Fallen Anarchist Honored at Odd Fellows Cemetery…A Century Later

markeriww2

Thanks to the hard work of the good folks at the IWW, the Black Rose Historical and Mutual Aid Society, some solid local comrades, and caring anarchists from around the world, Rafael Adames, killed by the LAPD back in 1913 during what came to be known as the Christmas Day Riot, finally has a marker for his grave.

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The Spectre of City Hall

 

So the official encampment of OccupyLA has come & gone. And the bail has been set at an exorbitant, but unsurprising $5,000. La Opinion informs us that some people have set-up shop down the street at la Placita Olvera, and the HuffPost says that some “occupiers” tried to reconvene at the Corn Fields but were pretty quickly rebuffed by the LAPD.

As many have mentioned, the eviction flew in the face of a pending court injunction to stall the eviction (though the judge later ruled it “meaningless”). Since I am never surprised that politicians, bankers, and other powerful actors in our society use the law solely for their benefit, it does surprise me when others are surprised:

8:21 pm, Lucero:  [INTRODUCES OUR ‘SOLIDARITY CLAP’]. We are Occupy LA and our First Amendment rights are being trampled on and that’s what we are standing up for. [Occupy LA “minutes,” source]

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The Price of Beer

As a 20-year-old coed at UCSD the newness of each day as an adventure, still had its momentum. The first female in my family to go to college, to move out at 18-years-old was at once my second-generation-immigrant family’s dream and nightmare. My first year of away-from-home loneliness was defeated by my freedom. I sucked it up, and watched other ingénues file out one by one—until there was 1 Chicana for every 17 Chicanos in my class of 100 in a sea of 7000 students. Freedom meant learning to think and speak critically, handling finances, self-management, validating my culture, being creative, making wise choices, defining myself and not appearing to have been too sheltered by my Christian-freak family.

Being away from family also gave the freedom to live completely bacchanalian, if one chose it. It was an undergraduate rite of passage “to thy own-self be true” and part of the experience needed on the road to where you were headed. By the time some of my high school friends became freshmen, I was their mentor and resolver of all acculturating problems.

I’m not sure how the situation came about–my high school friend Danny taunting me into asking Jose a 22-year old senior to buy us beer, because we were too young. I was uncomfortable, knowing that I would owe Jose some favor that I could not pay back—because he was obviously interested in me. The night ride down Torrey Pines Road in the back of a dark VW bus with Jose and my napping, assigned-sentry Raul, with John as shot-gun and Danny driving, seemed excruciatingly long. Occasionally Danny would pull back the blue Hawaiian print curtain that divided the cab from the carpeted surf den to say, “Is everything ok back there?” followed by a wink and grin at me. He knew I went reluctantly and this was his silly gesture to make light of it, while protecting my honor. Continue reading

Undocumented and Living in Alabama

Victor Palafox is a 19 year old, undocumented resident of Alabama, pre/post HB 56. He was interviewed by dreamers adrift, a collective that documentes the undocumented, in Dallas, Texas a few weeks ago. In this candid interview, Victor describes what it’s like to live in the south, what it means to be undocumented there, how the community has changed for the worse and what the future holds.

NEWS FLASH! “Quantifying Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio”

flyinureye 2010

The UCLA Chicano Studies Department has some very interesting presentations and programming during the week.  Wish I didn’t have to work–darn! For the price of parking and some gas, you are invited to join these important topics taking place (mostly) at the UCLA Chicano Studies Department. 

I just saw this week’s Discussion Panel and Press Conference—and you are in luck, it’s just downtown.  For those of us looking at ourselves, our actions and (especially) our speech critically, this dialogue is crucial.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011
12:30 p.m. (PST)
MALDEF
634 S. Spring Street
Edison Room, 1st floor
Los Angeles, CA 90014

In a groundbreaking pilot study conducted by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) in partnership with the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), a team of researchers have developed a replicable methodology to quantify hate speech in commercial broadcasting—i.e., speech that expresses prejudice against ethnic, racial, religious, and/or sexual minorities. At this event, the principal investigators will officially release the study report. A panel discussion will include two other scholars working in this area.

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Councilman to Occupy LA: “Don’t Despair, Job Fairs Are Coming! “

This morning on the Madeleine Bland show councilman Dennis Zine got the laughs going when he bestowed some words of wisdom to all those participants of Occupy LA: Get a Job! You know, in the jobless “recovery”.  His great plan to accomplish this feat of full employment? Throw a “Job Fair.”

Haha! For reals? Yes, for reals.

[audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/getajob.mp3|titles=getajob]

I went ahead and snipped together some of his inspiring babosadas, cuz I doubt you’ll want to listen to the whole thing. Oh yeah, aside from his “get a job” message he also complains about the “homeless that don’t have anything to do”, the movement is “generated by some international group”, something about socialism, “when you go to the city hall you like to see a nice environment and its sad to see people who are camped out because they have a cause, they can’t get a job”.

How very sad and disturbing it is to see the unwashed poor and the unemployed riff-raff. They should stay over in skid row where we don’t have to see them.

Fucking Hilarious.

Here’s another solution: