LA's first gay citywide elected official ... how the SCOTUS decisons will affect married homosexuals at tax time ... Happy birthday ZIP Code! ... the lasting impact of a huge neck tattoo ... Eric Garcetti's week.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti rode the bus to work, and other first week adventures
New LA Mayor Eric Garcetti knows the honeymoon will end. "You can't run for office this day and age without being prepared for some people disagreeing with you; even hating you," he told me outside Van Nuys City Hall today. "But what's important is being mission-driven. Stick with what you believe in."
But, Garcetti says, as we conducted an interview in the back seat of the Mayoral SUV with a baby seat between us, his first week in office has been "awesome." How is it different from being city councilman? "Same school, different classroom. You're able to shape you day a little bit more, without city council or committee meetings you're mandated to attend." He can take a moment, he says, to sit at his desk and breathe and think.
Garcetti says he is probably the first LA mayor to hold open office hours for members of the public, pointing out there are literally six doors between the public and the mayor. That went well, he says, but he also held a different sort of office hours, riding the 92 bus to work one day this week. Not many people noticed, he said, until near the end. He says it's important for him to do frequently, as a member of the Metro board.
Dan Cameron, curator of the Orange County Museum of Art's California-Pacific Triennial
Three years ago, Off-Ramp went to the Orange County Museum of Art for their fifth California Biennial: a collection of new and emerging contemporary artists in California. Nobody knew then, but the 2010 California Biennial was to be OCMA's last.
New curator Dan Cameron expanded, adapted, and revamped the group show into a new idea and introduced California to the first ever California Pacific Triennial: a collection of artists who live and work around the Pacific Ocean.
We sent Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson to the exhibit's opening party this past Saturday. He interviewed several of the artists featured. But first, he talked with curator Dan Cameron to get a sense of the new show.
OCMA Triennial: Artist Danial Nord brings the apocalypse to Orange County
This weekend, Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson has been taking you to Newport Beach for the Orange County Museum of Art's newest exhibit: the California Pacific Triennial, focusing on artists who live and work in and around the Pacific Ocean.
You've heard from Dan Cameron, the museum's curator. Kevin also talked with Danial Nord, an LA video artist behind "No Exit," one of the noisiest installations at the Triennial.
Dreaming in Color: Blind performer takes plight, everyday life on stage
For most teenagers, perhaps the most important thing in the world is fitting in. In her debut musical, Caitlin Hernandez, blind since birth, shows that being disabled is not the end of the world, and that with determination, a mother's love, and a teacher's encouragement anything is possible. Contributor Anthony Vasquez caught a rehearsal of Dreaming in Color at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica.
For Caitlin Hernandez, getting to perform her musical in front of a live audience is big. The recent college grad was involved in the arts even since preschool--she had the starring role in a play called The Seed.
"I played the seed," said Hernandez. "I liked memorizing the lines and I got to wear this funny flower contraption on my head, and when the play ends I blossom and I pull down the sides of the flower and it was all pretty and everyone was like 'oooh.' And that definitely just got me hooked."
As much as she liked it, Hernandez said teachers had trouble working with a blind actor. So, she ended up with a lot of lines, but little action. At college she took up singing, but never gave up acting and writing. The idea for Dreaming in Color came from a book Hernandez wrote in high school. She wanted to show blind people in a new light.
"They're always either like a superhero or super inept," she said. "And I was just, like, annoyed, and one of my friends said to me as a joke, 'Well, why don't you write a better book then?'"
In Dreaming in Color, 16-year-old Brenna and her dad get in a car accident. Brenna's father is dead, and she is now blind. Though not entirely autobiographical--Hernandez was born blind--she drew from her own experiences to show the challenges that come with living with a visual impairment. Last fall Hernandez got in touch with CRE Outreach, an L.A.-based nonprofit, the country's only acting company made up of blind actors.
From the book came the musical based on Brenna's life. Rehearsals started up at the beginning of June. Hernandez says that the toughest part of acting for her is conveying appropriate facial expressions--she has to play a sighted person at the beginning of the play. She says she's learned to use her emotions to help her show what her character feels.
"I think we've all come a really long way," said Hernandez. "And I definitely have learned a lot, and definitely have gotten better about just opening myself up to feeling all those hard things and just tapping into it to make Brenna's character authentic and to try my best to portray what she's feeling in a believable way as opposed to just you know, saying empty words because that's not nearly as powerful."
Greg Shane, Artistic Director and co-founder of CRE outreach is directing Caitlin's musical. "It's just so traumatic," he said of the musical. "I can't imagine what that experience is like, but Caitlin has really stepped into it, the role, and has really brought out the humanity of it, and the realism of it, the power behind it."
A major theme running through the play is adaptation, learning to face the problems life throws at us. Hernandez notes that it's important to have a strong support network. Brenna's mother and her new teacher help her remake her new life. Near the end of the play, Brenna's teacher Bird, played by Laurel Rankin, gives the aspiring artist words of wisdom.
"You'll always be an artist, Miss Brenna," the character says. "Being creative, having big ideas and carrying them out, that doesn't come from your eyes, or your ears, or your hands. That comes from your heart and your spirit and your soul, and you got lots of those things."
