Wise words from LA

In my attempt at multi-disciplinary studies here I am learning a lot from all sorts of sources.  Today, I learnt two fascinating things from two very different people.  Firstly, the authors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment wrote that 2/3 of the world's languages are spoken by forest-dwelling people.  What I didn't check was whether this includes people (like us in the UK) living in areas that were formerly forested, or only applies to areas such as tropical rain forests.  This map shows a visual picture of the distribution of languages in the world - each black dot refers to one language.  Looking at the map the highest concentrations of languages are definitely in tropical, forested areas.

Terralingua map of linguistic diversity

Secondly, Adrienne one of the stars of 'Real housewives: Beverley Hills' (that noted scholarly TV programme to which I have become sadly addicted) when introducing her fashion show starring her own shoes, came out with this extremely perspicacious philosophical exhortation to her audience ... 'May you find inspiration in the bigger picture, and love in the detail'.  Maybe I will have that translated into all the languages marked by the black dots in the above map as my contribution to international peace and harmony...

Why stone decay matters

Lest any of you think that what I work on is a minority sport, I should like to point you to yesterday's Observer which had the following story about Oscar Wilde's grave...

Apparently generations of fans kissing his grave and drawing on it with lipstick have caused enough damage for the monument to need intensive cleaning.  If you look carefully you'll also see the beautiful green algal colonisation towards the upper edge of the gravestone...but the Observer story doesn't seem to make any mention of that!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/nov/27/oscar-wilde-grave-paris-cemetery

Over 20,000 words...

At last I can say with more confidence that I will complete the task I set out to achieve at the Getty.  I have managed to churn out more than 20,000 words now - with at least something written for all five chapters of the short book (booklet?!)/ long article that I am trying to produce.  The last few days have seen me being quite productive, despite wonderful weather (80 deg F today and yesterday) and lots of counter-attractions.  I've been thinking about ruins so much that I fear I have turned into one...  I even read some human geography things today which is VERY worrying.  I didn't understand much of them, however, so that was reassuring. My aim is to have 30,000 words done by the time I leave.  So, I shall have to work hard over the next 3 weeks.

Thanksgiving, Viles-style...

Thanksgiving is a major holiday in the USA, to be shared with family and friends and involving a turkey.  As I am without any of those at the moment, I had to improvise.  I managed to phone my Mum and Dad on their home phone in England via Skype and had a lovely chat for 10 minutes for 18p.  How does Skype do it?!  Or are my parents really just round the corner having a sneaky holiday in Hollywood without telling me.  It wouldn't surprise me...

I've just enjoyed a home-cooked 'turkey and all the trimmings' meal, but without the turkey and jolly nice it was too.  Roasted vegetables, including a selection of 'heritage potatoes' and a few things that had been lurking in the fridge for a long time.  Lovely.  Fresh Californian strawberries to finish.  And then the moonlight swim in the pool and hot tub.  Not bad for the end of November!

View from the hot tub

Tahiti calls (but not loudly enough)

Some days are just plain weird.  I checked my emails this morning to find a last minute invitation to present a paper at a meeting in Tahiti (all expenses paid).  Sadly, the dates they wanted me (or, really to be honest, I was about their 31st choice, so the dates they wanted anyone who knows the vaguest thing about islands!!) were impossible - 2 days before I am due to leave here to return to the UK.  I must confess I did look at flights from LAX to Papeete just to see if it was vaguely possible.  At lunch I visited the 'Images of the artist' exhibition at the Getty Museum (bear with me, this honestly is relevant...) and found the most beautiful drawing below by Paul Gauguin called 'Head of a Tahitian woman'. How likely is one to be drawn to thinking about Tahiti twice in one day?  If anyone wants to go to Tahiti and deliver a paper on the geomorphology of atolls let me know and I'll put them in touch with the organisers!

Head of a Tahitian woman, Paul Gauguin, 1892, charcoal.

'Great work' starts to take more shape...

