RLn 1-20-22

On the Pandemic:

‘Ask Dr. Mom’ How Far Have We Come?

By Melina Paris, Assistant Editor

[See How Far?, p. 4]

Rat Infestation: Residents say SPHS construction is to blame p. 3

Civil rights activist Najee Ali and Justice for Murdered Children Executive Director Lawanda Hawkins at a press conference at Toberman Community Center. They both expressed concern over the hiring of controversial former police Chief Sandra Spagnoli. Photo

by Chris Villanueva

Exec. Director Kiyan and former Police Chief resign

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

In a surprise move, Toberman Neighborhood Center Executive Director Darlene Kiyan tendered her resignation on Jan. 10, three days after a press conference in which civic leaders and civil rights activists blasted the hiring of a controversial former police chief from Beverly Hills as its new director of “social justice.” The position would have overseen Toberman’s gang intervention and prevention program.

The nonprofit’s board of directors named Lorenzo Hernandez as acting executive director, effective Jan. 10, 2022.

Civil rights activist Najee Ali called for the cutting of Toberman’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program if the former Beverly Hills police chief, Sandra Spagnoli, didn’t resign.

In a farewell message sent on Jan. 12, Kiyan said she was leaving the 120-year-old nonprofit for a position at a larger agency. Her last day was Jan. 14. Spagnoli turned in her resignation around the time of Kiyan’s announcement.

In her farewell message, Kiyan discussed the values

with which her parents reared her while working multiple jobs and noted how losing a family to gang violence influenced her work with young people.

Kiyan said she announced her resignation to Toberman’s board of directors last month.

The departing executive director made no mention of Spagnoli, nor the fallout once the community became aware of the hiring.

In an interview with Random Lengths News, Toberman executive director Darlene Kiyan confirmed that Spagnoli had been hired and that Jan. 5 was Spagnoli’s third day on the job. Kiyan also explained that Spagnoli was to oversee Toberman’s gang intervention program.

After the press conference, there was a Jan. 10 meeting between Toberman and community members concerned about Spagnoli.

According to sources who attended the meeting, Tober[See Shake-up, p. 14] 1

January 20 - February 2, 2022

FILM REVIEW: Loving Lucy no prerequisite for loving Being the Ricardos p. 9

Shake-up at Toberman

Hundreds caravan for Medicare across California p. 5

Dr. Jessica Kiss of the Palos Verdes Medical Group, who also runs an Instagram account called askdr.mom. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

January 2021, almost one year into the global pandemic, Random Lengths News spoke to Dr. Jessica Kiss of Palos Verdes Medical Group about the state of Los Angeles County’s health.

Hospitals were operating at dangerously close to full capacity while frontline healthcare workers were triaging what seemed like an endless line of COVID-19 patients fighting for their lives. Patients who needed medical care for anything other than COVID-19 often had to be turned away. [As of Jan. 17, 4,564 people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized in Los Angeles County].

If that sounds familiar, that’s because we’re reliving it. It was a grim existence. Yet, as the pandemic persists, some parts of the United States and California in particular gained greater control over COVID-19. This was possible through treatments and ongoing research in medicine and science, including vaccine trials.

But we also reached this point because people have become educated, armed and remain committed to the rituals of maintaining their health and that of those around them via COVID-19 vaccinations, testing, social distancing, masking and hand washing.

In December, Dr. Nava Yeganeh, MD, MPH medical epidemiologist with the Acute Communicable Disease Control Program, Department of Health, framed how far we had come since one year earlier.

Over the past year, we are so fortunate to have gained access to an incredibly safe and effective vaccine in protecting our children from serious short and long-term complications from COVID-19.

Furthermore, these vaccines have allowed the children in our community to return to a more interactive and joyful life, from attending in person school to participating in social events, sport teams and extracurricular activities important for their development and growth. In Los Angeles County specifically, we have administered over 590,000 doses

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January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Find At Home Rapid COVID Tests

The Joe Biden administration has announced that starting Jan. 19, millions of at-home rapid tests will be available to order through this link below for those who need them. The only thing you need to do is submit your name and address.

Details: www.covidtests.gov

Ports to Give CAAP Update Feb. 1

Learn about the progress the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are making toward the goals of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan during a Feb. 1 meeting. Records of prior meetings can be found here, www.cleanairactionplan.org/about-the-plan.

The CAAP 2017 Update is a comprehensive strategy for accelerating progress toward a zeroemission future while protecting and strengthening the ports’ competitive position in the global economy. The ports will take public comments at the advisory meeting to receive input on CAAP implementation issues. The agenda will be posted on the CAAP website’s Stakeholder Advisory Group page prior to the meeting. For more information, visit cleanairactionplan.org.

Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Feb. 1 Details: Register at www.tinyurl.com/5yandcun

Air Quality Mitigation Program - Round 2, Request for Letters of Interest

The Harbor Community Benefit Foundation is requesting Letters of Interest or LOI from parties interested in participating in the Request for Proposals or RFP for the Air Quality Mitigation Fund Program.

HCBF plans to award approximately $5 million for technologies that demonstrate reductions in portrelated air emissions that benefit the communities of Wilmington, San Pedro and communities within a 25-mile radius of the San Pedro Bay. HCBF is seeking brief concept papers that will be screened for eligibility and will then be invited to submit a full proposal for funding consid[See Announcements, p. 5]

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 40 Years

Rats Infest Houses, Residents Blame SPHS Construction

By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter

Two households across the street from San Pedro High School are infested with rats, and their residents say they came from construction at SPHS. Shannon Black said she has only seen one mouse in the 20 years she has lived in the house across the street from campus. But from the end of September 2021 to December 2021, she caught and killed nearly three dozen rats.

“It’s gotten to the point where they breed faster than you can keep up with them,” Black said.

“They’re not going for any more of the traps.”

Black said that the school cut down lots of large trees during construction. The school is currently working on a $178 million comprehensive modernization project. The rats lived in these trees, and went into the surrounding neighborhood after they were gone.

In May 2021, Los Angeles Unified School District representatives said the construction project would remove 112 trees on the campus, but replace them with 148 new trees.

“When they cut those trees down, that’s when the problem started,” Black said. “Then about three weeks after that, they did demolition and tore down the school.”

Black contacted LAUSD, and shared several

traps at school? …. There’s nothing left.”

Black said that major construction like this makes rodents move.

“She’s trying to blow it off like they’re not responsible,” Black said.

Black rents the house, and the owner had grown tired of waiting for the school district to act, so she called pest control to the house.

“Pest control says they have tunnels underground,” Shannon Black, whose house is infested with rats. She says it’s because of Black said. “That’s how SPHS’s tearing down of nearby trees. Photo by Chris Villanueva they’re getting in. And they’re pictures, including her destroyed stove, couch going to fill the ground with poison, and it’s going and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or to take over three months. [The owner] said if the HVAC. school district doesn’t step up, she’s going to sue.”

“They have nests on my HVAC and under my Black has tried putting covers on vents, and HVAC,” Black said. “They’ve chewed through sealing holes with foam, but has had little success. the wires, the ducting’s been fixed twice and they “They decided they wanted to dig a hole on just keep ripping it.” the side of the house to get up underneath the Black said LAUSD representatives told her house,” Black said. “So, I filled that with sand. they set traps at the school, but did not catch any- Well, they dug the sand out. So, then I filled it thing. with concrete.”

“I’m like, set them across the street at the Black said that pest control told her the only houses,” Black said. “Why are you setting the [See Infestation, p. 8]

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

January 20 - February 2, 2022

3

[How Far?, from p. 1]

How Far?

given to 12-17 year olds, meaning that over 78% of our teens have had 1 dose of vaccine. We also have vaccinated 16% or 146,000 of the 5-11 year olds. These vaccines have been our most powerful tool in

reducing the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.

We strongly encourage that everyone 5 years and older gets fully vaccinated or receives their booster dose as quickly as possible to reduce transmission of the virus.

Now, amid the highly transmissible Omicron variant, cases are again soaring. As recent history

shows us, we have learned collectively how to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, here we are. RLN revisited Dr. Kiss initially to discuss the progress we’ve made. The doctor also spoke further in light of the current surge that Los Angeles is gripped in.

