China Day 4

Ok, my elbow is healing, so I'll write more about my China trip. Day 4 we only spent the morning in Beijing, visiting the Temple of Heaven, a very large blue round temple where the Emperor, the Son of Heaven, would come to do rituals twice a year. The huge round blue Temple of Heaven symbolizes Beijing in a way like the Empire State Building symbolizes New York.

When we got there, we went through one of the gates to a large arcade where hundreds of senior citizens were doing group exercies: social dancing (it looked somewhat like a fox trot); banging around a small ball on a white paddle in a group led by a leader; etc. Other seniors were singing opera in a group or playing mah jong. The arcades and the nearby areas looked like a giant senior citizen center. Our guide told us that since China doesn't have enough jobs to go along, people who are 55 are encouraged to retire so young people can get the jobs. So many people retire between 55 and 60. Where do they go? In the summer to the parks where they do group exercise. Actually I enjoyed seeing all the seniors dancing, singing, and gambling--much better than the old days when this whole huge area was reserved just for the Emperor who came twice a year!

Past the arcade area we walked to the Temple area itself: the temple halls are huge and round but the bases are square. The Round Alter was built in 1530 and rebuilt in 1740. The Emperor would do rites to ensure a good harvest, ask for divine guidance, and atone for sins of the people. Now hundreds of tourists walked up and down the stairs of the big blue Temple. I was a bit tired, so I sat down and started talking to a male Belgian tourist who said he just took the Trans-Siberian railroad from Moscow which ends in Beijing. He had just come from Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

What also comes from Mongolia to Beijing are dust storms as the desert is growing. Another environmental problen is the gray skies. All the skies throughout mainland China were gray. I heard that China is now burning a lot of coal for energy, and the coal burning pollutes the sky. Anyway, in the Chinese newspapers they announced they have a "Blue Skies" campaign, and what they do is have tree planting day once a year where they plant thousands of trees. So they are aware of the environmental problems in terms of dust storms, polluted gray skies, and polluted water. But in L.A. we have a group called Treepeople which has planted 1,000,000 trees starting in L.A. and then spreading out to the world. More tree planting is needed in China, I think.

That afternoon we flew is Xi'an, a city in the west of China near the famed terra cotta army of soldiers. Xi'an like Beijing was once capital of the Empire and is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. Along with trade goods both Islamic and Buddhist missionaries came to Xi'an 1st and then to the rest of China. The city has a big mosque and a Muslim neighborhood. As we took our bus in from the airport, Xi'an looked poorer and dustier than Beijing. Yes, it had high rises--office buildings, hotels, and apartment buildings--but it had more 1-story stores lining the main road.

The next day when my group went off to see the terracotta army I was ill and stayed in the hotel. I knew that the Emperor who built the terracotta army did so because he killed a lot of soldiers, and wanted the protection of a terracotta army. I was also tired of imperial monuments. Anyway, in the gift shop of the hotel I found a wallet to replace my stolen wallet! Back in business! When the tour group returned, they kindly had bought me a book on the terracotta army and actually had it signed by one of the farmers who discovered the terracotta soldiers! A signed copy!

Six of us decided to go to the shops across the street, but first we had to cross the street. Everywhere in China cars don't stop for pedestrians, and large streets are particularly hard to cross. We finally did it in a large group, dashing across the street. We entered a shopping area which had lots of small stalls--mostly housewares, hardware, and wallets, wallets everywhere! I saw a small tea kettle which I liked, & pointed to it. The saleswoman took it out and also a calculator. She put 36 on the calcualtor for 36 yuan ($1 = 8 yuan Chinese money). I hit the key 30 yuan. She nodded. We had a deal! I was learning the shop and bargain without language!
Our guide in Beijing had taught us some simple words in Mandarin such as "hello" and "how are you" which I had learned, but no shopping words!

To get back across the street, we walked up the stairs to the upstairs pedestrian way which went over the street to walk among more stahls, but these were all clothing. A few Chinese women had sewing machines to alter the clothes if needed. Now the problem is most of the American women were too large for the Chinsese sizes! We're big and they're small!
Actually, I fit in into a Large (sizes were small, medium, large, extra-large) but some of the other American woman fit into an extra-large which they didn't like at all. They were quite unhappy and were not going to buy extra-large shapeless grandmotherly clothing.

That night we went to a theater where we had dim sum (many, many dumplings) for dinner and where where we saw dances in gorgeous traditional costumes. The finale dance had two dancers dressed as the Emperor and Empress and other dancers doing classical dancers for the imperial couple. It was fascinating. I seem to be enjoying traditional Chinese dance!

Koreatown in LA.

I haven't posted for a while because end of August I started teaching 5 classes
and then I fractured my elbow October 1. The elbow is nicely healing, but I had a
half cast for a week, which was tiring. Then the cast came off but I wasn't driving
for a 2nd week. I did a lot of walking in my neighborhood, Koreatown, and also
took the bus for two weeks. Actually I enjoyed walking, and will post soon about a Koreatown
walk. The elbow is nearly healed.

Today in the Los Angeles Times there was an article by Gregory Rodriguez called
"Seoul man," also about living in Koreatown. He calls himself a "proud resident
of Koreatown" as I am too! Whenever I'm driving home & start seeing Korean signs
on Western, I know I'm nearly home. Actually, the largest ethnic group in Koreatown is
Latinos, then probably Asians including Koreans and Filipinos, and then whites.
By on the major bouelvards of the neighborhood--Vermont Avenue, Western Avenue,
Olympic Boulevard, and Whilshire Avenue--most of the shops, particulary the smaller
ones, are Korean with Korean signs.

Like Rodriguez, I've been fequenting the restaurants in the neighborhood. Rodriguez
went to his first trip to Seoul. Rodriguez compares Koreatown to Seoul: "K-town is a highly condensed--if slightly shabbier-verious of this thriving, hyper-urban traffic-choked mteropolis."
What strikes me about walking Western Avenue, with its Korean-owned furniture shops dominating, is that it could be attractive street with some landscaping--trees, flowers, benches.
Let's have more trees planted on Western Avenue!

Second, Rodriguez says former LA City Councilman Nate Holden was roundly criticized for granting many liquor licenses to this neighborhood, but Rodriguez says, "According to a recent study, South Korea is the fourth-largest distilled-liquor consumer in the world. In its rigidly hierarchical society, it's clear that drinking is the great equalizer and a national pastime." Rodriguez says that Nat Holden "was merely being culturally sensitive." All I can say is that I went with some friends to a Korean bar-b-que restaurant (very popular). The food was excellent, and enjoyed seeing the food cooked on a little stove at our table. But on this Saturday night I was astounded to see how much hard liquor--whiskey, scotch-- was consumed at the other tables (I only drink wine myself).

What's changed in the last 6 years in Koreatown is house prices have doubled if not tripled. Rodriguez mentions thatg he sat in a seminar at the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul "where 700 prospective buyers showed to hear a sales pitch for condominiums that will be built only a few blocks from my apartment in K-town. ... According to one executive of the developmental firm, 60% of the units will be sold in Korea to investors who have no intention of moving to L.A.." He goes on to say that in the last few years Korean investors have been investing heavily abroad in Koreatown, causing inflated house and condomium prices. Well, a few blocks near my house three small craftsman 1-story houses have been knocked down, and large apartments to be sold as condomiums are being built.

Rodriguez is right when he says that this Korean investment in LA's Koreatown is globalisation at work "in which capital moves faster than people." 6 years ago when I moved to Koreatown it had less expensive rents and house prices than the surrounding neighborhoods. No longer. This process is not knew. During the 1980s when Tokyo land prices soared Japanese investors bought up a lot of high-rise office buildings in downtown Los Angeles. In the 1990s well-to-do Chinese immigrants bought up houses in Monterey Park area east of downtown. Again, we live on the Pacific Rim, and what happens in Korea, China, or Japan effects the neighborhoods and neighbors in LA.

When I was in Shanghai and Beijing our guides were complaining about how condominium prices are going up and up. I wonder if there is investment from abroad in Shanghai & Beijing. That lives us both in Shanghai and Los Angeles having the small problems: lack of affordable housing, particulary for young couples starting families.

Beijing Day 2 and 3

The second day in Beijing we head out 50 km to the Great Wall of China at Juyong Pass, first built in the 5th century.

Our bus parks along with numerous other tour buses. We look up, and to our left
is the stairs alongside the Great Wall going up the mountain crowded with an endless river of people. The hordes are out climbing over 1,200 steps to get to the top of the ridge from the bottom through six stone towers to the top stone tower on the crest of the ridge. Each of the towers looks like it held soldiers guarding this section of the wall. Also, the towers had a beacon system where soldiers burned wolf dung, trnasmitting news of enemy movements back to the capital.

We start up the steps to the 1st tower which holds the snack shops (ice cream is populpar) and gift shops. Up more stone steps to the actual start of the climb, with railings on left and right while the steps are here about 6' wide. Each step is a different size from the previous, so I have to pay attention. I try to keep to the right with the rest of the people ascending while those descending are supposed to keep to the left, but the problem is many people going down try to go down on the right getting in the way of we climbing up. I hear many languages: Chinese, French, German, English, Japanese--it seems like all of humanity is climbing today.

Finally, the 2nd stone tower, which has a flat area which windows to look out of. It's very crowded inside of the tower as many of us take photos or just take a breather staring out the windows. The way to towers 2 and 3 are the steepest: after that the climb levels off. Now, up those really steep stairs to tower 3. Still all those crowds of people make it though. Finally, I'm getting exhausted right below tower 3, so I just down on a step to take a breath and look at the valley way below. I've done 2/3 of the climb but feel like it's enough, so start down.

In Tower 2 there's a crush of people and a man is right up against me behind me. He annoys me but in two seconds he's gone. 10 steps below Tower 2 I realize my wallet, which was in my cargo pants pocket on my calf, is gone. I climb back up to Tower 2 and look for my wallet. Then I realize that the man was a pickpocket and stole my wallet. Oh, I shouldn't have worn it in my pants pocket, shouldn't have worn cargo pants, shouldn't have brought any money at all. I haven't lost any documents (I never keep documents in my wallet) but just lost $30. I feel terrible as I climb down the steps, just terrible as I sit on the courtyard by the snack shop. I feel as if I've been socked in the face.

