The Lagunan

Hello, Hiatus

2008-08-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Lagunan is taking an indefinite hiatus. Thanks for checking in.

2008-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

"It didn't go half-bad." That was the assessment by the NEW YORK TIMES of Obama's Berlin speech. Recognizing that a tipping point has been reached, a great opportunity embodied by the "presumptive candidate," Obama has been met with rock-star status across the continent. Can we let Europeans vote in our fall election?

Just a Cartoon

2008-07-17T16:50:00.001-07:00

It's a political season -- so let's have a look at what's out there, shall we?

This retort to the Obama NEW YORKER cover was too good to pass up.

Matisse and Mozart need a home!

2008-07-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Attention Animal lovers! ....From Karen's friend Judith:

I am looking for a home for my wonderful kitties. I am moving to Thailand to help build an entertainment business with a longtime friend. I plan to be there at least a year. Their home can be temporary or permanent. Matisse is 2 years old this month and Mozart will be 9 mos. on the 15th of this month. They are both very loving and playful, love to be petted, they're both talkers and will bring you much joy. (That's Mozart napping, and Matisse smiling.)

Finding Matisse and Mozart a home is urgent. I can be reached by email or phone: 323-314-4499(c) or 323-419-0086 (h).
Thanks so much for your help.

Judith Walton

The 1932 Bonus March

2008-05-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

If you think our war veterans don't get the respect they deserve NOW -- read this tidbit from today's Writer's Almanac. Herbert Hoover definitely had a tin ear when it came to his public image.....

It was on this day in 1932 that World War I veterans began arriving in Washington, D.C., demanding their military bonuses about 15 years early. Congress had approved the bonuses as a retirement plan back in 1924, and those bonuses weren't supposed to be paid until 1945, when the soldiers had reached the age of retirement. But it was the Great Depression, and most of those veterans were out of work and living in poverty, and they were desperate for early bonuses to help them survive.

The Bonus March was the idea of an unemployed former Army sergeant named Walter Waters, who stood up at a veterans' meeting in Portland, Oregon, on March 15, 1932, and said that every man at the meeting should hop a train to Washington, D.C., and demand the money that was rightfully his.

Walter Waters and his men arrived in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1932. Over the next few months, about 25,000 others joined them. They had been congregating in D.C. for almost a month when the bonus bill finally came to the floor. It was passed by the House of Representatives, but it was defeated in the Senate two days later. Many of the Bonus Marchers went home, disappointed, but the original group of men stayed behind, vowing to remain until they received justice.

President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army to drive them out of town. Several Army battalions of cavalry and tanks advanced on the veterans, tossing tear-gas grenades and setting the shantytown on fire. Over the next week, newspapers and newsreels showed images of veterans fleeing the burning shantytown with their families, through clouds of tear gas and smoke, followed by tanks and mounted troops waving swords. It was a public relations disaster. When presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt read a newspaper article about the eviction, he said, "This will elect me," and he was right.

Those Cute Blue and White Buses

2008-05-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

As aggrieved as we all are about the price of gas and the lack of downtown parking, let’s get real. Honestly? We can’t pry ourselves out from behind the wheel. Why, when Laguna Beach is blessed with an efficient, subsidized, vastly underutilized local bus system that can save local residents all kinds of money and let them leave the driving hassles to someone else?

The local bus system covers most of Laguna’s neighborhoods. Chances are you have a bus stop within a few blocks of your home. It’s actually fun and freeing to get on the little blue and white bus and head downtown, unencumbered by an automobile. You can hop off at any of the stops, run your errands, and have the bus return you practically to your doorstep, all for $1 each way. The schedule is easy to figure out –- buses leave the depot on Broadway every hour at half past (except during the noon to one o’clock hour -- bus drivers need to eat, too). Click on the link on the right to access route and schedule info.

If you have children, so much the better – they ride for free, and for my kids, when they were small, the Little Blue Bus was as good as an amusement park ride. Now that they are older, the bus is a ticket to freedom and independence – for them, and for me as their personal chauffeur. It is also a confidence-builder – when they visit a real city with a functional public transportation system, it won’t be a totally foreign experience. It doesn’t get much safer or easy to figure out than riding the short, easy routes and friendly drivers the city of Laguna Beach hires. With a bit of advance planning to allow for the bus schedule and a dollar in your pocket, you are free to roam about the town -- and substantially reduce your carbon footprint.

Try it! You might like it, and you can be above the fray of downtown parking problems this summer.

What's in YOUR closet?

2008-04-24T14:41:00.001-07:00

She's doing it again. So get your nice but tired-of stuff out of your closet and call Evonne to come 'n' get it. Evonne and her trusty band of volunteers are busily collecting, sorting, and tagging donations of high-quality new or gently used clothing and accessories for the second-annual Boutique Benefit, set for Saturday, May 3 at the Neighborhood Congregational Church. Proceeds will go the Laguna Relief and Resource Coalition, which provides food, clothing and services to low-income families, homeless individuals and local disaster victims. Last year's inaugural event brought in more than $10,000. To arrange a pick-up, call 949-497-2767 or e-mail info@boutiquebenefit.com. Donations can also be dropped off at the Resource Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon at 3305 Laguna Canyon Road, at Stan Oak Drive, just south of the Dog Park. All donations are tax-deductible. Information: 949-661-1236 or www.boutiquebenefit.com.

Heaven Meets Earth at Peter Sterling Harp Concert Sunday April 27

2008-04-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Harpist and Composer Peter Sterling will present a meditative evening to transport you to that peaceful place, and couldn't we all use a bit of that? It will be "a synthesis of ethereal harp sounds and mystical poetry, creating a fusion of heaven and earth."

Come be transported on Sunday, April 27 at 7 p.m. at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive at Glenneyre, Laguna Beach. Suggested donation $10. For additional information call Pam Wicks 376-8305 or the church office 494-8061.

Peter's music is a favorite the world over; Celtic, Asian and Latin flavors color his gorgeous compositions. Based in Sedona, Arizona amongst the towering majestic red rocks, Peter often performs at workshops and seminars by best selling authors such as Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsh, James Van Praag, and Terry Lynn Taylor. Peters signed with the record label Real Music to release his forthcoming CD "Shadow, Mist and Light." His most recent CD "Harp Dreams" was nominated for album of the year by New Age Reporter for 2004.

Kids Helping Kids by Washing Cars this Saturday

2008-04-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

CLC Car Wash This Saturday to Benefit
Puerta de Fe Orphanage

Community Learning Center volunteers skip annual Mexico trip
but remember their 100-plus friends

Each spring, a number of families, alumni and friends of Community Learning Center (CLC) load up their minivans and station wagons with camping gear and massive quantities of food and head to Puerta de Fe (“Door of Faith”), an orphanage south of Rosarito in Baja California’s beautiful La Mision Valley.
“Each year, we ask the directors at Door of Faith to assign us a service project – usually digging a trench or painting a dorm building -- tasks that our children can help with,” said Bill Hoffman, who has organized the weekend trip for the past 16 years. “Then we fix dinner for the 100 or so children and staffers at the orphanage and we all eat together. Most of our group camps on the grounds, so we sing and perform skits around a campfire and make s’mores and have a splendid time together.”
The next morning, the CLC contingent gets up early to fix a big Sunday breakfast for everyone. More games are played and hugs exchanged, then the group packs up and heads for the border.
But this year, the caravan will stay home. Because of high incidence of violence near the Mexico border and a subsequent travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State, CLC parents decided the risk to families was too great. The group brainstormed to come up with a different way to help the kids at Puerta de Fe while involving the students of CLC, who are in grades 1 through 4. This Saturday, they will hold a car wash to raise money to send to the orphanage, which is feeling the pinch from many such volunteer groups canceling their visits and the donations that they bring.
“The costs of running Door of Faith are substantial. We wanted to do what we have become accustomed to doing every year: sharing our bounty and creating a connection between children on opposite sides of the border,” said CLC parent Pieter Wolters. He signed up to volunteer to organize the orphanage trip – but he now finds himself collecting castoff towels and arranging time slots for CLC families to pitch in and wash cars throughout the day on Saturday.
“The really great part is the interaction between that the resident children and babies and our group. It’s magical,” Wolters added. “Differences of language, cultural and economic circumstance fall away during games of soccer or baseball, cuddling the babies and pushing toddlers on the swings. Everybody feels a kinship that feels authentic and heartwarming. We are sorry to miss out on that experience this year. We know, however, that the orphanage, which completely depends on charity, is helped most by financial aid, and this too will give our children the sense of helping others.”
The CLC Car Wash and Bake Sale to benefit Puerta de Fe Orphanage is this Saturday, April 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 550 Blumont Street at Park Avenue in the school district parking lot. Cost is $10 per car. Advance tickets are available; additional donations are gratefully accepted. Every dollar will be sent to the Door of Faith Orphanage. Tickets can be purchased from any CLC family or by contacting Pieter Wolters at pieter.wolters@yahoo.com or (949) 715-2165. For those who wish to donate but cannot come Saturday, checks can be made out to Pieter Wolters and mailed to 1285 Dunning Drive, Laguna Beach.
For information on the orphanage, visit www.dofo.org. Information about the LBUSD’s Community Learning Center, the “school within a school” for grades 1 through 4, can be found at www.lbclc.org.

Honoring Dr. King

2008-04-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1968, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to support the city's sanitation workers in their strike for better working conditions. The night before he died, he gave a speech at the Memphis Temple Church in which he said, "I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."

This is the man who also urged the nation to judge a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. The timbre of the election season demonstrates to us that we have a long way to go before we live up to this part of Dr. King's dream. We're a complicated country, and it's a delicate topic, but if we teach our children that every kind of person deserves respect, we'll move farther down the road to true equality.

Get a massage....help the homeless??

2008-03-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Carl Brown has a unique way of working toward his hourly credits as a certified massage therapist. He is asking for all payment checks for his very wonderful massages to be made out directly to Friendship Shelter, which helps temporarily homeless adults get back on their feet. Carl comes to your home with his folding massage table, is respectful and earnest, and values client feedback. If you've been hesitating to make time for the important self-care of a massage, think of this as a way to help others at the same time you take care of your body.

Here's the lowdown:
Carl has completed his training in Massage Therapy. His training was taken at the International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego, one of the top 5 Bodywork/ Massage schools in the United States (http://www.ipsb.edu/Welcome.html). All of the massage sessions are in support of the Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach. These are professional sessions conducted at the individuals residence, there is a minimum recommended donation that is suggested for the Friendship Shelter, if you have any interest scheduling a session email Carl at cabdtv@aol.com. Information about the Friendship Shelter can be found at their web site shown below.
Sessions can either be 1 hour or 90 minutes. Suggested minimum donations for the one-hour session are $40 to $60 and $60 to $80 for the 90-minute sessions. Checks are to be made out to the Friendship Shelter directly and given to Carl for delivery to the Friendship Shelter. You will receive a receipt from the Shelter for your donation and it will be 100% deductible.

Carl also does free yoga classes at Moulton Meadows Park twice a week -- here's the schedule:
http://yogainthepark.blogspot.com/

Catch this: FishPhone Finds Ocean-Friendly Dining Options

2008-03-19T08:52:00.001-07:00

You want to be ecologically correct, you really do, but you're also hungry for dinner. What to do at the seafood restaurant with a list of delicious-sounding options staring from the menu? If you order the shrimp, are you complicit in the destruction of underwater habitats? If you buy a bag of Trader Joe's frozen orange roughy, are you part of the problem, not the solution?

