How I Made Decisions to Actually Vote Yesterday

I crammed.

The ballot was pretty long: 50 different choices!!!!! 

I had over 50 tabs open looking up each and every piece on yesterday's ballot.  It took me about 2-3 hours to look everything up.

For someone who considers themselves to be 'political', I barely gave a crap about this one until yesterday. 

I barely know what prop stands for what today.

Personal computing device and internet, thanks, which allowed me to view:

Google, which took me to:

Again, thanks Internet.
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Just Give the 20-Something Year Old Girl from the Red Line a Ticket

...About that girl whom the cops pulled off the train because she had her foot on a seat, and would not listen to the cop's orders.

As a former regular-rider of the Red Line, I'd never really known that it was an actual policy/rule to not put your foot up on the the chair.

I do think anyone who puts their foot on a chair to prevent others from sitting, does so in poor taste.  I thought it was just a rule of thumb.

But I guess nowadays, it's a publicly posted policy, subject to enforcement.   

But man, getting dragged off the train for that?

Significant Other wondered, "why couldn't they just give her a ticket for that?"  So, yes, why could not they just give her a ticket for that?

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KLCS, TF Happened to WordWorld?

Welp, the public space in LA that I frequent more besides the roadways via 0-80 mph 2000-lb box are the public radio and public television outlets.

I noticed that I skipped all of 2017;  wasn't intentional.  Had a few posts lined up, but I just never published.

Now as a pop with 2 lil kids, I've been viewing spaces with a different focus.  For instance, now I look at how certain communal and social environments are built for kids (or not.)  Downtown Long Beach is decidedly not one of those areas. Hardly any points of destinations for kids.  Very few playgrounds.  Tons of bars and restaurants.  Most of whom don't have little extra space for a stroller or I "know" would lack a changing station in the boys room or even have one at all.

Anyway, my significant other and I have been knee deep in public radio and public television consumption for a while now.  I generally know the schedules of the radio station 89.3 and the television channel 58.2.

Channel 58.2, KLCS Kids is a very important channel for me.  It's LAUSD but also a  PBS station.  It had shows that my now-almost 3-year old enjoyed:  Caillou, Curious George, Cat in the Hat, and as I would often repeat in conversations with the S.O., "most importantly" Word World.  I was kinda bummed for about 3 or 6 months when my antenna wasn't picking it up, so I bought a real antenna from Target for about 30 bucks just to get that channel again.  While the other shows were important for my kid's own enjoyment, Word World was essentially the driving reason I needed to get that antenna so I could force feed him sound, letter recognition in hopes of encouraging early reading. 

If you're not familiar with Word World, it's a computer-graphic animated show based on a farm with animals whose bodies are drawn to show the word that the animal represents.  For instance, the character "Dog" is drawn with capitals "D-O-G" in the form of a dog and is animated as a dog.  The same with the characters, "Bear", "Sheep", "Duck", etc.  They are drawn with capitals in the form of whatever animal they represent are also animated as such.

An ingenious, underrated show that at the very least had helped me point out a different small objects, while also getting the chance to show him how to recognize and spell letters in the alphabet.  I didn't always get a chance to watch the show with him because schedules are crazy, but I recognized that when we could, we needed to watch it together.

Then, came January 1, 2018, at approximately 5:30 in the morning.

What.

The.

F.

Some pre-teens.

I had to check if it was on 58.2.

What.the.f.

It was.

I thought it was some paid programming.

The quality of the picture looked somewhat fuzzy and dated, like it came from the mid-2000s.  There was even a girl skating around on one of those shoes that skate if you laid that shoe in the heel.  They even mentioned using a computer to have fun.  A computer.  Remember when kids used those for their fun and entertainment?  

Beautiful time warp moment, but the novelty of experiencing this outdated show when I'd expected a  show cerebral to my child's academic advancement didn't even register.

To make matters worse, this morning, searching through the TV guide results and the  PBS station itself, Word World is nowhere to be found.

http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/word-world/tv-listings/1113856/

http://klcs.org/schedule/#page=search&day=20180104&provider=Broadcast&search=word%20world&sorted=relevance

KOCE  PBS Socal does say that it will play it at 5:30 on Saturdays, but seriously, WTF.
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Things Kids Are Doing and Saying Because of...Trump

It's beginning.

