Deepak Chopra has been at the center of a Wikipedia conflict about orthodox and integrative medicine for about a year, at least that's what it looks like at first glance. The conflict and it possible resolution may have altered Wikipedia and the future of information. I interviewed the doctor in his office in lower Manhattan where he reduced the Wikipedia beef to it's essential elements. You can read my post on Huff Po. HuffingtonPost Facebook Youtube Twitter     Music by mobygratis.com NY Video Kevin Cloutier LA Skype  & edit by Sam...

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Tommy Crow is my first published fiction out now in the new issue of SLAKE. Tommy Crow Fiction by Sam Slovick My knees are not what they used to be. I climb carefully down the loft’s steep stairs and a drop of sweat trickles down my back. It’s just a few hours after sunup and the heat is already oppressive. In my palm, I cradle the spider I found on my pillowcase as I elbow the screen door open and set her down in the dirt. Bertram, whose knocking woke me before I was ready to face the day, steps back to give the spider room and then launches into one of his rants. “Ah, the symbolic meaning of spiders. … Female, cunning … the cyclical nature of things—death and rebirth, protection and fate. You can guess where this is all going …” I can’t, and I’m afraid about how long it’ll take to get there. Bertram’s fat spills over the waistband of his khaki shorts, which pull too tightly against his crotch. The festival of gin blossoms on his nose and unruly hairs sprouting from his nostrils make me angry. It’s too early for this. I just want him to leave the mail and go away. “Eight legs, eight eyes … some of them, but not all. The number eight, a symbol of infinity or lemniscate,” he continues with a practiced authority, as if that would make anyone listen to him. “An eight turned on its side. Eight symbolizes cycles, the passage of time, evolution.” I take in a breath and nearly gag. Bertram smells like decaying self-esteem covered in sports body spray. I want to be back in my bed, dreaming. Bertram makes a great show of handing me a package, a special,...

I did a story on trans generational poverty  / skid row in L.A. for Good magazine. I followed up with documentary series as a companion piece to the story called "On Skid Row". Good exec produced; I wrote, directed, and co produced. It was a great oppertunity to give a national voice to local issue. They employed the Kenneth Cole Awearness blog to promote it... and MySpace featured me as an "Impact Filmmaker" for a month.... so a lot of people saw it. I'm still getting emails about it. (click pic to read story) Welcome to Los Angeles by Sam Slovick GOOD MAGAZINE With one of the country’s most notorious slums sitting within spitting distance of new million-dollar lofts and five-star hotels, Los Angeles is using tough new policing to clean up its worst eyesore. For the children of Skid Row, though, it’s business as usual—finding shelter, trying to stay out of trouble, and most of all, getting out. read the entire story here: Welcome to Los Angeles(click pics to see videos)...

Previously unpublished photos that take us inside L.A. gang neighborhoods for Sam Slovick’s “Sympathy for the Devil: Crime Stats Say L.A.’s Streets Are Safer Than Ever, So Why Are Gang Hoods Still So Bloody?”

I met Yatra in Alto Paraiso, a small town in Brazil. She's a shamaness with a temple in the jungle. Her kids have big dub label that she records on. Alto Paraiso is magic & so is Yatra. I did a story about her for LA Yoga magazine. Alto Paraiso is that place that you never want to leave and can't wait to get back to. It's a vortex; The Brazilan Capital of the Third Millennium. The latitude 14, which crosses Machu Picchu, in Peru, also crosses Alto Paraíso, that and the fact it's lives on huge crystal beds accounts for the fact that UFO's are everywhere.   Goddess on the Dub YATRA'S SITE: http://ayahuasca-music.net./ by Sam Slovick IF ALTO PARASIO (ALTO PARAÍSO DE GOIÁS) were a Monarchy, Yatra would be Queen.But it’s not. It’s a small town in northeastern Goiás state in Brazil that’s home to about 7,000. It’s one of those places you wish you’d never left and can’t wait to go back to. It’s magic. The people are beautiful, the music is everywhere. Wandering through Alto Parasio (high paradise) to meet the Brazilian shamaness, Yatra, is an endeavor in time suspension. The high priestess is taking me to visit her jungle temple, but exactly when doesn’t seem to matter as I linger in this heaven in the highlands.Walking the sleepy main street in the morning sun along latitude 14, which crosses Machu Picchu, in Peru, and aligns the two with a supernatural legacy, I can’t seem to put my finger on anything that was cause for concern back in Los Angeles. Small shops and stray dogs open their eyes as school children make their way through to school on foot. There’s no police force here. They don’t need one. The only customer in an empty café, the girl behind the counter,...