Following are my latest two columns in the Claremont Courier, the first published last Wednesday and the second published today. I think, together, they tell their own story and don’t need any explanation.
KEEPING THOSE LIGHTS SHINING IN CLAREMONT
“You could just picture it, and this was in conservative Claremont.”
Yes, well - and some of us think Claremont is pretty cool. I’m always hearing it said that Claremont is an oasis in a white-bread suburban Hell. Kind of like Austin in Texas.
But I also hear people say that Claremont drives them crazy. A friend recently told me she would go nuts when she would visit her parents in Claremont “and the sidewalks would roll up at 5.”
Sometimes the people who say that Claremont is cool are the same people who say it makes them crazy. (I’ve been known to be one of them.)
Maybe my friend was visiting her parents here around 1970. That’s the time Rebecca McGrew, a curator working at the museum at Pomona College, was referring to in the quote from an interview in the Los Angeles Times a few months ago. She was talking about when Judy Chicago, the renowned feminist artist, gave a lecture at Pomona College in February of that year and refused to answer questions from the men in the audience.
“The audience went crazy,” Ms. Chicago said in the same interview.
Judy Chicago, now 72, will be back at Pomona College later this month to, as her husband Donald Woodman says, “blow up” the football field. The spectacle will be an attempt to recreate an early fireworks piece - something like when she lit flares on Mt. Baldy in 1970, as documented in photographs and a video in an exhibit at the museum this last fall. The exhibit was the first of three this school year at the museum - “It Happened at Pomona” - in conjunction with the Los Angeles-area Pacific Standard Time showings spearheaded by the Getty Foundation.
Claremont can’t be all that conservative if it has world-class provocative artists coming here to stir things up and blow things up. Especially over 40 years ago.
And if nothing else, the story of Judy Chicago, the creator of the iconic “Dinner Party” installation, and her relationship with Claremont should brighten up our January. It is a reminder, after the bright and warming holiday lights have been taken down when the nights are still their longest and coldest (although the days might be quite warm), that Claremont has more than its share of lights that shine forth.
I am constantly amazed by how many people who get things done or do some much-needed shaking up are in Claremont or associated with Claremont. For example, I was looking at the Op-Ed page in the Los Angeles Times one day this last Fall, and there was a piece by Michael Shermer, arguing that God is wrongly given credit for making America great and Americans free and safe. This is pretty strong stuff in a country where God is invoked in the national motto and forever being called on by politicians.
I knew that Michael Shermer was the publisher of Skeptic magazine, but I didn’t know that, as cited in the biographical note, that he has been teaching at Claremont Graduate University.
Then, not long after this, I was watching the PBS NewsHour, and there was Philip Clayton, a Claremonter, being interviewed at the Claremont School of Theology. Mr. Clayton was talking about his work in heading up the school’s new Lincoln University, established to train Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy-persons together so that they can better work together. Pretty cutting-edge stuff.
I am always seeing professors at the Claremont colleges quoted in the news. Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, is a regular, and, just last week, Pomona College Latin American history professor Miguel Tinker Salas was quoted in an article, again in the L.A Times, about a Venezuelan television production company trying to export shows to the U.S.
And I also saw Claremont’s lights shining up north one morning a couple weeks ago in a funky pancake joint in Albany (Sam’s Log Cabin Café), just north of Berkeley. A teenaged girl and her mother sat down at the table next to me. The girl had a hefty college guide and talked excitedly about how, of all the Claremont colleges, Pitzer was the best fit for her (“environmentally concerned, socially conscious...”).
After a while of grinning over my grilled cakes, I couldn’t contain myself and mentioned that I’m from Claremont. Mother and daughter were quite pleased. It turned out that the daughter is a senior at Berkeley High and Mom is a Scripps College graduate. Claremont was the place to be in their eyes, even though the mother did mention that her daughter “thought it was Hell” when they passed through town last Spring and the colleges were on break.
Yes, Claremont has plenty of lights shining - good to remember now that the holidays are over and we face a new year. But “there is still work to be done.” This is what a friend said when I showed him the vandalism - the police label it a “hate crime,” according to the L.A Times - done on Christmas morning on the nativity scene in front of the Methodist Church on Foothill Boulevard featuring same-sex couples.
