Ampersand

Sixteen arts reporting students from "L.A. Culture Behind the Scenes," decided, post-stay-at-home orders by University of Southern California, to make this online zine. It's about the artists they encountered, and the arts they made in response. Hope.

The Warrior Bards theater troupe is composed entirely of U.S. military vets. They are updating and performing ancient Greek dramas for modern day Los Angeles. Catch their performances November 14 at the Hollywood American Legion, November 21 at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, or closer to campus at the Ground Zero Performance Cafe on December 3rd. More info on the Ground Zero performance athttps://calendar.usc.edu/event/warrior_bards_veterans_exploring_ancient_drama#.XcS_Ji2ZNQI. Editor’s note: This story misstated the age of the play Philoctetes. It is 2,500 years old, not 3,000.

Contemporary artists are reworking the iconic cowboy figure of the American West. The traditionally white, masculine cowboy is being used as a tool to tell the stories of marginalized communities.

To tell the story of this peculiar case of identity theft we need to go back 500 hundred or so years. First stop, Central America where the sweet potato originates – although still up for debate – then onward to Europe where it found a new home by virtue of Columbus.

It’s a Saturday afternoon in South Los Angeles and Lionel Tate is bent over his kitchen floor washing the pans he used the night before for a catering event. His business partner and girlfriend, Michel’le Peete, feeds their two-year-old son who is watching cartoons.

Jered Standing recalls attending a county fair years ago while still working in retail and encountering a pig. This might sound like Charlotte’s Web and, truth be told, it could be its sequel.

Danba Gamb, a 51-year-old Mongolian immigrant, lives in Los Angeles with his family. He is the owner and chef of the Golden Mongolian restaurant located on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

Here is where you can venture off in Los Angeles to find these morsels of premium meats.

Jessica Largey has taken matters into her hands. Not only is she trying to create a mentally and physically healthy work environment for her restaurant, but her own mental well-being is of first concern to her career.