Let's Hear It for Community Organizers!

I’m off work today for Cesar Chavez Day, so I decided to take a little time to honor him. Most of this information is from his Wikipedia entry. I’ve pulled out the facts most interesting to me.

First, Cesar Chavez Day is recognized in four states—besides California, there’s Texas, Arizona and Colorado. Most California state workers are given the day off with the intension of promoting service to the community in honor of Chavez. Hmm, nobody mentioned that part of the deal. Is cleaning my refrigerator community service?

Chavez came to national attention as one of the leaders of the United Farm Workers, but he began civil rights organizing in 1952 at the age of 25. I didn’t live in California at the time, but I remember reluctantly passing over many a bunch of grapes back in the 70s. His influence had spread all the way to the far-flung reaches of Virginia by that time. Like Obama today, his enthusiastic and persistent belief that change will happen with little sacrifices by many people strikes a chord in the hearts of those who want to help and don’t know how.

Chavez spoke out against illegal immigration (undocumented workers willing to work for low wages undermined the progress the UFW had made in improving workers rights), but he was also instrumental in getting amnesty provision in the 1986 federal immigration act. I also found it interesting that he was a vegan. His unflappable determination to address problems that still plague us today (immigration inequities, overturn of negotiated union benefits) certainly earns him a place of honor in American history.
Si se puede!

Cul-Chah Cheapskate's Cheat Sheet

Say that five times fast! Recently the Los Angeles Times printed this information in a wordy and hard to follow article. I’ve adapted this list of local museums’ free days for quick reference. I’ll update and repost this information in the near future

SUNDAYS
Museum of Latin American Art FREE every Sunday

Bowers Museum FREE the 1st Sunday of the month

Orange County Museum of Art FREE the 2nd Sunday of each month

TUESDAYS
Natural History Museum FREE the 1st Tuesday of every month

Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits FREE the 1st Tuesday of every month

Autry National Center of the American West FREE the 2nd Tuesday of every month

Los Angeles County Museum of Art FREE the 2nd Tuesday of every month and on holiday Mondays

Los Angeles County Arboretum FREE the 3rd Tuesday of each month

THURSDAYS
Museum of Contemporary Art (near Disney Hall) FREE Thursday evenings (5 to 8)

Huntington Library and Gardens FREE the 1st Thursday of each month (must reserve tickets in advance)

FRIDAYS
Long Beach Museum of Art FREE every Friday

Rudolph M. Schindler House FREE Friday evenings (4 to 6) and all day on September 10

Norton Simon Museum FREE 1st Friday evening of each month (6 to 9)

ALWAYS FREE
Museum of Contemporary Art (near Pacific Design Center) Always FREE

California African American Museum Always FREE

Annenberg Space for Photography Always FREE

Getty Museum Always FREE (fee for parking)

Getty Villa Always FREE (fee for parking)

California Science Center Always FREE

In the Middle of the Mulch

I thought this day would never come. I sifted through my compost heap for the first time. I haven't showered yet so I'm feeling kind of buggy, but I just had to get it on record that I have created something organic. I added in the azomite and rock phosphate and blood meal (yummy).

What with all the bending and shoveling and lifting, I'm too pooped to plant anything, but I did assemble my self watering inserts to put into the pots. So far I have four pots set aside--two for tomatoes and two for beans. After that I guess I'll have to get some more dirt. Ahh, back to the land!

Get Healthy! Get Pedalling! Get Downtown Next Weekend!

Ever in the forefront of Long Beach trends, I’m thrilled to report that two cutting edge events will be taking place in downtown Long Beach from April 3rd to April 5th.

First, the freebie: The First Annual Long Beach Bike Festival (Okay, I added the First Annual part.) will take to the streets starting Friday afternoon, April 3 around First Street in the East Village. There will be food and a beer garden sponsored by Wokcano, but frankly, I’m more interested in the booths, especially anyone with information about Bike Long Beach, a plan to make our humble hometown the most bike friendly city in the nation. Now that’s far flung proposition that I’d be proud to support. On Saturday all kinds of races are scheduled as well as fixed gear bike demonstrations and a CYCLESTYLE Fashion Show. The festivities will stretch into the night (After parties? Yes! After parties!), so be sure your bike light has a fresh power source.