I come from the view that everything Trump said during his campaign was a "dog whistle" to supporters to come out of the woodwork and declare their bits of white supremacy and separatism.  

His racist and the support from white supremacist groups are documented and were just non-negotiable for me because it's just a stance that not only he, but ordinary people will feel comfortable in going to antagonize certain groups of people just because of their perceived identities. 

I've been followed conversations on my online community of choice (an NBA team's message board) to get some kind of pulse on feelings of the election.  It's not a representative sample by any means, but I feel like since I "know" the posters in some manner I can learn a lot more.  For the most part, it's not like the snarky world of Facebook, Reddit, or newspaper commenting --- there's a lot more chance for civility and thus, depth in any given discussion.

There were a bunch of these reasonable discussants discussing how "racism had nothing to do with the outcome of the election."

 What one (respected) poster actually said was this:  
This election had a race based component, but that isn't what flipped it. As I have been saying, what flipped this election was a number of democratic strongholds that strongly went for Obama (meaning they aren't racist) switching to go for Trump. It was largely economic based.

Instead of having a discussion about the real why's and policy directions, we have this constant discussion about racism that had virtually nothing to do with the outcome of the election.
The guy didn't vote for Trump (Johnson) and is very sharp when discussing trade and economics.

However, I was still a bit unnerved by the last sentence because I don't think it's accurate at all.

I understand that quite a few Democratic Trump voters went to Trump based on what they thought he could do for the economy (or maybe because of the prospect of locking a person whom they were made to believe belonged in prison;  re:  Hilary for prison), but he'd made a lot of noise in his media coverage about banning Muslims, calling Mexican rapists, building walls to keep out said rapists.

For a lot of people like me, that noise was as I said, 'non-negotiable', but I guess for some people the vitriol towards Muslims and Mexicans was something they could tolerate compromise on, as long as it meant a different economic prosperity and/or an "end to corruption."

And now for some instant reaction, we go to America's classrooms. 

1.  Today, my wife told me about how one of her co-worker's sons, a third grader, a 9-year old Mexican-American kid, received a letter from a friend.  The friend, saddened, wrote, "I'm sorry you have to go back to Mexico."  The son was freaked out, and his mother had to reassure him that he belonged here.

2.  Middle-schoolers in Michigan chanting "build the wall."

3)  Shitload of shit:  Trump! being written on a prayer room door, Graffiti reading Whites Only, Car being stolen from a Muslim student, graffiti written that neither black lives nor black votes matter, Nazi graffiti found in the city of brotherly love, a black doll being hung, a man yanking off a hijab, deportation letters being passed out at a school
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Another Election, Another Edition of Who The F Are These Other People Not Named Trump, Clinton, Johnson, Stein, Barakaaaa....

I do not advocate ignorance at all, but my real-time social environment keeps me away from researching more thoroughly. 

The social environment consisting of local television, radio, social media (Facebook, Twitter), billboards, chain-link fences, residential lawns, etc. 

There isn't much in my current day job that actually forces me to look at politics, local or national, so it isn't a focus at this point.  I'd been unconsciously even blocking the information that did come my way about local propositions and candidates.

As of now, about 8AM, election morning 2016, a day off for me, I have just finished researching candidates and propositions.  It was a 4-hour long process, extending from yesterday as I sifted through the 200+ pages elaborating on the various ballot measures.  And by 'sifted', I mean I skipped to the "Quick Reference Guide Sections", read pros vs. cons, and looked at who was supporting what.

Of course, the research yesterday was not about Trump vs. Clinton or Clinton vs. Trump (that I decided long ago), I am talking about the local stuff that does immediately impact me.

The guide-book mailed to me was fairly comprehensive with propositions;  I used the internet to cross-reference a few things, but overall, I think I was able to get a fair reading for who what to vote for/against.

However the guide-book does not give you information on your local district representatives, such as your Congressional representative, your State Senator, your member of State Assembly, and of course your Nonpartisan Offices.

For local representatives, were all on our own, and that's when I relied on the internet:  an exercise in cross referencing Ballotpedia, KPCC's interviews of judges, LA Times endorsements, metnews. 

