Meet Laura Vena | Community Activist & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laura Vena and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
At the core of our organization is community building. I may be the founder and director of my organization, but our success is dependent upon our community coming together to support one another. When people feel empowered and have agency, they often want to share that feeling with others. This creates a ripple effect: those in our community gain a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in helping others while they nourish themselves. For me, collaboration and respect are the most important factors behind our success.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have two pursuits: my writing / art and my community activism. I engage creatively with both. In my writing, I create works that value a deep and poetic connection to the land and to an era when society lived more in harmony with it. In my community activism, I value grass roots connections. I have an obsession with walking, and this activity is integral to both my pursuits. I have a habit of mapping routes, of linking place to memories and of using my writing and community work as ways to approach others with humility and openness. I have a fairly baroque style of approaching all my projects: in that I like to place layer upon layer endlessly, building up from research, until I feel like I have built up something that represents a sense of wandering and orienting in place and time. I find myself tracing the marks that humans have left behind. Because of this insistence on close detail, I find that nothing comes easy. I labor over all decisions and I am a hopeless perfectionist. To overcome my challenges, I have learned the two most important lesson for me: imposing strict deadlines and having those deadlines tied to people I love and respect in order to keep me honest.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Portuguese Bend Reserve, Rancho Palos Verdes for hiking and then down to see the tidelands. I’d take them to Colossus bakery in San Pedro for breakfast scones and other incredible pastries, and just generally wander around to photograph San Pedro in its quirkiness. If it was the right time of year (summer), I would take them to the Soundwalk festival, Sound Pedro. I might take them to Terranea Resort just to look at the view. Just walking around there is beautiful, or their seaside restaurant, Nelson’s has a great view.

In Long Beach, we would ride our bikes down the River Channel to the ocean, or across the city to visit Retro Row on 4th Street. For exquisite breakfast and coffee, there’s WEOP (Wide Eyes, Open Palms), for lunch, we might grab falafel and fries at Hippea and take it down to the beach. Or, pick up pastries, bread, Cafe de la Olla or house made horchata at Gusto Bread and go take a walk at the Marina. Stop at Page Against the Machine bookstore while you’re at Gusto. By the Peninsula, Vibes has incredible coffee and breakfast or lunch, including a breakfast pizza with an egg in the middle of it, breakfast tacos or an incredible blended and fresh fruit bowl. I might go to Belmont Shore to Cheese Addiction for charcuterie, Roe Seafood, or the fantastic wood burning stove pizza Michaels Pizzeria, followed by an evening stroll along the canals of Naples. Or I’d grab pastries or breakfast at Ubuntu and talk a walk around Colorado Lagoon and across its pier. I’d take them to get a Hangover Cure at Portola at LBX and then tacos at Amorcito. Or we would have the best cinnamon roll ever made and a breakfast sandwich at The Merchant, followed by a walk at Dominguez Gap Wetlands or a visit to Rancho Los Cerritos or Rancho Los Alamitos. We would definitely go to the Museum of Latin American Art and Fingerprints Music downtown. Hopefully, they’re having a concert. Once things are open: Alex’s Bar, Que Sera, or a good wine bar. We might rent a duffy during Christmas time or take a gondola ride through Naples to see the ornate holiday decorations.. Renting kayaks on the Peninsula in the summertime. We would take our dog to a restaurant patio since they are ALL dog friendly in Long Beach. These are just a few of the things I’d enjoy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There have been many strong individuals along the way, mostly women artists, from whom I learned from and to whom I looked up. But my mother, Alexandra Pappaconstantinopolous, or Alice for short, was my foundation. She gave me art, a space in which to express my strong, unyielding voice, acceptance, adoration and the belief that if I followed my passions, I would change the world. She was my biggest fan; and although we were of two very different generations, her enormous love and acceptance of me made envisioning my dreams coming true an everyday possibility.

Website: blockheadbrigade@gmail.com

Instagram: @blockheadbrigade

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauravena/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blockheadbrigade

Other: lauravena.com twoifbyseapress.org

Image Credits
Photo Credits: Laura Vena / Blockhead Brigade