los anjalis

My latest post on LAist.com:  Tablacentric: Two-Week Long Residency Starts Tonight. Check out the events if you can, most of them are free. [And check out the LAist interview I conducted two years ago, with Robin Sukhadia, the organizer of Tablacentric].

Just renamed the blog. I think it’s self-explanatory, don’t you? It may change, it’s fluid right now, but the two cities aren’t changing. I’m in love with both and from now on will only live in cities I can play anjali word games with.

My good friends live in a mostly latino neighborhood just south of the prestigious snooty Hancock Park area in Los Angeles, and we’d sometimes drive through Hancock Park on our way back from outings or to just be snooty about the snootyness.  On quite a few occasions we’ve passed the Norwood Young house, and I’ve marveled at the numerous statues of Michalangelo’s David outside the white mansion [check 'em out on googlemaps street view]

Well today’s LAist post on Mr Young’s house — “Happy Holidays from Youngwood Court” — titillated me. I was so stoked to see this house decked out with Black Santa and Mrs Santa life-size decorations, beautiful lights everywhere, each of the SEVENTEEN David’s with red tops and no bottoms, and a life-size cutout of Norwood himself. I love the creativity that went into this decoration — probably one of the most unique christmas house decorations I’ve ever seen. And it makes me giggle that he does that in Hancock Park, pissing off many of the neighbors and making them worry about their property values. Koga, who wrote the post on LAist, linked to this article from 1997, about neighbors’ reactions to the ‘House of Davids’. The best line from the article:

“It is like spitting in somebody’s eye,” said Marguerite Byrne, a member of the Hancock Park Homeowners Assn.’s board of directors. “It is individualism run amok.”

Oh, the irony! The irony!

Anyway, Norwood Young’s website is a trip, with full episodes about his house, his costume parties, and his music. All this eccentric youngwood court history I didn’t know of when I lived in Los Angeles. Norwood Young and LAist, you made my christmas day.

I penned a piece for LAist.com on last week’s White House Regional Health Forum – held at the California Endowment in downtown Los Angeles, and the well-populated single-payer rally outside the event. Thanks to Dr Susan Partovi for the photos.

Check it out! If you’re a registered user at LAist, you can comment or recommend the post.

ok, second most, after my brother and my lovely friends: the wide varied options for experiencing live music on a DAILY basis, in this great city. Joshua Pressman, LAist music editor, threw down a sampling of this coming week’s live music.

this is the number 1 reason why we need more public transportation (and train stations) in los angeles. (cross-posted at Cure This, a website you should get to know)

This week on LA Metblogs, Travis Koplow wrote a post about his participation in/observation of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. On the agenda for the meeting he attended was the issue of squatters in foreclosed homes. He said this:

But last night I went to my neighborhood council meeting for the first time and the discussion there raised an issue that I do think is worth us thinking and talking about more. Among the other topics on the plate was the growing number of squatters in foreclosure homes. There was a policeman present at the meeting, as I guess is usual, and he was talking about crime in Sherman Oaks, and one council member was asking him about people living illegally in empty homes. The policeman (I cannot bring myself to say “peace officer,” sorry folks) said that it was something to be on the lookout for, that if we suspected such a thing we should let the police know. There are several boarded up houses within a few blocks of my apartment and I get not wanting them to become crash pads for crack addicts or meth dealers. I get that. But then the councilman elaborates, saying that it’s important to be on the lookout, that sometimes it is hard to tell. Some of the squatters have kids and SUVs and dogs. Let me interrupt myself here to say, this post is in no way meant to disparage the SONC. It was my first time there, but I was made to feel welcome and the neighborhood council is clearly functional and positive and inclusive. But what I wonder is this: why is it so important to call the police on those families that look just like “normal” families? Is it so important that we protect capital itself? Is the protection of property is more important than the safety and protection of people?

Interesting. I know that squatting vs crime and other issues is a complex issue (for example, more break-ins into cars near an area where someone’s squatting at a foreclosed home can increase pressure on a community to better address these crimes and the causes of them) and I have great respect for the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, but I always find it refreshing when the question of priorities re: property protection vs protection of people is brought to the forefront of the discussion. Thoughts?

Damn. I’m moved by Rodney King’s forgiveness of the LAPD cops who beat him and who sparked the 1992 LA riots (killing 56 people and seriously wounding a city). Though I don’t forgive the cops for their brutality that continues through today (re: badly named “Safer Cities Initiative” and other forms of police brutality in Los Angeles).

Thanks to LAist for the video.

(Below is cross-posted a post I wrote over at LAist.com)

Photo by tao_zhyn on Flickr

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UHDR), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The 30 articles of this declaration were written after the Second World War and represent the first global expression of human rights worldwide. The UHDR is the most translated document in the world and has inspired many international treaties and laws.

Now is as good a time as ever to remind ourselves of the human rights issues prevailing abroad, in the US, and here in Los Angeles. Violence and human rights abuses exist around the world, currently in Zimbabwe, Mumbai, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other regions. Millions go without clean water or enough food. And a global financial crisis is ever present.

It is easy to focus on human rights abroad, but here in Los Angeles we have our own slew of human rights violations, including a housing crisis, homelessness, ICE raids, police brutality, displacement of communities in the name of development, health care access problems, unprocessed rape kits, and an increasing disparity between the wealthy and the poor. At the same time, there is much reason for hope.

