Paparazzi in Los Angeles

The other night I'm giving a friend of a friend a ride home in WeHo. Upon our arrival to his spot one block south of Santa Monica, a light flashes. Did someone just take a picture of us? Nah, no way!

The flash was subtle. And at that moment, I'd bet a ten spot it was aimed in our direction. I scanned the street in my gangsta 'who da fuck takin' pictures of me?!' stance. No one there but some shirtless guy in the shadows walking in the opposite direction. I followed a faint ting of wine glasses, laughter, and women in mid conversation to an upper apartment window 30 feet away. Ahh, it must be them.

I eavesdropped for a second but couldn't hear what they were saying. It'd be nice to be a fly on that wall. Women, like men, talk some funny stories in all-female space. Men aren't the only pervs on this planet. (I digress ... we'll save that one for another post).

Flash! Another light. This time it doesn't bother me as much but I use the instance to entertain myself until my homeboy returns. Maybe the flashes are coming from CIA operatives following me and these other guys--the ambiguously gay duo who fight off injustice in plain clothes and frequent restaurants in LA. Or maybe my friend's friend has a jealous boyfriend and has hired some technologically inept gumshoe to take pictures of us dropping him off. It seems your partner is doing this other man's laundry -- see the big bag that looks like a stack of dirty clothes.

Fifteen minutes later my friend returns to the truck -- maybe it was a quickie. We pull away from the curb and I tell my friend about the flashes.

Flash! Another damn light!! I look to the left and I can't believe what I see. It's the shirtless paparazzi! The guys been lurking there in the shadows this whole time, snapping pictures of us arriving, me chilling by the truck, and now he's got a picture of us leaving. I slam on my brakes and put the truck in reverse. My friend says, 'Oh God, testosterone in overdrive. What are you doing?' I can't resist the need to get to the bottom of this. In one swift motion I back up and pull my camera from it's case. I tell my friend to take a picture of this guy to see how he likes it.

I scream out. 'Hey man, what's going on!? Why the pictures?!'
He answers, ' Oh, I just like taking pictures. It's a hobby of mine.'

Are you fricken kidding me!? I grab the camera from my friend--whose practically peeing his pants--and snap a few shots in his direction. What's the shirtless paparazzi do? HE POSES!!

We share some brief but extremely awkward niceties. The guys strange--to say the least--but just another LA character. What you gonna do.


This is the first picture taken through my sunroof by my nervous passenger.



This is my first picture taken in a 'how do YOU like it?' manner, which didn't quite produce a response I expected.


This is my final picture, not really understanding what the hell is going on here.

6th Street near Fairfax

This is one of my favorite short drives in LA. When the sun is just right -- around 7pm or near setting. There's amazing glow in the trees. Passing through it, towards the sun is memorable.

Congrats Cuz!

Cousin graduated from UCI, is getting married next year, and just got into a Master's program!

Bodega in Pasadena

Pre-Henry's Birthday party!

Critical Race Studies (CRS): Muneer Ahmad at UCLA School of Law

Remembrance of things past: Hope for Peace, Justice, and Love.

Think of prisoners of war for a moment--friends and family of Vietnam or Iraq. Think of the Japanese Internment of the 1940's when thousands of Japanese Americans were interned within US borders, their assets seized, their lives decimated by one swift swoop of the US government's hand. Ponder for a moment the atrocity of the Armenian genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, and the numerous battles, skirmishes, coup d'etats around the world. This is recent history! There are people alive today that have lived through all of these events.

A look at the history of the 1900's reminds us that we've had two World Wars, each with disastrous effects, and a Cold War that economically, ideologically, and politically ravished numerous countries and destroyed whole lives. A look at the 1900's reveals progress--a movement forward, increase, development, advancement. But towards what exactly? One can only hope that we've learned the collective lessons of history about how brutal and evil humankind can be toward one another.

Saga at Guantanamo Bay: UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies (CRS) Event:

The CRS Department held an event at UCLA with featured speaker Muneer Ahmad, a former defense attorney for a Guantanamo Bay detainee, who spoke of the the various human rights violations taking place at Guantanamo Bay.

A) He spoke about how the location of Guantanamo Bay (a military base near Cuba) and the rigorous protocol of speaking with detainees made it difficult to build and sustain trust with clients, an essential piece of the legal realm.

B) He spoke of inhumane living conditions, prisoner mistreatment and abuse, and the gray areas within US law that shelter human rights violations taking place at the base.

C) Muneer also mentioned the racism inherent in US policy and treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees of past and present, from Haitians in the 90's to Middle Easterners post 9/11.

D) Finally, Muneer spoke of detainees who have have sought various methods to assert their own agency, often offering up their bodies in protest to inhumane conditions--the body is supposed to be that object one typically has domain over. So even though some detainees have used to the hunger strike method to combat mistreatment, MORE mistreatment results.

In response to the hunger strikers' tactics, officials have reportedly purchased the chairs at the left to force feed detainees.

First a detainee is offered food. If that is not accepted, the detainee is given IV fluids. If those are pulled out, then the detainee is given the chair and force fed--imagine someone shoving a thick nearly 40 inch tube through your nose or mouth and leaving it there so you can't vomit the food up.

One of the detainees has been on a hunger strike for over a year! He is force fed while restrained in the chair, twice daily.

I've seen restraints like these before. Typically a person is restrained to stop from hurting themselves or others, for example in a hospital ward. But never have I imagined that the dehumanizing concept of restraint could be used to thwart a perfectly sane person's attempt to protest unjust action.

(Original post created on 2/21/08)