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The Local Publication You Actually Read September 20 - October 3, 2013

The Face of a Surly San PedranBy Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

hen Dennis Romero, columnist and blogger for the LA Weekly, wrote his “L.A.’s 5 Surliest Neighborhoods,” he didn’t think he was going to win the Pulitzer Prize, but

then again, he probably didn’t expect the storm it would cause either.

The column, originally published Aug. 22, went viral in the days leading up to Labor Day weekend.

Romero began his column by using widely held stereotypes of various Los Angeles neighborhoods and essentially asked: “Who would win in a fist fight?” It was almost as if he and a few of his buddies engaged in a sort of fantasy brawl discussion—induced by marijuana smoke—of who would win in a head-to-head fight between neighborhoods. He says as much in a blog posted five days after his initial posing, when he tried to set the record straight:

It was all in jest! We love San Pedro, from your Fish Market to your Lobster Festival, from Ports O’ Call Village to the Maritime Museum. You’re L.A. to the bone.

In the first column, Romero’s first few sentences lampoons communities that aspire to become “hipster zones” such as Venice’s Abbot Kinney area...with full-organic grocery stores and dog parks to die for.” Not forgetting to mention hot foodie joints on the main drag listed on Yelp. But with this straw-man set up, Romero asked the question, “But is your ‘hood tough? Would it win in a fight against, say the Bronx?”

Romero says no, but then offers the city’s Top 5 Surliest Neighborhoods that could probably hold their own in an all out brawl-fest. And, out of that discussion, came his top 5 picks for LA’s toughest neighborhoods with San Pedro/Wilmington taking the No. 1 slot. Romero never intended for this Top 5 Surliest Neighborhoods list to be taken seriously. Romero’s innocuous and offensive column nevertheless hit a nerve. The parts that irritated San Pedrans the most included:

• Romero’s linking of “surliness” with racialized criminality. This led some commenters to charge that

W

Columnist Hits Surly Nerve/ to p. 6

Graphic by Chey E

spejo

Serious Questions Raised on Syria: Framing a Guilty Man Page 4

Carson Brings Heavy Hitters to Annual Jazz Festival Sept. 28 Page 11

New J.D. Salinger Doc Gets Close to Home Page 16

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HARBOR AREACommitted to independent journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for more than 30 years

It began with a wholesale assault on the California Environmental Quality Act, the 40-year old law that limits the environmental damages of new development projects.

It evolved into something more acceptable, which a broad range of environmentalists and their allies were willing to support. But at the last minute, with a grand switcheroo, it ended up with one clear winner: the Sacramento Kings basketball team. And one clear loser: urban low-income communities—primarily those of color.

With his comprehensive CEQA reform bill still facing business opposition, Sacramento Democrat Darrell Steinberg, president pro tem of the California State Senate, abandoned the bill and moved a few key provisions into a bill specifically exempting the King’s new stadium project from standard CEQA review. The bill passed by wide margins in both houses of the legislature in the last hours of the legislative year, without any support from the environmental community.

“If it’s a green project,” said Abigail Orkent, legislative director for the Planning and Conservation League, at the end of the process.

“It shouldn’t need a CEQA exemption. And if it’s a green project, it should be able to boast a single environmental supporter... It has none.”

Going back to the beginning, Orkent explained, “CEQA has been the target of businesses and sometimes government in every economic downturn, basically since the law has been enacted. The law’s been around for over 40 years, and every time there’s an economic downturn, people go after it. In 1992, in the recession, there were 60 bills introduced that session to fix CEQA. But what we’re looking at is over 40 years, where California has experienced a vast economic growth during CEQA.

“So,” she concluded, “I just think it makes an excellent whipping boy, and we’re in a period now when we needed a whipping boy, for the economy, for growth, and so CEQA was targeted again.”

More specifically, David Pettit, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained that the business community was more determined than ever to target CEQA this time around.

“Last year, they found a champion in then-Sen. [Michael] Rubio [a Kern County Democrat],

who came up with [what] he called the standards proposal, that would have eliminated CEQA as we know it, in the sense that the local effects of a project would not be analyzed. And so that effort gathered some momentum and then Senator Rubio left [in February]. He left the Senate and went to work for Chevron and the business community pretty much lost their champion.”

In response, Pettit noted, “Along the way, a coalition formed of the environmental, labor and tribal forces, and we put some suggestions forward, that in our view would streamline parts of CEQA and make it easier to have infill development of the kind that we all think we need—to cut down on driving, and also [use] more renewables.”

The business-backed attack on CEQA has two main prongs that don’t hold up in light of the evidence. First, Pettit himself co-authored an analysis, “CEQA—The Litigation Myth,” showing that CEQA litigation is a relatively rare occurrence.

Among its key findings:• The total number of CEQA cases is small,

averaging only about 200 per year.

• As a percentage of total civil cases, CEQA cases are 00.02 percent of 1,100,000 civil cases filed annually in California.

• The number is also small as a percentage of projects subject to CEQA, around 1 percent or less.

The analysis surveyed the results of several earlier studies. A typical one was a California Attorney General’s report on CEQA actions in San Francisco within an 18-month period. It found a litigation rate of just 0.3 percent. The overwhelming majority of projects were deemed “categorically exempt” from any specific analysis. They were not even required to file a negative declaration—the most minimal form of review under the law.

Pettit and his co-author concluded that, “Contrary to the narrative of CEQA critics, the striking conclusion from this data is that CEQA exemptions, already provided in current law, are being used overwhelmingly, successfully and securely for urban infill projects in this large and, by reputation, litigious urban jurisdiction.”

The second prong of the business-backed attack on CEQA is the claim that it hurts business and inhibits growth. Another study, by Peter Philips, a University of Utah economist, directly refuted this claim, based on decades of economic data.

“While critics assert that CEQA hampers California economic growth, the fact is California

CEQA “Reforms” Pass With No Environmental SupportBy Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

CEQA Changes/ to p. 5

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The Local Publication You Actually Read September 20 - October 3, 2013

Community Announcements:

Harbor AreaCalifornia Coastal Cleanup Day

The City of Long Beach is hosting the 2013 California Coastal Cleanup Day, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sept. 21.

Everyone is encouraged to bring a reusable bag or bucket and work gloves, or whatever you will need. Bags and gloves will be provided for those who can’t provide their own.

All participants must sign a liability waiver and those under 18, must have parent or guardian signature. Details: (562) 570-4876; www.longbeach.gov/naturecenter/volunteer_.aspVenue: Alamitos Beach, Alamitos Bay Marina, Belmont Pier, Bluff Park, Mother’s BeachLocation: Check website for site locations.

Research Program IcebreakerThe Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is hosting the

Research Program Icebreaker, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 22.

The research staff at the aquarium will introduce local Southern California marine animals, research facilities and discuss options for projects to be conducted at the aquarium by high school and college students interested in a future science career.

A handful of 6-month volunteer positions will be appointed from interviews at the event. The program is free for people 16 years or older. Details: (310) 548-7562; www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/Venue: Cabrillo Marine AquariumLocation: 3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro

Community Dialogues SolidarityCommunity members are invited to come

together to explore the question of “What does solidarity look like?” from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 25, at Jordan Plus High School in Long Beach.

RSVP is required. Details: kmaniquis@cacej.orgVenue: Jordon Plus High SchoolLocation: 171 Bort St., Long Beach

C.A.R.E. to DineThe Center in Long Beach is hosting C.A.R.E. to

Dine, 6 p.m., Sept. 26.The mission is to dine out to fight HIV and AIDS

in the community. Join them at Lola’s Mexican Cuisine for appetizers, drinks and prizes.

Tickets are $25 and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the C.A.R.E. program at St. Mary Medical Center. Details: (310) 343-5506; www.wepay.com/events/CAREtoDineVenue: Lola’s Mexican RestaurantLocation: 2030 E. 4th St., Long Beach

Womyn’s EmpowermentEngage in an evening of womyn’s

empowerment, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sept. 27, at Mariscos Agua Verde in Wilmington.

Mujeres Unidas are inviting womyn and female identified folxs to meet colectiva members, hear about their work and dialogue around social justice. Details: vivalamujer310@gmail.comVenue: Mariscos Agua VerdeLocation: 625 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Wilmington

7th Annual Fifth District Good Neighbor Festival and Picnic

The 7th Annual Fifth District Good Neighbor Festival and Picnic will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sept. 28, at Good Neighbor Park in Long Beach.

The event is also a chance for organizations and individuals to be nominated for the “Good Neighbor” award.

To nominate somebody for the award, mail your nomination to: Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske at 333 W. Ocean Blvd. 14th floor, Long Beach, CA 90802.Details: (562) 570-6918; district5@longbeach.govVenue: Good Neighbor ParkLocation: 2800 N. Studebaker Rd., Long Beach

Activist-journalist Barrett Brown, who faces up to 100 years in prison for sharing a link to leaked documents exposing the tactics of private intelligence contractors, is unable to speak to the media about his case after a federal court in Dallas imposed a gag order on Sept. 4.

Usually, when a gag order is issued, it’s to protect the integrity of ongoing police or military operations, or to protect the privacy of victims or minors. In this case, it seems that none of these apply to Barrett Brown. The prosecution’s main argument for the gag order was that extra-judicial statements made by the defendant, his attorneys, or the government, to members of the press could unfairly impact Barrett Brown’s opportunity for a fair trial.

The charges Brown faces, since his arrest on Sept. 12, 2012, are partly related to the hacking of intelligence contractor Stratfor Forecasting by the hacktivist group Anonymous. Though Brown has not been accused of hacking, he is charged in three separate indictments, threatening an FBI agent, obstructing justice and charges related to trafficking stolen credit card information. The latter is considered the most serious charge.

Deeply buried in the leaked Stratfor documents were the credit card numbers of 5,000 clients. Brown says he did not give the numbers a second thought. The government alleges that when Brown shared a link in a chat room to documents that were readily available online to others, he was intentionally “transferring” data for the purpose of credit card and identity fraud.

Brown, who has written for the Guardian, Huffington Post and other media, has worked with Anonymous in the past and has taken a special interest in the $56 billion private intelligence and cyber security industry—the same industry for which the federal government spends 70 percent of its intelligence budget.

“We must look not just towards the three letter agencies that have routinely betrayed us in the past, but also to the untold number of private intelligence contracting firms that have sprung up lately in order to betray us in a more efficient and market-oriented manner,” Brown wrote in a July 1 article published in the Guardian, entitled, “The Cyber-Intelligence Complex and its Useful Idiots.”

In December of 2011, Jeremy Hammond, a member of Anonymous from Chicago hacked into Stratfor’s server and downloaded about 5 million internal documents. Sabu, an ex-hacker-turned-FBI informant, provided Hammond a server to store the documents. Hammond then released them to the public. Once Brown saw the documents’ importance, he rounded up volunteers comprised largely of journalists to sift through the large document dump. He called his group, “Project PM.”

The leaked documents were later published to the WikiLeaks website, as a part of The Global Intelligence Files. What the leaks exposed was that private intelligence firms worked alongside government organizations and officials to disrupt movements, activists and journalists, both in the United States and throughout the world. Targets included, but were not limited to, the Occupy Movement, journalist Glenn Greenwald and the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the “Yes Men.”

Journalist Faces 100 Years in PrisonBy Cory Hooker, Editorial Intern

Community Announcements/ to p. 4

On Sept. 7, more than 160 volunteers turned out for the community clean up of Vic and Bonnie Chris-tensen Center. In October 2012, the center was in danger of closing due to LAUSD budget cuts. In an effort to keep the Christensen Science Center operating into the future, the Los Angeles Unified School District sought proposals from outside applicants. A partner wasn’t found, but the voter approval of Proposition 30 this past November may have given the center some breathing room. In the meantime, the center’s advocates have formed a nonprofit to raise money for the center. Photo by Betty Guevara.