One shining local example of this is in South Los Angeles, the area formerly known as South Central LA, where a unique coalition of health care providers, promotoras, and dedicated community organizations recently teamed up to address “The Perfect Storm” – the combination of homelessness, the housing/credit crisis, public health, and law enforcement issues. The coalition, known as the Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Collaborative, conducted an exhaustive survey of homelessness in South Los Angeles. And in October, they announced the findings of a report — Taming the Perfect Storm — written by Dr Rishi Manchanda, Director of Social Medicine at St. Johns Well Child and Family Center and the coordinator of the collective. In addition to describing the problem, the report presents recommendations for human-rights based solutions to the crisis in South LA. The report is well worth reading and concludes with:

In the nation as a whole, persistent widespread homelessness and the health care crisis offer compelling evidence of a collective disregard for human rights. Few places exhibit the ill effects of this disregard like South Los Angeles. Conversely, no other community stands to benefit as much from a community-based human rights approach to health. With a firm understanding of the links between critical determinants of health like housing, public and community health resources, and law enforcement policy, we commit to build the political will and skills needed to tame this perfect storm of homelessness and poor health. In short, we commit to reclaim and redefine our community guided by the practical application of fundamental human rights principles. As an important stage of community dialogue on the right to health, housing, and security begins, we welcome all constructive comments and critiques of this report.

On a national level, our President-Elect Barack Obama has stated a commitment to shutting down Guantanamo, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, strengthening the United Nations, improving diplomatic relations with other countries, and paying attention to the global crises of poverty and HIV/AIDS worldwide. And on this 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the official website of the United Nations notes:

“Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and ‘to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.’”

On that note, I encourage you to read the 30 articles of the declaration. Aloud. To friends, family, anybody who will listen. In declaratory fashion. Try it. It’s quite compelling and a quick read. (idea inspired by my friend Linda who suggested this to me and 4 other friends as we were building and dreaming, during a break at a conference in El Salvador last year).

From Tom Ackerman (via Meteor Blades), an interesting concept:

I no longer recognize marriage. It’s a new thing I’m trying.

Turns out it’s fun.

Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend.

She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,”
“Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.”

The impact is obvious. I tried it on a man who has been in a relationship for years,

“How’s your longtime companion, Jill?”
“She’s my wife!”
“Yeah, well, my beliefs don’t recognize marriage.”

Fun. And instant, eyebrow-raising recognition. Suddenly the majority gets to feel what the minority feels. In a moment they feel what it’s like to have their relationship downgraded, and to have a much taken-for-granted right called into question because of another’s beliefs.

Just replace the words husband, wife, spouse, or fiancé with boyfriend, girlfriend, special friend, or longtime companion. There is a reason we needed stronger words for more serious relationships. We know it; now they can see it…

The rest of the piece is here. Thoughts?

From LAist:

A group of classical musicians on their way to a Riverside Philharmonic concert this weekend were on the 91 freeway as the fire literally crossed it. They took this video (it gets crazy at 47 seconds in) and being orchestra geeks, most appropriately gave it the soundtrack of Shostakovich’s Symphony #10 (Mvt 2).

Can I just say that I’m not excited about any of the california candidates for governor for 2010? That being said, the sacramento bee has their (lack of) stands on the important propositions. Gives us great hope (sarcasm intended).

Meg Whitman’s going to regret her position on Prop 8. Jerry Brown declined to comment on virtually any of the props (what does that say about him?) and refused to answer why not (what does that say about him?). He only stated a No on Prop 5 position (what does that say about him? it says he’s being backed by the california correctional peace officers association aka the prison guards, in his bid for 2010 and i smell huge conflict of interest).

I’m not happy that so many of these candidates pander to the prison guards and other beneficiaries of the prison-industrial complex by voting NO or No Position on Prop 5. CA Governorship ain’t attracting any true progressive, in my humble opinion. Take away message — don’t let these candidates’ positions or non-positions guide your voting today.

Ok, so check this out. The California Democratic Party published their endorsements for ballot initiatives a while ago. Then, a few days ago, I receive the Official Voter Guide of the California Dem Party. Curiously, Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, is missing from the endorsements. The mailer doesn’t even LIST Prop 5. I just saw this today.

I’m going to try to get in touch with someone at the party’s office about this, but my only explanation right now? Some of the higher up dems — among them Diane Feinstein (US Senator) and Jerry Brown (CA Attorney General, former CA governor) — both running for governor in 2010 — put enough pressure on the party to omit Prop 5 from the flyer. If this is the case, it’s infuriating. Anyone have any other clues to why Prop 5 is missing on the mailer?

And if you’re wondering why some influential Dems might be opposed to Prop 5, check out “The Battle over CA Prop 5: Special Interests Overwhelming the Public Interest” in the Huffington Post and my blurb on conflicts of interest and Prop 5 at LAist.

The Courage Campaign put out a progressive voter guide for Californians, incorporating the endorsements of the Courage Campaign, the blog Calitics, the California Democratic Party, the California Labor Federation, the California Nurses Association, SEIU California, the Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, the League of Conservation Voters, and Equality California. It’s pretty rad, check it out here if you haven’t figured out your positions on the propositions and you dig these groups.

I’ve also got a Prop 5 overview and a Prop 6 overview over at LAist.com. And we put together a roundup of LAists posts on the various propositions as well as links to voter guides.