And if you have any energy left after the Bike Festival, the Health Freedom Expo, which costs $15 a day, will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center from Friday, April 3 to Sunday, April 5. I’m planning to combine Bike Festival and Health Freedom Expo all in one crazy mixed-up but healthful Saturday. Yes, there are some wacky programs like “How Hot Are Your Breasts?” but there are other intriguing ones. On the top of my list is “Detoxify Your Life, Body, and Emotions” by Vaishali. I’ve heard her radio program and I like her nurturing holistic approach when she responds to her callers’ questions. Here’s hoping there’s tons of free swag in the exhibit hall.

Not To Mention My Day Job

Granted it’s only part-time, but my hours have been bumped up recently—only for March and April. I had this dream gig last year. Come to think, the extra hours may have been why I stopped writing the blog. Uh oh! I’m writing shorter posts now, so hopefully I’ll power through until April 15 when this assignment is over.

The assignment, in case you wondered is reviewing master’s theses for formatting errors. Most people run in horror when they think back on writing term papers with footnotes and references. I’m just the opposite. I adore those periods and colons and et als. My inner nerd wriggles with delight nitpicking about a straight or a smart apostrophe, and don’t even get me started about block quotes.

You may not be envious of my work routine, but you’d kill for the view from the office I work in. Again, the picture doesn’t do justice to the wide angle view of the mountains and the campus. (Hey, it’s my crappy blog, so I get to post my crappy photos. I’m not sure if the president of the university has nearly as gorgeous a view. I better enjoy it while it lasts. The memo came out this week that the budget must be cut and temporary workers will be the first to go. Anyone out there need a proofreader? Will work for semicolons.

And Then There's My (Ahem) Novel

I’m sure everyone will be relieved to know that I have NOT given up on writing my novel. There’s still six or so active members of the year-long group over at Writer’s Village (out of a beginning class of 20) and two of them have finished a first draft. The bad news is that I’ve only finished three chapters out of an estimated 24, BUT the good news is that I’ve done enough planning and preparation so that I’m fairly sure of the plot and the vague outline of the next 21 chapters I have to write.

Here are a just a few of my favorite paragraphs:

Soledad fished one last beer out her cooler. Sitting together on the blanket, they passed the bottle back and forth to each other, pressing the cool glass against their foreheads and cheeks. They talked about the woman from the camper who’d left Johnny. She’d seemed old to be his mother and oddly unconcerned about abandoning a child, if that was she’d intended. Both Louella and Soledad were sure the camper had out-of-state plates, but neither had a clue about which state.

Around them, clusters of happy people feasted on roasted meat and the sticky sweet fruits of summer. Occasionally the pop and sizzle of a firecracker would erupt with the emotions of the day, and the sleeping boy, who slept with death-like stillness, would thrash convulsively and then return to his slumber. The women’s conversation drifted lazily from the craft co-op where Soledad had just leased a booth to sell her pottery to Louella’s attempts to get her mother to try email. Soledad was telling her about a free online phone service she used with a camera that transmitted her image as she talked when Johnny began to stir.

The boy sat up, rubbed his eyes and bleated like a lost lamb. Then he spotted Louella, crawled over and grabbed her hand. With his ragged hair and filthy clothes, Louella thought he couldn’t have been more unappealing but her heart went out to him. Looing deep into his sad brown eyes, she stroked his cheek and said, “It’s okay Johnny cakes, it’ll be all right.”

In Case You're Wondering . . .

. . . where I've been for the last two weeks, my husband and I took a rental car free trip to the Bay Area (San Francisco and Santa Cruz mainly). The high point for me was the Amtrak ride to Oakland and the bus took us right to our hotel in Fisherman's Wharf! The photo doesn't do justice to the stunning views of the coastline around Point Conception, which for the most part is military land so you can't see it except for on the train. I loved the roomy seats and the observation car and the freedom to move around. And get this the train ran on time except for once, when it arrived early on our return trip to L.A. I'd go back in a minute, especially if I was guaranteed the gorgeous weather we enjoyed.

San Francisco has great (but expensive) public transportation. Starting with the $5 cable cars, we sampled it all. Google Maps has great directions for buses in San Francisco including time estimates and how much fares cost. If it had been rainy, I might not be so enthusiastic, but weather permitting using BART, Cal Trains, and the buses (gas and electric) is the perfect way to see San Francisco--no hassling with parking, no slogging up hills.

Run, Don't Walk! Front Page News!

