• The pink ribbon’s ugly new image

• The ‘feminist housewife’ vs. Beyonce

• 3 ‘rules’ the Obama campaign broke to win

• To effect change, should the 99% go vegan?

• Why are people being mean to Gabby Douglas?

• Pandora: Don’t hate the game, hate the players

• Should canned foods come with a warning label?

• Free birth control could have global consequences

• Is there room for Hipstamatic in photojournalism?

• Tiger Mom: Behind our obsessive Amy Chua disorder

• Jennifer Lawrence and Hollywood’s self-loathing game

• Is it appropriate to rejoice at Osama bin Laden’s death?

• Hillary Clinton’s wardrobe, Paul Ryan’s suits: Do clothes matter?

Please note: These are screen shots of the video players as they appeared on the Los Angeles Times website, which enabled users to click and view individual topics as well as the interviews in full. Clicking on the below images, however, will take you to The Times’ video section for the full interviews only.

Learn more about my work at the Los Angeles Times’ Opinion pages.

Watch the full interview

Watch the full interview

Behind-the-scenes photos…

Setting up for the Wendy Greuel interview

Setting up for the Wendy Greuel interview

Setting up for the Eric Garcetti interview

Setting up for the Eric Garcetti interview

Filming voters’ questions

My grandpa at his first Rodeo Drive store

I’ve always looked up to my grandpa. Not only do I admire his success, but I also look to him for inspiration.

Now, I thought I knew everything there was to know about my grandpa. I have heard some pretty wild stories over time — and as you all know, my grandma can talk.

But recently, I was reading about my grandpa in the LA Times archives and I came across something that really surprised me.

With my grandpa in the late ’80s

As I was piecing together the timeline of my grandpa’s achievements, I discovered that in 1985, when he was 62 years old, which is when most people are thinking about retiring and buying a motorhome to tour around the country in, he was kicking it up a few notches. He opened five stores in one year. And then, within a few years of that, he launched a fragrance, opened up a couple more stores and was appointed head of the Rodeo Drive Committee. All the while, he was discovering new designers.

When a reporter asked my grandpa why, he answered:

“Why does a painter keep on painting till the day he dies? Why does a musician write music? I guess if he hears the music he does it.” For my grandpa the explanation was obvious: “Retailers retail.”

With my grandparents at my grandpa’s 90th birthday party

I was so inspired by this that I called my brother, who’s equally as neurotic as I am about when he’ll finally “make it,” to tell him to the good news: “We have time!” You know, everyone always says that life is a journey, but that expression never resonated with me until now.

In another, more recent article, my grandpa complained that no one has any fun anymore. “I learned one thing,” he said. “If you want to be someone in this world, you’d better love what you’re doing.”

Point taken.

Thank you for being such a source of inspiration and pride for our family. And for doing it while looking so effortlessly cool.

Happy birthday! I love you!

Please note: This is a screen shot of the video presentation as it appeared on the Los Angeles Times website, which enabled users to click on the individual candidates to hear their responses. It is not the actual video player. 

Learn more about my work at the Los Angeles Times’ Opinion pages.

Please note: This is a screen shot of the video presentation as it appeared on the Los Angeles Times website, which enabled users to click on the individual candidates to hear their responses. It is not the actual video player.

Learn more about my work at the Los Angeles Times’ Opinion pages.

Glad this Instagram pic has gone viral so that we can all share in Apple’s dose of inspiration.

In addition to developing recurring features, responding quickly to trending topics and posting several daily items, the blog has transformed into a space for conversation and debate with readers. If readers take issue with an Op-Ed, for example, the blog will highlight their comments and letters and give the author an opportunity to respond. Readers are also asked to weigh in on controversial topics and their real-time reactions to noteworthy events are curated here too.

I also coordinate the live event coverage that appears on the Opinion L.A. blog. During the 2012 presidential race, for instance, pundits of all political stripes were invited participate in web chats during the debates and to offer their “insta-analysis” immediately after. The blog has also featured live web video chats, including segments filmed at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

I’ve also had the opportunity to write on a wide variety of topics for the Opinion L.A. blog including cultural trends, media ethics, food and health, women’s issues and the economy. You can find a selection of posts below.