And as always, please please please vote NO on Proposition 4 (mandatory parental notification of teenage pregnancy) and NO on Proposition 8 (looking to amend the state constitution to take away rights that same-sex couples have to marry).

Karoli, who writes at Bang the Drum, wrote about her experience observing a Yes on 8 event in Camarillo, CA. The whole post is quite insightful and moving – check it out. Some excerpts below:

Insights on the talking points from the religious leaders who spoke about Yes on 8:

First point, repeated many times: This is a campaign of love. The first time it was repeated with no explanation for how that could be true. Several repeats later, I heard this phrase: “This is a campaign of love that should not be subject to the tyranny of the minority.” I also heard this: “They’ve got it all. Don’t let them have this, too.” The term “they” referred to gays. “This” referred to marriage. When I heard that, I immediately wondered what they meant by “got it all”. I also wondered how they were reconciling that statement with the idea of it being a campaign of love. Could it be that they were limiting the concept of love to the religious, the heterosexual, the married heterosexuals? Was that kind of intellectual dishonesty truly possible? It reminded me of the kind of love that abusive parents administer. They hold you close and hug you before knocking you across the room with one backhand to the face. That kind of love.

On Lawrence King:

Two men overheard as I was about to cross the street to leave, upon observing the couple with the “Remember Lawrence King” sign crossing the street: “Who is Lawrence King? Do you know?” “No, I don’t.” Barely able to contain myself, I turned with a smile and said “Lawrence King was murdered in cold blood in his homeroom class in Port Hueneme last February. In front of 40 eighth-graders. By a kid taught to be afraid of and hate gays.” I turned on my heel and left. This was front-page news here, and ultimately made the national news as well. It wasn’t a secret. Yet here were two full-grown men who had no clue who that poor boy was. Lawrence King was a resident at Casa Pacifica, a resident facility for troubled teens. It’s always struck me as ironic that, despite being part of a so-called traditional family, those traditional family values failed him. His killer is a troubled boy as well. I certainly don’t see where the ever-sanctified family was an asset to him either, other than to make sure a gun was accessible so he could put two bullets into Larry King’s head at point-blank range in front of his classmates…

I will never forget the tone and manner with which the line “Don’t let them have this, too.” was delivered. That tone will haunt me for the rest of my life, as will the image of Lawrence King’s sweet face… I printed his picture. I put it in my wallet. I will carry it with me to the polls on November 4th, and when I draw my line across the arrow on my ballot pointing to “No” next to Proposition 8, I will say a prayer that he is up in Heaven sending love our way.

Press release of a community event against Prop 6 and 9 (more info on Prop 6). Sponsored by InnerCityStruggle.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCHOOLS NOT JAILS

East LA & South LA Communities Unite to Get-Out-the-Vote for November Election

WHAT: Press conference to announce Get-Out-the-Vote efforts in East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles for Election Day, November 4th, 2008.

Community organizations, leaders and activists, representing thousands of East LA and South LA community residents, parents and youth will mobilize the community to vote NO on Propositions 6 & 9 and YES in support of Measure Q.

WHO: Hon. Mónica García, President, Los Angeles Board of Education Maria Brenes, Executive Director, InnerCity Struggle Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Executive Director Community Coalition Youth and Parent Leaders from East LA and South LA communities

WHEN: Thursday, October 30, 2008 – 10:00am – 11:00am

WHERE: Garza Primary Center, Front Entrance, 2750 Hostetter Street, Los Angeles, CA 90023

WHY: As the economy continues to decline, the people of California need to reprioritize its needs and spending. Currently, the state of California ranks 47th in education spending and 1st in prison spending as compared to the rest of the nation. InnerCity Struggle calls on voters to invest in SCHOOLS NOT JAILS by taking a NO position on Propositions 6 & 9. Californians must not lock away opportunities for our future doctors, teachers and lawyers- Props 6 & 9 threaten education spending. It is critical that voters in the City of Los Angeles support Measure Q. If passed, Measure Q will create over 270,000 new jobs needed to repair old classrooms and will provide funding to build new science labs across LAUSD to prepare students for a 21st century global economy.

VISUALS: To represent our future leaders, local high school students will be dressed as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and scientists. They will use images and props to demonstrate the choice Los Angeles voters will have to make between support for schools or prisons.

NOTE: If you would like to make arrangements in advance to interview any of the speakers listed above, or want more information about this event, please contact Lizette Patron 323-481-7346.

Props 5 and 6 are hugely important propositions for Californians. Prop 5 is likely one of the more innovative prison and drug reform policies, and Prop 6 essentially is more “tough on crime” which translates to more prisons, more overcrowding, more people being sent to jail for longer sentences. One of these will get my support, the other will not. I’ve detailed the pro and con side of Prop 6 in a post I wrote for LAist today — “LAist Guide to the Elections: Prop 6″.

I included two videos, as videos often share much more than words can. Check out both videos if you can. The video above, from the Labor/Community Strategy Center (a much respected organization in Los Angeles) is quite telling.

Remember to vote on November 4th! (or before then if you’re voting early). And hopefully after November 4th we can have a statewide referendum on propositions. I’m a little tired of amendments to our state constitution being proposed through the popular vote. Who’s with me?