Hurry and get the latest issue (March 17-30) of the Long Beach Business Journal. My article and a photo of me looking uncharacteristically perky appear on the front page. Yes! My story about walking and biking around the city was selected for the series the LBBJ is running called “Imagine Long Beach.” The headline is “A Healthy City Where People Leave Their Cars at Home.” Unfortunately, the story isn't available online, but the paper is a giveaway at many Long Beach locations, including the libraries.

I’ve heard from several avid bikers and gotten lots of news about Long Beach’s Bicycle Master Plan and the Bike Festival scheduled for April 4 and 5 (more on that later). How great to put your ideas out there and find out that others were waiting for them to be said. Uh oh, got to go. Time for me to WALK to work. So don’t just sit there. Take steps yourself.

Share the Harvest

Here’s an idea that’s so right, it’s hard to believe no one’s thought of this before. The Grunion Gazette reported on Cathy Clarkin’s ingenious solution to many a home gardener’s nightmare—more produce than they can consume. Her new group, SoCal Harvest, will collect surplus vegetables from area gardeners and deliver them to Food Finders to feed needy people. According to the paper, the group gathered 900 pounds of produce on January 19, which was sent to three different local food banks. Homeless people usually receive canned and dried donations, so fruits and vegetables fresh off the vine are a rare treat.

I’ve yet to plant my tomatoes in my nearly fermented compost, but when they finally bear fruit, I’ll definitely want to contribute to this worthy cause. In the meantime, the group also needs volunteers to pick fruit too.

Imagine Me Published in Imagine Long Beach

I just got my confirmation from the editor of Long Beach Business Journal that an essay I wrote for their series called "Imagine Long Beach" will be published in the March 17 issue. I envisioned a Long Beach where people walked and biked more and left their cars at home for nearby errands. So forego your green beer this St. Paddy's day long enough to pick up a copy. You better go early though, because I'm snarfing up as many as I can carry.

Heckuva Week to Give Up Smoking

Give up all the smoking events in Long Beach, that is. I’m off to San Francisco for a week and my only regret is that there are so many interesting things going on in this overlooked and underrated city by the bay. Just a few things I’d like to see:

March 6 Lagoon Playgroup 60th Anniversary. I’m proud to say that one of my sons is an alumni of this wonderful little cooperative play school a stone’s throw from Colorado Lagoon. The facility’s just been refurbished and I’d love to see the improvements and share some old war stories with the parents.

March 6 Greg Mortenson live at the Carpenter Center. Part of Long Beach Reads One Book, the author of Three Cups of Tea will tell about his adventures on K2 and his efforts to build schools for poor children in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

March 6 Author Suzanne Toro will talk about her book, Bare Naked Bliss, at Bogarts Coffee House. Come on, admit it. You’d go just to ogle the cover.

March 6, 7 The 39th Annual CSULB Pow Wow. Drums, dancers in beautiful feathered costumes and food booths turn the campus quad into a tribal celebration. Fun for the whole family

March 11 The Long Beach I Love You event at the Long Beach Aquarium. Part of the Visions Voices Festival, this multimedia show celebrates the release of a poetry anthology, The Good Things about America, with music and readings by local writers.

Friends Get Arty Down at The Lagoon

The Grunion Gazette reported last week ("FOCL Art Walks Add to Lagoon") that the Friends of Colorado Lagoon have a new Creative Arts initiative. Poking around the FOCL website, I couldn’t find any hard dates or any information about getting involved, but the article interviews Timothy Dunham as saying, “We plan to dig posts into the sand and hang or install pieces. It would be a venue for local artists.” Art and nature, can’t get better than that. He goes on to say that an Earth Day celebration at the Lagoon is also in the works.

The FOCL blog doesn’t have any information about these events either, but there are some lovely photos of early morning wildlife at the Lagoon. Dunham gets up at dawn so you don’t have to and posts several photos almost every day. Now if only he can uncover the mystery of why they haven’t taken down the floating Christmas trees yet.

Water, Water Everywhere . . .At Least For Now

The Aquarium of the Pacific’s newest exhibit, “Our Watersheds: Pathway to the Pacific,” goes beyond cute fishies and ocean monsters to address California’s looming catastrophe—and I’m not talking earthquakes here. Our beautiful, but over-populated state faces massive water shortages unless we all get serious about saving water.

