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Home Audio Episode 121: Love and Squalor

Jessica Helfand, Alissa Walker|Audio

February 27, 2020

Episode 121: Love and Squalor

With Michael on vacation, Jessica is joined by Alissa Walker, the urbanism editor of Curbed. She has lived in Los Angeles for almost 20 years but only recently has begun to see a new kind of homelessness, with people going to jobs during the day and returning to tents or RVs at night.

Jessica, meanwhile, sees L.A. with fresh eyes:

The parks are so beautiful. The flowers are always in bloom. When you see dirt and when you see homelessness, it’s really catastrophic against the backdrop of so much idealized perfection.

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By Jessica Helfand & Alissa Walker

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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Alissa Walker is editor of the design blog UnBeige.

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