Help is a text-message away: the Blue Ocean Institute has launched the FishPhone, which brings sustainable seafood information straight to your cell phone or PDA. So the next time you're about to order, just text 30644 with the message "Fish" and the name of the fish in question and within seconds you'll get an environmental assessment of your choice of seafood.
Read about sustainable seafood options at www.blueocean.org/seafood

Pick It Up: April 5, May 3, et cetera

2008-03-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendar! Come out on the first Saturday mornings of each month and be part of the real Laguna Beach by helping to keep it clean. Chip McDermott has created a monthly event with his Zero Trash Laguna: bright and early each first Saturday, caring folks come out and pick up the flotsam and jetsam of the increasingly urban atmosphere we live in. Then we weigh it and, just for grins, count the number of recyclables collected. Last pickup on March 1 before the Patriots' Day Parade ZTL collected 148 lbs. of trash and 78 recyclables. That's crap that mostly would have ended up in the ocean. Thanks, Chip. It's actually a fun early-rising thing to do with your sweetie, your kids or your doggie-buddy. Adopt a street and help make Laguna more lovely! www.zerotrashlaguna.org

Up with Art: Party with LOCA

2008-03-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Stuck for an idea for a unique birthday party -- for kids or grown-ups? It doesn't get any more "Laguna" than throwing a LOCA Art Party!

LOCA (Laguna Outreach for Community Arts) is a local non-profit that makes art an everyday, accessible occurrence. The organization, under guidance by prez Sean McCracken, is branching out in new, exciting ways, and art parties is one of them. Check it out: LOCA will send one or two professional artists (don't worry, they are fabulous and have LOTS of experience with kids) to your house with all the materials and media needed to guide each guest through a fun, high-quality art project. The take-home party favor is literally a work of art -- way better than throwaway plastic toys! LOCA provides this unusual, memorable service at their cost. Get in touch with Sean at 290-5317 or at sean@welivethedream.com.

Learn more about LOCA at www.locaarts.org.

Nirvana Ahead: 50 Percent off all food for 5 days!

2008-03-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, March 15 the grand opening of Laguna's new Nirvana Grille, its second location, will benefit Friendship Shelter. Get a sneak peek a day before the "official" opening on the 16th!

Owners Lindsay Smith-Rosales, named one of the “Great Chefs of Orange County," and her husband, Luis Rosales, formerly of the Ritz Carlton and the Montage will present her signature hors d’oeuvres and a distinctive Nirvana cocktail created exclusively for the restaurant by sponsor Ketel One Vodka.

The city’s Chamber of Commerce will kick the event off with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Be part of the festivities -- call the shelter at 494-6928 for info.

And get this: the restaurant will offer 50 percent off all food and no corkage for the first five days (Sunday, March 16 to Thursday, March 20). Reservations are required.

From Jit Fong of the OC REGISTER: "I visited Nirvana Grille’s Mission Viejo restaurant in October 2006, shortly after it opened, and I was completely sold on its light, yet solidly flavored dishes. The strip mall location seemed too low-key for such a great kitchen, but that was part of the restaurant’s charm, too."
The new restaurant is located at 303 Broadway, Laguna Beach. 949-497-0027. Regular hours beginning on March 24 will be Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday 5-10 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Closed Mondays.
The existing restaurant is at 24031 Marguerite Parkway, #C, Mission Viejo. 949-380-0027.

Stuff

2008-03-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

Resource extraction as it’s currently practiced is brutal business, but it’s only part of the people-using, planet-trashing picture. Take a look at this breezy, 20-minute little chalk talk on consumption, broken into chapters that make it extra easy to use. It’s hosted by Annie Leonard, a young and irreverent expert on sustainability who spent 10 years tracking the flow of stuff from the source to the factory to the dump and beyond. The Story of Stuff shows the connections between lifestyles and their impacts in an era of “changing climates and declining happiness.”

And the story ends on an upbeat note. As Leonard explains, “The good thing about such an all-invasive problem is there are so many points of intervention!”

http://www.storyofstuff.com

- From Peace x Peace newsletter 3/6/08

Peace is Patriotic

2008-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

My friend Laurel of the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil called with a last-minute request for marchers in this Saturday's Patriots' Day Parade. It starts at 11 a.m., but Laurel said the group is slated at position #81 and you needn't show up until 11:45 (in the parking lot of the LBUSD on Blumont Street at Park Avenue). Or you can feel free to join from the sidelines if you want, or double-dip if you or your kids are marching with another group.

Laurel said she will have lots of various "approved" pro-peace signs you can carry. She asks that you please don't bring your own signs as the group is allowed to display only our own banners and a number of pro-peace signs (negotiated with and pre-approved by the parade committee).

Laurel would love to see lots of children and families participate. If you're a member of Veterans for Peace, MFSO, CODEPINK, etc. please wear your group's shirts, hats and insignia etc. to help let the community know the diversity and strength of our commitment to PEACE .

For further information, call Pat Cohee:(949) 494-6649 or e-mail: lagunapoets@mindspring.com
What could be more patriotic than peace?

From: OC To: Afghanistan

2008-02-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a chance to make your compassion echo on the other side of the world. And you only need to drive to Huntington Beach on Saturday, Feb. 23 (or deliver items before then to a local bank)!

The details:
It's been a devastatingly cold winter in Afghanistan, according to Mary Urashima, who's heading up the Airlift for Afghan Children humanitarian effort. Warm clothing is desperately needed. Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Huntington Beach, the Airlift is an effort to get blankets, children’s clothes, children’s shoes, infant care items, school supplies (crayons, coloring books, pencils) and stuffed animals (no hard toys) into the hands of people in great need. Items should be new or gently used - and clean, of course. Organizers ask that items are appropriate for Afghanistan -- no political or religious symbols or slogans. please. The Kiwanis will airlift collected items via U.S. military transport by February 29.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers please arrive to help with packing by 10 a.m.
YMCA – Huntington Beach
19891 Beach Blvd. Suite 17, Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Questions: Volunteer Coordinator Sonali Fiske (949) 254-3538, Sonali.fiske@gmail.com

You can also drop items off during business hours at Independence Bank, 18101 Magnolia Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 before Feb. 23.
Questions about your donation? Contact Kiwanis liaison Mary Urashima, (714) 374-8360, Urashima@earthlink.net

DIRECTIONS to YMCA from the 405 Freeway:
Take the Ellis / Euclid exit and head west (toward ocean)
Left on Beach Boulevard
The YMCA warehouse (19891 Beach Blvd., Suite 17) is located on the west side of Beach Boulevard, between Adams Avenue and Yorktown Avenue

David routs Goliath, 8-2

2008-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

The California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to reject the planned 241 Toll Road and to protect Trestles and San Onofre State Beach. Nearly four thousand people turned out for a historic meeting in Del Mar on Wednesday, making it clear to the commissioners that the destruction of state parks and coastal resources is unacceptable.

The record-breaking crowd was comprised of a diverse cross-section of beach users including surfers, students, families, seniors, fishermen as well as a large number of Native American tribal representatives. Also on hand was a massive contingent from the surf industry, including various manufacturers, shapers, media representatives and pro athletes. The Sierra Club, California State Parks Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Endangered Habitats League, Sea and Sage Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, WildCoast and countless others joined in the effort. While this decision is likely not the death knell for the toll road we would like, there will be a major uphill battle for the TCA to overcome.

What does it mean? For now, good news, but, as my friend Janine points out, those who would preserve our open space must begin to look at activism as a lifestyle.

Janine writes:
Orange County’s pro-development-at-any-expense machine was there in full force: City officials from almost every city in Orange County, as well as local and state representatives Tom Harman, Pat Bates, Mimi Walters, and Joe Campbell, all spewed support for the toll road. Laguna's council members Toni Iseman and Jane Egly were there to fight to preserve the park. It was clear that only the efforts to reach outside the OC border and make this a statewide issue spared the park from the toll road, which would open thousands of acres of wilderness up to massive development.

This was a huge victory for Trestles and the State Park. However, it may never be over. We need to make protecting and defending our coastal resources a lifestyle, especially since we live in Orange County, where most of our elected officials support development and roads over open space and clean beaches. Support (join and finance!) the groups that fight for our parks and beaches: the Sierra Club, Surfrider and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy!!

The TCA will be back. They have no choice—they only know how to build toll roads. They are expected to make some type of appeal to the federal commerce secretary…

A huge lesson: Right after the vote at about 11:30 p.m. I spoke with several of the rejoicing Coastal Commission staff members, who spent years putting together an exhaustive report that proved the toll road would be environmentally devastating on many levels and violated the Coastal Act on almost every front. They thanked all of us who attended, and said it was most likely the pressure from the huge numbers of people who showed up that helped the CCC do the right thing. Grass roots activism can work!!

Currently, our state parks and special places we believed were protected for posterity are under assault. We need to work to beef up our laws to protect these resources! Get involved!

How about a quickie?

2008-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

Whether you're going to the Coastal Commission hearing or not, why not take a minute and sound off via the the California State Parks Foundation e-activism campaign. It's takes little time, and they need to hear from as many people as possible. Go to the URL below and check out what's at stake, and send your own message directly to the relevant decision makers:

http://ga3.org/campaign/ccc_action_0108?rk=z73Hg0Yqrm-tW

Big Wednesday: Save Trestles 2/6

2008-01-30T14:48:00.000-08:00

If building a for-profit private toll road through a state coastal park sticks in your craw, come out and let the California Coastal Commission know. This is THE most important hearing in regards to protecting Trestles and San Onofre State Park. Surfrider Foundation is organizing carpools and buses to bring an enormous crowd to the decision-makers for a hearing in Del Mar that will determine the future of allowable uses of open parkland, and a treasured surf break. Please help spread the word to all your family and friends in Southern California.

What: Crucial Vote to Save Trestles at California Coastal Commission

When: Wednesday, February 6th, 2008. Please arrive by 9 a.m.

Where: Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd. Del Mar, CA 92014 - Just off the I-5 in Del Mar at Via de la Valle exit., click here for directions. Please carpool or take one of our buses if you can.

The Surfrider Foundation and partners are renting buses and organizing carpools in San Clemente and San Diego. We are also providing lunch, t-shirts, and posters/signs for all supporters. Surfrider has it all organized -- you need only show up. If you have questions about the hearing, or are interested in organized transportation, email Stefanie Sekich at: SSekich@surfrider.org

In the meantime, please take some time to do two things. First, if you haven't already, click here send a quick letter to the Coastal Commission. Then, create a Youtube video telling the California Coastal Commission why you want to Save Trestles and San Onofre State Park and upload it to our site: www.youtube.com/group/savesanonofre .
For more details and all of the updates, check out the Save Trestles Blog

Worth a Thousand Words

2008-01-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

US President George W. Bush leans over to talk with a girl after Bush participated in a lesson for young children on the importance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day during a tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, 21 January 2008. By Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty.

You said it, little girl!

The Pigsty on Park Avenue

2008-01-15T21:03:00.001-08:00

Rumor has it that the quad at the high school is a big, trash-strewn mess every day after lunchtime. Then the gulls swoop in, and the janitorial staff is left to deal with the aftermath. If this is true, what's gone wrong? Seems the administration needs to get this situation in hand and make sure students clean up after themselves, rather than furthering the undesirable (and probably mostly untrue) reputation as entitled brats who let the help pick up after them.

Trash at LBHS affects us all. From a physical standpoint, it all rolls down the hill; a mess at the high school means trash on Park Avenue, and garbage in the ocean. And as a society, if people on the verge of adulthood can't be bothered to put their lunch trash in a nearby receptacle, this can't bode well for any long-lasting environmental movement. Aren't there students at LBHS who care about this issue? Is there no idealism? Or.....even basic good manners? Can anyone set me straight on this? I welcome your comments.

Hike for LOCA!

2008-01-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

From my pal Sean:

Get ready to walk off those holiday pounds! Laguna Outreach for Community Arts (LOCA) is holding a different kind of fundraiser and invites you to participate and to bring friends, family members, and neighbors to join in the fun.

The LOCA Hike/Walk begins at Alta Laguna Park on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 9:00 am. LOCA is asking for a tax-deductible $20 donation from each participant. The routes of hiking trails or residential streets are appropriate for beginning walkers to seasoned hikers. Water will be provided.

With your participation and those of your friends, you can personally raise $80 or $100 (or more) for LOCA. Friends and family not able to participate may wish to make a donation to our organization. LOCA puts art back into our community. The monies raised help provide art programs to all our schools, the Senior Center, the Youth Center, and the Even Start program, to mention just a few. Enjoy the outdoors and meet other members! In case of rain, the hike/walk will be rescheduled for January 26. Alta Laguna Park is located at the north end of Alta Laguna Blvd in Laguna Beach.

