If I had a million dollars…

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Okay, kids. I started my night class yesterday. UCLA! A REAL university. I was so worried that I wouldn’t get there on time, with traffic…I was afraid that I wouldn’t find parking…And I don’t know what else.

This is a creative non-fiction class. I have NEVER taken a creative writing class. I was so excited all yesterday. I was like that stupid “I lowered my cholesterol commercial.”

After my knows-everything-about-LA co-worker Eydie gave me some tips on how to get there from here (take surface streets), I made it. I asked a nice college looking kid…I must be getting old when COLLEGE kids start to look very young…where i could park. I descended into the belly of parking garage. Everyone was nice.

Everyone in LA is nice.

Then I walked up the steps onto the main quad, right below the Janess steps (for those of you who might know the campus).

I saw the grass and most of all the tall dressed-stone and brick buildings. It hit me bodily that I was a student here!
I started to cry, I was so happy.

I remember, Chris and I were talking a few weeks ago. He asked me what I would do if I won the lottery.

“Go back to school.” I said it without hesitation and surprised myself.

Just like I surprised myself at how strongly I reacted to being an on-campus student at UCLA.

Class was great. The teacher was funny and not snootish at all. I am a little nervous, not because I think I won’t be able to write anything. I’ve been having NO TROUBLE writing lately.

I’m just a little scared that I have to suffer criticism. I desperately want it, I want the feedback, that’s why I want this class. BUt I am afraid that I will be too sensitive.

I’ll have to make sure that I prepare myself beforehand.

I was so excited about the class afterwards, that I promptly got lost on the way home. I do that, when I get too deep inside myself. I should have been aware that I would do that, I know myself enough now.

At least I recognized it before I got too off track.

Anyway, there is more to come. I am sure all you readers will benefit from this class.

LA Theater Works _The Playboy Of the Western World_

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Everybody knows that girls always go for the bad boys. That’s what Christy Mahon discovers. He was on the run, after killing his father. He finds a place of refuge in a pub.

Once he tells his story, all the village gets all a-twitter about this brave man who kills his own father.

It’s set in Ireland, and it’s a lot of fun to hear all the actor’s speaking in a Irish brogue. LA theater works is great.

It does have an interesting twist at the end.

_Maus II_

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With the second graphic novel, Speigelman pulled out all the stops. He had already experienced the success of Maus, and he even addresses it in the book.

His character is conflicted about the book and his success, and of course the whole Holocaust.

But he Goes There. The first book was disturbing, but this second one went right into the camps and describes it. I found it really hard to read. I couldn’t do it straight through. It was just too tough to contemplate.

I certainly wouldn’t want a younger child to read this book without some adult interaction. The issues are just so disturbing.

I really appreciate that Speigelman didn’t try to tell us a moral at the end of the story, that he just told the story. He just told what he could about what happened.

Cher

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Cher was always associated with my mom. Mom said she liked her style, and I assume that she was talking about the Sonny and Cher show. I don’t remember that show at all.

But a couple years ago, I heard Believe on the radio, and I had to have it. I liked how her voice was digitized. And I really liked the words. A beautiful woman, heart-broken but moving on.

I saw her in concert, too. Wowee! That was a great concert. A real show. Way more about the production than the music. Maybe Cher has always been that way. I don’t know, but I loved it.

I met a guy later who couldn’t STAND her. “She should never had made another album.”

She is unadulterated pop. But what’s wrong with that?

“BABY it’s all or nothing now!”

DisCO. Makes me want to find a mirror ball.

_Hot Pursuit_

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I think every female who was young in the 80s fell in love with John Cusack after Say Anything. On the basis of the Cusack’s picture on the cover, I rented Hot Pursuit.

What a movie! all notmals boundaries of the plausible are thrown out the window. It starts with Cusack’s girlfriend sneaking into his all-boys’ high school and keeping him from passing his chemistry final. It ends with Cusack throwing grenades and firing a machine gun to save her from pirates.

He flunks his chemistry test, so he can’t go on the cruise to the Carribean with her rich family. BUt it’s true teenage love! So he finds a way to follow her and just miss her for the whole vacation.