Vic and Bonnie Christensen Science and Sustainability Center Clean Up

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Blue Star Mother Casino NightParticipate in the Blue Star Mothers’ Dinner

and Casino Night fundraiser, starting at 6 p.m. Sept. 28, at the Dalmatian American Club of San Pedro.

Proceeds will go toward supporting the building of a Fisher House at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Hospital. Tickets cost $50. Details: (213) 926-1896; dawnayers@msn.comVenue: Dalmatian American Club of San PedroLocation: 1639 S. Palos Verdes St., San Pedro

Community Dialogues SolidarityCommunity members are invited to come

together to explore the question of “What does justice look like?” for Trayvon Martin, Trayvon’s family, George Zimmerman, and communities of color, from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2, at Jordan Plus High School in Long Beach. RSVP is required. Details: kmaniquis@cacej.orgVenue: Jordon Plus High SchoolLocation: 171 Bort St., Long Beach

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area

At the beginning of September, the United States seemed hell-bent for trouble in Syria, when a seemingly off-handed remark by Secretary of State John Kerry was quickly turned into a serious proposal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons.

As Random Lengths goes to press, it appears a

United Nations agreement governing the process by which Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile will be turned over is on track. And for all the messiness of how we got here, there’s little doubt that eliminating so many chemical weapons is a good thing.

But serious questions still remain. Not the least of which is whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad actually was responsible for the chemical attack near Damascus on Aug. 21 that killed 1,429 people. What sort of evidence does the Barack Obama administration have and why won’t the administration show its evidence to the world?

On Sept. 7, Reuters reported that, “No direct link to President Bashar al-Assad or his inner circle has been publicly demonstrated,” and that has not changed since. “Some U.S. sources say intelligence experts are not sure whether the Syrian leader knew of the attack before it was launched or was only informed about it afterward,” Reuters went on to say.

That remains our state of knowledge to this day.

Because Assad has agreed to relinquish his chemical weapons, the assumption in Washington is that this is an admission of his guilt. But it could simply be a recognition of the smart way out of a tight fix—not because he was actually guilty, but because he might as well be—and what he really wants is just to be left alone to use the many other

non-chemical weapons at his disposal.If this is the case, then we’ve seen a step

forward in ridding the world of chemical weapons, but only at the price of a step backwards by relying on the illegal threat of military force in violation of the UN charter—a charter that the United States played a leading role in creating. Worst of all, Obama’s seeming success in this instance could make it even easier for future presidents to act with even less critical scrutiny or restraint, for much less noble goals.

At the crux of the matter, a number of very experienced intelligence analysts have expressed serious doubts, and—perhaps just as seriously—others who believe the administration have expressed disappointment that it has failed to provide the evidence that could lay any doubts to rest.

The day before Obama’s speech, on Sept. 10, retired 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern published a piece, “Time to Reveal US Intel on Syria.”

McGovern first did what analysts like him are trained to do—he looked carefully at what administration officials had said in public, highlighted the gaps and pinpointed the precise sort of missing evidence that was needed: confirmation that Assad was knowledgeable and responsible before the attacks.

He then wrote:The Obama administration has cited

“sources and methods” as its excuse why it can’t reveal its proof, but there have been many cases in the past in which presidents have recognized the need to waive secrecy in order to justify military action.

As senior CIA veteran Milton Bearden has put it, there are occasions when more

damage is done to U.S. national security by “protecting” sources and methods than by revealing them. For instance, Bearden noted that Ronald Reagan exposed a sensitive intelligence source in justifying to a skeptical world the justification for the U.S. attack on Libya in retaliation for the April 5, 1986 bombing at the La Belle Disco in West Berlin, which killed two U.S. servicemen and a Turkish woman, and injured over 200 people, including 79 U.S. servicemen.

Intercepted messages between Tripoli and agents in Europe made it clear that Libya was behind the attack. Here’s an excerpt: “At 1:30 in the morning one of the acts was carried out with success, without leaving a trace behind.”

In short, McGovern was saying, in cases like this, we need to see the smoking gun. It does more damage to keep it hidden than it does to reveal how we got it.

In a very differently titled piece, “Trusting Obama’s Syria War Case,” another ex-CIA analysis, Melvin Goodwin, argued that “President Obama has a good case for the use of military force; indeed, he has a moral and just case,” but nonetheless concurred with McGovern’s central point:

The distortion of evidence of Iraqi WMD a decade ago has made it difficult to convince the American public, let alone a skeptical international audience, of the need to respond to Syria’s use of chemical weapons. As a result, the Obama administration must ignore the usual safeguards regarding intelligence sources and methods, and provide the intelligence that is not only convincing but beyond any reasonable doubt.

The day after Obama’s speech, national security reporter Robert Parry, who broke the initial stories about the Iran-Contra Affair, wrote:

[W]hy is this evidence still being withheld from the public? The most obvious answer, as the intelligence source told me Tuesday night, is that the certainty of the administration’s case would crumble if independent analysts got a look at it. Thus, it makes public relations sense for the Obama administration to hide the evidence and simply deride anyone who dares question the rush to judgment on the Syrian government’s guilt.

Shady police are always in the strongest position when they are trying to frame a guilty man—even if he’s not guilty of the crime he’s being framed for. Of course, we don’t know if the police are shady or if the accused is actually guilty. We only know that we haven’t seen the evidence and that we’ve been told we don’t need to see it. After all, we now have a virtual confession—or something almost as good.

But the problem isn’t simply that the evidence is still being withheld. The problem is the precedents it sets, or reinforces. Keeping evidence hidden in this case, when it appears the evidence was sound, since it appears that Assad has virtually confessed, reinvigorates the now-discredited precedent of the Bush administration hiding the shoddy evidence that it relied on. What’s more, the apparent success of threatening use of force—in violation of international law—likewise strengthens that somewhat battered precedent as well.

From a short-term perspective, things seem to have turned out very well for the Obama administration, although things could still go awry somewhere down the road.

The real problem may be precisely that things did turn out so well—so well that future presidents will say, “They got away with it, why can’t I?”

Serious Questions About Syria—Framing a Guilty Man?By Paul Rosenberg, Senior EditorWe still don’t know if Syria’s Bashar al-Assad ordered a chemical weapons attack—and that lack of knowledge could well come back to haunt us some day.

from p. 3

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

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The Local Publication You Actually Read September 20 - October 3, 2013

has grown both faster and cleaner than the rest of the nation since CEQA’s enactment,” Philips told Random Lengths.

In the paper, Philips was more specific: “[T]his study finds that 1) California per capita GDP, 2) California housing relative to population, 3) California manufacturing output and 4) California construction activity grew as fast or faster after the passage of CEQA.”

Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

Philips also conducted three case studies illuminating positive systematic environmental and economic impacts of CEQA, one of which the paper described as “CEQA’s role in helping shift the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from a model of dirty growth to a model of green growth.”

As he summarized for Random Lengths: The alliance between community groups,

environmental organizations and labor unions proved effective using CEQA to precipitate port cleanup, making the surrounding communities more livable, making good jobs healthier while changing planners’ mindsets from dirty growth to healthy growth.

Of course, there is a tiny germ of truth to the business-backed complaint, Orkent noted.

“If you build unchecked without doing a review, you can build so much faster. But you externalize costs when you do that. You go ahead and do whatever construction you want and any problems with that, everybody else pays for later.”

CEQA is arguably good for growth overall precisely because it limits the externalized costs that others have to bear—including the developers of future projects.

This is arguably the main thing that CEQA critics miss, Orkent said—the positive economic value of CEQA. “The value is that it internalizes costs.”

CEQA Bill’s Final DaysWith the weight of the evidence

overwhelmingly against them, as well as an organized multi-issue public-interest lobby, CEQA’s business-based opponents were frustrated. In the end, the business community

kept rejecting everything and things got crazy “as they tend to do,” Pettit said. “A couple of the things got picked out of it and moved into a bill that had to do with the new basketball stadium in downtown Sacramento.”

The best thing moved to the stadium bill was a new approach to analyzing traffic impacts. The current approach focuses on reducing congestion (aka “auto-delay”), but does so primarily by building “more roads, more left turn lanes, and more freeway off-ramps,” Pettit explained.

The new law would shift to analyzing vehicle miles traveled and would be far more favorable to transit, bicycles and pedestrians—all compatible with a more environmentally sustainable future, as well as a more livable present.

“The idea is to reduce traffic,” Pettit said. “If you do by transit or more bikes or whatever, that’s all good.”

The problem is that congestion mitigation is one of the few tools low-income communities have to protect themselves against unchecked gentrification, Orkent explained. So there was a compromise worked out with “language in the bill to ensure that economic displacement was also assessed. That when you’re doing infill, you look at how it affects the existing population, who are frequently low-income communities of color and that it comes up with a way to mitigate the involuntary displacement of these people, basically, the suburbanization of poverty.”

It took a lot of hard work, Orkent said, but in the end, “We were pretty pleased with that.”

Then things went rapidly downhill at the end. “That ended up in SB 731, then it got

weakened considerably, and then the auto-delay part got put into the King Stadium bill without any of the displacement language.”

As a result, “We are adamantly opposed to the King Stadium bill, along with a number of other environmental, and environmental justice and community groups,” Orkent said, before final

passage. “There are no environmental groups in support of this bill.”

Nonetheless, the bill sailed through the state Senate by 32-5, and the state Assembly by 55-6 vote. It’s a stark demonstration of how skewed political power is in the state.

Orkent said it was important to make sure that, “It’s the last time something like this happens. Because we’re concerned about its precedential value. We don’t want this happening again. We want to make it very clear that it’s not acceptable. We had a hard time fighting this one. It came out with four days left in the session. I think we know a bit better about what to be prepared for next time.”

Orkent also still remains hopeful about some other CEQA reforms that are contained in other stand-alone two-year bills. These include translating notices for limited-English speakers—about 20 percent of Californians—and putting notices on the Internet.

“You might have heard of it. It’s been around for 20 years or so,” she jokes. Other bills would reassert the need to “look at the existing hazards and likely hazards at the site... and how that affects people’s health and safety,” meaning, “things like building in a seismic activity zone or in a floodplain, or a wildfire high-risk zone or a polluted air basin.”

This is how CEQA was originally understood, but some recent court cases have challenged that, she explained.

However, Pettit is not so sure that anything more is going to get done about CEQA next year.

“I don’t see another big push by either side in the next session,” he said.

Perhaps not. Or, perhaps the stadium bill will leave enough of a bad taste in people’s mouths that the legislature will feel it has to do something about the common-sense fixes that Orkent pointed to.

CEQA Changesfrom p. 2

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1536 W. 25th St., Suite K San Pedro, CA 90732Phone: 310.519.8600

Fax: 310.519.8008

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his column was racist.

• Romero’s linking San Pedro’s surliness to its most revered icons: the fishermen, Teamsters and longshore workers, topped with the flippant comment about getting into a bar fight with Popeye, the cartoon character.

• Aside from leaving out the Italians, Romero’s characterization of San Pedro as being composed largely of Croatians and Portuguese immigrants was a false assertion. But the probable reason why he touched a nerve is because he challenged the local narrative that San Pedro embraces diversity.