If you have any questions, please contact LOCA at locaarts@yahoo.com, or call Valerie Gorrell at 949.481.4065.

Have Dinner, Help Out

2008-01-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

Each year, Friendship Shelter sponsors one of its most enjoyable events -- one that citizens of Laguna create themselves. Dinners Across Laguna is a festive way to raise funds for this life-altering program that helps homeless men and women get back on their feet and into jobs and apartments. If you can hold a dinner at your home, please do -- the shelter is facing some major financial hurdles and can really use your help. How does it work? Easy. You get a group of your friends together for dinner (you'd be surprised at how easy it is to ask local restaurants and caterers to donate food items) and the proceeds go to the Shelter. What a community-building (and painless) way to gather your circle together and share the abundance we enjoy. You can have an informal Pie 'n' Burger affair and invite the neighbors in, put on a buffet with a couple of friends pitching in food items, or show off your own culinary skills -- the format, the level of entertaining, the number of guests and even the date are completely up to you. Tickets are $125 each and every penny goes to help the Shelter continue its programs.
(www.friendshipshelter.org)
Why not make this the year that you host an event with real heart and meaning? Call event chair Joy Dittberner right away (949-510-8436). She can supply you with printed invitations and details about Dinners Across Laguna.

Out with the old

2008-01-09T07:46:00.001-08:00

If you missed it the last time, here's another chance to get rid of those bulky items that are a no-no to put in the trash. Computers, monitors, printers, mice, cables, fax machines, TVs and their ilk are hazardous e-waste and they must be responsibly disposed of. Surterre Properties is again sponsoring a free, no-hassle, drive-by-and-chuck-it-out drop-off of these items, on Saturday, January 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the LBUSD parking lot, 550 Blumont at Park Avenue. Mark your calendar for a January e-housecleaning!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's Day. It was Ben Franklin who said, "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better (wo)man." (Ben forgot the "wo.")

What'd you do this year that you wish you hadn't? What did you intend to do but didn't? Is making a resolution going to make anything any different this year? Maybe, maybe not. What most people don't acknowledge is that they already know full well what they need to do to lose weight, quit smoking, have better relationships, help other people more....and it changes in a moment. We decide who we are and what actions we take, from one minute to the next. You don't need a new year to tell yourself you're going to change, although I suppose if it weren't for New Year's most people would never stop to take stock. It's all about the choices you make from one minute to the next, which is all any of us have anyway, despite our projections.

On a lighter note (I hear you cheering), did anyone catch TV's oddest New Year's pairing on CNN last night? It was clear that Anderson Cooper had no idea what to do with Kathy Griffin as they gave live color commentary at Times Square. Kathy was having none of Anderson's Serious Journalist posturing -- I mean, really, how could he not know that Jamie Lynn Spears is Britney's younger sister? Et cetera, et cetera. Poor Anderson. Although I too was surprised that she is booked for three nights at Madison Square Garden, he maybe could have contained his astonishment. "Three nights? I had no idea you could fill such a big venue!" (Gee whiz, Andy, didn't your mom send you to etiquette class?) This must have been subtle payback for her earlier query: "Anderson, tell me, who in the Bush Administration would you most like to waterboard?"

And so it goes.....the clash of the titans of Serious Journalism and Trash Pop Culture -- very symbolic of our times, and a perfect snapshot of our world as the calendar rolls onward.

On Being a Conduit for Kindness

2007-12-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

My cousin Tim in Seattle sent me this; it was just too good to read and delete. Perhaps it will inspire you to do something unexpected, unnecessary and unprovoked, holiday season or no.

Anonymous acts of kindness catch on
By Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporter

Before Bob Haslam had a chance to thank her, she was gone. In the drive-up lane at a Starbucks in Lynnwood, Washington, Haslam reached out for his usual -- a nonfat raspberry latte with two Splendas stirred in. But the barista wouldn't take his money.

"She leaned way out and said, 'You're not going to believe this, but the lady ahead of you paid for your latte. She said she wanted to make your day.' " Mary Ann Johnson had a similar experience. She had just finished a salmon pot-pie dinner at Chinook's at Salmon Bay, Washington, topping it off with a chocolate sundae.

"When I got ready to go, the waitress told me, 'Your meal's been paid for by another patron. They said it was a random act of kindness.' "

Events like those don't typically make news. There's no Samaritan Index to say whether anonymous good deeds are up 11 percent or down 2 percent from last year, or whether Seattle ranks 7th or 77th in per-capita goodness.

But in countless -- and uncounted -- ways, gestures like those that touched Haslam and Johnson travel through the community like a good-deed contagion.

"I told my friends about it," said Johnson, "and the first thing they said was they'd like to do something like that. So it spreads."

Doing good unto others isn't a modern invention, but its place in the American consciousness was influenced partly by a couple of occurrences in California.

In 1982, according to popular account, writer and peace activist Anne Herbert scrawled the suggestion, "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat in a Sausalito, California, restaurant.

Then in 1993, a Bakersfield College professor, Chuck Wall, heard a radio report of "another random act of senseless violence" and urged his human-relations students to perform a "random act of senseless kindness."

Many bumper stickers, coffee mugs and refrigerator magnets later, the notion of doing something good for a stranger circulates under various names -- making someone's day, "paying it forward" (from a 2000 movie) -- or no particular name at all.

Consider the young man Mary Jurisich saw handing out bottles of chilled water and juice from a cooler along Burien, Washington,'s Seahurst Beach on a warm sunny day. He didn't have any grand label for what he was doing.

"He just said he worked at Boeing and it was his day off, so he went by Costco and came down with a big box of ice, water and juice." Jurisich, 75, said the refreshment was particularly appreciated by the older residents who frequent the park.

"He ambled all the way down the beach with that big Styrofoam box," she said. "I thought, jeepers! This is wonderful."

Doing something good for a stranger is a refreshing change from the way people usually connect in society, said William Talbott, philosophy professor at the University of Washington.

"In the modern world, we have a lot of relationships that provide reciprocal benefits: I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine ... those sorts of contractual relationships."

Although those relationships are fine -- society couldn't function without them -- people who do anonymous good deeds show us that we're not limited to self-interested relationships with one another, Talbott said.

"We can say, 'I just want to do something good for you without the expectation of getting anything in return at all.' And what a thrill it is to be on either side of that statement -- the giver or the receiver."

Even third parties can experience the benefit. The Starbucks barista and the Chinook's waitress were uplifted merely by being conduits for kindness.

It's the expression of that attitude, not the material benefit, that has the powerful effect, Talbott said. The price of a latte is insignificant compared to the joy of knowing that someone decided to buy it for you.

A few days after Johnson's free dinner at Chinook's, she decided to buy breakfast for a man she regularly sees selling coleus plants and the Real Change newspaper outside the Lake City, Washington, post office, taking him to nearby Claire's Pantry.

When it was time to go, she was shocked to hear a regular customer, who had just left, had paid for her breakfast and that of the newspaper dealer. "I know there are good people out there, but to have it happen twice in one week was amazing," she said.

The newspaper vendor, who asked that his name not be published, said ordinary generosity is more common than most people might realize. "Some people think this is a dog-eat-dog world, but I've found there are a lot of good people out here," he said. "If not for them, we'd be headed to hell in a handbag."

Sometimes an act of goodness can be triggered by tragedy.

Before the Memorial Day weekend, a couple who dine regularly at Anthony's HomePort in Des Moines, Washington, spoke to the restaurant manager.

They explained that their son had been killed in Iraq and, in his honor, they offered to pick up the dinner tabs of up to 10 parties that might come into the restaurant who appeared to be military families.

Occasionally, such a bit of generosity can make the news. A front-page Seattle Times story last August told of a 20-year-old Army reservist, recently back from Iraq, who wore his dress green uniform to take his girlfriend out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Seattle.

By the time the dessert came, other diners and the restaurant owner had paid the couple's bill.

Even encouraging a kind act comes with its own satisfaction.

When Graham Scott of Bellevue, Washington, died of a heart attack at 48 last year, his family suggested in his obituary that instead of sending flowers, anyone so inspired could perform "a random act of kindness in Graham's memory."

Afterward, Scott's mother, Barbara, said several of her co-workers told her that they would, indeed, perform such an act.

"Who did what and where and when I'll never know," she said. "And of course that's not what's important. It's just nice to know that they would be doing something." Since 1993, the phrase "random acts of kindness" has spawned a nonprofit foundation, several books and the designation of an annual kindness week in February.

Rather than being the exception, good deeds are "often unnoted and invisible as the 'ordinary' efforts of a vast majority," said the late Stephen Jay Gould, essayist and Harvard zoology professor.

On Sept. 11, 2001, as terrorists crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center, Gould was returning from Europe, but his flight was redirected to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Struck by the generosity of Halifax residents who accommodated the unexpected guests, Gould wrote, "Decent multitudes, performing their 10,000 acts of kindness, vastly outnumber the very few depraved people in our midst ... . We have every reason to maintain our faith in human kindness, and our hopes for the triumph of human potential, if only we can learn to harness this wellspring of unstinting goodness in nearly
all of us."

Catalog Creep

2007-12-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Do you have uninvited guests in your living room? That's what Bill Moyers calls the avalanche of catalogs that floods our mailboxes starting every October....and continuing throughout the year.

More than 19 billion paper catalogs are printed and thrown away each year -- that's 53 million trees and 3.6 million TONS of paper. The waste water discharges from this volume of paper comes out to 53 billion gallons of water, enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Take ten minutes right now to do something about it, and do the earth a favor. You'll save yourself the time spent sifting through unwanted catalogs, save the energy spent producing them, and help retailers target their audience to someone who cares.

Go to catalogchoice.com and go through their alphabetized list, check off everything you no longer wish to receive, and within ten weeks' time, you should be removed from the retailers' mailing lists. I thought I would have maybe 10 or 11. Would you believe my total was 53 catalogs and flyers from various companies? But I'm actually on the low end -- the average is 63 catalogs per year for every man, woman and child in the U.S. -- about 40 lbs per person!

You might be surprised at how much junk mail you receive without really noticing, but it all adds up. 'Tis far nobler to never receive than to receive and toss into the recycling bin -- where 98 percent of all catalogs end up. (Some go into the trash can -- even worse.)

Watch Bill Moyers and Daniel Katz, the founder of catalogchoice.org:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11162007/watch4.html

It's very easy (and free) to sign up for this service at Catalog Choice. Do it today!

Greenwashing

2007-11-10T17:32:00.001-08:00

Think buying a hybrid car is the answer to your guilt over ecological transportation? Think again. As a driver of an 8-year-old full-size Volvo wagon that averages 15 MPG, I was thinking I could go a little greener and buy a Prius. But I may hang onto my trusty, well-running Swedish car as an expression of true love for the earth. This tongue-in-cheek video (link below and at right) shows that there is no perfect answer -- except perhaps consuming less. There's a lot of greenwashing going on these days -- that is, advertising that seems to say the company is ecologically responsible when in fact it's just another marketing ploy.

In reality, if you resist the constant barrage of messages to buy, buy, buy items that are newly manufactured, you are actually being as green as a red-blooded American can be. "Reduce" is the first of the three Rs. This is of course heresy in a capitalistic society, but there it is.

Here's the video address, or click on the link at right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft5SSIfmeKU

Oh Jesus, Bums coming to the door - what next?

2007-11-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Poem: "A Scandal in the Suburbs" by X.J. Kennedy, from In A Prominent Bar in Secaucus

A Scandal in the Suburbs

We had to have him put away,
For what if he'd grown vicious?
To play faith healer, give away
Stale bread and stinking fishes!
His soapbox preaching set the tongues
Of all the neighbors going.
Odd stuff: how lilies never spin
And birds don't bother sowing.
Why, bums were coming to the door—
His pockets had no bottom—
And then-the foot-wash from that whore!
We signed. They came and got him.

