A Day Like This

Print Lives, with Vengeance

Emily Henry — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:15:55 +0000

For all the loud-mouthed cynics who’ve been running around with “print is dead” on their lips for the last few years — here’s something for the believers to throw in your faces. And no doubt, L.A.’s new literary journal, with its 232 thick glossy pages, will make a nice dent.

Slake is the latest endeavor of former LA Weekly editors Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnelly. The first edition made its debut last night as contributors and supporters sipped gourmet rum cocktails at Caña Rum Bar downtown.

Now, I hate to say I told you so, but I’ve been theorizing about the future of the print medium since I started journalism school to pursue a degree in “print” journalism. Professors and students alike laughed heartily at my opinion that yes, print journalism would continue to exist in a physical form no matter what technological crap came along. My theory was that publishers would have to make the most of the medium by taking advantage of what paper can do, rather than what it can’t. That would mean more money, not less, being poured into the production side of things. Print journalism would no longer be disposable. Newspapers would die, eventually, but well-crafted print products could survive if they earned their physical space. One great example of this concept in action is McSweeny’s — the quarterly literary magazine founded by Dave Eggers.

“To survive, the newspaper, and the physical book, needs to set itself apart from the web,” said Eggers. “Physical forms of the written word need to offer a clear and different experience. And if they do, we believe, they will survive. Again, this is a time to roar back and assert and celebrate the beauty of the printed page.”

And Slake is beautiful. From cover to cover, the journal packs rich, thick pages of photography, colorful graphics and text into a neat bulk of great-smelling pulp.

Content-wise, Slake is everything the LA Weekly was at its best — without the pages of ads or the listings no-one ever read anyway. The excitement has returned. The LA Weekly used to be all about those great L.A. moments captured by aspiring writers who still had the passion to produce something remarkable. Now there’s Slake.

Mark Z. Danielewski gets the issue started with a brief but beautiful account of why poetry still matters to anyone who writes even as much as a grocery list. He’s up to his usual tricks with format, bullet pointing the piece and throwing his characters around, and as usual, it works wonderfully. The photography is mesmerizing, and Geoff Nicholson’s account of being a Hollywood pedestrian hits home with the force of a tourist shoulder-shoving past you on the Walk of Fame. Slake brings creative journalism, art and fiction together in a stunning medley with the production quality of a coffee table book in a neat, holdable size.

Quality, however, comes at a price. At $18 per issue, Slake is by no means cheap. Subscriptions stand at $60 per year. But you get what you pay for in this new world of precious print. McSweeny’s is also pricey, at $55 per year, but every effort is made to have the product “earn its existence,” as publisher Eli Horowitz described it. Creating something beautiful takes imagination as well as financial backing. In the end, quality quarterlies earn a place on the bookshelf while the LA Times decays in a browning pile in the corner.

Print enthusiasts have every reason to celebrate.

South L.A. Teacher Versus Fox News

Emily Henry — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:37:42 +0000

It began with an article posted on the Fox News website — With Revolutionaries ‘Looking On,’ Teachers Take Kids on a Protest Trip to Arizona — and soon spiraled into a slugging match between the far, far left and the far, far right. Anything involving the SB 1070 law has a tendency to do that, especially when it also happens to involve teachers, students and South Central.

The Fox story implied that Santee Education Complex teacher Jose Lara had led students on a “field trip” to Arizona to protest the SB 1070 law. The set up of the piece was obviously designed to raise questions about indoctrination: should teachers air opinions in front of students, potentially encouraging them to follow suit, or simply keep their mouths shut and teach?

But Lara wasn’t shocked by the content of the story. He was disturbed by the journalistic process by which it had come about.

Lara, whose staunch social justice activism is captured through his FLIP camera and distributed via a handful of social networking accounts, was not directly quoted in the article, but both his Facebook and YouTube accounts were used as sources. Being that his first encounter with the story was after its publication, the situation raised questions for Lara about the validity of journalists sourcing social networking accounts rather than actual people.

