Hey, use that crosswalk!

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

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

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

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

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

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....

...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?