Two months ago, more than seven new farmers markets were opened in the USC neighborhood. With an increasing number of banks and enterprises shutting down, farmers markets are, on the contrary, expanding their businesses into the downtown area.

Every Tuesday to Thursday, people are welcomed to the scenes of the bustling markets at locations such as the Shrine Farmers Market where sellers are proudly displaying their fresh produce, flowers, nuts and even kitchen wares. Buyers are busy haggling over prices and trying free samples. Market fans say they can get a great deal on almost everything from peaches to pots. "You name it, they have it." Shuang Hao, a Master's student from USC, enjoyed shopping around the new spot. "This is like the Caishichang in China. We can ask for bargain directly from the farmers. It feels like home." (Caishichang, is a food market in China, where farmers are selling produce directly to buyers)

Raul Arteaga, a farmer from Oxnard Ranch selling fresh berries at the Shrine, said the farmers market is getting more popular in these times of economic duress. "This year, my quarterly sale is even better than last year. Easter and the fourth of July is the best time so far. People prefer more healthy and organic food these days. That's why the farmers market is surviving and sustaining."

First opened in July 1934, at the corner of Third and Fairfax, the Original Farmers Market was born at the peak of the economic depression. In order to sell their crops directly to the consumer, 18 genuine farmers gathered together, setting up stalls on the small piece of the open land. Over 70 years later, the historic Los Angeles brand is splitting all over the city. Though there was a time when the farmers market was considered an anachronism, still it gradually became a popular destination with not only a wide assortment of healthy foods from the fields, but also fashion goods.

Rebecca Oseguera, a designer of jewelry, opened the only fashion design stall at the Shrine Farmers Market. "People are coming not just for food, they also want to buy clothes and stuff with more creative designs rather than brand names, and with a good price."

During times of financial instability, people often seek to reduce costs of commuting between home and expensive grocery stores. Verra Katz, 77, came to the Shine Farmers Market for the second time. "I live close to here. Even though sometimes the fruits are more expensive than Superior, they have far better qualities. The one-dollar 7-pound watermelon at Superior? It had no flavor at all." With long-running and brand-new farmers markets bringing just-picked produce to a nearby neighborhood every day for much of their shopping, people can wave goodbye to traffic jams and parking problems to get their groceries done

In response to a growing demand, farmers markets continue to expand with new vendors, new products, which helped the farmers market weather through another financial crisis. Today there are about 96 farmers markets in the Great Los Angeles Area.

It wouldn't be long when the sign displayed in front of the original Farmers Market saying "Meet Me at Third and Fairfax" should be changed into "Meet Me Everywhere."

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Crossroads @ Farmers Markets

The Original Farmers Market @ the Third and Fax

Visual Tour @ The Shrine Famers Market

                     

Every tent's owner has a story.

    So does Dexter Scott, the owner of the tent "Jazzy Sprouts" at the Shrine Farmer's Market.

Most of the farmers here sell stuff for a living, Scott does it for a "life".

"The reason I started this little sprout business is for fulfillment of the boyhood dream to have a little farm garden at the back yard like I was raised on when I was five years old."

Not only do the sprouts Scott sells attract the customers, but also his passion and spirit for making life lively, and his music. "He's always one of the best in all farmer's markets, and his jazz." said Brian Nnadi while enjoying the melodious tune Scott played for him. Nnadi is an officer from the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission Weights and Measures.

Born in 1938, Scott always has the heart of a young.

Started learning playing the clarinet at the age of ten, Scott had a special talent in music. His clarinet career dates back to the days before he started his dream business. "I had worked for Santa Fe Railroad for 25 years before becoming a farmer. Guess what did I do before that? I was in the Army, playing the clarinet, ten years in the active duty and thirteen years in the reserves, the 300 reserve band. I was on a retired band."

When Scott retired from the railroad of Santa Fe in downtown LA, one of Dexter's good friends from Army days suggested that he go to a farmer school in San Diego, the Optimum Health Institution. The 53-year-old ardent man and his friend studied at the school for one week before Scott started his farmer's market business. "It was easy, we learned the old way of growing that I can remember my grandfather and Dad and Mom doing. And it still works."

Scott is still using the same jar as his mother used on their garden when he was young during World War II. "It all went from there. My son works with me full time, he's doing the growing, I'm doing the selling. And we have a lot of business."

To Scott, playing the clarinet for everyone who passes by helps him keep the business alive. Sah Lee, Scott's neighbor at the Shrine Farmer's Market, sells fresh fruits every Tuesday. "I feel lucky to be next to him. I always enjoy the music he plays, he's always kind to everyone."

