In Los Angeles, the influence of Hollywood and the film industry, combined with a non-stop barrage of media images, has blurred the line between the real and imaged. The literature reveals a city exploding with cultural, racial and social differences, making Los Angeles a confusing and alienating place. The literature of Los Angeles reflects the changing face of the city. Los Angeles was always a city with a promising future, economic booms and optimism seemed to suggest that here was a place where the American Dream really could come true. Thousands travelled west in search of sunshine, oranges and a life that formerly, they could only dream of having. Yet, the literature of Los Angeles has highlighted the city's actual history together with a realization of undercurrents of violence, prejudice, depression and shattered dreams. The past, present and future is used to reveal a city that is in stark opposition to the Los Angeles, waves of immigrants came to find. This thesis explores the idea of the dreamer coming west to Los Angeles within the literature and the variety of ways in the travellers' romantic notions of Los Angeles as a city of promise, is betrayed, leaving a desperate people in its wake. The literature shows that beneath the shiny surface of a city founded on sunshine and prosperity, corruption reached all levels of society and the 'mean streets' abound. Later, influenced by an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness caused by Post-war nuclear depression, McCarthyism, loss of identity, and living in a city fragmented by racial tension and an ever growing gap between the very rich and the very poor, the literature of Los Angeles reflects not only the fears of that city, but of American society as a whole. The collision of technology, rapid progression and population explosion turned Los Angeles into a disconnected city, where the real and imagined merge in a cityscape that demonstrates a conflicting combination of historical replication, original design and movie-set inspiration. Nothing is ever what it appears to be in Los Angeles.

Looking at it today, it is hard to believe that the now-concrete river bed was once one of the region’s most important rivers. The Los Angeles River was once framed by wide wetlands, forests of oak trees, and was critical in supporting indigenous, Mexican, Spanish, and early Anglo populations. At first glance, many parts of the Los Angeles River look nothing like a river at all. Belying the river’s historical importance, the river today looks far more like a highway than a naturally occurring body of water. While its current appearance may not reflect its centrality in the city’s history, the Los Angeles River is the reason why Los Angeles is located where it is today.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).

the intention of this creative project, is to explore the concept of the idea of temporary permanence in architecture. the project is an attempt to put into architectural perspective an understanding, meaning and context of the relative permanence of architecture as a parallel physical and conceptual idea over time. the relationship of the various forces that shape, mold and influence the architectural environment is a major part of the natural evolution of the continuing adaptation to change within our environment. from an architectural and general outlook this means being able to understand the phenomenon of change and respecting its existence. without change the idea of temporary permanence would not exist.the paper is presented in two parts. the first part, consists of the creative project of the paper, presenting the second phase research development and the architectural exploration of the theoretical disposition, temporary permanence. the second part, found in Appendix 1, is the research paper documenting "raw data", personal observation and experience, and examples of site context as a supportive basis for the reasoning of such a disposition. / Department of Architecture

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1985. / Bibliography: leaves 209-214. / Photocopy. / Microfilm. / xiii, 214 leaves, bound

Indiana Univ.--Teilw. zugl.: Diss., 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-228) and index. Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 1996.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).

Esta dissertação busca analisar o filme The Big Lebowski (O Grande Lebowski, 1998), escrito e dirigido por Joel e Ethan Coen. Devido à grande quantidade de recursos estilísticos utilizados na construção da narrativa, o filme é considerado um exemplo inequívoco de uma obra pós-moderna. A narrativa não apenas se alimenta de incontáveis referências culturais, por meio da reciclagem de textos anteriores e da mistura de gêneros e estilos, mas também se apoia no uso de várias outras técnicas, como a repetição de motivos visuais, o uso recorrente de clichês e a fragmentação do enredo. Por outro lado, apesar da estética pós-moderna, é difícil ignorar a existência de um conteúdo histórico, uma vez que muitos temas relevantes são inseridos no fluxo da narrativa. A guerra do Golfo, o Reaganismo e os movimentos políticos dos anos 60 são alguns dos temas encontrados no filme, que tem como cenário a cidade de Los Angeles no início da década de 90. Nesse sentido, a nossa hipótese é de que o filme revela uma contradição entre duas tendências opostas: a estética pós-moderna e a representação do conteúdo histórico. / This dissertation aims at analyzing the movie The Big Lebowski (1998), written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Owing to the great amount of stylistic devices deployed to construct the narrative, the movie has been regarded as an unequivocal example of a postmodern work. Not only does the narrative feed on countless cultural references, through the recycling of former texts and the mixture of genres and styles, but it also relies on many other techniques, such as the repetition of visual motifs, the recurrent use of clichés and the fragmented storytelling. On the other hand, despite the postmodern aesthetics, it is difficult to overlook the existence of a historical content, as many relevant themes abound in the narrative flow. The Gulf War, the Reaganism and the political movements of the sixties are some of the themes found in the movie, which is set in the city of Los Angeles in the early nineties. In this sense, our hypothesis is that the movie brings forth a contradiction between two opposing tendencies: the postmodern aesthetics and the representation of the historical content.

Since A Nation at Risk (1983), high schools across the United States have searched for answers to address increasing drop out rates and low student achievement. In urban areas, the large comprehensive high school is no longer addressing the diverse needs of the students it serves. The high school reform movement, beginning in 1984, set out to find solutions to solve the problems that these large urban high schools face each day. One reform is the creation of small learning communities within a large secondary school. Small learning communities are groups of teachers sharing and serving small numbers of students centered on a common theme, curriculum, and vision. These small learning communities create personalized learning environments among teachers, students, and parents to mitigate the effects of the large school on student outcomes. The purpose of this research was to investigate one of these small learning communities in a large urban high school in Los Angeles. The study explored how this small learning community set out to implement five identified factors of small schools including: personalization, leadership, authentic curriculum, innovative pedagogy, and accountability. The results show the impact of the small learning community model on student outcomes. Through the examination of quantitative data, the study correlated improved student outcomes with the level of implementation of these five identified factors. Additionally, the study used qualitative date to reinforce the quantitative findings. This research presents a model of an alternative for large urban secondary schools' dilemma in addressing low student academic performance and success.