Endemic versus Pandemic

The doctor said COVID-19 will unequivocally become endemic, meaning it’s natural to, native to, confined to, or widespread within a place or population of people.

“We’re not there yet because of the consumption of resources associated with it still,” Dr. Kiss said. “We’re at a point where all the hospitals are just getting pummeled.”

She explained COVID-19 can’t become endemic until we’re past the point of medical staff getting killed or getting sick from COVID-19 themselves. Also, part of reaching the point of endemic will be the increased availability of antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and Xofluza which you take upon onset of the flu.

“We will get there with COVID-19 when we have enough of those resources, which we just don’t yet,’’ Dr. Kiss said.

Mother and Doctor

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Dr. Kiss is a mother of four who specializes in family medicine. Through her Instagram account at askdr.mom, Dr. Kiss brings medical facts helping people make educated health choices with no judgment. She shared a critical development in the fight against COVID-19 with RLN. The doctor discusses enrolling her four children in vaccine trials in order to help facilitate the research necessary to immunize all children, ages 5 to 12, and the im-

4

Dr. Jessica Kiss, who recommends that everyone 5 or older gets vaccinated or a booster shot as soon as possible. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

portance of it. You can link to it here: Pandemic: ‘Ask Dr. Mom’ How Far Have We Come.

Vaccine Hesitancy

There are still discrepancies in the number of vaccinations received, now with children too, in Black and Brown communities. When it comes to vaccine hesitancy, in general, Dr. Kiss addresses the conversation head on.

“When people historically judge others for their beliefs whether they are misplaced or otherwise, we don’t have a conversation about what the concern is,” she said. “... We all want the same things for each other. We want happiness and health. When I come at it from that standpoint of, ‘let me hear

[See Dr. Kiss, p. 8]

Hundreds Caravan for Medicare

By Mark Friedman, Contributor

With nurses leading the caravans in more than 24 California cities, hundreds demanded passage of Assembly bill 1400 that would guarantee medical care to all — regardless of age, medical condition, citizenship status.

More than 60 cars took part in Hollywood, 15 in Anaheim and others in Bell Gardens, downtown LA and Woodland Hills.

National Nurses Union and California Nurses Association leader and caravan organizer Erika Feresten told the crowd “California has the money, we can make CalCare a reality.”

Solidarity Project activist Michelle Manos added “With systemic problems in health care in this country, the only way out of this mess is winning medical coverage for all. That is especially true now with COVID safety a priority.”

In a press statement, Cathy Kennedy, registered nurse and president of the CNA said, “This for-profit health care system has cost lives, all so that a few health insurance executives can line their pockets. This newest COVID-19 surge further shows how broken our current system is.

California has an opportunity to make history and finally say that health care is a human right.”

Businesses are fighting AB 1400, as are health insurance companies. They say California cannot afford it … but according to the California Legislative Analyst’s office, California will have

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area

[Announcements, from p. 3] eration. Interested applicants must submit their Letters of Interest using the online form available via Submittable at, www.hcbf.submittable.com/ submit/176303/air-quality-mitigation-programround-2. Deadline to submit the LOI is by 4 p.m.

March 9.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/2p9xv3vt and 310- 997-7116; https://hcbf.org/air-qualitymitigation-program/

The Long Beach Department Health Department has announced a request for qualifications for Black-serving mental health organizations to provide culturally affirming mental health services. Eligible organizations are encouraged to apply through the City of Long Beach’s Vendor Portal, PlanetBids, by 11 a.m. Feb. 14. The providers must demonstrate capacity and expertise in working with the Black community and will be required to outreach to the priority population.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/mybenph6

Homeless Count Postponed

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

City Announces Request for Qualifications for Black Mental Health Services

a $31 billion surplus (resources in excess of current law commitments) to allocate in fiscal year 2022-23. The Legislature had a $47 billion surplus to allocate in the 2021-22 Budget Act. California already has the money to fund healthcare for everyone.

The statewide caravans of supporters of health care for all in California, the largest yet, are timed to coincide with the date by which the bill must pass out of the Assembly Health Committee: Jan. 14.

National Nurses United president and registered nurse, Jean Ross, told news outlets the truth: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is putting thousands of lives at risk by weakening COVID-19 isolation guidelines to seven days for health care workers — and even less time when there are staffing shortages.

While the CDC now claims this change is motivated by science, nurses know it’s motivated by something else entirely: employers wanting workers back on the clock fast, regardless of whether it’s safe, to maximize their profits.

This move by the CDC comes as the Omicron varient is exploding across the country, singleday records for COVID-19 cases continue to be broken, and the number of available ICU beds dwindles in hospital after hospital. What’s more, this change comes right as OSHA announced its plan to rescind hard-won emergency protections for health care workers. Their actions pose very real risk for nurses, other health care workers, and patients.

“We’ve fought since day one of this pandemic for protections for nurses and health care workers based on science and the precautionary principle, and we’re not backing down now,” said the leadership of NNU in a released statement.

For more information: HCALA CALCARE TOOLKIT

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases related to the Omicron variant, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority or LAHSA is postponing the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count to Feb. 22 to 24, 2022. Details: Register at www. theycountwillyou.org/

Over $382 Million to Help Lower Income California Families with Heating Costs

January 20 - February 2, 2022

U.S. senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) Jan. 7, announced that California is receiving over $382 million in federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program or LIHEAP. This funding comes from the American Rescue Plan and the Further Extending Government Funding Act. California is receiving $382,838,846 total in LIHEAP funding. $203,610,805 comes from the American Rescue Plan, and $179,228,041 comes from the Further Extending Government Funding Act. LIHEAP is a federally funded program aimed to assist low-income households that pay a high portion of their income to meet their energy needs.

Details: www.csd.ca.gov/LIHEAPProgram

5

Beyond Vietnam

A prophetic speech still rings true

This speech by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was delivered April 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church, New York City exactly one year before he was assassinated. It is as powerful and relevant today as it was then. It is perhaps as much of a threat to the American power structure today as it was then. And it just may, in retrospect, be one of the reasons he was murdered. The following excerpts remain as true today as they were then and always make me wonder what our nation would look like if he, JFK and RFK had not all been killed?

— James Preston Allen, Publisher and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” We in the West must support these revolutions.

It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

By Martin Luther King Jr. In 1957, a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years, we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia and why American napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru.

It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us.

Five years ago he said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin... the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice, which produces beggars, needs restructuring.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty

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“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Vol. XLIII : No. 2

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

arch antirevolutionaries. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit.

Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes-hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores, and thereby speed the day when “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”

A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must

now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

• • • Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard?

Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message — of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.

Profiteering Foreign Shipping Companies versus U.S. Workers

By Frank Ponce De Leon, ILWU Coast Committeeman The multi-billion-dollar foreign container shipping industry has profited mightily during the pandemic and the ensuing supply chain crisis.

Those of us who work in the U.S. supply chain have seen up close how they have secured a vice grip on the national economy — impacting businesses, consumers and workers for the sake of overseas profits.

As cargo volumes at America’s ports continue to set records, the foreign shipping industry is setting its own records, with profits expected to exceed $150 billion in 2021 (15 times that of

Columnists/Reporters Publisher/Executive Editor Melina Paris Assistant Editor/Arts James Preston Allen Staff Reporter james@randomlengthsnews.com Hunter Chase Fabiola Esqueda Carson Reporter Assoc. Publisher/Production Photographers Coordinator Arturo Garcia-Ayala, Harry Bugarin, Suzanne Matsumiya Terelle Jerricks, Raphael Richardson, Chris Villanueva Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks Contributors editor@randomlengthsnews.com Mark Friedman, Lyn Jensen, Ari LeVaux, Greggory Moore, Frank Senior Editor Ponce De Leon Paul Rosenberg paul.rosenberg@ Cartoonists randomlengthsnews.com Andy Singer, Jan Sorensen, Internship Program Director Matt Wuerker Zamná Àvila

2019) and combined profits of $300 billion for 2021 and 2022. Industry leader Maersk, for example, is set to make Danish history as it matches its combined earnings from the past nine years with earnings of $16.2 billion for 2021 (up from a projected $3 billion at the start of the year).

