Or, in my case, handywoman. Now that I am done with the academic school year, I am helping out my aging parents at their house. I am changing precariously placed light bulbs, moving out old furniture, and (gasp!) helping them clean out the garage.

I find myself needing tools and supplies, and I hate the big box retailers like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Many neighborhoods have lost the mom and pop hardware stores; otherwise, they are not well known.

Living in Downey, however, means I can go to the All-American Home Center, which has been a local, family-owned business for nearly 50 years. Many of my friends back in high school had their first job there. Even though a Home Depot opened right next door, they’ve managed to stay competitive.

All-American Home Center

7201 East Firestone Blvd.

Downey CA 90241

(562) 927-8666

Link to Google Maps

This weekend, people in Downey and the surrounding areas should come visit the Farmer’s Market. Since it’s debut a month ago, the market has doubled in size. More fruit vendors have set up shop, some prepared food vendors have shown up, more flower growers have arrived and there is now a band playing for the crowd.

The band was playing marimbas two weeks ago, and one week ago it consisted of a man singing with guitar accompaniment. It lends a friendly, welcoming air to the street scene.

As a teenager growing up in Downey, I believed it to be a stuffy, conservative city full of old people. I was glad to get out of it and go into LA proper, and I was thrilled when I left for college. Now that I’m approaching 30 (!), I appreciate the view of Downey that the farmers market is giving me: a diverse group of people who are not nearly as stuffy as they once seemed.

Downey Farmer’s Market

8200 2nd St.

Downey, CA 90241

Link to Google Maps

Despite all these stressors, my drive home was high spirited. I ignored the asshole drivers, the wailing sirens, the construction. I ignored the heat and the smog. Instead I saw three people who made me feel oh-so-very good about the end of the school year and the start of summertime:

A small boy with a homemade kite, made of construction paper and crépe streamers, trailing on the hot ground behind him, as he ran down Vermont and Vernon. The sad, little kite was not airborne, but he willed the kite into the air as he ran down the street. Car horns bellowed behind me: the light was green, and I wasn’t moving.

Un vaquero urbano, with his sombrero y botas, gliding down Vernon by the 110, on his sea foam-colored cruiser bike. As I craned my neck to look at him, I slammed on the brakes and avoided crashing into the car in front of me.

Sitting on my porch, laptop in my lap, dog at my feet, I can see the neighbor’s kid from across the street, playing with his younger sister. His bike lies akimbo, abandoned on his driveway. He rides his sister’s bike instead, confectionery pink, streamers whipping his arms as he zooms up and down our empty suburban street. He is an amalgam of the old man and the boy I saw on my drive home. In the distance, I can hear the ice cream truck approaching.

It appears that I will not be getting laid off this year; 500 clerical jobs will be cut instead. My disdain for the LAUSD bureaucracy is well-known. While I feel bad that any person must lose their job (especially in this economic climate), I know that the silver lining is that LAUSD might start hacking off bits of its bureaucracy. I joke with my friends and family that LAUSD can finally lay off positions like, “Stamp Licker”, “Phone Dialer”, “Pencil Sharpener,” and (my personal favorite) “Everyone on this list.”

I waited a few days before posting to filter out rumors and the like. To no avail, as no rumor was dispelled and more were created as the week went on.

I’ve heard that employees will have furlough days. I’ve heard that this will be for clerical only, and I’ve heard that this will be for all employees. Who knows? What I do know is that UTLA president A.J. Duffy has pointed out that any furlough days for teachers will be in violation of the contract, and therefore illegal.

I have also heard that there will be a freeze on all school supply requests. No one in an official capacity (LAUSD or UTLA) has been able to confirm or deny this rumor. What I do know is that my department at my school placed our supply order months ago, and everything was delivered to us two weeks ago.

I have heard that arts and sports will be cut (so-called “non-essential courses”), but again, no one in an official capacity has confirmed or denied this.