... at last the words are starting to flow onto the pages with a bit more speed, and some of them are even relevant and helpful words!  I can now start to imagine that I may well complete the 30,000 words I set myself to write by the time I leave in mid December. As it is Thanksgiving this Thursday the Getty Center grinds to a halt, which means that I will have plenty of time to sit at home in my nice apartment and write, write, write...  It's funny how frustrating a process writing can be.  You waste hours trying to compose one simple sentence, badly, and then suddenly get on a roll and beat out hundreds of really well focused words and pithy phrases with no problem at all.  My main problem is my huge ability to procrastinate and decide that I really MUST read a bit more/ tidy my pile of papers/ get another cup of coffee/ check my emails... rather than getting ON with things.  If only my students could see my now they would laugh hugely and, I hope, feel encouraged.

Getty sunsets

Now the clocks have gone back here the sun goes down just as I leave the Getty in the early evening.  On a clear day (of which there are MANY!) the sunsets can look really beautiful.  Quite uplifting.

Afghans in Pasadena

Today, I went to Caltech in Pasadena  to give a talk.  Caltech, for those who don't know, is the California Institute of Technology and is filled with incredibly intelligent students and staff.  Quite intimidating!  Being a well-resourced University, they have a car service, so I was picked up from the Getty in the morning and taken across LA.  After the talk, my lovely colleague Bethany took me for an Afghani dinner at Azeen's Afghan Restaurant.  Now that's a first for me, and very enjoyable. What we ate was remarkably like this:

VERY tasty, a sort of between Lebanese and Indian food

Getty Villa - antique meets modern

Today we had a Getty Scholars tour to the Getty Villa which is located on the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the outskirts of Malibu.  It was the original site of the Getty Museum before the new one was built and was one of John Paul Getty's homes. The tour was excellent - we saw conservation in action on ancient vases and Roman silverware, and looked round the 'Modern Antiquity' exhibition which includes works by Picasso and ancient sculptures like the one below:

Head of Apollo, Roman, AD 175-200

We also had a talk by Shane Butler, a Classics scholar, on voice and meaning in Latin poetry.  My old latin teacher, Miss Trippier, would have been proud of me! I learnt a useful Latin word, 'nescioquid' which means something like 'something or other'.  Must remember to slot that into a conversation once I am back at High Table in Worcester College next term.

Lonesome Viles keeps busy

...the last Goudie has left LA and now it is just me here, all alone.  It seems VERY quiet without Andrew (and Alice) and getting into a new routine is a challenge.  I've been working hard and being quite productive, and even remembering to eat and all those things that Andrew thinks I will be unable to do without him!  This week is going to be very busy - I have trips planned to the Getty Villa, Caltech and Palos Verde.  Oh, and I'll be cramming in a bit of writing and thinking as well.

Desert days

Just back from a day and a half in the Mojave desert.  It's only about 3 hours drive away from Los Angeles but could be light years away in terms of landscape and society.  From the ritzy, hyper-manicured gardens in the district of Brentwood we drove east through LA and along the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains (with pockets of snow on the highest peaks already).  Then north through one of the mountain passes, crossing the San Andreas fault as we started to head into drier territory. Here the landscape is dominated by scrubby vegetation and lots of abandoned homesteads. We visited the Mojave National Preserve, which contains a wonderful array of landscapes (old lava flows, big sand dunes, weathered granites, salt pans).  It also hosts the California State University's desert research center at the wonderfully-named Zzyzx (pronounced zye -six).  This used to be a religious spa resort (only in California!), but now supports field courses on all aspects of desert life and landscape.

The view from Zzyzx across Soda Lake - all salt and no lake

SoCal food

Now that I am a seasoned SoCal girl (!), I am starting to try a bit more of the local cuisine. Thanks, largely, to Andrew 'I'll try anything once' Goudie.  Yesterday, we had chayote for the first time, which is a Mexican vegetable from the gourd family and looks like this:

We also tried Prickly pear for pudding, which looks like this and has amazingly blood red succulent flesh (and a whole host of black pips which are as hard as hell):

We washed these down with a glass of Californian very dry sherry.  Not sure what to try next, any suggestions?