I tell George, our national guide, "My wallet got stolen!" He said, "Did you lose your passport?" "No," I said. "Oh, good," he says, moving away. For the next hour I sit there along feeling bummed out until finally our whole group gathers together. Two people complain of sore muscles. Five people made it to the 6th tower. Our bus drives another hour, pulling into downtown Beijing where we get out to do more walking.

We are at the Drum and Bell Towers, two huge stone towers. We climb up more steep steps on the side of the Drum Tower, originally built in 1273 to mark the center of the Mongol Empire. In previous times the Drum and Bell Tower banged out the time for the inhabitants. Now the Drum Tower serves as a good place for tourists to take photos of Beijing's rooftops.

Near the Drum Tower we walk by the hutong area, little alleyways lined with 1-story old homes around courtyards where tens of thousands of Beijing people used to live. Now the government is destroying most of the hutongs to build high-rises. Our hutong guide grew up here but he said he also moved into a new apartment in a high-rise. As we walked by the hutongs on the left with a lake on the right, this area was the most human with Chinese sitting on tiny cafes in the hutong buildings or on chairs lakeside. I loved the hutongs! We stopped to join the crowd around a man making elegant animal sculptures out of straw! He's great!

We gather around the area with pedicabs, a tricycles with a 2-seat compartment, get in a pedicab for a tour of the hutong (our guide climbs on a bike)--off we go! In and out, up and down the little alleyways we see tiny grocery stores, some dogs (little ones are legal); tiny cafes with men grilling meat; men seated on crates playing cards; and the entrances to courtyards lined with little homes. Our pedicab stops by 1 entranceway, so we get out for our visit to a local family.

We enter into a courtyard which has trees full of thick green squash and lined with four buildings. We enter one building straightway into the reception area to be greeted by a gray-haired elegant woman of about 65, our hostess. We seat ourselves on the new purple couches and chairs--our hostess says she get them in Ikea! We talk to her through a translator. Her father, a manager of a factory in Manchuria, bought this land--4 houses and courtyard. She grew up here and raised her two daughters here. She was a librarian while her husband (who also greeted us) was an engineer but both are now retired. The government appropriated all houses including theirs but put a couple other families in the houses, so about 3-4 families lived there, but then the government gave them back their home, so now they only live there with their two daughters. She graciously gave us tea and candies.

As we walked out of the hutong area, we saw a tall European couple along with child. Our host says they are British and live in the hutongs. Though many Chinese think the hutongs are poor area, some Chinese film stars have bought homes here.

At dinner, we went to a restaurant for Peking Duck. My tablemate Humberto, a Chinese Mexican, said Peking Duck is just like a burrito! Our take a thin-taco like pancake, put a few pieces of duck, put in some onions, and then eat. Delicious. Yes, just like a burrito!

Los Angeles to China

I just returned from a 2-week tour to China, my first time there.

Arriving in Beijing airport in early August, I was impressed with how modern it is and its bilingual Chinese-English signs everywhere; the airport even had a Starbuck's near the the baggage claim but I never use Starbuck's. Our thirteen-member group was met by our local guide Wang who held up a small navy blue "China Focus" flag, the name of our tour group.

As we rode in our bus, we arrived in Beijing downtown around 5:00 just in time to be caught in a traffic jam on the freeway full of buses, trucks, and cars. Next to us was a crowded local bus whose riders sat and stood up, many looking at us in our tour bus who are looking at them. We wave; they wave. All over we see skyscrapers being erected for apartments and offices. Many signs on building were in English including Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, Toyota, etc. After our bus finally got off the freeway the streets are crowded with more cars, buses, trucks and also bicycles and motor scooters; the streets are full of crowds walking on this hot summer evening. Beijing's streets pulse with energy. The sky is a dull gray from air pollution. Everywhere we went in China was the same: huge building booms in every city; gray polluted skies; traffic jams; and pedestrian crowds in summer dresses, short-sleeved shirts, and short pants on the streets these hot, humid August days.

Our four-star Guangxi Hotel has at least 10 stories and many amenities: our room had two fluffy-white terry cloth robes and a safe to lock away our valuables. In the lobby was a Business Center with Internet. The hotel also had a pool and a breafast buffet that includes both Chinese and Western food. Next morning I looked at this huge buffet, sampled some Chinese rolls and noodles as well as asked the cook to make me up an omelet. The fruits were watermelon and honeydew melon; as it was watermelon season, watermelon ended every meal.

That morning our national guide George Hu, who couldn't fly the previous night from Nanjing because of an typhoon, arrived as well as Wang, our local guide (China Focus gives us one national guide as well as a local guide for each city we visited). Since we couldn't drink tap water, we could buy 3 bottles of bottled water from our busdriver. We were off for our first stop, the Summer Palace. One the way there Wang tells us that young university graduates want to buy condos in new aparatments in the new high-rise buildings (the old apartments are run-down three story buildings form the 1960s) but need to get a mortgage. The Chinese government only lets the condo-buyers get a 70-year lease so they don't really own the land.

At the Summer Palace there are thousands of other tourists--most were Chinese. 90% of us are in tours with tour guides, each guide holding a little color flag leading the way. I felt like a little duck walking after Wang, our head duck, past the entrance with snack and souvenir shops. The Summer Palace, Wang told us, was the last Dowager Empress's summer residence as during Beijin'gs hot summer it was cooler here beside the huge lake. We had to step over the board of about 1' high on each doorway to keep the evil spirits from getting in. We walked through gorgeous old-style one-story Chinese buildings where the last Empress lived; lovely gardens; a long covered arcade; near a huge Buddhist temple where the Empress prayed; and then took a boat ride across the lake. Some small two-person boats were propelled by 1-person bicycling in a bicycle-boat.

After a Chinese lunch at a restaurant, the bus left us off at the south side of Tinanmen Square. Wang had warned us against "hello people," folks who came up to us saying "Hello, want to buy rolex." Yes, as soon as we started north in Tinanmen Square hello people come up to us saying, "hello," and asked us to buy watches, books, and silk. Tinanmen Square, the largest public square in the world which holds a million people, had a few children flying kites and thousands of tourists. Huge monumental government buildings ringed the square: Mao's Mausoleum; Monument to the People's Heroes; Musuem of Chinese History; and Musuem of the Chinese Revolution.

Next visit to Beijing I'd like to visit some of these monuments, but on this visit Wang led us north the Forbidden City where we had to enter the huge stone Gate of Heavenly Peace adorned with a huge photo of Mao. The Gate of Heavenly Peace, built five centuries ago, has 5 doors and seven bridges but only the emperor could use the central door and bridge. Mao declared the People's Republic of China here on October 1, 1949. We kept walking north the the Meridian Gate, the 2nd huge gate which was also used exclusively for the emperor. We still walked north to the Supreme Harmony Gate, the 3rd huge gate on the southern side of the Forbidden City. This gate overlooks a huge courtyard that could hold 100,000 people.

Finally, we're in the Forbidden City and we ascend the stairs of a marble terrace to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a huge building which had the dragon throne where the emperor celebrated his birthday and coronation. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the 1st of three great halls were the emperor conducted his public business. The 2nd hall, the Hall of Middle Harmony, was where the emperor changed clothes. The third hall, Hall of Preserving Harmony, was where candidates in imperial examinations were tested. To get to these halls were walked up and down stone stairs along with thousands of others.

Wang led us to look at some of the small buildings on the west side which held 1-story houses where the emperor, his concubines, his servants lived--up to 10,000 people could live here in the Forbidden City. Wang took us into one building where courtasans lived, and told us stories of courtesans who had different ranks as well as eunuchs. The Chinese emperor had a similar set-up to the Middle Eastern caliphs with their huge harems guarded by eunuchs I had read about in school. Amazing that this huge empire was controlled from this one city-within-a city.

Most of these buildings were empty. Wang told us that when Chaing kai-check was leaving Beijing, he stripped the Forbidden City of decorations and art objects and took these objects with him to Taiwan. Finally, in the northernmost section of the Forbidden City is the Imperial Garden, a classical Chinese garden where we wandered an pathways through stone rockeries and small pavilions. I felt the Forbidden City architecture was beautiful but intimidating --designed to impress morals of the power and glory of the Empire. The Forbidden City was empire impressed into stone and marble.

For dinner we were taken to a dining house at Lama Temple, which are guide book described as a "stunningly beautiful" Buddhist temple. All we got to see was the huge dining room which was impressive with painted ceilings. I would have wished to see more of Lama Temple, but was our first day and I was suffering jet lag. After dinner we were walking through the courtyard outside the dining hall, and a woman had a stall full of pashmina/silk shawls. My tourmate Juana bargained, so she and I bought two shawls for about $7.50 apiece. Our first day we saw huge contrasts between the imperial past of palaces, temples, and stone gates versus the present day China busily building the infrastructure of buildings for a modern industrial city.