If they had spoken to him directly, Lara says, they would have realized that they were publishing a factually incorrect account of events.

Lara has composed a response to the Fox news article and the questions it raised for him about “fair and balanced” journalism:

Fox News does it again
By Jose LaraIn a recent article, Fox took another swing at immigrant rights activists, teachers, and our public school system by misreporting and misleading the public.

According to Fox, three teachers took a Los Angeles School District sponsored field trip to Arizona to protest the new law, SB 1070. However, nothing can be further from the truth. Instead of fact checking and conducting authentic journalism, Fox decided to look to YouTube and Facebook for their “fair and balanced” news report, and without establishing actual contact with the subjects of the story, published it anyway.

Here is the truth: Firstly, teachers did not take any students on a field trip. The Los Angeles Unified School District would not have approved of such a trip. Secondly, the high school student quoted in the Fox article went on the Arizona protest trip with her mother, who is also a teacher. All of Fox’s sources appear to come from Facebook, YouTube and online discussion groups.

I have a few questions for Fox:

Is a journalist who gets all their information from YouTube and Facebook without fact checking really a journalist at all?

Shouldn’t Fox retract this story if they know it to be false?

Who benefits from stories like this?

Perhaps Fox News does not intend to produce authentic journalism, but yellow journalism instead. That is to say that Fox uses eye-catching headlines and over-sensationalized stories with little to no authentic research in order to gain ratings.

And, unfortunately, it is a successful method of attracting eyeballs. It also increases hate and division among people. The Fox News message board is filled with hateful rants - comments such as “Deport them all now”, “Bring it on beano”, and “America is being invaded!!!!” Fox fuels the fire by attempting to pass off opinion pieces as authentic journalism.

There is a lesson to be learned here for both active Internet users and journalists. Abundant forms of information sharing mean abundant opportunities for bad, unethical journalism. Beware. On the one hand, using a social networking site feels like a personal experience. On the other, that is a downright lie. It seems that anything accessible on the Internet is now fair game (despite what points one and two of the SPJ Code of Ethics clearly state.) Your status feed might as well be a press release. An opinionated update can become a story, and a story can become a horde of angry emails, tweets and blog comments.

Lara quickly felt the effects of his Internet ambush. One Twitter user called him an “idiot” - adding that it’s “no wonder California has some of the worst schools in the nation.” Another emailed directly to say that “homeland security should put him on the terrorist list.”

Hoping, somewhat naively, for a chance to respond, Lara accepted an invitation to the Bill O’Reilly show last week. Within minutes of the show airing, the comments on his blog entries became a war of two worlds: pro-immigrant activists versus anti-immigrant conservatives, straying to the far reaches of the immigration debate.

This article appeared on the South Los Angeles Report and the Huffington Post.

High Tea in South Los Angeles

Emily Henry — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:23:13 +0000

At Trinity Elementary School in Southeast Los Angeles, a group of fifth-grade girls donning wide-brimmed hats sat down for a spot of afternoon tea.

For many, it was their first tea party, but each one knew to place their napkins on their laps and keep their elbows off the table. They even knew how to stimulate conversation, asking questions of their neighbors and always maintaining eye contact. Seven weeks of etiquette training with the Crown Jewel Club had taught them well.

Jane Phillips started the club four years ago after a fellow teacher pointed out her impeccable manners. “She felt that was something her students were really lacking,” explained Phillips. “So she wanted me to teach a class on etiquette and manners.”

Four years later, the club has expanded its efforts to multiple schools across South Los Angeles and attracted a host of volunteers and supporters, including Councilwoman Jan Perry.

“You are role models for me,” Perry told the girls at a recent afternoon tea party. “I’m just so impressed with all of you — your maturity, your grace, your sophistication. Your manners are just exceptional.”

The club focuses on providing training to “at-risk girls” with the intent of improving self-esteem and inspiring academic achievement. Trinity Elementary School, which is composed almost solely of Latino students, has an English language proficiency rate of under 30 percent. Around 93 percent of the students come from economically disadvantaged homes.

