ANACHRONISM

For anyone who's ever spent any significant amount of time in L.A. it doesn't take long to realize that roads, cars, and gridlock traffic are a fact of life in this city. Long gone are the days when you could hop a Red Car and get from Pasadena to Long Beach without so much as getting on a freeway. But that isn't to say that the days of the railroad aren't still alive and thriving here in L.A.

This past Friday afternoon I decided head to the east side of downtown and spend some time in good ol' Union Station. It's not just the hub of L.A.'s bus and rail lines but also a fantastically preserved shrine to America's Golden Age of Travel. There's no mistaking this when you're actually inside the station. The only thing reminding me that I hadn't been suddenly warped back to the 1930s in an episode of The Twilight Zone were the clothes of the people strolling through the Art Deco architecture of the vintage building. Oh...there was a stand selling DVDs in one corner of the waiting room but its retro stylings hardly made it look out of the ordinary. In other words, it didn't interrupt my little time traveling excursion.

The kinds of people making their way through the station were just about what you would expect...everyone from your typical stressed-out-looking businessman to the family of tourists in Mickey Mouse sweatshirts, antsy kids in tow. Also shuffling through were some haggard looking backpackers, a couple of young men in short sleeved dress shirts and ties (who I assumed to be Mormon missionaries) and those that fall in the catch-all category, the regular people. As weird as it sounds I've always found that last group to be the most fascinating. Yeah, they might just be everyday people in a train station but I always find myself wondering "why are they here?", "where are they going?", or even "why take the train?" Sure, it probably isn't any of my business and yes, you might even call it creepy that I even read into these people that much but hey, that's why I'm a journalist, isn't it? I did my best not to get security called on me when I tried to listen in on some of their conversations. Most of what I heard was typical travel talk: "Wait, what time does the train leave again?" "Which platform for Simi Valley?" "Should I call Aunt Denise and tell her when to pick us up?".

The only meaningful talk I really heard was when a man approached me and proceeded to explain how he needed money to catch a bus down to Long Beach. Apparently he had an emergency and was in a rush to meet his pregnant wife there. Being a nice guy I gave him a dollar and wished him well, even though I'd met the same man and heard that same story at least twice before. This past summer when I commuted every week from south Orange County to Universal City via Union Station I happened to run into this gentleman several times while walking through the waiting room. I guess it's the thought that counts.

I finally decided to head back to SC when the announcer over the intercom reminded me that the 4:05 PM Pacific Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano, my hometown, was leaving the platform. Naturally, I drove my car to and from the station and I found myself caught in traffic as I made my way home on the 110 freeway...a nice dose of L.A. transportation, 2007 style. But hey, if for any reason I ever want to sit down and soak in some nostalgia instead of sitting down and soaking in some gridlock, I know just the place to go.

"HAVING THE INSIDE SCOOP"

In this line of work it's all to easy for the one-on-one interview to lose its charm. Same old questions, same old answers...everyone just going through the motions. Well, I was lucky enough to catch a breath of fresh air this week in my interview of the ever-charming Carley Dryden. Where some people seem to lack the conviction to even tell me what they ate for breakfast, Carley was more than willing to divulge about her past, her future, and what it is that gives her the unrelenting willpower to accomplish her goals.

KC: Alright so what are the basics? Where are you from? Why did you come to SC?

CD: I'm from St. Charles, Missouri, it's a suburb of St. Louis, it's nice because it's very safe, a lot of older people, nice neighborhoods, etc. I came to SC because I was interested in journalism and Annenberg was such a well-known school. Also, when I came and visited SC I immediately fell in love. Everyone at Annenberg and USC seemed so well put together and so organized and everyone was really nice. I just immediately felt at home on the SC campus.

KC: So it sounds like you've had journalism on the mind for a while. What makes you want to pursue it? Where do you want to go with it?

CD: I have always loved writing and in high school I fell in love with journalism while working at the school paper. I love meeting new people, hearing their stories and also I love being the first one to know about something. Being a journalist is like having the inside scoop. You are always in the know. Since I've been in college I realized that my passion is feature writing so I see myself working for a magazine or freelancing for multiple fashion,entertainment and lifestyle magazines. I like to travel also so I would eventually love to do long-term projects for magazines, have them send me on assignments in various countries. In the distant future, I would like to start my own lifestyle/entertainment magazine.

KC: Looks like you're heading in the right direction. Even so, journalism can't be the only thing driving you right now. What else has influenced your life?

CD: I think I have been the most influenced through riding horses. My mom and grandma have ridden their whole lives, so it was inevitable that I would develop a passion for riding horses. Because I was away at horse shows every weekend, it was easy to stay out of trouble in high school. Also, as corny as it sounds, riding horses teaches you a lot of values- hard work, strong independence and extreme determination. I feel that riding horses made me who I am.

KC: Are there any specific ideas or words that you live your life by?

CD: There is no certain concept I live by, but I have just learned to not care what others think or to rely on others' judgment and to just live my life how I want (within reason) and go for the dreams and goals I have laid out for myself and not let others make me think I can not attain those goals.

KC: Alright, well I have a tradition of wrapping up one-on-ones with this simple request: explain to me why you are the way you are.

CD: This is a difficult one. I think I, like everyone, became who I am through outside influences- family, friends, activities. Those that are close to you help mold you into the person you are. Riding horses, a sport in which you can rely only on yourself, helped me gain my strong independence. My family instilled strong values and principles in me from childhood. The closer I got with my friends, the more comfortable I was in my personality and was able to open up and become very outgoing and talkative. So I think there are a lot of influences that form your identity.

KC: And what a distinct and memorable identity that is. Thanks a lot Carley!

THE FAVORITES

In the explosion of information that is the Internet there are a few websites that I find myself constantly visiting.

First off, there's the Drudge Report. If visiting the Drudge Report was my job, I'd already by the president of the company. Over the past few years I've become a hardcore news junkie and I've found no better site for getting the basic rundown on the top news stories of the day. All it takes is a simple click in my web browser and I have one of Drudge's screaming headlines telling me everything I need to know. Matt Drudge has perfected the simple, user-friendly news aggregate and I can't thank him more for it.

In a similar yet distinctly different vein than Drudge exists Fark.com, another aggregate that links to stories and discussion boards about them. The kicker about Fark is the fact that the stories linked vary from the weird and bizarre to the hardest of news. It's the only place I can go and see links to stories about nude skiing and U.S. airstrikes in Somalia right next to each other. As the title of the site says, "It's not news, it's Fark.com"

Finally there's the guilty pleasure: Defamer.com. As much as I really can't stand celebrity culture, being a resident of L.A. makes me feel immersed in it and I catch myself at this website more often than I should be. Maybe it's the sarcastic jabs the blog takes at high profile celebrities or links to the Internet's hottest viral videos that makes it so hard to resist. Whatever the case, I just can't keep away from L.A.'s self proclaimed internet "gossip rag".