Lebanon/West Bank

I'm Jewish, and I've long supported the refusniks in Israel, soldiers who refuse to serve in
the West Bank. They also organized an demonstration in Tel Aviv against the Gaza/
Lebanon war. Below is the refusniks statement:

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Refuser Solidarity Network: We write to you at an excruciating moment in the ongoing Middle East conflict, in order to ask you to renew and increase your support for the refuser movements in Israel. As the Israel Defense Forces steps up its military action in Lebanon, it must increasingly rely on reservists in the West Bank (an initial group of 5,000 were just called up), and when it does it will once again be confronted by the dramatic and powerful act of refusal. In fact, we have just learned of the first Lebanon War II refuser, Iztik Shabbat, a signer of the Courage to Refuse letter, who refused on July 19 to go to the Territories to free other soldiers for the invasion of Lebanon. As one demonstration of the power of refusal, refuser groups, in particular Yesh Gvul, were heavily involved in organizing (with a wide range of groups) a large protest of between 2,500 and 5,000 Israelis on Saturday, July 22 (if that sounds small to you, please recall that the population of Israel is approximately 1/40th that of the United States. So a comparably-sized protest in the US would have resulted in between 100,000 and 200,000 people!). Clearly, Israeli society is not uniformly in favor of this war -- and the Israeli peace movement is just getting started. [You will find at the end of this note a letter from Peretz Kidron of Yesh Gvul with more information about this demonstration.] It is, therefore, a crucial time to make sure that the refuser groups, from the group that got its start in the first Lebanon War (Yesh Gvul) to the brand-new collaborative between Israeli and Palestinian refusers (Combatants for Peace) are able to project their voices loud and clear into the national debate raging through Israel about this latest war. To recap the situation for you briefly: * Israel Air Force bombs have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including more than 100 children. They have also destroyed much of the Lebanese infrastructure, from bridges to roads to power generators. Half a million Lebanese have been forced from their homes; * Hezbollah missiles rain on towns across northern Israel, killing dozens of civilians and causing widespread damage, and strengthening Israeli public support for the devastating attacks on Lebanon; * Israeli soldiers remain captives in Lebanon and Gaza, while thousands of Palestinians, including dozens of members of the Palestinian Parliament, are held indefinitely in "administrative detention"; * Dozens of innocent civilians have been killed by IDF operations in Gaza, which continue with little attention now that war has broken out between Israel and Hezbollah. These actions raise many complex moral, legal, and practical issues. Israel, the United States, the American Jewish community would like to have you and the rest of the world believe that these issues can be addressed in simple, black-and-white terms terms which mean in the short run that bombs and missiles will continue to kill innocents. We certainly believe that Israel has the right and obligation to defend its citizens. Hezbollah must end its bombardment of Israeli towns if there is to be any hope of peace. Yet the bombing of Lebanon is massive and indiscriminate, not only inflicting awful casualties, but also weakening the Lebanese government and radicalizing another generation of Lebanese and sympathizers in the Arab world. There is absolutely no justification for the path that Israel has taken. The Refuser Solidarity Network joins the growing chorus around the world in a call for an immediate cease-fire of all hostilities. We call on Israel to end its bombing of Lebanon and withdraw its soldiers from that country. We call on Hezbollah to end its shelling of Israeli territory. Everyone knows there is no real military solution to this conflict, short of cataclysm. A negotiated path to peaceful co-existence is the only possible solution. We agree, however, with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice that a cease-fire is not the same thing as a permanent resolution to the conflicts. And once again the actions of the refusers point the way to peace. To paraphrase a popular saying, you can't have a war if the soldiers stay home. As Yonatan Shapira, leader of the Air Force Pilot refusers and co-founder of Combatants for Peace said this week, In order to defend my country, I ask the world for its support to make my government stop. Itzik and the entire the refuser movement now need our support more than ever. As the operations in Lebanon and Gaza continue and expand, we fully expect that other refusers will become the first and most prominent line of opposition within Israel to continued war. Please respond to Yonatans call! Take a public stand in your community, contact your elected representatives to pressure them to support an immediate cease-fire, write a letter to your local newspaper. And please make a donation to RSN so that we can pass on your contribution to the refuser groups, strengthening their work and lending them support as this horrifying and crucial time. Visit www.refusersolidarity.net and click on Donate Now to make a secure contribution on-line with your credit card. When you fill out the donation form, you can request the refuser group to which you want the money to go in the RSN Project line. With a contribution of $200 or more, you will receive with our thanks one of a number of useful resources: books on the refuser movement, our "Ending Occupation one soldier at a time" t-shirt or the Breaking the Silence DVD and booklets. We thank you in advance for your support, The RSN Board of Directors Steven Feuerstein, Paul Kaldjian, Oskar Kastro, Judith Kolokoff, James Leas, David Levy, Cathy Schneider Letter from Peretz Kidron of Yesh Gvul Saturday's peace march in Tel Aviv was mounted by a coalition of left-wing parties and non-parliamentary peace groups, Yesh Gvul included. Participation turned out much larger than anyone had foreseen ("over 2,500" according to Ha'aretz, "almost 5000" by Uri Avnery). Bystanders looked on in amazement as the noisy demonstration chanted slogans against the war (one offered a Hebrew version of a Vietnam era cry: "Defence Minister Amir Peretz, how many kids have you killed so far ?"). The Israeli media have promoted the false impression of 100% unity behind the attack on Lebanon, and citizens seemed stunned to hear such outright voices of dissent. Among the speakers at the concluding rally, Yesh Gvul coordinator Ishai Menuchin focussed on the war crimes being committed daily, calling on soldiers to refuse any part in such excesses, and warning that perpetrators will ultimately face justice, before Israeli courts if possible; if not, he promised that the movement would act to bring them before foreign courts. Further protests are in preparation. The anti-war coalition is determined to step up its efforts, and we rely on our friends and supporters worldwide to spread the word about internal Israeli opposition to the war. We need your help and solidarity ! To soldiers and reservists: Yesh Gvul is operating its hot line with counselling for those refusing to take part in the Lebanon offensive (02.6250271) Photographs from the march and rally will shortly go up on our website www.yeshgvul.org

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Great Architecture of Los Angeles

I've been seeing more great architecture of Los Angeles recently.

June 3 I went to Lummis Home El Alisal (The Sycamores) in Highland Park right off the Pasadena Freeway (110). Charles Lummis, Los Angeles's first intellectual who also led the first English-language literary salon ast his home El Alisal, built the stone house with tower himself betweem 1898 and 1910 to last a thousand years. Lummis walked from Ohio to Los Angeles in 1894, righting newspaper columns along the way. On his walk he fell in love with Native American cultures and Hispanic architecture; in L.A. he became City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, had a stroke, and then went to live on the Zuni pueblo in New Mexico with the Zunis to recuperate. There he began his career as a Native American activist. He also organized a group that led to the saving and eventual restoration of the missions.

Lummis built his house on the west bank of Arroyo Seco, the usually dry creek, and he took the stones from his house from the creek. When the creek flows, it carries stones and boulders out of the San Gabriel mountains, depositing them from the mountains dwon to the sea. Lummis and his Indian helpers built this stone house main house with its tall stone tower and the guest house behind

In the main room Lummis created a gallery to show his many Native American art objects--baskets, pots--which he later donated to the Southwest Musuem a few blocks away. He founded the Southwest Musuem, Los Angeles's first musuem which holds one of the great collections of Native American art. He furnished the house with wooden crafted furniture, railorad poles supporting the beams ceiling, and his photos of Indians embedded in the glass windows. The home represented one of the great examples of Arts & Crafts style in Los Angeles. Arts & Crafts, started by William Morris and others in England, to retain the great crafts then being lost in England, was adapted to Los Angeles, but Lummis's genius is to adapt this English architecture/decoration style of elegant carved wood houses/furniture to include the great arts of Latinos and Native Americans in the Southwest.

The house has sycamores in front as well as is surrounded by native plants including a cactus garden. Lummis had regular literary parties at his house, the last in 1928 when he died. Since then there was one literary event in 1990 and then June 3, 2006. We sat in folding chairs underneath the sycamores in front of the main door of the house listening to a poetry reading organized by Charles Lummis's granddaughter Suzanne Lummis. The poetry was fine. Even though the day was hot, we were well-shaded by the sycamores. I felt honored to attend the first literary event at El Alisal in 16 years, and hope there are many more.


B

Great Architecture of Los Angeles

I've been seeing more great architecture of Los Angeles recently.

June 3 I went to Lummis Home El Alisal (The Sycamores) in Highland Park right off the Pasadena Freeway (110). Charles Lummis, Los Angeles's first intellectual who also led the first English-language literary salon ast his home El Alisal, built the stone house with tower himself betweem 1898 and 1910 to last a thousand years. Lummis walked from Ohio to Los Angeles in 1894, writing newspaper columns along the way. On his walk he fell in love with Native American cultures and Hispanic architecture; in L.A. he became City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, had a stroke, and then went to live on the Zuni pueblo in New Mexico with the Zunis to recuperate. There he began his career as a Native American activist. He also organized a group that led to the saving and eventual restoration of the missions.

Lummis built his house on the west bank of Arroyo Seco, the usually dry creek, and he took the stones from his house from the creek. When the creek flows, it carries stones and boulders out of the San Gabriel mountains, depositing them from the mountains dwon to the sea. Lummis and his Indian helpers built this stone house main house with its tall stone tower and the guest house behind

In the main room Lummis created a gallery to show his many Native American art objects--baskets, pots--which he later donated to the Southwest Musuem a few blocks away. He founded the Southwest Musuem, Los Angeles's first musuem which holds one of the great collections of Native American art. He furnished the house with wooden crafted furniture, railorad poles supporting the beams ceiling, and his photos of Indians embedded in the glass windows. The home represented one of the great examples of Arts & Crafts style in Los Angeles. Arts & Crafts, started by William Morris and others in England to retain the great crafts such as woodworking then being lost in England, was taken to Los Angeles, but Lummis's genius is to adapt this English architecture/decoration style of elegant carved wood houses/furniture to include the great arts of Latinos and Native Americans in the Southwest.

The house has sycamores in front as well as is surrounded by native plants including a cactus garden. Lummis had regular literary parties at his house, the last in 1928 when he died. Since then there was one literary event in 1990 and then June 3, 2006. We sat in folding chairs underneath the sycamores in front of the main door of the house listening to a poetry reading organized by Charles Lummis's granddaughter Suzanne Lummis. The poetry was fine. Even though the day was hot, we were well-shaded by the sycamores. I felt honored to attend the first literary event at El Alisal in 16 years, and hope there are many more.

Los Angeles Theater: Downtown Movie Palace

Wednesday, May 31 I went to see the film Mark of Zorro at the Los Angeles Theater downtown on Broadway sponsored by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The Los Angeles Conservancy in its attempt to preserve and revitalize the historic architecture of Los Angeles has for twenty years had the annual film series "Last Remaining Seats" in the great movie palaces on Broadway in downtown. These movie theaters held Hollywood's first premieres in the 1920s and 1930s--both stars and public flocked to them to see opening nights as Broadway was the theater district--a theater district to rival New York's with live stage plays, vaudville houses, and movie theaters.

