WATER L.A. WAYS
Sienna Ruiz March 2025
When I moved to L.A., I was excited to see I lived near a creek.
This was the creek.
A
wide concrete expanse.
Multiple fences in the way.
A thin dribble of water.
But my initial disappointment became a strange sort of admiration.
They show what it is like to live in this city.
These waters are ugly. There is little color in them.
They are a landscape and life accepts the challenge. that dares you to live
Birds and tree roots cling.
The same way people sing in traffic or sell food along unwalkable intersections.
But this is not romantic either. People not say they are an example of
are forced to live here, and they would of life thriving despite the odds.
They are brutal, hostile, Awe in its original form
hostile, makeshift wonders. form of terror and beauty.
They are another story of man attempting to conquer nature.
Except here it is concrete poured over flood-prone rivers. Instead of residential zones on fire plains or freeways on faultlines.
They are the lingering scars from these efforts.
Signs that we are already living in an unlivable world.