Though Romero parenthetically lumps Wilmington with San Pedro as an afterthought, San Pedrans and Wilmingtonians don’t see themselves as linked, despite sharing real estate with the Port of Los Angeles. And, that was apparent by the small number of comments made about Wilmington’s inclusion.

However, communities like San Pedro and Wilmington are bound by a shared experience, shared history and collective memory. Generations of locals worked at some port-related job, whether it was fishing, the canneries, longshoring, the railroad or trucking, and even the military. We have monuments that honor the men and women who worked in these occupations—perhaps more monuments to those working class heroes than any other in the city.

Most commentators got hung up on Romero’s linking of surliness to crime and manliness and gentrification with being ‘hipster-like” and effeminate. Romero did this in his contrasting of the two faces of Venice: the pinkies-in-the-air, espresso-sipping scene of Abbot Kinney Boulevard versus the old-school Venice, largely in the Oakwood neighborhood.

Truth be told, it is this gentrified ideal that this town’s boosters want San Pedro to reach. But as many of these LA Weekly comments revealed, San Pedro is still conflicted by what it once was versus what it actually is now.

Emblematic of this conflict was the post of one local commenter, known by her handle PedroGirl, who blasted Romero’s column:

It would seem that you are trying to profile

cities, which you believe to be inhabited by minorities or those who you feel are the less desirable, less educated, less informed, less dignified, less trendy, and of lower socioeconomic status. In the case of San Pedro, you couldn’t be more wrong! Exactly what San Pedro did you visit? It certainly wasn’t MY San Pedro!!

I’m using PedroGirls’ comments because

they were the most cohesive and reflective of San Pedro commenters as a whole. In her reply, she proceeded to relate her family pedigree, noting that her father was a fisherman, an Italian immigrant with traditional family values and work ethic. She presented a noble counter image to the “lazy, illegal immigrant getting fat off the public dime.” Romero didn’t exactly present that image in his column, but that was what locals read in his characterization of San Pedro.

When locals do look at crime in San Pedro, they have a very clear sense of where the crime is and who’s committing the crime. This commenter, as do many San Pedrans, blame

local crime on the migration of criminals from Los Angeles, when

she says, “Unfortunately, San Pedro is part of Los Angeles and not an incorporated city.”

She notes that:Most of this [crime] happens to be near the port, but it is most definitely not representative of those who work at the port. A large number of the problem people who inhabit that area are not originally from San Pedro, but placed here by the powers that be. Thankfully, this only represents a small percentage of geographic San Pedro.

The commenter doesn’t speak of the demographics of the areas to which she refers, except perhaps the division between “real San Pedrans” and “faux San Pedrans.” However, anyone living in San Pedro knows she is referring to the browner and poorer parts of San Pedro. Romero got San Pedro’s demographics wrong, but even the “real” San Pedrans don’t acknowledge all of its constituent parts.

Around the time Romero’s column went viral, San Pedro Today published, “A Real San Pedran...,” a second installment of the original column” written by Steve Marconi, which was first published in 1983 in the now defunct News Pilot.

A quick read through the column makes it is clear that a “real” San Pedran is a multi-generational, longshoring, old guy that is Italian or Croatian (or likely both), whose classic car is his only connection to his rose-tinted youth. Among the 87 characteristics of a “real” San Pedran, includes:

• Still owns a car with a bench seats in front;• Knows how much money is, “two-bits.”• Still scratches his head when someone mentions “downtown” and “art” in the same sentence.• Took his first paycheck as a registered member of ILWU Local 13 and bought a pickup truck—most likely a Ford F Model.• Has a map of “Jugoslavia” somewhere in the house or office.At least in the original “Real San Pedran”

column, Marconi acknowledged that a “real” San Pedran’s last name ends in a vowel or the last syllable is pronounced “ez,” “ich” or “ia.” No such luck this time.

Columnist Hits a Surly Nerve from p. 1

LBPD Investigation Results in Successful Drug RaidsLONG BEACH—The Long Beach Police Department announced on Sept. 5 that an undercover narcotics investigation resulted in the confiscation of 12 pounds of drugs, $118,000 in cash and 9 firearms.

On Sept. 3, the LBPD detectives were led to the house of Oscar Salmoran. A warrant was served at the location and he was arrested for possessing three-and-a-half pounds of heroin and two-and-a-half pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

On Sept. 4, warrants were served at three more locations. The first was at the residence of Domingo Payan, 56, where they confiscated 6 pounds of heroin and $46,000 in cash. Payan was arrested for possession of narcotics for sales, and was booked into the Long Beach City Jail on $100,000 bail.

The second and third locations were residences in the 2700 block of Montecito Street in Los Angeles. One warrant produced $72,000 in cash from one location, with nine guns being seized from the second location.

Lieu Urges Brown to Sign Jobs BillSACRAMENTO—Citing a recent study that predicts California job growth will bog down because workers are unprepared for 21st Century careers, Sen. Ted W. Lieu, urged Gov. Jerry Brown, on Sept. 13, to sign bill that might help address the problem.

“Retraining workers and closing the skills gap in California, cited as pressing needs to help our state’s economy in a recent forecast report by UCLA, are the twin challenges tackled by Senate Bill 118,” Lieu said, referring to his bipartisan bill that lawmakers sent to Gov. Brown.

Lieu’s comments came the day after publication of the UCLA economic report, known as the Anderson Forecast, which showed the pace of job growth has slowed in the Golden State, raising anew fears that structural problems in the labor market will temper future employment gains.

The UCLA experts asserted that a major part of California workers’ education and training is obsolete for jobs in technology and other industries that require more marketable skills, something Lieu also sought to address in a worker-training bill from this past year known as SB 1402. Labeled a ‘job creator’ by the California Chamber of Commerce, the measure boosted community college training programs by nearly $23 million.

It promises to provide workers with the latest skills for jobs as programmers, software engineers and similar occupations.

SB 118 would mandate the California Workforce Investment Board to coordinate education, training and employment programs into an effective system that supports economic development. SB 118 also would help earmark training for future workforce needs through key requirements that would:

• Establish workforce education and training principles that are coupled with a statewide sector strategy focus for state board activities.

• Mandate the board conduct an annual skills gap analysis identifying those industries facing shortages of skilled workers or sectors with job-growth potential.

• Ensure the state workforce investment plan be organized around the adoption of sector strategies that use the state-level skills-gap analysis as a guide.

Voyager I Reaches Interstellar SpaceAfter 36 years of flying through space

at nearly 38,000 mph, Voyager I has finally been confirmed to reach where no

continued on following pageNews Briefs/ to p. 10

Earning the top spot in L.A Weekly’s “Surli-est Neighborhoods in Los Angeles” has given San Pedrans a lot to talk about. Some took exception to the honor, while the opposite reac-tion has been, “Well, fuck yeah, we’re surly!” That unique mix of attitude and civic pride was never more evident than at the San Pedro High School’s season-opening football game in Morro Bay on Aug. 30.

A friend’s son is on the junior varsity squad, so I tagged along for the 4-hour drive up the coast. I was surprised by the sheer number of Pi-rate fans that trekked the more than 200 miles on a Friday to fill the visitor’s section. Not only were the requisite parents in attendance, but also some familiar faces who haven’t missed a Pirate game in years were there. Distance can’t dampen that famous Pedro Pride.

I was taken aback by how Pirate fans, from the first moment they got to their seats before the game even started, were already screaming, yelling, and trash-talking. The insults were flying

and the language was saltier than the ocean, which was just behind the football field.

Not even the Bay’s majestic Morro Rock, the field’s beautiful backdrop, was safe. I cringed when one fan proudly proclaimed, “We brought the ghetto to the ocean!”

On further thought, I realized that this is how some of us in town show love for the team and the town. I’ve lived in several places over the years, and beyond a doubt, San Pedro has more pride in its hometown than any other place I’ve lived. Seriously. There are fewer fans on the visitors’ side of the Pedro field when the visiting team is less than 20 miles away.

So maybe there is something to be said for our surliness. Tough love is supposed to be a good thing... right? Pedro love can really be tough.

And by the way, I had to believe that this over-flowing support and pride had its desired effect, both the junior varsity and varsity teams beat Morro Bay 24-16 and 21-0, respectively.

San Pedro may be surly, but we’re overflowing with prideBy Sandy Smith, courtesy of www.examiner.com

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The Local Publication You Actually Read September 20 - October 3, 2013

Nevertheless, the column was both funny and true for a significant part of San Pedro. But, as I said earlier, a community is bound by a shared experience, shared history and a collective memory.

I was reminded of this when I stumbled across a blogger’s site called Brown Kingdom, “An outlet for Chicano viewpoints and a search method for historical data. The articles and stories compiled and displayed here, are intended and exhibited as contribution to the preservation and understanding of the Chicano Varrio [sic] identity.”

In it, he wrote a detailed history of Latinos in San Pedro and Harbor Area gangs going back to the years before World War II. His blog primarily focused on the birth of Rancho San Pedro gang

and the barrios that existed before the area around Western Avenue and Park Western were developed.

RSP... has a love-hate relationship with the olden Park Western Loma Varrio [sic] that originated on the hillside ravine off of Western Avenue and Park Western Drive. The PWL original residents lived on the San Pedro hillside facing the Harbor northeast of Leland Park over by Channel Street. These residents were later relocated into the new housing development Channel Heights complex built in 1942, with most of the lower-income residents being pushed into the Housing Projects section called, “Western Courts.”

The blogger, who only identifies himself as “Lonewolf,” appears to have used a combination of firsthand sources (i.e. interviews with

Surly Slurfrom previous page

Many students in North Carson attend public schools in the Compton Unified School District. Therefore, who sits on that district’s school board affects Carson as well as Compton.

Twelve candidates are competing for four seats in the next board election scheduled for Nov. 5. Members serve four-year terms. There are no term limits.

Seats simply go to the top four vote-getters district-wide. Three incumbents are running:

Margie N. Garrett, Mae Thomas and Satra D. Zurita. As for the fourth position, Marjorie Shipp is not running again, so her seat is open. Zurita responded to us before deadline, but the information on Garrett and Thomas is taken from their official biographies:

Zurita is the daughter and sister of Compton council members. This Compton native is seeking her third term. She is the current clerk on the board. She says that during her time in office, the district has a budget surplus, has not had to

make salary rollbacks or shorten the school year. Track meets are back at schools after 10 years and graduation rates have increased. Her campaign website is www.satrazurita.com.

Garrett is seeking her second term. She has resided in Compton for 48 years, attended Compton Community College, and worked as a teacher and teacher’s union activist. Her priorities include more career path opportunities, decreasing the dropout rate and improved early childhood education.

Thomas has served on the board for 10 years, being first elected in 2003. She was a classified employee of the Compton Unified School District for 18 years as an instructional assistant. She also served as a California School Employees Association union representative at a school site. She’s a financial screener for the Los Angeles County, Department of Mental Health.

Challengers include William T. Kemp, Diana Padilla, Francisco Javier Orozco, Yolanda

Hernandez Lopez, Joseph Lewis, Cierra Amber Evans, Carol Ann Bradley, Charles Davis and Tomas Carlos. Not all candidates responded by deadline but most shared their backgrounds and concerns during email or phone interviews:

Orozco is a Cal State University Los Angeles student, who previously attended El Camino College for three years. He is an intern for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, who once worked as a casework intern for former Rep. Laura Richardson. He has lived in Compton all his life.

Hernandez Lopez said, “I have been present at Compton School Board meetings for eight years, and have a personal record of only missing three meetings in eight years. As a volunteer in the district, I have helped teachers and students, in both the classroom and in the cafeteria. I am the vice president of the PTA at McNair Elementary.”