WHEN IT’S DARK, CAN WE SHINE BRIGHTER?
My friend said, “There is still work to be done.” That was all he said. He didn’t need to say anymore.
Suddenly, I wasn’t angry anymore. Or not just angry anymore. Suddenly, I knew what to do.
Suddenly, I knew that just being angry was doing no good.
I had been angry all that week. Good and angry. Sitting with it. Stewing in it. I had been ranting to friends and whoever would hear me and not hear me - and it seemed that a lot were not hearing me.
That’s why I had my friend with me. It was New Year’s Day, and, as I mentioned here last week in writing about how there are plenty of people in Claremont that shine forth after the holiday lights have been taken down in the dark of winter, I was showing my friend the vandalism done on the nativity scene in front of the Methodist church on Foothill Boulevard a week earlier, sometime during the night before Christmas morning. The vandalism had been labeled a hate crime by the police, and I wanted my friend, who was from out of town, to be angry like I was.
The vandalism was striking - truly a hate crime, much more than an ugly random hit - precisely because the nativity scene, created by John Zachary, was so striking. It featured same-sex couples.
The piece was more abstract than usual, consisting of three large neon-lit boxes. One box showed a man and a woman holding hands, one box showed two men holding hands and the other box showed two women holding hands. Above the boxes were a neon-lit star and large sign proclaiming, “Christ is born.” In front of the boxes, also neon-lit, was a small sculptured tree and a small sign explaining Jesus’ message of love for all, especially those who are marginalized.
As I saw on Christmas Eve, it made quite a strong statement and made it boldly.
When I went by the nativity scene that evening, I was expecting to see something provocative. For some years now, the tableaus in front of Claremont United Methodist Church, all evidently designed by Mr. Zachary, have been far from traditional and, to say the least, very interesting. There have been scenes set in a homeless encampment and a jail cell. One featured Mexican illegal immigrants.
As Mr. Zachary explained, “The nativity scene has been done hundreds of thousands of times, and everyone has that beautiful fourth century version of the Nativity in their minds. I thought we should do something in a more contemporary context that people can relate to. Something that would represent what it would be like if Christ was born today.”
I was indeed looking forward to this year’s scene. Even so, I wasn’t prepared for the brave, striking, brightly lit message that I saw. It was definitely out there - in every sense. I sat there, stunned and moved, in awe.
The next morning, I began telling friends to go by and check out the nativity scene. I took a friend by in the afternoon, wanting to surprise him, and, instead, I got a surprise.
It was not a nice Christmas surprise. Something was wrong.
The “Christ is born” sign and star were ripped off the top, and the boxes were askew. It could have been wind damage, but it had not been particularly windy. I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling, a sinking feeling. There was something not random about the damage.
Why was it that just the box with the man and woman was left standing in place? And the star had been carefully placed over the sign explaining Jesus’ radical message of inclusive love.
No, I thought, this was vandalism. Anti-gay vandalism.
But, then, what bothered me - even more than the ugly vandalism - was the silence. I didn’t hear or see anything about what had happened. Not only did I see or hear no mention of the vandalism, there was no reaction, no outcry.
I assumed that a big part of this was that it was over the holidays, a quiet time with most people “off” with their family and friends, doing pleasant, enjoyable things. It wasn’t time for disturbing things. Then - likewise - two days after Christmas, I went out of town for five days.
It wasn’t until I returned the following Saturday when I saw any news of the news, in a link to a Los Angeles Times article that a friend had sent out through Facebook. (When I go away, I really go away, not looking at e-mail or going on-line.) I felt validated and not crazy. The story said that the act had been labeled a hate crime, and I was glad to see that there was a vigil held, with about 150 people in attendance, on the Thursday evening while I was away.
The next day was New Year’s Day, when I took my friend from out of town to see what had happened. This time, I knew what had happened, that it was vandalism, that it was a hate crime.
I wondered if more vandalism had been done since Christmas Day. The box with the two men had been knocked over on its side. (Why hadn’t the box with the two women been knocked over?)