"Music is the magic," said Scott. "It's a way to attract people, to entertain them a little bit. Make all the children smile is always something fun to do." Believe it or not, every day, everywhere Scott goes, he plays his clarinet. To him, this is something he "loves to do", not "has to do".

Scott has special recipes to make customers healthy and happy: naming the peas: from the Magic Mix to the Melody Mung. This is his second time purchasing at Scott's spot. Zac Johnson, a junior said, "I love all of them, especially the Melody Mung." So does Scott.

Ears up, eyes open, customers in Culver City, be prepared to be feasted by Scott's amazing songs and sprouts in the evening.

Only at Scott's tent can you get a cordial greeting of the warm welcome speech, "Your salad is ready, harmoniously grown with music." Yippy!

Only at Scott's tent can you enjoy the limericks of all the fresh peas you are going to buy.

Only at Scott's tent can you dance to the melodies of a clarinet while tasting the magical combination of songs and sprouts. Yummy!

See Also:

Zara Liaqat, from Pakistan, is now a 3^rd year Ph.D. student in Economics at University of Southern California.

She is the former "Miss Liberty" of Beaconhouse School, and the only Pakistani to ever get a World Distinction in Economics (a trophy for the top scorer in Cambridge International Examination held by the British Council). Zara Liaqat is a household name in Pakistan.

Unlike most women in the mysterious kingdom of Pakistan, Zara is a pioneer. She is a religious Muslim, praying every day and fasting in Ramadan. She is also independent and liberal, leaving behind the old-fashioned attire and embracing a more modern lifestyle.

It's interesting to Google myself on the Internet. But it's also sad to find out that with so many different Su-Lius in the world, articles mentioned the real me are scarce. At least, until now, no one cares about the life of a journalist-to-be, or more specifically NBA-female-journalist-to-be.

Luckily, I have a role model, whom I consider as the male and future version of Su Liu.

  Marc Stein, the NBA correspondent for ESPN.com.

Beginning his writing career for ESPN in 2000, Marc joined NBA writer's team in 2002 as a full-time writer. His articles are everywhere on SportsCenter, NBA Shootaround, NBA Fastbreak, NBA Coast to Cast, ESPNEWS, ESPN2's First Take and ESPN Radio.

  The only thing that made me curse ESPN is that I couldn't get access to online ESPN the Magazine without paying to be a member (http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/18564). I'd love to be a member one day, because I can even get a chance to chat with Marc every Tuesday 11 a.m. on ESPN.com. Though he'll just drop by to talk about all the latest news on the hardwood, I'll still be interested in his humorous talks. But a warning, folks, it's not always free online.

  Thank Google, at least I still have some free sources for my Marc-researching mission. On the first page of Google, Marc Stein on ESPN and Wikipedia are listed at the top two results. According to Wikipedia, there are four Marc Steins two of whom are footballers. The reporter Marc Stein has only five lines with a warning above says, "This biographical article needs additional citations for verification."

  No need to verify, something are always true. Like Marc Stein is also a Cal fella graduated from Cal State Fullerton, he covered NBA for more than five years before aboard on ESPN. As a native Dallas cowboy, he served for The Dallas Morning News as Dallas Mavericks beat writer for three seasons. And he worked as an NBA columnist for two years. Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers are also his coverage range when he worked for the Los Angeles Daily News. His former employers also include The Washington Post, the Orange County Register and San Bernardino Sun.

Since the articles on his blog are all official stuff, I prefer to discover a more "un-official" Marc Stein from somewhere else. Another thing I found interesting about Marc is that as a professional basketball correspondent, he's a football-mania, a die-hard supporter of Manchester City in the English Premier League. Maybe the name "Marc Stein" has something to do with football. Remember the two footballers with the same name?

In a "Chat with Marc Stein" section on ESPN.com, fans asked Marc who are his favorite NBA stars and soccer stars. Marc said he had no particularly favorite NBA players. But he loves those who assist the most, "Nash and Kidd are my favorite assisters." Assist rules? Nice taste, Marc, you got my high-five. I'm still wondering why he wouldn't say Chris Webber and Chris Paul, the greatest passers, the former of whom is a power forward, and the latter is the shortest point guard. This will be my first question throwing to him when we meet someday. I'll carve it on the stone.