Beyond the blog, I have focused my attention on developing web-only features such as timelines, photo essays, best-of/worst-of lists and videos. In anticipation of the 2013 mayoral race, for example, I produced two formal sit-down interviews with the candidates. The video interviews, each about 30 minutes long, were hosted by Los Angeles Times veteran journalists and included on-camera questions from a handful of voters selected in advance. You can learn more about the project and watch the videos here.

Additionally, I have created easy-to-navigate landing pages: Readers find what’s new at the top, followed by curated content, and then pieces from earlier in the week. During election seasons, readers always know where to find the latest commentary and analysis on the races; and if they want to dig deeper, there are comprehensive landing pages for both (I, II). The main Opinion landing page also features Op-Ed columnists, a cartoon gallery, a reader-engagement hub and videos.

Of course, readers are most likely to visit the Opinion Pages online via an individual article or blog post, so just as much attention is paid to the article level. Articles won’t go live until they have a clickable and SEO-friendly headline, a photo or video and related links to stories that will entice readers to keep clicking.

Reader engagement is also a priority. As mentioned above, reader opinion and dialog is featured on the blog and showcased on the landing pages. I also maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts for the Opinion Pages and have doubled the section’s fan base by consistently promoting new content, engaging new followers and interacting with readers.  I also relaunched the Letters section online. Instead of a literal print-to-web display, with all of the letters displayed on one file, the letters are now divided up by topic. These letters appear on a landing page that also features a Letters to the Editor submission form and an index to the Opinion section’s other reader-engagement features.

Behind the scenes: I attend editorial board meetings, which take place three times a week. I work with writers on the blog, working on mastering best practices and the technology, for which I have created several manuals. I report or troubleshoot technical issues. And I stay up-to-date on web development and digital trends transforming the media landscape.

To learn more about my work with the Opinion section, please visit my resume.

Selection of Opinion L.A. blog posts:

• The pink ribbon’s ugly new image

• The ‘feminist housewife’ vs. Beyonce

• Why Chris Brown is no role model

• Poverty and the pursuit of happiness

• Should food stamps pay for Cheetos?

• 3 ‘rules’ the Obama campaign broke to win

• Prop. 37: A better idea than labeling GMOs

• To effect change, should the 99% go vegan?

• Why are people being mean to Gabby Douglas?

• Pandora: Don’t hate the game, hate the players

• Should canned foods come with a warning label?

• How the Midwest drought could help curb obesity

• Free birth control could have global consequences

• Is there room for Hipstamatic in photojournalism?

• Anthony Weiner scandal: Leave the poor guy alone

• Tiger Mom: Behind our obsessive Amy Chua disorder

• Jennifer Lawrence and Hollywood’s self-loathing game

• Is it appropriate to rejoice at Osama bin Laden’s death?

• Hillary Clinton’s wardrobe, Paul Ryan’s suits: Do clothes matter?

One of my editors once told me that she likes to take job candidates to a salad bar on one of the final interviews to gauge how that person might approach their work. “OMG, what king of salad did I make?” I asked. “It was very compartmentalized,” she laughed. “You had the lettuce as the base and then all of the toppings, like the garbanzo beans and the croutons, in their own designated areas.” (She’d later hire me on as the managing editor of Metromix, where we made the type of excel documents that dreams are made of.)

Needless to say, Swiss artist Ursus Wehrli stopped me in my tracks when I came across his new book, “The Art of the Clean Up.” In it, he shows off his creative approach to organizing everyday life. He parts out scenes logically by alphabetical order, color, size and/or shape and then presents them in tidy little groupings. Some might say it’s OCD. I say it’s methodology at its best. Find more wonderful photos on Cup of Jo.

During my time with Brand X until October 2010, I spearheaded the weekly production cycle; wrote, assigned and edited stories on a quick turnaround; acquired corresponding photos; directed special issues, such as Coachella, Gaming and Sex & Dating; and collaborated with the marketing and sales teams on product development.