"I had to include that," said Caitlin. "I wanted to portray that and to explain how if a blind person has the right tools and the right people and the right opportunities, they can do anything they want to do. And I have remarkable parents who really push me to do my best and were always very supportive. And I had wonderful Braille teachers and mobility teachers throughout my life who taught me so much more than just how to read and write and get around."
Debbie Hernandez, Caitlin's mother, wasn't surprised to see her daughter take up playwriting. "She just took hold of the reins. You know, she guided us," said Hernandez of her daughter. "It sounds cheesy, but it's true. As a young child she just went after whatever she wanted. It was amazing and she's been that way ever since."
Caitlin said she hopes that when sighted people see Dreaming in Color, they leave feeling more comfortable approaching a blind person. "Because often sighted people are just afraid of saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing," she said. "And so they don't talk to a blind person at all."
As a blind person myself, I can relate to the challenges blindness brings: the accommodations needed in school to compete on an even playing field, the insecurities of traveling alone, the awkward social moments. One of the play's most powerful scenes takes place when Brenna crosses the street, completely on her own.
"There are always going to be naysayers and always going to be people who say you can't do something or "are you sure you want to do this?" Or 'why don't you rethink this?'" said Caitlin. "I want blind people not to listen to any of that and just do whatever they want to do."
Along with adaptation, the play emphasizes human resilience. All the support in the world, loving parents, enthusiastic teachers, access to Braille books and specialized technology, will not matter if there's no self-confidence, no passion to move forward. Hernandez convincingly makes the case that one's dreams should not be held hostage by the opinions of others, and that with much perseverance goals can be achieved. Here's a performance of "You and I" from the musical:
Dreaming in Color starts Saturday, July 6 at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica. Performances are scheduled for Sunday and next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
SCOTUS gay marriage rulings good news for gay couples, bad news for tax preparers
Married homosexual couples in California and the other states that allow gay marriage are rejoicing in what many might consider a dubious honor: being ensconced in federal tax law. The US Supreme Court's recent rulings mean married gays and lesbians can file "married jointly," and enjoy the same tax benefits straight couples have long enjoyed.
Lauren LeBaron knows the repercussions all too well, as a partnered gay man who is also a certified tax preparer. The ruling means a much simpler process for the average married gay couple. "It's more than twice as much work," he says of how he's had to file for each couple until now. " I typically have to do about five tax returns, then allocate them out, then do a California return together. So it really is a great deal more work. It's confusing, and it's more costly for this type of client to have to pay for."
LeBaron and his partner, Peter Moruzzi, were married in San Francisco in 2004, then saw their marriage annulled. 'The city actually said, "Gee, you paid a bunch of money. Do you want your money back or do you want it to go toward a marriage equality fund?" I said, "You've just canceled my marriage. Send me my money back!"'
They're eager to get married again, but might wait a while to make sure it sticks this time.
Listen to our interview for all the in's and out's of tax law, and how the SCOTUS decisions will simplify the lives of married gays and lesbians.
The Kids from Crenshaw: Jahsan Lambey's neck tattoo, Part 2
(Reporter Tanya Jo Miller has been following students at South LA's Crenshaw High; this is her second report on Jahsan Lambey and his neck tattoo.)
Stars like Chris Brown and P Diddy are popularizing the neck tattoo, but what it’s like for an average kid to go through life with one? That can depends on his color.
Jahsan Lambey was 17 when I met him at Crenshaw High sitting in study hall. I was interviewing various kids about their plans for the future, but I never thought to interview Jahsan. With his neck tattoo and gold chains, he looked rougher than most of his peers at Crenshaw. So without giving it much conscious thought, I avoided him.
But on my second day there, Jahsan's teacher, Aimee Cunningham, pulled me aside. She said Jahsan was one of the deeper thinkers among her students. When it came to discussing literature, he “got in,” in a way the other students didn’t. She told me I shouldn't miss interviewing him.
So I did interview Jahsan. And his teacher was spot on. In our talks, I’ve found Jahsan to be open, curious, creative and thoughtful in how he approaches life. In fact he’s one of the students I’ve been keeping up with as they go out into the adult world after high school.
Jahsan got the tattoo when he was about 16, after years of being teased for being a geek. He remembers getting on a bus and sitting next to a Latina who started squirming, and seemed afraid. He says it made him feel a little bad, but he honestly didn't expect that reaction.
He says a white kid wouldn't draw that response. "I'd say race plays a big role. When I see a white kid with tattoos on his neck, it's skater, rocker. When you see black kids with this, you're a gangbanger, a thug."
Watch the video of Jahsan when he was at Crenshaw High during his last month of high school.
In 'Ragnarok,' John Hodgman revels in his failed apocalyptic vision
John Hodgman is the writer and “The Daily Show” humorist who likes to portray himself as the unchallenged expert on any aspect of life. He is not. And this one, a biggie, he also got wrong.
Like so many others, he thought the end of the world would come on December 21, 2012. He gathered a faithful audience in Brooklyn and chronicled his end-of-days video. The sun, as we know, rose the next morning, and Hodgman is making amends with “Ragnarok,” a Netflix video account of that night.
Patt Morrison ran him to ground in the Chateau Marmont, where he keeps a panic room exactly for occasions like this.