In fact, the Los Angeles Theater, 615 S. Broadway, opened in 1931 to premiere Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. As I walked up on May 31, 2006, a long line was again waiting to get in the door just like that 1931 premiere. The exterior--three huge columns on each side surrounded a tall, thin central sign saying "Los Angeles" above the ornately carved marque--was impressive. Yet the inside was more amazing and recalled the French palace of Versailles. The lobby had huge sparkling chandaliers; tall, fluted columns; a sunburst theme reminiscent of Louix XIV, the sun king; and a central staircase leading up to a crystal fountain on the 2nd floor.

The auditorium reminded me of the great opera houses of Europe with a painted curtain on the stage; two balconies which extended into elegantly carved boxes on each side of the auditorium; and ornate carvings all over the ceiling in the style of the French baroque. If one returned to the lobby and descended down the spiral staircase two floors, one got to an elegant central ballroom and on the left, the ladies room. The ladies room lobby was circular with mirrors alternating full-size mirrors and half-size mirrors as well as a child's playroom decorated with circus figures to the side. And all the toilet stalls were marble! This movie theater is really a palace all right!

This year's Last Remaining Seats is called "Lights, Camera, Los Angeles!" as it focuses on films that have Los Angeles as subject or site starting with Mark of Zorro. I have never before seen any of the Zorro films (there have been many) about the fictional Robin Hood/bandit of 1820s Los Angeles, but before the feature film there was a 1931 documentary made by 20th Century Fox movie studios about itself which was quite fascinating.

In the 1940 Zorro film I enjoyed the receation of early L.A. as a sleepy Mexican village. Tyrone Powell played a dashing Zorro who was both son of the former mayor and daring masked bandit who aimed at overthrowing the present tyrant mayor. Basil Rathbone played Captain Esteban Pasquale, the villain enforcer for the evil mayor. The sword fights between Powell and Rathbone were terrific as both men could really fence! The character actors were terrific, particular Eugene Palette as the fat, revolutionary Father Felipe who rails against the evil mayor. In the last scene Zorro leads a revolution of peons and caballeros overthrowing the mayor. All in all a good film.

Next week I'm going to see 1954 A Star is Born with Judy Garland at the Orpheum, another terrific movie palace. Here's the schedule for Last Remaining Seats:

June 7- A Star is Born- Orpheum
June 14- Harold Loyd comedies - Palace sold out
June 21 Chinatown - Orpheum soldout
June 28 Dos Tips de Ciudad - Los Angeles
July 5 Rebel Without a Cause - Los Angeles

The LA Conservancy also does terrific tours--both self-guided tours with map they provide and group tours--showcasing architecture highlights of downtown. I took their tour of Spring Street, the old Wall Street of the West where from 1920-1950 the leading banks and stock exhcange used to be but now many of these fine buildings are being converted into apartments, lofts, nightclubs, etc. For more information about The Last Remaining Seats or the tours check out

http://www.laconservancy.org

Liberating Paris and De-Segregating Los Angeles

Yesterday, May, 28, I went to the 90th birthday celebration of Seymour Robinson and the 60th anniversary of Seymour and his wife Anita. Seymour and Anita are old friends (40 years at least) of my mother. Today is Memorial Day, and I wish to discuss Seymour.

I was seated at the World War II table as each table had a scrapbook giving memories. Seymour is particularly proud of his service during the war. He fought at Omaha Beach during the U.S. landing in Normandy. As a member of the Civil Affair D team, he was attached to the U.S. First Infanty Division which broke through the German lines at St. Lo. Then his Civil Affairs team was assigned to the French Tank Division commanded by General Le Clerc whose mission was to liberate Paris. His Civil Affairs teams was assigned to set up a new government in the 3rd Arrondisment.

As he drove his jeep through the countryside and then the suburbs of Paris, he remembers crowds waved French and American flags cheering them on. Then they entered Paris itself and as dawn on August 24th broke they "were surrounded by growing enthusiastic humanity ..." They discovered they were right in front of the Louvre, but Captain Bell told them their mission was to get to the Place to the Republic, so their group of jeeps headed in that direction, still surrounded by huge numbers of people who made it difficult for them to move but they kept inching foward.

They entered the Place de la Republic where French Resistance fighters had surrounded the headquarters of the Garde Republicain, now occupied by German SS. Seymour's group joined in alonside the Resistance and soon a white flag appeared over the building. Enterting the building they found that in the cells were dead bodies of men who had been shot--all wearing Jewish stars (Seymour is Jewish).

Emerging outside the building, he saw a crowd greeting him and the other American soliders: in the crowd were two elderly men wearing Jewish stars. They asked in English, "Whare is the will of the Americans? Are we still to wear our Jewish stars?" Seymour says, "We were unable to speak. Each one of us spontaneously removed a yellow star from the clothing of the nearest person and attached it to our uniform. A shout went up all around us--'Liberation!-Liberation.' " Later Seymour was awarded the Crois de Guerre from the French government as well as three Bronze battle stars

After he returned to the United States, Seymour went back to his hometown Chicago where he immediately maried his sweetheart Anita. They left Chicago, moving to Los Angeles where they had three children, settling on the westside in the large Jewish community of Pico-Fairfax. He had been active as a reporter for left newspapers during the Depression and was in the late 1940s working as a typesetter, facing McCarthy blacklisting, so he started his own typesetting firm.

During the 1960s Seymour and another friend Maury Mitchell organized the Progress Club at the Westside Jewish Community Center which my parents belonged to. They took part in the large black-Jewish coalition that was crucial in electing Bradley to his first term as Los Angeles's first African-American mayor. Seymour and Anita lived in a Pico/Fairfax neighborhood where blacks were beginning to buy houses. White flight was always a danger, so Seymour organized Neighbors United, a group that tried to stop white flight and keep his neighborhood integrated. Also, the Robinsons worked at desegregating the Los Angeles public schools.

At the luncheon some of Los Angeles's leading black politicans were there: Congresswoman Maxine Waters spoke a tribute to Seymour & Anita. Also Congresswoman Diane Watson and former Councilman Nate Holden were there.

I find a direct line between Seymour's heroic World War II service as well as his carrying those same principals into action twenty years later in Los Angeles, still very segregated in mid-1960s. He was courageous both in war and bringing justice on the homefront, and I salute both him and Anita on their 60th wedding anniversary and his 90th birthday! Congratuatations!

Report from the Los Angeles Subway

For the last four months I have been taking the Red line subway to work in Los Angeles from Hollywood to Downtown--and loving it. In early February when I drove home during evening rush hour traffic, the cars just inched along 5mph either on the Hollywood Freeway or the side streets. Driving through this crawling-along-traffic was agravating.

So the first pleasure of taking the subway was avoiding the rush hour traffic: on the subway it was much more relaxing. I get off the subway at 6:00 pm very rested. I also noticed that I was saving each week in gas--particularly important as the price of gas is now $3.50/gallon. Thirdly, there is less wear-and-tear on my car, so in the long run it will also save me money.

Yet more important is that I enjoy being with all the crowds on the subway. I'm happy to say that the cars are crowded whatever time I go--whether 8:45 am, 12:00 noon, 3:00 pm or 6:00 pm. The subway is a success as it has attracted a ridership! I sometimes get in conversations with fellow riders. I especially like to see the guys taking their bikes on the subway (L.A. is having a revival of bike culture). I like the cheer on the bike riders! Hurrah for you! I like the diversity of the crowd: Latino/a, white, Asian, black; Moms with babies in strollers, teenagers, young working people up to seniors; all classes from the poor to the well-to-do.

Being on the subway makes me feel like I'm not in suburban past of L.A. but entering into its urbane, sophisticated future. The folks driving in their cars seems like ancient relics of the past.

I had a conversation with a friend Mort who grew up in New York City but has lived in Los Angeles for over 40 years. Mort said that though he grew up in Queens, he always identified as a New Yorker as did other New Yorkers. Los Angeles, he added, is quite different, since few people identity themselves as from Los Angeles but say instead they are from Pasadena, Santa Monica, Long Beach, West L.A. etc etc.

Why is this difference between L.A and New York? Well, New Yorkers have quite a few places where all races and classes come together--Times Square, Central Park, the Yankees and the Giants games, parades up Park Avenue, and, of course, the subway. In contrast, in Los Angeles, most people never go downtown and lack a central park where all go to. Being in their cars also drives Angelenos apart, depriving them of communal feelings one would get on a subway.

I get a joyful feeling on the subway as I like feeling I'm in a city. Some of the students I teach downtown have been taking the train to school for a number of years. I think these students are L.A.'s future: they're growing up on the subway!

NSA spying, AT & T & me

I learned like everyone else last week that AT & T, my phone company for local calls, as well as Verizon and BellSouth all turned over all their phone records to NSA, the National Security Agency. That action violates of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which protects the citizens against illegal search and seizure. AT & T violated my Constitutional rights!

In January, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation sued AT & T for breaking the law while two New Jersey pubic interest lawyers have sued Verizon for $5 billion for violating its customers'
privacy. Also, the ACLU as well as Working Assets Long Distance (WALD) is suing NSA.
Lawsuits take time, but here's something you can do in quickly.

I have been a customer for Working Assets Long Distance (WALD) for my long distance for 15 years. WALD is a telecommunications company for social change that offers long distance service and cells phones. You can switch your long distance to WALD (www.workingassets.com), the only telecommunications company that has taken a principaled stand against NSA spying by participating in a lawsuit against it.

My only connection with WALD is being their customer for 15 years. They offer their services
over SPRINT. I've never had any problems at all with the WALD service. Every bill is on recylced paper and includes information on legislative actions that one can take if one wants. Also, they donated a percentrage of their profits to social change groups: they've donated $50 million since 1985. At the end of the year all the long distance customers get to vote on which social change groups to send the donation money to.

