Politics
Tokofsky on 'Patt Morrison'
School board member David Tokofsky is scheduled to talk about his decision not to seek reelection on KPCC at 2:45 pm.
GOP elects new L.A. officers
Well, the central committee stays with Linda Boyd as chairman. Treasurer Gary Aminoff reports
at his blog. BoifromTroy says Boyd has been
controversial.
Media
Attendance is down at Hollywood screenings
Times covers layoffs at Hollywood Reporter
Tom Joyner out at KKBT
His
last show is Friday. No replacement has been named for the morning slot.
Local book deals from Publishers Lunch
Catania is a former LA Weekly writer.
Journalist Sara Catania's A IS FOR AFRO, exploring the complicated issue of race in one Chicago South Side neighborhood through three women's perspectives: her own as the sole white child in an all-black classroom, the Irish Catholic nun who was principal of the local Catholic school Sara attended, and that of an African-American woman who graduated from the school, worked as the "lunch lady" and was a key figure in the black community. To Sarah Crichton Books (by Bonnie Nadell at Frederick Hill Bonnie Nadell Agency.)
Former New Line executive Cindy Guidry's THE LAST SINGLE WOMAN IN AMERICA, humorous true-life stories of her often painful personal misadventures in Hollywood and with her wacky family, as the author -- in her forties, single, childless, and careerless -- explores the complicated state of affairs of the modern woman and our culture at large. To Dutton in a pre-empt.
Tori Spelling's "humorous, self-deprecating" memoir, ranging from childhood privileges to tabloid misperceptions, success and regrets, and her quest to define herself on her own terms. To Simon Spotlight Entertainment, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2008.
Personal takes
Officer Beall invites you to South L.A.
Will Beall serves in the 77th Street Area and authored the novel
L.A. Rex. He understands why blacks in South L.A. don't always trust the cops, but
says on the LAT op-ed page that the good ones like him need some help.
Black men have bled and died down here for generations. When you process crime scenes in 77th and collect the empty shell casings from the ground, sometimes you find older casings, tinged with rust — the leftovers from some earlier, unreported shooting. Tragedy heaped upon tragedy, death upon death, and the trail of blood stretches back further than most of us care to look.
Spend enough time in South Central and you make some unpleasant historical connections. You begin to see the body count not just as the work of Crips and Bloods but as the legacy of restrictive housing covenants and economic isolation. Believe me, this nation's history of racial oppression doesn't feel so abstract after a few autopsies.
I know a lot of black people still don't trust cops. Can't say I blame them. For generations, police were the street-level enforcers of segregation and miscegenation laws. We were the guys with the dogs and water hoses at Selma. Little wonder the relationship between the black community and law enforcement in this country remains badly broken....It is the nature of policing to displease. This is inherently violative work. We're not firefighters, after all. We pull people over. We ask unpleasant questions. We arrested your nephew, and he swears he didn't do it.
Many people are content to let poor black men kill one another. Fortunately, the men and women I serve with are not among them. Our vigorous pursuit of black perpetrators is legendary; we're less famous for our corollary efforts on behalf of black victims. Officers work in 77th Division because they believe the powerless are worth protecting.
Noted
Orange Line already buckling
1,500 feet of uneven roadway has been dug up east of Valley College and the buses re-routed. Now it's the blame game.
DN Beatty and Benning spotted in the Valley
By
Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter. BTW, Richmond also posted a
nice tribute last week to ousted THR editor Howard Burns.
Bob Miller of the Kings on 'Airtalk'
He's in the hockey Hall of Fame and
finally gets to dish on some of the morons he has had to work with in 33 years as the announcer for the L.A. Kings. He's on with Larry Mantle at 11:30 am to talk about hi snew book.
Did Slate just diss John Wooden?
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