But Phillips says that all children, regardless of socio-economic status, are “at risk” of low self esteem and can benefit from the confidence boost that etiquette training provides.

“They know they can go into any social situation and feel good about themselves,” said Phillips. “All children need that.”

Throughout the seven-week program, the girls learn how to behave in social settings, from formal introductions and conversation to table manners. The education also reaches beyond the classroom and transcends into the home, says Phillips, with take-home leaflets offered in Spanish and English for parents and community members.

“The golden rule is to treat others the way you want to be treated,” said student Jennifer Sanchez.

But there are a host of rules to learn throughout the course, and homework assignments are given each week.

School counselor Sally Lieberman asked the girls to share their knowledge with attendees at the afternoon tea with a quick-fire round of top table manners. “Don’t eat until everyone is served,” said student Andrea Vargas. “Don’t lick your fingers,” said a girl across the room. “Don’t chew your gum at the table,” said another.

To help facilitate discussion while attendees sipped from china cups and nibbled scones, Phillips and her volunteers decked the tables with “conversation cards.” Each girl asked and answered ice-breaker questions with their adult sponsors and one another. “Name a job you would never want to do no matter how much you got paid,” read one card. “Selling beer,” responded Lovely Lopez. “I would never do that even if I get paid a lot because it’s bad for people.”

The Crown Jewel Club has a number of corporate sponsors, from AT&T to The Manhattan Beach Women in Business Committee. They have also received thousands of dollars in donations from various organizations and supporters, including L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe and The Good News Foundation.

The club also organizes a number of fundraisers, the most recent of which was the “Jewels and Jesters” comedy show in Hermosa Beach on Friday, Feb.26.

Phillips hopes that in the years to come she will be able to extend the program to middle and high school girls.

“We have almost 200 schools that want it,” said Phillips. “It’s just all a matter of funding.”

For the students, referred to lovingly as “gems” by Phillips, it’s a chance to make new friends and socialize, as well as learn a few things about being what it traditionally means to be a “lady.” One parent said that her daughter was so inspired by the program that she was sharing her knowledge at home with her sister and teaching herself to sew. But old values are fused with a sense of empowerment, says Phillips.

By the end of the program, once shy girls can look anyone in the eye and proudly introduce themselves.

“Love is the most important thing,” said Phillips. “When you treat yourself with love and treat other people with love — that’s the answer to everything.”

This story was published by KPCC.org and Intersections: the South Los Angeles Report

An Interview with “Marijuana Man” on the Venice Boardwalk

Emily Henry — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:12:43 +0000

Affectionately known to the locals as “Marijuana Man,” he spends his days sitting on the grass verge along the Boardwalk. His friends - too - are cardholders; each one of them seeks relief in that centuries-old “wonder drug.” Today, he has a few myths to debunk - from the equivalency of pharmaceutical drugs, to societal perceptions of Stoners like himself. Adding, of course, his advice for an ailing stock market.

“I usually smoke me about two to three inhalations of weed in the morning with my morning cup of coffee. I medicate probably about every two to three hours during the day.

I had surgery on my left foot and I’ve also had ADHD. I’ve been using it a lot for pain relief. I prefer it to Ritalin or amphetamines for ADHD. The treatment is worse than the disease in modern medicine.

Weed, it seems to help you focus. And it doesn’t affect my appetite. I’m not itching. I don’t have cast-iron gut rot. You know, I’m not backing up narcotics to my system, inviting death down the road. I would say that a lot of pharmaceutical drugs have those effects, whether they are amphetamines or anti-depressants or sleeping pills. Even alcohol. But I could sit here with a bushel of marijuana and ranch dressing and you know… might have too much fiber, but that’s about it.

You can’t kill someone with marijuana. There is a saying among Stoners that says you can actually smoke yourself straight. There’s a point where you just can’t get any higher. I don’t know of any drug that has an effect like that. The body usually screams for more.

