Journal of No. 118

Now that Inglewood's Hollywood Park is defunct as a track, I'm kinda glad that they're taking some care in the transitiion period.

USC Archeology Students Help Dig Up Remains Of Famed Horse

Native Diver "was the first California-bred horse to win $1 million racing in Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar. ... Native Diver will be re-buried at Del Mar — the site of his last win."

Just skimming through the nglewood Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team report on Inglewood Unified, and it makes for dismal reading. The state came in a while back and took over, when the district had a $55 million shortfall.

"Stated reasons for fiscal insolvency included: Overstating [attendance], understating California State Teachers’ Retirement System payments, understating certificated salary expenses, continued deficit spending, and declining enrollment."

And the board is just as dysfunctional as I thought: "There is evidence of conflict between board members as well as in-fighting, nepotism, and mismanagement by district leaders."

But let's just forget the fiscal mismanagement and leadership problems. Let's talk results.

"On the California Alternate Performance Assessment, ... [students scoring] proficient and above ... in math and in English language arts (ELA)." --- 1.3%

California Modified Assessment
Proficient and above in math --- 2.4%
Proficient and above in ELA --- 2.5%

Book sale at the library in early November.

Inglewood Open Studios November 9 & 10 where you can tour through various artists' studios. (now sponsored by Jarritos!)

(my take on last year's studio walk.)

Today was the city elections in Inglewood. Poking around looking for information... any information... on some of the candidates somehow led me to Ku Klux Klan raid (Inglewood).

Pretty hair-raising stuff. An Inglewood city constable killed by gunshot. Oh, but he was a Klansman (as were several other Inglewood police). And he was shot and killed by an Inglewood city marshal, responding to a Klan raid to terrorize a local bootlegger.

The raiders were charged, but ultimately found not guilty.

"It was this scandal, according to the Los Angeles Times, that eventually led to the outlawing of the Klan in California."

( LA Times coverage )

Apparently, the shuttle put the pedal to the metal, and blazed past Inglewood City Hall before we got there. So we wound up going (circuitously, due to exciting road closures) to the Forum. Since I had my fill yesterday, I found it more interesting enjoying people watching in the huge crowd there. Food trucks, people hawking t-shirts and buttons, cotton candy, kids, people in walkers and wheelchairs, dogs, the marching band and color guard, all the people facing away from the shuttle taking pictures of themselves with their phones, the little conversations about what streets to take to get the hell out of here afterwards. Everybody having a good time.

So we went to the planning commission meeting about the proposed resurrection of the gas station (with added carwash). As always, it's interesting to see the wheels of government turning at the local level.
One of the commissioners lasered in on a point I had worried about. If the noise-mitigating carwash doors break, will the carwash still run? The applicant at least gave a verbal assurance that his intention is to keep things running ship-shape.
They called for public comments for & against the plan. I'm not really for it or against it, but I at least said my piece, airing concerns about noise and scents from the carwash. Another citizen aired concerns about it becoming an attractive nuisance, with utes congregating in the store or on the property. Another was very against the plan, citing traffic flow concerns. I'm guessing she either ran into somebody pulling out of the old gas station, or she works for a rival gas station. And then crazy tree lady complained about a proposed new tree trimming ordinance.
In the end, there were two nays and three ayes, though at least the chairman wagged his finger in a monitory way at the applicant, saying that the city would be checking up on him and the noise. I just hope there's some teeth behind that finger. Wait, does that make sense?
So, looks like we'll be getting new neighbors.

Oh, and in the elevator on the way back down, we met the mayor.

I wanted to love this book. I wanted to hate this book.

Sikivu Hitchinson is female, black, and, I seem to recall, a communist. So based on thumbnail identifications, it wouldn't seem we had much in common. Then again, she's an atheist from Los Angeles. (Indeed, recently when fracking in the Baldwin Hills was in the news, I learned that her father lives a stone's throw away (though he's in the black Beverly Hills (we'll skip over why the black Beverly Hills is in the middle of an oil field) while we would be stretching the truth to claim being in black Beverly Hills adjacent.)).

Anyway, I keep an eye on her blogs, and find my reaction a mix of agreement and disagreement. And the same is true in the case of her book, though for the most part I can't say anything rose to the level of either love or hate.

On the good side, the book provides a very comprehensive look at the 'lived experience' of black America as it related to religion. The church is very central to black experience, both for direct services it may provide (food, tutoring, childcare, etc.) and for the general center of community it provides. And she spells out how a more successful atheist/humanist campaign would strive to duplicate or replace that social network, but with a humanist face. If you like, there are benefits that accrue to religious 'privilege' that the non-religious currently don't have the network to replace.

As a *practical* way of spreading atheism to the black community, this is probably a very valid tactic, and something organizations should address. At the same time, it smacks of bribery. Oh, you have cookies over there? Well, we have cookies that are even better over here! The missing ingredient is the actual truth of the matter. The book is curiously incurious about the actual state of affairs in the universe. (This, of course, is just my reaction as one of the old, white, scientist, atheists.)

Maybe atheism is simply assumed by the book, but if I were to characterize the implicit argument for it in the book, it would go something like this:
( Oh shit, he's still typing )

We attended the opening soiree for Capital Offense at the Beacon Arts Building, a gallery that opened up a few blocks away about a year ago.

The show's theme was the end of capitalism, so there was lots of radical OWS granola-eating inchoate experimental art on display. Perhaps a highlight was the plexiglass container of containing crumpled bills, an electric megaphone, and several handfuls of crickets. Accompanying displays compared the average US earner to the 1$, with the average schlub portrayed as an insect, and explaining how wealth provides a magnifying effect to your voice.

I was also interested to see one of Alex Schaefer's burning banks. I remembered reading the story of how he got in a little trouble with the LAPD as a potential terrorist, for painting a Chase Bank on fire. That canvas sold for $25,000. (Expressing his disdain for capitalism, he quickly painted a Bank of America on fire and sold it for $4 grand. But he seems to have specialized primarily in burning Chase banks.) This one depicted a Chase bank on Venice, I think the one near Smaug & A&K. Anyway, it was neat to see art-in-the-news in-the-flesh.

Also, opening night at the gallery with the artists makes for good people watching.

From Public Photos

A Bekins storage facility seven blocks from the homestead has been transformed into Beacon Arts. The inaugural show, Ghost Stories, opens Oct 14.
On Oct. 29th, there'll be an evening shindig, with "a gallery viewing, Ghost Biker Rally, a screening of Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein plus other film shorts, Rev. Ethan Acres performances, story telling and a performance from the League of Steam. There will also be an after party from midnight to 2am with an admission fee of $10."
And the 30th, they'll have a “Pagan Art Camp”.
( sample of Rev. Acres' work )

Mayor Dorn resigns and pleads guilty to a misdemeanor conflict of interest charge.