But other changes had been made. The star was no longer covering the explanation. And there was a spray-painted cardboard sign attached atop the knocked-over box, the one with the two men holding hands. The sign said, “Choose love.”
Yes, there is work still to be done, as my friend said. We were also reminded of this with the recent Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. What is the work we need to do to choose love and make Claremont shine all the brighter?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sticking it to the disabled
Early last month, there was an article on the front page of the Los Angeles Times about an author named Peter Winkler. Fine. I always enjoy seeing the arts and artists - and especially writers - get some attention. So much the better if it’s on the front page of the paper.
It was clear enough, however, that the reason why Winkler was featured on the front page isn’t so much that he is a fine writer. No, what was worthy of the front page was that, because of being disabled, he wrote his recently published biography of Dennis Hopper (“Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel”) by using a chopstick to type out one letter at a time. Not only that, but Winkler’s agent didn’t know of his rheumatoid arthritis and that he puts so much physical effort into his writing.
Indeed, the article is titled “Really sticking to it” and doesn’t just say that Winkler is disabled - he “increasingly is trapped,” “ravaged by arthritis,” which “has battered him for 48 of his 55 years.” That he doesn’t make this a big deal - he didn’t tell his agent of his disability and says that tapping one key at a time with a chopstick is “not so bad” (“He’s gotten pretty fast, and anyway, ‘I was always a two-finger typist.’”) - only makes it more of a big deal, suitable for the front page.
My first reaction when I read this story was: why doesn’t this guy use a word-prediction program like the one I use? I too type one key at a time, and I have been using this program (SoothSayer) for the last four or five years, and it has made writing - and my life - so much easier. Indeed, I wish I had it years, decades, ago!
Then I thought that if Winkler had such a tool, it would be less likely that there would be a big article about him on the front page. After all, there are thousands of disabled folks who use word prediction programs and other tools and not many (I hope) who use a chopstick to write. It also occurred to me that if Winkler really doesn’t consider his disability and his chopstick-typing a big deal, he wouldn’t have gone along with this article, which included photographs.
This situation - Winkler typing with a chopstick - is another example of how society makes life harder for the disabled, of how society disables people. Yes, there are many wonderful devices and technologies that make life easier for the disabled, but they are too often not easy to get.
What’s more, in a weird twist, as this article illustrates, this is used as a source of inspiration. And - trust me - being an inspiration is oh-so attractive.
It was clear enough, however, that the reason why Winkler was featured on the front page isn’t so much that he is a fine writer. No, what was worthy of the front page was that, because of being disabled, he wrote his recently published biography of Dennis Hopper (“Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel”) by using a chopstick to type out one letter at a time. Not only that, but Winkler’s agent didn’t know of his rheumatoid arthritis and that he puts so much physical effort into his writing.
Indeed, the article is titled “Really sticking to it” and doesn’t just say that Winkler is disabled - he “increasingly is trapped,” “ravaged by arthritis,” which “has battered him for 48 of his 55 years.” That he doesn’t make this a big deal - he didn’t tell his agent of his disability and says that tapping one key at a time with a chopstick is “not so bad” (“He’s gotten pretty fast, and anyway, ‘I was always a two-finger typist.’”) - only makes it more of a big deal, suitable for the front page.
My first reaction when I read this story was: why doesn’t this guy use a word-prediction program like the one I use? I too type one key at a time, and I have been using this program (SoothSayer) for the last four or five years, and it has made writing - and my life - so much easier. Indeed, I wish I had it years, decades, ago!
Then I thought that if Winkler had such a tool, it would be less likely that there would be a big article about him on the front page. After all, there are thousands of disabled folks who use word prediction programs and other tools and not many (I hope) who use a chopstick to write. It also occurred to me that if Winkler really doesn’t consider his disability and his chopstick-typing a big deal, he wouldn’t have gone along with this article, which included photographs.
This situation - Winkler typing with a chopstick - is another example of how society makes life harder for the disabled, of how society disables people. Yes, there are many wonderful devices and technologies that make life easier for the disabled, but they are too often not easy to get.