I write for LAist.com, a rad website about all things Los Angeles.  The site gets tons of hits and spans a wide array of topics.  I profiled Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, which is being voted on by Californians this November 4th. I learned quite a bit about the California prison system through some pieces I read in the process of writing this post. Here’s the start of it:

Several of California’s ballot propositions this year could have wide-ranging national ramifications. Among them is the less talked about Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA). This proposition aims to fundamentally reform California’s drug-control policy by providing resources for rehabilitation and treatment of drug users a priority of the prison and parole systems. Up to eighty percent of California’s prisoners have a substance use problem and most receive no treatment. The rationale behind Prop 5 is simple — treating addiction and providing rehabilitation for nonviolent drug offenders is more humane and more cost-effective than simply imprisoning them, which currently costs over $10 billion a year. And the timing of Prop 5 is relevant — California’s prisons are severely overcrowded (with more than 170,000 inmates in prisons that were built for 100,000) and the state’s prison health care system is so broken that a federal receiver has demanded billions from the state’s budget to overhaul the prison medical system.

California did not always carry this reputation. In the 1950’s through 1970’s, the state led the nation in rehabilitation, psychotherapy, research, and innovative education programs for inmates. Judges had greater power over lengths of sentences for inmates and parole boards were set up to decide if an offender had reformed and could be released. Over the years, California’s governors and legislature did away with this power of judges and parole boards, took rehabilitation out of the penal code, and passed more than 1,000 laws increasing mandatory prison sentences.

So what does Prop 5 intend to do? Prop 5 would provide system-wide reforms in regards to drug policy…

Check out the rest at this link on LAist. As always, feel free to login to comment or to recommend the post!

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.

This unit’s supposed to be deployed in October 2008, but i SWEAR, i SWEAR i saw these guys last month — masked as riot police at the Republican National Convention, using “so-called nonlethal weapons to subdue unruly crowds”.  It didn’t go too well, as I last understood.

So this is what i’m wondering… Why now?  Where is this greater threat, or this perception of greater threat, coming from?  What’s the need for this internal deployment?  Who called these guys in?

Amy Goodman, world-reknown and widely respected journalist broadcaster of the show Democracy Now!, being arrested for ASKING the police why they were doing what they were doing.

Yes, a woman peacefully holding a flower, getting pepper sprayed. (thanks to BFP for the video)

Just two examples of the violent protesters being nicely moved away by our police state. If this doesn’t infuriate you then I don’t know how you can believe in a free America.

- – - – -

As the DNC and RNC created “Free Speech Zones” far from the actual conventions, and as police are now pulling out tasers, concussion grenades, and tear gas at peaceful protesters at the RNC in Twin Cities Minnesota, and as police horses are stampeding protesters, and as cameras and cellphones are being seized without reason, and as police in the twin cities in Minnesota are jailing some without reason and threatening others, and as a friend of mine is involved in the Northstar Collective (a group of medics and others who have been preparing for months to provide medical and psychological support for victims of the police during the RNC), and as I’m hearing about victims of tear gas streaming into the Northstar makeshift clinics, I don’t know what to think.

Protests SHOULD matter, but increasingly they don’t, and people are criminalized and made out to be america-hating anarchists for it. Folks around America should be enraged, but it’s a bit hard to when the media isn’t covering it (and the media who IS is being arrested for it) and when the convergence of Palin/McCain and RNC media and Hurricane Gustav are all occurring at the same time.

In any case, I’m really proud of the folks who are tirelessly covering it.

The ColdSnapLegal collective is live-twittering (short live-blog posts) about up to date arrests and civil rights violations occurring at the RNC protests. Check out their messages here. And check out their website here. Thank you so much ColdSnapLegal.

Here are some of their latest twitter posts:

Cops threatening to arrest everybody @ river walk – 300+ ppl inc. medics, legal observers, journalists, concertgoers, kids. Tear gas used.

Mass arrests on Jackson & 9th, including Democracy Now! journalists Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddou, Nicole Salazar.

Ramsey Cty jail on lockdown – no lawyers allowed inside. St. Joseph hospital also on lockdown, denying people water.

Steady stream of folks with pepper spray injuries at the Northstar clinic; medic headed to jail with supplies soon.

2 medics arrested at 6th & Wall

7th & Jackson arrests at 30-40. Democracy Now! journalists among those arrested at Temperance. Lots of police brutality among these arrests.

Anti-capitalist bloc being tear gassed on Jackson by river.

Pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades being used in more locations than we can write in one tweet right now.

Person tackled by 5 SPPD in riot gear for refusing a search. Media was present for this.

~300 people being stampeded by police horses on 2nd & Kellogg

Cops are getting ready to gas funk the war blockade at kellogg and wabasha. Legal observers needed there now.

Others reporting on this (because the mainstream media is late to it):

Firedoglake (with videos and up to date reports)

The Uptake

Amazing to see so many folks using YouTube, Qik video (upload from phone), Twitter, and other social networking means for the dissemination of this much-needed information.

Last I checked, I thought we were living in the free world, not Beijing…

Jay Smooth really makes me nod my head with these two lines:

“But as a general rule if you’re not the original target of an insult, you can’t be the one to reclaim it. And 9 times out of 10, if you’re not sure whether you should use it, you probably shouldn’t.”

Yep. That goes for white people wondering why blacks can use the word nigger and they can’t, that goes for people calling everything lame throwing around the word “ghetto”, that goes for folks throwing around the word “retard”, and so on and so forth. That doesn’t go for the word dude. Anyone can say dude :>

UPDATE: Eric Stoller, a man I respect greatly, corrected me in the comments. I didn’t check myself on using the word “lame” while discussing offensive connotations of other words. Oops. Will promptly take that word out of use in my vocabulary.

