My mother never lost faith in America. When she was pregnant with me, trying to decide whether or not the baby should be born in her homeland or her new world, the final decision was sealed because Bruce Springstein's "Born the USA" was still blaring throughout Baltimore in 1985.
Although she took me back to England where we both would have the support of her large and extended family, she never stopped believing that my home was destined to be the U.S.A. Our houses in England were decorated with American flags, we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and we were just about the only family who celebrated Independence day. Sometimes it was just a swift prayer for America in the evening, others, we'd celebrate with a day-vacation.
America was a land very close to my heart before I even knew what it was really like. Since moving to Los Angeles in July 2007, a year after my mother had passed away from her ongoing heart condition, my relationship with the States has been rocky, but never blemished with doubt. There are things that I hate, and so much that I love. Some days I am depressed with the huge problems that penetrate American political and social systems, and other days I am enthralled by Los Angeles and exhilerated by the vast opportunities in this country.
Tonight, I am proud to be an American. As Barack Obama takes the stage, I will be hoping, wishing and praying for America, as most of the nation and the world will be. As cynical as I am, I believe that things are about to take a huge turn in America. The 80,000 people at the Democratic National Convention also believe. The millions of Obama supports across the nation also believe. Because those of us who are proud to be Americans know that the great power held within this country is the power of the people. When the states unite, the force is unstoppable. It beat an English imperialist force in the 1700s, and it beat this English girl into submission before she even knew what hit her.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Never Losing Faith in America
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Earthquaking Los Angeles: Doorframes, desks or departure?
The floor shakes, the walls shake, the desk that you're sitting at shakes, as if the whole world is on a roller coaster. The feeling of powerlessness is overwhelming. There is nowhere to run away to and nothing to do but wait, breath abated. Around the office the staff laugh nervously to one another while edging their way toward the sanctity of a door frame. The first instinct is to run outside and be in the open air, but nature controls, overwhelms the landscape and there is no escape.
5.4 magnitude earthquake hits Los Angeles. Not as bad as it could be. Just the earth letting off steam. We haven't had one for a while, so this was long-past due. In the long run, it is better to see lots of small-to-medium quakes rock Southern California that to add fuel for “the big one”. This is part of living in Los Angeles – one major liability undercuts the way of life here and threatens to throw the whole system into chaos. Cell phones shut down, the gas and water get turned off, everyone gets a little humbler for the day.
Magnitude
5.4 - moment magnitude (Mw)
Time
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 11:42:15 AM (PDT)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 18:42:15 (UTC)
Distance from
Chino Hills, CA - 4 km (3 miles) WSW (240 degrees)
Diamond Bar, CA - 7 km (5 miles) SE (135 degrees)
Yorba Linda, CA - 8 km (5 miles) NNE (16 degrees)
Pomona, CA - 12 km (7 miles) S (184 degrees)
Los Angeles Civic Center, CA - 46 km (28 miles) ESE (104 degrees)
Coordinates
33 deg. 57.3 min. N (33.955N), 117 deg. 45.9 min. W (117.765W)
Depth
13.6 km (8.5 miles)
What to do in an earthquake (according to FEMA):
If indoors:
- DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON on until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building. So basically, there is no choice. If you're at work or on a date, you are going to have to make a decision to look silly, or die. Or you can play the office game: see who can last the longest without squealing fearfully and crawling under the table.
- Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could fall, such as lighting fixtures or furniture. Do not take shelter under the chandelier.
- Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In that case, move to the nearest safe place. Cover your head with the pillow and you've got the perfect excuse to sleep all day. In fact, why not use fear of earthquakes as an excuse more often?
- Use a doorway for shelter only if it is in close proximity to you and if you know it is a strongly supported, load-bearing doorway. FEMA-approved doorways display a sign that reads: "Stand under me, I'll protect you" - with the approved earthquake smiley face.
- Stay inside until shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a different location inside the building or try to leave. No more running-outside-screaming. That's too '80s.
- Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarms may turn on. Impromptu party time.
- DO NOT use the elevators. What?! It's the apocolypse and we've got to take the stairs?!
If outdoors:
- Stay there. OK. Random standing around...slightly awkward. At least put your arms out as if steadying yourself or commanding the earth to steady. Look around authoritatively.
- Move away from buildings, streetlights, and utility wires. And roads and paths and air. And grass.
- Once in the open, stay there until the shaking stops. The greatest danger exists directly outside buildings, at exits, and alongside exterior walls. Many of the 120 fatalities from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred when people ran outside of buildings only to be killed by falling debris from collapsing walls. Ground movement during an earthquake is seldom the direct cause of death or injury. Most earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling objects/chandeliers.
If in a moving vehicle:
- Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses, and utility wires. Or on roads. This will not be a problem if you are in under-developed parts of Africa and not leaving the parking lot at Ralphs.
- Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges, or ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake. Bear in mind that everything around you may contain concealed damage that will consume your car as soon as you disturb it.
If trapped under debris:
- Do not light a match. No matter how badly you need a cigarette right now.
- Do not move about or kick up dust. Do not play the "kick-up-dust" game to relieve bordeom while trapped. Do not play pictionary or any other games that may cause arguments between trapees.
- Cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing. Good. I'm glad we all still carry hankerchiefs.
- Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can locate you. Use a whistle if one is available. Shout only as a last resort. Shouting can cause you to inhale dangerous amounts of dust. Whatever you do, do not scream "help me". As rational as this seems, it may kill you and therefore have the opposite effect desired.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sex and the City the Movie: 5 million out of 10
All things considered, this review is not an exaggeration. The concept of a movie based on a four-year-old sitcom would usually be destined for failure; but SATC defies the disappointing, gold-digging, shameless cliche-clinging of sitcom franchises and immediately becomes a feel-good classic. Joining the ranks of Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, Dirty Dancing, Ghost and Sleepless in Seattle, the movie captures all the joy and pain of an immortal romance.
"I think every woman in Los Angeles is in this theater today," commented a thirty-something woman in the restroom after the movie. The theme of the day was "fabulous", with the almost-all female audience donning dresses and high heels for the big event. This wasn't a premier or an A-list screening, but for every woman in the audience it was a special event. It has been four years of wilderness since the final episode that left so many women feeling warm and satisfied, wiping their mascara-stained faces and smiling at their girlfriends with a nostalgic glow of contentment. However, it has not been four years without Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. It has been four years of re-watching the SATC DVD box set. And the movie was the best episode ever made, stretched wonderfully into 2 and a half delicious hours. Finally, the SATC generation was given its cake... and we ate the whole thing.
The moral of the story (...because there always is one) underlies every single exploration Carrie has ever made. At first, she thinks it is "love". But one thing that has been clear all along is that it is easy to fall in and out of love, to complain about love, to search for and give up on it, to relish and shun it, to philosophize and to compromise; love is not "never having to say you're sorry", like Samantha and Carrie in "Cover Girl" (Season 5, episode 4), but being able to say "I forgive you". Love is tough. It takes work. But when all is said and done... the most difficult task is not ending a relationship, but fighting for one. Carrie and the girls can weather the "for better", but what about the "for worse?" When do you flee, and when do you fight?
Girls are good at complaining about their friends' relationships; it's easy to hate Big and throw him out like dirty dishwater... but just because the fairytale has a few hiccups, doesn't mean it can't have a happily-ever-after.
Sex and the City has seen a generation of women through the good times and the bad times. Every woman in the audience today has felt a connection with the characters throughout the six seasons, and with each other. Today it transcended the silver screen and overflowed into the street. It walked home with them. It took them out to lunch. It encouraged them to order Cosmopolitans and feel sexy in their high heels.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
GTA IV: Most Brazenly Violent Game Out-Violences Itself
Rockstar is the balls of the video game industry. Since its inception by the characteristically red-headed Scot, Dave Jones, in 1997, the game has taken the brunt of the debate over video game violence. And it's no wonder. What GTA did was take every imaginable suppressed human inclination toward violent actions and give them a space to play. If you ever imagined snipering people, stealing a car or running over pedestrians, this game gave you a place to run wild. And even if you had never imagined doing those things, you would after playing the game.