What’s more, in a weird twist, as this article illustrates, this is used as a source of inspiration. And - trust me - being an inspiration is oh-so attractive.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Tech support
I continue to marvel at how technology can help people. (Never mind for the moment, during this joyous season, how it can harm people.) Take my DynaVox, for example - the speech synthesizer I have written about several times here, which I use via a camera that follows a silver dot stuck onto the bridge of my glasses and which I now call Dyna. Incredible!
Dyna was outdone, though, when I attended a P-FLAG meeting earlier this month in Los Angeles. This was my second time at this meeting. I wrote here about my experience going to this meeting for the first time in October, saying I missed going to these supportive meetings after the one in Claremont faded out years ago.
One thing I didn’t write about at the time was that there was a transgender man at the meeting, accompanied by his mother, an American visiting him from Quatar.
The young man was at this month’s meeting. The mother had long since returned to Quatar, but she was there, with her son and us, at the meeting. Literally. The son plugged in his laptop, and there was his mother, on Skype, able to see as well as hear us, for the entire hour and an half.
That’s what I call support - through the wonder of technology. Like I said, incredible!
And all I want is my parents to just go to a P-FLAG meeting.
Dyna was outdone, though, when I attended a P-FLAG meeting earlier this month in Los Angeles. This was my second time at this meeting. I wrote here about my experience going to this meeting for the first time in October, saying I missed going to these supportive meetings after the one in Claremont faded out years ago.
One thing I didn’t write about at the time was that there was a transgender man at the meeting, accompanied by his mother, an American visiting him from Quatar.
The young man was at this month’s meeting. The mother had long since returned to Quatar, but she was there, with her son and us, at the meeting. Literally. The son plugged in his laptop, and there was his mother, on Skype, able to see as well as hear us, for the entire hour and an half.
That’s what I call support - through the wonder of technology. Like I said, incredible!
And all I want is my parents to just go to a P-FLAG meeting.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Season's reason and reasoning
Things are getting plenty scary in this season of peace and joy. I read yesterday that Newt Gingrich, the new favorite among the Republican presidential candidates, declared that, if he is president, he will ignore court rulings that he doesn’t agree with and perhaps do away with some courts. He maintains that it’s time to end the tyranny of “activist judges.” (Interestingly, when asked if President Obama can ignore the Supreme Court if it outlaws the national healthcare law, Gingrich demurred.)
More timely, if not even more frightening, is that Rick Perry, another viable GOP presidential candidate, recently said that “there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” He went on to say, “As president, I’ll fight against Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage...”
There’s something wrong, terribly wrong, in this country when these utterances aren’t from a Saturday Night Live skit, when these guys are for real and are taken seriously, when one of them may well be our next president. I’d like to think that it’s less likely that the unpopular Obama will lose if up against one of these men rather than the less outrageous Mitt Romney, but, given the rabid Tea Partiers and evangelicals and the Democrats’ (arguably unfair) disappointment in Obama, I’m not sure if this is a real hope or just wishful thinking.
I don’t want to end with a bah humbug! To make these holidays a bit saner, if not merry and bright, check out these videos:
http://youtu.be/3epc2arU4g4
http://youtu.be/PEC7d5jbAbo
More timely, if not even more frightening, is that Rick Perry, another viable GOP presidential candidate, recently said that “there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” He went on to say, “As president, I’ll fight against Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage...”
There’s something wrong, terribly wrong, in this country when these utterances aren’t from a Saturday Night Live skit, when these guys are for real and are taken seriously, when one of them may well be our next president. I’d like to think that it’s less likely that the unpopular Obama will lose if up against one of these men rather than the less outrageous Mitt Romney, but, given the rabid Tea Partiers and evangelicals and the Democrats’ (arguably unfair) disappointment in Obama, I’m not sure if this is a real hope or just wishful thinking.
I don’t want to end with a bah humbug! To make these holidays a bit saner, if not merry and bright, check out these videos:
http://youtu.be/3epc2arU4g4
http://youtu.be/PEC7d5jbAbo
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
America can't take a holiday
My family lived in London for a year when I was 15, and Christmas was on Saturday that year. The next day was designated “Christmas Sunday,” a holiday, and Boxing Day, a holiday usually celebrated on the 26th, was observed on Monday. (Never mind that a couple centuries ago, celebrating Christmas was heresy to some in Britain.) This meant three days off, and when I say off, I really mean off. There wasn’t even a newspaper published for three days.