Marc also mentioned he prefers left-hand shooters, "Nowitzki and Redd, my favorite shooters two of all time." Spotted, Marc Stein is a "left-hand" and "-foot" lover. As for his favorite English football stars, "Robbie Fowler from Liverpool, he is the best left-foot player". This makes me wonder if Marc himself is a lefty. And thanks to Twitter, I just got his direct message confirming  my assumption.

STEIN_LINE_HQ, is Marc Stein's Twitter ID, a kind of weird name. There's no explanation of where the ID came from in his tweets. But from the 140 tweeters he's following and his 646 tweets, we sure can tell something.

In all the 600+ tweets, eleven tweets were about football/soccer, nine of which he talked about his favorite MCFC (Manchester City Football Club), either with @MCFC or with the tag "football/Manchester/soccer/England". New moves in NBA cover the most part of his tweets.

On September 16, 2009, at 11:02 a.m., he tweeted from UberTwitter "Last thing I do before every NBA season is head to England for weeklong footy trip."

"And only 13-14 hours away, of course, looms my first-ever Manchester Derby in person. Just keep staring at my @mcfc ticket." 3:16 PM Sep 19th from UberTwitter.

"And wrapping up, of course, with my maiden Manchester Derby on Sunday: City at U----d! ... Will tweet a few updates as I go if you want 'em." 11:07 AM Sep 16th from UberTwitter.

And coming up is "Take a look at the people Marc's following.", brought you by...nobody.

Apart from his ESPN colleagues, the NBA players, friends from hometown Dallas,  sports magazines like SLAM and Sports Illustrated, basketball websites and NBATV staff on Twitter, he also follows UFdotcom and of course mcfc. And one more new finding, Marc is also interested in Tennis. He follows andyroddick (verified account) and jonstennistweet. Wondering why he isn't following any left-handed tennis players such as Raphael Nadal. Maybe this is not a verified account, or maybe Nadal is a Spanish, a non-American.

Another regret is that Marc doesn't have a Facebook account, maybe ESPN.com is his Facebook.

A left-hand lover, an English football die-harder, an NBA reporter I admire, Marc is a mark!  

Michael cried, media chastised, fans collided.

When the perhaps-best-basketball-player-in-NBA-history was about to give his 2009 Hall of Fame induction speech, tears was already flooding his face. Michael reflected his glorious days, reminiscing on his accomplishments fueled by his competitive fire. Michael recalled his former rivals. Michael thanked his coaches, friends.

But that's just no pleasing the media. Both Paula Duffy, the National Sports Examiner, and John Jackson, the Chicago Sun-Times staff, used somewhat satirical words to report about the speech. The brouhaha over Michael Jordans' allegedly pompous speech broke out immediately after the publishing of the articles blaming Jordan's speech. An interesting point, there were no articles had a positive opinion toward the speech on that day. This might be a cause of the debate on Twitter.

Michael Jordan becomes emotional as he take the stage during his enshrinement ceremony into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. (AP)

Ever since the day of Michael Jordan's speech, a huge crowd have been tweeting about Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame Induction speech. Some of the tweeters just shared a link of video and didn't suggest their personal opinions, some just tweeted about their doubts about the commentator's criticism toward the speech and Michael's behavior. But mostly, those who did comment tended to have distinct reactions. In the twitterverse, fans fall into two polars in reaction to Michael Jordan's solemn and sweet-less speech.

One group insisted that Michael Jordan's speech is a fantastic one, saying Michael is still the same "smart, cocky and funny" man. While the other group strictly described him as "bitter", "classless" and "self-centered".

Those Pro-Michaels cannot accept a word from those Anti-Michaels.

The Pros shouted out "What was so bad about the Michael Jordan speech? It was heartfelt and funny at the same time. People really need to loosen up!" 

As for the Cons, they even aggravated the tense by tweeting "Michael Jordan's selfish HOF induction speech should help put Kobe in a more positive light". When more people, especially those in spotlight, are involved in a debate, the debate can be upgraded.

So far, there are no tweets with negative attitude ": (" toward Michael Jordan's speech. Meanwhile, there are 14 tweets about the speech added with a positive attitude, ": )"

Among all the 14 positive tweets, seven were from women, four from men, and three whose genders remain unknown. All the women tweeted that their love and support for him. The three men tweeted more impartially by simply putting up the link of the video and offered no comment at all.

One reason could account for the tiny number of tweeters using attitude symbols is that most basketball fans on twitters are not likely to express their feelings in a fancy way. Athletic people seldom use such symbols as a smiling or a crying face, they tend to express their feelings, cheer or sorrow, directly though words or actions, not signs. The fact that women are more sensitive than men could explain why more female twitters eulogized the speech, or at least preferred to spend nice words on the speech than men.