The open air exhibit features a eye-catching waterfall and other interactive exhibits with water-conservation tips as well as a garden of drought adaptive native plants. An interactive website about watersheds created by the Aquarium gives a taste of scope of information covered in this eco-friendly exhibit, with appeal for water-lovers (and water consmuers) of all ages. You can pick up a “Pass to the Pacific” at any branch of the Long Beach Public Library for 50% discount for up to four admissions. The offer is good through May 22 with some blackout dates around spring break.

All Aboard! The Queen's for Free!

Now through March 15, all California residents can tour the Queen Mary for free. Bring some proof of residence and you can stroll along the teak decks and view historic displays like the bridge, the sick bay and lifeboats. There is a charge for parking so consider biking or taking the bus.

Book Talk

Phew! I finished the book just in time for Covenant Presbyterian Church’s first book club meeting on Saturday, March 7. It’s called The Shack, a self-published book that’s sold millions via word of mouth and the internet. The plot is pretty creaky, but there are some lovely scenes of a reluctant Christian’s reconciliation with a loving and forgiving God. The promotion and marketing of the book seems just a tad manipulative, especially “The Missy Project,” where the publishers encourage readers to promote the book using the name of a fictional character who is the victim of a brutal rape and murder. The implication is that promoting the book will somehow help rape victims when in fact the only people who will benefit are the publishers.

Anyway, it’s been years since I’ve put in my two cents at a book discussion, so I’m stoked about sharing likes and dislikes.

Bolsa Chica Wants You!

I just got an email about a HUGE Earth Day event. Bolsa Chica Land Trust is calling on all concerned citizens to each donate $50 for the Bolsa Chica Project, the first step in the complete restoration of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. The group hopes to get 100,000 people involved, making it the largest single-day donation for an ecosystem restoration project. Their website has lots of information about the wetlands and the restoration project as well as a cool video. (Check out the monster reptile!)

My heart lies closer to home at the Los Cerritos Wetlands, but any success at Bolsa Chica can only be good for restoring Los Cerritos. What if in my lifetime, these two cradles of salt and freshwater wildlife were healed of the massive pollution and neglect they’ve suffered from for so many years? Yes, I can dream and so can you.

Catching Up and All That Jazz

There are so many things to do in this city that lately I’ve been remiss in my blogging. Last Friday, I got a behind the scenes look at KKJZ Jazz Radio station. By volunteering to take phone calls during their winter pledge drive, I got a close up look at DJs in action (Helen Borgers at her irrepressible best) and some yummy grub from Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. Mostly, I got to talk to some very friendly and generous people willing and able to give their time (the other volunteers) and/or money (the callers) to keep jazz alive in Long Beach. I had a caller from Boston and another one who’s been a subscriber to the station for 14 years!

Besides feeding us, the station manager and her staff handed out copies of L.A. Jazz Scene and flyers with information about Jazz the Ides of March. The brainchild of Helen Borgers (did I mention she’s irrepressible?), the event takes place on March 15 beginning at 4 pm at the Richard Goad Theatre in Bixby Knolls. Performers include Jack Sheldon and the Al Williams Jazz Society with Barbara Morrison (click her name for a great Los Angeles song) and recorded “jazz picks” presented by Ms. Borgers. The $15 donation benefits The Long Beach Shakespeare Company.

Long Beach Rides into Sunset

Well, folks, I learned an important lesson last week—read the entire magazine before you decide to post about it. Yesterday, I was so thrilled to see Long Beach blogger Adriana Martinez featured in the March issue of Sunset Magazine, that I dropped the magazine and ran to my laptop to blog about it. Turns out that the big news is that this issue is black and white and Long Beach all over the place.

There’s a nice little feature about Retro Row, the shops along 4th and Junipero on page 22. That old warhorse the Art Theatre is mentioned. Don’t get me wrong, the renovation is tasteful and comfy, but I’ll never give up my memories of those old lumpy seats and the incredible films I got so wrapped up in that I forgot the discomfort.

Then on page 81, there’s an interview with Russ Roca, who calls himself the “Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer.” The photo only shows half of his 6-foot-long cargo bike. It’s red with a big carrying case in the front and his logo on the crossbar. You can bet I’ll be on the lookout for it around town. He also blogs at Bike Commuters, so maybe I’ll suss out his favorite hangouts from there.

Anyway, I'm still feeling the glow of recognition from all the media attention. Long Beach deserves no less.