This drove my father crazy. As he said, a nuclear bomb could be dropped somewhere in the world or our house in California could be destroyed in an earthquake, and he wouldn’t know. (The news was on the BBC, but my dad has never been one for television.)
He didn’t mind the stores being closed; he just couldn’t stand there being no newspaper for three days. My father - and anyone in my family - has never gone to a sale on “Black Friday,” the all-important shopping day in America on the day after Thanksgiving - and definitely not at 5 a.m.
This year, in addition to the market again being open on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday crept into Thanksgiving, with many stores opening at 9 or 10 that evening.
So much for Thanksgiving. So much for taking a day, a whole day, off. In America, it’s all about “for your convenience.” It’s all about having every chance to cash in and for someone to make a buck.
There was a woman interviewed on the news on T.V - PBS - saying that “this is what’s wrong with this country.” As hysterical and right-wing as she sounded, she is right. To paraphrase, America is going to Hell in a shopping cart.
Pretty soon, stores will be open on Christmas Day, so there will be another shopping day “for your convenience.” After all, isn’t there a wall between church and state in this country?
There are those who argue that all this shopping is a good thing - and not just because it helps the economy and, as George Bush said, defeats the terrorists. In an Op-Ed piece published on Black Friday in the Los Angeles Times, James Livingston, a professor of history at Rutgers University, statement that “consumer culture is good for your soul.” He argues that “it is a part of leisure, not work” and goes on to explain, “Whether you’re purchasing food for a family meal, buying someone a drink or getting in line to buy a gift on Black Friday, you’re spending time and money to create new circuits of feeling among friends and family.”
So, in this essay, titled “Spend for your soul” and which was paired with an article titled “Stuffing ourselves” condemning Black Friday and the consuming it encourages, Livingston, who most recently authored “Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment and Your Soul” (really!), is positing that we need to spend money to find community and get love (“create new circuits of feeling among friends and family”).
To paraphrase again, something is indeed rotten - and terribly sad - in these United States.
This drove my father crazy. As he said, a nuclear bomb could be dropped somewhere in the world or our house in California could be destroyed in an earthquake, and he wouldn’t know. (The news was on the BBC, but my dad has never been one for television.)
He didn’t mind the stores being closed; he just couldn’t stand there being no newspaper for three days. My father - and anyone in my family - has never gone to a sale on “Black Friday,” the all-important shopping day in America on the day after Thanksgiving - and definitely not at 5 a.m.
This year, in addition to the market again being open on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday crept into Thanksgiving, with many stores opening at 9 or 10 that evening.
So much for Thanksgiving. So much for taking a day, a whole day, off. In America, it’s all about “for your convenience.” It’s all about having every chance to cash in and for someone to make a buck.
There was a woman interviewed on the news on T.V - PBS - saying that “this is what’s wrong with this country.” As hysterical and right-wing as she sounded, she is right. To paraphrase, America is going to Hell in a shopping cart.
Pretty soon, stores will be open on Christmas Day, so there will be another shopping day “for your convenience.” After all, isn’t there a wall between church and state in this country?
There are those who argue that all this shopping is a good thing - and not just because it helps the economy and, as George Bush said, defeats the terrorists. In an Op-Ed piece published on Black Friday in the Los Angeles Times, James Livingston, a professor of history at Rutgers University, statement that “consumer culture is good for your soul.” He argues that “it is a part of leisure, not work” and goes on to explain, “Whether you’re purchasing food for a family meal, buying someone a drink or getting in line to buy a gift on Black Friday, you’re spending time and money to create new circuits of feeling among friends and family.”
So, in this essay, titled “Spend for your soul” and which was paired with an article titled “Stuffing ourselves” condemning Black Friday and the consuming it encourages, Livingston, who most recently authored “Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment and Your Soul” (really!), is positing that we need to spend money to find community and get love (“create new circuits of feeling among friends and family”).