The critics believed that such wild imaginings would have practical repercussions - people would start pulling each other out of their cars and playing chicken with the police on the highway. Anyone exposed to this level of unrestrained, primitive, illogical street warfare would immediately become a sociopath. There is no evidence for such extreme thinking, and although we should admit that - for some unknown reason - playing GTA actually has a cathartic effect that both terrifies and excites the average, law-abiding citizen, it isn't a cult that will end with mass suicide. At least, there is no way of knowing that it will.
Still, despite being blamed by almost every parent and psychologist in the country for violent-inclinations in the human race, the makers of GTA have boldly chosen to ignore the disgruntled and take the game's concept to the most extreme level imaginable. It's almost as if they're inside the subconscious of the average gamer, and have been listening to all the terrible, scary thoughts that are quickly beaten down by the socially-installed conscience. If the social superhero is the super-ego, making sure that humans stay away from acting on their primitive desires by making them feel bad for even thinking about it, then GTA is the arch enemy trying to completely disrupt that plan.
If you ever played any of the GTA games and thought "my favorite part about this isn't really even the missions, it's the unrestrained killing-of-people" then don't think Rockstar wasn't listening. If you spent hours hunting the streets for pedestrians to run over, or secretly wished to see a little more blood... then Christmas has come early. April 29th, to be exact.
I consider myself to be a relatively stable human being. I know that I won't ever go about the streets murdering people or stealing cars, but if you think that you may be influenced - or pushed beyond the psychological boundaries that keep you in check - by GTA IV, then think about sticking to Mario. In fact, proof of psychological stability would be a damn sight better than whipping out your driving license to purchase a copy of the game. It might silence the horde who are about to go crazy over the newest, improved version of total-chaos-to-the-human-race, who are afraid that the things on the screen will immediately begin jumping out onto the streets and into their kids playgrounds . I can't say what people will do, but it seems like there's enough violence in the world for it not to notice another edition of GTA.
http://www.mahalo.com/GTA_IV_Leaked
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Curtis Richardson: 13-year-old, Shot Dead in Gang Territory
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
Read More...Thursday, April 3, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
101 Freeway Death: The Romeo and Juliet of Hollywood?
Early Sunday morning, police responded to an emergency call involving an attempted suicide. When officers arrived at the address on the 1800 block of Cordova St., they found Virginia Castillo, 19, had hanged herself. She was taken to hospital and died at 5:48 am. According to reports, Castillo had been arguing with her boyfriend, Marlon Gordillo Sical, 20, and had attempted suicide after Sical had run away. Three hours later, Sical too was dead, and what remained of his Sedan littered the freeway and silenced the busy road in sad memorial.Police were investigating another freeway shooting in Long Beach when the incident occurred; part of a strain of freeway shootings involving road rage.
This story sounds like a Shakespearean tragedy; a Romeo and Juliet of Hollywood. What could have moved this young couple to such extremes?
Also, why is everyone shooting each other on the freeway?
Some experts say that weather has a correlation to crime. In warm weather, crime rates go up. It's a pretty insignificant correlation; as if sunshine makes people crazy.
The more accurate explanation is the simplest. Los Angeles is a difficult place to live. The divide between the rich and the poor leaves one half bitter and the other half scared. The tension is as clear as the transience and superficiality of the city. Nothing lasts. Not even the people. They either move up, into the hills, or down, into the dirt. There is no in between, no comfort in limbo. There is Compton, and there is Beverly Hills, and both are perpetuated by the stereotypes that live in the mind of Angelenos. This is a tough place to call home. As Jack Kerouac wrote: "L.A is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities."
