This is a fictionalized account. All resemblances to real individuals and situations are merely coincidental.
Notes from today's meeting:
Maya leans toward Meadow- who is dressed in red shoes, red belt ( as if we don't know anything about gang affiliation when we see it)- on the corner in front of the PACT, a shelter for homeless youth.
"My roomate has got a dick..." says Meadow in a low voice, "and I can't stand her."
Turns out, Meadow's talking about Kye, a tranny from Pennsylvania, who showed up at the PACT, and into our "leadership group" one week ago.
So, when Today's discussion on the demographics of homeless youth in Hollywood begins, Meadow gets up, and walks out after Kye takes over the discussion, leaving an unsigned contract on the table.
It's not resolvable, says Simon, the PACT clinical director, who says,"we place clients in housing according to their self-identification, so even if Kye is biologically male, she's going to be placed in a woman's dorm room, with a female room mate."
"There just aren't any other rooms available...and imagine if we just let people change rooms for whatever reason they wanted to...this place would be chaos," continues Simon.
It's another in the litany of reasons for lack of cohesion, lack of follow through in our group. The task of putting together a speaker's bureau of homeless youth, with a long term goal of creating a council to ponder policy issues is looking a bit dubious today.
Now, we're in week 7, and at a point where there should be camraderie, some group dynamic, some trust, but every week there are these reasons.
Today's include Meadow's, but Kareem is also MIA. Apparently, he's in Lancaster, meeting a newborn child that's his.Funny, I thought he was having a kid with Meadow, who three weeks ago said SHE was pregnant, but that it was time for her and Kareem to go separate ways- "I just don't see him being a good long term partner," she said.
As we move past Meadow's absence, a discussion of education and homelessness takes place.
Kye was in five high schools.
"Do we count schools we went to while locked up?" asks Pepe, knee high white socks up to his plaid shorts.
"Of course," I answer.
"OK," he says,....."Then, 6."
"And how about you DJ?" I ask an African-American man, who is as close to lying down as possible in his chair as one can be while still sitting.
"Me?...I was in 5."
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Cheyenne
Austin, Texas, is the nectar in the sun flower of Texas. And Cheyenne is the sweet kernal of pollen that flew from its petals, blown by westward winds across the stoned and sun blasted South West, and into the industrial basin of Los Angeles.
18, and LA was the place to be. A bit of California Dreaming. But she didn't come here to "make it big," the way that Hollywood has become a cliche for migrating 18 year olds.
During her three months she wove an elaborate existential web, equally laden with the questions of career, goals, love, nature, health, work, family.
Perils followed: she braved Glendale drivers to and from work on a bike. She was woken in the morning by enterprising 2 year olds curious about the young woman sleeping in their living room. She endured limited privacy, shared bathrooms. There was an inept, but very real attempted murder in the home above her. She almost, but not quite, witnessed her cousin slip from the edge of a cliff.
Successes followed: She made three kinds of business cards, one for film making, one as a nanny, and the last as a city planner. She found work in all three fields. She began a documentary film about women's empowerment. She had her fair share of celebrity sightings too, a Glee actress, and Michael Cerra, amongst others. She began blogging. She volunteered for the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. She taught a two year old girl to say please and thank you, and was in the process of teaching the same two year old that sometimes she'd just have to wear a certain dress, no matter what. She became a god mother.
There was a trip to New York City, and Washington DC. There were hikes to hot springs, red rock formations, and hidden beaches in Malibu.
She discovered how to find $400 dollar dresses for $8, and re-made an entire wardrobe in 4 months.
Essentially, she stuffed her college admission applications.
And of course there were the relationships she built, becoming close to everyone she lived with.
And most importantly, she was, she wrote in a "good bye, see ya soon letter," happy. So she wants to come back.
For me, nearing age 40, and having left behind the moment of being 18 years of age nearly two decades ago, it was fascinating for me to see this daily excercise in self defintion up close. The longing for freedom, the intoxication and anxiety for an unknown future, the coming judgement of college admission committees, the search for permanence in her relations, while building new, professional ones, the balance of attaining personal hapiness while much of life was not yet in one's control. So much driven by optimism, hope, and dreams originating in childhood that nonetheless serve as life's rudder even at age 40.
It's ironic that at 40, I would develop the tenacity with which an 18 year old could conquer the world, and that the 18 year old has the ease of learning and the creative flexibility with which a 40 year old could conquer their world.
Done right, the strengths could come together to produce inspirational experiences. Coach and Player. Supervisor and Staff. Professor and Student.
Of course, Cheyenne did not come here to be MY student, and in fact, came here to leave formal education altogether for a year. But lessons are learned, truths are found in many surprising ways, often by experience, or by osmosis, and it was in this ocean of serendipity that we dipped, together, during her time here.
Next year?
She's going to get into a school, get a car to drive around, finish her documentary film, and hopefully, get her own room.
Lots to look forward to, for all of us who have been touched by her sweet, intelligent approach to life.
Miss ya cousin!
