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Lisa Napoli, the public radio veteran who stepped out of the rat race a few years back to live in Bhutan, recently began hosting All Things Considered every afternoon on KCRW. That forced her into a daily commute from Downtown, where she lives, to the station's basement studios at Santa Monica College. In a column at Forbes.com, Napoli observes on being a cross-town commuter in L.A. [She's not in Bhutan anymore.] Here's how she starts:
In my dreams, I am gliding alone on a sleekly paved road in my little sports car, with the breeze in my hair and the ambience of birds/surf/wind as my soundtrack, meandering without deadline or stress.In reality, I am slogging and bumping along the mess of the 10 freeway with a zillion of my closest personal friends, maniac texters and preening BMW drivers dying to gun their engines, wishing I could tele-transport myself home....
For four and a half blissful years, my commute involved an elevator ride down from the 18th floor and a walk across a street on a pedway. The worst thing I witnessed in all that time was when a fellow pedestrian tripped her high heel on a stair and fell. Days would go by when I didn’t even see my car, much less get into it. When I did, it was for trips to the store–or drives like my dream above.
Previously on LA Observed:
Potluck dinner with Lisa Napoli
Who left the light on
LA observed via Bhutan
Looking for a downtown condo