One thing that you could do that would just totally upset Wall Street right now - just one magic bullet in the dark - is you legalize cannabis tomorrow and put it on the New York stock exchange. I don’t see what the problem is with legalizing something that for over 200 years has been a foundation stone of our nation.

A lot of people think that if you legalize marijuana you are saying drugs are OK to their kids, this, that, the other - but these are the same people that pump their kids full of Ritalin; they want to deny you something that just grows out of the ground.

Weed is, to a degree, a negative influence, but the reason being is because it’s already been demonized. It’s like - what’s our government really doing nowadays? Are they interested in controlling people, or are they interested in changing people?

There has never been a recorded overdose or death in the history of mankind from marijuana. It needs to be decriminalized so that police and society can concentrate on the real evils of the black market.”

This interview was produced for KPCC’s Town Hall Journal: Marijuana: Economic Wonder Drug?

Tales From a Bus in Los Angeles: Morning Has Broken

Emily Henry — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:26:11 +0000

It’s almost 6am, and the earliest I have ever boarded a bus in Los Angeles. The world outside is dark. Inside, we’re all sleepy. The school girl is sleepy. The man with the headphones is sleepy. The people at the back of the bus, although I’m too tired to turn my head and look, are probably sleepy.

But it turns out to be one of the most peaceful bus rides of my life. Not only is everyone half dozing, but they’re quiet too. No one is on their cell phone. There aren’t even any screaming children. There is very little rowdiness at all. None, in fact.

We sail down Venice Boulevard in a sort of pre-morning-coffee stupor, and by the time we reach Mid City a brilliant streak of red has appeared on the horizon. The darkness is starting to recede. Slowly, slowly, one pixel row at a time, the city comes into view. And my, what a beautiful city it is.

The buildings in Los Angeles were designed for dawns and sunsets; cream-colored walls reflect the scarlet rays with mesmerizing perfection. Sometimes it makes me feel like the world is about to end, but that it’s OK. Because we all understand. We all see. We’re all safely enveloped by this wondrous glow.

I like to think that even I look good in this light. It’s early, my eyes are puffy, my make-up is struggling to hide the imperfections of blotchy morning-face, but I’m refreshingly homogenized by the purest light of the day. Renewed, again, like the city itself; this is a day that could take me anywhere.

I’ve already found myself somewhere unexpected: at peace on a bus in Los Angeles.

Tales From a Bus in Los Angeles: the Halloween Mask

Emily Henry — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:56:21 +0000

There was a man staring out of the window, sitting alone, miles away from anything. Occasionally, he smiled, or spoke, and his words drifted out to the world without an ear to hear them. His dark eyes were bloodshot. His limbs twitched. Every few minutes he would close his eyes and succumb to the feeling, before fading back into the bus seat.

At Venice and Grandview, two women boarded the bus and sat behind him.

“I got $4,000 to find the eggs,” he said loudly to the window.

The two women began to chatter in Spanish. He turned around and listened for a while, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide, like a child staring up at adults in wonder. Then he burst into laughter. He gave the two women a big, toothy grin - his teeth gleaming white and thick as bone.

The women sat in silence, looking back and forth from the strange man to one another. Then the woman on the right said simply, “you’re crazy.”

To the rest of the bus, and the world outside the window, he didn’t look crazy. He was a well-dressed, clean-shaven Black man with a diamond earring. He was wearing a gray, woven suit. He had a diamond and emerald bracelet, a diamond ring, and a choker made of green and clear beads around his neck.

But inside his head, the world was out of sync.

He sat forward for a while and seemed to quiet down. Then he reached below his seat and grabbed something from his bag. He put it on his head - something black and green, made of material, like a beanie hat. Then he pulled it down over his face.

He turned back to the women with his arms casually resting on the back of the seat. Instead of his face: a green Halloween mask with a wide smile and rows of large plastic teeth, an orange “$5.95″ sticker on its chin.

“You got any coin candy?” he said.

