burn hollywood burn : golden ashes 4 tha masses

“[T]he Hollywood sign is the ugliest example of graffiti in North America and…it should be whitewashed and replaced with a simple neon sign that points the way to Aztlan.”
—Harry Gamboa, Jr., “Light at the End of Tunnel Vision,” in Urban Exile: The Collected Writings of Harry Gamboa, Jr.

People standing out on the sidewalk, in the bicycle lane. Hipsters spilling out into the street. Everybody looking, pointing, taking pictures—

—a nuclear blast, a terrorist attack, a pillar of salt—

Watching the spectacle crumble, unfold.

“…and it’s burn Hollywood burn, it’s típico apocalíptico, baby, it’s another string of expletives pouring from your pale cannibal tongue, saliva contaminated with hate and other lethal weapons—”

Smoke cloud drifting yellow, brown, following east. Passing in front of/covering the sun.

And everything suddenly turning to gold—de repente we repent—and it’s gold sidewalk, gold street, gold fire hydrant leak, gold graffiti mural wall, gold buses rolling by, gold protesters marching in memory of their rights;

And the ashes are starting to fall now gold, choking us in the backs of our gold-plated throats;

And a gold man walking to the liquor for his fix, two gold homeless guys bickering and joking on the corner—”I know you’re a good neighbor…you carry around…it’s over there…”

And a gold elderly woman walking three fluffy gold dogs, gold too-skinny white girl driving off in gold Lexus, gold Silversun Liquors, gold public telephone, gold trash can overflowing, gold pigeon circling home, gold tagger writing secrets on flat clean gold surfaces—

GOLDEN ASHES 4 THA MASSES, & WE ALL TURN 2 GOLD.



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Transcript 1: couple dreaming

Transcript 2: voicemail message

Transcript 3: g o l d e n [2.1 megabytes]

Letter: CAUSA (Central American United Student Association) at CSUN

LA Times: “Hillside fire threatens landmark, fouls the air”