Conquering Hurt

While the skies are grey and the temperature over here in Venice beach is a mild 68 degrees, the day is perfect. You know, perfect like when your senses scream that things are the way that they should be. (The Kingdom of Heaven... Some might say.) I am sitting in an art studio in a beautifully urban part of LA, just outside of Venice Beach. As I look outside the huge windows in the fading strip mall in which I sit I see barred windows, old auto body shops, a pawn shop and sidewalks filled with cigarettes and litter. Yet inside these walls is something special. The main floor space is probably 15 feet wide and 60 feet long. The cement floor is cold are worn and the orange paint is cracking in every which way. The ceiling is 20 feet high and the walls are all white, but something unique is on the walls in this place. The walls are filled with black and white photography taken by students in the area. From a young hispanic boy in a cowboy hat on a city bus to two young black girls with hoola hoops in their hands, the art is incredible. While the art is awesome, to imagine the stories of the students that are behind the camara is even more special. I picture stories of hurt, and I picture restoration of that hurt in the form of art. I picture students dealing with their hurt through expression rather than through depression. I picture conquering hurt through positive experience, rather than numbing experience. I hope that I get to learn more about this kids! I have my earphones on, to dull the noise that is happening upstairs. On the second level Whitney is interviewing to teach in this place. I don't know how the interview is going, or even if Whitney will want this job after this morning, but it really doesn't matter right now. The moment is memorable and I am glad that I got to share it.