“Oh my God,” said the woman on the right, with her hand on her chest in surprise. The green face gazed back, unmoving.

After a while, the women continued chatting and the man put the mask back in his bag. He pulled on the cord and got up, wobbling slowly. Before he left the bus, he stood alongside the two women, listening intently to their Spanish. Then he laughed - a sweet giggle with closed eyes - and almost fell. He gave them an instruction in gibberish: “Before I get there you tell them [something - something],” pointing in the direction he was headed. Then he left the bus, and one stop later the women did too. The bus was quiet all the way to downtown.

Rage Against the Machine… Almost There for Christmas Number One

Emily Henry — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:09:57 +0000

In two days, the war that has waged for dominance of the Christmas singles chart in the U.K. will be decided. In the blue corner, “X-Factor” reality pop T.V. show winner Joe McElderry, with his Miley Cyrus cover (Yes, Miley Cyrus cover) “The Climb”, stands shaking at the knees a few thousand copies behind, according to HMV. In the red corner, pulsing with ’90s angst, Rage Against the Machine can almost smell victory with their 1992 semi-hit “Killing in the Name”. The two songs are as different as ebony and ivory, but without the harmonious relationship. In fact, the feud is more a contest of “cool” versus “cushy”: those who are willing to drop an “F” bomb 17 times versus the teary-eyed and inspired.

But what makes this battle so interesting isn’t the contenders themselves. It’s the rallying of the troops. Every year the “commercial” hit is pitted against a niche, cooler underdog. The tidal wave of music consumers are more-often-than-not barely slowed down by “real” music lovers who, unfortunately for their much-loved bands, are more inclined to swap, create, or “acquire” than flock to the shops. This time, however, a neat little Internet gimmick known as “social networking” has allowed the conventional greasy-haired, black-shirted unconventionalists to band together in the virtual realm and take on the beast of popular music (even though, it might be said, Rage Against the Machine isn’t exactly obscure or unpopular…)

The campaign to oust Simon Cowell’s pop machine has been steadily growing on Facebook since December 13th, thanks to the group “RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS NO.1“. “Fed up with Simon Cowell’s latest karaoke act being Christmas No.1?” asks the group. Then buy “Killing in the Name” as a “protest to the X-Factor monotony”. The group has attracted more than 400,000 members (2 percent of the U.K. Facebook population) in the two weeks of its existence.

If Rage Against the Machine, do, in fact, get the Christmas No.1 spot, a salute is owed to Facebook for its ability to organize the disorganized. Simon Cowell and his music manufacturing machine will be reminded of the fact that no one man decides the fate of the music industry. It is a democratic process. At least, that’s the idea, right?

However, like most attempts to stick-it-to-the-man, the effort is futile in the long run. Cowell will not be cowering if his grand scheme is undone. As one Facebook RATM group member points out, “Rage Against the Machine is under Simon’s Sony deal anyways, so no matter what, he’ll still be getting money.” Come to think about it… bringing another Sony band under the radar at Christmas time is an excellent idea for the record label. No matter who wins this battle of music ideology, the profits are mounting. For Sony, and Cowell, and Rage Against the Machine (who, let’s face it, originally only got to number 25 in the charts with “Killing in the Name” and will find an ever-appreciated popularity boost in their stocking this year) Christmas has come early. Thanks Facebook!

Today is the last day for Brits to buy their way to victory. By midnight GMT, that’s 4pm PST and only a few hours from now, the votes will all have been cast. At this point, it could go either way… the RATM group states that “some indications are putting us BEHIND by 10,000 copies”. Others claim the opposite. Tom Morello told the Sun newspaper: “This really does seem like the biggest ‘which side are you on?’ moment in the history of UK music.”

A nice idea, Tom. But in the end… we’re all on the same side. Perhaps ebony and ivory, “cool” and “cushy”, live together in perfect harmony after all.

Honey Bunches of Quotes… the Cereal for the Literary Minded

Emily Henry — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:57:02 +0000

* This is, of course, entirely fictional.

