What It Means To Be An American (And Other Headlines)

Los Angeles might be a melting pot of ethnicities, cultures and communities, but for some, living in the United States can still be a challenge — especially if they don’t fit within someone else’s narrow definition of what it means to be an “American.”

Wrapping up 'Being American'

Last Thanksgiving, my colleague Leslie Berestein Rojas wanted to hear what Angelenos had to say about their experiences navigating their American identity. Since then, she’s edited several stories that define and illustrate the American experience. Those stories became our “Being American” series.

On Friday, the series ended with the fascinating story of Arnulfo Puentes, an Angeleno who started off as a hard-working shoeshine boy from Mexico and eventually became the president of A&A Aerospace, Inc.

I recently chatted with Leslie about her thoughts now that the "Being American" series has winded down:

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Aaricka: Why did you start this series? 

Leslie: So between 2020 and 2021 I edited a very similar series called “Race In L.A.,” in which members of our audience wrote personal essays about how their race and/or ethnicity shaped their lived experience here in L.A. One of the strongest themes I kept noticing was this question of “Americanness” — so many people talked about being viewed from the outside as never “American enough,” because of things like their perceived national origin, the color of their skin, their last names. And I felt there was another series to be done here, where we could redefine “Americanness” as it really is here in this city, a city of immigrants and migrants. “American” is not a race, or an ethnicity, or a birthplace. It’s something far bigger and more fluid. So we sent a callout to our audience, lots of people wrote in, and some wound up writing essays for us. And for the past year or so, I’ve been working with them to edit these great, deeply personal essays.

Aaricka: What were some perspectives people shared that we don’t usually hear? 

Leslie: First, the range of perspectives from the contributors has really been as diverse as L.A., everyone’s story is different. One perspective I loved including was migrants to L.A. have come from within our own borders. For example, a few weeks ago, contributor Mark Broyard wrote about how his family and a wave of other Creole families left New Orleans in the early 60s, leaving what was still a segregated South, and turned part of Jefferson Boulevard into the center of Creole L.A. Another contributor, Kylowna Moton, traced her family’s L.A. roots to the Great Migration long ago, when Black Americans left the South seeking safety and freedom, much in the way that refugees from other parts of the world do today.

I wish I could list them all here — each story is fascinating in its own way. They show us so many facets of what being and becoming American is through the eyes of folks who make L.A. what it is.

Aaricka: What is your biggest takeaway from this series?

Leslie: There are rich stories, expertise and perspectives that reaching out to our audience like this gives us a window to, and that we may not hear otherwise. Another takeaway from this series is that we have this wonderfully engaged audience that’s always ready and willing to think about the themes we put out there, whether it’s about our lived experiences with our race or ethnicity, or redefining Americanness in a city of immigrants. Angelenos have such a wealth of stories to share, and I’m so grateful to all our contributors in this series for sharing theirs.

Read all of the "Being American" essays here.

Stay safe and cool, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading.

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More news

(After you stop hitting snooze)

• Not only will the California State University board of trustees announce a new chancellor on Wednesday, it will also consider increasing tuition. My colleague Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the latest on what may come this week. 
• The latest Medi-Cal reform, CalAIM, is supposed to address costly issues like housing instability and food insecurity, but mental health providers believe it could force them to cut services. CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang has the latest. 
• Since the Middle Class Scholarship launched last year, it’s been helping students in higher-income families afford college. Some advocacy groups, however, believe the state should give more to lower-income students who may not qualify for some financial aid. 
• All six people aboard a small plane died after a crash in Riverside County on Saturday. While officials are still investigating, they said heavy fog might have been a reason for the crash. 
• In an effort to address the need for affordable housing amidst a homelessness crisis, Los Angeles city officials sought to make residential hotels low-cost. But Capital & Main and ProPublica recently discovered that landlords have been spiking the price of rooms for tourists. 
• California legislative staffers will wait at least a couple more years in order to obtain the right to form a union. CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff has more. 
• Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani is a skilled pitcher and hitter who got his start as a baseball prodigy in his hometown of Mizusawa, Japan. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn wrote about how others around saw his talent as a young child. 
• Bring your little ones to see The Lion King tonight for Movie Mondays at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Learn all about Central Avenue’s historic jazz scene at the Central Avenue: Open House at The Beehive. One for the Books host Traci Thomas talks all about food, culture and cookbooks with professional foodies Bricia Lopez, Javier Cabral and Keith Corbin for the latest show at the Crawford Family Forum on Thursday night. Check out these events and more in this week’s Best Things To Do list. 
  

Wait... one more thing

The Top Three Tea-Sipping Trends

Margot Robbie meets fans during a pink carpet event to promote her new film "Barbie" in Seoul on July 2.

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Jung Yeon-Je

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AFP via Getty Images

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THREE — Banning Barbie? 

Everywhere I go, I see either Barbie or Oppenheimer advertisements (check out this fan-made ad). But if I asked you which of these movies would be banned in some Southeast Asian countries because of a sovereignty dispute, I’m sure you would say the movie about the atomic bomb, not the doll.

Turns out the Philippines might be the second Southeast Asian nation to push for a ban of the Barbie movie because of a scene with a map. Read Ashley Westerman’s NPR article for more details.

TWO — Could Threads Be The “Twitter Killer”? 

Mastodon. Blue Sky. Spill. Several apps have tried to snatch Twitter’s cultural throne since Elon Musk’s reign. Facebook’s parent company Meta threw their hat in the ring with Threads. The new social media app was off to a good start, gaining 30 million users in less than a day. But could it be the official “Twitter Killer”? NPR’s Emily Olson wrote about what it would take for a new app to take Twitter’s top spot.

ONE — A Long Heat Wave Is Here 

If you live in the desert, mountains or interior valleys, please take extra caution this week and weekend. According to the National Weather Service, there will be HOT conditions starting tomorrow in areas like the Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and the Western San Gabriel Mountains. Please don’t leave children, older people or pets inside vehicles and stay hydrated. Here’s a tip on how to help people who are unhoused in these conditions.