To paraphrase again, something is indeed rotten - and terribly sad - in these United States.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Occupy Thanksgiving - bringing the movement home for the holidays
Below is my latest column in the Claremont Courier. Meanwhile, two addendums:
1. Occupy L.A has been offered some offices for $1 a year and some land to farm for free in exchange for moving off the City Hall's now-dead lawn, in yet another instance, unlike in other cities, of the city bending over backwards to be accommodating. Mmmmm... I'm not sure if this - being bought off - is, or should be, what the occupiers had in mind. Then again, Occupy L.A has always been the Hollywood version of the movement.
2. There is now Occupy Claremont - two tents set up in front of the City Council chamber by Pitzer College students on Sunday, after my column came out. I can't help but chuckle at the fact that the students won't be there for the Thanksgiving break!
A LOT TO GIVE THANKS FOR - EVEN IF WE DON’T WANT IT
There it was. For all to see. It couldn’t be missed.
The words were spray-painted in deep red on the white wall of the exterior of the Bank of America branch in the Village when I passed by two Friday mornings ago. The paint dribbled down the wall at a few points, like blood oozing from a fresh stabbing.
“Pay tax.”
There was no mistaking the message, and it was indeed a piercing of sorts.
In my last column, I wrote about how the Occupy Wall Street movement, protesting corporate greed and other injustices, social and otherwise, isn’t so far off from Claremont. But I wasn’t expecting it to be this close. Then again, I can’t say I was that surprised.
“That’s horrible!” a friend exclaimed. “How could this happen in nice, little Claremont?” I couldn’t tell if my friend was genuinely disturbed or was being tongue-in-cheek.
When I passed the wall again a few minutes later, a man was working to clean off the graffiti.
“I wish they had done this on the windows,” I heard the man say as I passed by. “That would have made my job a lot easier.”
Maybe it was just as well that he was having a hard time scrubbing off that graffiti. Perhaps we next to look at the writing on the wall, so to speak, here in “nice, little Claremont.”
No one can tell me that there are no people living in Claremont who agree with the sentiment sprawled on the wall, that big financial institutions should be more socially responsible, should be more fair to consumers and shouldn’t be bailed out by the taxpayers. No one can tell me that there are no Claremont residents who are frustrated and hurting, maybe out of a job, maybe out of unemployment checks, having trouble making ends meet.
I don’t think this was some high school kid thinking he was being cool with the message of the moment. After all, it was reported that there was a similar message written on the wall of the other Bank of America office in Claremont, on Foothill Boulevard, that same morning. No, this was someone who knew what they were doing, who had a specific plan and a specific message.
Heck, there are probably at least a few students at the colleges here - or recent graduates sticking around town, who are feeling all but frantic and despairing about paying back hefty student loans, perhaps without being able to find a job.
Not that writing on walls is the best way to express anger and try to change things. But I have to say that I can’t get that worked up about this vandalism. It was not a threat, and I much rather see this than something more destructive or lethal.
I think the real question is, what do we do with the message on the wall? Do we just have it scrubbed off and then go about our way in “nice, little” Claremont?
With the holiday season coming up or more or less already here - we can tick off Halloween and the Pilgrim Place Festival - this may sound like the way to go. It may be best, it may be easier to snuggle into the celebrations and merry-making as the year winds down, even if things are not the best for some or many of us. But it could be that the disturbing, piercing writing on the wall is more bounty in this season of giving thanks.
It could be that, even as we want to not hear all the bad news and all the loud back-biting, this venting, this expression of anger and frustration is a rich bit - a rich, unexpected and even, yes, unwanted bit - in this harvest season.
This venting, this messy, ugly outcrying, even on our quiet, leafy streets, could be seen as a curse, but it is really a blessing - another one this Thanksgiving.
It is unfortunate and sad that things have gotten to the point where people feel that they have to camp out or scrawl messages on a wall, but such activism, such passionate, hands-on civil engagement is something to behold and be thankful for.
That what this is. The Occupy Wall Street movement is way past being a bunch of kooks. It is getting harder and harder not to take it seriously. The question, again, like with the graffiti in the Village, is what to do with it - or should we be doing anything with it here in Claremont?