UPDATE #2: Kevin @ A Slant Truth shares a new meme inspired by Sylvia @ ProblemChylde — changing NO HOMO to SO HOMO. I’m enjoying using it so far. Try it yourself.

Last week I was a resident. This week, a fellow.

Ack! Suddently, I’m supposed to be smarter, more beautiful, more intense, and lots more fun. All that in wonderwoman style, with such a quick transition from Family Medicine resident to Family Medicine Fellow? Bollocks!

What in the world is a “fellow”? As always I first consult the handy dandy Wikipedia:

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. Historically, the term fellow was also used to describe a man, particularly by those in the upper social classes. Nowadays, it is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of knowledge or practice.

Ah yes, elite. One would think that’s a bad thing after all the “elitism” thrown around about the Obama campaign. Anyway, I just completed an intense 3 year long residency training in Family Medicine (in early August i’ll take my Family Medicine boards exam, which means that after passing, I’ll be properly boarded in this field and if I want, I’ll be able to set up my own little humane, innovative clinic for low-income folks).

I made the decision to pursue a 1-year Fellowship in Faculty Development at my program in Los Angeles, with a focus on Homeless Health Care (and Resident Education). It’s a win-win situation for me. It’s not that I don’t know what i’m going to do and thus am stalling with a fellowship. No-ho-HO. I gave up a wonderful move to Albuquerque to do totally rad work there, I passed on a better salary and possibly more flexibility in my work in Los Angeles, to do this fellowship. It’s all part of a larger strategy for the 10 year clinic/neighborhoodchange/community-building/healing plan :>

I’ll post some of my goals for the year in another post (after I’m done narrowing them down — you have NO idea how long that list is right now!). But for now, this fellowship will afford me opportunities to continue to develop as a competent (and hopefully excellent – in the future) physician, opportunities to teach residents (and therefore really solidify my knowledge as well as develop my teaching skills), and opportunities to also work with homeless populations in Los Angeles and pursue some really rad projects with amazing folks in LA.

So it’s off I go, first thing tomorrow, to serve as a “preceptor” in the clinic in the AM (which means family medicine residents will present a story, if you will, of the patient that they’re seeing in clinic, and i’ll give feedback and suggestions and ask questions about what they plan to do for management of that patients’ conditions, before they go back in to finish seeing the patient and explain their thought processes to the patient to come up with a solution that both of them find acceptable). I’m excited and nervous, and stoked to develop skills to nurture, teach, and challenge doctors in training!

(I’ve also made the decision to try to blog more spontaneously here at Los Anjalis and on the community health justice blog Cure This, which turned one years old this past week!) Hope to share more of what inspires me, more on music, and more on strategy for community change, on a more regular basis.

Join a ton of optimists, fighters, crazies, and beautiful people (none of these categories are obviously mutually exclusive), at the Los Angeles Social Forum this weekend! I’m honored to be collaborating with some rad folks in Los Angeles on a workshop. Come share your thoughts, and let’s build together. Here are the details for our specific workshop:

“Media, Action, and Social Justice: Let’s Talk!”

Presented by the Downtown Women’s Action Coalition, make/shift magazine, LOUDmouth zine, and CureThis.

Join us to talk about the relationship between social-justice-oriented independent media and grassroots action. This participatory discussion will be a space to explore together how media makers and other community workers collaborate toward social justice. What works well? What’s hard? How can we collaborate better? Bring your experiences, questions, and ideas. This workshop will center the voices and work of women and trans people of color who are active in local, volunteer-centered media and action. All are welcome to attend and participate.

When: Sat, June 28, 2008
Session: W3 4:00-6:00pm Room: THH 213, University of Southern California
Los Angeles Social Forum

OF NOTE — there is an equally awesome workshop going on at the same time — The Real Cost of the War in Iraq — featuring inspiring doctor activists and peace workers and bringing the global down to the local (all the way down to the health care crisis in LA County). I wish I could be present for both workshops but I cannot. I’d highly recommend either, I know, I’m biased.

This weekend marks the long-awaited Los Angeles Social Forum, a unique opportunity where students, activists, local media-makers, and other Los Angelenos will converge upon the USC campus to learn from each other and build together in regards to local and global social justice issues.

Over 70 workshops on topics from local media to healthcare to electoral reform to prison reform to local immigration issues to global issues will be presented by an amazing array of local organizations and leaders. More than 50 local organizations from the Los Angeles area have sponsored the social forum, and folks are driving in from all over Southern California to listen, learn, participate. The events begin at 6pm on Friday, June 27th and end on Sunday, June 29th.

The theme of social forums around the world is simple and beautiful: “Another World is Possible”. The first ever World Social Forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2001. A whopping 20,000 people attended it. The most recent World Social Forum was held in Nairobi, Kenya, with an attendance of over 70,000. Most recently, a United States Social Forum took place in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007, and local state and city-wide social forums have been organized in various locations around the United States in 2007 and 2008.

Photo from World Social Forum (Nairobi) by Anjali Taneja (aka Los Anjalis) on Flickr

(Update: I blogged about the LASF (similar post) at LAist, a rad site about many things LA).

