Looking for place to witness Obama's historic moment

August 30, 2008

I figured it would be one of those "Where were you when. . . ?" moments for years to come.

Recent columns

• Teenagers and police find a path to mutual respect and understanding

  August 26, 2008

  It must have felt like a fantasy to the Los Angeles Police Department brass as they waded into the sea of blue-uniformed teens swarming the breakfast buffet at the department's Ahmanson Training Center. There were "Yes, sirs" and "No, sirs" all around, and applause every time a police officer was introduced to the teenage crowd.

• Pondering Najee Ali's place

  August 23, 2008

  I know there was high-fiving in some circles this week when bombastic black activist Najee Ali was sentenced to four years in prison for trying to bribe a witness in a criminal case against his 20-year-old daughter.

• Puff the dog, may he rest in peace

  August 19, 2008

  I'm just back from the most relaxing vacation of my life -- five days with my daughters on a beach in Jamaica.

• Pot dispensary raids put tactics in question

  August 2, 2008

  I don't know what the flak-jacketed federal agents expected to find during their commando-style raid Thursday on the Organica Collective, a pot dispensary with such a mellow vibe that its business card features a dove and a cross, and a promise to provide "the best quality, price and selection of medical marijuana on the Westside."

• At Santa Monica chess park, a level playing board

  July 29, 2008

  Andrew Becker hovered near the chess tables in Santa Monica for hours, itching to play, but uncertain of the protocol.

• Technology: It's not as easy as BlackBerry pie

  July 26, 2008

  The Bluetooth was my tipping point.

• A closing Starbucks is a symbol of lost hope and luxury

  July 22, 2008

  Roby T. Chapel's history with Starbucks is long and sweet.

• Taking a fling at the Olympics

  July 19, 2008

  Jessica Cosby is used to snickers and raised eyebrows when someone asks what she does for a living.

• Feeling a bit foolish, but wiser and relieved for the experience

  July 15, 2008

  I'd like to pretend that I checked into UCLA's new hospital Friday on an undercover mission, to check out patient care at the $800-million medical showpiece.

• El Nido Family Centers scholarships give teen parents both money and confidence for college

  July 5, 2008

  They weren't the most conventional group of college scholarship recipients.

• An eighth-grade letter brings rush of memories

  July 1, 2008

  The return address didn't ring a bell. The name wasn't one my daughter quickly recalled.

• Watts pool ruffians marking their territory

  June 28, 2008

  The long list of rules posted at my neighborhood public pool seems to outlaw everything except Marco Polo:

• For teens, only the cool jobs need apply

  June 24, 2008

  It could be the rhinestone stud in her cheek, her thin resume, or her unwillingness to interview before noon, lest job-seeking disrupt her gym routine or interrupt her beauty sleep.

• Los Angeles Fire Department tattoo coverup muddles real mission

  June 21, 2008

  I might be a little nervous walking past Carlos Caceres on the street, tattoos covering his beefy arms and the back of his hands and creeping up his neck from beneath his shirt.

• Teenagers have mixed views on gays -- and they're OK with that

  June 17, 2008

  Kye D'Aguilar doesn't have a traumatic story to tell about coming out. The 18-year-old said he's always known that he is gay. "My mother told me she knew when I was born."

• Widowed dad's tribute is his family

  June 14, 2008

  In the waiting room at Our House bereavement center, you can tell which of the little girls has lost a mother. Her pants and shirts don't quite match, and her tousled hair could use a brush.

• Jews' faith journey leads from Uganda to L.A. and back

  June 10, 2008

  The music was distinctly African, driven by pulsing drums and lively melodies.

• Staying true to roots as family branches

  June 7, 2008

  It wasn't the sort of family reunion we had planned.

• When seniors graduate to the working world

  May 31, 2008

  At least this was a four-day week.

• Novice English teacher learns his lessons quickly

  May 24, 2008

  Ihad the teacher pegged the minute I heard his voice on my answering machine. Tim Schlosser sounded so forthright, so earnest and so impossibly young, he had "Teach for America" written all over him.

• California native plant garden on 'Larry's Median' is evolving after his death

  May 20, 2008

  The garden in the Elysian Heights median is easy to miss. These days, it is little more than a hillside of hard-packed dirt dotted with struggling plants -- spindly hollyhocks, sprawling cactus clumps, a few mismatched trees and scattered tufts of sage and poppies.

• District's failure to act devalues its students

  May 17, 2008

  Never mind rising test scores, high-tech campuses, pride-worthy academic decathlon teams. You can better gauge a school system's shot at greatness by looking at how students are treated by district leaders.

• 50,000 take part in annual Revlon breast cancer run

  May 13, 2008

  It seems hard to believe in this era of pink ribbons -- when young women sport "save the ta-tas" T-shirts and high-profile breast cancer survivors like Nancy Reagan and Sheryl Crow go public with their stories. But a generation ago, a woman's fight with breast cancer was a lonely and secret struggle.

• An adoption story with a happy ending

  May 10, 2008

  Marian Pilkington had a daughter -- for five days, in 1966.

• To many parents, homework's a home wrecker

  December 11, 2007

  My column Saturday on the campaign by a San Marino mom to persuade school officials to cut back on "useless and ineffective" homework assignments uncorked a storm of bottled-up angst among readers, from Santa Monica to Pasadena to Orange County.

• Haunting questions linger over fatal brawl

  November 13, 2007

  Many of the two dozen people attending a public affairs forum Saturday at a Crenshaw-area coffee shop had been thinking about the fight all week.

• It's the nightmare before Halloween

  October 30, 2007

  I wish there were a "bah, humbug" expression for Halloween.

• Life in fire zone carries on close to normal

  October 23, 2007

  It has been hard to escape the fires and windstorms this week. Turn on the radio or television -- or just step outside and breathe -- and it seems as if all of Southern California is in danger of burning up or being blown away.