In my last column, I wrote about visiting Occupy L.A and about how, although things are relatively, even surprisingly calm at the encampment (I think of it as, appropriately enough, the Hollywood version of Occupy), there is notable tension there, with people having differing views and styles, even if they have the same desires and goals. I wrote about the detailed guidelines there for holding meetings and reaching consensus and that, if nothing else, the protesters are learning and showing us all how to and how not to live and work together in community.
Since then, I have heard about people at Occupy L.A getting tired and yelling at each other about smoking pot and drumming late into the night and also segregating themselves. I have heard about people there coming to blows. I have also heard about some of the protesters meditating together and about the suggestion of asking someone who is angry to sit down, “because it is harder to be violent when you are sitting down.”
What can we learn from all this here in Claremont? Is there a message here about making this community more inclusive, where people can express differing views and improve things together, and even more something to be thankful for? Or do we just do what’s easier and only scrub off the unattractive, challenging writing on the wall?
1. Occupy L.A has been offered some offices for $1 a year and some land to farm for free in exchange for moving off the City Hall's now-dead lawn, in yet another instance, unlike in other cities, of the city bending over backwards to be accommodating. Mmmmm... I'm not sure if this - being bought off - is, or should be, what the occupiers had in mind. Then again, Occupy L.A has always been the Hollywood version of the movement.
2. There is now Occupy Claremont - two tents set up in front of the City Council chamber by Pitzer College students on Sunday, after my column came out. I can't help but chuckle at the fact that the students won't be there for the Thanksgiving break!
A LOT TO GIVE THANKS FOR - EVEN IF WE DON’T WANT IT
There it was. For all to see. It couldn’t be missed.
The words were spray-painted in deep red on the white wall of the exterior of the Bank of America branch in the Village when I passed by two Friday mornings ago. The paint dribbled down the wall at a few points, like blood oozing from a fresh stabbing.
“Pay tax.”
There was no mistaking the message, and it was indeed a piercing of sorts.
In my last column, I wrote about how the Occupy Wall Street movement, protesting corporate greed and other injustices, social and otherwise, isn’t so far off from Claremont. But I wasn’t expecting it to be this close. Then again, I can’t say I was that surprised.
“That’s horrible!” a friend exclaimed. “How could this happen in nice, little Claremont?” I couldn’t tell if my friend was genuinely disturbed or was being tongue-in-cheek.
When I passed the wall again a few minutes later, a man was working to clean off the graffiti.
“I wish they had done this on the windows,” I heard the man say as I passed by. “That would have made my job a lot easier.”
Maybe it was just as well that he was having a hard time scrubbing off that graffiti. Perhaps we next to look at the writing on the wall, so to speak, here in “nice, little Claremont.”
No one can tell me that there are no people living in Claremont who agree with the sentiment sprawled on the wall, that big financial institutions should be more socially responsible, should be more fair to consumers and shouldn’t be bailed out by the taxpayers. No one can tell me that there are no Claremont residents who are frustrated and hurting, maybe out of a job, maybe out of unemployment checks, having trouble making ends meet.
I don’t think this was some high school kid thinking he was being cool with the message of the moment. After all, it was reported that there was a similar message written on the wall of the other Bank of America office in Claremont, on Foothill Boulevard, that same morning. No, this was someone who knew what they were doing, who had a specific plan and a specific message.
Heck, there are probably at least a few students at the colleges here - or recent graduates sticking around town, who are feeling all but frantic and despairing about paying back hefty student loans, perhaps without being able to find a job.
Not that writing on walls is the best way to express anger and try to change things. But I have to say that I can’t get that worked up about this vandalism. It was not a threat, and I much rather see this than something more destructive or lethal.
I think the real question is, what do we do with the message on the wall? Do we just have it scrubbed off and then go about our way in “nice, little” Claremont?
With the holiday season coming up or more or less already here - we can tick off Halloween and the Pilgrim Place Festival - this may sound like the way to go. It may be best, it may be easier to snuggle into the celebrations and merry-making as the year winds down, even if things are not the best for some or many of us. But it could be that the disturbing, piercing writing on the wall is more bounty in this season of giving thanks.
