Moving to Los Angeles
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I decided a couple of months ago to move from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Los Angeles, California. I arrived here on February 2nd, in my loaded Sienna van.
There were several reasons I was drawn to Los Angeles.
Reasons to come to LA.
LA has the largest number of Indigenous tribal people in the U.S.
LA has the largest number of Latinx and Spanish-speaking people from Mexico, Central and South America.
As an elder, the Mediterranean climate was better than the weather in Oklahoma, both hot and cold.
As I had an Indigenous Muscogee mother and a Mestizo Xicano father, I wanted to see what I could do to bring these two peoples closer together. I wanted to help to join the power of Indigenous values and the power of Latinx numbers, to create a powerful communalist/Indigenous movement that could be a leading force for MLK’s call for “a radical revolution of values.”
I was drawn to the location of Southern California, since it is near the border with Mexico, which I wanted to cross over to visit the Zapatistas and learn more Spanish.
LA has more people of the Global Majority than Tulsa.
As a filmmaker/screenwriter, I had a call from Westward productions that showed interest in my screenplay and a possible writing job in LA. I could not find good producers, actors, crew, and funding for my film projects in Oklahoma.
The Latinx and Indigenous people in LA have shown more interest in my ideas and vision than in Tulsa.
I like the work and ideas of the East Side Cafe folks, in the El Sereno neighborhood, whose programs included Indigenous values and culture, from both sides of the US/Mexico border.
