John Morales

11/23/17

Professor Rodrick

English 115

Los Angeles

The city of Los Angeles houses 3.976 million people in 503 square miles. Los Angeles is

a vast ocean of explorers, entrepreneurs, musicians, bakery shop owners, lawyers, any profession

you name youll find in Los Angeles. And thats not all, this city holds many cultures, name a

religion, race, or ideal, in Los Angeles you can find it. This is why this city is known to be great.

Its vast diversity and color from every side of the world makes it unique and attractive. Due to

the amount of diversity, it breeds opportunity, especially with Hollywood around the corner, Los

Angeles houses those specific niches Hollywood directors might have. This city is looked upon

as a city of opportunities, many people come from around the globe to Los Angeles for better

opportunities. Even people within the same country come to the west coast in such of a better

and bigger future. The stories from Another City: Writing from Los Angeles shed light to some

individual experiences some people have with the grandiose city. Some who have moved across

country in hope for new opportunities and some who have grown up in the city. The city means a

lot to some people, some hold it near and dear to their hearts, while others despise it and keep it

far away from them as possible. No matter the area, its the people in the city that make the city.

Its the idea of Los Angeles that keeps the city alive and growing. The book gives readers some

of the stories that contribute to the whole idea that is Los Angeles. The story Minnie Riperton

Saved My Life, is about the story of a boy living in downtown Los Angeles who undergoes a big

shift in his life when he is sent to an East-LA high school. This story shows one side of this
diverse city and how it has helped the character in the story to mature and its theme directly

shows the impact of the ideals in the city of Los Angeles.

Luis Alfaro wrote the story Minnie Riperton Saved My Life about himself and his life

living in an all Mexican family and how he grew up in downtown LA. Alfaro shares his story to

promote his love for Minnie Riperton and the genre of Blues and how it changed him. But it also

has this sense of thankfulness for being raised in this city, because if he wasnt he wouldnt have

been exposed to the situations which lead him to realizing himself. Minnie Riperton, who is

displayed above, is the titular main role model for the main character, she has ignited the passion

Luis has for blues music. In junior high, he was exposed to this type of music because he was

mostly surrounded by black communities. At Berendo Junior High we were a minority.

Surrounded by African-American neighborhoods on all sides (Alfaro 14). Due to his

exposure to African-American culture he adapted their musical taste of blues. Since the origins

of blues revolves around slavery it is involved in African-American culture. its roots were in

various forms of African American slave songs such as field hollers, work songs, spirituals, and

country string ballads (What is the Blues). This contradicts with Luis Mexican culture and

develops his disassociation with his original culture. This in part leads to his disassociation of

being within the norm. Since junior high it was apparent that Luis was not with the popular

niches, but not minding it at all, associating him with this sense of disconnection. A research

done by Gracie Britton and Daniela Sassano shows that music has some effect on peoples

personal identities and who they grow up to be, Music has a very impact on Tylas identity and

she feels that her identity is carried out in her music taste (Britton). In this testimony by one of

the students surveyed, Tylas love for all types of music led her to her future endeavors on

becoming a music major and her musical tastes has affected her identity directly. For Luis, we
can see that thru his passion for blues music. The next biggest chapter in Luis life is his move

to Wilson High School, a school mostly populated by Mexicans. Here there is a sense of comfort

for the main characters as they will be surrounded by their own culture and people, but it turns

around when they find out they were vastly different from the kids at school. In one scene of the

story Luis describes his connection with one of his friends he made at this new high school by

sharing a conversation, and in only two lines you can see the different cultures clashing. I met

my first friend in gym class. He liked Donna Summerss Four Seasons of Love. I thought it was

just okay. Every heard of Millie Jackson, I asked? Nah, do you like Aerosmith? Arrow-what?

After that, the only way to make friends at Wilson was to keep soul music inside my soul

(Alfaro 16). These two music cultures clash, on one side there was Luis who was asking if they

have heard a blues artist while the other asked about a Rock artist. Here it is distinctly clear that

these two are vastly different, although having the same heritage. At the end of the story he

comes out as being queer and he felt free by the end of the story. He finally realized where he

belonged, what he felt most comfortable with, and his true happiness. He was able to find his

true calling due to the city he was in.

Many occasions in the story led to Luis being able to find himself because of the

opportunities the city of Los Angeles gave to him. For example, if Luis was never located in

downtown LA he would have never been exposed to the African-American culture and therefore

blues. The city bleeds culture in various locations and that is made clear in the story as well. Los

Angeles also host many cultural events, one of them being a benefit for a blues singer that Luis

snuck into. It was so accessible to Luis that it only took one bus to get to the location. The bus

stop on Vermont and Venice. I took that bus to a place called the New Mint Saloon on Vermont

and 89th (Alfaro 17). These accessible cultural events allowed Luis to easily attend a life-
changing event for him, it was the event that made him realized he was free. His schools played a

big part in discovering who Luis is, like the attendance of Berendo Junior High School lead him

the discovery of African-American culture and blues, while his attendance at Wilson High

School further invoked his sense of where he is in the world and how it is much different than

what he expected. Being exposed to these two different environments enforced Luiss ideals and

made him more certain about his decisions and ideals. His most prominent place of being was his

home, but his home didnt have a sense of security for his ideals. It is said in the story that his

parents were concerned about him listening to blues and have no allowed him to listen to blues in

the house. Of course, that didnt stop him from being who he wants to be.

Luiss story is one of many in the plethora of stories shared in this vast city. For Luis, his

calling for blues music lead him to realize who he was, a queer Mexican boy from the barrio,

but I was also one of the Three Degrees. I was one of Harold Melvinss Bluenotes (Alfaro

18). Luiss exposure to the diversity of Los Angeles has lead him to be himself, to come out and

embrace his own diversity. This story coincides with the idea of Los Angeles and how it breeds

diversity, it welcomes new experiences for everyone as well as creating its own. Luis didnt

come from somewhere far looking for better life, he was born into it and he took full advantage

of the cultural platters served to him and he developed his own identity. This city gave him the

opportunity to be himself.
 Works Cited

Alfaro, Luis. Minnie Riperton Saved My Life. Another City: Writing from Los Angeles. Ed.

David L. Ulin. City Lights Books, 2001. 13-18. Print.

What is the Blues. PBS, www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html.

Britton, Gracie. How does music affect your perception of your identity? (Gracie and Daniela's

IBL). Prezi.com, prezi.com/7pglsyd7p2ea/how-does-music-affect-your-perception-of-

your-identity-gracie-and-danielas-ibl/.