KPCC's interviews give some insight into personality;  though brief, they gave me a sense of whom I could relate to.  I particularly caught on to Kim L. Nguyen's story, though her opponent, David A. Berger seems alright too. 

LA Times endorsements I imagine carry a lot of weight for voters, especially in low-information battles.  However, the reasoning on a few of their endorsements wasn't satisfying.  Why?  They do not supply much if any supporting evidence of the strength of their choices or even the weaknesses of their opponents.

Especially when it comes to the choice between Berger vs. Nguyen.

Nguyen received a "Well Qualified" rating from the LA Superior Court whereas her opponent received a "Not Qualified."

The LA Times immediately disqualified this rating when it came to this race because...he can express his opinions?

Here's what they wrote: 
As a deputy district attorney, and as a candidate for Los Angeles city attorney, Berger was never shy about expressing his opinion, including about his rivals.

He has a long and successful record as a prosecutor, and his free expression of opinion in that capacity do not make him less fit to serve impartially as a judge.

Deputy Attorney General Kim L. Nguyen is keenly intelligent and capable and would also make a good judge, but could benefit from another few years of experience before taking the bench.


They don't elaborate on his "long and successful record", they don't tell us why the ratings by the County Bar don't matter in this case, or why Nguyen needs "another few years of experience before taking the bench."

My cynical reading is that whoever wrote it just likes him better because he's older and deserves it, though the LA County Bar thought otherwise, for some mysterious reason.

Second example of less-than-satisfying reasoning, for Office 11, they wrote this about their endorsement of Steven Schreiner:

Deputy District Attorney Debra Archuleta brings a combative style that may serve her as a prosecutor but would not translate well to the bench. Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim may someday make a good judge.

Of the four candidates, Steven Schreiner — also a deputy district attorney — has the most experience. He also is the one with the calm demeanor that a judge must have, and that is somewhat ironic, given that the knock on him when he ran two years ago was that he supposedly lost his temper when making his argument to a jury that couldn’t reach a verdict. Given his record in his many other trials, it seems more likely that he didn’t lose his temper at all, but was just going for effect. It wasn’t a great tactic, but it was a departure for a candidate who would likely make a model judge.

They endorse someone based on his temperament against someone with a "combative style", but they then note that he's supposedly lost his temper.  They like him usually, but man can he melt down?  It's befuddling.

They don't really put any substantiating evidence for anything:  why he would be a 'model judge', what his 'record' is in his many other trials, why his opponent's combative style would make her suck.    

Another election, another cram session.  I just wonder if there's ever going to be a time in future elections when we'll have as much information about these local candidates as we do these national ones.
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Stores I Can Only Find in "Certain" Areas of Town (Special Santa Barbara Edition)


I have been working in the Santa Barbara for a few weeks now.
On the night that I was (superstititiously) following the Cubs (in my car in the motel parking lot using Facetime with the wife who showed me our TV screen after deciding that watching the TV in the hotel room was bad luck after turning on the TV to see Aroldis Chapman give up the 2-run home run to Rajai Davis to make it 6-6)  welcome their first World Series victory, the first thing I did was converse with my motel neighbors who had seen and possibly heard me react to every little event.
Turns out that they were from LA too, the San Fernando Valley specifically.  They too were here for work.  They do/did floors.  They’d been in Santa Barbara for months, commuting home to LA every Friday.
After trading talks about me being Filipino, them being Mexican, being married to a Mexican, me being born in Chicago, one of them actually living in Chicago, me living in Compton, them living in San Fernando, they asked me about where they could find a few stores.
Like a…
Home Depot.
Lowe’s.
Food4Less.
99 Cents Store?

My work area having been more towards Goleta, I wasn’t sure where I could direct them (though on reflection there is an Orchard Supply Store on the Fairview exit in Goleta).  Stores that I also gravitate towards and have lived on.
Not being able to find these stores within Santa Barbara didn’t surprise me at all.  I joked that they would have to drive all the way to Oxnard to find those stores.  We all had this somewhat implicit awareness of class and race associations with various brands.
They had searched for these stores, turns out that there was a Home Depot on Calle Real, though about 6 miles South from the Motel we were staying at, around Exit 101 on the 101 Freeway.
Even Autozone is coded as something associated with being Brown and working class.  I don’t find them in Beverly Hills, but I sure as hell find them in Compton.
I needed coolant/antifreeze for my car whose engine thermometer was scarily reaching an unsafe level while I slowed to 40 on the freeway.  I don’t know a ton about cars, but I know that I just wanted the Autozone brand because it had been the only coolant that I used.
I asked the local Santa Barbaran whom I was training, just where I could find an Autozone.  He is a recent college grad who looks and talks like any other white guy, but apparently has some kind of Hispanic in him.  