Ocean Network Express (ONE), another example, has reported a shocking profit gain of 1,432%.

What first seemed to be an uncertain future for the container shipping industry with the on-

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All contents Copyright 2022 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

RANDOMLetters Toberman Shake-up

(Online at www.randomlengthsnews.com) Thanks to Random Lengths News for getting this hot news item out so early.

Our community holds a vital and urgent need to know about the Toberman Center’s hiring of a gang intervention director with a history of racist acts and speech.

Former Beverly Hills Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli’s past racist behavior was outlined in scores of allegations contained in the 24 lawsuits that cost that city $8 million.

It’s truly an insult to the community, and especially to the young people, to hire a white racist cop for a gang prevention post.

It’s an insult to minority youth who already know how to spy a racist; just how effective can she be with that particular subset of our community? As I understand things, minority kids don’t exactly love racist cops, especially the white ones.

It’s an insult to the donor community to hire somebody with such a long list of liabilities — amounting to $8 million. I know that there’s insurance for that sort of

thing, but do donors to Toberman really want to see the institution spend more on insurance? Is that in the donor community’s best interest?

Finally, about rumors, Ms. Kiyan...

Rumors did not get her fired.

Rumors did not cause the City of Beverly Hills to cough up $8 million in settlements.

The multitude of allegations of her racist behavior toward a multitude of different ethnicities and religious groups contained in 24 lawsuits weren’t rumors. They are a matter of public record, not water cooler scuttlebutt.

I will say this, though. Rumor has it Toberman will find a less contentious post for Ms. Spagnoli’s second, or is it 25th, chance.

Ryan Gierach Retired editor, publisher [WeHo News] San Pedro

Re: Striking Local Bakery Workers

(Online at www.randomlengthsnews.com) In regard to the subject line referenced article, after reading the text

[Profiteering, from p. 6]

Profiteering

negotiate a better wage contract.

And contrary to your belief about Elon Musk and his billionaire buddies packing up and leaving the 5th largest economy in the world, you might want to consider exactly why all of these other Fortune 500 companies are sticking with California. Sure you can move your business to a right-to-work state like Texas and have the entire power grid frozen by a winter storm or your operations flooded by the next hurricane, but California has the weather, the market and the location among other things like the best public universities.

The issue is the economy is doing just fine here but only if you are not in the lower working class making less than $32,793 a year. According to the LA Almanac a family of four needs to make $65,587 to $196,760 just to be in the dwindling middle class.

James Preston Allen, Publisher [See Letters, p. 13]

COVID Politics — O.C. Republicans Risk Life and Lungs Pushing COVID Misinformation

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

Garcia Overstates Progress, Looks Beyond Long Beach in Final “State of the City”

By Greggory Moore, Long Beach Reporter

Read these online exclusives and more at:

America is Dangerously Out of Balance and Needs Self-Reliance

By Thom Hartmann

RandomLengthsNews.com

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Frank Ponce De Leon is an elected Coast Committeeman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Coast Longshore Division. He has been a member of ILWU Local 13 for three decades and a crane operator at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for 25 years.

out of state, just like 10,000 other businesses have since 2009. The “officials” backing this strike will suffer no consequences, and when that move happens — and it will if taxation and the cost of operations continue to climb — the wages of the rank-and-file, regardless of their complexion, will be zero, no matter what union organizers, these nincompoop “officials” or anybody else says.

Paul C. Christian San Pedro Dear Mr. Christian, For far too long large corporations have taken advantage of minorities and women of color working in production jobs. It is easy for you to tell them that they should just move on to a better job somewhere else or go back to school to get an education, but that however is beyond the reality of most workers raising a family on low wages. What is within their ability is to organize a union and

operated by the local governments in which they reside, they’re actually leased out to private companies to manage and operate.

The companies leasing space at our ports are known as “terminal operators,” and they are mostly foreign-owned container shipping companies or their subsidiaries that treat U.S. ports as a tool for foreign profit-making. This makes the American workers in and around the ports, including the dockworkers who move cargo from ship to shore, the last remaining U.S. connection at our nation’s greatest economic engines.

It is against this backdrop of the exportation of massive profits that U.S. workers keep being expected to give more. Truckers are expected to take jobs that no longer pay drivers for their time — jobs that require a 70 to 80 hour work week just to make around $50,000 a year. Warehouse workers are expected to work long hours in dangerous conditions. And dockworkers are expected to forgo collective bargaining as their contract nears expiration, despite moving unprecedented levels of cargo and keeping the ports running during the COVID-19 health crisis.

We need to stop wondering why jobs that don’t feed families can’t find applicants. We need to honor workers throughout the supply chain by supporting living wage jobs and the organizations that represent these workers in the struggle to earn a living, to have safe jobs and to have dignity in the workplace. Prioritize safe and sustainable jobs for current and future generations of U.S. workers over foreign profiteering.

It’s time to decide which side we’re on: that of the foreign shipping companies that are profiteering from the pandemic, or that of U.S. farmers, manufacturers, dockworkers and truckers who deserve to earn a family wage.

nor were, ever intended to supply a family of 6 or 8 with lifetime salary and benefits, to include college for the kids! There is no free lunch.

And you and your local readers had best get it through your collective heads, that government “officials” who back this type of labor action — again — have never themselves, set up and run a business enterprise of any type — they’re after these peoples’ vote(s), period!

The only reason the ILWU is still empowered in the port area is because the bay and the port itself is non-transferable by its very nature and thereby, cannot be relocated.

This is a fiscal fact, just ask Elon Musk who decided against bringing his Falcon 10 assembly ops to the east side of the main channel.

Lastly, when the Rich Products Corporation decides it has had all the fun it can stand in California and with Los Angeles County in particular, they’ll pack it up, and move

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

set of the pandemic quickly turned to outrageous profit-making as demand for consumer goods surged in the U.S. along with container shipping rates. A container that previously cost around $2,000 to ship from China to the U.S. West Coast can now cost U.S. importers up to $25,000, with increased costs passed on to consumers through higher prices and rising inflation. Further, while the U.S. government knows of the shipping industry’s profiteering, these are foreign-owned companies with virtually no U.S. regulatory oversight.

If price-gouging U.S. imports for foreign profit isn’t enough, the same multi-billion-dollar container shipping lines are also denying the U.S. its ability to ship American exports to overseas markets. Unlike previous years when containers were returned to Asia filled with goods manufactured and grown in the U.S., today the shipping companies earn more by shipping an empty container to Asia to be filled with more imports instead.

The impact is that commodities such as soybeans and grain that U.S. farmers grow for export sit in silos in the heartland, and components made in American factories sit in warehouses all over the U.S. In fact, numbers from the Port of Los Angeles in November alone showed that containers filled with exports were down nearly 37%, while the return of empty containers to Asia was up 10.6% compared to 2020. Overall, the port reported that exports had declined in 33 of the last 37 months.

It’s clear that when it comes to those making financial gains during the pandemic and at the expense of our economy, these shipping companies are at the top of the list. But it doesn’t stop there.

The corporate tentacles of these foreignowned shipping companies go deep into our U.S. ports. While one might think that our ports are

of the piece at your website, I’d bet the rent money that Mr. Friedman has never — himself — set up and run a business enterprise of any type. However, he shouldn’t consider himself “alone” in this respect as the same can be said of Janice Hahn, Maria Elena Durazo, Bernie Sanders, Kevin DeLeon, Joe Biden, Eric Garcetti and approximately 92% of the California Legislature.

By the way, Rich Corporation pays 90% of the medical benefits for these rank-and-file workers. Any idea of what that costs?

As for Cristina Lujan the question(s) I’d asked: Why didn’t she quit her factory job and seek out higher wages elsewhere? After 19 years? Come on, I’d seek out a better paying job after a year or two!

Alas, two things come to mind 1) The type of people who do that have hit their employable capability ceiling, either by way of functional illiteracy or very simply, because the factory is close to her home and she hasn’t the drive within her, to venture outside her comfort zone and or get some training with which to earn a higher income. Teenagers do that, not heads of household. This too, is blatantly obvious.