Lewis has 15 years’ experience at Compton Community College including the career center activities coordinator.

“I believe those who are responsible for education should have demonstrated some level of educational achievement,” he says. “I want to establish leadership in making sure our children have a quality education.”

Bradley is a former CUSD board member (1998-2001), who is seeking to return to the board. She has taught elementary, middle and high school.

“I’m the only teacher presently employed running,” she said.

Kemp ran for mayor of Compton earlier this year. His mother, grandmother, and grandfather were all school teachers. In addition, his grandfather, William T. Gray, was the first African-American to run for office in Compton. In 1956, his mother, Delorise Anderson, served on the Compton School Board. He would like to see the district’s dropout rate lowered and bring

back more ready-to-work programs.Davis is a board member of the Compton

Community College District. He was also Compton’s city clerk from 1973-2003. He notes how Compton is one of the top districts in the state for a new funding matrix that could mean about $13,000 per student. He would like to focus on lowering the dropout rate and improving programs for second-language children, foster care children and special-needs children.

CUSD Election: What Happens in Compton Affects CarsonBy Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter

Surly, So What?/ to p. 19

Dubbed “Chicano Heritage,”the east Wilmington mural on El Mercadito Market is listed on Los Angeles’ historic landmark murals list. The three-panel acrylic scenes depict Mexican revolutionary imagery, featuring portraits of Emiliano Zapata and José Maria Morelos. The mural was originally painted by Javier Moreno, a Wilmington artist who died four years ago, and Mario Falcon, an artist from Mexico. Wilming-ton art teacher, Arnoldo Vargas, spearheaded the restoration effort.

Restoration of Wilmington Mural Unveiled

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“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do some-

thing about it.”

Columnists/ReportersLyn Jensen CarsonB. Noel Barr Music DudeJohn Farrell Curtain CallLori Lyna Hirsch-Stokoe Food WriterAndrea Serna Arts WriterMalina Paris Culture WriterCalendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com

Publisher/Executive EditorJames Preston Allenjames@randomlengthsnews.comAssoc. Publisher/Production CoordinatorSuzanne Matsumiyainfo@graphictouchdesigns.com

Managing EditorTerelle Jerrickseditor@randomlengthsnews.comAssistant EditorZamná Ávilazamna@randomlengthsnews.com

Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg

PhotographersTerelle Jerricks, Betty Guevara, Slobodan Dimitrov

CartoonistsAnn Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email adv@randomelengthsnews.com or reads@randomlengthsnews.com.Extra copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $35 per year for 27 issues.Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We wel-come articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2013 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

Advertising ProductionMathew Highland, Suzanne MatsumiyaAdvertising RepresentativesMathew Highland, Arturo Rodriguezreads@randomlengthsnews.comadv@randomlengthsnews.comEditorial Interns Joseph Baroud, Cory Hooker, Matt Vitilich

—Mark TwainVol. XXXIV : No. 19

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communi-ties of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the seven cities of the Harbor Area.www.randomlengthsnews.com

continued on following page

Contributors Danny Simon, Slobodan Dimitrov,Dave Johnson, Sandy Smith, Greg-gory Moore

Last week’s AFL-CIO [Sept. 8-11] conven-tion discussed the problem of “trade” agreements that have undercut America’s middle class by pitting our country’s working people against ex-ploited people (near-slaves in some cases) else-where. The convention passed a resolution vow-ing to fight any trade agreement that promotes the rise in corporate power at the expense of working people.

AFL-CIO Resolution 12Last week the AFL-CIO convention passed

Resolution 12: America and the World Need a New Approach to Trade and Globalization. The resolution discusses a number of trade agree-ments currently in the works. It says TPP Trans Pacific Partnership), “now seems likely to be

yet another in a long string of trade agreements that elevate corporate interests at the expense of working people. It appears unlikely the agree-ment will rectify the mistakes of past trade poli-cy, particularly in the areas of currency, rules of origin, procurement, deregulation, labor rights, public services, investment, access to medicines, environmental protections or financial services.”

The resolution calls for a “people-centered trade policy” that will:

• Create shared gains for the workers whose labor creates society’s wealth.

• Strengthen protections for the environment. Companies must not use trade rules to pit one country’s environmental rules against another, as they seek the lowest-cost place to produce.

AFL-CIO To Fight “Trade” Deals Like TPPBy Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future

Our lives, if not our brains, are filled with brand names. From the absolutely essential to the extraneously sublime, we are being pitched products on TV, the Internet, newspapers, maga-zines and in every grocery and convenience store in the world.

Just walking into the average supermarket, we are bombarded by a visual overload of com-peting brand names screaming for your attention. “Buy me! Buy me!”

The visual cacophony can be so overwhelm-ing at times that the average con-sumer can't make a rational deci-sion. We’ve become emotionally attached to a product’s brand name. And, we identify with it. That’s ac-tually the psychological power and the seduction of advertising. It is no wonder that it is a multi-billion dol-lar industry.

Corporations large and small are constantly paying large sums to create and market or reinvent their brands. And in these days of “perception is real-ity,” cities and communities all across this nation have adopted the “branding” approach to identify or stand out from the crowd—like Watsonville, Cali., is the Artichoke capital and Huntington Beach is Surf City. However, we all know where the Big Apple is, but for the life of me I really don't know where that came from or what it re-ally means. New York City doesn’t actually grow many apples, as far as I know.

The State of California is the Golden State, but its prominence in gold production panned out long ago. And it’s been decades since Orange County provided the bulk of the oranges in this state. And

the rest of Los Angeles, amidst the multitude of small cities, neighborhoods and districts in Los Angeles County? The answer to that question is both historic and confusing.

The San Pedro Business Improvement Dis-trict (PBID) has spent considerable time and money reinventing a brand for its own downtown waterfront district, which it now posits as an as-piration on each of the events it sponsors.

The Port of Los Angeles is also engaged in branding its new waterfront develop-ments as The Bridge to the Breakwa-ter. Add to this the various discussions of branding for the Arts District that overlays the PBID, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce’s discussion of market branding for all of San Pe-dro, the Historic Preservation Overlay Zone branding of the Vinegar Hill area and the alphabet soup of neigh-borhood council acronyms, then you have a smörgåsbord of identities! Too bad we won't follow the example of

Gilroy, the Garlic Capital. At least you know you are there when you smell it.

If our identity was only wrapped up in a single product these days, it would probably be squid or calamari, as we seem to be the largest producer of this delicacy. Only most of it is pro-cessed in China and then shipped elsewhere.

The other industry that has yet to be off-shored is our waterfront workers.

The longshore unions all have their own various brands, followed by their local’s affiliate numbers 13, 63, 94, etc. And, as prevalent as the longshore culture is in this town, it’s a far cry from the rough image of Marlon Brando’s On the Waterfront. Yet, the blue collar, workingman immigrant culture of this Harbor Area persists (and in many ways contrasts and conflicts) with the “gentrification” of Pedro’s newer reflection. There seems to be no easy remedy.

The Harbor Area, and San Pedro specifically, aspires to raise up its standing as a neighborhood amongst all the areas of Los Angeles, even as its “real” San Pedro families have moved up and out of the old neighborhoods. This vacancy has opened the door for the “new San Pedrans,” who have come here from all over the South Bay and beyond for its affordability, its history, its cultural diversity and all of the things that don't make this place Torrance or Manhattan Beach.

Our town has become somewhat of a mag-net for the creative types wishing to escape the anonymity of the vast urban sprawl. It is still home for the latest generation of well-paid Har-bor union workers. Yet, since the 1980s, there are some 35,000 less of those blue collar jobs in the harbor region. And this area, being the port

city that it is, has seen wave after wave of im-migrants. It always has, and it probably always will. Answering the question of who we are only begs the question of the “who” that one is speak-ing of?

In the long view, the real “San Pedran” defi-nition is a false dichotomy between us and them that only clouds the issue of “who we are” now. It complicates any discussion of contemporary branding of both culture and place by dividing us between future and the past, and asks us all to make an unrealistic choice.

“Surly is as surly does.” That's what Forest Gump might have said about Pedro. But the one sure element this place has is that it is authenti-cally unlike much of the rest of Los Angeles. If we ever give up that authenticity, then we might as well bulldoze half this town and turn it into an nondescript homogeneous extension of the Del Amo Mall with a giant Cheese Cake Factory as our flagship restaurant. I doubt that will ever hap-pen, but in the meantime, there is bound to be more “surly” debate about who we is and who we ain't.

Lala Land—the urban sprawl that is Los Angeles—is such a mixed bag of brands and monikers that it’s hard to keep track. Long Beach is often referred to as Iowa by the Sea and El Segundo is known as Where the Sewer Meets the Sea. Wilmington used to be referred to as Goose Town when it was not much more than a large salt marsh. A San Pedran, before the main channel was dredged to allow cargo ships into the inner harbor, sarcastically called it, “Banning’s Folly.”

All of this brings me here to our front page article about “Surly San Pedro”: the explosive brouhaha over Dennis Romero’s “5 Surliest Neighborhoods” blog post on the L.A. Weekly website. The reaction to Rome-ro’s 550-word screed unintentionally begged locals in San Pedro to ask the much bigger question for this often forgotten part of the empire, the Pacific Rim's Athens-on-the-desert, otherwise known as L.A. Who are we and how do we distinguish ourselves from

A Brand By Any Other NameJames Preston Allen, Publisher

Display advertising (310) 519-1442Classifieds (310) 519-1016www.randomlengthsnews.com

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RANDOMLetters

Community AlertHands Across the Table

The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council is spon-soring a Los Angeles Police De-partment Townhall Meeting, at 10 a.m. Sept. 21, at the Boys & Girls Club in San Pedro.

The event will be a com-munity forum focusing on Use of Force policies, as well as Community and Constitu-tional Policing. Guest panel-ists will include Deputy Chief Bob Greene, Harbor Division Capt. Nancy Lauer, as well as representatives from the Port of Los Angeles Police and pub-lic officials. There will also be refreshments and round table discussions. All are welcome.Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/148089632067852/Venue: Boys & Girls ClubLocation: 100 W.5th St., San Pedro.

Ponte VistaI makes me angry when and

Daily Breeze and Random Lengths print articles about the proposed Ponte Vista development and they leave out the fact the area is ZONED FOR 500 UNITS ! That’s the law.

The developers knew that when they bought the property but just assumed they could throw some money around and ignore the law. The city has already spend taxpayers dollars to have hearings about it and said no. It’s like me demanding that I be able to ignore the speed limit and drive 100 miles an hour in the 35mph zones. Some of the people pushing this are businessmen hoping to make more money. They don’t care about the town and the people.

You printed an article by John Mavar telling us how his family built buildings because they believed in the community. They did it to make a lot of money. He tells us they are doing us a big favor by reducing the plan from 2,300 ILLEGAL units to 830 ILLEGAL units. And he comes up with the twisted logic that if only the legal 500 units are built they will be owned by “ The Rich, giving them the option to lock themselves away in an exclusive R1 development.”

They will be ordinary homes. Owned by ordinary people just like all of the surrounding homes. The greedy rich are people like Mr. Mavar’s family and the rich developers trying to force Ponte vista down our throats. Traffic is

already horrendous on Western Avenue. Some of the business owners that have been pushing this project would love a situation where it would taking you 20 minutes of driving around to find a parking place anytime you pulled into one of the shopping centers on Western Avenue because they would make more money and they don’t give a damn about the quality of life or the people in the area. We should boycott any business owned by any of the people pushing this illegal project and recall any politician that approves it.