Tomorrow night brings a very special event. Los Angeles folks — if you’re free, come on out and support! It’s called NOT EXACTLY THE PIXIES and it’s at The Echo (1822 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles), doors @9pm, show starts @9:30pm.

Local LA musicians will perform songs from The Pixies, as a benefit for the Downtown Womens Center (a truly beautiful and empowering organization serving over 2000 homeless and low-income women). My brother’s going to be in one of the bands, playing geeeeetar! And my wonderful friend Jen DeMartino put together this event, found the performers, and organized everything, in her spare time. If you go, she’ll be the one MC’ing and she’ll be singing in one of the bands.

More details at this piece over at LAist.com. There will also be raffles and other fun things.

The venue’s NOT big and it’s going to get packed quicky, so come early if you can!

As performed by Saul Williams.

(original words from Not in Our Name’s Pledge of Resistance)

We believe that as people living in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil

Not in our name
will you invade countries bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course over the graves of the nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families on foreign soil

Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples or countries to be deemed evil

Not by our will
and Not in our name

We pledge resistance

We pledge alliance with those who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war or for their religion or ethnicity

We pledge to make common cause with the people of the world
to bring about justice, freedom and peace

Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

(posted this on LAist earlier today)

Today will be historic. Throngs of voters will get out and vote NO on Proposition 98, a not thinly veiled attempt to destroy rent control and tenants rights. Of note, Los Angeles has the highest average rents (over $1500) of any city in the Western United States — even higher than San Francisco. In what direction will allowing the passage of Proposition 98 lead us?

Yesterday, Ross Lincoln wrote a fine post on LAist about the devil in the details regarding Prop 98 (and why we should vote NO). Today, we bring you a wonderful video that SAJE (Strategic Actions for Just Economies) developed to discuss the basis for and impact of Proposition 98. This animated story takes some of the confusion out of the proposition:

The video has been produced en espanol, tambien! Pass it on, and remind your friends and co-workers and family and passers-by — to vote NO on Proposition 98 TODAY.

And then, let’s celebrate in OUR streets.

I found out about Vote Both, a new website created by former Hillary Clinton staffers, from Amardeep at Sepia Mutiny.

Wow. I just took a look at the Vote Both website. There are lies and damned lies on it. On the VoteBoth website, the letter that they ask you to write to undeclared superdelegates includes the following talking point:

By including both amazing candidates, we will have a ticket that won 100% of the vote–not one who received less than half.

Fascinating. First of all, Obama is currently ahead in the popular vote (49.5%), the delegate count, and the superdelegate count. One of the VoteBoth founders, Adam Parkhomenko, recently admitted on a news interview that Obama will likely have at least 50.1% of the popular vote (and it will likely be even more than that). Second of all, since when did this qualification of whether or not a candidate receives half or more of the popular vote in a drawn out primary decide who should be on a ticket? (of note, Bill Clinton only received 52% of the popular vote in the 1992 dem primaries). Also, tons of polls in states like New York and New Jersey and California (states that Clinton won in the primaries) are as supportive of Obama in the general election (see Pollster for the actual results of recent polls in those states).

And third and most important, there’s an interesting trend here. We have people like George Stephanopolous (former Bill Clinton staffer and very loyal to the Clinton family) starting discussions on national television about the need for a “dream ticket” of both Obama and Clinton. And this VoteBoth site is VERY misleading — at the bottom of it there is a disclaimer:

PAID FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY VOTE BOTH. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATES

However, both Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora, the two founders of the Vote Both website, were very recently staff on the Clinton campaign. Parkhomenko resigned from his campaign 3 weeks prior to starting this website (and had been the executive assistant to Clinton’s former campaign manager for years, and had also encouraged Clinton to run for president and was one of the first supporters of her PAC). Arora was recently a spokesperson for Clinton.

So sure the site’s not authorized by any candidate (and it’s very possible that Clinton has NOTHING to do with the site), but it’s definitely SHADY. And as the creator of Voteboth.org (a protest site to voteboth.com) states in the about section:

These “activists” claim to be a grassroots group but they are not. They are former Clinton staffers and organizers and they are pros. When professional campaigners pose as regular folk, it’s called ASTROTURFING.

The other site, the one that ends with a dot com, that was set up just ten days after Senator Obama won the state of Mississippi by 61.2%. Exactly one month and eleven days after Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis-Doyle stepped down. That other site is run by the two young men that organized a Draft Hillary campaign three years ago – one of whom was a former assistant to Ms. Solis-Doyle.

Look. This “Unity Ticket” jazz is exactly the kind of sneaky, wink-wink politicking that’s been the bane of our nation for the last 27 years. We don’t need PACS and 527′s telling us what to think and who to vote for. We the people, have the Internet now. We can start our own grassroots movement, thank you.

In addition, it’s just unfathomable that Obama, the candidate for “change”, would have an establishment anti-change candidate as his VP. It’s a farce to think that Obama would compromise his comprehensive 50-state strategy of winning back a progressive majority and turning red states blue, by teaming up with Clinton who has declared many states “unimportant” and has balked at Obama winning red states in the Dem primaries. It’s unthinkable that anti-Iraq-war-from-the-start Obama would team up with war-hawk Clinton, who recently stated wide-eyed that she would “obliterate” the COUNTRY of Iran should Iran attack Israel, and who has previously voted in the Senate to declare Iran’s national guard as a terrorist organization.