It needs to be said. There is a campaign afoot in Laguna to run homeless people out of town. A concerted effort to paint homeless people as aggressive, undesirable panhandlers who spend their days drinking, screaming obscenities at tourists, and frightening children will likely result in brutality and unwarranted arrests. And an arrest can be very difficult to expunge; it can mean that a homeless person who's had some bad breaks can't get a much-needed job, and will therefore remains homeless.

So the question arises -- who are we? Are we citizens of Laguna Beach a tolerant, helpful, caring society? Or are we so caught up in our property values and desire for tourist dollars that we cannot countenance our share of those who aren't as lucky as we? Keep an eye on the city's Homeless Task Force and observe what new laws are being presented for enforcement. If you're an old-school Lagunan grounded in peace, justice and tolerance, you will be alarmed to note the rules of the new regime. We are under seige, and it's not from the homeless, as much as you might be led to believe . The number of homeless people in Laguna Beach has NOT risen, as our mayor has stated in city council meetings. In reality, it has remained steady for several years at about 55 people, according to the Laguna Beach Police Department -- not bad for a lovely seaside spot like ours.

If you care about this issue, be vigilant -- and be ready to become involved and speak up for those without a voice. It would seem that the Homeless Task Force is not about truly "helping" homeless people -- but rather about helping them find another town to be homeless in. More on this as it develops, or you can contact my friends Christine and Jim at 715-0209.

El Dia de Los Muertes

2007-10-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead is one of my favorite holidays, and I wish we celebrated it here in the states. Although it occurs roughly at the same time as Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls Day, the traditional mood is much brighter, with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life. In Mexico and Mexican immigrant communities in the United States and Europe, the Day of the Dead is of particular cultural importance.

What would happen if you lived each day as if it were among your last? Did you act the way way you would want to be remembered? Did you say what you really meant to say? What was your motivation - love or fear? North Americans are unnaturally fearful of death, afraid to confront much less alk about or celebrate it, whereas most other cultures embrace it as the other side of life. Discuss.

Happy Day of the Dead! Your assignment for today, should you choose to accept it: think of someone you knew who has shaken off this mortal coil, and celebrate his/her life in a joyful way.

Try this poem on for size.

Poem: "As Death Approaches" by Susan Deborah King, from One-Breasted Woman. © Holy Cow! Press, 2007.

As Death Approaches

I can't believe I'm laughing!
I'd have sworn I'd be
shaking or sniveling.
And I sure didn't expect
a limousine.
I've never been in a limousine.
No biggy.
I've had better than fame.
Who needs the pressure?
As for fortune, I'm filthy.
That's why I'm laughing.
I've had so much love:
the giving, the getting.
It's shameful.
It's embarrassing.
And it's too late.
No one can take it away!
And I've had the pain
to help me appreciate it.
Thank God for the pain!
Easy for me to say
now that I'm going!
But no, seriously,
the kicks in the teeth,
the gut, the rugs
pulled out, slammed doors,
setbacks, snubs.
Without them, I'd
never have recognized
Love, bedraggled,
plain eyes shining,
happy to see me.
Do I want more?
Of course I want more!
I always want more
of everything: money, hugs,
lovemaking, art, butter,
woods, flowers, the sea,
M&Ms, chips, tops, bottoms,
trips — I did give up drinking —
time, sure, and yes,
I'd like to see
my grandchildren,
if there are any.
I'd like to see my books
but more has never
been good for me anyway.
Enough — that's what I've
always needed to learn,
and is there a better way?
So this laughter
I had to work up to
through so many tears,
it just keeps coming
like a fountain, a spray.
Let it light on you
refreshment, benediction,
as I'm driven away.

Healing Christofer

2007-10-31T17:05:00.001-07:00

Christofer Krajec and his parents are hoping for a miracle, and you can help. The tumor that has grown in his brain is inoperable, but parents Anna and Ed are firm believers in the power of positive healing. You can donate monetarily, and/or you can turn your thoughts to a massive daily city-wide "heal-in" through your prayers, thoughts and visualizations.

Come or donate to the fundraising event at Anneliese's Willowbrook School in the canyon this Sunday, Nov. 4 from 3 to 8:30, or attend or donate to the Womenade event this Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 7 to 9 p.m.(see previous post - donations can be mailed to Stephanie Donavan at 435 El Camino Del Mar LB 92651; make checks out to Christofer's Miracle Fund). There's a silent auction at the Anneleise's event -- if you have something to donate, please contact Yamini at 494-0294 or yamini7@msn.com. (Mom Anna is a teacher at the school.)

This is where Laguna Beach really shines -- when one of our own really needs help, we pull together and give it all we've got in whatever way we have to give it. If you are moved to assist the Krajecs, you can do so and/or read more online at http://ourlil.com/healingchristofer/
Thanks.

Scary

2007-10-29T08:25:00.001-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/birzer/1776203368/in/set-72157602738780788/

Pity the Bees: Fake Halloween Cobwebs Kill

2007-10-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the mysterious disappearance of honeybees, which would have huge consequences for farmers and growers needing crops and plants pollinated, which in turn affects the food chain. How does this connect to your Halloween celebration?

Let me share: A few years ago, my kids and I decorated for Halloween by placing that poly-spun cobweb stuff on our rosemary bushes near our outdoor entry. A few days later we heard bees -- not the usual hum of bees doing their nectar-gathering thing, but bees in severe distress. Upon inspection, we discovered dozens of bees trapped by a single poly thread in the cobwebs. The threads seemed to stick to their legs, rendering them unable to fly or get away.

My advice: don't use this stuff outdoors. Your neighborhood bees will thank you.

Womenade: Helping Christofer

2007-10-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an easy way to ease the way of another person going through a tough time:

Womenade is a group celebrating its 5th year of quarterly dinners. Each dinner honors an individual or family in vital need. Each woman who attends brings a small potluck dish to share (enough for 4, either savory or dessert) and a check for what would have been spent on a dinner out with friends…or as much as you are inspired to contribute. 100% of all the money raised goes directly into the hands of the person or family we are honoring that night.

The next Womenade dinner is set for Tuesday, November 6th from 7 to 9 p.m.

Womenade founders Jane Andersen and Stephanie Donavan were contacted by several Laguna Beach friends who told them about a local 3-year-old boy named Christofer. Here's what Jane wrote:

"We were really touched by the urgency and the need that they described. Some of you might already know about Christofer, the son of Anna and Eddie Krajec. Anna is a teacher at Anneliese’s schools in Laguna Beach. Christofer was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Because Western medicine cannot help Christofer at this point (4 neurologists have given Christofer a 1% survival chance using radiation and chemotherapy), Anna and Eddy are looking to non-traditional treatment methods. As you are most likely aware such methods are not covered by insurance companies.

"At this point, Anna and Eddie have already been forced to use their savings for each of the specialists for Christofer. They have seen neurologists, craniologists, osteopaths, chiropractors, as well as natural pathologists and acupuncturists. Their insurance has covered some and sometimes none of the above specialists. Also, the family needs to do 3 more MRIs in the next 2 months and their insurance covers only a portion of the MRIs.

"Our goal at the next dinner is raise at least $3,500.00 to help them cover the costs of the alternative specialists that they are turning to and to help them with the costs of the remaining MRIs.

"We hope you can attend the dinner and help us raise money for Christofer and his family. If you can’t come, please consider sending a check. Please write your check to Christofer’s Miracle Fund."

Womenade Potluck Dinner
Tuesday, November 6th, from 7:00 to 9:00
435 El Camino del Mar (Stephanie’s house)
Please RSVP to Jane at 464-0022
or Stephanie at 497-9214

Jane added:
"Please bring any and all friends who would like to attend. The more people who contribute, the more we’ll be able to help this family. We look forward to seeing you on the 6th!"

Update: Goko Stays!

2007-10-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Never doubt the power of a handful of vocal locals. Goko Cafe has gotten a reprieve and will stay in its location at Thalia and Coast Highway. Agreement was reached this week between building owners Cary Glenn and Richard Zona and Goko proprietors George Risteski and Connie Stojkoski, averting the possibility of a formula-based Quizno's Sandwich Shop in the quaint but admittedly rundown space.

Mayor Toni Iseman said that this kind of activism is what Laguna's all about, and as a former firebrand herself, she was pleased that the issue awakened Lagunans long enough to sign petitions and pass around e-mails to save the homegrown eatery.

But be aware that our mayor just added to the onerous list of activities a true patriot must do to prove his worth (besides bearing a magnetic yellow ribbon on one's car in support of our troops). Mayor Toni Iseman admonished constituents: “It’s our patriotic duty to eat there.”

Gosh darn, how much can one person give??

Dining Out: Bon Appetit, and Buyer Beware

2007-10-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

SAVE GOKO CAFE!!! goes the e-mail sent to The Lagunan at least 6 times since a front-page story came out in the INDY about its imminent demise due to changing market conditions....and the fact, it turns out, that the OC Health Dept. noticed a few, er, infractions, pretty much every time it paid Goko a visit. Seems locals want to petition to keep this cute, homey, albeit grungy mom and pop cafe in a prime location where the landlords want to install a Quiznos sandwich shop.

Then an interesting exchange ensued, with a short message to all from an area journalist who received the "Save Goko!!!" e-mail, labeled "The other side of the story. " It went like this:

FYI - There is a reason the current owners of the building would like another business there. It is my understanding that while the community concern about Quiznos will be addressed, here are the health department reports for the past two years on GOKOS

http://foodinspections.ocgov.com/foodinspections/insp.aspx?record_id=PR0021705&agency=OCH&violsortfield=TB_CORE_INSPECTION_VIOL.ENTERED_BY&violsortorder=desc

Sure enough -- ick. But then it got even juicier.

Back came another e-mail from a fellow who took the time to search and report back on the OC Health Department's findings in several favorite Laguna eateries. Read on:
--------
Hello. Since you have plainly "accused" Goko's of running a dirty, unhealthy kitchen that should by all rights be closed, I think it only fair to point out that by using the same yard-stick, the following establishments should also be shot down – and each sooner than Goko’s!

In 2007 based on routine inspections year-to-date:

GOKO’S CAFE: 3 MAJOR violations, 11 minor violations
ANNALIESE SCHOOL 4 MAJOR violations, 12 minor violations
ANASTASIA’S CAFE: 5 MAJOR violations, 24 minor violations
COTTAGE RESTAURANT 5 MAJOR violations, 20 minor violations
ALISO CREEK INN 5 MAJOR violations, 15 minor violations, 1 PERMIT SUSPENSION
LOFT at Montage Hotel 5 MAJOR violations, 12 minor violations
A LA CARTE 5 MAJOR violations, 16 minor violations
CLAES at Hotel Laguna 6 MAJOR violations, 1 minor violation , 2 PERMIT SUSPENSIONS

QUIZNOS, Lake Forest 4 MAJOR violations, 24 minor violations

This information is readily available at the County website:
http://foodinspections.ocgov.com/foodinspections/main.aspx?agency=och

I’m glad that the County is tough on all our eating establishments, but Goko’s history with the health department provides ZERO justification for whether a long-standing business should be replaced with a cookie-cutter FRANCHISE.

-----
The Lagunan here again. I just have to wonder aloud -- has anyone ever worked in a restaurant or cafe? If so, you know what goes on behind the swinging door if the establishment's managers are not vigilant, whether mom and pop are in charge or someone hired to wear the tie. I know at least one person who was sickened after eating at Goko and never returned. Everyone needs to eat, even the creatures we call vermin. If restaurants aren't able to keep the varmints out of the ingredients, wash their dishes in water hot enough to kill bacteria, make sure the refrigerator is actually refrigerating, they should get their just deserts -- for everybody's good.

What are girls supposed to do?

2007-10-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Got a young daughter? Watch this with her. Then talk to her.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE

More Spit and Polish

2007-10-10T08:41:00.001-07:00

I'll take the polish, please.

This Saturday the Marines are reprising their Car Wash Saturday. After you've dropped off your e-waste a the LBUSD parking lot, go get the car washed and help out military families.

