Long Beach Don't Change Issue #2: Ragu

ra·gu

/raˈɡo͞o/

noun

Italian ragù, from French ragoût (see ragout); the Italian term originally denoted a meat stew.

In Long Beach, Calif., the term also refers to a poetic assemblage of items left on the street. It’s the sauce, the jambalaya, the trashy slurry left behind on the sidewalks and in gutters that if read as a cultural text or artistic installation, becomes an artifact (or short story) worthy of study on its own.

Every ragu included here is a Long Beach still life that asks a question: What happened here? What does it say about our city and the people who left these items? Is everything okay? 

16 pages. 4.25 x 7 inches. Published 2024