Tag: Lawrence Downes

  • Los Angeles — The current political moment, with its upwelling of nationalism and xenophobia, has a repellent taste, like a mouthful of citrus pith, all bitter and white. How bracing, then, to escape in late February to Los Angeles, city of the future, for something called the Hapa Japan Festival, a “celebration of mixed-race and…

  • For Obama, Estranged in a Strange Land, Aloha Had Its Limits The New York Times 2007-04-09 Lawrence Downes Reporters have been shuttling across the Pacific lately in search of the early chapters of Senator Barack Obama’s life story. Their guidebook is his memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” in which he describes his adolescence in Honolulu—where…

  • The Politics of Race The New York Times 2008-11-04 The editorial writers Lawrence Downes and Brent Staples discuss how Senator Obama’s mixed-race identity has shaped his persona and his candidacy. View the video here (00:05:13).