Journalism

When the circus came to Pico Blvd;
a look inside the karate studio;
and the mystery of the Pico Teriyaki House: they’re never open, but the guy is always in there.
http://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/pico-diary-3/

There were two Nancy Davises in Hollywood in the early ’50s. One called the other a Communist. That was not true. The first one ended up in the White House, and the other one ended up in Ventura, California, flipping burgers in a snack bar.
story @TheNation.com http://bit.ly/1TYDchM

Lunch at the Cemitas Poblanas truck, kindergarteners on their way to make pizza, and a chat with the EMT guys at the Fire Station
— my new Pico Diary, at the LA Review of Books: HERE.

Tavis Smiley talks about Martin Luther King’s final year—the year that began with his speech condemning the war in Vietnam, where he called the US “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”  That year ended, of course, with the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis.
Print version of the longer interview published online on MLK Day HERE

The actor and playwright talks about performing in her home town of Baltimore after the police killed Freddie Gray–dramatizing the school-to-prison pipeline–and organizing theater audiences in the process.
Continued at TheNation.com HERE

Tavis Smiley talks about Martin Luther King’s final year—the year that began with his speech condemning the war in Vietnam, where he called the US “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”  That year ended, of course, with the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis.
At TheNation.com, HERE

A caravan of four Stanford football buses roars down Pico Boulevard with a police escort — in town for the Rose Bowl. I stand at the corner with a delivery guy from the Domino’s Pizza down the block — he’s an older Latino man.

He asks, “Is it Obama?” . . .

Continue reading  at LA Review of Books HERE

If possessing two AR-15s and 2,500 rounds of ammo makes you a terror suspect, then we need to investigate several million Americans, most of whom are older white men — and Republicans.
The story at TheNation.com, HERE

An “epic recipe fail”: Grape salad for Thanksgiving?  In Minnesota?  How could the New York Times get it so wrong?
the full story at the LA Review of Books, HERE

Q. You grew up in the fifties in Chicago in a world you call “Negroland.” What was “Negroland”?
Margo Jefferson: Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty. Children in Negroland were warned that few Negroes enjoyed privilege or plenty and that most whites would be glad to see them returned to indigence, deference, and subservience.
–“10 Questions for Margo Jefferson,” continued at TheNation.com, HERE.