Los Angeles

Tracking Fracking in L.A.

If a map of promising U.S. fracking sites were drawn, a second map depicting sites of heated controversy over the practice would almost be identical to the first. Prominent on both would be wells in states like North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Kentucky, where Catholic nuns have refused permission to oil companies to build on their property a pipeline carrying liquid byproducts of fracking. Add LMU’s backyard to those maps, specifically the Inglewood Oil Field in the nearby Baldwin Hills. Here’s why.—The Editor

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Surge Control

In late November 1860, 10 years after statehood and the Gold Rush, botanist William Brewer, an Easterner, arrived in Los Angeles with the California Geological Survey to travel the state of California and study its natural resources.

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Valley Vistas

Damon Willick, who teaches art and art history, grew up in the San Fernando Valley and was the perfect person to curate a show and write a catalog about the valley’s contributions to the L.A. art scene.

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Consider the Desert

A flight east from Los Angeles will usually cross, miles above at a cool altitude, the Mojave Desert. From on high, its dusty, flaky expanse looks as if every ounce of water has been leeched out, leaving behind dry, emptied rivulets.

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Watts Towers

Paul Harris, LMU professor of English, says no two photos of the Watts Towers are ever alike. Take a look for yourself at a work of art that is an unending source of beauty, mystery and fascination.

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