Manhattan, NYC (Chelsea) / Which mangoes are the best?

Another favorite thing of living in New York is being able to see a TON of photography, to hear lots of artists talk about their own work. It almost feels like I'm back in college, but I get to pick the lectures and events I want to go to and they are all exactly what I find interesting. It was on the way to PDN Photoplus, that I met my next interviewee. On the three long empty blocks between getting off the subway and getting to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, we started chatting because we were obviously headed toward the same event.

© Jasmin Chang 2011

Question: Which mangoes are the best?

Answer: Julie mangoes. Regular mangoes are very stringy and I don't really like that texture. Julie mangoes are my favorite. There are lots of different types of mangoes, especially in Jamaica, but my favorite is definitely a Julie mango.

Question: What event has most influenced you in choosing the career you have now?

Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Where were you born?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

I stumbled upon the Echo Park Farmers' Market and met these women at a booth representing the Echo Park Time Bank.

Answer: (from left to right)
-El Salvador.
-Findlay, Ohio. It's a small town.
-New York City.

I ask what brought each of them to Los Angeles.
-I came here to LA when I was 6, but then we moved to the valley because of the gang violence in the city then, but I came back later because LA's fun. It's a magnet.
-We moved from Ohio to Denver to LA because my mom remarried and my stepfather got a job with the LA Philharmonic as a violinist. This was back in '81.
-I always wanted to come to LA. It was always something my mom would talk about, but we never came, so I always saw it as this place where I would eventually go.

Question: What does community mean to you?