Your adoring family in LA!
18, and LA was the place to be. A bit of California Dreaming. But she didn't come here to "make it big," the way that Hollywood has become a cliche for migrating 18 year olds.
During her three months she wove an elaborate existential web, equally laden with the questions of career, goals, love, nature, health, work, family.
Perils followed: she braved Glendale drivers to and from work on a bike. She was woken in the morning by enterprising 2 year olds curious about the young woman sleeping in their living room. She endured limited privacy, shared bathrooms. There was an inept, but very real attempted murder in the home above her. She almost, but not quite, witnessed her cousin slip from the edge of a cliff.
Successes followed: She made three kinds of business cards, one for film making, one as a nanny, and the last as a city planner. She found work in all three fields. She began a documentary film about women's empowerment. She had her fair share of celebrity sightings too, a Glee actress, and Michael Cerra, amongst others. She began blogging. She volunteered for the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. She taught a two year old girl to say please and thank you, and was in the process of teaching the same two year old that sometimes she'd just have to wear a certain dress, no matter what. She became a god mother.
There was a trip to New York City, and Washington DC. There were hikes to hot springs, red rock formations, and hidden beaches in Malibu.
She discovered how to find $400 dollar dresses for $8, and re-made an entire wardrobe in 4 months.
Essentially, she stuffed her college admission applications.
And of course there were the relationships she built, becoming close to everyone she lived with.
And most importantly, she was, she wrote in a "good bye, see ya soon letter," happy. So she wants to come back.
For me, nearing age 40, and having left behind the moment of being 18 years of age nearly two decades ago, it was fascinating for me to see this daily excercise in self defintion up close. The longing for freedom, the intoxication and anxiety for an unknown future, the coming judgement of college admission committees, the search for permanence in her relations, while building new, professional ones, the balance of attaining personal hapiness while much of life was not yet in one's control. So much driven by optimism, hope, and dreams originating in childhood that nonetheless serve as life's rudder even at age 40.
It's ironic that at 40, I would develop the tenacity with which an 18 year old could conquer the world, and that the 18 year old has the ease of learning and the creative flexibility with which a 40 year old could conquer their world.
Done right, the strengths could come together to produce inspirational experiences. Coach and Player. Supervisor and Staff. Professor and Student.
Of course, Cheyenne did not come here to be MY student, and in fact, came here to leave formal education altogether for a year. But lessons are learned, truths are found in many surprising ways, often by experience, or by osmosis, and it was in this ocean of serendipity that we dipped, together, during her time here.
Next year?
She's going to get into a school, get a car to drive around, finish her documentary film, and hopefully, get her own room.
Lots to look forward to, for all of us who have been touched by her sweet, intelligent approach to life.
Miss ya cousin!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Assange: Internet Anarchy?
Bakunin.
Emma Goldberg.
The Unabomber.
And most famously, the Joker.
Anarchists all.
So, Julian Assange?
In his own words, Assange seeks to diminish the Empire's ability to conspire, limit its ability to communicate to its attaches. Disrupting internal communications. Keeping the world abreast of how the Empire speaks of it, and the influence such interests have upon other nation-states.
Transparency, and self-examination.
I can only guess that the belief that information leads to informed decisions pulses at the base of his actions. But I can't be sure.
WikiLeaks had its most recent "success"- tearing the lid off of moldering American coorespondances with other nations....As if Uncle Sam kept a journal lying around, and you picked it up, took a long dump, and read what he's been up to.
The sheer quantity is amazing. As is the guy, the mole/private charged with delivering such goods (what were his motives?)
But states jostling each other in forthright, or manipulative means isn't really a revelation.
Perhaps the revelation comes to those who were not sure what the high paid staff do for the governments they serve. Or that there are conflicting opinions and stories behind the seeming wall of unanimity that comes from public declarations?
I guess what surpises me most is that there is surprise that the minions of the Empire are involved in politics- which is by (my) definition, the use of power to benefit one's self-interests. Or surprise at those goverments who allow US activity in their nations while simultaneously blasting them for the sake of public opinion. (Qatar's president might have to dig himself out form his own grave.)
But who considered Qatar's government to be public servants concerrned with public opinion to begin with?And when was the last time, you personally believed in a public figure's integrity? Serioulsy?
We all assume that the "backroom deals," the "special interests" and the "getting down to brass tacs" means saying one thing and doing another, just as "keeping strange bedfellows" and "keeping your enemy close at hand" are part of the game as well.
These "revelations" are a small drop in the conspirator's bucket...in fact, these Obama era shananigans are jack when discussed with the "W" era.In fact, most recently proclaimed conspiracy theorists cut their teeth during the Bush era.
Remember prior to 9/11, when there was no real threat to American power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and China's emergence as a trade partner?
It was a golden moment for change, when the global order could have shifted to soft power, a more equitable re-shuffling of natual resources during "globalization," facilitating the levelling of the playing field of the haves and have nots....
