my debut in the Los Angeles Review of CAMP (books) @lareviewofbooks is a 6,000 word wild ride, the kind of writing Iāve dreamed of doing forever that is disappearing from the internet.
Eurovision, the most watched cultural event in the world, acts as a reflection of the state of European politics. This year, with the organizationās refusal to ban Is*ael (despite having banned Russia in the past) there was even more on the line. I went to Malmo, Sweden to try to grasp how an extremely queer pop and techno contest is the worldās largest stage for political theater.
It had been my dream to cover this event and introduce its influence and absurdity to an American audience.
Thank you @pxthompson for a thoughtful edit and @karinaztn (last slide) for pushing me to do something big.
Link in bio / stories / writing highlight / Google it
āItās Monday night at Sun Day Carwash, and business is booming.ā
Lina Abascal pulls up to Sun Day Carwash in LARA no. 2.
āUpon driving in, each customer is handed a happy face air freshener that looks more like the logo for a matcha shop than a drive-through car wash. Half of the twelve vacuums are taken, mostly by men detailing their midrange SUVs. Soaring Googie signage advertises the soapy services performed below in a zippy atomic fontāa midcentury relic, like the workaday structure itself, acquired from Highland Park Car Wash in June 2024ā¦
The prototype of Sun Day, as seen on the website of LA architecture studio Design, Bitches, goes heavy on millennial moderne, boasting deco arches on the drive-through washing tunnel and exterior structure. These are painted in South Beachy pastel shades of sherbet yellow, pink, and blue and accentuated with paquebot portholes and neon piping. The structure on Figueroa is all right angles. The chainās trademark smiling sun presides over the doorway to the office, while a neon sign spelling DIRTY in yellow sans serif marks the entrance. The turquoise paint job, an Instagenic corrective to the buildingās ketchup-and-mustard palate of yore, is brighter and tackier than in the picturesābut the street artāinspired mural managed to make its way from the Design, Bitches proposal to the real thing.ā (link in bio)