Sun makes you smile

...while it is still cold today the sunshine was absolutely beautiful.  Stunning, in fact!  I went to 2 lectures today - one on the science behind fading of photographs in exhibitions and the other on the art of John Sloan, an early 20th century US painter and illustrator.  Two topics I knew nothing about when I went into the lectures; two topics I learnt a lot about. Viva Getty!

Rainy LA fall

Well, I think I want my money back!  I thought LA was sunny and warm year round... However, it poured with rain this morning, after having also rained on Friday. The clocks went back this weekend so it is officially fall, which may have something to do with it.  Despite this climatological set back, Saturday was a beautiful warm and sunny day and we went to Santa Monica to enjoy the pier and the shops.  Here's the weather forecast for the next few days from http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Los_Angeles.html - so it should get better in a few days time.

Forecast

View Calendar7-Day Forecast for 90001

Sunday, 6

63 | 47 °F

Chance of Rain

Chance of
Precipitation

80%

Monday, 7

67 | 47 °F

Clear

Chance of
Precipitation

0%

Tuesday, 8

72 | 50 °F

Clear

Chance of
Precipitation

0%

Wednesday, 9

76 | 52 °F

Clear

Chance of
Precipitation

0%

Thursday, 10

72 | 56 °F

Partly Cloudy

Chance of
Precipitation

0%

Getty Center from space

Here's what the Getty Center looks like on Google Earth.  It's the huge white castle-like building complex in the centre of the image. Because the site is on top of a large hill it casts a shadow over Freeway 405 to the right. I work in one of the buildings on the top right hand part of the site.  Just thought you should know that!


View Larger Map

Half way through...

...I can't believe it but I am nearly half way through my stay here.  I am enjoying it all so much here that I hope the second half goes more slowly so I can savour it (unlikely, but here's hoping!).  The weather is heading towards autumnal (or falling towards fall as Californians might say) and so today there were a few clouds in the sky.  I may even have to wear a coat one day soon.  In comparison with the general November weather in the UK, however, this is paradise.  Indeed, in comparison with many things in the UK it is paradise here.  Am ready to super glue myself to my desk at the Getty so that I cannot leave in mid December...

99% protests in LA

Like London, but with better sunshine and less hassle from the Church authorities, there are several anti-banking protests in California.  In downtown LA, opposite the LA Police Department, is a large but tidy encampment of tents with lots of banners and notices in support of the oppressed 99%.  One tent even had a Halloween pumpkin outside.

Downtown architectural tour

The Getty organised a whole day tour of downtown today, complete with expert architectural guide.  The diversity of buildings is amazing from a late 19th century church to a hole in the ground which is just beginning to be developed into a new art gallery. Highlights of the tour for me were the Union Station, Biltmore Hotel, new Catholic Cathedral and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  This last building was designed by Frank Gehry and is extremely beautiful, in a 'metal wrapped around weird shapes' way.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, downtown LA.

Downtown is a wonderful mixture of uses, peoples and vistas.  Well worth visiting, especially for Grand Central Market with its mix of cheap and tasty food stalls.

Downtown LA towers

Five thousand words and counting...

A full day of thinking and scribbling has resulted in almost 5000 words of Viles musings on linking conserving ruins with conserving biodiversity.  I say 'almost' 5000 words in perhaps a rather too optimistic fashion (I'm including a few notes, quotations and waffle), but it is starting to come together.  So what if there's about a further 30000 words to do...

Actually, I am writing the most difficult part (chapter 2) at the moment that deals with the underlying principles of different types of conservation.  First, the principles are quite complex and, second, people really make heavy weather of writing about them - making me uncertain what anything actually MEANS.    It's all quite slippery and conceptual... and I am much happier with things that are solid and empirical.