The Thin Red Line

The day this picture was taken was a very American one. An amazing (Emmy-award winning, in fact!) photographer named Josh Cogan visited MPM and we walked around and ate tacos made by Koreans and stepped into a Tae Kwon Doe studio staffed with instructors from Mexico. I told him about the new kimchee tamale at Mama’s and also the Korean man recently busted for making fake IDs at the mercy of what he calls “street people” but who everyone else calls miqueros, a word with roots in the Mexican acronym MICA, for green card. All around MacArthur Park were fusions that had nothing to do with either one of us, only all the more fascinating. More of Josh’s photos below.

This Tae Kwon Doe studio was packed! Classes are taught in English and Spanish.

A standard miquero uniform: striped, collared shirt, baseball cap (or hair with lots of gel), and standing on a busy corner like this one.

Just in love, love, love with the color of the neighborhood. Beautiful and bold.

Sometime before photography, Josh was an anthropologist. I was too, in his company. We went into thrift shops to see what was being given away/bought, scouted out where the police like to park, and of course crashed a martial arts class taught in Spanish.

I love this guy's hat, I love his mustache, I love all the blues of Union.

On the drive to Venice (which involved many freeways, as I got lost at least twice in my own city), Josh couldn't help but hum/sing/finally find Wish I was a Baller on my iPod.

MPM thanks both Josh Cogan and the Association of Independents in Radio for the introduction! We were lucky to be a part of AIR’s mentorship program last year, lucky to know Josh and to host him on his way back from Southeast Asia to DC.  He’s also affiliated with Blue Cadet Interactive, one of MPM’s hero multimedia design agencies.