Here are details from Sita Helms, the "helmswoman" of the project locally:

Marines Car Wash Rain Date OCT 13TH 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post #9934, Dana Point, is sponsoring a car wash for our United States Marines of the 5th Marine Regiment, Headquarters Company from Camp Pendleton. Marines will wash and dry your car to a "Spit and Polish Shine." Donations accepted.

In November, these troops will attend their annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball, prior to deploying to Iraq for a 12-month tour. We hope to defray most if not all of the costs they will incur, through this car wash event. Come by to shake a hand, say a "thank you" and be a part of this event.
Where: South Shores Church Parking Lot
Address: 32712 Crown Valley Parkway, Monarch Beach
(Just up from PCH & Crown Valley)
When: Saturday, October 13, 2007
Time: 9AM-2PM

If you are unable to attend and wish to make a contribution, you may make your checks payable to "Headquarters Company Ball Fund" and send them to:
Headquarters Company Ball Fund
ATTN: 1st Sgt. Pritchard
5th Marine Regiment
Headquarters Company
Box 555453 Bldg 62448
Camp Pendleton CA 92055

What Lurks in your Garage?

2007-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

What to do with that CRT from your old computer, or the sound system that used to be state-of-the-art....in 1995? How about the TV that has seen better days? This Saturday, Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Surterre Properties is sponsoring a FREE e-waste drop-off at the LBUSD parking lot at 550 Blumont Street at Park Avenue. This is a great opportunity to get rid of stuff in an environmentally responsible way. Nearly all electric devices are welcome, including old fax machines, computers, TVs, printers, etc.

Illegal, Immmoral, Outrageous? That's our TCA

2007-10-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

There was a major movement afoot to get scads of folks bused to an important Coastal Commission hearing in San Pedro on October 11 regarding the Transportation Corridor Authority's plan to pave a toll road through San Onofre State Beach. Update: the meeting has been CANCELLED, according to my friend Janine Robinson, who sent me this on 10/6:

The TCA pulled their application before the California Coastal Commission off the table today, saying they had too much to review before the meeting.

So there is no need to attend the Oct. 11 Coastal Commission hearing. However, THEY WILL BE BACK!!! In the meantime, we will continue to spread the word about the proposed Foothill South Toll Road, and build our own momentum to defending our favorite California state park and beach.

As we know, the TCA is relentless and sneaky. In case you missed the story in this week's Independent, read below (see link - ed.). It's a bit confusing, but in a nutshell, the TCA actually has offered the state parks department (which oversees Trestles and San Onofre State Beach) $100 MILLION for permission to build their Toll Road right through the San Onofre State Park. Doesn't that sound illegal, or immoral, or at a minimum, outrageous?

Anyway, thanks for your support--we will be asking you again in the near future to attend a future Coastal Commission meeting.

The Rundown

2007-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Monks are being murdered by a repressive government in Burma (read below before you go on - please!)...and life goes on here in our beach town. Gather, participate and stay aware of it all.

Here's a bunch o' stuff to celebrate/enjoy/escape/protect our fabulous community:

***********
From two of my favorite people, Stuart Byer and Joy Dittberner:

LAGUNA DANCE FESTIVAL

A slew of terpsichorean delights are coming to Laguna, and lots of them are free or offered at a really low price.

- Check out this Saturday's (9/29) FREE performance by professional dancers at Main Beach at 4 p.m., buy a t-shirt, take the free dance class that follows at 5 p.m.
- For kids ages 3-12, on Wednesday Oct. 3 there's a free workshop: Dancing Hands, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Neighborhood Congregational Church (340 St. Ann's Drive at Glenneyre) led by UCI dance prof and Lagunan Jodie Gates.
- Lots of other performances, master classes, preperformance talks and a gala this Saturday night with winners from TV's "So You Think You Can Dance."

See the whole rundown at www.lagunadancefestival.org

******************
From my musical muse and peace sister Pam Wicks:

CONCERT FUNDRAISER FOR THE MANNA FOUNDATION
Benefiting Orphanages in Thailand

Saturday, September 29th 7 p.m.

Please join us for this very special concert, co-sponsored by Coast Magazine as we help raise desperately needed funds for orphans in Thailand. It is the wish and goal of the Manna Foundation to raise $12,000 to buy a school bus for the children. Until that goal is reached, the children will continue to be transported to school on flatbed trucks and exposed to torrential downpours along the way. We would love to help them reach that goal and even small donations go a long way
to help make this a reality. We look forward to co-creating a beautiful night with you.

In addition to a full concert with us, there will be a silent auction with lots of great things to bid on. There's a related
article in this month's Coast Magazine - please pick up a copy or read it by going to www.coastmagazine.com - article on page 162.

Neighborhood Congregational Church - Bridge Hall - 7 p.m.
340 St. Ann's Drive
Tickets are $15 in advance/$20 at the door
(additional donations to support the orphanages are welcome)
Please contact 714-602-2056

*************

From Johanna Felder and Bibe Stockman for the Laguna Art Museum:

Another fabulous outing without having to DRIVE:
LAM's CONTEMPORARY COLLECTORS’ COUNCIL TRIP (deadline for sign-up is this Saturday 9/29!)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007
9:30 am: Meet at Laguna Beach High School, 625 Park Avenue
9:45 am: SHARP – Depart for Los Angeles
11:00 am: Los Angeles County Museum of Art – 5905 Wilshire Boulevard
"Dali: Painting & Film." We will view nearly 100 of Dali's paintings, sculptures, photographs and text, plus his films (optional):
Un Chien Andalou, L'Age D'or, Chaos and Creation, Impressions of Upper Mongolia, Spellbound, Destino.
1:00 pm: Lunch - Promises to be delicious
2:30 pm: Ace Gallery, 5514 Wilshire Boulevard. Doug Christmas, gallery owner, said this will be a “knockout” show of London based Lauren Bon’s work which took two years in the making.
4:00 pm: Private collection in Hancock Park
5:00 pm: Return to Laguna Beach

Cost is $100 for CCC members, $125 for non-members of CCC. Price includes luxury bus transportation, admission to the museum and lunch. Such a deal! Come on, sign up, you KNOW you're not gonna go to that Dali show on your own, and Ace Gallery is a treat. And did I mention there's wine on the bus on the way home?

Deadline for reservations is Saturday, September 29th. Don’t Delay! Trip is limited to 25 people. Make check payable to Laguna Art Museum and note it is for the CCC trip. Send to: Johanna Felder, 2680 Park Avenue, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Your check is your reservation. For more information, call Bibe at LAM – 494-8971, Ext. 213.
If you sign up for the trip but will be late or not able to make the bus, please call Johanna -- cell phone 949-533-4947.

***********

STOP THE FOOTHILL SOUTH TOLL ROAD - SAVE TRESTLES BEACH

Sign up for the bus on Thursday morning Oct. 11 to an important Coastal Commission hearing in San Pedro

Attend the October 11th California Coastal Commission (CCC) meeting in San Pedro and tell the California Coastal Commissioners to deny the proposed Foothill South Toll Road through San Onofre State Beach. Save Trestles Beach. If you have never been there, check it out, it’s worth saving.

The most important hurdle before the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) is the powerful, non-partisan California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission will be meeting in October to decide whether to approve construction of the toll road in the coastal zone.

Additionally, the Coastal Commission is charged with making sure the TCA’s road doesn’t pollute the water or harm the surf at Trestles. We expect that the TCA will spend a lot of time and money convincing the CCC that their road is a good idea. We need you to attend the Coastal Commission meeting and let the Commissioners know that Trestles and the San Mateo Campground are too important to be sacrificed for a “pay to drive” road.

In preparation for the October 11th hearing we are hosting an organizing meeting on Monday, October 1st with Sierra Club’s Coastal Director, Mark Massara. The meeting will be held at 7 pm the San Clemente Community Center at 100 North Calle Seville, San Clemente CA 92672.

Please mark your calendars and plan to take a day off of work or school to join us at this important hearing on October 11th. The hearing will be held at the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor Hotel at 601 S. Palos Verdes Street, San Pedro CA 90731. We will also be providing free bus transportation to those who are interested.

Do your part to ensure that a great campground, great community and great surf beach remain livable, pristine and protected. We owe it to our community, our kids and future generations.

For more information contact Robin Everett at robin.everett@sierraclub.org or call 949-361-7534

Sincerely,
Friends of the Foothills Campaign

Organizing Meeting
Monday, October 1st 7 pm
San Clemente Community Center
100 North Calle Seville
San Clemente CA 92672

Coastal Commission Hearing
Thursday, October 11th 9 am
Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor Hotel
601 S. Palos Verdes Street
San Pedro, CA 90731

You might study the arguments of the TCA: see http://www.ftcsouth.com/home/faqs.asp

Wear Red This Friday for Myanmar

2007-09-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Oh my poor, neglected blog! I am so sorry if you have been checking here regularly, only to find stale news and old rants. The autumn air, the slight chill in the air brings with it a new focus on schedules and regimens, creative pursuits and maybe even time to read my book club books (what? 450 pages about the Holocaust by next Friday??)...but let's take one thing at a time.

First, The Lagunan's attention has been captured by Buddhist monks in cinnamon robes half a world away. Despite the threat of beatings and death by the repressive military junta that governs that nation, monks in Myanmar (Burma) have taken to the streets in droves, chanting prayers and calmly announcing their opposition. On Monday there was merely a military presence where protests occurred, then tear gas was fired into crowds, and yesterday they started firing automatic weapons at protesters.

With the international community now watching closely, it will be surprising but not unimaginable that the violence could continue. In Laguna Beach, what can you do? Wear red this Friday in solidarity with the freedom-seeking monks who are out there chanting prayers in front of semiautomatic weapons. It's the least we can do here -- and pray, if that's your thing.

Background from today's NEW YORK TIMES ('cuz they write better than I):
The violence of the past two days has answered the question of whether the military would fire on Buddhist monks, the highly revered moral core of Burmese society. For the past 10 days, the monks have led demonstrations that grew to as many as 100,000 before the crackdown began.

“The military is the one who proudly claims to preserve and protect Buddhism in the country, but now they are killing the monks,” said Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based magazine that has extensive contacts inside Myanmar.
Like others monitoring the crisis, which began on Aug. 19 with scattered protests against steep fuel price increases, he said it was difficult to learn the numbers of dead in a chaotic situation in which hospital sources are sometimes reluctant to talk. He said he had been told of one death today when soldiers attacked two columns of monks and other people.

“The military trucks, I was told, just drove in and soldiers jumped out and started shooting,” he said, describing a scene that was reminiscent of the mass killings in 1988, when the current junta came to power after suppressing a similar peaceful public uprising. On Wednesday, the junta acknowledged the death of one man, but news agencies and exile groups put the number as high as seven.

U. S. Marines "Spit and Polish" Car Wash Saturday 9/22

2007-09-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

From my friend Sita:
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post #9934, Dana Point is sponsoring a car wash for the U.S. Marines, 5th Regiment Headquarters Company from Camp Pendleton. Marines will wash and dry your car to a "Spit and Polish Shine." Donations are accepted. The food, beverages, and Marine Vehicle displayed are compliments of the Local VFW, The Helping Hand Worldwide and the Marine Regiment.

In November, our Troops will attend their annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball, prior to deploying to Iraq for a 12-month tour. We hope to defray most if not all of the costs they will incur through this event. Please give a helping hand to those hands that give so much.

Make your plans to come by, shake a hand, say a "thank you" and be a part of this great event.
Where: South Shores Church Parking Lot
Address: 32712 Crown Valley Parkway, Monarch Beach, CA
(Just up from PCH and Crown Valley)
When: Saturday, September 22nd
Time: 10AM-3PM

In the event you are unable to attend and wish to make a contribution, make checks payable to "Headquarters Company Ball Fund" and send them to:
Headquarters Company Ball Fund
ATTN: 1st SGT Pritchard
5th Marine Regiment
Headquarters Company
BOX 555453 BLDG 62448
Camp Pendleton, CA 92055

Stand Up and Be Counted

2007-08-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Care to take a stand on the war in Iraq? It may seem quaint, but there is strength in numbers when many are gathered to express their opinion that the U.S. must end its involvement -- now. Come join your friends and neighbors in a bid for peace at Main Beach at 7 p.m. August 28. Tens of thousands of other Americans will be doing the same this Tuesday evening, as suggested by moveon.org.

