Robert StGenis Voice empowered

Don't start the series here... To at least be current on topics related to Market Lofts and DTLA, please read:  Love/Hate spec. series #2 ,  Love/Hate spec. series #6 ,  Love/Hate spec. series #7 We lived at the Market Lofts for almost 3 1/2 years virtually not knowing any of our neighbors in this over 260 unit building. We started to get to know one married couple, but he traveled extensively until the pandemic so we literally haven't seen them in probably 2 years at this point. Occasionally, Oliver or Nicole "likes" one of my photos on Instagram or Facebook and a couple of times have Oliver has had comments on topics I have brought up, like last year's celebrations that turned into riots around our home. We know another neighbor upstairs, me more than my husband, but while we keep talking about getting together, but schedules have yet to align. We moved less than 1 mile away in LA for the next year so there is still plenty of time. We just recently met 3 of our ...

Midtown Atlanta I am making this a "sub-series" within the series on my Love/Hate  series  of Los Angeles.  I descended back into the City of Angels on December 29 after being in Atlanta since December 1. While Los Angeles went further and further into lockdown, I was able to eat indoors in restaurants, and go to bars, go to the gyms indoors and sit in a hot tub or sauna while in Georgia. I couldn't go to the movies, a museum or theatre. There were restrictions in medical offices, some greater than here, which I learned as I took my father to a number of appointments. Some schools were completely open, others hybrids, others yet online only. I went and looked at properties to purchase with an agent, albeit socially distancing and with masks on. I attended open houses with limits on numbers of people in the property, social distancing and again masks. But all in all, life was as normal as it could be with a pandemic never seen in our history. On occasion, I found plac...

Los Angeles had been beaten and battered in the few years leading up to my arrival. Starting in 1991, the Los Angeles basin shed over 200,000 jobs, primarily in the aerospace industry. Military bases were closed throughout Southern California. I've later learned much more about how this largely changed Southern California's "landscape" and diminished our middle class. The  Northridge earthquake of 1994  was one of the most costly natural disasters in US history.  I remember watching coverage on television. While there are cracks and shifts in buildings from the earthquake to this day and I remember noting some minor damage on trips to LA in 1996 prior to my moving, in reflection I have to say it was amazing how quickly things overall were repaired. But, it's impact did contribute to people leaving the region and a decline in prices. The earthquake occurred less than 2 years following the  1992 Los Angeles riots , which arguably was far more devastating to ...

The last high school graduation I attended in 2018 was in one of the best rated school districts in the state in a community in suburban Chicago where you think "it couldn't happen here." I was actually a bit nervous during the ceremony. It was in an auditorium with the exit doors mostly to one side and everyone seemed to be a "soft target." There was a police presence outside the school, but I don't recall any inside the auditorium. The fact that a police presence has become more essential than precautionary or, in some cases honorary (showing up as to participate, receive or give an award), is a clear sign of the times. The shooting at Parkland was only a few months before. Photo I took at Mom's Demand Action rally, Orlando, FL 8/17/19 My step-sister recently moved to a great community in suburban Atlanta. I wonder if those kids will go through drills in case of a shooting. I hope they do because it is necessary; but I am sickened by the though...

My Father used to say this when I was growing up. Mind you, he hated his parents and hated his childhood. My Mother, brother and I would go visit my Grandparents outside Philadelphia and all and all have a fine time until my Father would show up separately most often from somewhere else on business. It would take an hour before he and my Grandmother were yelling and screaming at one another about something. I wouldn't be so certain if the local neighborhood watch didn't issue alerts when they saw my Father arriving. My Grandparents didn't have central air conditioning and we were a damn good loud screaming group of Italians (later to find out we are acutally 59% Greek who went to Italy, whether that is my Grandmother or Grandfather I still do not know. Both families came to America from the same village in Italy). But my Father is a 1st generation American. My Grandfather's 1st memory of America is peeing in his pants at Ellis Island at 5 years old because he did not k...