inequality

LINK: inequality

Prompt snagged from: NY Times

In Southern California, the contrasts are impossible to ignore. I can drive down a couple of blocks and see apartments under the Housing Choice Voucher program, what was known as Section 8, then turn the corner and drive a few miles and find multi-million-dollar homes with ocean views, glass walls, and infinity pools. A few miles away someone is sleeping in their car or couch surfing just to get by.

Even at work, the parking lot is lined up with luxury cars next to beaters. In healthcare, theres Cedars-Sinai treating celebrities and executives, while Los Angeles General tends to the underserved, underinsured… the forgotten.

There’s Erewhon, where smoothies cost $20 and then on the other side of the city, someone’s selling homemade tamales from the trunk of their cars, trying to help pay for medical bills or a funeral.

Disparity isn’t hidden here. It’s in the skyline, apparent in traffic, and visible in every street corner and parking lot. It’s the beauty and the pain of Southern California, where dreams and desperation coexist, side by side.