Deconstructing Perestroika

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To mark the 20th anniversary of the USSR’s demise in 1991, the Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War, in collaboration with the Craft and Folk Art Museum, have produced an exhibition of poster art titled “Deconstructing Perestroika: Soviet Ideology and its Discontents.” Comprised of 24 political posters produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the exhibit seeks to shed light on the ways in which some Soviet artists responded to the dramatic changes and upheaval of their society, as well as to the new found freedom of expression and insistence on transparency that were the hallmarks of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (re-structuring).

Two Years After Opening, How Does Central Los Angeles High School No. 9 Actually Function?

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In the July/August 2011 issue of Metropolis Magazine, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne examines how Central Los Angeles High School No. 9 actually functions for the students, teachers and support staff who use the building daily, two years after its grand opening. As Hawthorne explains in his introduction, the article is “…an experiment in crowd-sourced criticism… and an attempt to accomplish something all too rare in design journalism: to understand how a new and ambitious piece of architecture works in the real world.”

Exploring East Los Angeles on the LA Latin Spice Tour

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In March my wife and I ventured out in one of those rare southern California downpours to participate in the Old Pasadena Food Tasting Tour run by Melting Pot Tours. Despite the rain, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and looked forward to participating in another tour hosted by the same company. Little did I know an opportunity would present itself so soon.