I've never had their cell phone service, so I can't comment on that. My only complaint against
WALD is that they used to offer their credit card through a small bank which is bought up by
MBNA, so now they offer their credit card through MBNA, which has excessive fees. So I'd
wish they end their connection with MBNA, but as I said, I'm not a credit card customer.

As for cell phone, I'm a pay-as-you-go customer since I refuse to have a monthly bill. WALD doesn't have a pay-as-you-go cell phone so I can't use them The most inexpensive pay-as-you-go plan in Los Angeles was T-Mobile, and I have no complaints. I was thinking about Verizon, but happily I didn't choose them; now I wouldn't choose Verizon
at all because of their turning over their phone records.

One problem: AT & T is the only local phone service offered in my area--they have a
monopoly of landline phones. I'm going to start to investigate Internate phones as an alternative.

What We Learned on May Day

As the Los Angeles Times said in the article "Throngs Show Their Potent Role in Economy" on May 1 we leanred in California that immigrants were crucial to the state's as well as the country's economy. Los Angeles, the nation's largest seaport, had only 10% of the trucks show up May 1st as 90% of the truckers boycotted. These truckers normally bring in all the retail goods--clothing, elecrtronics, car etc--that are then shipped all over the country. The Times quoted on truck driver George Fernandez saying that he made about $20,000 a year or about $10/hour, and wanted "some sort of relief from all the costs, like for fuel, and the low pay and the working conditions."

In agricultural May 1st was California's biggest work stoppage in the history of the state as most of the states 225,000 farm workers didn't work. Many of the growers let their employees take the day off. Near Salinas the Times reported Highway 101 was lined with tractors, trailers and harvesters--all just sitting there. Strawberries weren't packed near Oxnard. California grows 25% of the nation's food (at least 50% of the nation's fruit), so undocumented immigrants were crucial to growing food for the whole country.

Farmers truck their food down to the whole produce markets in downtown Los Angeles to supply the city each day with food. The Los Angles Times reported that on Monday the 7th Street Market, the second-largest wholesale produce operation in Southern California, didn't open at all while the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market, supplier for restaurants, caterers and independant grocery stores, lacked buyers as many retail stores were closed. Again immigrants were crucial in suplying Los Angeles with food: they work as truckers bringing in the food, labor in the wholesale markets downtown, and work in the retail stores that sell the food. Immigrants were also important as consumers--of food, gas, clothing, etc. As the Whole Produce Market worked, if the consumers don't consume, much less gets sold.

Besides growing produce, immigrants work in meat packing firms, cutting and packaging cows and chickens into meat for the nation's households and restaurants. On May 1 some of the largest meat packing firms--Tyson Foods Inc, Perdue Farms Inc, Cargill Inc, and Swift and Co.--closed many plants while cutting back workers in others. Again immigrants proces the chickens and cows that most of the nation eats. The book Fast Food Nation has a whole chapter on immigrant workers in huge meat packing firms in the Midwest states such as Kansas who work for low-pay in extremely hard, dangerous work.

Did this one-day boycott have a big impact on the economy? Financial anlaysts have said that 1 day of no work in these industries won't have a negative economic effect because the industry --agriculture, for instance--can catch up the work by the end of the week.

Yet we have learned an important fact. Before May 1, most people in the United States thought of undocumented immigrant workers largely as gardeners or nannies. Now we must change our thinking. Immigrants contribute every day in crucial, important ways to the nation's economy, particularly getting food to the table that most of us eat every day as well as trucking in retail goods that we buy. Immigrants also provide stimulus to the economy by what they consume. In Japan, where the population has been stable for over 20 years (the country has little immigration) the economy has stagnated. In contrast, the United States has had a growing population consuming more goods and a growing economy.

The average undocumented worker has been in this country five years doing this year--usually low-paid, with very little benefits. They do work that we all depend on. Their consumption stimulates the national economy. They contribute every day to the national economy.

May 1, 2006 Los Angeles

I started May Day in Santa Monica holding a picket sign that said "Faculy Wants a Fair Contract Now" in front of Santa Monica College on Pico Street at 8:30 am. Seven of us from the faculty union were picketing for a contract. The faculty has been negotiating for a new contract for 18 months, and has been without a raise for 3 1/2 years. During that time the administration has given itself two raises so our union called for a picket line in the afternoon and morning starting last Wednesday. As we seven picketed, we received some friendly honks and waves, particularly from the truckers and bus drivers.

I taught my two classes and left campus. At 4:25 I was walking toward Wilshire and Highland to join the Wilshire march of the Day Without Immigrants. The marchers were starting to walk at 4:00 at Wilshire and Alvarado, over 4 miles away. I had figured that the marchers wouldn't get to my corner until around 6:00 p.m., so getting there by 4:25 was very early. Was I wrong. Getting to the corner, I was just arranging my camera for the first shot and watching some bicyclers and a few random marchers walk by for five minutes.

Then I turned and saw a huge mass of people approaching 1 1/2 hours early. Most people were wearing white and were waving American flags: big flags, little flags, flag hats, a flat wrapped around one's shoulder. Most were in family groups with children including many pushing baby strollers or men were carrying children around their shoulders. I thought it was amzing to push a baby stroller for four miles. It was an awe inspring sight to see this huge mass of people coming so early. While I was busy taking photos, two men approached me, and asked me to take their photo, handing me their cameras--both times I did so.

The marchers kept on coming and coming: again mostly in family groups. Most of the thousands who went by were Latino, but a scattered few were Asian or white or black--I saw a black mom walk with her ten year old son. More thousands kept coming--it was a festival, a carnival, a fiesta, a march down Wilshire Boulevard. Immanuel Presbyterian Church members marched by with a banner. Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh whom I once met had a banner saying he was present. I saw my studentKaren from LA Trade Technical College marching with her dad and her brother who looked around ten, so I took their photo. The onlookers on the sidewalk were friendly while most of the businesses were closed.

I decided to walk with the crowd to LaBrea which was about 6 blocks away but when we got up to Sycamore Street the crowd was so packed I couldn't march any more; it was impossible to get any closer to LaBrea where the sound stage was, so I turned back to Highland, taking more photos. Thousands more came by, so after over 2 hours by 6:45 the crowd seemed to thin after, with some marchers who had got near LaBrea turning back. I thought, well, this has been geat, but I've seen most of it. The cops were standing relaxed on the sidelines, and I started talking to one friendly black traffic cop who said she had started at 2 and had to work until 11. Her partner, she said, was on overtime. I told him, "I hope you get time and a half," and he smiled.

At 6:45 the mass of people approaching got even thicker than before--this was the heart of the march. What I had seen for the previous 2 hours 15 minutes was the advance troops. Again it was utterly an awesome sight to see the mass of people approaching down Los Angeles's biggest street.

Now, instead of family groups, people marched in front of big banners a few hundred strong. The Koreans of Korean Immigrant Workers Association (KIWA) marched in two lines in colorful black-and-yellow costumes banging drums. The Association of Hot Dog Vendors marched behind their banner. The Day Laborers marched behind their banner.

A few minutes later when another group got to the intersection of Highland people started yelling, "Bajo, bajo" and motioned to get down. Soon hundreds of people sat down in the intersection. Then five minutes later they got up in a group and shouted with delight. Yes, the march had great exuberance, peacefullness, and delight.

A 1/2 million people had marched peacefully down Wilshire Boulevard as well as another 300,000 had marched up Broadway earlier than day in downtown, and the truck drivers had closed own the port of Los Angeles, the largest port on the West Coast. It was quite a day.

Tomorrow May Day, May 1, I'm going to two protests. From 8:30-9:30 a.m. I'm going to picket with my union, Faculty Association at Santa Monica College, for a wage increase (we haven't had a raise in 3 years) and a contract. My union has been negotiating for months with the administration and still no raise and no contract. Since we've had inflation for the last three years, without a wage increase our real wages have gone down. I think it's time for us to have a raise.

Then at 4:00 I'm going to meet up with, march, and photograph the immigrant march. There are two marches for immigrant rights in Los Angeles:

1. 12:00 noon- Broadway/Olympic- march north to City Hall- sponsored by March 25 coalition
2. 3:00- Wilshire and Alvarado- marching down west to LaBrea tar pits- sponsored by MIWON and others. MIWON is an alliance of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of L.A. (CHIRLA), Garment Worker Center (GWC), Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de Californi (IDEPSCA), Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA), and the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern CA (PWC)

Of course, I want to make a statement against HR4437, which I think is the most horrible bill I've ever seen in my lifetime.

Also, Santa Monica College faculty aren't the only working people to see our wages decline: wages have declined in the United States. In the United States we have the greatest income equality today in any time in the last 70 years. You'd have to go back to 1930s to see such income inequality. What has caused this growing inequality in the U.S.?

A number of factors. According to Michael Lind writing in Harpers, " corporate elites continue to use the imperatives of global free trade as a means of driving down American wages and nullifying the social contract implicit in both the New Deal and the Great Society. U.S. corporations now lead the world in the race to low-wage countries with cheap and politically repressed labor forces." Second, Lind says that elites in the United States have shifted the taxes from the extremely wealthy to the working people. Thirdly, wealthy elites have cut spending on services including police, education, and health care.

Mexicans have also suffered greatly from global free-trade. In Mexico, wages have gone down 25% in the last 11 years. Then elites in both countries pit desperate Mexicans who have their jobs destroyed in Mexico against whites and blacks in the United States who have seen jobs destroyed, taxes raise, and living conditions deterioating.

We've had 25 years of Reagonomics, and all it has done is destroyed parts of the middle class and destroyed most of the high-paying union jobs in the United States. Enough is enough. I think that the immigrant marches are for everyone who wants to stop the decline of wages and living conditions in North America.

As wages and living conditions decline, the right-wing offers up the immigrants as scapegoats, blaming them for the decline. That's a lie. The right-wing assault on immigrants is scapegoating them for the failed right-wing economic policies dominating the United States and Mexico for the past two decades. Impoverished immigrants did not make global trade policy to drive down wages. These immigrants didn't vote to shift the tax burden onto working people. These immigrants didn't vote to defund higher education over 10% in the last twenty years.

