You should feel what I feel: A local perspective on Coachella Fest

Jesus Vargas, a regular attendee of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, often tells other festivalgoers he's from somewhere else. "Why should I kill their Coachella buzz with tales about Mecca and Thermal, and the poverty and pollution endemic to them?" This divide doesn't keep him from enjoying the festival's music and art, which offer a welcome escape from the problems he sees in his community during the rest of the year. "I already know from experience that every Coachella Fest is better than the last, always managing to find a way to improve from one year to the next. And I wish that was something that Coachella, the city, had in common with Coachella, the festival."Read the full story on Coachella Unincorporated or an abridged version published in The Desert Sun.