My lil sis registering to vote! SF Pride, 2009
This weekend was full of exercise, good TV show quotes, delicious food, laughter, amazing friends, the occasional naked or half naked person, and of course, PRIDE! My graduation gift to Ms. Riot Grrrl Jr. was a trip to the beautiful San Francisco. We picked an amazing weekend to visit! Not only was SF Pride happening, but it turns out, some other good friends were in town as well. I seriously have the best friends ever. I’m a lucky gal.
So! Regarding my last post about the supposed Jakes show at eVocal – we ended up leaving after the first act. Sorry! We left early for several reasons. First of all I must say, eVocal as a space/store/venue/gallery was great. Here are some visuals:
Aside from the well designed/organized environment, I shall explain why we left pretty early:
And there you have it. Oh! But I did get my breakfast burrito, and BELIEVE THE HYPE. It was excellent.
In other news, a few weeks ago I googled “Project Runway” to see if Lifetime has updated it’s site with new contestant information for the Season 6 premiere on August 20th. To my dismay, they had not. A Lifetime site didn’t even show up in the search results (I looked through page 5), until today. Their SEO department needs to get on top of optimizing Project Runway… as of today, the Lifetime site shows up on the 3rd page of the google results. No bueno, Lifetime. BravoTV still comes up at the number one spot. Blogging Project Runway wrote a nice memo a month ago regarding some issues that they had, which is a good read, and they make some excellent points. I know, as a HUGE fan of the show, I like to read some show teasers before the new season airs. So far, they don’t have much to offer. Although, their site is nice to look at…
AND I’m excited about Models of the Runway, a show that will air at 11pm right after our beloved PR, giving the viewers a glimpse into the world of the PR models. Unfortunately, there is no link where I can read more about this on their site. Lame! I guess I will just have to be patient. Hopefully Lifetime understands how important this show is to its fans and will be either equally or more awesome than Bravo. Only time will tell…
So, across the street from the home of my favorite breakfast burrito of all time is a place I’ve never been to before called eVocal. I’ve always admired the neat signage from afar, and today I guess I will finally be checking it out. KROQ is hosting a free show at eVocal with The Jakes as the headlining act. Stay tuned for photos and my oh so important thoughts. (Ha!) Right now I’m mostly excited about that breakfast burrito…
About 3 years ago, I took my roommate at the time to see what I thought would be “a little play about the war.” I so was incredibly wrong. We escaped from Irvine for the night to see the Los Angeles Theater Ensemble’s Wounded. It was not just a “play,” it was an emotionally gripping experience that opened my eyes to a world I am not familiar with: the world of a wounded Iraq War Veteran.
Now, at a time of economic recession, the LA Theater Ensemble brings us Survived which is the follow up to Wounded, and the second play in what they are calling The War Cycle. As actor, Albert Meijer stated, “As artists, we are not ignoring the headlines that have been buried behind those concerning the economy, politics, and celebrity. We have chosen to bring the overlooked to light.”According to the website:
“Survived is inspired by true accounts of the families of soldiers fallen in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. It follows the lives of the Harper family as they prepare to scatter the ashes of 24 year old Lt. Michael Harper on the anniversary of his combat-related death in the Iraq War. A surprise visit from a soldier who served with Michael at the time of his death ignites a powder keg of emotion and throws the family into crisis as they strive to preserve their memories of Michael while learning to let go.”
The Ensemble holds “Talk Backs” after their Thursday shows where they make themselves available to engage in discussions with the members of the audience. The members of the LA Theater Ensemble are a very accessible group of individuals. Survived will run through April 25th in Santa Monica, CA. For more information, please visit: http://www.latensemble.com
About a month ago I attended/volunteered at the 10th Annual FACTS Benefit, which was held at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, their current exhibit titled “A Dream Realized” compared the life and legacy of Dr. King with that of President Obama through a series of similar photographs.
I had never been there, and definitely want to go back sometime and check out all of the museums in Exposition Park. It seems like a fun place to take my sisters. Anyway, the event was really thought provoking. I learned so much about how many individuals and families are affected by Three Strikes. It was heartbreaking to meet so many mothers who have sons or daughters in prison for non-violent crimes that do not warrant a life sentence. After meeting these families and hearing their stories, it infuriates me to think that Californians could ignore these injustices. According to Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who was the keynote speaker, African Americans make up 7% of California’s population, yet they represent 45% of those in prison because of three strikes sentencing. Something is definitely wrong here.
The Benefit held a silent auction for artwork made by prisoners at Security Housing Unit — or the SHU, at Pelican Bay State Prison in Northern California. Prisoners are not allowed to use art materials in “the hole” so prisoners improvise and use paper pulp from magazines or toilet paper and place that on drawing paper. Colors are obtained by using the coating of vitamins, candy or coffee.
A lot of individuals and groups were present to support FACTS and it was really great to see so many grassroots and non-profit organizations come together to create visibility for an issue that seems to be so hidden and unspoken. The Youth Justice Coalition was in attendance and a young activist performed a spoken word piece that was as gritty and dark as her experiences on the rough streets of LA. As she said in her poem “we’re the children who rose from Watts in ‘65… we’ve had enough, take the system down, and build something, now.”
It is imperative that the three strikes law be amended. The prison industrial complex is flawed, prisons are astoundingly overcrowded, and there are obvious racial implications when looking at the statistics. Funding really needs to go to rehabilitation rather than putting people away for life for non-violent crimes. Until that happens, the injustice will continue, and these individuals and their families will continue to be oppressed by the system.