Further, not one of these type(s) of factory positions was

7

[Dr. Kiss, from p. 4]

Dr. Kiss

what your concerns are so we can talk about them together,’ instead of saying ‘what you’re saying is not valid,’ we are open to conversation at that point.

That’s the start of it.”

Dr. Kiss acknowledged that there are many deep-seeded cultural concerns there too. Medicine as a profession has not done a good job of taking care of minority patients. They have reason to distrust the medical community. We have not earned their trust, she said, because we haven’t taken care of them very well.

“I understand where it’s coming from,” she said. “When you look, particularly in the Black community, this is seeded all the way back to the Tuskegee [syphilis study] treatment during syphilis research. The mistrust is very real. I find the first thing is addressing the elephant in the room and meeting people where they are ready to hear things is the most appropriate thing and not judging them for not being ready.”

Dr. Kiss said her goal is for patients to feel empowered that they have accurate information to make the best choice for their families. To do this she provides medically accurate resources, which include places that patients can research which are safe — rather than just googling, listening to what the neighbor said, or what they read on social media about it.

Cost of COVID-19 Deniers

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

COVID deniers are a hard group for Dr. Kiss — the people who she describes as engaging in willful ignorance.

“It’s what you would call fixed delusion [being certain of a fixed, false belief and not persuaded by any arguments to the contrary] in mental health,”

8

Dr. Kiss said. “I know some very intelligent people who are still convinced to this day there is a microchip in the vaccine which has been widely debunked.

These are very well-educated people holding these beliefs and it is doing damage for so many reasons because many times these people come off as authority and they are very compelling and convincing.”

The cost is that we are still in this pandemic, the doctor said, because people put out false information willingly, only to deter people from something that they don’t want to understand.

“It is truly the reason we are still in a pandemic phase of this illness,” she said.

Progress Report on LA County

Dr. Kiss said the speed at which Los Angeles County responded to vaccination really is a testament to how it has performed better than other areas.

As of the week of Jan. 2 in LA County, 80.1% of residents have received at least one dose and 71.6% of residents are fully vaccinated — or about 6, 965,589 people. As of Jan. 14, Public Health reported 27,942 people have died of COVID-19 in LA County.

“Did we have a resurgence over the summer?” she asked rhetorically. “You bet we did.

But the vast majority of those hospitalized and who died were unvaccinated and unfortunately, the reality is the remainder of those who passed or had severe illness had secondary illness.

They were immunocompromised, they were weak because they were elderly or very young.”

It wasn’t uncommon to see 30 year-olds in the hospital with no other illness and their only risk factor was being unvaccinated, the doctor recalled. The fact that LA County pushed to do

the right thing, in vaccinating she said, really paid off in spades.

“The continued masking has paid off not just for COVID-19 but for other illnesses,” the doctor said.

“Our other illnesses were down when people masked consistently.

And holding people accountable for how their health matters to other people around them has really put us in a better position this winter. We are not in a good position but we are in a better position for sure.”

Further, Doctor Kiss noted that the LA County Department of Health “really got out there.”

“I had the privilege in February to volunteer as a physician at The Forum vaccination site,” Dr. Kiss said. “We vaccinated 2,000 people that day — 2,000 in one day. I walked almost 20 miles pacing between cars. LA county was a well oiled machine when it comes to the Department of Health providing vaccination.”

Virulence and Information

The doctor said with the Omicron variant, even if it turns out that it’s going to evade vaccination, getting vaccinated is still key.

“The reason is, the more people we get vaccinated, we reduce the spread in general of this virus, which reduces the ability of it to mutate over and over again and make these super variants. At this moment we know that it spreads more quickly between people because of these mutations.”

In December the doctor noted we didn’t know if it’s more virulent — causing more severe illness, but early evidence out of South Africa showed that [Infestation, from p. 3]

Rat Infestation

may not be the case. But she’s certain that things that have worked consistently for us are mask use, hand washing, getting COVID-19 tests when you have any symptoms and staying home and away from people who are sick.

“Talk to other people around you and find out where they’ve been, what they’re doing.

Having that conversation is going to empower everybody to remain healthy,” Dr. Kiss said.

On the Omicron Variant

“Bananas, there’s no better word for it,” Dr. Kiss said. “We know that the longer it takes for people to get vaccinated, the more this virus replicates, the more opportunities for these types of things to happen. This will not be the last variant. This hopefully will be the last variant for the moment that is like this, and give us a chance to breathe and regroup.

We don’t want people going out there, deliberately getting [COVID] because still, long haul COVID is real. We don’t know those consequences. We don’t want our kids to live those consequences, 30-40 years from now.

We don’t know what they are.”

The doctor is hopeful. She said it looks like Omicron will peak in the next several weeks and that we have a grace period at least in the spring but nothing is certain — we don’t know if there’s another variant. That’s what was happening with Delta, she noted, “Then Omicron came in and just took us all back out,” she said.

Details: www.instagram.com/askdr.mom and www.VaccinateLACounty.com They’re dirty, they carry a lot of diseases.”

Her pets are not able to keep up with the amount of rodents.

“We’re not talking about five rodents,” Mcdonald Trani said. “We’re talking about 20, 30, 40 rats living underneath our house.

How’s he going to catch 20, 40 rats?”

Black is unsure if the rodents have caused her any health problems, but she has made an appointment with her doctor. She has HIV, late stage 3 renal failure and a heart condition.

“I do have health issues,” Black said.

“And they do know that.”

Black said the rats are driving her crazy, and that she can’t keep doing this.

“How many am I supposed to kill before they get involved?” Black said.

Representatives from LAUSD did not respond in time to comment on this story.

way to stop this is to drill holes around her house and put poison inside the ground — which will take months.

“Every day I get up, every night I come home, I have to sweep up the turds,” Black said.

She can no longer use her stove, as the rats have been climbing into the insulation.

“I turned on my oven the other day and it smelled like I was baking urine,” Black said.

Homeowner Annette Mcdonald Trani said that she has had a problem with rats since October 2021. She will need to have her house tented to exterminate them.

“Thank God my husband’s retired and has some money,” Mcdonald Trani said. “But we’re going to have to put that on a credit card.”

Mcdonald Trani has seen the rats in her home, both dead and alive.

“I’ve seen droppings,” Mcdonald Trani said. “And I’m ready to crawl out of my skin.”

The reason Mcdonald Trani does not have an infestation as bad as Black’s is because of her cat and dogs, which chase them. Black has one dog.

“My cat got sick from eating a rat,” Mcdonald Trani said. “My two Shannon Black holds up a sofa cushion, which dogs had eye infections because of it. chewed up by rats. Photo by Chris Villlanueva

has been

By Greggory Moore, Curtain Call Columnist

E

Stream Being the Ricardos exclusively on Amazon Prime.

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Except for a few minor continuity problems and one notable editing glitch, Sorkin qua director delivers the technical goods, staying within himself while making subtle but strong choices (e.g., varying lens and color palette to visually demarcate time periods). He may never distinguish himself behind the camera as even a minor master like David Fincher or Danny Boyle, but he’s more than able to effectively service his masterful screenplays.

Aaron Sorkin is not like a box of chocolates: you always know what you’re gonna get. So if you don’t dig his previous work, no point in sampling this one. But otherwise, Being the Ricardos is brilliant enough to love even if you don’t love Lucy.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos. Graphic by Brenda Lopez

intimacy as we do with Ball (the Academy may nominate him for Best Actor, but there’s only one true lead in this film), his combination of surface charm and obvious intellect make it clear that Arnaz and Ball are an equal match, smart and savvy and locked in the throes of deep attraction and love, creating an intimate rhythm that flows no less at home or meeting with lawyers than when they’re on the soundstage.

As William Frawley and Vivian Vance (a.k.a. Fred & Ethel), J.K. Simmons and Nina Ariana are fantastic, with Simmons at times becoming Frawley. And however much Being the Ricardos is not about the Mertzes or the I Love Lucy staff, Sorkin imbues each character with a full measure of humanity, with their own motivations and struggles, their own unique connections and interactions with the others around them.