Mark Begovich San Pedro

Walking the Walk ILWU Walk the Coast

would like to commend Random Lengths for your article entitled, “Walking the Walk,” (Sept. 5, 2013 issue). The article provided a wonderful overview of our 2nd Annual ILWU Walk the Coast fundraising event on behalf of children’s cancer charity Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

The article stated that “ILWU Local 13 raised more money with fewer in attendance at this year’s annual Walk the Coast fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand.” This is true and much appreciated, but credit also belongs to others. ILWU Locals 13, 63, and 94, with the support of the ILWU Pensioners and community volunteers, pulled together to host this great event. Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who

graciously agreed to take part in our event by providing welcoming remarks, introducing the San Pedro High School Marching Band, and providing much needed tables and chairs for the event.

Richard Harriett (Local 94) and Sidro Felix (Local 13) organized the ILWU Local 13-63-94 Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament at Normandie Casino and raised $5,660 for ALSF. Silent Auction Committee members Mark Mascola, Karen Jurisic and Diane Chavez-Feipel raised $10,000. And, joining the effort this year were the LA/Long Beach Longshore casual workers, raising a cool $3,000.

Part of our coastwise effort included other cities. Local 46 in Port Hueneme hosted the “Hueneme Walk for Alex.” Locals 10-34-91 in San Francisco held a car show. Local 29 in San Diego and the ILWU Coast Committee contributed to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Finally, some of our waterfront employers must be commended for providing support. These include Ports America Group, Stevedoring Services of America, Matson Navigation, Pacific Crane Maintenance Company, Yusen Terminals, California United Terminals, Harbor Industrial, and Evergreen. The ILWU, the community, and our employers raised over $85,000 in ALSF’s mission to find cures for childhood cancer. Together we can all be proud of our work. ILWU Walk the Coast looks forward to expanding our efforts each and every year.

Dan Imbagliazzo Robert A. Maynez

ILWU Walk the Coast, Chairman, ILWU

Walk the Coast, Event Coordinator

Serious ConversationsLike many of you, I listened to

the president’s speech on Tuesday with interest and concern. The situation in Syria is heartbreaking,

and I know that all Americans are saddened by the violence. I also know that any military engagement abroad is a matter that requires serious thought and careful consideration, and I’m glad that the President has decided to delay a military response in favor of pursuing an international diplomatic response.

I was, and remain, against a military strike, and many of my constituents have contacted me in recent days to let me know that they share my concerns. I believe that the President’s decision to pursue a plan for a non-military solution is a good one and it should

be given a chance to succeed.I was on CNN this weekend

speaking about my opposition to a military strike. Visit (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janice-Hahn/179387285387) and watch the video on my Facebook page, and be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on the President’s speech.

Rep. Janice Hahn44th Congressional District

Parallel to Naval Yard Disaster

The Naval Yard disaster in Washington along with multiple other events, (including the Texas

fertilizer explosion, the San Bruno gas line rupture, the Gulf disaster, etc.) illuminates the major deficiencies that exist within the US in the proper “oversight” and control of high risk operations that could eliminate these entirely “preventable” tragedies.

For 40 years politicians and government officials alike have acknowledged, yet turned a blind eye to, the risk posed by the Massive Liquid Petroleum Gas facility that currently threatens the LA Harbor region and its residents for miles to an extraordinary and hellacious opportunity for disaster.

While a miracle that there has not already been a serious event

More Letters/ to p. 19

• Protect the freedom to regulate in the public interest.

• Set rules for fair competi-tion. Workers of a nation must not be unduly disadvantaged by unfair economic competition resulting from choices about how to organize their economies.

• Include strong rules of origin so that trade agreements are not merely a conduit to ease the global corporation’s race to the bottom.

• Not provide extraordinary privileges to foreign investors.

• Effectively address cur-rency manipulation.

• Retain the ability for all nations to stimulate their economies through domestic infrastructure and spending programs.

• Protect the right of gov-ernments to choose the scope and level of public services to provide.

• Protect intellectual prop-erty (IP) in a fair and balanced manner.

• Protect the unique U.S. transportation regulatory and

legal structure.• Protect the right of gov-

ernments to secure the integrity and stability of their financial systems.

• Be negotiated in an open, democratic and accountable manner.

• Be flexible and responsive.

To accomplish this, they commit to a comprehensive list of organizing activities. And, finally, on TPP, the resolution says:

So long as the TPP appears poised to promote the rights of the 1 percent—rather than shared gains from trade—we, along with our international labor movement and civil so-ciety partners, will oppose its adoption and implementation, devoting resources to create a national campaign.

Here is the key takeaway: Congress must not give up its power to review and amend trade agreements. “Fast Track” works against our democracy, and against the interests of everyone except giant corpo-rations that want to ram this agreement through before de-mocracy and the public can rally to do something about it.

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What is Community Policing and how does it affect you? What is LAPD’s Use of Force Policy and how does it affect you?

The public is invited to a Town Hall Meeting with the Los Angeles Police Department on Use of Force Policies

TOWN HALL MEETING SAT., SEPT. 21 10 am - 2 pm (lunch provided)

Boys & Girls Club Liberty Plaza100 W. 5th St., San Pedro

Morning presentations and moderated discussion Afternoon workshops and problem solving: • Communicating with LAPD • LAPD Service and Community Concerns • Narcotics in Harbor Division • Gangs, Graffiti and Public Safety

Featured guests include: Deputy Chief Bob Greene, LAPD • Chief Ronald J. Boyd, Port of LAPD • Capt. Nancy Lauer, LAPD Harbor Division

Superior Court Judge Peter Mirich • Fernando Reign, Urban Peace Institute

Everyone is encouraged to participate. This event is free and open to the public

For more information contact: 310-918-8650 or visit www.centralsanpedro.org

CENTRAL SAN PEDRO NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

From the doorway of room 406A at the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall, I watched Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, transform the podium into a pulpit.

She was speaking at the “Deepening Faith Engagement: Best Practices for Collaboration” panel discussion at the AFL-CIO International’s quadrennial convention in Los Angeles, from Sept. 8 through 11.

The aim of this session was to discuss how labor and the faith community can collaborate more closely together and fostering deep and meaningful engagement of faith communities in economic justice and labor issues.

Rabbi Laurie Coskey, executive director of Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice of San Diego, moderated the panel. The panel’s speakers were Rev. C.J. Hawking, executive director of Arise Chicago; Phil

Smith, communications director of United Mine Workers of America; Bobo; and James Salt, executive director, Catholics United.

Styled as an open convention with seating for invited guests, one of the featured presenters was the United Mine Workers of America. The miners had come to draw attention to the nefarious labor practices of the Peabody Energy company in West Virginia.

Peabody is the world’s largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in “sustainable mining” and “clean coal solutions.” Though it seems that the people part is not in the equation.

In bankruptcy hearings, Peabody said, “new labor deals between Patriot and the United Mine Workers of America effectively relieve Peabody

man made object has made it before, interstellar space.

Launched in 1977 by the National Aeronautics Space Administration, this craft has traveled more than 11 billion miles away from its home planet, at nearly a million miles per day. Messages from the Voyager I now take about 17-hours to reach back to Earth.

It’s sister craft, Voyager II, is still a little behind but is expected to reach the same milestone within six to seven years.

The spacecraft draws power from the radioactive decay of Plutonium 238, and scientists at NASA think the dwindling power supply will force engineers to start turning off instruments aboard the Voyager I in 2020. Voyager I probably will go dark by 2025.

Only then will phase two of their mission begin. Voyager will still be flying through the Milky Way for billions of years, with it’s speed unchanged, safe from erosion in interstellar space. On board each Voyager is carried a golden phonograph record, containing greetings in 59 human languages, twelve minutes of sounds from Earth, including a baby’s cry, a kiss, and many sounds from the wildlife on Earth. Encoded on the disc are 116 pictures of our civilization. Also recorded is 90 minutes of Earth’s greatest hits, including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, a Navajo night chant and more.

of any funding obligations.”In April 2013, “members of Interfaith Worker

Justice and Religious Leaders for Coalfield Justice held a fact-finding mission at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Charleston to learn more about the situation and hear from the miners themselves.”

Of course, this was news to the UMW, which is resisting this fraudulent interpretation of the agreement(s).

What Peabody did was create another company called Patriot. It then transferred all of it’s contractual liabilities to the health care of the retirees to this new creation.

According to the study, “Peabody’s legal obligation dates back to the 1946 National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement and its Welfare and Retirement Fund. This fund, initially supported by mine operator contributions of five cents per ton of each ton of coal produced and sold (later changed to a contribution based on hours worked) was used to pay for miners’ uncompensated wage loss resulting from sickness, disability, death or retirement. Payments are guaranteed for the life of the beneficiaries. In addition, Peabody and Arch have signed contracts for decades guaranteeing health care benefits for life.”

According to the same study, a separate medical and hospital fund was also established, supported by UMW payroll deductions due to the dangers of coal mining as an occupation. The fund has 10 Miner Memorial hospitals, bringing hundreds of needed doctors and nurses to coal-mining communities.

In consideration of lifetime retiree health benefits, Peabody miners took fewer vacation days and often accepted lower wages than many other industrial workers are paid. They endured occupational hardships, injuries and daily threats to life and limb in anticipation of living out their “golden years” with “financial peace of mind.”

Such is not the case today…and the fate of the 23,000 retirees, now languishes in court, as the January 2014 deadline for the termination of the Patriot shell company nears.

With that, the retirees and workers at Peabody, found themselves in Los Angeles, where much of Labor’s new momentum has been coming from, wondering if this will be where their hopes will come to fruition.

from p. 6

AFL-CIO Convention Report—Faith Communities and Labor Form United FrontBy Slobodan Dimitrov, Contributing Writer and Photographer

Left, the United Food and Commercial Workers at-tended the AFL-CIO Con-vention in Los Angeles. Be-low, advocates for Nissan Motor Co. workers in Mis-sissippi, who have been retaliated against for their labor activism, showed up at the AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles.

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September 20 – October 3, 2013

Support Your Comm

unity. Shop Local.

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I f nothing else, Barbara Morrison’s annual appearance at the Carson Jazz Festival is evidence of the love affair between her and the city. An artist who defies categorization in any one genre, Morrison, with her two–and–a–half octave range, is a force of nature. Barbara Morrison has been a fixture in enough Carson Jazz Festivals in its 38 years to permanently attach her name to the annual event.

It’s clear the city of Carson loves Barbara Morrison, treating her just like a queen, a moniker she adopted early in her career when she first started in jazz. Carson Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes, said the city keeps asking Morrison to come back every year because of residents’ requests.

“I remember one year she didn’t perform, we got numerous calls from residents to bring her back,” said Davis-Holmes.

Davis-Holmes noted that Morrison, as well as the artist Lenny Williams, performed at rates far below what they command elsewhere.

“Whatever you can pay me, I’ll do it,” Davis-Holmes recalled.

But the love flows both ways. Morrison still recalls the outpouring of support she received in 2011 when complications with diabetes resulted in the emergency amputation of one of her legs. The loss of work and mounting medical bills put Morrison in a precarious, financial position. Upon hearing of Morrison’s struggles, the jazz community put on benefit concerts.

In the City of Carson, the volunteers responsible for organizing the Carson Jazz festival raised several thousand dollars and

BarBara M o r r I s o n Carson Jazz FestIval’s Most Featured artIst

—By Melina Paris, Music Columnist—

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A Fall Twist on a Legendary Tart

By Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe, Food Writer and Photographer

Stéphanie Tatin’s inadvertent “mistake” in cooking an apple pie upside-down has become a part of culinary history.