And then Florida determined the American election, W was delivered a win by court rulings on hanging chads, a staff of war hawks was assembled, and the domestic preparations for the use of unnecceasry force were upon us.
How was American population psychologically prepared for a Pearl Harbour-like event, prior to 911?
A year earlier, by a movie called, wonder of wonders, Pearl Harbour, awarded the highest of ratings from all the critics you'd never heard of , and those paid by FOX and Entertainment Tonight! (My question--- who produced that historically inaccurate, jingoistic whitewashed version of history anyway? How did that movie, to any of you who remember, generate such amazing press prior to its release, sending the American public to see the kind of movie that generally flops, big time, in theatres?)
And prior to that, how could anyone interested in the Empire, not be disturbed by the much more disturbing COINTELPRO- domestic surveillance of disident identity politic groups within the US, throughout the last half of the 20th Century?
So back to the point-
There's much discussion about Assange. There are even pending rape cases being used to tie his hands for more public disclosures of goverment activities.
But, in the end, it seems like all of this information, alas, will only make an impact to those who listen, those who care, and those who make meaning of it.
In the meantime, no matter the levels of shrinkage of the system, or the diminshing ability for the Empire to conspire, it will be up to the collective conciousness of the world (the literate world, who can read these missives) to somehow form a sustainable collaborative that can change business as usual, if the impact is going to be more than a hard punch to the champion's gut, and then the Empire is off the ropes, and mowing down its opponents once again.
Emma Goldberg.
The Unabomber.
And most famously, the Joker.
Anarchists all.
So, Julian Assange?
In his own words, Assange seeks to diminish the Empire's ability to conspire, limit its ability to communicate to its attaches. Disrupting internal communications. Keeping the world abreast of how the Empire speaks of it, and the influence such interests have upon other nation-states.
Transparency, and self-examination.
I can only guess that the belief that information leads to informed decisions pulses at the base of his actions. But I can't be sure.
WikiLeaks had its most recent "success"- tearing the lid off of moldering American coorespondances with other nations....As if Uncle Sam kept a journal lying around, and you picked it up, took a long dump, and read what he's been up to.
The sheer quantity is amazing. As is the guy, the mole/private charged with delivering such goods (what were his motives?)
But states jostling each other in forthright, or manipulative means isn't really a revelation.
Perhaps the revelation comes to those who were not sure what the high paid staff do for the governments they serve. Or that there are conflicting opinions and stories behind the seeming wall of unanimity that comes from public declarations?
I guess what surpises me most is that there is surprise that the minions of the Empire are involved in politics- which is by (my) definition, the use of power to benefit one's self-interests. Or surprise at those goverments who allow US activity in their nations while simultaneously blasting them for the sake of public opinion. (Qatar's president might have to dig himself out form his own grave.)
But who considered Qatar's government to be public servants concerrned with public opinion to begin with?And when was the last time, you personally believed in a public figure's integrity? Serioulsy?
We all assume that the "backroom deals," the "special interests" and the "getting down to brass tacs" means saying one thing and doing another, just as "keeping strange bedfellows" and "keeping your enemy close at hand" are part of the game as well.
These "revelations" are a small drop in the conspirator's bucket...in fact, these Obama era shananigans are jack when discussed with the "W" era.In fact, most recently proclaimed conspiracy theorists cut their teeth during the Bush era.
Remember prior to 9/11, when there was no real threat to American power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and China's emergence as a trade partner?
It was a golden moment for change, when the global order could have shifted to soft power, a more equitable re-shuffling of natual resources during "globalization," facilitating the levelling of the playing field of the haves and have nots....
And then Florida determined the American election, W was delivered a win by court rulings on hanging chads, a staff of war hawks was assembled, and the domestic preparations for the use of unnecceasry force were upon us.
How was American population psychologically prepared for a Pearl Harbour-like event, prior to 911?
A year earlier, by a movie called, wonder of wonders, Pearl Harbour, awarded the highest of ratings from all the critics you'd never heard of , and those paid by FOX and Entertainment Tonight! (My question--- who produced that historically inaccurate, jingoistic whitewashed version of history anyway? How did that movie, to any of you who remember, generate such amazing press prior to its release, sending the American public to see the kind of movie that generally flops, big time, in theatres?)
And prior to that, how could anyone interested in the Empire, not be disturbed by the much more disturbing COINTELPRO- domestic surveillance of disident identity politic groups within the US, throughout the last half of the 20th Century?
So back to the point-
There's much discussion about Assange. There are even pending rape cases being used to tie his hands for more public disclosures of goverment activities.
But, in the end, it seems like all of this information, alas, will only make an impact to those who listen, those who care, and those who make meaning of it.
In the meantime, no matter the levels of shrinkage of the system, or the diminshing ability for the Empire to conspire, it will be up to the collective conciousness of the world (the literate world, who can read these missives) to somehow form a sustainable collaborative that can change business as usual, if the impact is going to be more than a hard punch to the champion's gut, and then the Empire is off the ropes, and mowing down its opponents once again.
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