Of course, in Sorkinland everyone is a bit cleverer and more fluid than in our real world of stammers and incomplete thoughts and never quite saying just what we want to say, with even minor characters partaking in Sorkin’s trademark repartee. But you don’t go to Sorkin for verisimilitude. If he gets to truth, it’s the sort that only art can distill, broader and deeper than any to be found in even the most meticulous litany of mere facts — truth as in what it’s like to be in love, or to be betrayed, or to be lost on a quest to arrive at a home that simply does not exist.

That is the beating heart of Being the Ricardos.

For all her professional success (think the TV equivalent of early-period Beatles), what she has always wanted most is the simple domestic tranquility that has eluded her. Whether or not this was true of the real Lucille Ball (maybe she says so in interviews or biographies I’m never going to read), ultimately Being the Ricardos is a fable, which the fictional Lucy herself articulates to Vance and Frawley on set at 2 a.m. as she tries to perfect a bit of slapstick: You know, I did this show so Desi and I could be together. I had no idea it was going to be a hit. I just thought, “Wow, the Construction Department’s gonna build us a little apartment, and that’s where we’ll live most of the time,” you know? And it worked out. This is where…. (Pause) It’s like a story you’d read a little girl: a witch puts a curse on a woman.

She’ll be adored by the man she loves, but only as long as she stays on this magic ground. (Pause) It’s still a lot more than most people get.

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

ven as a kid I never found I Love Lucy funny (that I nonetheless watched hours upon hours of it says nothing good about my childhood); and as an adult my tastes carried me even further away from caring about the lowbrow antics of “America’s Favorite Redhead.” So needless to say, despite the undeniable impact Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had on the medium of television, I was hardly clamoring for a film about them.

But neither was I interested in Liberace or Judy Garland or Miracle Mop® inventor Joy Mangano, yet all three were subjects of films that are part of a current Golden Age of Biopics, where filmmakers regularly go beyond the serviceable dramatization that typified those of the 20th century (Gandhi is a quality example) to produce a substantial work of art in its own right, one that transcends the facts of a life.

Considering how many times Aaron Sorkin has worked this sort of magic on real-life subjects — he penned The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs, as well directing his own screenplays for Molly’s Game and The Trial of the Chicago 7 — it would have been surprising if Being the Ricardos didn’t make the list. But it’s classic Sorkin, another case where the man manages to elevate the real to the realm of the sublime.

Much as he did with Steve Jobs, for Being the Ricardos Sorkin has come up with a particularly clever narrative structure: a fictional set of retrospective interviews with three of I Love Lucy’s creative team, all of whom were part of a week of episode prep time (broken up into daily segments — MONDAY: Table Read, TUESDAY: Blocking Rehearsal, etc. — leading up to a live taping) during which Ball (Nicole Kidman) is: a) publicly accused of being a communist (remember, this is during the ’50s Red Scare); b) has to contend with a gossip column documenting Arnaz’s (Javier Bardem) philandering; and c) is newly pregnant, a turn of events that presents a problem for both I Love Lucy’s TV network and chief advertiser.

From the interview clips, Sorkin finds natural jumping-off points for various flashbacks (how Lucy and Desi met, how their careers seemingly plateaued in the 1940s, how I Love Lucy came to be), thereby steadily accumulating all the data we need to fully contextualize the week we’re following — which itself is a nice twist on the “ticking clock” convention.

“It’s 6-to-5 and pick ‘em we’ve already done the last episode of this show,” Arnaz says the day after the Walter Winchell radio broadcast painting Lucy as a Red. “… Lucy’s whole career — and mine, too — may have ended last night. And we just don’t know yet.”

The casting is miraculous. Kidman disappears as Ball’s on-camera alter ego (even though she has not put on any weight for the role to make herself a closer physical match). And though we do get a better view of Kidman when playing the offscreen Lucy (if for no other reason than we’ve got no experience as a fly on the wall in the bedrooms and dressing rooms where the real live woman fucked and fought and fretted), she creates a character whose intelligence and wit is equally apparent in both her repartee and as the wheels of thought spin beneath the surface. Even in our topsy-turvy world, Kidman seems a shoo-in for Best Actress. A remarkable performance.

While Bardem never quite disappears in the same way, everything he is able to do makes this a non-issue. Although we don’t get quite the same

9

T

he hot cocoa in my life had never been acceptable. It was always too thin and runny. Too much like liquid, and I didn’t want liquid. I wanted a dense chocolate cloud in which to lose my sense of direction. To my great joy and greater girth, I finally solved the mystery of how to manifest this vision into reality. My thick hot chocolate is everything I yearned for.

The body of this drinkable soufflé comes from whole eggs. I start by following the

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Hot cocoa, made with eggs. Photo by Ari LeVaux

10

Whole Egg Chocolate

By Ari LeVaux, Flash in the Pan Columnist He stared at his hot chocolate like it held the secret to the universe — Lilith Saintcrow Blood is really warm It’s like drinking hot chocolate but with more screaming — Ryan Mecum example of the Viennese, who famously add egg yolk to their cocoa to create a decadently smooth, glossy brown emulsion.

But unlike the Austrians I don’t neglect the whites. Rather, I beat them stiff and then whisk the stiff whites into my cocoa.

Unlike whipped cream and other culinary foams, stiff whites won’t dissolve in heat. Their enduring density comes from the egg white proteins, aligned by the action of the whisk into fiber-like structures that persist in the chocolatey brew. The egg whites make the cocoa so thick and so puffy it’s like drinking a chocolate cloud as the chocolate cloud drinks you.

On New Years Eve, doctor the drinking chocolate with Kahlua. The following morning — New Years Day — add some of this puffy cocoa foam to a cup of coffee, where it will

float like professionally steamed milk. Without mixing with the coffee, the cocoa will still manage to hitch a ride in each sip. As a pair of stimulants, coffee and chocolate act greater than the sum of the parts, because the theobromine in chocolate and caffeine in coffee are mutually enhancing, as you stare piercingly into the blank canvas that is the year to come.

When hot cocoa can be simultaneously so thick and so silky, anything is possible. So be

Whipped egg whites. File photo

firm with your principles, flexible with your expectations, and perfect with your hot cocoa, and you will crush 2022.

Heavenly, Earthy, Perfect Cocoa

Here is my recipe for the thickest, fluffiest and most satisfying hot cocoa on the planet.

It’s your shield against the cold dark days to come. And you can make as much as you want, without a prescription.

2 tablespoons butter ½ cup semi sweet chips 1 tablespoon vanilla 2 cups milk 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1 cup heavy cream Pinch nutmeg (optional) 2 eggs On low heat, melt the butter. Add the vanilla and chocolate chips, and mix together without letting anything stick or burn. Add the cocoa powder and stir it in, quickly followed by about half of milk to dissolve any lumps and prevent burning. When it’s smooth, add the cream, nutmeg and the rest of the milk. Slowly bring the cocoa to a simmer, whisking constantly.

Separate the eggs, putting the yolks and whites into separate mixing bowls. As the cocoa heats, gently add a teaspoon of cocoa to the yolks, stirring vigorously. Do this again and again until the temperature rises. This tempers the yolks, making them heat resistant, so we don’t end up with scrambled eggs in our cocoa. Add the hot, tempered yolks to the pot of hot cocoa.

Stir it in well. Turn off the heat.

While the cocoa cools, use a whisk to beat the egg whites stiff.

If you aren’t immunocompromised or otherwise wary of undercooked eggs, you can scoop some of those stiff whites into a cup and pour the cocoa over them, stirring in as much or little as you wish. The bland flavor of the egg whites makes for a fun contrast with the cocoa, and you can eat it with a spoon.

Alternatively, let the cocoa cool to room temperature. Fold in the whites and gently reheat, whisking in the whites until perfectly smooth and thick as wet cement. However you serve it, you’ll need a spoon to finish the job.

To float some of this foam on coffee, spoon some into a cup and pour the coffee into it. Then drink your coffee through the cocoa, as you would sip your brew with any nutritious breakfast.

ICT Honored With 23 Robby Award Nominations and Wins LONG BEACH — International City Theatre has been honored with three wins and 20 additional nominations for four different productions by longtime theater reviewer Rob Stevens, who has announced his 35th annual “Robby Awards for Excellence in Southern California Theatre.”