It could be that, even as we want to not hear all the bad news and all the loud back-biting, this venting, this expression of anger and frustration is a rich bit - a rich, unexpected and even, yes, unwanted bit - in this harvest season.
This venting, this messy, ugly outcrying, even on our quiet, leafy streets, could be seen as a curse, but it is really a blessing - another one this Thanksgiving.
It is unfortunate and sad that things have gotten to the point where people feel that they have to camp out or scrawl messages on a wall, but such activism, such passionate, hands-on civil engagement is something to behold and be thankful for.
That what this is. The Occupy Wall Street movement is way past being a bunch of kooks. It is getting harder and harder not to take it seriously. The question, again, like with the graffiti in the Village, is what to do with it - or should we be doing anything with it here in Claremont?
In my last column, I wrote about visiting Occupy L.A and about how, although things are relatively, even surprisingly calm at the encampment (I think of it as, appropriately enough, the Hollywood version of Occupy), there is notable tension there, with people having differing views and styles, even if they have the same desires and goals. I wrote about the detailed guidelines there for holding meetings and reaching consensus and that, if nothing else, the protesters are learning and showing us all how to and how not to live and work together in community.
Since then, I have heard about people at Occupy L.A getting tired and yelling at each other about smoking pot and drumming late into the night and also segregating themselves. I have heard about people there coming to blows. I have also heard about some of the protesters meditating together and about the suggestion of asking someone who is angry to sit down, “because it is harder to be violent when you are sitting down.”
What can we learn from all this here in Claremont? Is there a message here about making this community more inclusive, where people can express differing views and improve things together, and even more something to be thankful for? Or do we just do what’s easier and only scrub off the unattractive, challenging writing on the wall?
Friday, November 18, 2011
Eye in the sky
Starting next year, the city of Lancaster, in the desert roughly 45 minutes northeast of Los Angeles, is set to have a plane flying around 24/7, keeping an eye on the city. One resident quoted in the Los Angeles Times calls it a “spy plane” and is happy that it is coming.
The ACLU isn’t so sure. There is concern about privacy - duh! - especially with the plane videotaping and being able to see into backyards. The Lancaster police point out that the plane will enable them to see someone in trouble and needing assistance, and they promise that certain people won’t be targeted and that a very limited set of people can see the videotape. Meanwhile, Mayor Rex Parrish declares that he wants to make Lancaster “the safest city in America.”
Ah - Rex Parrish. Is he still the mayor there? Apparently so. This is a mayor who tried to have the City Council start all their meetings with a prayer to Jesus. He also tried to make it harder for landlords to rent to people with Section 8 housing subsidies, who are poor and tend to be of color. In fact, there is an ongoing federal investigation into surprise inspections of Section 8 rental units within the city (the annual inspections are typically scheduled weeks in advance) which are usually and very atypically accompanied by gun-toting police officers.
I draw two conclusions from this. One is that it really is the case that things tend to get much less progressive pretty quickly as one heads inland, at least on the west coast. The other is that it might be time to donate to the ACLU.
The ACLU isn’t so sure. There is concern about privacy - duh! - especially with the plane videotaping and being able to see into backyards. The Lancaster police point out that the plane will enable them to see someone in trouble and needing assistance, and they promise that certain people won’t be targeted and that a very limited set of people can see the videotape. Meanwhile, Mayor Rex Parrish declares that he wants to make Lancaster “the safest city in America.”
Ah - Rex Parrish. Is he still the mayor there? Apparently so. This is a mayor who tried to have the City Council start all their meetings with a prayer to Jesus. He also tried to make it harder for landlords to rent to people with Section 8 housing subsidies, who are poor and tend to be of color. In fact, there is an ongoing federal investigation into surprise inspections of Section 8 rental units within the city (the annual inspections are typically scheduled weeks in advance) which are usually and very atypically accompanied by gun-toting police officers.
I draw two conclusions from this. One is that it really is the case that things tend to get much less progressive pretty quickly as one heads inland, at least on the west coast. The other is that it might be time to donate to the ACLU.
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