British Health Care is Better Than You Think

Emily Henry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:13:33 +0000

British health care gets unrepentantly demonized. It’s called “filthy.” It’s accused of having low standards. It’s labeled “socialized medicine” and snubbed. Rarely do we even take a second look.

If we did, we might realize that what separates the U.S. from the U.K. in terms of our health care systems is ideology. What “socialized medicine” stands for is universal, free access to health care: medicine as a right, and not a privilege.

President Obama’s reform plan seeks to expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. But a government insurance option is merely a band-aid, not a change of attitude. What the plan fails to do is treat the cause of the problem, which is an unnecessarily complicated system governed by insurance companies. Instead of “insuring” people as if they were cars, health care needs to be treated as a social institution, like education and government. All three ensure the vibrancy and progression of the species.

Of course, the ideology of universal, single-payer coverage has its downsides. The British health care system must provide for many, rather than a few, which increases the risk of resource shortages and rationing.

But this is also the system that has been keeping Britain healthy since World War II. And not only healthy… but a full 16 places ahead of the United States in terms of the overall life expectancy of its citizens. If the British system succeeds in offering wider coverage, with better results, then why is it still being ignored and bad-mouthed?

The simple answer is: fear. Fear of government interference is so strong that the American public would rather private companies held the lives of the citizens in their hands. Insurance companies discriminate and pharmaceutical companies have more to gain from public sickness than public health, yet both are considered a lesser evil than the risk of more government authority.

In England, it is customary for the government to pass legislation addressing social health issues. Cigarette packets display large warnings about the dangers of smoking. Junk food is banned from schools. T.V. commercials target binge drinkers. It’s not the equivalent of an Orwellian dystopia. The NHS functions on a set of medical guidelines that emphasize prevention and need. It is in the government’s best interest to maintain a healthy citizenry that requires fewer resources.

But fear tells Americans that universal health care means more for everyone else, and less for themselves, as Betsy McCaughey exemplifies in her American Spectator article, “Downgrading American Medical Care” (July/August 2009). McCaughey believes that government backed health care would mean scarcity and the downgrading of the entire system. And why should America have anything less than the best, merely to compensate for those who can’t afford to pay? “The truth is,” writes McCaughey, “Americans can afford better health care than Europeans.”

And it is true. Almost. Americans are the highest wage earners of the Western World. But the country also has the biggest divide between rich and poor. So, yes, some Americans can afford great health care. Others can afford none. The idea that financially comfortable Americans should risk sharing their excellent health care system with the less fortunate is entirely unacceptable, according to some. Implementing a European-style health care system would be like “ordering all Americans to go on diets and buy fewer groceries because the food stamp program is in trouble,” writes McCaughey.

But haven’t obesity and consumerism become American staples? Maybe we could use taking a little less, giving a little more, and thinking a little differently.

Get your Tats Off at Homeboy Industries

Emily Henry — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:57:10 +0000

While reporting for KPCC’s Town Hall Journal, I had the pleasure of visiting Homeboy Industries and talking to staff - and participants - at the tattoo removal clinic. It’s a free program, thanks to donations and doctors willing to sacrifice their time. And for many ex-gang members looking to start anew, it’s an essential part of the process. But it sure hurts!

LISTEN to the audio montage here:

“It’s not easy to remove them - it does hurt,” says Gus, a former gang member who now works at the clinic. “Personally I describe it like when you cook bacon and it splatters on your skin. That’s kinda like the feeling.”

“It’s more painful than putting them on,” says Fabian, who is on his eighth session to remove the large “LA” written across his neck. He was in and out of jail for most of his gang life, and now works for Homeboy Industries as a substance abuse drug counselor.

“It hurt a lot,” says a 20-year-old former gang member who requested to remain anonymous. He got his first gang tattoo at 11 years old. “It hurt so much… but no pain no gain so I took it like a G.”

Rapper Xzibit: Photo courtesy of crewsaderz.com

Photo courtesy of hellasound.com