Tag Archives: Los Angeles

No second trial in murdered gay teen case, gay rights group urges

courtesy Los Angeles Times

Link above, but there’s an update: They decided to retry the murderer of Larry King, Brandon McInerney, after all, still as an adult, but without the hate crime allegation. Now we have jurors from the first trial expressing a wish for leniency on the murderer, that in fact he was “bullied” by the victim, a classic case of the “homosexual panic” defense.

This makes me insane!

Can we have a little genderfuck scenario, please, as a bit of illustration just in case some can’t see the blatant homophobia here? Let’s pretend, for an instant, that the victim was a pretty, straight, 15 year old girl, “Jaye.” She’s popular in her school, perhaps she’s a cheerleader or some other kind of teenage extrovert, happily secure in her heterosexuality, so much so that when she meets “Larry,” a classmate who just happens to be a gay kid, Jaye can’t resist the urge to try and “change” him by overt flirting, perhaps exchanging some words back and forth over the period of a semester.

Larry just can’t stand this affront to his own secure sense of self, and he’s just had it up to here, so one day he brings in a handgun and shoots poor Jaye in the back of the head. Twice. Just to make sure the bitch is dead.

We can certainly understand what happened. Jaye was “bullying” Larry; we can understand his revenge even though it was a little extreme. But it’s certainly understandable that gay kids would go into “heterosexual panic” when threatened, so in a way, the killing was justified because of Jaye’s actions, in other words, she brought it on herself.

Let’s assume for an instant, dear reader, that the above scenario is what played out. Can you imagine for a second that we’d be having this conversation about this murder not being a hate crime or even all that serious to begin with?

No, you cannot, because our society is biased toward the majority, toward heterosexuals. Brandon McInerney should be retried for murder, with the hate crime clause intact. IMHO, this kid knew exactly what he was doing. He killed his classmate because Larry was gay.

New Bike Lane Comes to Downtown Los Angeles

In traffic-choked L.A., a car lane is given to bicycles.

Photo, J-Blue, Bike Lane (not the one in the story)

So happy to see stories like this, city government making good on their pledge for more bike lanes.

This one is from Koreatown to Downtown on 7th Street. The plan calls for 200 miles of bike lanes every five years, though (according to the story) some wonder if there’s funding to actually accomplish it.

I’m hopeful they do. Always have thought L.A. is a perfect bike town – great weather, fairly flat except for that band of hills separating city from valley, etc. – but even those are manageable.

Also hopeful that L.A. drivers – who are aggressive, who feel entitled to any patch of asphalt, who can be fracking murderous assholes with 3-ton battering rams! – will get with the program and learn to coexist on the road. This means, fellow cyclists, you must also follow traffic laws and become predictable – the best way to stay alive and in one piece.

Inland Empire seniors have nation’s second-worst access to public transit… and don’t try and cross a street, either, sucka

Inland Empire seniors have nation’s second-worst access to public transit, study says –

Inland Empire, from Julia Takes Pictures

Not that I was surprised to hear this, yet it is sad.

Makes you wonder what they were thinking when they planned the interurban sprawl of freeways and suburbs back in the 50s and 60s. That cars, no matter how many, would always be the solution. That internal combustion engines, no matter how polluting, would never exceed the capacity for the environment to clean itself from their toxins.

I suppose it must have seemed like nirvana at the time, all this cheap land away from from noise and problems of the city. Of course, now that nirvana is a nightmare.

As long as I’ve had a place in Palm Springs, we have been promised daily train service between the desert and Los Angeles. It’s been 10 years now, and so far it hasn’t happened. I, for one, am not holding my breath. Even though I’m moving back to the city from the desert, I still hope we see that one day as an option – not just for seniors, but for everyone.

Playin’ with Garage Band: Forest Dark podcast

out of The Forest Dark

Hey folks, just playing around again with the Mac (last time it was iMovie for the Cohen Hallelujah on the piano, to which I totally forgot about costume design, among other things…).

Podcast Forest Dark Chapter 9 opening

So today it was the podcast capabilities of Garage Band. I elected to do just the audio version, though it’s capable of doing video podcasts as well – as soon as I get a haircut.

I’m reading the opening of the second part of the The Forest Dark, when heroine Eden von Eiff goes back to Los Angeles to face up to some of the wreckage of her past.

Hope you enjoy. The podcast is about two minutes and some change.

L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan might actually happen (?)

Desert Sun story on L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan

This is the main story in the Desert Sun this morning. I have been waiting for this – rail expansion between Palm Springs (Indio) and Los Angeles the entire time I’ve had this place out here (almost 10 years).