And it would be feeding into the Republican playbook to use Clinton’s words against Obama should they run as a ticket together. Recall Clinton’s statement back in March:

“Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience, I have a lifetime of experience, Sen. Obama has one speech in 2002″

A short message to the recent Clinton staffers who created VoteBoth: Game Over.

A little more than a week ago, I interviewed Robin Sukhadia, an amazing and accomplished tabla performer and teacher, on his innovative artists residency in Los Angeles, called Tablacentric. The full interview is at LAist.com, where I’ve started writing. I’ve pasted it below too. If you get a chance, check out the event. Ok, interview here:

This month, from March 13th through April 12th, the folks at Machine Project are hosting Tablacentric — an entire month devoted to the concept and feel of not the snare drum, not the piano, but yet another form of percussion — the tabla — a majestic drum originating in South Asia.

For the entire month, 12 pairs of tabla will be setup in the gallery for all students and performers to touch and play. A series of classical and contemporary concerts featuring local and international tabla artists will help to present tabla in a performance context. Cooking classes, instrument invention workshops, film screenings and listening sessions will also provide cultural context to tabla and South Asian rhythm as well.

The concept is conceived and developed by Robin Sukhadia, a recent MFA graduate of Cal Arts’ World Music Program, who performs and mixes tabla beats, teaches tabla and other instruments, and sets up music education programs in other countries. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area but is spending the month here in Los Angeles as part of Machine Project’s artist in residency program.

LAist sat down and talked with Sukhadia about tablas, robots and tablas, giving tablas away to kids in other countries, and Los Angeles.
(more…)

I think I’ve watched this video now 6 times in a row. And cried each time because it’s so damn funny. And as my brother shares, it gives us hope. Hope — that Obama can wipe the floors with McCain if it’s the two of them running against each other for President. It also contrasts the positive WE message of Obama against the cynical dottering i’mtakingyoutohellwithme McCain message (while giving us a taste of how out of touch McCain is with reality). Thank you, smattering of Los Angeles area comics, writers, and musicians, for putting this together.

The best line is the one at the end, “McCain 08: Like Hope, But Different.”

Watch it!

I present to you, the awe-inspiring and shock-and-awe-ing quotes from McCain speeches, featured in the video:

The work that we face in our time is great
in a time of war
and the terrible sacrifices it entails
the promise of a better future is not always clear
there’s gonna be other wars
I’m sorry to tell you there’s gonna be other wars
there’s gonna be a lot of combat wounds
and my friends it’s gonna be tough
and we’re gonna have a lot to do
That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?
Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb…
I’m still convinced that withdrawal means chaos
and if you think that things are bad now
if we withdraw–you ain’t seen nothing yet
was the war a good idea, worth the price in blood and treasure?
It was a good idea
President Bush talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years
Maybe a hundred, that’s fine with me
I don’t think Americans are concerned if we’re there for a hundred years, or a thousand years, or ten thousand years.

Compare these, my friends, with the video and lyrics from the song “Yes We Can”.

Have I mentioned how much I love creative folks making and freely distributing video?

VOTE today. To my Dem friends, when you vote, remember the more than 600,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children who have died for an unjust war, millions more who have been displaced/damaged/collateralized, and over 4000 American soldiers who have met the same fate for the same reason. And remember who voted for war (and who refuses to humbly apologize for that vote), and who was vocally against the war, as you make that decision in the voting booth.

photo by seanbonner at flickr

I’m a dreamer, not a pragmatic (or corrupted or special interest-ed) washington insider. I can only imagine what America could achieve if we had a MOVING president who could rally americans behind causes that THEY are passionate about?

“You know when i see a crowd like this, it tells me that the American people are not the problem. The American people are the answer. Let’s go change the world.” — Barack Obama, speaking in NYC, September 2007.

“And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will ever use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.” — Barack Obama, speaking in New Hampshire, January 2008.

I predict that Obama’s going to take california, and the youth will be responsible for the landslide :> Can’t wait for the results! As I mentioned before, come party with Los Anjalis and friends at the Roxy where I’ll be DJing tonight!

Tuesday is Super Tuesday AND Fat Tuesday! That means it’s time to vote (for 22 states, including California) AND time to party before Lent starts.

After voting, I’ll be DJing this TUESDAY evening at the Roxy, opening for DJ Rekha from New York City. DJ Rekha is a friend who I’ve djed with in NYC at our monthly MUTINY parties and who’s been running the famous Basement Bhangra parties in NYC for over 10 years. I’ll be djing from 9 to 10ish, probably a hoppin’ mix of drumnbass, grime, and hiphop. Join us if you can! YES WE CAN! (not so subtle Obama plug)

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 – “On the Rox with DJ Rekha”

Doors at 9pm
9pm to 10-ish: Los Anjalis (aka DJ Anju)
10-ish on… : DJ Rekha from NYC

The Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Tickets: $8 advance, $10 day of show

Come say hi if you come out.
Si Se Puede! (another obama plug, I know, can’t help myself),
Los Anjalis

(photo taken by jslander via flickr)

Beauty has surrounded my drives in los angeles this week. This month I’m working at several clinics, some of which only serve HIV+ patients (I’m absolutely loving working with HIV positive patients!). My relatively traffic-free drives take me past the east side of Los Angeles, so I’ve been travelling from the west side of LA  and back each day.  The views of downtown LA, graffiti in east LA, hillside houses in alhambra, etc, are awe-inspiring. Love ‘em.