The only wise thing I have heard is this statement, taken from The Daily Breeze:

Duffy said the union instead is proposing the closure and sale of the district’s downtown Beaudry Building headquarters, transferring mini-district administrators to school sites, cutting layers of middle management and reducing outside contracts. “Then there would be money for teachers and educational programs,” Duffy said. “LAUSD’s bureaucracy is the single biggest impediment to education in Los Angeles.”

I heard on the radio, though, that any sale of real estate can only be used to purchase more real estate due to a clause in the City Charter. Like we’d be able to get rid of it in this market anyhow.

Oof. This is too much.

Officially, LAUSD has come out against the strike action. They have stated to newspapers that they want to see “teachers in the classroom” and that they are “concerned about student safety.” But, while teachers began planning the strike action months ago, LAUSD dragged its feet taking the teachers to court. LAUSD only filed for a temporary restraining order last Thursday. A judge denied the request, and LAUSD retaliation seems extraordinarily unlikely at this point. After all, they’re concerned about the fall out. United Teachers LA has vowed to fight any lay-offs: which means LAUSD and the Governor should be biting their nails and shaking in their boots.

My friends at charter schools tell me that they will not be participating: their higher-ups informed them a few weeks back that any budget cuts will be absorbed by the administrators and that teachers will not feel the pinch. Their unions remain mum on the situation. I don’t know if any other districts will be participating. (Do you know, gentle reader?)

This strike could only signal the beginning. UTLA estimates that nearly all its members will be participating today.

LAUSD votes on its proposed budget for the coming year next Tuesday.

Karen Salazar is an English teacher at Jordan High in Watts. By the accounts of her students, seen here in this YouTube videoand this YouTube video, Ms. Salazar is an inspirational educator, going above and beyond the curriculum. This, apparently is the problem.

In an email I received from a colleague familiar with “Students 4 Salazar”, he states that:

Salazar has been visited and “observed” by the administration over 15 times in the past year. During one of the visits, an administrator criticized her for having students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a LAUSD approved text. When she objected to this criticism, she was told that her teachings where too “Afro-centric.” She was then told that the school would not renew her teaching contract for the upcoming school year.

Students are staging a protest Thursday, June 5 outside Jordan High at 3:15 pm.

Jordan High School

2265 E 103rd St

Los Angeles, CA 90002

(323) 568-4100

More details after the jump.

Salazar is a Salvadorian, who is using what is known in educational circles as “culturally responsive pedagogy.” The principal, Stephen Strachan, is accused by “Students 4 Salazar” of taking a negative view of her emphasis on the “Black Experience.”

Amazingly, this contradicts common logic: with increases in violence between Hispanics and Blacks in South LA, what schools need is more educators tackling racial and cultural issues in the classroom. Even more refreshing is seeing students spearhead the movement to save Salazar. They are getting some support from the Association of Raza Educators. The public at large is being encouraged to contact the following players and give them an earful.

Stephen Strachan, principal

(323) 568-4100

Richard Vladovic, LAUSD board member representing Jordan HS

(323) 242-1300

richard.vladovic@lausd.net

My mother just told me that she found a new litter of kittens in the backyard garden shed. She had seen this cat wandering around for a few days, but had scared it off each time. Apparently the poor thing had been looking for a place to birth.

My mom, while not a fan of cats, was kind enough to clear out a corner of the shed, lay out a box with some old towels, and provide some warm milk for the new family.

The saddest thing about the mama cat is she has a collar: she belongs to someone, but this someone did not spay her. My mom called Animal Control, but I always fear the worst in shelters. If you want a pet, please go visit a shelter. In Los Angeles in 2006-2007, some 23,000 animals were put down. Please do your part and save the kittehs and dags!

SEACCA

9777 Seaaca Street

Downey, CA 90241

(562) 803-3301

LA Shelter Locater

888-4LAPET1

888-452-7381

thanks to icanhas for the cat picture

As I have mentioned before, state budget cuts are threatening most school districts—not just LAUSD. The California Teachers Association has provided a list of protests and rallies being held statewide to bring attention to this matter.