Considered the time and the context in which this event took place, it is not surprising that more tweeters who criticized Michael for his impolite speech were inclined to use a satirical tone to relate Michael's issue to the other trouble makers of that week: Kanye West, Joe Wilson and Serena Williams.

This is also an interesting phenomenon to indicate that the online world, currently, are no longer just satisfied with tweeting about separate events. They have developed a new hobby, to cross tweet!

The theme of the Week of Sept. 6 to 13 was about outburst of the celebrities. In contrary, more men tend to criticize Jordan's speech by humorously (or maliciously) comparing him to the latest trouble man Kanye West, Joe Wilson and the trouble woman Serena Williams.

A delectable thing is that, 128 people tweeted quotation from Michael's speech, "Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion". And ten times more tweeters quoted another of his wise saying during speech, "There no 'I' in win, but there is an 'I' in win!"

These are the things should be tweeted and remembered instead of the rebuked part of his speech on his former rivals.

That's how it should end in twitter verse, to carve in stone the great sayings from Michael Jordan's historical speech, not to embed in mind the debatable parts or his miners. After decades, who will remember only this "disappointing" or "great" speech when they have tons of more amazing MJ moments to remember from videos of NBA Finals.

  Healthcare plan, an issue I never paid attention to back in China, but I have to start learning about it in English first. What a leapfrog.

  As a total layperson in the field of politics, all I know about my country's healthcare plan is that it makes it cheap to see a doctor, compared to that in America. Besides, we don't need to make an appointment before we go, the doctors are always standing by. But still, when it comes to curing severe diseases, the cost of treatment and prescription drugs is unaffordable.

  Whenever I read a touching news about how people from a small town reach out to the whole society asking for donation on a talented student who is suffering from Luekemia or other fatal illness, I will pause and wonder, why can't the hospital or  pay for the expensive cost?

  Luckily, China is also in a healthcare reform. Though the targets leave the citizens wondering its practicability, still it is an unprecedentedly giant step in Communist China's history.

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                                                           Inflection

 When every American citizen in my class is splitting out to different areas reporting the public's reaction, I decided to stay on campus (no car=no place to go), in Cafe 29, watching the speech and watching students watch the speech.

  Unfortunately, since healthcare is not education, seldom is there any student interested in the show, not even the crew from our Health Center who were dining in Café 29.

More people crowded in front of another TV broadcasting US Open live, in which the miraculous Odin was trying to achieve another miracle.

  Watching Obama's address to Congress didn't raise as many questions as watching people watch it. Why students at Café 29 preferred Oudin to Obama? Why there is almost no one care about what their president is talking about?

Is Café 29 a wrong location for an event like this? I had thought where there's a public restaurant, there's a political topic. However, in the big dining hall, only two people were fixing on the CNN LIVE channel. Me and a student waiting for his friend.

  Admittedly, health care is never a hot topic among students since their expenses are covered by their parents. A Chinese-American Mom told me about the phenomenon that American students' extreme lack of interest in politics. "They are spoiled. They always confined themselves into their XBOX world."

  What about the staff from Health Center? As long as the reform plan won't reduce their salary, they are ok, I assume.

  It is far from a satisfying experience of joining an event. But I got the more rare opportunity to witness a phenomenon, sad but true.

  I have to confess that I, as a Chinese student, don't care much about my country's health care policy either. But that's because we don't have a choice. Standing in American' shoes, I might be interested in Obama's reform plan since I have a say in deciding whether the plan is good or bad. I have an option to choose that works best for me.

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Epilogue

  However, the number of audiences doesn't indicate the effect of the events.

Jack Chan, retired from the position as president of his own architectural firm of thirty five years was glad that "we are proactive about the process and we have a dedicated President who cares about our country. I would be more satisfied should we all help to move ahead on this long overdue reformation process."

After listening the whole speech, Chan expressed his confidence, "As I understand the reform is to reflect our need for a more affordable and accessible health care for all Americans, it should affect our country positively.

If we make caring for our health a human right instead of a privilege then we can spare ourselves from having to rationalize our existence to those less privileged.

We believe President Obama cares. Where as we all have our debilities, I believe he acts from sincerity and love for the country and its people. We need to support such an act from whomever is willing to shoulder the huge responsibility."

See? After curtain dropped down, Oudin was out, while Obama was on.

The needs of the group trump the needs of the individual.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

And the needs breed the amazing nets.