In Stevens’ Dec. 31 post at media outlet Haines His Way, 25 productions throughout the Southland garnered a total of 131 nominations, with International City Theatre’s recent production of the Sheldon Eppsconceived musical Blues in the Night leading all productions with 10 nominations. The musical won three awards, including for Best Musical (caryn desai, producer), Best Actress in a Musical (Vivian Reed) and Best Musical Direction (William Foster McDaniel).

Other nominated ICT productions include Closely Related Keys, a hard-hitting family drama by Wendy Graf, which marked the company’s first return to in-person performance since the start of the pandemic; The Andrews Brothers, a musical salute to the swinging ’40s written and created by Roger Bean, which was produced in February 2020 prior

to the shutdown; and Daisy by Sean Devine, a fascinating look at the creation of and psychology behind TV’s first political attack ad that ICT produced virtually ahead of the 2020 election.

Details: www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

Ko-Ryu Ramen 362 W. 6th St. San Pedro 90731 310-935-2886

koryuramen.com Koi Ramen

January 20 - February 2, 2022

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MUSIC Jan. 21

Smooth & Funky at Roscoe’s Jazz Lounge Enjoy a new show series at Roscoe’s featuring Rory Seldon with InnerSession, Debbie JacobsRey and Michael E Chaney. Have some dinner at Roscoe’s next door and bring it into the Jazz Lounge Eating Room. Then get ready to “work it off!” Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show kicks off at 8 p.m. Plan to hang out until midnight. 21 and over.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 21 Cost: $10 Details: 562-522-8488 Venue: Roscoe’s Jazz Lounge, 730 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Jan. 22

Six String Society - After Dark Debuting at the historic Harvelle’s in downtown Long Beach, see a brand new version of Six String Society show, After Dark — The Roaring Twenties, featuring Julia Othmer, Taylor John Williams and Whitney Shay. This is going to go beyond anything the group has ever done as it mixes a cabaret jazz vibe into a living room.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 22 Cost: $25 and up Details: tinyurl.com/six-stringsociety Venue: Harvelle’s Downtown Long Beach, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Jan. 29

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Dala In Concert Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for vocal group of the year, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala write and sing in a harmony best described as angelic. Since penning their first song together in 2002, these best friends have released five albums and toured across North America. Drawing upon influences like The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Dala writes songs that are both catchy and insightful with an ethereal soprano and velvety alto, creating the lush harmonies that have become their trademark.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 29 Cost: $20 to $30 Details: www.torrancearts. org/show/dala Venue: James R Armstrong Theatre, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance

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Antonio Flores Healing Winds Originally from El Salvador, Flores is passionate about Andean wind instruments — everything from their history and cultural significance, to creating them and making music with them. He has performed with Vientos de los Andes, Aconcagua and Inca the Peruvian Ensemble and toured the western U.S. and parts of Asia.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 29 Cost: $23 and up Details: www.grandvision.secure.force.com/healing-winds Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Jan. 30

Thelma Houston, The Miracles Review and The Contours Get ready for three Mowtown legends in one show. Enjoy all of your favorite hits from Thelma Houston, The Miracles Review, and The Contours.

Time: 3 p.m., Jan. 30 Cost: $45 Details: 562-916-8500; cerritoscenter.com Venue: Theater: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos PureBread Alvas Showroom presents PureBread, Southern California’s first tribute to the Soft Rock supergroup of the ’70s, Bread. Driven by his deep love and admiration for the music of Bread, and in particular David Gates, band leader Ray Koukal was lead to put together a band of stellar musicians to help him pay tribute to this group in early 2021 and they’ve been working very hard to present this music to you in a very heartfelt and respectful way.

Time: 4 p.m., Jan. 30 Cost: $20 Details: www.alvasshowroom. com/event/Purebread Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Feb. 4

The Springsteen Experience Josh Schreiber’s high-octane journey through Bruce Springsteen’s brilliant catalog of music. Hear favorites: Born to Run, Hungry Heart, Sherry Darling, Glory Days and many more.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 4 Cost: $28 and up Details: www.grandvision.secure. force.com/springsteen-experience Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Feb. 6

Con el Alma Maestra Sarah Parra presents her company members in Con el Alma, a recital of new and classic flamenco choreography.

Time: 2 p.m., Feb. 6 Cost: $27 and up Details: www.grandvision.org/ event/con-el-alma Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Feb. 12

Paul Williams Songbook Celebrate America’s most prolific songwriter and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee with singers Laura Ellis and John Adkison and musicians. Paul Williams is an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning artist who has written songs from The Rainbow Connection (Kermit the Frog) to Evergreen (Barbra Streisand). Spend the evening getting lost in the memories that his music brings and creating new ones by discovering songs that could become your new favorites.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 12 Cost: $25 to $35 Details: www.titkt.choicecrm.net/ TOCA/PaulWilliamsSongbook Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts, 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance A Jazz Brunch Come out and enjoy the smooth jazzy sounds of sax player and vocalist, Bennie J, as he makes his California and West Coast performance debut plus the sultry smooth voice of Elisa Gomez Taylor. Mask requirements will be enforced.

Time: 11a.m. to 3p.m., Feb. 12 Cost: $45 Details: 310-489-2555, cmsann@aol.com to RSVP Venue: At The Links — Victoria Golf Course, 340 MLK Jr. St., Carson

ART

Jan. 25

Editor’s Note: Due to the current COVID-19 surge in the Los Angeles area, please be advised to check ahead to confirm if events will still be happening before purchasing tickets.

THEATER Jan. 20

Murder On The Orient Express Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, the world’s best detective, is soon to be at the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre solving the mystery of the Murder on the Orient Express. The luxury train is stuck in a snowdrift and passengers wake to find a murder and a killer in their midst. The passengers are an elaborate cast of characters and all have solid alibis.

But who had motive? Who had access? And will the killer strike again?

Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20 to Feb. 12 Cost: $14 to $24 Details: 562-494-1014; www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

Jan. 21

The Collaborative — Improv For Warriors 2 Bravo Company is once again partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project to support those who have sacrificed for this country.

Join an evening of improv comedy and fun for all ages. One hundred percent of Bravo Company’s share of ticket sales will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Bravo Company was founded in 2014 to provide a brand of live theater inspired by classic vaudeville comedy with highly interactive and family friendly entertainment.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 21, 22 Cost: $20 Details: lbplayhouse.org/ Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

Jan. 28

The Collaborative — Welcome to the Vantage Point Celebrate the Lunar New Year as Company of Angels presents an improvised family-friendly comedy show. Take a theatrical journey through a diverse landscape of American theater as the company uses audience suggestions to improvise scenes in three iconic theatrical styles.

Time: 8 p.m., Jan. 28, 29 Cost: $15 Details: lbplayhouse.org/?tribe_ events=welcome-to-the-vantagepoint Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach Penn & Teller It’s sure to be a magical night when Penn & Teller, crowned eight times as “Las Vegas Magicians of the Year,” amaze audiences. The

duo’s 17-year run at The Rio AllSuite Hotel & Casino is the longest running and one of the most-beloved headline acts in Las Vegas history, outselling every other resident magician on The Strip.

Time: 8 p.m. Jan. 28 Cost: $95 and up Details: 562-916-8500; www.cerritoscenter.com Venue: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos

Jan. 29

Caress of Steel Enjoy a classic 1974 -82 RUSH re-creation with Brian Montrey on guitar and bass pedals; Sean Jones performing lead vocals, bass, keyboards and bass pedals; and Paul Pechak on drums and percussion.

Time: 8 p.m. Jan. 29 Cost: $25 Details: www.alvasshowroom. com/caress-of-steel-2 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Feb. 4

The Collaborative LOVE, LINDA (The Life of Mrs. Cole Porter) In this tour-de-force one-woman show, Linda Lee Thomas (Mrs. Cole Porter), candidly recounts, through song and story, her life’s journey with Cole Porter. Though Porter was gay, their companionship and love lasted through 35 years of marriage and a spectacular, glamor-filled life. With innovative arrangements, the timeless music and lyrics of Cole Porter weave through the compelling narrative of Love, Linda, examining the darker sides of their life, while also celebrating the deep love that blossomed through their unconventional relationship.

