A Week of Peace and Unity

The celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will last a week here in Long Beach, sponsored in large part by Councilperson Dee Andrews. Today, activities include a clean-up of MLK Blvd., ground breaking for a Community Peace Garden at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, and the third annual Peace March from 5 pm to 6 pm. During the week there will be an awards ceremony and a lunch for local ministers as well as dialogues between police and youth. The culmination of all these unity-building events will be the Peace & Unity Parade Celebration which runs from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm on January 16.



Over the years, many people use the MLK holiday to volunteer for some helping activity. Create the Good network has featured MLK volunteer events on its website and California State Library has teamed with VolunteerMatch to create a user-friendly website for local links to volunteer opportunities.

Virtual Turkey Trot

My intrepid husband took his video camera along as he ran the route of the Turkey Trot this year. I spent a lovely morning searching for neighborhood kitties with my new friend Maggie Hudson, but I heard it was unusually hot and more crowded than ever. Consensus decision: sign up for the earlier session next year to beat the heat and the crowds. Here's a 4-minute Youtube video of the Turkey Trot.

Help yourself to deals and help others

Check out another feel good by doing good shopping experience at the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store at 2750 Pacific Coast Highway. They're having a huge Black Friday sale and are accepting donations of canned goods and new toys to brighten someone's holidays.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Taking a break from posts today to go watch the fun down at the Turkey Trot and eat and chat with friends and family. There is so much to give thanks for in this great country of ours, but for me the greatest gifts are the people that help us every day without our even thinking about it. So, thanks to the letter carriers, trash truck drivers, water and power workers, police and firemen and so many other people who give their time to help make other people's lives better.

Downtown does the holidays right

Sunday, December 6th, Mayor Bob Foster will be on hand to light the Christmas tree and unveil the Menorah and Kwanzaa displays at the Pike Event Park at 6 pm. Santa will be there as well with musical support by the Lakewood HIgh School Choir. Bringing in that wintry feel for all of us displaced East Coasters, there's an ice skating rink opening on November 27 and a snow day on December 12.

Christmas Comes to Belmont Shore

All the merry gentle merchants down on Second Street are gearing up for Christmas. They've teamed up with Food Finders and We Love Long Beach to set up drop off points for canned food or sealed box foods donations. A list of the locations is on their site. The parade theme is "A Magical, Musical Christmas" this year, and 12 marching bands have signed up to perform. Before the parade begins at 7 pm on December 5, there'll be a one mile fun run called the Jingle Jaunt, sponsored by the Gazette newspapers. There's a sign-up page on the Gazette site. And speaking of magical and musical, groups can sign up with the Belmont Shore Business Association to sing Christmas carols on weekends or weeknights to bring a little holiday cheer to us intrepid shoppers.

Holiday Sweets

Thanksgiving's on its way and Christmas won't be far behind. I made my first batch of gingerbread yesterday. Thanks to Wilton's website, I have lots more cookie recipes to try for the holidays. I just pull up their recipe pages on my laptop and set it on the kitchen counter. Sometimes, it has to wear an apron to protect it from batter splatter. Umm, batter.

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!