Letter From L.A.

If you found your father’s 1929 Jesuit college textbook titled “Special Ethics” with his handwritten notes inside, would you recognize the man who raised you?

Some of the most eloquent voices heard in the aftermath of mass shootings are those of high school students. Their determination to make the political system respond is a sign of hope.

Crosswalks can be dangerous, but that doesn’t mean you should stay out of them. Metaphorical ones, too. The intersection where faith crashes into knowledge, where creativity clashes with order, is sometimes filled with light. Cross at the light.

Los Angeles may appear to be rich soil for the Seven Deadly Sins. But if you look closely, you’ll find their opposites around the City of Angels.

The winter onset of Santa Ana winds — hot air in December — reinforces the strangeness of Los Angeles. The Santa Anas have become threads in the city’s dystopian lore.

The Muslim house of prayer closest to LMU is the King Fahad Mosque — about 5 miles away, 20 minutes by car. Drive north on Lincoln, turn right on W. Washington until you get to the intersection with Huron Ave.

“Urban Light,” by Chris Burden, is composed of 202 antique L.A. County street lamps that stand outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Hollywood, freeways, the aerospace industry, the beach, the mountains, Olvera Street and the Dodgers — they all probably would be found on most people’s lists of iconic images of L.A. life.

Turn any corner in Los Angeles, and a mural may appear: Our Lady of Guadalupe gracing a bodega wall, or chamber musicians eight stories tall on a downtown parking structure. The Homeboy Industries mural, “Jobs Not Jails,” is found at Learning Works, at 1916 E. First St. in Boyle Heights.