Since I haven’t taken a camera with me on these drives (i’m sure the drivers around me are very thankful i’m not doing that), I’ve included above an amazing photo that jslander took of Los Angeles in January (and that was featured earlier on LAist). And snow-capped mountains – oh my :>

Dick Price and Sharon Kyle of the Northeast (Los Angeles) Democratic Club, sent out an informal survey to a few hundred Los Angeles progressives recently, and almost 500 folks returned it, showing Edwards in the lead (at a time when an LA Times/CNN/Politico poll showed Clinton leading among California Dems). Dick and Sharon aren’t pollsters, and they admit that openly, but still, the results are interesting:

Senators John Edwards and Barack Obama lead the field among those taking the survey, with Edwards capturing 32% of respondents to Obama’s 26%. Senator Hilary Clinton trails with 15%, just ahead of Representative Dennis Kucinich at 12% and the undecided vote at 11%.

LA Progressive readers were invited to complete this eight-question survey asking their preference for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, which candidates they would not support in the general election, the most important issues helping them make that determination, and the likelihood they will volunteer for a presidential campaign. Results showed that at least 1,272 opened the email invitation, 574 opened the survey, and 498 people completed it.

The results are even more interesting when a subgroup analysis is performed, by race and gender — check out the full piece here. I’ll still maintain that Edwards has by far the most progressive agenda of the three leading Dem candidates. And in related news, although he was never considered a top candidate, sad that Kucinich has dropped out of the race. He is and will always be THE rockstar of all the Dem candidates.

Just a few days ago I was discussing the woes of Los Angeles’ near-freeway-construction with a colleague, and we were thinking about health and the built environment. We’ve known for a while that LA Unified School District schools have often been built dangerously close to freeways. And now good news arrives:

Making broad pronouncements about the need to protect the health of children in their care, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday restricted the district’s ability to build schools near freeways and other sources of air pollution.

After a string of public speakers supporting the measure and impassioned debate, the board approved a resolution calling for the school system to study airborne pollutants up to half a mile from a potential site, rather than the current quarter mile requirement. It also seeks air quality health-risk assessments for all schools, including charter schools, although officials said it is unclear whether they could force the independently run but publicly-funded schools to do so.

“Basically I’m trying to push the envelope as far as we can,” said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who co-wrote the resolution with board member Julie Korenstein.

Flores Aguilar took on the issue after The Times reported in September that the district continued to build schools close to freeways, despite a state law discouraging it and recent studies indicating that children living near them showed signs of increased respiratory harm. About 60,000 Los Angeles Unified School District students attend campuses within 500 feet of a freeway.

Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder who plans this city. Obviously a group of people who can’t seem to connect the dots on the built environment and health.. I have grand hopes that all of this craziness can be reversed, and that with enough public pressure, future urban planning in this gargantuan sprawling city can be done right, with benefit to all (ok, most) involved.

Woohoo! Doctors for John Edwards!

A physician posted a diary over at Daily Kos entitled “A Physician’s View of John Edwards” and has received quite a warm crowd of positive responses from other physicians who feel as passionately about Edwards. A few months ago, two friends and I thought it would be super rad to create an informal Docs for Edwards group, to put some weight of support behind Edwards from what others might initially think was an unlikely group of supporters given his work in medical malpractice. Physicians too often have a knee-jerk negative reaction to Edwards, because of his previous work. But that work was directly supporting patients who had been wrongly treated, and for those who like to think more broadly about presidential candidates, Edwards really has something to deliver on universal health care, labor/trade issues, medical review boards, economic justice, and other truly important issues. Plus, check out who taketh the money:

Do you know which two United States senators took in the most money from HMOs this current cycle?

#1. Hillary Clinton
#2. Barack Obama

First and second place– out of all 100 senators, Republican and Democrat. (from Open Secrets)

Health Services/HMOs: Money to Congress, Election cycle: 2008

1) Clinton, Hillary (D) — $246,480

2) Obama, Barack (D) — $175,093

John Edwards was completely right– the Clintons had all three branches of government, and they didn’t get anything passed that remotely resembled Universal Health Care. Regardless of their true intentions, that’s what “sitting at the table” gets you.

John has a history of taking on big HMOs for the little guy and winning. He and Elizabeth are now fighting to bring good health care coverage inexpensively to everyone.

Just like they’re fighting to end global warming and our dependence on non-renewable energy.

Just like they’re fighting to redeploy the combat troops from Iraq, and bring most of them home to their families.

I can’t speak for all physicians, but this physician trusts John Edwards to do the right thing.

Corporate control of congress must come to an end– now.

We deserve a President who is bought and paid for by the American people.

Oooh I like that — we deserve a president who is bought and paid for by the American people! Edwards repeatedly talks about the corporate interests in medicine, something that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama omit from their discussions (for reasons stated above, perhaps?) And I recall Edwards saying, “when i’m president, dissent will once again be patriotic”.

(yes, it’s true, Kucinich has the MOST progressive platform of ANY democratic candidate, by a landslide. But it’s a discussion for another time — why I’d vote for Edwards over Kucinich right now, when it’s SO imperative that we have a dem win in 2008. though i did hear on KPFK FM this morning that Kucinich is risin’ up in the polls for the Iowa primaries, and that’s SUPER rad).