There are these skinny palm trees along my block (and all over LA) that stretch up to the sky, impossibly tall, and all that height on such a spindly base.

When I first moved here they reminded me of starlets from the 30's--- skinny, slouchy, women wearing feather boas poised to walk a pair of Borzois or Harlequin Great Danes.

Now they seem a perfect metaphor for the stereotypical "modern" LA person.


LA PERSON----------------------- THE QUEEN PALM
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impossibly thin...................................impossibly thin
pretty.................................................pretty
self-absorbed.....................................offers no shade
useless...............................................can't build house w/ the wood
doesn't read.......................................can't make paper from pulp
needs to be "worshiped" ......................"Queen" palm
highlighted hair..................................fronds very glisteny in sun
not originally from LA.........................non-native species
shallow...............................................shallow root systems