Actions being held locally include those by United Teachers Los Angeles, who will be picketing before and after school to make parents and community aware of the budget cuts. Teachers from Burbank, Pasadena, Whittier, Downey, Long Beach, and all over Orange County will be gathering at schools, civic centers, and city halls in protest.

A short list of ideas for Teacher Day, after the jump!

• If you have the money to buy a gift certificate, then office supply stores are great. Teachers spend a lot of their own money on supplies, and this would alleviate some stress. If you want something more personal, buy a gift certificate to a masseuse you know and like.

• You and your child should make a card. Nothing major—even a quick note will suffice.

• Bake some cookies. Or a pie. Some teachers will even allow you to take them out to dinner. In fact, if you’d like, you’re more than welcome to come over tomorrow and make my dinner, if you so prefer.

• Never underestimate the power of a small “thank you” delivered by a student or a parent. Take a moment to shake their hand.

• If you are a teacher, take your colleagues out for a drink… or two. No more than three, you still have to drive home in time for that dinner.

When I lived in Hollywood, I would drive by some newly-remodeled storefront completely puzzled. The façade would have beautiful window decorations, a sign in modern typeface with some faux-foreign name, but there was no way of knowing what was inside: imported furniture? haute cuisine? haute couture? avant garde hair design? All this high-class pretense was tiresome—a fact lost on these business who popped up and disappeared like fungus.

When I started working in South LA, I was struck by the opposite fact: business façades not merely screamed out “LORENA’S HAIR SALON” but also provided a nice picture of a woman with a dramatic haircut next to blowdryer and a pair of scissors. “BARGAIN MARKET” had convenient pictures of the goods available within (evidenced by the picture at right).

While I realize I could delve into a socio-economic thesis (literacy rates in South LA, lack of English fluency) comparing these two locations, I prefer to admire the pop-art. Remember! Warhol started his career in advertisement illustration.

Annotated pics after the jump, including one which should probably be reviewed by Fleshbot.

Sonora Iron works seems like a very friendly place.

Mambo Auto Parts has a bright red background with these stylized line drawings of batteries and alternators. I have never seen any graffiti on this building.

(YOU MUST CLICK TO EMBIGGEN Don’t miss this one!)

Finally, le pièce de résistance, this cabinet maker on Broadway and 66th street. While most cabinet-makers in the area are bland (showing no skin, but showing plenty of fine workmanship), this cabinet maker emphasizes the real reason we remodel: to get some action on the kitchen island when the kiddies are at school. If we were in the valley, this would make a fabulous day shoot.

With the California Governor proposing up to $5 billion in cuts to the education budget, the LAUSD activists are busy working to increase awareness of the issue.

The governor has proposed a 10% cut across the board for all departments and agency in the state—including education. This may be one of the few things LAUSD and UTLA can agree on—cutting education funding is a very bad idea. Also remember: school districts all over California are being affected.

This Sunday, LAUSD teachers will be driving from downtown LA along Sunset Blvd to a middle school in Brentwood near Schwarzenegger’s home. They will be trailed by media and they are sure to be a rowdy bunch, honking and waiving signs.

Support your educators! According to this article in the Mercury News, most people are against cutting the education budget, yet they do not want an increase in taxes. Do the next best thing: call your legislators and representatives and give ‘em a piece of your mind.

The teachers’ union has also discussed the possibility of a one-hour strike during the first week of June.

Sunday May 4 3:00 p.m.

Miguel Contreras Learning Complex

Caravan to: Paul Revere Charter Middle School

(Near the Governor’s Brentwood home)

1450 Allenford Ave.

Brentwood CA.

Map of Caravan Route

Find your legislator by zip code

Picture from a Senior Care Center on El Segundo Blvd. in South LA.