Back in the late 1800s in France’s Loire Valley, two sisters took the duties of running L’Hotel Tatin after the death of their father. Caroline managed the business side of the hotel and her older sister Stéphanie ran the kitchens. While she was an ac-complished cook, Stéphanie also had a reputation for being a bit scatterbrained.

Her apple tart was already very popular with the local hunters. Legend has it that on this particu-lar day, she cooked her apples as usual, in sugar and butter but something went wrong. It is unclear whether she was distracted and cooked the apples so long that they became deeply caramelized, or that she just forgot to line her pan with pastry dough. Without time to start over, Stéphanie placed a sheet of pastry on top of the darkened apples and put the pan in the oven. To make it appear like her everyday tart, once cooked, she inverted it onto a platter and served it hot. The guests loved the light flaky crust and the deeply caramelized apples.

It was an instant hit and went on to become the hotel’s signature dish.

Years later, her tart made it onto the menu of the famous Parisian restaurant Maxim’s, where it was called La Tarte des Demoiselles Tatin (the tart of two unmarried women named Tatin). Eventu-ally, Stéphanie’s recipe of just four components — apples, sugar, butter, pastry dough — baked in an unconventional manner, became world famous.

Her method has been endlessly copied and transformed. Creative cooks have made over Tarte Tatin (pronounced tart tah-TAN) with all sorts of fruits and vegetables including plums, pears, apricots, even tomatoes and onions.

With sweet, earthy, flavors and rich colors, my Squash, Maple & Bacon Tarte Tatin was inspired by that classic inverted French pie originally made with apples.

But be sure to serve it right away ~ while the heady aromas of Autumn waft from the warm tarte, the sage is crispy, the cheese is melting, and the pastry is light and flaky.

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SquASh, MApLe & BAcon TArTe TATin recipe

ingredienTS:1 butternut squash - peeled, seeded, cubed1 acorn squash - peeled, seeded, cubedsalt and pepper4 slices smoked bacon, trimmed of excess fat

and dicedolive oil1/4 cup butter, plus 1 tablespoon, divided2 tablespoon maple syrup2 tablespoon dark brown sugar3 fresh thyme sprigs1/3 cup hazelnuts - toasted, chopped1 sheet defrosted store-bought puff pastry

dougha handful fresh sage leavesaged goat cheese, small wedge

MeThod:Toss squash with olive oil, season with salt and

pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven in a single layer for about 20 to 25 minutes until al dente.

Sauté bacon in a small amount of olive oil until cooked but not crisp. Drain on paper towels.

In a cast iron pan, heat 1/4 cup butter with

maple syrup and dark brown sugar. When the butter starts to bubble, stir in the bacon.

Add cooked squash to pan and stir to coat. Add fresh thyme leaves. Sprinkle hazelnuts over the squash mixture.

Cut puff pastry dough into a circle slightly larger than the circumference of the pan. Lay the dough over the squash mixture and tuck the sides in around the edges. Pierce four steam holes in the dough. Bake at 400 degree until the pastry is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While the Tarte Tatin is baking, fry whole sage leaves in 1 tablespoon butter until crisp, about one minute. Reserve on paper towels.

When the pastry is golden brown, remove the pan from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Place a wide shallow serving platter over the pan. Invert the Tarte Tatin onto the platter, care-fully lifting off the pan.

Immediately top the Tarte Tatin with crumbled goat cheese so it begins to melt. Finally, top with fried sage leaves.

Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe blogs about food, wine, and entertaining at Taste With The Eyes http://www.tastewiththeeyes.com and tweets as Tasteblog at https://twitter.com/tasteblog.

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So, are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Well, I have

—Jimi Hendrix

Guitar Shorty Brings Experience to the Blues

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

Photo by: Michelle Van Vliet (aka Bolan Boogie)

Aside from solid musicianship and great music material, it is showmanship that takes a live performance into the realm of memorable experience for the ages.

Guitar Shorty understood this principle before he even learned to drive, when he played in nightclubs on the Chitlin Circuit.

Shorty may not do the flips and head-stands he did in his younger days, but he still knows how to work the crowd as hard as he does his guitar. Shorty likes eliminating the line separating him from the audience, allowing his hard guitar playing and his soulful sing take over a show. Fans will get to see that on Sept. 28, at the Carson Jazz Festival.

His regular touring band will back Shorty, including Danny Dural on drums (he formerly toured with The Who); Wyzard, bass player and Shorty’s producer; and Malcolm Lukens on keyboard (formerly with influential guitarist Roy Buchanan). The entire lineup represents a professionally compact experience of the blues that will satisfy blues, jazz and especially rock fans who show up to hear them.

Shorty owes his showmanship to Guitar Slim, a blues artist popular in the 1940s and 50s. While still a teen, Shorty performed in nightclubs with Guitar Slim, who was known for having an assistant carrying around 350 feet of amp cord to allow him to play his electric guitar in the middle of the crowd or stop traffic in the middle of the street. Inspired by Slim, Shorty incorporated somersaults, flips and head stands on stage, in addition to some of the antics that Slim once did.

Shorty has been playing and singing in towns across the country and around the world since he was 13 years old.

Shorty said he began learning the guitar from his Uncle Willie at the age of 6. At the time, the guitar was too big for Shorty to even hold.

“I would lean it against the wall because I

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Calendar to page 16.

entertainment Community/Family

This may be your last year to view the original concept of the Long Beach Soundwalk. This is no stuffy art show. Grab a cup of coffee, wear your walking shoes, take a few friends and visit a completely free, completely different experience for your senses.

If you are up for an adventure, you can even hang out after the Soundwalk and visit some eclectic local East Village bars at the end of the evening.

The first time I experienced Soundwalk — 10 years ago — it still was a relatively new concept in the art world. I had attended many performance art productions, but the Soundwalk is a unique experience, where art on the street greets you at every turn.

Sound art encompasses a wide range of work that integrates visual, performance elements. The term ‘sound art’ was coined in 1982.

You may ask what is sound art? The description on the Soundwalk website might answer the question best:

“Unlike music, sound art is the aural equivalent of cinema, painting, theater, sculpture and literature. Music may function as or provide material for sound art; however, music is not sound art.”

FLOOD, the Long Beach artists group that organizes Soundwalk has announced changes planned for the future of Soundwalk. Their website states that after 10 years, 2013 will be the last year of Soundwalk.

“The sense is that it has run its course, and 10 is a nice, round number,” said FLOOD member Shelly Ruggthorpe. “What we are looking at is growing the event and expanding the scope of the event. Instead of a focus on sound art installation, it can include sound art installation as well as performance art and video work and more options.”

Ruggthorpe recalls an early childhood interaction with sound.

“I flashback on when I was a kid,” Ruggthorpe retold. “We were at the San Diego Zoo. Walking

Stroll the Soundwalk

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

around the zoo you would see the animal footprints on the sidewalk. When you stepped on the footprint you would hear the sound of the animal.”

This childhood memory made an impression on her.

The interactive component to the installations is a key feature to the Soundwalk. Many of the artists play with technology and draw the visitors into the sound experience. It creates a process of discovery that gives the walk the feeling of a treasure hunt. Sometimes a noisy free-for-all turns a visitor into a participant, with an experience approaching a cross between an abstract conceptual art installation and a fun house.

This year, about 40 artists will create sculptures, environments, performances and installations—both interactive and passive—at the Soundwalk in the East Village District of Long Beach.

What began with a small group of experimental artists has grown to draw artists from downtown Los Angeles and beyond. Hundreds of enthusiastic art explorers roam the streets encountering diverse offerings, which interact and surprise you as you wander the streets. Sound may reach out to you as you walk by a tree on the sidewalk, or you may find yourself drawn into a small space to view the performance in a theater–like setting..

“Soundwalk is a way of contributing real bona fide art to the [neighborhood],” Rugghthorpe said. “Some people don’t always feel comfortable going into a gallery, but suddenly there is art right around the corner.”

Ruggthorpe is also arts director at Hope University in Anaheim, a fine arts school for adults with intellectual disabilities. The students of Hope will be participating in Soundwalk this year, contributing their creative talents for a 5–hour performance located in the Dome Room of the Lafayette Hotel.Details: http://soundwalk.org/Venue: East Village Arts DistrictLocation: Long Beach

September 20made in mexico duoThe Made in Mexico Duo is performing at 8 p.m. Sept. 20, Alvas Showroom. The four-member group will entertain you with the drums, piano, double bass and flamenco dance. Admission is $20.details: (800) 403-3447; www.alvasshowroom.comVenue: Alvas ShowroomLocation: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

paseoThe San Pedro Brewing Company is hosting rock ’n’ roll artist Paseo, starting at 10 p.m. Sept. 20. There is a $3 charge.details: (310) 831-5663; www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing CompanyLocation: 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

September 21the InterludesClassical Crossroads Inc. and the First Lutheran of Torrance presents the Interludes at 3:30 p.m., Sept. 21. The Interludes consists of two Beverly Hills Auditions winners on piano and cello.details: (310) 316-5574; www.palosverdes.com/ClassicalCrossroads/TheInterludes.htmVenue: First Lutheran Church of TorranceLocation: 2900 W. Carson St., Torrance

discovery project Josh nelsonJosh Nelson and his group are performing at Alvas Showroom, 8 p.m., Sept. 21. Nelson is a pianist, composer and educator. He left a lasting impression on the international music scene. His band will use the piano; guitar, bass, drums and one member will take care of video projection. Admission is $20.details: (800) 403-3447; www.alvasshowroom.comVenue: Alvas ShowroomLocation: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

September 22the endless Summer at Alex’s barCelebrate the end of summer with a barbecue, drinks and some live local music. Starting at 12 p.m., some of the live bands taking the stage include: The Digs, The 87’s, Bombon, Dali’s Rose, Basque and more. This will be an all-day event. Tickets cost $10.d e t a i l s : w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m /events/618099548214768/Venue: Alex’s BarLocation: 2913 E. Anaheim St, Long Beach

September 27daddyosGodmothers Saloon is hosting the Daddyos, from 9 to 10 p.m., Sept. 27.details: (310) 833-1589; www.godmotherssaloon.comVenue: Godmothers SaloonLocation: 302 W. 7th St., San Pedro

the VitalitiesThe Vitalities are performing at the San Pedro Brewing Company, starting at 10 p.m. Sept. 27. There will be a $3 cover charge.details: (310) 831-5663; www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing CompanyLocation: 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

September 28the torrance employee Variety ShowThe City of Torrance employees presents The Torrance Employee Variety Show, at 7 p.m. Sept. 28, at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance.Don’t miss this exciting show with the City of Torrance employees joining together for an evening of homegrown entertainment and humor at their 15th annual variety show. Admission is $17.50.details: (310) 781-7171Venue: James Armstrong TheatreLocation: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

September 29tapestry Carole King tributeAlvas Showroom is hosting Tapestry Carole King Tribute, 4 p.m., Sept. 29. The seven-member band will replicate Carole King’s performances, using the piano, guitar, bass, keyboard, sax, flute and drums. Admission is $20.details: (800) 403-3447; www.alvasshowroom.comVenue: Alvas ShowroomLocation: 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

September 21How money WorksPrimerica presents Financial Wellness Seminar: How Money Works, 7 p.m. Sept. 21, at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. This is an informative seminar that will focus on the financial problems most people face. Admission is free.details: (866) 836- 9077Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts Center: Garden Room ALocation: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