Rather than causing any decline in wages, Mexican immigrants in paticular have suffered mightily as NAFTA encouraged U.S. huge agri-business to drive over 2,000,000 Mexican small farmers out of business and U.S. retail giants like Wal-Mart destroyed the toy, candy, and other industries in Mexico. I think we should all march May Day to say we're against scapegoating. If right-wing is allowed to scapegoat 1 group, then all people are endangered.

If we are ever to raise wages in U.S. and Mexico, we need to get both governments to stop making it nearly impossible to form unions, which when organized help raise wages of all people in that industry. We need to radically change NAFTA so it has a social contract. If you want a raise, then find someway tomorrow to show solidarity to the immigrant marches.

End NAFTA: Solve the Immigration Problem

The whole debate over immigration in the United States has ignored NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is the crux of the problem. After NAFTA was signed between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the treaty starting in 1995 allowed U.S. huge agricultural corporations to to dump their corn and beans into Mexico, bankrupting 2 million small Mexican farmers who were driven off the land. Many remaining small farmers in Mexico are nearly destitute. Tens of thousands of these farmers immigrated north to the U.S..

NAFTA also allowed Wal-Mart to sell in Mexico low-price goods made in China, destroying most of the Mexican shoe, toy and candy firms . Roger Bybee and Carolyn Winter said, "An estimated 28,000 small and medium-sized Mexican business have been eliminated." After NAFTA, wages in Mexico have fallen 25%. Bybee and Winter say, "NAFTA essentially annexed Mexico as a low-wage industrial suburb of the US and opened Mexican markets to heavily-subsidized U.S. agribusinesses, blowing away local producers."

Before NAFTA there were 2 million Mexican undocumented in the United States, but after NAFTA passed in 1995, 8 million more Mexicans migrated North. NAFTA was sold as designed to improve the Mexican economy but it has done the opposite: driven down Mexican wages. Also U.S. corporations opened low-wage factories (maquiladoras) along the border which pollute heavily. So Mexicans suffer not just the low wages but also the pollution, horrible housing such as as card board shacks, lack of sanitation seen in open sewers. Further, Mexican government lacks resources for improving services, hiring enough police, erecting streetlights.

There is an alternative to NAFTA and all its ill effects: the European Union and its "social charter." When European countries joined in a free-trade zone similar to NAFTA, they did it totally differently. They insisted on adopting a "social charter" that demanded decent wages, heath care, and investment in all countries. Bybee and Winter said, "Before then-impoverished nations like Spain, Greece and Portugal were admitted, they received massive EU investments in roads, health care, clean water, and education. ... The underlying concept: the entire reason for trade is to provide impoved lives across borders, not to exploit the cheapest labor and weakest environmental rules." EU countries also invested in Ireland, another impoverished country, improved its highway system. This improved highway system helped ignite the Irish economic boom of the 1990s, which drew back to Ireland many exiles.

Bybee and Winter argue that the huge immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is a symptom of the problem caused by NAFTA. The only way to deal with it is to change NAFTA to a social charter like the European Union's. If we don't, the situation will worsen with the Central Amerian Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with five Central American countries, which will do to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador et. what NAFTA did to Mexico.

Of course, HR 4437 should be voted down. A guest worker program should be eliminated from the Senate bill. A social contract should be added to NAFTA.

The U.S. should start immediatley investing in Mexican sanitation systems, housing, education etc. The Mexican government should stop repressing its trade union movement. Industries in Mexico such as the dairy industry should be protected from competition with U.S. giants. Both U.S. and Mexico should enforce strict environmental rules on U.S. companies on the border and start a cleanup of pollution. Such measures may sound utopian now, but the European Union has done similar work for over a decade. Such measures are the only way to solve the immgigration problem.

To read Rogert Bybee's and Carolyn Winter's excellent article "Immigration Flood Unleased by NAFTA's Disasterous Impact on Mexican Economy" go to http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-30.htm

Art of Empowerment /L.A.

I went to the opening of the "Totems to Turquoise: Native American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and the Southwest" at the Autry National Center, which is a splendid show. The jewelery was some of the most beautiful I've ever seen; in addition, many pieces incorporated the myths and beliefs of the Native Cultures. What astounded me about the Native jewelry was it just wasn't for show-off or adornment but the many pieces connected the wearers to identity, spirit and culture. The show, through August 20, is splendid.

I went to the UCLA Fowler Museum to see "Carnival in Europe and the Americas: Photographs by Robert Jerome" and "Carnival!"--both shows ended on April 23. I also saw the carnival at UCLA including stilt walkers, costumed krewes, a best costume contest, and music and dance. The two exhibits portrayed carnival in eight cultures: Spain; Berne, Switzerland; Venice, Italy; Brazil; Bolivia; a Caribbean city; Mexico; and New Orleans. What was fascinating is that though there were common elements--costumed groups portray mythical creatures--each country changed carnival and made the celebration its own. The Indians in Bolivia snuck in their native deities and made cutting comments on the upper (Spanish) classes. The Fowler show was amazing. Again and again street people use costumes to satirize those in power and to celebrate themselves and their own populist cultures.

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (L.A.C.M.A.) I saw the "Gustav Klimt: Five Paintings From the collection of Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer." Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer were wealthy Austrian Jewish art patrons who befriended and supported artists in 1920s Vienna. Klimt made two wonderful portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer. In both portraits Klimt portrays Bloch-Bauer as a intelligent, sophisticated and beautiful woman. Growing up I never saw such a portrait of a artistically sensitive Jewish woman, who befriended the leading painters of her day as well as buying their works.

Adele Bloch-Bauer died before World War II; during Nazi period her husband Ferdinand fled to Switzerland, leaving his art collection behind. The Nazis basically confiscated the collection, and after the war the Klimt paintings wound up in a Vienna gallery. Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer had willed his Klimt paintings to his neice Maria who in the last decade sued the Austrian government for the paintings and won 5 out of 6 of them. I agree with this court decisions. L.A.C.M.A. is exhibiting them to the public for the first time. Through June 30. The Klimts, particularly the two portraits of Adele Block-Bauer, are gorgeous paintings. It's good to see how a citizen was finally able to triumph over a government to get control of her artistic inheritance.

The next day I stopped by to see the new Ruth Weisberg show at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, 357 No. LaBrea, thruough May 31. Ruth Weisberg is my contemporay favorite painter; her paintings are on the cover of my last two books of poetry. I think of her as a present-day counterpart of Chagal--a splending Jewish-American woman artist. She has a long career of over 40 years from the 1960's to the present doing both paintings and drawings including a wonderful series on the shtetl which she made into a book.

In her paintings and drawings of the 1960s you see a young woman exploring sexuality and politics of the 1960s including paintings of Che; in the 1970s she became a mother, so many of the paintings show pregnant woman swimming and then celebrate young children. Over the decade she has many wonderful paintings on both art historical and biblical themes but she always makes them new--shows these subjects in the eyes of totally modern woman.

Weisberg's painting "Wrestling with the Messenger" of an adrogynous figure wrestling with the angel is on the cover of my book Shulamith while her painting "Exile and Exodus" of a strong woman figure walking barefoot into the unknown is on the cover of my book Walker Woman. Weisberg gently criticizes the male gaze of macho artists through her own portraits of naked women such as the pregnant bather who is not a sex object but enjoying swimming through water.

Finally, this afternoon I went to see the opening show for the Hannah Wilke at Solway Jones, 5377 Wilshire Blvd., Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6, through May 20. Wilke was a leading American Jewish performance/conceptual artist. She used the body as the site of art from the 1960s to her death from cancer in the 1990s. In Wilke's "I Object: Memoirs of a Sugar Giver, 1977-78" is a "Performalist Self-Portrait" she did in Spain near Marchel Duchamp's home. The work is a critique of Marcel Duchamp's objectification of women. What I like about Wilke's work is her agressiveness in-your-face confrontration as she says, "Here am I! Here is my naked body! Here is my authority!" Wilke is assaulting the male gaze as well as male authority in art.

I admire Adele Block-Bauer as art appreciator and support, but Wilke as well as Weisberg are no longer like Bauer-Bloch the subject of the art but both are makers of the art. Both artists are using arts to explore their exile from dominating male traditions of art, to show how they are taking an exodus from those alienating traditions, and are entering into a new land where they empower themselves as artists.

Ruth Weisberg at Jack Rutberg Gallery, 357 N. Labrea thru May 31, 10-5 Tuesday=Sat

Hannah Wilke at Solway-Jones, 5377 Wilshire Blvd. Tuesday-Saturday 11-6 thru May 20

5 Klimt paintings from the Bloch-Baur collection, Los Angeles County Musuem of Art, thru June 20, 5905 Wilshire, M, Tu, Th noon-8 Fri noon-9 (Friday after 5 free), Sat & Sun 11-8 pm

Totems to Turqouise: Native American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest through August 20, Autry National Center, 4700 Western Heritage Waym, LA Tues-Wed, Fr,-Sun 10-5 Thurs 10-8

HR 4437 is a disaster of a bill

In the last week the nation has begun to debate immigration. Currently, there are 12 million undocumented workers in the country. The House of Representatives has passed HR 4437. What HR 4437 does is scapegoat Mexican workers for the failures of the United States economy. HR 4437 makes it a felony to be an undocumented worker it this country, and also criminalizes the act of helping undocumented people. The bill also includes provision to build a 700-mile wall along the border.

I heard a pro-HR 4437 spokesman say that that illegal immigrants take away the jobs of Americans. It is untrue that illegal immigrants take away anyone's jobs. HR 4437 will never improve the number of jobs available nor will it increase the wages of jobs. HR 4437 will, in fact, do the opposite, helping to drive down wages. The results of HR 4437 will be more job insecurity and lower wages.

How will that happen? The quickest growing part of the trade union movement is immigrant workers. Attacking immigrant workers will only hurt trade unions which fight every day to improve wages. Hurting trade unions helps to drive down wages. If people want to raise wages, they should work for an amnesty for undocumented workers. An amnesty would help immigrant workers work with workers born in the United States to raise wages for all.

