Leaving Los Angeles for a little bit ...

Gustavo is seriously too kind in this post at Navel Gazing at our sister paper OC Weekly but I can't say I'm not pleased and flattered with his announcement that I'm leaving L.A. for a little bit, a year, maybe more, for Mexico City. I'm sealing a deal with editor Colin Robinson at Scribner to write a book about the underground, basically -- youth and subcultures. I'm gonna do a lot of writing, a lot of reading, a lot of drinking and eating, and a lot of walking. My boots are my best friends. Participation does a body good.

Let me tell you about my feelings right now, since this is one of those things blogs can be good for. I feel blessed, elated, lucky, grateful, and also sad and nervous. I love Los Angeles. Every single day it manages to surprise me, to make me gasp. So much collides and gets mixed up here. The single-passenger automobile is ridiculous and offensive -- and that makes it amazing! The landscape, it tosses and turns, so lush and extreme. No two buildings are the same. This city is so shifty and creepy and deceptive. It's sexy. I'll miss it. I'm going to miss my family of friends and my editors and colleagues. I'll miss my relatives in San Diego and Tijuana and elsewheres.

That said, I'll definitely be back.

I want to thank the people I've learned from, the people who've encouraged me, the people who've challenged me. I want to thank Laurie Ochoa for letting me go to Mexico City last year to cover the presidential election for the Weekly, and my editor Tom Christie, and Alan Mittelstaedt for hiring me, and Marc Cooper for being the first person to meet me and tell me about the Weekly. I want to thank the folks at the L.A. Times who nurtured me early on. I want to thank my agent Katherine Fausset at Curtis Brown. And her brother Richard, my homeboy from the L.A. Times, currently holding it down in the ATL, for putting me in touch with her.

I don't know what I'm going to do with Intersections. Once I get there I might scale back on posts, maybe down to once a week, to concentrate on my manuscript. Haven't decided this. Head is spinning with the physical, mental, and emotional components of relocation. Alright, L.A., I'm out! Stay grimy! Thank you!!

* See sights of D.F. architecture, as seen above, in so-good photoblog Parella.

Comments

[EL CHAVO!]

I hope you don't abandon this blog, an occasional update on the movida and DF would be interesting. You know, some cross border cultural pollination, no doubt many people here would be into that.
Good luck homes!

[EL CHAVO!]

I hope you don't abandon this blog, an occasional update on the movida and DF would be interesting. You know, some cross border cultural pollination, no doubt many people here would be into that.
Good luck homes!

[Brady Westwater]

Hurry back! You'll be missed.

[Diego]

Best of luck en la Ciudad de Mexico. If you ever think of going to Jalisco (namely, Los Altos de Jalisco) let me know. I could give you pointers as to where to visit (my parent's hometown).

Check in once in a while in the blog! It'll be great to hear from you once in a while.

Buena suerte en todo y hechale ganas, como dicen mis padres.

[Lorinda Toledo]

I'm so glad to hear that things are going well for you. You are truly a brilliant journalist. I have really enjoyed reading your blog and I hope that you keep it up.
Enjoy your time in Mexico and best of luck. I can't wait to see the finished product!

[jimmy]

will miss the blog, will miss the brown perspective at the weekly, good luck in the motherland.

[cindylu]

Once again, congrats. If you blog less, we'll understand. But if you can muster a post or two a week with the type of insights and stories you had in your LA Weekly story on DF sub-culture, that'd be great. And can Gustavo ever be too nice?

[Caro]

Dude! This is great news for you, bad news for regular Intersections readers. I agree with El Chavo: you might keep this space live to keep that cross-border inter-penetration going.

You'll get so much out of your time in el DeFectuoso. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures there. Congrats y palante!

[Congogirl]

Please don't give up the blogging! If you move, let us know...

[Travis Koplow]

Congrats! That is great news. I totally understand your feelings about LA, but I'm sure this will be an adventure well worth the sacrifice. I do hope you'll keep blogging. I read your blog regularly and I would miss it if it went away.

[chimatli]

Congrats, Daniel! It seems DF is the place to be these days. A friend just came back yesterday from a small trip there and came back with many stories.
Please continue your blog whenever possible!

[el que pica]

Hey, that's cool. But please do keep up with Intersections, though. El DF is an awesome place, man... A year will go by in no time.

You don't want to spend TOO much time at La Casita down there, by the way. But do enjoy the night life, the mercados, the theatre scene, the dollar's buying power, and the awesomest metro in the world (remember, the last car on the pink line after 11pm is the best).

[Ezrha Jean Black]

We just met earlier this evening; but putting together your mention of your book deal and a reference to it I happened to notice on-line (la observed), I took the opportunity to scan over your blog and wanted to tell you how much I liked it.

It's an excellent L.A. blog -- and, really, in the sum of it, exemplifies why you MUST return to L.A. You're so on point with respect to the gladdening/maddening ways of the city's streets (& freeways I guess) -- what makes it both infuriating and serendipitously enchanting.

I can't wait for your book on Mexican politics AND for you to come back to L.A.

Best wishes -- ezrha jean black

[urban memo]

i hope you keep blogging in some shape or form while you are gone.

[sharon]

this is long overdue thanks for being a brilliant light in the blogosphere...as well as a selfish request to let us vicariously experience DF through your eyes...

enjoy your time there!

[Recycled Cholo]

aaahhhh man ...

[Nydia Cisneros]

I am thrilled about your upcoming book. I lived in DF in 2006-- never thinking that I would fall out of love with LA until I embraced the chaos of DF... I miss it like a great lover that is why I am planing to move back in 2008. I would love to meet up with you--talez tomar unas chelas en Coyocan.

[Anna]

Hi, Daniel. This is Anna. I met you at the NAHJ awards event last year in DC.
Congratulations on your decision to explore some new territory. I look forward to following your writings.
I'm not sure if you are still at the weekly since I just saw this posting and it's a month old. Can you send me your email so we can keep in touch? Thanks! Anna
Saludos desde Tijuana.

[Liliana Gallegos]

Hey Daniel soy Liliana Gallegos de Berkeley... te acuerdas de mi? i tried writing you an email to the la weekly paper pero vi que ya te saliste de ahi que andas ahora aca escribiendo libros y no se que tanto estoy orgullosa de ti... oye como perdimos contacto???
Espero que te acuerdes de mi, its been so long 5 years almost... but I still think about you ves?
bueno espero que estes muy bien, escribeme un email o algo ahora vivo en santa barbara igual y nos podemos ver de nuevo algun dia...
besos y todo lo mejor para ti siempre
Lili