You can sign up at http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=92

In fact, if you know anyone virtually anywhere in the nation who might like to attend or set up their own vigil on Tuesday night, they can find out what's going on at this URL.

Bring kids, bring your friends, your neighbors and show that you are part of the majority ready to put an end to this wrong-headed war. Oh -- and if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to view this prophetic 1994 video of DIck Cheney:

http://www.moveon.org/

Hey, use that crosswalk!

2007-08-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

What is UP with all the jaywalking visitors to our fair city? Don't they know how many people get killed every year just walkin' across Coast Highway?? Guess not.

From the Subway Sandwich patio one recent Saturday at noon, I watched a Big Daddy drive the southbound family minivan up to the red curb in front of Friendship Shelter (about 20 paces south of the oh-so-handy, life-preserving crosswalk at Cress and Coast Highway), park and put on his flashers, partially blocking traffic. Destination: Subway! He stood there until the traffic cleared enough for him to lead his two teenage daughters across this busy section of road, dashed in for a bagful of footlongs -- then waddled back OUT into traffic, again endangering his offspring, completely ignoring the rushing cars, honking horns and the - did I mention - convenient CROSSWALK a few yards away.

Someone is gonna die! It's Darwinian. Not sure how fast the traffic has to be going before instincts take over in their sun-addled heads. I know it seems like a dopey rule when there are no cars around, but jaywalking is illegal for good reason during peak summer season. Or is it? Do LBPD officers bother to give out tickets or warnings for jaywalking? I have seen several egregious, hair-raising incidents lately with people casually picking their way through a dizzying rush of cars. Are we just waiting for some clueless Kansan to be the first red smudge on the double-yellow line? It's scary enough in the crosswalks with the flashing yellow lights. I have a pet peeve about drivers who blow through them -- but motorists aren't the only ones who need to be ticketed. In a meeting between a moving vehicle and a human body, there is always just one left intact.

Take a Chance

2007-08-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

The dog days of summer now include.... a free dog! A friend whose life is in transition needs to move with her young daughter to a new apartment, and their 8-year-old dog, Chance, can't come along.

If you or someone you know would like to give a home to Chance, a corgi/golden retriever mix with a cheery personality, contact The Lagunan. His owner says he is healthy, gets along well with other dogs, loves kids, and does well as an indoor/outdoor dog. Can you help find Chance a new home? E-mail me at mcmurray@mac.com.

UPDATE:
Chance has a home! And a new brother! He's getting settled in in his new digs - a roomy house with a big yard and caring new owners. Deepest thanks to Sharon and Mike for taking in this shaggy new member of the family.

What's Going on the Canyon

2007-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Lagunan is back! After a computer crash, moving household, and other time-consuming energy-suckers too mundane to mention, I am happy to be back at the keyboard and ready to inform, comment, and ask what y'all think here at my teensy little blog.

A lot has happened in the past month to capture a local's attention! I'll take on just this one today ('cuz it makes my blood boil):

- The Minutemen and their ilk have turned up the heat on the day labor site in the canyon. They come from miles around, beckoned by the fear-mongering cries of Eileen Garcia (don't let the name fool you - she sets one straight about being a proud lily-white northern European who changed her name a few marriages ago). Newcomer Eileen and a horde of people from far outside Laguna Beach think they know what is best for our town and are fighting dirty to get the day labor site closed down.

Um, just who do they think does all the grunt work around here? Who does Eileen have doing her household chores and gardening? Who built her house? Who does she think buses the tables and preps the food at the restaurants she and George dine at? Why would she believe that closing down the day labor site is a good thing? Does she really believe that Laguna has a surfeit of Nordic-looking college kids looking to pick up a few extra bucks over the summer by working for $10 an hour?

To me, and to most of the people I know who aren't willing to engage in this issue, this crowd is just plain mean. Who would deny a person a day's work by repeating the mantra, "It's illegal! It's illegal!"?

The dirty secret is that our federal and state governments have long looked the other way regarding immigrants doing our most basic jobs because we can't have a functioning economy or enjoy the quality of life we do without a hard-working class of people, legal or no. City manager Ken Frank says that the city is required by federal law to provide a safe hiring place, and we already have a good solution.

We do. Eileen and others who echo her fearful cries are too new to town to remember the corner of North Coast Highway and Viejo Street -- there were usually dozens of young men hanging out awaiting a day's work. They made a mess and created a traffic hazard. What we have now -- an organized method and orderly place for the day workers in the canyon -- is a good answer to a problem we simply have to deal with. Where there is wealth (i.e., here) there will be those who enable the leisure class through the sweat of their collective brow. The truth is, we need them, and they need us. Chasing workers out of town and stirring up trouble for the city isn't going to help anyone. There are many more productive, positive ways to make a difference in the community, and I hope these people understand the error of their thinking. But I won't hold my breath.

- On a lighter note! (Whew!) If you want a slice of local flavor, head to the Sawdust Festival this Friday, August 3! It's FREE for locals. Stroll around and watch the glass blowing, buy a toe ring, check out the pottery, and toss a penny into the mill fountain and make a wish for Laguna to retain its charm and neighborliness even as shrill debate threatens to divide its residents.

Free for all at OCPAC

2007-07-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Speaking of bargains: the Orange County Performing Arts Center is presenting a series of events begining July 22. There will be open-air dance parties following performances of American Ballet Theatre's The Sleeping Beauty (July 22); Mamma Mia! (August 12); and Tango Buenos Aires (November 9). Then there's the free al fresco film series: Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, Xanadu, and Moulin Rouge, Monday evenings in August. If you're tired of Laguna's hoards, escape the bubble and try something new. Just up the freeway in Costa Mesa we have one of the largest performing arts complex in the nation, including the original 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the brand-new (and unfortunately rather redundantly named) 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall -- a marvel of modern design -- and the 500-seat Samueli Theater. Rounding out the complex is fabulous South Coast Repertory, (and I know I am a bad Lagunan for saying this) whose material, programs and actors are nationally recognized and clearly head and shoulders above any local theaters I can think of (sorry but it's true! and so worth the extra drive time).

But I digress. The point is, if you support your local and regional theaters, and the quality will continue to improve. And the generous Free for All from OCPAC starting later this month is worth a drive. Check out the complete schedule at www.ocpac.org.

Yoga in the Park with Carl

2007-07-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

Now here's a bargain: free yoga classes, twice a week, great instruction, no tips accepted! Every Monday and Wednesday morning from 9 to 10:30 a.m., Carl Brown teaches a deliciously challenging yoga class on the tennis court at Moulton Meadows Park. Besides the joy of having the wind in your hair and the sun on your skin while being led through a series of pretty sophisticated yoga poses, it is also a worthwhile exercise in shutting out the distractions of the sounds of traffic, children at play, tennis on the adjacent court, and airplanes buzzing overhead. A full 90 minutes and you feel like you've been thoroughly bent, twisted and strengthened. Check it out.

For those who find the use of tennis courts for yoga questionable, consider this: Carl has been offering free yoga instruction on the courts for more than a year now. Only twice has he had people waiting for his group to get off the court. Courteously, Carl's group only takes a court if they are not being used and no one is waiting. When the courts are occupied, they use the basketball court, but they try for the far tennis court to have shade. Carl reports that tennis players really never seem to be out there when the yogis are -- most days, his yoga group is the only activity on the court. He also notes that the courts are for public use and his right to make use of them are not necessarily superceded by those bearing tennis racquets. Carl's class is a free community service. In his case, no one is using public property to make money, unlike, say, a tennis instructor. He figures he can't make everyone happy, but he suggests that a good strong yoga session can help one limber up for tennis and calm the aggressive, competitive mind.

I like to think of seeing morning yoga being done on a tennis court at a park as a sliver of Berkeley or some other free-minded venue (which Laguna once was). This charmingly surprising, unique offering of free yoga is a gift to the community. Namasté, Carl!
You can check out Carl's blog with the complete schedule at http://yogainthepark.blogspot.com. (Carl also teaches at Yoga Shakti in Irvine, near the Edwards Theatres and Trader Joe's across from UCI.)

On Hiatus

2007-06-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

The Lagunan is taking off tomorrow for a 10-day trip outside the Bubble, to the verdant yet probably sweaty lands of the distant Eastern quadrant of our fair nation. Will report on contrasts and impressions of the hinterlands upon my return. Peace.

Rhymes with Switch....

2007-06-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

...which is what her mama spared her as a child -- and look how spoiled that nasty, mean-spirited Ann Coulter turned out. Oops! There I go, calling her names, when it's what I despise the most about her. Or maybe what I despise most about her is how she has nothing intelligent to say when she parks herself in front of a microphone -- her favorite place to fling her blonde tresses petulantly about and toss out not-very-clever insults for anyone whose political stripe she disagrees with, and hit htem below the belt as often as possible. For someone to go on television and announce that she wishes John Edwards had been killed in a terrorist attack -- hmm, there aren't polite words to describe such a person. "Base" might fit. I wonder about how loud and long and virulent the backlash would be if it had been a Democratic-leaning commentator who made such an inane remark about a GOP candidate.

*sigh*

Do we have to listen to this angry, brittle, below-average woman? Can't we elevate the discussion? Is it too much to ask our mainstream media to more carefully consider whom they put in front of a microphone?

¡Ask a Mexican! June 20 at Latitude 33 at 7 p.m.

2007-06-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Gustavo Arellano is my dream drinking buddy, but I bet even borracho, he's way too smart for me. OC WEEKLY's hilarious yet erudite "Ask a Mexican" columnist held his own when he was on The Colbert Report - not an easy task, and even Stephen seemed impressed. Arellano is swimming in previously umplumbed depths with his column and new book by the same name, patiently explaining Mexican culture to ignorant gabachos (btw only gringos call each other gringos, he informs us).

Where else can you ask such a dumb question and get as complete an answer as this:
Why do we always think Mexican men drink tequila and sing mariachi tunes, while the women are pretty señoritas?
- Viva Mexico

Dear Gabacho: Mexicans frequently blame ustedes for perpetuating various stereotypes about nosotros over the centuries, but a big part of the blame also falls on us. During World War II, a time when Mexico’s film industry experienced a renaissance that scholars refer to as La Época de Oro (The Golden Age), Mexican movie studios produced great social tales, comedies and horror films, but the ones that received the most acclaim were the comedias rancheras. They starred matinee idols such as Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, who meted out frontier justice and wooed the chicas guapas from underneath sombreros—always while guzzling tequila and riding on horseback. The image came from the state of Jalisco, birthplace of mariachi and tequila. “Needing a people who could personify hispanismo,” wrote Joanne Hirschfield in “Race and Class in the Classical Cinema,” an essay in the anthology Mexico’s Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers, “its proponents found them in Los Altos de Jalisco. The mythology of Los Altos created a horse-riding people who were devoutly Catholic and capitalistic, had never intermarried with Indians, and played Mariachi music.” Mexico thought Americans would think better of beaners as singing caballeros, but Hollywood didn’t care—they inverted the Jaliscan tropes and created the fat, drunk, gold-toothed greaseball archetype who sleeps under the shade of a cactus and gets up only to booze it up or write columns about America’s most caliente minority. As for Mexican women being sultry and spicy—that’s all documentary, baby.

Brilliant.
Gustavo Arellano will be at Latitude 33 Bookstore on Ocean Avenue at 7 p.m. Wednesday June 20. Mexican food will be served.
That Colbert Report clip:
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=70911&ml_collection=&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=%2Fmotherload%2Findex.jhtml%3Fml_video%3D70911&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

Aging with Grace

2007-06-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

I know this may not be why you tune in to The Lagunan, but read this poem -- for me it's a bracing antidote to the ads in the glossy magazines. Growing old and watching one's skin, organs, joints, hair, bones cease their function is part of life, too.....What does it bring up for you?

Poem: "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland, from Donkey Gospel. © Graywolf Press, 1998.