Salt marsh Open House at Cabrillo marine AquariumExplore the Salinas de San Pedro salt marsh, from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 21, with your binoculars, camera, curiosity and friends. You might get a chance to see some of the many animal residents of the marsh with the guidance of a Sea Ranger naturalist or Cabrillo Marine Aquarium staff. Watch for resident and migratory birds, fish, and other inhabitants as you observe tidal changes. Learn about native wetlands, coastal sage scrub and the benefits of native plants.d e t a i l s : ( 3 1 0 ) 5 4 8 - 7 5 6 2 , w w w .cabrillomarineaquarium.orgVenue: Cabrillo Marine AquariumLocation: 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro

September 27An evening of Women’s empowermentMujeres Unidas are inviting all women and female identified persons to meet the current members of the collective, Sept. 27 at 6:30 p.m. You will be able to hear about their work in Wilmington, and dialogue around social justice.details: vivalamujer310@gmail.comVenue: Mariscos Agua VerdeLocation: 625 W. Pacific Coast Hwy, Wilmington

September 28roller derbyThe Wounded Warrior Project charity presents Roller Derby, 6 p.m. Sept. 28. Want to play roller derby? You’re welcomed to here with no experience required. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Children younger than 12 and personnel with military identification may participate free of charge.details: www.beachcitiesrollerderby.comVenue: Wilson Park RinkLocation: 2400 Jefferson Ave., Torrance

explore Historic GardenThe Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum will be open to tour at 11 a.m. Sept. 28. Attendees will explore the rose garden, cactus garden, hidden grottos and more. They will learn about the plants that inhabit the Rancho and the history of its gardens. The tour is free of charge.details: (310) 603-0088; www.dominguezrancho.orgVenue: Dominguez Rancho Adobe MuseumLocation: 18127 S. Alameda St., Rancho Dominguez

Pictured: Drag and Drop by Phog Masheeen.

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theater/Film

Calendar from page 15.

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Art

Shane Salerno’s exhaustive documentary about one of America’s most enigmatic and reclusive literary figures still manages to leave out essential elements that are only alluded to in the film.

A cavalcade of interviews with J.D. Salinger’s associates, admirers, biographers, friends, girlfriends, family members, and those on the periphery of the author’s career trajectory of outrageous success, combine to flesh out an abstract portrait of a deeply committed writer whose demons are never clearly defined.

Stylistic choices — such as a theatrical stage setting where projected images oversee an actor seated at a manual typewriter with pages scattered about — help to fill in where a greater wealth of archive photos and film clips of the famously camera-shy Salinger would have been helpful. The filmmaker is forced to continually reuse a handful of photos to portray a complex man with a longstanding affinity for much younger women. Salinger’s obsession with the loss of innocence found footing in more than merely his writings.

The film excels during its descriptions of “Jerry” Salinger’s 299 days of military service during World War II that commenced with the writer-soldier’s participation in the D-Day attack on the beaches of Normandy, which left many of his fellow fighters dead or mutilated.

Commentary from a war buddy, and the son of another soldier in Salinger’s troop, provide insight into Salinger the soldier who carried copies of his unfinished book on him at all times. Salinger’s traumatic experiences inspecting a burned-out

Nazi concentration camp where thousands of Jewish corpses lay rotting provide a context for his fragile mental state as he was writing Catcher In the Rye while serving as a soldier— a book that has sold over 60 million copies, and continues to sell 250,000 copies each year. We learn that Salinger suffered from a nervous breakdown after the horrors he witnessed and survived, but don’t get a detailed account of what the “breakdown” entailed.

Accounts of Salinger’s failed marriages — one to a “Nazi,” and another to Claire Douglas, with whom he had two children, Margaret and Matthew — fail to provide much perspective on Salinger’s changeable personality that kept him sequestered in a cabin “bunker” away from his family for days and weeks at a time. Hardly any discussion of J.D. Salinger’s flirtation with various religions — such as Paramahansa Yogananda and Christian Science — is given. Even Salinger’s preferred method of wooing girls by writing letters, receives a cursory treatment behind an otherwise illuminating series of interviews with Joyce Maynard, the young writer who Salinger brought to live with him for nine months, when she was 18.

Salinger culminates with information about the scheduled release of five books that J.D. Salinger spent the last 45 years of his life writing. The film functions well as a clarion publicity bell for an author who never again wanted to suffer the anonymity-stealing effects of fame after finding himself in its inviting waters, regardless of how hard he had worked to get there. Rated PG-13. 120 minutes (B) (Three Stars – out of five/no halves)

By Cole Smithey, Guest Columnist

Shane Salerno’s Documentary Gets Close

Searching for Salingereducator Key to Sea WorkshopThe Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is offering an educator workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Sept. 28. Educators are provided with curricula and resources for the kindergarten through fifth grades, to integrate watershed education in their classrooms. The workshop will include hands-on activities that can be done in the classroom.details: (310) 548-7562; www.healthbay.org/key2seaVenue: Cabrillo Marine AquariumLocation: 3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro

Hispanic Heritage day CelebrationThe Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Day, 11 a.m., Sept. 28. The community will have the chance to explore different cultures that make up Latin America, including the cultural legacy left behind by the Dominguez family. The event will give attendees a chance to listen to speakers from different Hispanic origins, sharing their story during a live history camp and an interactive play area for children.details: (310) 603-0088; www.dominguezrancho.orgVenue: Dominguez Rancho Adobe MuseumLocation: 18127 S. Alameda St., Rancho Dominguez

OCtOber 3Free Open House for educatorsThe Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is offering a free open house for educators from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 3. Guest will be able to visit the Marine Laboratory to see it in action, learn about the life cycles of a jellyfish and touch live animals. Guests will also be provided a preview of the aquarium’s many resource programs and information on registering to participate. Admission to the event is free and parking will be validated. d e t a i l s : ( 3 1 0 ) 5 4 8 - 7 5 6 2 ; w w w .cabrillomarineaquarium.orgVenue: Cabrillo Marine AquariumLocation: 3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro

September 20Corpus Christi at First CongregationalThe Center presents Corpus Christi at First Congregational, 8 p.m., Sept. 20. The modern day passion play imagines Jesus Christ as a gay man living in 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas. Tickets are $35 for VIP seating and $20 for general admission. Visit the website below to order tickets.details: www.corpuschristi-themovie.comVenue: First Congregational ChurchLocation: 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach

EquusThe Long Beach Playhouse presents Equus, 8 p.m., Sept. 20. The play runs until Oct. 7. Friday and Saturday’s showings are at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s showings are at 2 p.m. Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist, is confronted by Alan Strang, a boy who has blinded six horses in a violent fit of passion. The boy’s parents call this a hideous mystery, for Alan loves horses. Tickets are $24 a piece.details: (562) 494-1014: option #1; www.lbplayhouse.orgVenue: Long Beach PlayhouseLocation: 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

September 21miss nigeria in America beauty pageantMiss Nigeria in America presents the M.N.I.A. Beauty Pageant, from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 21, at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance. The Miss Nigeria in American Beauty Pageant 2013 is a fusion of two cultures within a global environment that seeks to enhance the rich culture of Nigeria through arts, social service and entertainment while showcasing the talent and achievements of the Nigerian woman in America. Admission

is $42.50.details: (310) 781-7171Venue: James Armstrong TheatreLocation: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

residents tell their Housing Stories in Upcoming FilmThe Art Theatre will be showing a documentary on residents who tell their housing stories, 12 to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 21. Six different individuals tell stories of how Long Beach families are challenged to find quality housing that is affordable. The project is part of a larger storytelling project by the non-profit organization Housing Long Beach, which works to increase and improve the supply of affordable housing in Long Beach. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully welcomed. Tickets must be ordered at the website listed below.details: (562) 531-1788; www.housinglb.org/filmVenue: Art TheatreLocation: 225 E. 4th St., Long Beach

September 27Handsome Little devils presents Squirm burpee CircusThe Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation presents Handsome Little Devils Presents Squirm Burpee Circus, 8 p.m., Sept. 27. The Squirm Burpee Circus will amaze you with classic Vaudeville entertainment from slapstick to chainsaw juggling, serenading to swing dancing, the Ladder of Love, The Human Cannonball and the Baron’s Magic Hour. Tickets are $30.details: (310) 781-7171; www.handsomelittledevils.comVenue: James Armstrong TheatreLocation: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

H.p. Lovecraft Film FestivalCelebrate the legendary and classic author of a number of short stories and novels that still have a resonating effect today. This three–day event, from Sept. 27 through the 29, will showcase a number of short films and feature-length films based off Lovecraft lore and stories. Single day tickets start at $20. The event begins at 5 p.m. For tickets visit: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/447530details: www.hplfilmfestival.com/los-angeles-caVenue: The Warner Grand TheatreLocation: 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

OCtOber 1temples and rituals of mesoamericaThe Torrance Cultural Services Division presents Artful Days: Temples and Rituals of Mesoamerica, from 12:10 to 1 p.m. Oct. 1, at the George Nakano Theatre in Torrance. The Mayans said we had it all wrong when the end of the world was predicted for December 2012. This event covers life within the civilizations of the Mayans and Aztecs. Admission is free.details: (310) 818-2326; tferren@torranceca.govVenue: George Nakano TheatreLocation: 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance

September 19push and FlowThe Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center is showcasing the Push and Flow art gallery, Sept. 13 through Oct. 10. This exhibition is an investigation of the concept of Flow, developed by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the field of Positive Psychology.The gallery is open on Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. A lecture will be given at 2 p.m. Oct. 5, on how Flow facilitates creativity and well being.details: (310) 802-5440; www.citymb.infoVenue: Manhattan Beach Creative Arts CenterLocation: 1560 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach

September 21I Am- Open photo ShootThe Center is celebrating diversity with an open photo shoot, from 12 to 5 p.m. Sept. 21, in Long Beach.Get your photo taken, bring your friends and show us your unique personality. The event is open to everybody

in the LGBT community and its allies. People of all ages are welcome, but if you are younger than the age of 18, a parent or guardian must accompany you. The suggested donation for an individual photo is $10 and for a group or couple it is $20. Each photo session includes five shots.details: (562) 434-4455; www.centerlb.orgVenue: The CenterLocation: 2017 E. 4th St., Long Beach

was too small to hold it,” Shorty said. “I couldn’t hardly get my arms around it.”

At 16, Shorty was accomplished enough that his first tour was with Ray Charles on the Chitlin Circuit in Southern cities.

“We were like family on that tour,” Shorty said of the experience.

They toured for three years together before Charles abandoned the circuit after he became a crossover hit.

At 19, Shorty moved to the West Coast to play with Sam Cooke. Shorty was invited to join the band by Cooke’s band leader Sam Tate.

“I did two tours with Sam Cooke,” Shorty said. “Cliff White was on guitar. Lou Rawls and JW Alexander were also in the band.”

The group broke up after two years. He cites Cooke’s untimely death as a tragedy not only in his life, but for the entire world of music.

Shorty gigged steadily through the 50s 60s and 70s, often working as an auto mechanic during the day and playing music at night.

Shorty has influenced a lot of artists in his 60 years in music—the biggest of those artists was his brother-in-law, Jimi Hendrix.

Shorty recounted how he met Jimi after he met and married Jimi’s step-sister, Marsha:

A family reunion was coming up and Marsha said, ‘I want you to meet my brother’, but she never said it was Jimi Hendrix, because of course I was familiar with him. When Jimi came in for the reunion, he said, “Welcome to the family brother. I’ve watched you many times.” Turns out, he would go AWOL from the military to watch my shows and guys would cover for him.

