Author at Book Soup

Alexandra Petri will present the book “A Field Guide to Awkward Silences.” Most twentysomethings spend a lot of time avoiding awkwardness. Not Alexandra Petri. Afraid of rejection? Alexandra Petri has auditioned for “America’s Next Top Model.” Afraid of looking like an idiot? Alexandra Petri lost “Jeopardy!” by answering “Who is that dude?” on national TV. Afraid of bad jokes? Alexandra Petri won an international pun championship. But Petri is here to tell you: Everything you fear is not so bad. Trust her. She’s tried it. And in the course of her misadventures, she’s learned that there are worse things out there than awkwardness–and that interesting things start to happen when you stop caring what people think.

Where: Book Soup

Date: Monday the 29th

Time: 7 pm

Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA

Website: http://www.booksoup.com/alexandra-petri-2015 Continue reading “Los Angeles Literary Events 6/29/15 – 7/5/15”

by Scott Doyle,

From LA Review of Books

IN 1943, A DECADE BEFORE Brown v. Board of Education, an Orange County farmer named Gonzalo Mendez asked his sister to take his three children along with hers and enroll them at the local elementary school. It didn’t seem like a big deal; Gonzalo himself had briefly attended that very school. Yet while his sister’s children — light-skinned, with a French last name — were admitted, his darker-skinned children were not. Gonzalo and his wife Felicitas challenged the decision, eventually filing a class-action lawsuit that would reach the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and help pave the way for the more famous case overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Yet the case remains little known outside of legal circles, and isn’t even an official part of California’s K-12 school curriculum. Now, with the help of the nonprofit organization 826LA, Ben De Leon’s students at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School in Boyle Heights have written a book that examines the legacy of the case, and the related social and cultural issues they continue to confront in a state where Latino students are more segregated than in any other. Continue reading “Mendez on “Mendez”: High School Students in Boyle Heights Write About the Desegregation Case After Which Their School Is Named”

Aphasia Book Club of Mid Valley

The Mid Valley Branch is proud to offer a book club designed especially for adults with aphasia, because everyone deserves to enjoy a good book. Aphasia is a language impairment, usually due to stroke, that affects individuals’ ability to speak, understand speech, read, and write. The Aphasia Book Club provides its members with supportive materials to improve their reading comprehension and ability to discuss complex topics.  A single book will be discussed over a period of several weeks.  Our first book will be Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

The Book Club meets weekly and is open to adults with mild to severe aphasia.  This program is made possible by a grant from the Library Foundation.

Where: Mid-Valley Regional Library

Date: Monday the 22nd

Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

Address: 16244 Nordhoff Street, North Hills, CA 91343

Website: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/aphasia-book-club-mid-valley Continue reading “Los Angeles Events 6/22/15-6/27/15”

Jorja Leap sheds light on Watts’ black fathers in ‘Project Fatherhood’
By Tre’vell Anderson, Los Angeles Times

Jorja Leap is no ordinary professor; she’s got what many would call “street cred.”

Sitting in her office at UCLA, where she teaches at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, she points to two photos hanging above her desk. The first is of her with Father Greg Boyle, founder of Los Angeles’ Homeboy Industries, an organization that works to steer people from gang life. She’s done extensive work with Father Boyle and the men and women he helps mentor. Continue reading “Project Fatherhood: A Story of Courage and Healing in One of America’s Toughest Communities by Jorja Leap”

Train Versus Pedestrian on Valley Boulevard

by Alex Espinoza

We lived in the shadows of factories and processing plants. I remember the tall smoke stacks off of Seventh Street, lit up like massive Roman candles at night. I remember the smell of chemicals and solvents mixing with the scent of vinegar from the Vlasic Pickle Factory, fresh bread from the Golden Foods Bakery, or strawberries and cherries from the Hansen’s bottling plant. I grew up with the sound of semis barreling down Nelson Avenue and Orange Boulevard, steel plates banging and grinding against one another, and the low, droning hum of train wheels gliding over the metal tracks running parallel to Valley Boulevard, that long stretch of thoroughfare running west into South El Monte, Rosemead, and East Los Angeles and east into South San Jose Hills, Walnut, and Diamond Bar. Continue reading “Powerful Essay From Los Angeles Writer Alex Espinoza”

Vendela Vida at Skylight Books

Writer Vendela Vida reads from her new novel “The Diver’s Clothes lie Empty,” a thriller set in  Casablanca,, with a satiric and humorous side.

Where: Skylight Books

Date: Monday the 15th

Time: 7:30 pm

Address: 1818 N. Vermont., Los Feliz, CA

Website:  http://www.skylightbooks.com Continue reading “Los Angeles Literary Events 6/14/15-6/21/15”

The 6th Annual Beyond Baroque Poetry contest is now accepting entries. This years judge is D.A. Powell. The contest accepts entries from anywhere in the United States.

PRIZES
First Prize: $1,000
Second Prize: $500
Third Prize: $250   Continue reading “6th Annual Beyond Baroque Poetry Contest”

For every poet in Los Angeles, they know there are too many open mics to keep track of. A poet could go to one every day of the week. On the Westside there are several open Mics, Beyond Baroque’s Soap Box Open Mic, First Sunday Open Reading, the Last Sunday at USVAA Theater in Culver City, Downbeat 720 in Santa Monica dedicated to high school poets and singer-songwriters, but the picking is slimmer than towards Hollywood and Downtown. Continue reading “New Open Mic”