Undocumented workers do some of the worst paid, most dangerous jobs in this country. Currently undocumented workers make the bulk of the agricultural workforce, picking fruits and vegetables that the rest of the country eats for incredibly low wages, and much of their working conditions are extremely dangerous. Many live in the worst kind of housing--chicken shacks and shanties. If HR4437 passes, it makes the lives of workers even worse. Worse means slavery such as the Mexican Zapoteca Indians who were brought over the border in 1984 and enslaved in Somis, California, to a flower grower. When people allow some workers to be pushed down to below minimum wage, that starts a downward press on wages. Having a section of the labor force making incredibly low wages totally dependant on their employers will help increase the movement to push wages down for workers born here.

HR 4437 supposedly will make the border more secure through the 700-mile wall, but the 9/11 hijackers flew into the country on tourist visas rather than come across the Mexican border. Terrorists have never crossed from Mexico to the United States across the Mexican-U.S. border. One terrorist did get caught crossing into the U.S. from Canada. It makes more sense then to put a wall across the Canadian-U.S. border, but then terrorists could just fly into the country. It's simply absurd to put think by putting up a wall on the border it will protect the U.S. from terrorists.

HR 4437 also makes it a crime to help undocumented workers. Thus priests, nuns, doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers who help illegal immigrants could be arrested for giving mass or running a food bank or teaching a class. Also threatening people helping illegal immigrants with arrest would produce incredible social divisions in this country. Criminalizing being an undocumented worker would produce great social divisions. Already undocumented workers do the worse jobs, live in some of the worst housing, and have the worst medical care. Making the harsh lives even harder would produce great anger. Nobody will be any safer if this law is passed.

Another myth is that undocumented workers cause great increase in government spending. Most undocumented workers pay taxes just like documented workers, but never get tax refunds. Study after study has found that they put much more money into government through their taxes they pay than they take out. Scapegoating will never improve the United States economy but is a fantasy solution causing great harm.

Finally, what hasn't been discussed is how United States trade policy starting with NAFTA helps produce undocumented immigrants in this country. NAFTA not only allowed factories to move out of the U.S. to Mexico but also deluged Mexico with agricultural produce from U.S. agricultural corporations. Small Mexican farmers couldn't compete with US agro-corporations and were bankrupted. When our corporations bankrupt Mexican farmers, then farmers if they stay will starve, so instead they move north to the United States working at pitiful wages for these same agricultural corporations. NAFTA gave free movement to corporations but not to the workers whose livelihood was destroyed.

If people want to improve the economy in the United States, they can begin by modifying NAFTA until it is like the trade agreements of the European Union. Within the European Union (EU) both workers and companies can move across borders. If NAFTA were like the EU, then all those workers from Mexico would be legally in the United States. Further, the EU invested into poorer countries like Ireland helping to improve its transportation system which was crucial to producing the boom in the Irish economy in the United States. As the Irish economy improved, then Irish in exile returned to live in Ireland because they could finally make a living in their home. If the United States actually helped improve the Mexican economy rather than act to destroy whole parts of its rural economy, then Mexican workers would be more likely to stay in Mexico. The Irish example shows that such a strategy can work.

Throughout the 19th century and 20th century in California through every economic recession people blamed the recession on immigrant groups, starting with the Chinese, the Japanese, the Mexicans etc. Blaming an immigrant group for a recession never helped 1 person get a job, never stopped any economic recession or depression, never did anything but scapegoat a completely innocent group. We shoud learn from our past mistakes and not blame Mexican and any other undocumented worker for the job problems in this country: that's scaepgoating. It's wrong.

Short History of California Poetry

This blog has dealt with 19th century California poets: Native American John Rollin Ridge who adapted 19th century British romanticism to demand racial equality in his poems about the frontier of California; Ambrose Bierce who uses traditional 18th century British poetics--wit, parody, epigrams--to satirize political corruption; and Edwin Markham, a late 19th century naturalist poet who wrote about suffering of farm workers.

I've also written about three modernist masters: Robinson Jeffers whose envirnomentalist defined 1920s California verse; Kenneth Rexroth who was California's leading poet in the 1930s and 1940s, and George Oppen whose best work was published in the 1960s. Jeffers and Rexroth were fierce environmentalists while Oppen and Rexroth were populists who brought a concern for the common person back again into California poetty. Rexroth led the way to the beats who dominated 1950s and 1960s poetry in the state and who brought innovations into American poetry. Snyder and Ferlinghetti continued in the tradition of writing of Jeffers and Rexroth in writing environmental poetry. Gary Snyder aso followed Rexroth in translating Japanese and Chinese poetry as well as exploring Asian cultures and relgions. Bob Kaufman contributed to the development of a jazz poetry. Lew Welch and Ginsberg contributed to a confessional poetry where poets described their mental breakdowns, suicidal impules, alchoholism, drug use etc.

During this same period American poetry was divided between rebels--Beats, New York school, and Black Mountain (North Carolina) poets--and the traditionalists who wrote a more polite, well-crafted poetry. A leading California traditionalist would be Ivor Winters at Stanford who left free verse for a tight neoclassical style in metered verse.

Ione Noguchi from Japan at the turn of the century came to California and published poetry books in Engish combining traditional Japanese poetry such as the haiku and American poetic influences such as Whitman. By the 1930s Japanese-American poets were writing modernist haiku in Japanese in haiku clubs in Fresno and Modesto. I also looked at such poets as Violet Kazu de Christoforo who developed the modernist haiku in Japanese to describe the internment experience in of Japanese-Americans in California.

In the early 1970s Lawson Inada also wrote brilliant poetry about the internment but in English free verse, and he joined with other Asian-American writers in the Bay Area to begin an Asian-American literary renaisance that continued for the next three decades. At the same time Ishamael Reed organized multi-cultural writers to produce Before Columbus Foundation, to give annual awards, and edit a number of mult-cultural antholgoies; he also wrote his brilliant poetry which had the translated black power into verse. Inada, Reed, and many others created the multi-cultural poetry of the last 35 years.

In the Bay Area women's poetry and gay poetry also flourished and intersected multi-cultural poetry, producing the most innovative poetry both in California and the United States. Robert Duncan, Jack Spicer, and Thom Gunm all courageously created a gay male poetry in the 1950s and 1960s. The first important feminist poet, Judy Grahn, innovated a working class woman's voice in her splendid Common Woman poems as well as in lesbian poetry. The Bay Area produced brilliant multi-cultural poets: African-American Ntozake Shange, Filipino Jessica Hagedorn, and Japanese-American Janice Mirikatani. The working class feminists were also doing amazing work: the late Karen Brodine, Nelly Wong, and Carol Tarlen.

During the last 30 years the Bay Area, though still the leading poetry area in the state, was not the only one. Three other regions have developed distinctive poetries. In Los Angeles working class poet Charles Bukowski described the down-and-out of the flatlands of Los Angeles. His down home voice inspired Anglo vernacular poets such as Ron Koertge or Gerald Lockhlin. Wanda Coleman created a new gritty urban black feminist voice. Marisela Norte and Luis Rodriguez were the ambassadors from urban avant-garde in East Los Angeles while Aleida Rodriguez wrote elegantly of her exile from her home in Cuba. Asian-Americans Amy Uyematsu wrote a wonderful books 30 Miles from J-Town about growing up 3rd generation Japanese-American in the suburbs 30 miles from Japantown.

If Los Angeles poets were a multi-cultural stew reflecting that region, in San Diego an Chicano/Tijuana avant-garde led by poets Alurista and Ginza Valdez inhabited the same space with an Anglo avant-garde of such poets as Steve Kowit and Maggie Jaffee. The border was a dominating force in San Diego as well as the more repressive atmosphere of militarization along that border.

The fourth area of California poetry is the central valley literature collected in the anthology Highway 99: A Literary Jouranal through California's Great Central Valley. Detroit poet Phillip Levine taught at California State University at Fresno from the 1960s through the 1990s inspiring a generation of poets. One of the earliest Fresno poet was Anglo poet Larry Leavis whose family owned a ranch and who developed a social conscience like Steinbeck's. Valley poets include self-taught Okie farmworker Wilma Elizabeth McDaniels who became The poet of Okie culture.

Multi-cultural poets grew up in or were educated Fresno including Lawson Inada; AfroAmerican Sherely Anne Williams; and Chicano Gary Soto and Omar Salinas. Nearby Jose Montoya taught for many years at Sacramento State University while Alan Chong Lau grew up in Oroville not far away. Of course, many of these poets left the Central Valley as their careers developed, but whether they stayed or left they created a disinctive poetry describing this area. California poetry in the last three decades of the 20th century grew in these four distinct regional centers--Bay Area, Central Valley, Los Angeles, and San Diego/Tiajuana.

In California there were also distinct divisions and quarrels among poetry schools in California reflecting national quarrels. In the 1970s besides having multi-cultural poetry, Bay Area poets also developed post-modernist poetry called Language School. Language poets were influenced by French post-modernist philosophy as well as were in rebellion against political repression in the United States. These poets rebeled against meaning as coercive, so they produce a poetry of non-meaning. During the 1980s Language poets enganged in sharp polemics against other poets in the Bay Area Poets and Writers newsletter. Leading California language school poets are Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Michael Palmer etc.

Another quarrel devloped in the East Coast. Every year a volume called Best American Poetry is published showcasing the well-behaved poets who follow early 20th century modernists. In 1996 Adrienne Rich, the country's leading feminist poet, was appointed editor and instead of chosing the usual suspects instead including many black, Hispanic, Asian, women--straight and gay etc. In 1997 Yale professor Harold Bloom wrote an essay introduction to The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997 attacking Rich's selection of poets of color, women, gays etc as a betrayal of the Western tradition and as unfit to be included in these volumes. Bloom, who adhered to European-American classics from Ancient Greeks through early 20th century modernism modernism, rejected multi-cultural/women's poetry as well as Language School.
In spring 1998 poets responded with lively letters in the Boston Review.