Time: 8 p.m., Feb. 4, 5 and 2 p.m., Feb. 6 Cost: $20 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org/ love-linda-the-life-of-mrs-coleporter Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E Anaheim St., Long Beach

COMEDY Jan. 29

Laugh Hard Comedy Jam and Entertainment Comedy line up includes: Stephen Caddell, Henry Coleman, Brandon Wiley, Rose Nelson, Rodger Rudd and Fancy Footwork.

Time: 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., Jan. 29 Cost: $20 Details: https://tinyurl.com/laughhard Venue: The Main Plaza, 22005 Main St., Carson

Studio Soup Join a quarterly series of candid conversations about process, featuring guest artists who share their experience and practice.

Artist Peggy Reavey hosts this closer look at the unique ways artists move from original impulse to finished piece — how their work comes to be. Join the conversation with Reavey and San Pedrobased photographers Ray Carofano, Dennis Keeley and Guillaume Zuili. Eventbrite registration is required for this event.

Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 25 Cost: Free Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ studio-soup-tickets Venue: Online

Jan. 20

PORTALS PORTALS reflects on the transformative nature of passageways — contemplating ideas of boundaries, entrance and egress, progress and travel into the unknown.

Working in tapestry, drawing, neon sculpture, resin and site-specific installation among other mixed media, the artists explore transformation, with the Port of Los Angeles as a relevant foil. PORTALS invites an experiential look at the work of nine contemporary artists whose works speak to the nature of these life-altering gateways.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays to Saturdays, Jan. 20 to March 26 Cost: Free Details: www.angelsgateart.org Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro Stuart Hamilton: Earthly Meditations Earthly details taken out of context — stones, sticks, and bone fragments — are arranged in geometric patterns reflecting a sense of order in a meditative process that carefully considers the natural world. This juxtaposition — of the simple, small and oft disregarded — against the visual complexity of land formations in rhythmic topographic line, invites an alternative consideration and appreciation.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays to Saturdays, Jan. 20 to March 26 Cost: Free Details: www.angelsgateart.org/ home/plan-your-visit Venue: Angels gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Jan. 29

Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?

Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? began with imaginative titles concealed inside fortune cookies. Each artist created a work inspired by the title they randomly received, and then lyrics were created inspired by the images, and songs were composed based around the lyrics. The challenge was the brainchild of Bondo Wyszpolski — arts writer for Easy Reader and Peninsula Magazine.

Time: 4 to 6 p.m., Jan. 29 opening reception and awards ceremony.

Through Feb. 28 Cost: Free Details: www.pvld.org Venue: Malaga Cove Library, 2400 Vía Campesina, Palos Verdes Estates

FILM

Jan. 20

BLUE/S Screening Series— The Blue/s Music The BLUE/S Screening Series is a spin-off of the 2021 ESMoA Video Art + Film Festival, where longer than 60-sec films will be virtually screened for a long weekend.

Among 120 submissions, 12 were selected to be virtually screened on ESMoA’s website. January screenings include two documentaries about blues music: Bluesman by Nikolai Soric (Germany) and The Search by Diego Pani (Italy). ESMoA will host additional virtual screenings in February, March and April. Please visit the ESMoA Calendar for more information.

Time: Jan. 20 to Jan. 23 Cost: Free Details: 424-277-1020; esmoa@ artlab21.org Esmoa.org Venue: El Segundo Museum of Art, 208 Main St., El Segundo

Feb. 2

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the U.K. to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience.

Time: 9 to 11:15 p.m., Feb. 2 Cost: $9 to $13.50 Details: https://arttheatre.easyware-ticketing.com/events Venue: Art Theatre Long Beach, 2025 E. 4th St., Long Beach

COMMUNITY Jan. 22

Outdoor Volunteer Day Come help the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy restore habitat on the 22-acre restoration site to create a home for rare cactus wrens and gnatcatchers with beautiful views of Catalina Island.

Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Jan. 22 Cost: Free Details: https://pvplc.volunteerhub.com/ Venue: Alta Vicente Reserve, 31290 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes

Jan. 25

Bad Art Now’s your chance to show off your best “bad” art! Each participant will be given a canvas that’s been painted already. With other provided craft supplies, you’ll have 30 minutes to make your canvas as ugly as possible. The top three will be chosen by the group and win a prize. Registration is limited to 30 participants, grades 6-12 only. Registration is required.

Time: 4 to 5:30 p.m., Jan. 25 Cost: Free Details: https://tinyurl.com/bad-art Venue: Peninsula Center Library Community Room,701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates Deeper Dive Webinar Cabrillo Walewatch presents Deeper Dive, a monthly webinar series investigating the lives of whales and other marine mammals.

Time: 7 p.m. Jan. 25 Cost: Free Details: www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org Venue: Online

[continued on following page]

Jan. 29

Family Nature Club: Wildlife in Winter Join the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy for the next Virtual Family Nature Club to explore the topic of wildlife in winter. Learn about the special adaptations animals have that help them survive in the winter and do a fun craft. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Time: 9 a.m., Jan. 29 Cost: Free Details: https://pvplc.org/event/ fncjan29/ Venue: Online

RANDOMLetters [Letters, from p. 7]

Capital Insurrection

RLN, Jan. 6, 2022 In reviewing our unfortunate Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection I have needed to prioritize my activities and attitudes.

Despite the flaws in our former slave state that clings to capitalism and greed as if to a last dying breath, I do not want to lose the elements of fair elections such as one person one vote and truthful leaders. From now until election day in November, I will work for the election of reasonable, hard working politicians.

I will not allow the rabble, who are too fixed on fear and grievance politics to make a shambles of this nation. The John Lewis Freedom to

Jan. 29

Outdoor Volunteer Day Get outdoors and make a difference by helping the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy remove invasive grasses to enable rare coastal sage scrub habitat to thrive as a home of local native plants and wildlife.

Time: 9 a.m., to 12 p.m. Jan. 29 Cost: Free Details: https://pvplc.volunteerhub.com/ Venue: White Point Nature Preserve, 1600 W. Paseo del Mar, San Pedro

Vote Act is essential to our democracy! The fecal remnant of slavery, the filibuster must go as well.

Robin Doyno Mar Vista

From Dark to Light

If the U.S. returns to a pattern of greater competency and responsibility in Statesmanship, its soft power and prestige will probably once again prove resilient.

Although, if the U.S. chooses a course of narrow economic nationalism and gratuitous provocation of its closest allies, then the balance of possibilities may well tip in favor of the darker scenario.

The quality of U.S. global leadership is above all, the caliber of the President. We can remember how the Covid spread here in the

Ongoing

PVP Land Conservancy Rapid Response Team Work alongside the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy staff around the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve to help protect important wildlife habitat. Help with trail maintenance, fence building, installing signage and more. No experience needed. 15 and up.

Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Fridays and Saturday Details: https://pvplc.volunteerhub.com Cost: Free Location: Entrance of Chandler Preserve, meet at Dapple Gray Elementary School baseball fields

U.S. and the contradictory edicts that followed with unproven medicine and conspiracies that were without any science. We know China was hiding the true nature of the Covid pandemic, although we were shocked when the Donald Trump administration was praising Beijing for doing a good job.

To bring about the positive future in America, it will require good leadership as well as our country to sacrifice narrow selfinterest for pursuing a larger global good for the country and the world.

What was lacking in the past presidency is a reminder of just how dramatically U.S. performance will have to change to tip the balance from a dark future to a brighter one.

John Winkler San Pedro

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

January 20 - February 2, 2022

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[Shake-up, from p. 1]

Shake-up

man representatives said they would hire more African American gang intervention workers in response to the critique made by Volunteers of America’s lead Gang Reduction and Youth Development case manager, LaNaisha Edwards, at the Jan. 7 press conference. Toberman officials did not confirm this information after repeated phone calls on the matter.

Civic leaders at the Jan. 7 press conference questioned the decision to hire Spagnoli in the first place given the cloud of allegations she was under, and more importantly, questioned why it was thought having a former police chief run a gang

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

January 20 - February 2, 2022

Controversial former Beverly Hills Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli, who was hired as director of social justice, but resigned shortly afterwards. File photo

Edwards said. “And we still don’t have it.”