One of the most interesting aspects of Brand X is that it combined original features with reverse-published content from the Los Angeles Times. In other words, articles and blog posts were repackaged to appeal to a younger, edgier demographic than that of the paper’s core audience. This included editing stories into digestible nuggets, giving articles a pop culture spin, and using provocative art. At times, this also meant writing long features for the main paper and then editing my original article down for Brand X.

To learn more about my work with Brand X, please visit my resume, read selected articles from Brand X and the Los Angeles Times, and scroll down to browse through the Sex & Dating and Coachella issues.

Sex & Dating issue

Click on thumbnail to see image at full-size.

Coachella issue

Click on thumbnail to see image at full-size.

Down a narrow, bumpy road in an unlisted location in Joshua Tree, there exists a punk rock utopia — only instead of mohawked unicorns there are glowing mannequins and the possibility of communicating with aliens.

Welcome to Hicksville Trailer Palace.

Imagine the Madonna Inn and its variety of thematic hotel rooms. Layer on top of that an eco-conscious commune. Add a recording studio for bands and an editing bay for filmmakers. Now picture a fleet of mobile homes, and you can start to envision Morgan Higby Night’s latest masterpiece: a trailer park motel and artist retreat.

Hicksville, which opened April 24, has six vintage-themed trailers on offer. The Lux pays homage to the Cramps, and its founding member Lux Interior, with punk and tiki design elements and a mini jukebox that plays Cramps songs. The ’70s-style Airstream called the Sweet has orange walls, turquoise pillows on a built-in couch, shag carpeting and the ever-important electric fireplace. Then there’s the Pioneer, which looks like nearby Pioneertown. And there’s Night’s favorite: the Fifi. Designed by Ryan and Marci Hessling of Fifi Mahoney’s wig shop in New Orleans, the trailer is decked out in purple and gold and has a vanity, full bar and a mini wig store that displays hairdos on mannequin heads that light up in different colors.

Perhaps the most amusing trailer, though, is the Integratrailor, a re-imagination of the “rejuvenating compound” known as the Integratron, which paranormal researcher George Van Tassel began constructing during the late ’50s according to plans he believed were given to him by aliens. Night says his trailer version looks like a spaceship, sleeps two, and has an alien-communication system.

But the trailer deresistance has to be the New World, a 40-foot vehicle from the ’50s that has bunk beds that convert into an editing suite, plus a full kitchen, private bathroom, flat-screen TV, DVD player and DirecTV. (The house on the property also has a green screen and a recording studio.) Film buffs will of course note the reference to legendary B-film director and producer Roger Corman and his studio New World Pictures.

When Night, a filmmaker also known for his Devil’s Night Drive-In movie screenings in downtown L.A., started collecting vintage trailers at his Joshua Tree home, he hadn’t intended for it to become Hicksville. “I built the place originally as a place for me and my artistic friends to get away and create. [But then] it felt kind of selfish to keep it for myself,” he explains. “That was half of it. The other half: It used all of my life savings and I was broke.” So he built it out, adding all of the elements he loved most about summer camp: Ping-Pong, archery, horseshoes, BB gun range, darts and a fire pit.

One part that’s not vintage: the solar heated saltwater pool. In fact, the entire place is eco-friendly, from solar panels to charging stations for electric vehicles.

As for who stays at Hicksville, it’s still too early to tell. “We’re geared toward artists,” says Night. “But anyone is welcome.” At least for now. Night is thinking about instituting an age limit — 25 and up — since presumably that’s when people learn how to hold their liquor.

Price:
The Pioneer, Integratrailor, Fifi and Lux are $100 per night or $500 for a full week. The Sweet is $125 per night or $625 for a full week. The New World is $200 per night or $1,000 per week. With film equipment, the New World is $250 per night or $1,250 for the full week.

Info:
Rooms can be booked at www.hicksville.com.
Full website will launch June 1.