Jimi said he had been watching me, ‘I learned a lot from you.’ Jimi said. He told me I was one of the most amazing guitar players he had ever seen. He started showing me some of the things he had picked up from me. He even tried turning flips with his guitar but he got injured trying that, so he quit that and started setting his guitar on fire. We buried Jimi in Seattle in 1970, two weeks after Marsha and I broke up.

Today, Shorty regularly plays a screaming version of “Hey Joe” at his performances. Shorty is planning a tribute album to his late brother-in-law. Shorty’s psychedelic performance delivers a scorching, burning version true to the original.

So, are you experienced?

from page 14.

Guitar Shorty

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from page 11. Calendar from page 16.

the city presented the legendary jazz chanteuse with a city plaque.

“Everyone in Carson including the Mayor joined in to help me with my health issues,” she said. “I cried. For a whole city to help was incredible.”

Since recovering from her health crisis, Morrison has worked tirelessly in raising money for diabetes awareness and research.

Morrison, who turned 61 on Sept. 10, has been headlining a series of concerts leading up to her Sept. 28-29, “A Walk with Barbara,” to raise fund for her center and diabetes awareness.

Morrison explains that she is using her health issues and her birthday to raise funds for her center and for diabetes. She has planned 15 events leading up to ‘A Walk With Barbara’ Sept. 28 and 29 in Leimert Park and she will have concerts and a walk for diabetes.

With regards to the importance of the Carson Jazz Festival, Morrison says the priority is on promotion of the music. She acknowledged the Carson Jazz festival role in supporting jazz in Southern California for the past 30 years.

“Publicity is always the key to anything as important as this festival,” Morrison said.

“It is very important for the people living in this city to know that they are not being ignored as far as the arts are concerned. I personally like the setting and the set up. The grounds are very comfortable, friendly, suitable for the vendors. I have performed festivals all over the world, paid and free, and my conclusion on a scale of 1 to 10, Carson is one of the best.”

Morrison and her band, which includes Ronald Bishop on piano; Richard Taylor on bass, Peter Buck on drums, and Charles Small on guitar, have worked together for more than 30 years. They have acquired near telepathy when they perform. So

audiences can expect tightly produced sets for which Morrison and her band are known.

Hardest WorkIng WoMan In Jazz

Known as one of the hardest working jazz musician around, it seems that Morrison has embarked on a mission of bringing to life the jazz and blues legacies of women artists, which includes most recently her production I Want to Be Loved, a Tribute to Dinah Washington, which opened in February of this year.

In April, she produced the show, My Name is Eartha But You May Call Me Miss Kitty at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, and closed with critical success. Kitt, a jazz singer who gained broader recognition in film in the 1950s and 60s, opened doors for African American women.

Morrison’s next production, Just Old Men Talking, a play about four elderly black men from Bluff Hill, Ala., engaging in conversation and expounding on the “talk of the time,”

BarBara MorrIson

tri Art FestivalEnjoy the San Pedro Tri Art Festival, free and dedicated to the arts, showcasing dance, music and crafts to bring people together, Sept. 21 and 22.details: http://triartsp.com/Venue: Ports O’Call VillageLocation: 1199 Nagoya Way, San Pedro

125th San pedro birthday CelebrationThe San Pedro Art Association is hosting the celebration of San Pedro’s 125th birthday, from 1 to 5 p.m., Sept. 21. To make this a real birthday party, people are encouraged to use their talents to make and decorate a regular size cake with their art, business name or logo, family name or some other piece of San Pedro history. In addition to the cake, artists are encouraged to bring artwork that shows off San Pedro in its subject matter. If you are bringing a cake, please contact Bungy Hedly at (310) 831-6397.details: (310) 613-0912; spaa@sanpedroart.orgVenue: Croatian Cultural CenterLocation: 510 W. 7th St., San Pedro

Contemporary Sculpture Los Angeles A group of artists reflecting the diversity and the broad potential for expression that is found in the world of sculpture unites. Each artist shares a desire to explore form, concept and media. Runs through Oct. 26.details: (310) 429–0973; www.pszaskgallery.com Venue: Zask GalleryLocation: 550 Deep Valley Drive #151, Rolling Hills Estates

Jamie Sweetman, drawingsJamie’s drawings employ a variety of drawing materials. Her background research in human anatomy and dissection has strongly influenced her drawings. The relationship between various plant forms and the human body’s numerous systems are evident in these Surreal works. Runs through Oct. 5. details: (562) 436-1600; www.stonerosegallery.comVenue: Stone Rose GalleryLocation: 342 E. 4th St., Long Beach

highlight the oral tradition in communities of African descent. This show opens Sept. 20 at Morrison’s performing arts center.

The site www.barbaramorrison.com has a donation button if anyone wants to participate towards her performing arts center and her walk for diabetes.

Carson Jazz Festival is free and is from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. VIP tickets are $75, which includes a catered meal and unlimited amount of non-alcoholic drinks. This year’s festival features Lenny Williams, Barbara Morrison, Jazz in Pink, AALON and Guitar Shorty.Venue: Anderson ParkLocation: 19101 Wilmington Ave., Carson

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19

The Local Publication You Actually Read September 20 - October 3, 2013

Fictitious Business name Statement

File no. 2013143691The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: level 2 languages, 1374 W. 37th Street, San Pedo CA 90731. County of Los Angeles. Regis-tered owner(s) Mark Sanden, 1374 W. 37th Street, San Pedo Ca 90731. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above in 07/24/13. I declare that all information in this statement is true and cor-rect. (A registrant who declares as true information, which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of a crime.). S/ Mark Sanden. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on July 24, 2013. Notice- In acxcordance with Subdivi-sion (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Business Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A New Fictitious Business State-ment must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or com-mon law (See Section 14411 et. Seq., Business and Professions Code). Amended (New Filing): 08/08/13, 08/22/13, 09/03/13, 09/17/13

Fictitious Business name Statement

File no. 2013168713The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Crème De la Crust, 6622 W. 86th Pl, Apt 1, Westchester, Ca 90045. County of Los Angeles. Regis-tered owner(s) Andrea Marie Philips, 6622 W. 86th Pl., Apt 1, Westchester, CA 90045. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fictitious business

name or names listed above in 08/01/13. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true informa-tion, which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of a crime.). S/ Andrea Philips. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Aug. 13, 2013. Notice- In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Business Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, ex-cept as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to sec-tion 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A New Ficti-tious Business Statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Busi-ness Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or common law (See Section 14411 et. Seq., Busi-ness and Professions Code). Amended (New Filing): 09/05/13, 09/19/13, 10/04/13, 10/18/13

Fictitious Business name Statement

File no. 2013181766The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: rameses tax Services, 24328 Vermont Ave., Unit315, Harbor City, Ca 90710. County of Los Angeles. Registered owner(s) Gary L. Bodaheley, 3060 Gold Star Dr., Apt 294, Long Beach, CA 90810. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above in N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and cor-rect. (A registrant who declares as true information, which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of a crime.). S/ Gary L. Bodaheley. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 2013. Notice- In accordance with Sub-division (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Business Statement

generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A New Fictitious Business State-ment must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS FILINGS

another under Federal, State, or common law (See Section 14411 et. Seq., Business and Professions Code). Amended (New Filing): 09/05/13, 09/19/13, 10/04/13, 10/18/13

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Fictitious Business name Statement

File no. 2013183307The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: rolling Hills general Store Decor,

former residents) and original documentation to tell this history, though he doesn’t cite his sources. The numerous comments, praising the blogger for his research, seem to vouch for the veracity of the blogger’s telling of this history. In fact, many of these commenters added to the history, as the conversation sparked trips down memory lane.

The commenters expanded the collective memory as they told their stories that tied to real events that all Real San Pedrans experienced, whether it was attending Barton Hill Elementary school, Dana Middle School and/or San Pedro High School, or taking a dip in Bare Ass Beach adjacent to Mexican Hollywood near where the Vincent Thomas Bridge is today.

Commenters remembered

the brawls that took place at Peck Park through Cabrillo Beach and the community outrage that resulted. Many of these commenters, representative of those who survived their youth, who are of the same age group as the ones Marconi refers to in his “Real San Pedran” column, went on to become productive members of the community.

Judging from the comments, they share the same experiences and memories as those “real” San Pedrans, but I’m not convinced that “Polite San Pedro” would acknowledge them as “real” San Pedrans.

San Pedro has one of the lowest crime rates in Los Angeles and that’s during a period in which the city has seen the lowest crime rates in 40 years. The poorer and browner parts of San Pedro are rendered invisible unless police helicopters are sent overhead.

Can a community unable

26947 Rolling Hills Rd., Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274. County of Los Angeles. Registered owner(s) Pauline Lupo-Becker, 28718 Mt. Langley Ct, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above in N/A. I declare that all informa-tion in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information, which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of a crime.). S/ Pauline Lupo-Becker. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Sep. 03, 2013. Notice- In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fic-titious Business Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A New Fictitious Business State-ment must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or com-mon law (See Section 14411 et. Seq., Business and Professions Code). Amended (New Filing): 09/05/13, 09/19/13, 10/04/13, 10/18/13

Fictitious Business name Statement

File no. 2013181766The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: ramses tax Service, 24328 Vermont

Ave., Unit 315, Harbor City, CA 90710. County of Los An-geles. Registered owner(s) Gary L. Bodahely, 3060 Gold Star Dr. Apt. 294, Long Beach, Ca 90810. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above in N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and cor-rect. (A registrant who declares as true information, which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of a crime.). S/ Gary L. Bodahely. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 2013. Notice- In accordance with Sub-division (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Business Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A New Fictitious Business State-ment must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Name in violation of the rights of another under Federal, State, or com-mon law (See Section 14411 et. Seq., Business and Professions Code). Amended (New Filing): 09/19/13, 10/04/13, 10/18/13, 11/01/13

to see itself attain true unity? Eighty-eight words in a 550-word column sparked 101 L.A. Weekly comments defending San Pedro’s honor, and thousands more were posted on Facebook and Twitter.

As a matter of fact, during San Pedro High School’s football game on Aug. 30, hundreds of real surly San Pedrans trekked 200 miles to Morro Bay to root for their home team. Before the game even started, the Pedro fans started in with the trash-talk, “Yeah...we’re going to kick your asses!” and “You guys are going down!”

“One fan even shouted, “Yeah, we’re surly. So what?”

At least for now, “surly” San Pedro residents are united in their distaste for Dennis Romero’s depiction of San Pedro and are fired up with fighting words to prove how unsurly they really are.

Surly, So What?from p. 7

RANDOMLetters

at this site…the potential for that catastrophe continues to grow every single day on multiple levels. Why must the devastation always precede the action? “Why” does our government not employ a more proactive behavior in the protection of our people? Especially, when those in power are fully aware of the magnitude of that danger.

Janet Schaaf-GunterSan Pedro

Obama Seeking Public Trust for Syria

How can you seek public trust for Syria when the Obama Administration cannot get the facts straight. John Kerry in his attempt to seek public approval to bomb and send missiles to Syria is saying, “the only people to have used chemical weapons was Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein.”

During the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1971, the US military sprayed 20 million gallons of chemical herbicides and defoliants in South Vietnam. This carcinogen was called Agent Orange/dioxin, which had

concentrations of TCDD in the soil and water hundreds of times greater than levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental

from p. 9

Protection Agency. Over 39, 419 American

soldiers who were in South Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange and have experienced over 14 different types of diseases associated with this chemical. Kerry should not use examples of other dictators or countries using chemical warfare unless he includes the U.S.

Ted TesterSan Pedro

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