He knew of an O'Reilly's (which I know is around in Compton), but for Autozone, I searched the phone and found something in Santa Barbara.  

He asked what area.  

I showed him my phone.

He said, "is that downtown?"

I said I don't know.

He took a closer look.  He said, "Oh yeahhh..."  He knew what part of town it was.

I took a closer look.  It said, "East Side."  

Guess I'd located the part of town to get the good stuff cheap. 
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Apparently Drunken Man Walks to My Front Door at Night...in Compton...

...wife and kid in the living room, which is just behind the entrance of the house...
...gate left open...
...knocking...

We live in a time where on any given newscast, we are inundated with news items that double as cautionary tales.  News of random robberies, assaults...it's a scary, negative world, and it seems so random.  Basically, if you watch the local news, you'll be inclined to never, ever trust anyone.

On top of that, my neighborhood has a history, one that from any Google search of my street, would deem it a mostly BAD history.  Without giving away too much detail, there is actually a Hispanic gang named after my street.

But I don't know what it is about me. 

Maybe Catholic guilt.  Maybe Anthropologist, 'let's-see-where-this-goes' mentality.

I crack open the door, but not our steel screen door so that there remains a barrier between me and this unknown individual.  I can kind of see him, but he can't see me.  He's shortish, mid-50s black man.

I ask him what's going on.

He says that he used to live in the very house that I live in today.  Says his name is 'Bobby.' He says that the neighbors know him. 

I think to myself, "well how come they don't help him out?"

He says that he was just in the neighborhood and got into some kind of fight.

He tells me that I have to help him.

There's a desperation in his voice that I would avoid on Metro trains.  But him being here, in my house, on my family's property, means that I can't just ignore him.

He asks if I could drive him to his place in South Los Angeles.

By this point, I'm blown away.  I'm glad he doesn't solicit money.  I don't really want to turn him away, but I still don't know who the fuck he is or what he's doing here.  However, if all he wants is a ride, I instantly get an idea.

"Hey man, what if I call you an Uber?"

The idea is my way of helping with something without spending money or necessarily directly dealing with him.

He keeps going on about how he just wants to go to his home in South LA and how he is known in this neighborhood. 

He never really answers the question, but tacitly he seems to approve as I explain that it's like a Taxi.  I pull up my phone and order it up from my app.  I order it, but I also want to warn the Uber driver by calling her; the driver never picks up the phone.  11 Minutes.

I tell him it is ordered, and that they're coming in 10 minutes. 

I take a closer look and see that he's bleeding just above the mouth.  I just try to continue conversation about what the neighborhood was like, trying in earnest to verify his claim to the neighborhood. 

He said that he grew up in my house during the 1980s.  He said it was where he grew up.  Kept saying that he knew people around, but conveniently were nowhere to be found on this chance school night.

When I see the Uber is getting close, I finally open the screen door so I could go outside and meet the man.

I tell him that the Uber is there, and he's still talking about going to South LA.  He's talking the whole time.

A middle-agish "alternative" looking white lady in a black sedan pulls up in front of my neighbor's house, and I spot her.  She has another passenger seated in the front seat, also another woman.

I immediately claim responsibility and say I ordered the Uber and ask if its OK.

She nods, and says, "It's fine."

Bobby hops into the backseat and I thank her with the profusion of a million suns.

But now, I just hope I don't see a local news story about an Uber driver something something by her passenger...

A Few Wednesdays Later

A white station wagon is parked right in front of my drive way where I normally would park after a day of work.

It is about 2 in the afternoon. 

I usually get that parking space, and it is sometimes a big deal when someone takes it.

Today, it is taken.

By Bobby.

He is talking to a neighbor that I don't talk to and greets me as soon as he sees me.

Says that he was here to repay me for calling that Uber.

He gives me $20, and says that we should barbecue some time.


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