i have had zero inspiration

so today i drove to boyle heights to get a taco

instead i got a burrito and a tamale

i ate outside with a lonely old man

a lonely old lady

a high school kid who littered

three younger lunch breakers from the cell phone store

and we looked out on cesar chavez and watched life go back and forth

a lady pushing a baby carriage

pigeons figuring out who to poop on

busses

incredible tamale

and later a really good burrito

they dont put sour cream on them tho

so i will never return.

last night i watched videos on how to make a site

i bought this $50 wordpress theme. i bought this $50 engine to drag and drop everything.

i paid a friend a bunch of dough to move over the Hear in LA content to this new place.

then today when i tried to do what i thought i had learned, i was stumped again.

it seems harder than ever.

it seems super hard.

tomorrow we are gonna go over it, he and I, because maybe theres a button switched on that shouldnt be. or maybe im just the dumbest man alive.

yesterday i got some weed gummies because i was waking up coughing

and a cough these days of COVID is like a gunshot

aint no one wants to hear it, and i for sure dont wanna be doing it.

this morning i woke up groggy. and it didnt get me high.

but i didnt cough.

so tradeoff?

a year ago today amber and i broke up

as you probably know, the xbi does not allow me to be in long term relationships

but for four years i was able to get one exemption after another

to the point where i feel like they wanted her here with me

and i could see why, i ate better, i was doing things that they probably liked

and i wasn’t dating any of their enemies

we all knew the hammer was gonna come down, and for it to happen at the same time as the insurrection was mighty dramatic but if anyones a drama ho its the xbi

some things have not changed at all in this apartment and ive gotta fix that

for example her office is pretty much the same

but the worst is my damn icloud shows me pictures of her all the time – at the worst times.

i delete a bunch and then a bunch more magically appear.

i must have taken thousands of pictures of her.

do i know where she is? no. have we been in contact no.

normally that would be a good thing. but in this case i think its best for both of us.

typically i like being in touch with my ex gfs, they were super important to me and i value every relationship i have been in. every.

but sometimes, especially when youve been tied at the hip it’s good to breathe a little and im sure she is enjoying her freedom because i admit, i was a bit possessive with her free time.

i didnt realize how much i was until she was gone.

lately ive been going to one movie after another. something i wouldnta done in the past bc i woulda wanted to see the movie with her, talk about it, and as we would drive home she would read the LA Times review of it aloud and we would either agree or disagree with it.

whereever she is i hope she is happier than shes ever been.

i hope shes safe and healthy and living the life she always wanted.

she deserves it. shes a good person.

the only problem with Hear in LA is me

let’s say in 10 years i finish this thing.

i will overshadow it.

the same way Huell Howser overshadowed his show, and Anthony Bourdain overshadowed his, and Studs Terkel overshadowed Working.

you can’t help it. you think of the host and not the guest.

and worse, some people might not even dive into the thing because of the host.

in no way am i saying that i am powerful enough to go to every neighborhood in LA and the takeaway will be omg tony pierce is cooler than LA… im saying it will be known as a crazy epic thing that tony pierce made

instead of, omg heres all the neighborhoods of LA, thus here is LA, thus wow – lets check out some of these places

AND

how cool were those people.

it seems to me the only way to get those results instead of the one i am afraid of

is to do it with a team. the bigger the better.

today Kevin Merida, the new editor of the LA Times, basically said Hear in LA is the way the LA Times should build trust.  when i agreed, both Angel Jennings (who used to be the only Black reporter on the giant Metro desk – and now she’s on the masthead) and the EIC both liked my reply when I said it was perfect.

not only do i hope they didn’t think i was being sarcastic

but i hope they know that if i am approached to do Hear in LA at the Times I would be more than interested, but i would want it to be a full court press

i would want as many people on the payroll as possible to interview the people in their neighborhood.

because when it’s a full team effort, the story becomes less about the storytellers

and way more about the people who are in those neighborhoods.

when Hear in LA is completed, i want people to remember the people.

 

dude quit the NFL

right in the middle of the game.

ppl are calling him crazy.

but the crazy ones are the ones who just keep on doing the thing they don’t wanna be doing.

and don’t know when it’s time to rip off your jersey and say bye to the fans in the end zone

gonna not do hear in LA for a bit

45,000 ppl got COVID this weekend in LA. why are we pretending that’s NBD?

if 45k got food poisoning this weekend we’d probably do something different. But no one is doing anything different.

I don’t mind doing some things differently. Especially if it’s the right thing.

The wrong thing is to run around, going into ppls homes and chatting them up.

The right thing is to make hearinLA.com a real website. And stay in my home.

and drink chocolate milk right out of the barrel.

Yesterday I was texting and walking down the stairs outside and I missed a step and wiped out. My phone went flying. I have no idea how I wasn’t hurt. Fell on concrete. Jeans were tight bc I’m fat.

Phone didn’t break bc this case is incredible. God’s my case and I’m grateful.

every dish is dirty

I don’t even have a clean fork

I’ve been taking the last week off of Hear in LA because people should learn how to relax and I’m one of those people.

It’s spilled over to doing the dishes which was funny today bc I found a plastic fork and I was all yes!

Couldn’t figure out why the fridge smelled – thought it was the dishes. Then I realized I’d cooked a bunch of collard greens last night.

I didn’t have anything to microwave the food with so I omg used the last remaining frying pan

Forked in a few scoops of greens, blacked eyed peas and the remaining white rice and America, it was so good.

May have been the butter and pepper I put in there.

Bought some silverware off eBay.

the lottery is $500 million

what would I even do? hide.

can’t really travel bc everyone’s got COVID and we really shouldn’t be doing squat, let alone traveling the world.

first place I’d go is Japan.

then Bethlehem.

what would I do for the world?

I’d bring toupees back. Those and leisure suits.

Then I’d buy my momma the McDonald’s by her house.

And paint that bad boy pink.