Questions arose because of the lack of an official announcement for such a controversial hire.

When asked about the title given to Spagnoli, Kiyan said that while the name is new, the position is not. But she didn’t offer an explanation for how the new title related to the work of gang intervention or gang prevention.

Spagnoli was the first female police chief in Beverly Hills history. She served on the board of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and had previously led the San Leandro and Benicia police departments in Northern California.

The troubles of the once trailblazing chief began in 2018 when the city of Beverly Hills was forced to defend a couple of dozen lawsuits, accusing Spagnoli of making racist comments, retaliating against officers, and showing favoritism toward subordinates with whom she had sexual liaisons.

Among the lawsuits that were settled was a claim made by a former police captain, Mark Rosen, who was the highest-ranking Jewish member of the department, who had accused Spagnoli of denying him promotional opportunities based on his religion and making anti-Semitic remarks.

The city settled the suit for $2.3 million.

According to contemporaneous reporting on her retirement, Spagnoli had once referred to the yarmulkes worn by observant Jews as “funny little hats,” and asked if she had to “dress Mexican” when invited to dinner at a Latino employee’s home and reacted with revulsion when informed that an employee was gay.

One complaint references prior allegations of Spagnoli of having sex with a subordinate in exchange for promotions during her tenure in San Leandro, to establish a pattern for a similar accusation while she was at the Beverly Hills Police Department.

QUICK RESPONSE TIME!

14

intervention program would be effective.

Spagnoli retired in May 2020 following more than two dozen claims of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment filed against herself and the city of Beverly Hills. The city settled the cases rather than fight them in court.

In a 2018 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Spagnoli denied allegations of improper relationships with subordinates but stopped short of denying the allegations about the racist remarks.

At the Jan. 7 press conference, Edwards called out Toberman’s tone-deafness in Spagnoli’s hiring and the gang intervention program’s general neglect of communities outside of San Pedro.

“We keep asking why we don’t have African American representation in gang intervention workers to work with youth in our community,”

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In 2019, a jury awarded more than $1 million in damages to a group of lieutenants who had accused Spagnoli of workplace harassment and retaliation for giving depositions that were favorable to Rosen’s lawsuit. The amount was later lowered to $850,000 by a judge, but Gage reportedly said he also recovered more than $3 million in attorney’s fees and court costs in that case.

In all, the lawsuits Gage’s clients brought against Spagnoli cost the city about $8 million.

In 2018, less than 24 hours after Spagnoli’s interview with the Times where she did not deny the racist remarks, the city settled Rosen’s lawsuit.

“Spagnoli oversaw gang intervention, gang prevention, diversion program, re-entry program as well as drug prevention programs with teeth,” Kiyan said on Jan. 5.

Kiyan defended Spagnoli, saying that the references of all the candidates considered were checked and that the hiring was under the prerogative of the operation side of Toberman rather than Toberman’s board of directors.

“Rumors start and rumors go forward because people don’t understand,” Kiyan said to Random Lengths. “One of the things I was told when I was hired at Toberman is that Toberman is a place for people to get a second chance.”

While a city choosing to settle a lawsuit is not necessarily an indication of guilt or innocence of allegations, the Beverly Hills Police Department has been fending off allegations that their taskforces dubbed Operation Safe Streets and the Rodeo Drive Taskforce were practicing racial profiling.

This past September, the city of Beverly Hills was sued by a Black couple alleging that their arrest was part of a campaign to arrest Black people for trivial reasons and at disproportionate rates.

The couple has retained the services of Gage and civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump in their suit against the city.

Kiyan said she had done extensive investigations and talked to a lot of people with first-hand knowledge of Spagnoli’s troubles and said she was confident that the allegations were not true.

Kiyan likened Spagnoli’s hiring to the hiring of former gang members working in gang intervention and prevention.

“I’m hoping you won’t continue these rumors and make a negative impression of somebody that has really great experience and should be given a chance,” Kiyan said. “I’m really disappointed that this has happened when we have people who are former gang members who were given a chance to be successful.”

Now Toberman’s board is tasked with finding a new executive director.

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ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME Case No. 21LBCP00350 Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles Petition of: Ganira Angelia Quintanilla for Change of Name TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner Ganira Angelia Quintanilla filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Ganira Angelia Quintanilla to Janira Angelia Herrera The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

Notice of Hearing: Date: 02/17/2022, Time: 8:30 a.m., Dept.: 26, Room: -The address of the court is 275 Magnolia, Long Beach, CA 90802, South District A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: Random Lengths

News Date: 12/16, 12/23, 01/06, 01/20/22, Michael P Vicencia, Judge of the Superior Court

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The animals at the Harbor Animal Shelter have ongoing need for used blankets, comforters, pet beds.* Drop off at Harbor Animal Shelter 957 N. Gaffey St.,San Pedro • 888-452-7381, x 143 PLEASE SPAY/NEUTER YOUR PET! *In any condition. We will wash and mend.

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1 Like many downtown streets, directionally 2 Leave some work?

3 “1812 Overture” sound effect 4 Hiccup, for example 5 Totally unhinged 6 Did with minimal effort, so to speak 7 Disclaimer for some seasoning blends 8 Get more InStyle, e.g.

9 Game scheduled for December 29, 2021 (Ducks vs. Sooners) 10 Orioles’ org.

11 Actress Powley of “The King of Staten Island” 12 ___-Ida (Tater Tots maker) 15 Potter’s appliance 18 Chinese dumpling, or a 2018 Pixar short named for one 20 Becomes narrower 23 “Banana Boat Song” shout 24 Object of devotion

January 20 - February 2, 2022

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25 Hand-warming tube 28 Plant gametes 30 Restore from brainwashing 31 The “bad” cholesterol, for short 32 Valet in P.G. Wodehouse novels 33 “___ Lap” (1983 racehorse film set in Australia) 34 “I’m hungry enough to ___ horse!”

35 Hall of Fame QB Aikman 36 Edge that sits on a car wheel 37 “And Just Like That ...” network 42 Cartoon kid who says “What the deuce?”

43 Doctrinal rejection 44 Affirmative votes 46 Violin aperture shaped like a curvy letter 47 Red-___ (cinnamon candies) 48 CIA forerunner during WWII 49 Prefix with dactyl 51 Long-legged bird 53 Big name in gluten-free bread 54 El ___ (Spanish national hero) 55 Suffix with lime 56 “Orange Crush” band

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1 “The Lord of the Rings” army members 5 Hosp. employee 8 “First Blood” figure 13 Spring’s opposite, in tides 14 “I’m onto your scheme, forwards and backwards!”

15 “The Miracle Worker” subject 16 Vesuvius’s Sicilian counterpart 17 Mix-and-match 19 City where the Demon Deacons play home games 21 Wine bouquet 22 “SNL” cast member who plays Dionne Warwick 26 Strong longing 27 Okra unit 29 Grammy winner Erykah 30 Prepare eggs, in a way 32 Title words preceding “Cooking,” “Painting,” and “Missing Out” 33 Prokofiev orchestral work often played at children’s concerts 38 Angelic instruments 39 Slander counterpart 40 Fabric or liquid finisher?

41 Acronym for a drone-like robotic unit used for underwater research 42 Far from outgoing 45 Reason for optimism 50 Lauder of cosmetics fame 52 Movie (with a 2021 sequel) that features the characters in the circles

54 Burpee item that may yield a bunch 57 Can’t pay up 58 Perfect examples 59 Bollywood actress Aishwarya ___ 60 Get higher 61 “The Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan 62 Causes of some EMT calls 63 Piano layout

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RLNews is looking for freelance food and music writers who are knowledgeable about San Pedro and Long Beach area restaurants, culture and music scenes. Experienced writers preferred, but will consider aspiring bloggers. We are looking for writers who have a curiosity for a wide range of cuisines or music in the greater LA / Long Beach Harbor Area.

Committment to writing to deadline is a must. Having a strong social media following and bi-lingual skills is a plus.

Submit inquiries and any links to your writing to editor@ randomlengthsnews.com or call 310-519-1442 weekdays.

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January 20 - February 2, 2022

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant