California
The Homeless Generation
Hunched over on the cement bench facing the ocean at Redondo Beach is Esperanza. Most, if not, all locals know who she is by sight though very few know her by name. Esperanza in French and Spanish, ironically, mean’s hope, though perhaps from society’s perspective she represents the loss of it.
I have tried to talk to Esperanza on several occasions, only for her to retreat by hanging her head in shame, reversing her cart piled with a hodge-podge collection of discarded junk, but it’s all that she owns. Despite her need for privacy or, perhaps, due to her fear of the outside world, I managed to catch her on a good day and squeezed out her name. Walking my dogs along the beach, we’ve managed to get to know other dogs and their owners around the neighborhood. So, I wanted to also know Esperanza by name rather than to simply point to her, referencing her by apparent her lack of finances and an address. Read the rest of this entry »
Social Cliques & What To Keep In Mind: You Can’t Control How Others Behave
I was walking the babies (my dogs) Abe and Abby. Without fail, Abraham gets into everyone’s face immediately, and yes, it can be a little overwhelming. He’s so excited, friendly, lovable and outgoing that his personality is unstoppable. He’s got one goal in mind. Every day, it’s Abraham’s mission to find as many new humans to greet. And if he’s real lucky, he’ll manipulate them with his big grown eyes long enough to get them to pet him.
Abraham loves touch; it’s his love language. Meanwhile, Abigail my little 5-pound Japanese Chin insists on remaining aloof. She gains the spotlight quickly with her pretty long white coat and her dainty princess-like gait. However, most strangers learn quickly that she’s not as excited to see them as they are to see her. She acts like a cat and is so independent, so autonomous that she couldn’t care less about those who dote on her. Read the rest of this entry »
The Wounded Inner Child Part II: Snobbery, The New Prejudice
NOTE TO MY READERS: This article is unlike my others. Today, I decided to speak my mind and transparently write the truth, without walls. This article is based upon my observation of L.A. culture and my run-ins with countless individuals who seem to have unhealed childhood wounds.
I teach Film History part-time at the International School of Motion Pictures, a small but passionate school geared towards Japanese students highly interested in a film career. Yesterday, we decided to revisit Buffalo 66 because one of my students is highly interested in editing. Buffalo 66 has some great edited scenes, but the story reminds me of the inner wounded child that tends to be in all of us. Vincent Gallo reflects on his own childhood living in Buffalo, N.Y., as he wrote the screenplay inspired or at least influenced by childhood reflections.
The movie is one of my favorites for a number of reasons. It’s a very transparent look into the heart of a wounded child existing in a grown man. The unhealed wounds from our childhood are often unconscious and buried somewhere deep inside of us. It’s not always the case that he or she gets triggered, though, we are lucky if we have an opportunity to confront our inner wounded selves. And, yes, I do say lucky because as bad as it may hurt; we can only grow by discovering that there might be parts of our childhood that we still need to confront and heal. Read the rest of this entry »
Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional?
Is there ever a good reason to take a human life? If one of your relatives were murdered, what would justice look like to you? Is it wrong to take an eye for an eye? Or is it more painful, and just, to let the guilty individual rot in prison for the rest of their life?
According to U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, today more than 900 individuals in the state of California have been sentenced to death row since 1978. But only 13 of them were executed.
This afternoon’s Los Angeles Times article reported on how Carney scrutinized this apparent flaw in administering the death penalty. He ultimately ruled that lengthy delays and resulting uncertainty as to when or even if an inmate will be executed are in violation of human rights regardless of incarceration. Carney declared the state’s death penalty is “dysfunctional” because sentences have been reduced in essence to “life in prison, with the remote possibility of death.” Read the rest of this entry »
Writing With Hope 