I just came across a great article on America Ferrera that I found very inspiring. This is a great read, in the Los Angeles Daily Times/LA.com, for anybody who aspires to make it in the biz.
Enjoy:
http://www.la.com/celebs_and_gossip/profiles/Beyond_Betty.html
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Revisited: A Note on ZIP Codes
I recently posted a blog about ZIP codes where I pointed out that one of the ZIP codes in West Hollywood ends with the number, "69."
This, to date, is the only blog that I've gotten a comment on. Just one, and it was this one.
I wonder - did this person put "69" in the search field and stumble across my blog?
At least I'm getting traffic.
This, to date, is the only blog that I've gotten a comment on. Just one, and it was this one.
I wonder - did this person put "69" in the search field and stumble across my blog?
At least I'm getting traffic.
5 Words: A Writing Exercise
I've been assigned 5 words upon which I must create a blog! They are: 1. beam; 2. stack; 3. obtuse; 4. strike; 5. depth.
Here it goes!
There is a kind of depth that you experience when you're standing in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking up. It's not necessarily just what you can measure with your eyes. The beams of some of the West Side's tallest buildings shoot up into the air between window panes and panels of facade made from some form of grout. So many of them have touches of architectural design, yet none of the accents differ from the basic form more than an obtuse edge here and there. As Wilshire Boulevard winds gradually over a slightly graded hill, these buildings - in a stack so close together they're like dominoes that you fully intend to knock down later - grow drastically from the flat national cemetery to heights of 40 stories or more. As quickly as they grow, they fall back down again. You find yourself on a street lined with trees on either side that leads you to Beverly Hills. The experience is so grand and so brief that it might strike you as a dream. But it wasn't! After spending thirty minutes trying to figure out where to turn around, you do it again.
Here it goes!
There is a kind of depth that you experience when you're standing in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking up. It's not necessarily just what you can measure with your eyes. The beams of some of the West Side's tallest buildings shoot up into the air between window panes and panels of facade made from some form of grout. So many of them have touches of architectural design, yet none of the accents differ from the basic form more than an obtuse edge here and there. As Wilshire Boulevard winds gradually over a slightly graded hill, these buildings - in a stack so close together they're like dominoes that you fully intend to knock down later - grow drastically from the flat national cemetery to heights of 40 stories or more. As quickly as they grow, they fall back down again. You find yourself on a street lined with trees on either side that leads you to Beverly Hills. The experience is so grand and so brief that it might strike you as a dream. But it wasn't! After spending thirty minutes trying to figure out where to turn around, you do it again.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A Letter on Same Sex Marriage, With Thanks
At my current temp job I filter through all of the major and not-as-major papers in California. This morning, I came across a fantastic column from a staff member at the San Francisco Chronicle.
The column is titled, "Everyday life best argument for gay marriage." C.W. Nevius, the writer, is a heterosexual father of a gay 20-something year old man.
It's one thing for a well-spoken (or well-written) homosexual to stand on behalf of the gay community. It's another thing all together when a successful, family-oriented heterosexual man makes that stand.
Homosexuals have, generally speaking, been well organized for the past several years. As a community, gays and lesbians (and other groups that are generally lumped in) have sounded their voices clearly.
Since 2000, more and more heterosexuals, both prominent and ordinary, have begun to step up and show support for their friends and family in the gay community. It's a risk - many of them face opposition that could be detrimental to their livelihoods. That's why I'm so damn thankful that this writer made the bold choice to speak out in support during a time when the state of California is re-visiting gay marriage legislation on the state Supreme Court level.
Here's my message to him:
"A quick thank you for your fantastic piece in the Chronicle this morning. I monitor the papers in California for my company, and happened upon your article. I am a 22 year old independent film/television producer, director, writer, and actor in Los Angeles (this newspaper monitoring thing is a temp job I happen to really enjoy). I moved here a little over a year ago from Northeast Tennessee. Oh! And, I'm gay. I'm lucky, too - my parents have always been supportive. The community I grew up in was split somewhere, but I wouldn't say down the middle. It was small enough and my mom was prominent enough in the community that everyone knew who I was and that I was gay. I spent my teens worrying that being myself openly would ruin my dad's business or my mom's chances in local public office. As it happens, my dad's business is still doing very well. Were my mom still alive, a second or third run at public office would likely have been successful.
Okay, this isn't as quick as I had anticipated. I'll say this: It's heartwarming to read a heterosexual father of a gay son - a father who is obviously successful professionally and thereby can't be inept or excused as atypical - show such open support for not only his son, but his son's community. So many people have no opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians but don't say anything. It's like that story about the Protestant minister during the Holocaust who didn't speak up when his neighbors were taken away one-by-one for different parts of their identity, only to be left helpless when they came for him. On the other hand, the vocal minority has a fervent passion for exclusion and "correction" of "behaviors."
So, thank you. Thank you for speaking up. Thank you for lending your name, your credibility, and your position to those of us who need people outside of the community almost more than we need each other in order to come out of this truly equal.
You're a hero in my book."
The column is titled, "Everyday life best argument for gay marriage." C.W. Nevius, the writer, is a heterosexual father of a gay 20-something year old man.
It's one thing for a well-spoken (or well-written) homosexual to stand on behalf of the gay community. It's another thing all together when a successful, family-oriented heterosexual man makes that stand.
Homosexuals have, generally speaking, been well organized for the past several years. As a community, gays and lesbians (and other groups that are generally lumped in) have sounded their voices clearly.
Since 2000, more and more heterosexuals, both prominent and ordinary, have begun to step up and show support for their friends and family in the gay community. It's a risk - many of them face opposition that could be detrimental to their livelihoods. That's why I'm so damn thankful that this writer made the bold choice to speak out in support during a time when the state of California is re-visiting gay marriage legislation on the state Supreme Court level.
Here's my message to him:
"A quick thank you for your fantastic piece in the Chronicle this morning. I monitor the papers in California for my company, and happened upon your article. I am a 22 year old independent film/television producer, director, writer, and actor in Los Angeles (this newspaper monitoring thing is a temp job I happen to really enjoy). I moved here a little over a year ago from Northeast Tennessee. Oh! And, I'm gay. I'm lucky, too - my parents have always been supportive. The community I grew up in was split somewhere, but I wouldn't say down the middle. It was small enough and my mom was prominent enough in the community that everyone knew who I was and that I was gay. I spent my teens worrying that being myself openly would ruin my dad's business or my mom's chances in local public office. As it happens, my dad's business is still doing very well. Were my mom still alive, a second or third run at public office would likely have been successful.
Okay, this isn't as quick as I had anticipated. I'll say this: It's heartwarming to read a heterosexual father of a gay son - a father who is obviously successful professionally and thereby can't be inept or excused as atypical - show such open support for not only his son, but his son's community. So many people have no opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians but don't say anything. It's like that story about the Protestant minister during the Holocaust who didn't speak up when his neighbors were taken away one-by-one for different parts of their identity, only to be left helpless when they came for him. On the other hand, the vocal minority has a fervent passion for exclusion and "correction" of "behaviors."
So, thank you. Thank you for speaking up. Thank you for lending your name, your credibility, and your position to those of us who need people outside of the community almost more than we need each other in order to come out of this truly equal.
You're a hero in my book."
Saturday, March 1, 2008
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