Lonely. Brutal.
A fight for survival on a physical and spiritual level.
In a city of extremes, life and death are executed extremely. There is so much drama, and so little solace.
Dedicated to Virginia Castillo and Marlon Gordillo Sical. May they rest in peace.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Shootings in Hollywood
My bedroom window overlooks the Sunset Boulevard off-ramp where the man was shot and killed on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, as I was lying in bed, I heard two shots. Police sirens followed, and it was reported in the morning that one man was killed and the two suspects fled on foot. Residents tried to administer first aid to the man, but were unsuccessful. Last night I heard two gunshots again, fired sequentially as if two rounds were pumped from the same gun. It was the same type of shooting that I had heard on Tuesday. However, this time I heard no sirens. I am waiting for the police to contact me for more information about last night's gunfire. The LAPD confirmed that no name has been released for the man killed on Tuesday night. There are no media reports. The LA Times homicide blog has not been updated with his information. Initial television reports, from ABC, claimed that the man was thought to have been homeless.
Outside my apartment is a long strip of land that runs along the freeway. Many homeless people live and sleep in this area, and some residents in the apartment building have suggested that they are stealing laundry from our laundry room. The garbage cans outside are often scavenged, and sometimes I can hear people going through them at night. However, I have always found the homeless people in our area to be friendly and not at all aggressive or threatening. They seem to keep themselves to themselves, sleeping on the embankment at Sunset/Wilton or inside the doors of the church on Wilton.I don't think of this area as "rough", and aside from one experience that made me feel uncomfortable involving a man running across the street at night to tell my boyfriend I should be walking on the inside of the street for protection... I have never been deterred from walking home at night.
But hearing gunshots before you go to sleep at night might be the last straw for my naivety. Twice in one week. I only hope that no-one was killed last night, and that this won't become a regular event.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The NFL Stadium Threatening Lynwood Residents; What's Happening? April 14th Court Date
LYNWOOD, Calif. – For three years, Lynwood residents have been living in the shadow of an invisible football stadium. They have seen the value of their properties decrease, and the area has become a real-estate limbo since plans for an NFL stadium were mapped over their zip code. They don’t know whether to make themselves comfortable, or prepare to evacuate.
Silvia Villegas has decided to “wait it out.” She has lived in her house, on the west side of Atlantic Avenue within the designated stadium zone, for six years. She has seen city projects stagnate. The empty apartment complex at the end of her street was once remodelled to be a women’s center, and then an old-folks home, but was never opened, according to Villegas. Its windows have been boarded up since children started throwing rocks at them. Around the corner from her house, Ham Park is still a fenced-off dirt pile rather than a place for her children to play.
“Nothing gets finished,” said Villegas.
Three years have passed since each of these projects began. The contract for the apartment complex was passed in and out of enthusiastic hands, the shops were torn down to make way for the park, and residents in the stadium area were told to sell their homes early to make the most profit before the NFL arrives. But nothing has come to be.
According to Villegas, her neighbors have been trying to sell their house for a year. But no-one wants to buy property that is ear-marked to be torn down. And the football stadium that threatens five schools and 1000 homes has been weighing on the public mind since its inception behind the closed doors of the council chambers.
Since then, the council members involved were recalled and indicted for misappropriation of public funds, and the new faces at City Hall placed a preliminary injunction on the redevelopment contract. For six months, Residents have been holding their breath for word on whether or not the project will continue.
But on April 14th, they may be given an answer. “That day, the judge will decide whether or not the contract is enforceable,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Aide Castro. The redevelopment contract was amended at a meeting the former council members held in October 2007, after they had been recalled, which may mean that the contract is void. “Our stand is that the contract that was passed by the recalled council is not enforceable,” said Castro. “When you are recalled, you lose your powers.”
Aside from a monthly newsletter from City Hall listing events and menial announcements, Villegas and her neighbors have heard little from the new council, and nothing about the stadium that threatens to uproot them.