It just makes so much sense. There are no good public transport options between the Coachella Valley and the L.A. Metro area. Can I tell you how much I hate that drive?

There is a Greyhound Bus, but since they eliminated the downtown Palm Springs station they’ve made it oh-so-unbelievably inconvenient – you either have to backtrack to Indio (30 miles in the wrong direction) or get yourself out to the sandy, desolate and windblown train stop to pick up the bus.

Sandy, desolate and windblown station.

Then, it stops at every little bumf*** burg between here and the city, before finally terminating at downtown L.A.’s bus station – which isn’t even adjacent or walking distance to Union Station or any other kind of subway/bus terminal, making it even more complicated, time consuming and just plain stupid.

No thanks.

In all my dreams of simple, efficient, fast and pleasant Southern California train travel I’ve never had the mistaken impression that someone would build the train line just for me. But I can tell you, I’d be a loyal and frequent customer! I learned to navigate L.A.s’ award-winning Metro system of light rail and buses and came to realize how much cheaper and less stressful my life would become the more I used it.

The era when the conventional wisdom about mass transit in L.A. – that you were either poor, stupid – or both – to use it, is long past. I believe it’s only a matter of time before trains connect all the urban areas of Southern California from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and inland. I’d love to see it happen while I’m still breathing.

Driver of Porsche gets 90 days in jail for hit-and-run involving bicyclist

Link to: Driver gets 90 days in jail for hit-and-run involving bicyclist – latimes.com.

Yay for bicycle rights!

One small step in the fight to get motorists to even acknowledge there are bicycles on the streets of L.A.

Honestly, it would be a great place for a bicycle renaissance. The topography is perfect for bicycles – largely flat, largely spread out, wide streets, all currently clogged with cars.

L.A. also has weather that supports a bike culture. Why can’t we do something radical like close off a lane for bikes only on major streets? You say, but where would the cars go? Exactly, answer that question. They would go away.

Until that happy day comes – and it will come, especially if we don’t find some solution to oil addiction quick – I like seeing enforcement of existing laws that protect bicyclists. There really is no contest between a 3-ton SUV and a 150 lb. bicycle rider. I’m glad the guy in this story (Ed Magos) survived and apparently will recover.

Maybe some good will come of the jail time, too, and the driver (Angelina Everett) can ponder the merits of selling her SUV and buying a nice bike.

Benediction Reading at Outing Prostate Cancer event in L.A.

On Thursday, July 22, I read from Benediction at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center as part of the Outing Prostate Cancer event, which also featured Dr. John Hodges, M.D., of the Center’s medical staff, who answered questions about prostate cancer from the audience. The event was held in the very cool black box theater they have at the Village at Ed Gould Plaza on McCadden Place in the heart of Hollywood. Turnout was great, the room was full! Thanks again to Susan Cohen of the Center and her staff for putting on such a great evening!

Jim Arnold reading Benediction at LA Gay & Lesbian Center

Dr. John Hodges (l) and Jim Arnold at Outing Prostate Cancer/Benediction reading at LA Gay & Lesbian Center, July 22, 2010

Reading and Infosession at LA Gay Center, July 22

Outing Prostate Cancer postcard 1

Outing Prostate Cancer postcard 2

Thursday, July 22, I will be reading from Benediction and answering questions about my own experience with prostate cancer. This is a great event the Center is putting together, part of a series, which I believe will focus on various health challenges in the community. They will have Dr. Hodges on hand to answer medical questions. They’ve also promised to have FOOD! And the event is FREE. So, LA friends, mark your calendars.

Homo-Centric 4 Reading

Jim Arnold reading Benediction at Stories Books & Cafe

I updated my book website with a couple of photos from last week’s Homo-Centric event at Stories Books & Cafe. I was among the four writers who read their work (with Jax Pham, Travers Scott, Richard Villegas). Thanks again to Hank Henderson for putting these together, and to Neil Greenberg for the photos!

Ben Kantor reel

I met a young cinematographer, Ben Kantor, along his wife M. Elizabeth, at the way-fun and very useful New Media Vault mixer at The Standard downtown last Thursday. They both recently finished film degrees at Chapman University here in Southern California. He’s got a great reel, which I’ve linked to here, so take a look. Also, for anyone interested in new media, those monthly New Media Vault get-togethers are great. Enjoy the atmosphere.

Benjamin Kantor Reel 2010 from B Kantor on Vimeo.