Politics
Clinton to endorse Prop. 87
Former President Bill Clinton will be at UCLA this morning with actress Geena Davis to voice support for the energy measure on November's ballot.
Green Dot schools
Steve Barr's firm wants to form charters at Crenshaw and Dorsey high schools, KPCC reports this morning.
Slap to Delgadillo
The City Council has hired its own attorney so the body can get around using the staff of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. " We were getting inconsistent legal advice," said Councilman Greig Smith.
LAT Media
Locals at Mexico City Book Fair
Judy Baca, Luis J. Rodriguez, Nina Revoyr, Harry Gamboa Jr., Jeanne Cordova, Rubén Martínez and Tom Hayden are among the Los Angeles area writers, artists and academics participating at this week's fair. Reed Johnson
covers for the Times. I believe I also heard that Lalo Alcaraz, Lynell George and Daniel Hernandez were there.
Added to media roll
AngeLingo is an online student-produced journal at USC with a focus on the cultural diversity of Los Angeles.
Personal take
Ode to the school bell
Erika Schickel
thinks the computerized ring tones that replaced the traditional bells at Canfield Elementary lack a little something.
I realize that, even if the old bell was a rude interruption, you don't know what you have till it's gone. A clanging bell can change from a brutish annoyance to a fond memory. Remember the final bell of the school year, dismissing us for summer vacation? It was one of the best sounds in the world; the giddy clamor of freedom.
I do realize that in light of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school grab, and the ongoing grind of President Bush's educationally crippling No Child Left Behind policy, losing the bell is a relatively small matter. Still, Canfield's parent association is struggling to raise money to keep teachers' aides in the classrooms, so it's not nothing that the Los Angeles Unified School District is spending money changing its ring tones. But that's not really what has me upset.
The bell is quickly becoming an endangered sound. The jangle of telephones has been usurped by digital bleeps and tunes; church bells are now digitized, prerecorded gongs or a selection of inspirational songs. The dinner bell is a quaint memory for a few old-timers. I guess I'm just sorry to see another piece of the physical world disappear — the part where sounds are made by objects hitting each other. Something is slipping away, and I want to sound an alarm. I have to ask for whom the bell tolls.
Planning ahead
Joe Mathews at Press Club
Columnist Jill Stewart will interview the Times staff writer about his Schwarzenegger book,
The People’s Machine, on the evening of Oct. 24.
Info.
Around LA Observed
New on the blogs
Neon Cruise
Tonight is the second LA Observed Night on the
Neon Cruise at the Museum of Neon Art. For those with tickets, dress warmly and call the museum if there is rain. I'll see you there. We'll look into doing another when the weather warms up in the spring.
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