet.
These stories dont get told in Hollywood
Often times the true stories of the people are neglected in being told. It is preferable for large
industries to romanticize and glamorize one element of the truth and omit the cold hard facts. We
as a people should shift our focus and beginning telling the whole story rather than pick and
choose the parts we find acceptable.

5) What is your biggest take-away from this experience? How will what you have heard/learned
change how you think or act?
My largest take away from this speaker event is to respect others more and recognize that while
they may be different, they still have a treasured background. I feel like a lot of the problems
mentioned could easily be remedied if people took a basic step in purging their ignorance about
one another. This would lead to everyone beginning to accept and understand each other and as a
result lessen conflict. I will incorporate this sentiment into my life by being more understanding
of others and withholding judgement on someone till I have their whole story. I feel like I am
someone who hastily jumps to conclusion and holds a bias on someone based off of small
factors, however I should wait till I know their history and respect whatever path they have been
on that has led them here. Everyone in life is on a different path and has individual preferences
that define them as who they are and that in an essence is what distinguishes humanity.
Furthermore I have been enlightened to finding more value in culture and intrinsic oriented

endeavors as opposed to the assortment of cascading piles of money. Ultimately this will lead to
a healthier life mentally and one awarding more innate satifaction.