Beauty

When the medication she was taking
caused tiny vessels in her face to break,
leaving faint but permanent blue stitches in her cheeks,
my sister said she knew she would
never be beautiful again.

After all those years
of watching her reflection in the mirror,
sucking in her stomach and standing straight,
she said it was a relief,
being done with beauty,

but I could see her pause inside that moment
as the knowledge spread across her face
with a fine distress, sucking
the peach out of her lips,
making her cute nose seem, for the first time,
a little knobby.

I'm probably the only one in the whole world
who actually remembers the year in high school
she perfected the art
of being a dumb blond,

spending recess on the breezeway by the physics lab,
tossing her hair and laughing that canary trill
which was her specialty,

while some football player named Johnny
with a pained expression in his eyes
wrapped his thick finger over and over again
in the bedspring of one of those pale curls.

Or how she spent the next decade of her life
auditioning a series of tall men,
looking for just one with the kind
of attention span she could count on.

Then one day her time of prettiness
was over, done, finito,
and all those other beautiful women
in the magazines and on the streets
just kept on being beautiful
everywhere you looked,

walking in that kind of elegant, disinterested trance
in which you sense they always seem to have one hand
touching the secret place
that keeps their beauty safe,
inhaling and exhaling the perfume of it—

It was spring. Season when the young
buttercups and daisies climb up on the
mulched bodies of their forebears
to wave their flags in the parade.

My sister just stood still for thirty seconds,
amazed by what was happening,
then shrugged and tossed her shaggy head
as if she was throwing something out,

something she had carried a long ways,
but had no use for anymore,
now that it had no use for her.
That, too, was beautiful.

Drive Nice

2007-06-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Clever columnist Christine Fugate wrote recently in the INDY about the deterioraton of people's driving in town. It's impossible not to agree. Just yesterday I observed a driver who interrupted her cell phone conversation long enough to yell out her car window at a man walking his bicycle across Coast Highway in a crosswalk. She obviously didn't see him and was angry that she had to stop to let him cross. Who could blame her -- he must have slowed her down by at least 5 seconds!

At the next stop sign you come to, take a deep breath, come to full stop, count to three like they taught you in Driver's ed (even though the car behind you will honk) and be a nice driver. I could go on but surely I can't say it better than Christine. In case you missed it, here's her recent column:

RULES OF THE ROAD

“What are you doing?” I sat in my car yelling. “Don’t you know the law?”

“What’s wrong, Mommy?” my oldest daughter asked confused as to why I was waving my arm frantically at the windshield.

“That car barely stopped and then just followed the car in front of her.” I explained. “This is not follow the leader,” I yelled out my window at the white Toyota but it sped on by. I cursed myself for coming to the worst intersection in Laguna, Glenneyre and Thalia, in the late afternoon when all bad drivers are unleashed.

Ever since I moved from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach, my husband and I have been appalled at drivers here. First of all, there appears to be no law when it comes to four way stops. Now, I am terrified to cross the intersection on my turn, afraid that someone will come barreling through when they feel like it. I like to sit patiently and wave everyone ahead of me. Sometimes, I’ll meet another driver like myself. We will wave back and forth a few times and eventually, one of us will go.

Don’t even get me started on merging. What happened to the every-other-car rule? Or the courtesy of allowing a car to merge in front of you? Gone.

The sad thing is that my own driving skills have dulled and faded. When I lived in Los Angeles, I considered myself a professional driver, well versed on merge acceleration rates, intersection law and driver etiquette. Now, I seemed to have joined the pack that believes, ‘When I think it’s my turn, I will go.’

I know we like to blame all the bad traffic on the tourists, but are they also to blame for our bad driving skills? Does the summer time traffic make us feel so territorial that we abandon all recognition of the law and do what we think is best? Have courtesy and etiquette evaporated because ‘we’re going to show those tourists whose boss of this town’? A wild west mentality seems to have taken over the roadways—the person with the biggest horse or fastest mule wins right of way.

Which is why on this Memorial Day weekend, I think it is a perfect time for us locals to review the laws of driving. Perhaps by doing so, we can set a better example for the tourists and not allow our local backstreet intersections like Glenneyre and Thalia turn into lawless zones.

I have singled out my own pet peeve, The Four Way Stop, to review. I know it can be confusing, but I am going to attempt to lay it in out in a way we can all understand and follow:

STOP
This first part requires no discernment. Come to a complete stop at the stop sign.
If you arrive at the intersection and it is a happy day, no one is there and you proceed across.

FIRST COME, FIRST GO
If there are other cars there, you proceed in the order in which the cars arrived. That means that if you arrived second, you do not go first. You patiently wait your turn. If the car directly across from you is crossing, you do not cross too, unless it is your turn.

POINT TO THE RIGHT
If you arrive at the intersection at exactly the same time as another car or the intersection is crowded and it is hard to tell who arrived first, the law switches to the ‘vehicle on your right’ rule. This means that the person on your right goes before you, and the person on their right goes before them. If the intersection is full, then the flow of traffic becomes counter-clockwise.

We all need to get off our cell phones and pay attention to these simple rules of the road. If you feel that you may not be able to tell who arrived first or figure out which way is right, engage your kids to help you. I recently tried it and I felt rather smug about the fact that I was not only driving better, but also teaching my kids more than how to express road rage in our sleepy little beach town.

Bill!

2007-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

If Barack Obama's visit to Newport Coast on June 12 quickens The Lagunan's pulse, a defibrillator might be in order for the visitor on Sunday the 24th. Former President Bill Clinton is coming to the Coast for an event supporting his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Now, it's not so much about the man's charisma, nor his enormous capacity for information, but the thing about the guy is that he could be out on the links, enjoying private life -- but that's not who he is. No, Bill's been criss-crossing continents, using his status as a world figure to draw attention and money to the most urgent of the world's needs. The Clinton Global Initiative addresses poverty, energy, climate change, world health, and education. As a result of his longstanding friendship with Nelson Mandela, he's made Africa a central component of his post-presidential work; the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative focuses on helping developing countries treat and care for those with the virus or the disease.

All great reasons to admire Bill -- but this visit is clearly about the lady he's married to and the race that could very well bring him back to the White House. One can't help but muse on a presidency with this kind of two-for-one brainpower. Here are the details if you're inclined to drop in and say hello:

7:30 pm to 8:30 pm - Cocktail Reception
$750 per person/$1,250 per couple
8:30 pm to 10:00 pm - Dinner
$2,300 per person (includes photo)
$4,600 Maximum Contribution - Honored Guest

The home of Ellie and Alex Razmjoo
Address provided upon RSVP

RSVP to Melahat Rafiei at melahat@ocdemocrats.org or 949-350-7733 as soon as possible. Space is limited.

Art Outside the Bubble

2007-06-08T11:24:00.001-07:00

Here's a really fun way to spend a Saturday with fellow diehard art lovers:
Laguna Art Museum's Contemporary Collectors Council takes field trips to places you might not get to on your own -- including exclusive peeks at private collections and talks with artists.

The next CCC trip is on Saturday, June 16. The group will visit Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to see its "Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living" series of films on futuristic housing, then tour the hillside sculpture garden there. During lunch in Pasadena (included in the price of the day's event) you can chat with the colorful individuals in the group... and then there's a visit to the restored home of Nelbert Chouinard, founder of The Chouinard School of Art. The CCC will tour the home of artist David Tourje and visit with other artists involved in the Chouinard Foundation.

You get extra credit for reducing your carbon footprint because you take a luxury bus instead of driving. (Embrace it! Another upside of mass transit is that you get to drink wine on the way home!) Before you know it, you're back in Laguna by 5:30, having digested a LOT of culture and learned something new about art, all in a single day. Wanna go, or find out about future trips? Get in touch with Johanna Felder at 949-497-4525.

Just Say No to Nurdles!

2007-06-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Chip McDermott kept seeing trash on the streets and beaches of Laguna, and it pissed him off.

Rather than grouse and blame it all on the tourists, he decided to take matters into his own hands and he became a one-man force against garbage. He founded Zero Trash Laguna, to make it easier for people to responsibly dispose of their garbage and recyclables by placing more trash cans around town and to make people pay attention to the way we treat our town, its beaches and water.

Chip and several environmental groups have banded together in a campaign against Styrofoam. If you look at a cup closely, you see it is plastic particles pressed together. Those little white bits, called nurdles, don't ever break down into anything biodegradable. Sea animals mistake them for food and eat them, and this form of plastic is slowly making its way into the mollecular makeup of sea life. Please remember this next time you use a Strofoam cup...and don't. Ditto those obnoxious packing peanuts that scatter like confetti on trash day and go straight into the storm drains. (Hate to make trouble, but has anyone approached places like the Mail Stop, The UPS Store, etc. to ask them about their plans to go green?)

This issue was on the Laguna Beach City Council agenda last Tuesday, and the council agreed to look into creating a new ordinance banning the use of non-recyclable food containers, i.e. Styrofoam. We live at the beach, this stuff inevitably ends up in it, let's take steps to stop it. Makes sense to me. If you want to add your voice to this issue, get in touch with any of the supporting organizations: Earth Resources Foundation, Laguna Greenbelt, Surfrider Foundation, Laguna Ocean Foundation, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy.

Here's a little background on the potential ordinance that Chip sent me:

After a three-year attempt to create a voluntary program, it was determined that the large grocery chains and chain fast food entities would not participate. These businesses are the major source of most of the accumulation of these insidious materials in the near shore marine environment and our wild lands. A Styrofoam cup with hot coffee maybe has a useful life of twenty minutes in your hand and can persist and accumulate in the marine environment for 200 years!

Following similar bans in the Cities of San Clemente, Santa Monica, Malibu, Emeryville, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland, the countries of Ireland, Australia (the Southern State), Austria, Switzerland, and other political entities, the time has come for the City of Laguna Beach to address the important environmental issues associated with throwaway containers composed of long-lived materials, i.e., some plastics and polystyrene.

It is not the intent of this proposal to create any undue hardship on any local business. Functional, cost-competitive, environmentally sensitive, substitute products exist and are readily available. Now is the time to implement a cure for the plastic plague. Begin by taking responsibility for what you consume and demand eco-sensitive food containers from restaurants and businesses.

Your support of this important issue will be appreciated. Please call, write, or email your City Councilpersons (contact information shown on page 2 of local newspapers) and let them know you support Laguna Beach getting control over the distribution of these toxic compounds.

How to post on THE LAGUNAN

2007-05-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Come on in! The blog is all warmed up and ready for you! If you have an item you'd like to submit for consideration here on THE LAGUNAN, just send it as an e-mail to mcmurray@mac.com.

What are you involved in that you'd like your neighbors to know about? Got an idea for how to help the environment, make life as a parent, citizen, friend, neighbor better? Write it up and send it! It doesn't need to be perfect -- I can fix it up if you send it, but do try to write as if you're writing to a friend; make it first-person and include your first name and any contact info necessary for people to respond to your post, if appropriate. Photos welcome, the more unique the better. No dull boring yawnfest-inducing press releases, no promoting your undoubtedly wonderful business unless there's a charitable angle, and please no snarking. Just stuff that makes Laguna and its people a more interesting, community-spirited, heart-centered place to live.

Hope Comes to Town (well, to Newport Coast anyway)

2007-05-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

While The Lagunan is not endorsing any particular candidate, she admits to a quickening of the pulse at the words "Obama in Orange County." The audacity of hope in the face of the meltdown that is the GOP at the moment creates an excitement and enthusiasm that I daresay no one under age 50 has witnessed in their lifetime. Keiko Sakamoto and Bill Witte are two of the Lagunans behind this breakfast fundraiser on June 11 (thanks, K&B!).

If you have a spare $1,000, you can come see for yourself what all the buzz is about. Senator Barack will rock the gateds and the unwashed paying masses at a private home in Newport Coast on Monday, June 11 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Requested contributions to attend this undeniably memorable event range from $25,000 (good for a photo with him, I'll bet) down to a mere $1,000 (perhaps a handshake, no pushing!). Required RSVP cutoff is June 6; contact Melahat Rafei at 350-7733.

Home of the Blues: "Come Hell and High Water" at BC Space Gallery

2007-05-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

The beauty of N'awlins before Hurricane Katrina, the frightening events during it, and the unimaginable aftermath are documented in COME HELL AND HIGH WATER at BC Space Gallery, May 17 - July 7, 2007.

The extraordinary artwork of three New Orleans-based artists give new meaning to its tagline, "Home of the Blues." Photographers Jackson Hill, Brian Gauvin, and Thomas Neff were there to record it all. As a town with its own share of natural catastrophes -- although certainly not of this scale -- Lagunans can relate, and I hope they come to this show.

Jackson Hill is a professional photographer and educator whose studio is located on the streetcar line in downtown New Orleans. From this vantage, his "Night Nature" series captures the romantic vision of the New Orleans nightscape as it was before Katrina changed everything. Brian Gauvin is also a working photographer and exhibiting artist in New Orleans who was on the scene in the critical periods immediately after the storm struck. His insightful images capture the ensuing chaos and often bizarre physical juxtapositions created by Katrina. Thomas Neff' is a professor at the School of Art, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, who participated in the ensuing search and rescue missions where he recorded his compassionate photographs and personal narratives of the survivors of the storm.

The collective impact of the work by these three artists is a compelling portrayal of the cataclysmic effects Hurricane Katrina has had on the lives and landscapes in the Big Easy.

Abnormal gallery hours are 2-5 PM, Tuesday through Friday, with other hours easily arranged by contacting the gallery in advance. BC Space Gallery is located at 235 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach, 92651. For additional information you may call (949) 497-1880 or email bcspace@mol.net. You may also visit our website at www.bcspace.com.

People pics: Sandie Ward's Fashion Show, Mandarin Fine Art Gallery

2007-05-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

A homegrown event by aspiring fashion designer Sandie was an amazing showcase of high-style fashions (bustiers, anyone?). Many thanks to Sandie for making it a benefit for Friendship Shelter, which helps highly motivated homeless adults from ALL of Orange County!

2007-05-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

Speak out!

2007-05-18T23:20:00.001-07:00

They did it!

2007-05-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

Numbers haven't yet been tallied, but from the looks of the Boutique Benefit Saturday at Laguna Presbyterian Church, the hard work of Evonne Kane (second from left, in the dots) and her team of helpers paid off!

Their goal was to raise enough to pay Lisa, the amazing and wonderful caseworker who has been donating her time at the Laguna Resource Center to help families in need and homeless folks who need assistance. The amount and quality of the items donated from the closets and boutiques of Laguna were outstanding, and brought out the bargain-hunters in droves. This Lagunan bought two new tops from Lala, normally $98 each, for $20 apiece, and a cool brown suede coat for the same amount, plus a few other goodies. As promised, there were tons of designer items from some of the upscale shops in town, and a separate roomful of practical lower-priced and children's items. The cheerful helpers deserve a big round of applause, as does Evonne, who dreamed up the idea.

This homegrown fundraiser breathed new life into the Laguna Resource Center, a tiny non-profit that relies on the help of the community it serves. If you want to truly be of service, support organizations such as this one in its work to help people who need it the most. Some people think organizations like this draw homeless people to Laguna. I say they're here anyway -- why you not give them a place to shower, make phone calls, get food and give them the dignity every human deserves? A society is only as strong as its weakest link; if we rely on the Darwinian theory that only the wealthy or well-connected deserve to live here, we can't call ourselves much of a community, can we?

What Happens When People Care

2007-05-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Call me a sucker for a happy ending, but I burst into joyful tears when I saw this photo and e-vite from my friends J&K, a couple with hearts bigger than Texas. It was an invitation to celebrate an adoption of two children they aren't related to and whom they could have felt sorry for, written a check, and moved on. But they didn't.

(That's a photo of Victor and Vanessa with their adoptive parents, and the judge who made it official.)

My friends J&K were able to see the bigger picture that these two children faced, put aside their daily concerns and stretch the boundaries of their good will, patience and budget to give the kids a fighting chance at life.

J&K both have busy careers, two young sons with full schedules of Little League and school activities, a house to maintain, interests and hobbies of their own...... But when their longtime nanny was run down and killed in a crosswalk on Coast Highway in October 2005 by an inattentive lady in her big SUV, J&K (I suspect they'd rather I didn't use their names) saw the handwriting on the wall for these two, then ages 3 and 8, and recognized a harsh and uncertain future for them.

With the children destined to end up in foster care and with no guarantee that they would be kept together, J&K took them into their home for nine months as temporary foster parents. An optimistic and cheerful couple, I know this move was a big drain on their emotional and financial resources and a strain on the family unit, but to them it was never a question. They patiently facilitated the eventual movement of the children to another foster home of a generous family with financial resources, a similar ethnic background and a fervent desire for more children to love. That foster family officially adopted Victor and Vanessa on April 16th.

I'll happily attend that party, grateful for the opportunity to know J&K and to have observed the real "Secret" -- that we are here to help each other even -- perhaps especially -- if it takes us outside our comfort zone. That they cared enough to go to bat for the futures of Victor and Vanessa demonstrates that bravery comes in many forms, and sometimes it lives quietly just down the street.

Got Extra Babysugar?

2007-05-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, some friends and I threw some $20 bills into a kitty and became investors in a mini-mart in Ghana, a clothing shop in Azerbaijan, and two retail establishments in Samoa. (That's a photo of Patience Baah, mother of two, in her food shop in Ghana. She's about to expand it to create a dining area for her customers.)

We are microlenders through an organization called Kiva. (www.kiva.org). Micro-lending makes small loans to poor people to start or expand businesses and build better lives for themselves. The loans are almost always repaid. On the Kiva website, you can browse, find a project that interests you and make a loan of $25 or more. When enough lenders sign up for a particular project, the loan is funded, going through existing grass-roots organizations in the region that manage the loans, disbursing and collecting repayments. They report back on the borrower's progress via the easy-to-use Kiva web site.

Samoan shopkeeper Moevao Nuutasi requested an $800 loan "to purchase soda, snacks, soaps, mutton flaps, turkey tails, and chicken" for her shop, Victory Mini-Mart. She has begun paying it back; my friends and I will likely reinvest in another loan.

On the Kiva website, you can create a profile. My favorite profile is of a co-lender, Natalie. Occupation: baby. Why does she lend? "I've got extra babysugar!"

So do I, Natalie. Let's put it to good use and buy some turkey tails and mutton flaps.

***********

Want to learn more about microlending through kiva.org? Check out New York TImes reporter Nicholas Kristof's video of a surprise visit he made to his business partner, a baker in Kabul, Afghanistan (simply cut and paste this link into your browser):
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=FEEDROOM186917

Just Shoot Me

2007-04-22T21:43:00.002-07:00

By now you've read and heard the rather bizarre story about the two shooting deaths at the Montage. All the facts aren't being reported yet, and the identities and details of the two dead, a couple apparently involved in an altercation, have not been released.

But after last week in Blacksburg, Va., and this weird event...
Can we talk about guns?
Do we really want everyone to have the right to bear arms? Other "first-world" nations think we're totally nuts to allow citizens to have handguns and semiautomatic weapons. Are they right?
What do you think?

Photo of the Week

2007-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Tip o' the hat to the NY Times and Code Pink

Bottled Water: What a Waste

2007-04-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

That's the title of the article I pasted below here, posted on www.treehugger.com via Common Dreams. I just HAD to poke around on the Web after having a decadent day at Spa Montage, where upon check-in you get a fluffy towel and a cute little bottle of Fiji brand bottled water. Pretty label, I thought, but it can't possibly be from....what the - oh, yes it is! Which led to finding this item:

1.5 million barrels of oil in the US alone are used to make water bottles from polyethylene terephthalate, 86% of which are landfilled or incinerated. Often it is shipped long distances, like the 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water sent 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) to Saudi Arabia, or the popular Fiji water found in the U.S. and Canada. ''Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing--producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy,'' said Earth Policy Institute researcher Emily Arnold. ''Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more.'' Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water must be transported long distances--and nearly one-fourth of it across national borders--by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This ''involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels,'' Arnold said. It's time to buy a Nalgene and refill it rather than tossing empties. ::Common Dreams

The Lagunan here again --
I would urge you to rethink your use of bottled water in general, and of Fij water in particular. Maybe Spa Montage doesn't deserve a letter-writing campaign over this, but it might be worth bringing up with management. What good is all the chatter and ink about eating locally produced foods and going green if we're foolish enough to ship drinking water over from Fiji and Finland and put it into non-biodegradable plastic bottles from China that end up in our landfills? We have perfectly potable tap water here, unlike so many worldwide. A "Nalgene" suggested above is a tough, long-lasting plastic bottle campers use -- but still plastic. If you don't care for the taste of tap, get a reverse osmosis system, fill up a stainless steel drinking bottle, you're good to go for a long, long time without using a drop of polyethylene terephthalate. (Just remember: frequent hot soapy water!). Comments?

Stick it right here, Laguna!

2007-04-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Laguna Beach is full of big-hearted people doing interesting, helpful, community- and world-enhancing activities. This blog is meant to highlight the many causes, events, and ideas that deserve attention from other Laguna locals that don't make it into the INDY, The COASTLINE-PILOT or the NEWS-POST. And it's a thumb in the eye of all things MTV show-related; we are secure in the knowledge that we aren't actually remotely similar to the the way we're portrayed, so let's not protest too much and just get on with all the positive aspects worth spending our time on.

If you're like me, you get all excited or riled up about an idea or opinion but daily life gets in the way of sending an e-mail blast or a letter to the editor. That, and I start to worry about annoying the long-suffering people in my address book with multiple e-mails that they may or may not care about. And I'd feel a bit silly directing anyone to a myspace page -- isn't that more for the young 'uns? With this blog, you can peruse the offerings and pay attention to whatever you want -- and ask questions, respond, sound off, or pass along information and ideas.

We'll use this as a place to post items of interest; let's make it our big, electronic cork board. Send me your stuff, and with minimal parsing, I will post it (although I reserve the right to edit/endorse/disallow items - hey, it was my idea!). The more complete your item -- with basic who, what, when, where, why, how much -- the better and more likely it is to get posted. If it needs a lot of work, I'll probably just dump it. Stuff that's already being highly promoted in the community may not get a lot of attention here. Those are a few ground rules; I'll probably make up more as we go.

In concept, THE LAGUNAN will help inform and direct anyone who wants to lead their Laguna life a bit richer and connected to the community. When I first moved to Laguna Beach 16 years ago, it would have been a great boon to know about the many unpublished, word-of-mouth local activities, businesses and organizations related to art, politics, families, music, film, neighborhoods, schools, grass-roots philanthropy opportunities and whatever else brings people together and forms the glue of a true community.

I crave that kind of connection and neighborliness; maybe you do, too. The Web makes it so easy. Here it is in its embryonic stage. Let's have a go and see where it takes us.

Love,

THE LAGUNAN

Evonne's Brainwave: Boutique Benefit May 12

2007-04-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

My friend Evonne had a brainwave last holiday season.

While most of us were downing See's candy by the boxful and knocking back glögg, Evonne was helping feed homeless people down at the Presbyterian Church. This led to her sorting and organizing clothing donations at the Laguna Resource Center (a.k.a. the Laguna Relief and Resource Coalition www.lagunarelief.org).

And now she's gone and done it -- she's spending her days and nights prepping for the first-ever BOUTIQUE BENEFIT on Saturday, May 12 from 8:30 to 3 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church.

Many of Laguna's best boutiques have donated brand-new items to the sale, and through word-of-mouth appeals, dozens of spring cleanings in local households have turned up hundreds more gently-used donated items. The sale of these items -- clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags, jewelry, small decoratives -- will raise funds for the Laguna Resource Center.

Evonne is running out of space to store all the goodies, so if you have some room she can borrow for a few weeks, please get in touch with her at 949-661-1236.

Thanks for your fine example, Evonne! My closet is emptier (at the moment) for it, and your place in heaven is assured.