As unbelievably cheesy as it is, Cesack still pulled off his ‘boyfriend’ role perfectly. Maybe that’s his whole genius. The man gives a perfect movie kiss. With the little funny, awkward wisecrack beforehand. It works.

There was also a good King Lear scene where he curses the storm (he’s in a boat).

Pink Floyd’s _Dark Side of the Moon_

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“The 3 P’s: Pink Floyd, Pepsi and Physics”

That’s was my cute redhead friend said my freshman year at college. I’d run into him in the cafeteria, and had to get his attention away from his headphones.

This is the 30th anniversay of Dark Side of The Moon. I’d never sat down and listened to the whole album before.

But my cute boyfriend (not redheaded) came over with a newly remastered Super Audio CD, and we sat and listened to it the whole way through.

I asked him, “What’s it about?”

He said, “Nobody knows exactly. Everyone gets something different. That’s why it’s popular.”

I was suspicious, because I’ve never been impressed with the kind of music you’re supposed to be stoned to really ‘get.’

I liked it. It was evocative, and set my mind free to ponder what the music suggested. It worked in the same way that a classical music concert makes me think, too.

It’s nice that the lyrics or soundbites are not too rooted in current events, so that it doesn’t date itself.

I enjoyed the way the music flowed, without interruption between the songs. It was an entire experience, like a recorded concert.

I think it’s a work of art. Chris left the CD over here; I’m gonna listen to it again.

Community Protests Cutbacks to Community Colleges

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On Friday March 28, thousands of protestors gathered at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles. Unlike other recent protests, this one was about a very local problem. California community college’s budget has been reduced by Gov. Gray Davis. According to the California community college website, “Governor Gray Davis signed the mid-year budget cut bill for community colleges (SB 18X) late Tuesday evening, March 18.”

Although the state’s budget crisis demands that sacrifices be made, the belt-tightening is not equal. The same website goes on to say, “The cuts equate to a 3.3 percent decrease for community colleges – in comparison to a 1.7 percent decrease ($60.9 million) and a 1.5 percent decrease ($59.6 million) for the California State University and University of California systems, respectively.”

Members of the Los Angeles community came together to protest the cutbacks. Chris Covault, one of the volunteer event coordinators explained: “This event is permitted as a march and rally pertaining to the budget cuts coming from Sacramento.” A full range of people, of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, gathered to protest the reduced funding for community colleges. Groups from many local colleges banded together. Glendale College, Pasadena City College, and LA Trade Tech Community College and others were there holding banners and signs.

“No way! We won’t pay!” Shouting slogans, protestors carried various signs to make their point. “No Raised Fees-Equality and Access.” “Keep the doors open. Stop the Cuts. No Fee Hikes.” “I had a dream: Community College.” The people filled the entire breadth of Hill street and stretched on for more than four city blocks.

Many Los Angelinos have come to rely on the availability of community college programs. Tippy Briggs from Los Angeles Harbor College said that community college meant a lot to her: “Community college means a better education, a better job to support my kids. I’ve been a secretary for 20 years. Now, for me to be advanced, they’re telling me I need a A.A. or a B.A.” She is particularly worried about her daughter, who is approaching college age. Tippy is not sure her daughter will have a chance to get the education she needs without the availability of community colleges.

Staff workers as well as students are concerned. Tino Manzano, an administrator at Los Angeles Valley College was there “just to remind Gov. Davis that community college students matter.” According to a flyer passed out at the event, “Community Colleges are already canceling entire academic majors and job-related training programs and community college students needing to transfer to universities are forced to delay their education.”

Covault went on to say “Democracy requires education…Access to self-betterment is key.”

News from the absurd front

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I never get a newspaper, like, on paper anymore. But this one was in the plastic wrap and sitting at my bus stop bench. Who could refuse

The front page was grim and scary. But a little deeper, in the California section, I found this story. Here’s the headline:

MUSTARD COMPANY DOESN’T RELISH ANY ATTACK ON ITS NAME

The story goes on to get to the main point:

“THE ONLY THING FRENCH ABOUT FRENCH’S MUSTARD IS THE NAME!” screamed the press release from French’s PR agency. “Recently there has been some confusion as the the origin of French’s mustard. For the record, French’s would like to say there is nothing more American than French’s mustard.”
This comes a a great relief.
If it’s true.