In California there have been many academic modernists including Robert Haas, a fine poet, elegant translator, and former poet laureate of the United States. Haas himself has sidestepped the whole debate but Steve Kowit responded from California with a polemical essay against Bloom criticizng difficulty in poetry and asking for an engaged poetry that enlarges the spirit of its readers.

A fourth poetry school in California was the development of a New Formalism. In Los Angeles, California State University professor Timothy Steele published in 1989 his Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems written in traditional poetic forms and meters. Steele argued that form helps one live with one's emotions, and he also argued for a return to 18th British poets use of wit and reason. In Steele's critical work Missing Measures: Modern Poetry and the Revolt Against Meter (1990) Steele argued for a return to using meter in poetry. New Formalists have produced anthlogies of their verse and more critical work. Steele has taught and encouraged the work of Leslie Monsour, anotherfine Los Angeles New Formalist.

While most poets--multi-cultural modernists, post-modernism, academic modernists--together refused to follow New Formalism's return to pre-modernist poetry, a more rhymed verse did occur in the streets of big cities of California: rap/hip-hop/slam poetry. Rap poets like Tupac Shakur combined the tradition of African-American boasting street talk with a creative use of rhymed couplets they developed. Rap poetry, issued on CDs through record companies, was the only truly popular American poetry in this period, having international influence. Rap poetry also give voice to those locked into big city poor neighborhods like Compton in Los Angeles. By 2005 academic critics at both the Western American Literature conference in Los Angeles and the MLA in Washington D.C. had panels on the poetry of Tupac Shakur, the first sign of mainstream literary recognition of rap poetry.

California poetry of the last part of the 20th century has diversified, both geographically across the state and also in terms of ethnicity, race and gender. Competing schools of poets have argued with each other: multi-cultural and women's/gay poetry, Language School, New Formalists, hip-hop, and traditional academics. The latter part of the 20th century has seen great growth and diversification in California poetry. In the later part of the 20th century California has become a hotbed of innovation in American poetry.

Lawson Inada Starts a Renaissance

Lawson Inada, born in Fresno, California, spent part of his childhood in concentration camps for Japanese-American during World War II in Arizona and Colorado. After the war, he finished high school in Fresno, living in the poor neighborhood of Japanese-Americans, blacks, Chinese, Armenians Filipinos, Okies, where he grew to love black music and became friends with Chicanos and blacks. He enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley where he spent much time listening to jazz greats in San Francisco. Jazz is a major subject of his poetry and inspiration for his style. Returing to Fresno, he studied with poet Phillip Levine at California State University at Fresno and published in an early anthology of Fresno poets.

Inada's first book of poetry Before the War: Poems as They Happened (1971) was a pioneering book of poetry in the United States published by an Asian American. In 1974 he as well as three other Asian-American writers--playright Frank Chin, novelist Shawn Wong, and Jeffrey Chan--published Aiieee: An Anthology of Asian American Writers., this first anthology edited by Asian Amerians including a reconstruction of their own literary history.

Inada continued to produced pioneering work when he published in 2000 Only What We Could Carry: The Japaense American Internment Experience. His second book of poetry is Legends from Camp, which won an American Book Award. Literary critic and novelist Shawn Wong says that "if there were such a position as Poet Laureate of Asian America, Inada would be unanimously elected to the post." After teaching at a college many years in Southern Oregon, he was elected Poet Laureate of Oregon, but California claims him also.

Inada has redefined America as neighborhood he grew up in Fresno, with its mix of blacks, many different Asians, Chicanos, Middle Eastern and poor white. He defines jazz as America's greatest contribution to the world. He uses the repetitions and rhythms of jazz in his poetry, and often reads accompanied by jazz musicians. He's a poet close to Whitman in his musiciality and his seeing America as many up of different voices singing varied songs. Inada has defined Asian-American poetry as directly within the most vital current of American poetry.

Inada like many other Japanese-American writers has found internment an major inspriation of literature. This literature is similar in some ways similar to huge outpouring of Jewish writing about Holocaust. In Lawson's poem "IV. Legend of Lost Boy" from his book Legends from Camp he begins discussed how the boy "had another name, a given name--/at another, given time and place--but those were taken away." In these repetitions Inada describes how the boy in losing his home in internment lost his name.

Those loss of identity occurs in the 2nd stanza when all marks of identity--the boy's dog, the road he lived by, the food, his house--were taken away. Repetitions continue of of the all these things taken away in stanza two and then the "The boy was taken away" in stanza three. In the boy's new home in the fairgrounds, the counters of identity--houses, trees, streets--are missing in stanza 6. Inada recates the confusions of the initial stage of intenment where the boy in following a big water truck finally losings his way completly.

What helps the boy finally is Old Man Ikeda founds him and "bawled him out." One other interned person connects with the boy, gives him a name "Lost boy," walks him through the camp to his mother. Then his mother "called him/"Lost Boy." Finally, with this reconnection to the community of other people--Old Man Ikeda, his mother--Lost Boy "thought he was found." Inada teaches that the community of others helped those lost or despairing, reintegrating them back into the human family. The larger Japanese community began caring for its members, helping them deal with the hardships of camp. The repetitions throughout the poem give it a musicality, as if Inada played a sad song ending in a touch of hope.

Inada's work is similar to Tadeusz Rozewicz, the Polish poet who stunned the literary world with his stunning poetry about World War II in Poland published in English translation in "The Survivor" and Other Poems. Inada like Rozewicz in dealing with brutality during World War II avoid the "traditional" resources of poetry--metaphor, simile, irony, symbolism--instead turning to repetitions and facts in what Polish critics have called "the naked poem." While critics have hailed Rozewicz as creating a special genre of Polish poetry, American critics have only begun to see how Inada uses jazz poetics to create a new American poetry of Asian America.

Since Aiii, many other anthologies of Asian-American literature have been published. By the 1990s antholgies focused just on poetry: Garrett Hongo's The Open Boat: Poems From Asian America (New York, Anchor Books, 1993); Walter Lew's Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry (New York: Kaya Production, 1995); and Eileen Tabios' interviews with Asian American poets in her Black Lightening: Poetry in Progress (New York: Asian American Writers Workshop, 1998). Lawson and his colleagues who published Aiieeee have indeed begun a renaissance in Asian-American literature. Inada's poetry breaks paths in creating a new American literature.

Ishmael Reed's black Gods

Ishmael Reed is a major American poet, novelist, editor and publisher. He grew up in Buffalo, New York, worked as a reporter for a black newspaper, and since 1967 has lived in Berkeley/Oakland. For the last three decades he has worked tirelessly for a rainbow-colored American literature.

He and poet Al Young founded the influential magazine Yardbird, and then in 1976 he founded the Before Columbus Foundation, "a mutli-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America." The Before Columbus Foundation gives annual American Book Awards to promote multi-ethnic American literature. He also served as general editor for HarperCollins's four-volume "Literary Mosaic Series" which further promoted multi-cultural American literature. Reed along with Gundar Strads and Shawn Wong also were editors of Before Columbus Poetry Anthology, an anthology of poets who received awards from the annual Americal Book Awards.

In his poem "I am a cowboy in the boat of Ra" Reed creates a black hero who fights through the centuries against opressors of blacks. The poet uses Egyptian mthology about the black God Ra/Horus who fights Set, the god of foreign opressors. In Eyptian myth the Sun God passes through the waters of the underworld in a boat each night so he can emerge in the morning without being extingished by the waters. Also, the Egyptians had to drive out the foreign opressors and their God Set in order to resture their true black Sun God. Reed combines Egyptian mythology with American Western outlaw stories and with African-American culture including boxing, jazz greats such as tenor saxaphonists Sonny Rollins etc. Reed also contests in his poem the "untrustworthiness of [white] Egyptologists" views about African dieties.

In the open stanza Reed uses one of of us puns in the "saloon of fools," play on "ship of fools" and "saloon" of the old west. The hero, the cowboy in the boat of Ra, is in the saloon of fools, and gets bit by a sidewinder, a rattlesnake, and rides out of town, but isn't recognized by ignorant Egyptologists who are, of course, fools and school marms with bad breath. The black hero moves back and forth between many centuries in the whole poem, from bedding down with the great Egyptian mother Goddess Isis to sticking up Wells-Fargo stagecoaches in the 19th century West, to becoming a great black boxer as well as jazz great in the 1950s America in stanzas 3 and 4.

Reed's poem has a plot: the Set, evil god of foreign opressors, has driven the black god hero out of town (both Egyptian temple and Western town), and the cowboy's face is one a wanted poster. He spends his time in exile "[b]oning-up in the ol West i bide my time" by shooting at tin cans and "write the motown long plays for the comeback of/Osiris." Motown was the black music company in the 1960s which produced some of the most wonderful black popular music. The black god hero is plotting the return of the true god of Egypt Osires.

This voice is exile tells us he is half-breed son of the stars but "I hold the souls of men in my pot/I do the dirty boogie with scorpions" as he dances with scorpions. He asks for his magic elements he needs before returning to combat evil Set who drove him out:

bring me my Buffalo horn of black powder
bring me my headdress of black feathers
bring me my bones of Ju-Ju snake
go get my eyelids of red paint
Had me my shadow
I'm going tonto town after Set.

Here Reed has the black God prepare himself with the Buffalo horn of gun powder from the West, the Ju-Ju snake from black folklore, the red paint of Native Americans before going into battle with Set. The poem ends with a war cry against Set as the cowboy promises "to Set down Set" in another wonderful pun. The poet calls Set the "usurper of the Royal couch/imposter RAdio of Moses' bush ... vampire outlaw of the milkway." The poem ends with a war cry against Set, calling him usurper God of Egypt, imposter taking over Moses' prophet's burning bush to vampire outlaw of the whole galaxy. The whole poem is a battle dance/song before the cowboy goes back into town to get the bad guy and right wrongs.

Reed in his poetry, his editing and his publishing has tried to replace the old opressive Gods with new more accurate vision of American life and literature.