Culver City Culture

As Robby and I settled into domestification, we are exploring our new down-home town & avoiding the 405 freeway. Culver City is awesome. The weather is perpetually cool, mostly sunny, there is little traffic congestion, the beach is hear, and there is an overall homely feeling about this small suburb nestled in the middle of L.A. sprawl. What can I say? Robby & I have grown to like the suburbs, where we don't have to fight over parking spaces, settle with expensive, unrecognizable vegan food (I'm reminded of Main Street, Santa Monica), and run almost-red lights in order to get anywhere. We like the lack of crowds and the ability to walk to & support small business.

We've discovered a few delightful and not so delightful establishments:

1. Tanner Cafe: We walk here when we need to get work done but can't seem to do it at home. This chill cafe has great '90s rock and classic reggae playing all the time, great coffee (I drink the chai), and delicious pastries that taste homemade. Today, we hung out there for 4 hours, and nobody bugged us about staying so long because it wasn't very crowded.

2. Ice Skating Rink: A favorite site for us, especially 11-1pm on Saturday nights, when there's adult skate for $8. Dim lights, old-school hip hop and '80s, & a stone's throw from our place.

3. Father's Office: At least 3 people recommended this trendy bar when they heard that we were moving to Culver City. This place is known for its unique hamburger & herbed sweet potato fries. We've been twice already. It's not a place we ever need to go to again. Sure, the burger is fantastic (complicated patty, caramelized onions, arugula, & gruyere cheese), but it's $12 & uber-trendy - low lights, loud music, crisply dressed patrons...Plus, there's no waiting list. If you want a table, you have to be a vulture, hover over customers who are sipping on beers, munching on french fries, and shouting over loud electronic music, , then swoop in as soon as they start standing. You order your food at the bar, and the restaurant doesn't provide ketchup because it's too cool for it. I brought my own last time, and passers-by gave me a funny look when they saw the Heinz bottle on the table.

4. Indian Sweets & Spices: Cheap, vegetarian Indian food. $7 for a plate with naan, rice, 2 side dishes (like channa masala or aloo gobi) & a mango lassi. Not bad, huh? The ladies who work there are a bit cranky, but the food is delicious, and the eatery is inside a little Indian market.

5. Red Mango: We hear that this frozen yogurt place was open in Korea LONG before Pinkberry existed. In fact, Pinkberry took the yogurt idea from Red Mango and brought it to America. Red Mango's yogurt is creamier than Pinkberry's, and it's cheaper too. I like the cereal toppings, especially Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

6. Akasha: A fancy schmancy organic restaurant in downtown Culver City. It's very expensive and the portions are small, but the food is experimental and interesting. It's not a place we'd ever need to go to again, though. Our one meal put a big dent in our wallets.

7. Culver City Farmers Market: Great place to purchase fresh produce. The people who work the booths are friendly, and there are a few stalls to buy pre-made food. We've had dinner here a few times, and it's expensive ($9-12), but the atmosphere beats the restaurant setting. There's hot, pre-made Korean, Hawaiian, Peruvian, BBQ, & Mexican. Trader Joe's is nearby too, so we like to hit the farmer's market first, then walk to Trader Joe's to buy milk & other stuff.

8. The Creek: Nearby, there is a creek that runs from Jefferson Avenue & La Cienega to Marina del Rey. This little cement canyon with low water is frequented by sea gulls, herons, ducks, and jumpy fish. It looks like the L.A. River, where the car race in Grease or motorcycle chase scene in Terminator 2 were filmed, but it looks more like a river. We've run and ridden our bikes along this creek before. There are underpasses under each large street (Centinela, Inglewood, Lincoln...), and many people either use the route as for exercise or transportation. It's a peaceful place to exercise (I've given up the idea that I'll ever escape the humming of cars), and the route dumps you on the expansive, clean Marina del Rey Beach. Breathtaking.

That's all we've explored of Culver City so far. We have a few more destinations to explore, and I'll be updating our discoveries regularly.

My students in Palo Alto SLAM!

A few years ago, in the middle of a poetry unit, I showed my sophomore students Def Jam Poetry, an HBO show produced by Russell Simmons & hosted by Mos Def. This show consists of poets who "slam" on stage. Most of the poetry has a hip-hop, rhyming slant to it, but not necessarily. The poetry addresses issues from personal (love & loss poems) to political, and nearly all have a left-leaning viewpoint. Some of it has profanity, but I try to show the students PG-13 poems & skip through the ones laced with vitriolic obscenities.

Last year, two former students, inspired by Def Jam Poetry, decided to form the Paly Slam Poetry Club. Since then, they've organized at least 3 slam poetry events. I sponsored the club last year and went to one, and I was floored by the talent of the student poets who performed. The poetry varied in tone, style, and length. 45 students showed up to poetry slam in my classroom in June 2008. We moved stacked the desks near the walls & invited attendees to sit on the floor. Then we proceeded to turn out the lights. At first, the atmosphere was a little awkward, but as some students mustered up the guts to take the stage at the front of the class, more students came up to read for the first time. By the end of the slam session, we all felt cleansed & renewed - even though many did not read, they felt emotionally connected to the ones who had. For me, it was an eye-opening experience. Teenagers have a lot of say, and many have the eloquence to write it & the bravery to perform it in front of large groups of people.

One of the co-presidents of Paly's Slam Poetry Club just sent me a youtube link to one his performances at Gunn High School. The poet Shihan from Def Jam Poetry inspired him most to write. Here's a taste of Dan's poetry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAwRy4O_CII

Enjoy!

Surviving the First Week of School

As grumpy as I am about having to acclimate to the school schedule again (mostly waking up at 6am & having a constant stack of homework to grade), I am relatively happy about my new position at this high school. I am officially labeled a "magnet" teacher, which means most of my classes fall within the magnet program, which attracts students from all over Los Angeles and offers a specialization and more rigorous study.

My schedule is as follows:
English 11 honors [two sections] (magnet)
English 10 (magnet)
English 10
English 10H (magnet)

I teach a total of 5 classes. With six periods in the day, my free time falls in first period.

Predictably and heartbreakingly, there is a lack of students of color in the honors classes. It's what we educators have come to call the "achievement gap", and it occurs in every school. The achievement gap is attributed to race & socio-economic status for numerous reasons, and schools struggle to maintain equal opportunities for all students to learn and perform to their potential. The gap is most apparent in standardized tests, where Black & Latino students score lower than White & Asian students. We also see it in the racial demographic of our "college prep" and "honors" courses. It is a phenomenon pervasive in public schools and a reflection of inequalities on a larger scale - socio-economically, historically, politically, etc.