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Mexico
Oh, MexicoIt sounds so sweet with the sun sinking lowThe moon’s so bright like to light up the nightMake everything all right James Taylor, “Mexico,” 1975, from the album Gorilla Watching the coverage of the protests in Los Angeles, one thing stands out. It is Mexico’s green, white, and red flag that has become a…
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Pillow Talk
When I first saw Ray, he was sitting alone at the other end of the bar. Ray is a “peeler;” he compulsively peels the label off his beer bottle between swigs. A jet-black head of hair atop an olive complexion gave him a dark, swarthy, almost brooding look. I could tell he was Latino –…
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Party like it’s 1999
Mark was a mess. But he was rich, so as drinking buddies go, when you’re in your 30s and up to your nipples in credit card debt, he was a good friend to have. Plus he had a really cute Latino boyfriend that I had less than honorable designs on, so I figured “befriending” Mark…
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Nursie
There are many dedicated people who, working together, make the elderly, the disabled, and the injured feel safe and “at home” in an assisted living facility. From the director to the driver, everyone pulls on the same oar to meet the needs of residents. Usually. Human nature being what it is, and given we are…
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Orange!
My hometown of Glendale in California, a suburb of Los Angeles known as “the jewel city of the Verdugos,” prides itself on not being a part of “the Valley,” properly named the San Fernando Valley. It sits at the east end of the Valley, and the Verdugo Mountains, foothills of the much larger San Gabriel…
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A Soapy Reach Around
The relationship between a caregiver and a disabled person can be confusing for one, the other, or both. It takes practice, and patience. As a disabled person who cannot even put on my own shoes without assistance, I am completely dependent on caregivers to get through my day. This can be difficult psychologically, because as…
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Swimming to Long Beach
29 miles off the coast of the continental United States, located southwest of Los Angeles, you’ll find the island of Santa Catalina, known simply as Catalina to Angelenos. The Glendale Y.M.C.A. has operated a week-long summer camp on the island at their facility known as Camp Fox since 1926. It was here that my father,…
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Boys Town
It rained all day. Rain in Los Angeles makes the city feel clean. The smog disappears; the dust is washed off windowsills and handrails. There’s a distinctive smell in the air after a Los Angeles rain: it’s called petrichor, from the Greek words petra (meaning stone), and ichor (from Greek mythology, referring to the fluid that flows like blood in…
Your mileage may vary.