What Say You? No One Dies Alone

Sister Maureen Craig holding a patient's hand at St. Johns Hospital
Part of the NODA Program

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist

“The scientist in me knows that we don’t thrive alone.  When we’re born we need human contact.  Throughout our life we know from science and from our own emotions that we need human contact to thrive.  In dying we can no more be alone that we can at birth.

“I’m not religious but I am spiritual.  It makes me feel good to be able to be with the dying person, to touch them, to hold their hand, to make human contact.  I want to be there for people.  It means a lot to me,” said Melissa McRae

McRae is a native of Santa Barbara who studied at both UCSB and UCLA.  She currently works at St. Johns as a Surgery Administrative Coordinator.   She volunteers for the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program at St. Johns.

NODA was the idea of a Critical Care Nurse named Sandra Clarke.  She wrote, “there seems to be an unwritten universal protocol (among nurses) for the patient who is dying without the presence of friends or family.  One’s other patients’ care will be taken over by nearby nurses.  Rituals of passing are acted out: I’ve seen nurses quietly singing, holding the hand of the dying, and, in all other manners of behavior, showing care and respect while an individual passes on to death.  Nurses know the awe of being present at the birth or the death of another human.  I believe awe and privilege is an innate human response at these times – the very essence of humanity.” 

That unwritten protocol became a formal program now known as “No One Dies Alone” and it was founded at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene Oregon in November of 2001.   Hospitals and health centers across the country have followed their lead.  St. Johns began their NODA program in 2004.

Sister Maureen Craig, a person happily known to all who work at St. Johns said, “St. Johns has a long tradition, rooted in the mission of the hospital, for compassionate care.  I am thankful for the volunteers carrying our traditions forward.  Through the years our numbers have diminished and work that was once done by the Sisters has now become part of the lives of our volunteers.  We love the fact that the loving care we so believe in is being continued by the hundreds of volunteers at St. Johns and by the remarkable volunteers of the No One Dies Alone program.”

Grenda Pearlman, Director of Volunteer Services at St. Johns reports, “the NODA program currently has about 25 volunteers.  Each one attends orientation sessions and receives training.  The current volunteers range in age from their early 20’s to their late 70’s.  The requirement for being a NODA volunteer is “an interest in being advocates for the patient.  These patients are on comfort care and our goal at St. Johns is to see they have no physical pain and to offer compassionate care.

“NODA volunteers are special people and it is not something that everybody can or should do.  But if it is something a person can do then it is not only a gift to the patient it is also a gift to the volunteer,” said Pearlman. (For information about volunteering for the NODA program of for any of the St. Johns programs contact Grenda Pearlman at 310 829 8434 or grenda.pearlman@st.johns.org)

Marge Gold is a NODA volunteer who provides care to patients and who also helps the Director with program organization and coordination.  Gold talked about what she learned from being a NODA volunteer.  “NODA has taught me to just be there in whatever way the patient needs, to suspend judgment and to come with no expectations about the patient or the family.  I hope I always say and do whatever is needed and am of help.  It’s a profound experience and I’m grateful to be a part.”

Like other volunteers for NODA, Nancy Cronig has a long series of accomplished volunteer work on her resume.  Currently she is an actor in the Moot Court program at UCLA, is part of the St. Johns Surgery Waiting Room Volunteer program and a NODA volunteer.

Recounting her NODA experiences Cronig said, “I came to realize that even in a coma a person hears you.  I play music and sing to them.  I hold their hand.  I wipe their brow and put ointment on their lips and do other things to make them comfortable.  I advocate for them when they can’t advocate for themselves.

“When I got called for my first patient I didn’t know what to expect.  I sat with her and held her hand and played music for her.  I was so thankful to be able to pass on some of help I have gotten in my life to someone who was in need.  It is a healing experience.”

From the beginning of St. Johns to now much has changed in health care.  The work of being a physician and the physician’s commitment to each patient is a value we agree to as a nation.  One we all want to protect.  However the delivery of health care, cost of health care, and availability of health care remains in the public, the political and the economic spotlight. 

In addition medical technology has made great advancements bringing great benefits but adding to the ethical questions that have always been part of medicine.  

A discussion of the forces shaping our national health care is, and needs to be, ongoing.  Throughout what can sometimes be a contentious debate individual people, across the nation, are using their time to volunteer in ways that support the commitment to each individual patient.    NODA is one part of the answer to the ethical questions of our time.

What Say You?

What Say You? Planned Parenthood Food Fare

What Say You?  Planned Parenthood Food Fare          

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.  March 7, 2013.

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

March 15, 2013

Julia Child was an ardent Planned Parenthood supporter and the inspiration for the now much anticipated annual Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) Food Fare Fundraising Gala.  34 years ago Child supervised 20 amateur sous chefs in the kitchen of Ma Maison in Beverly Hills as they prepared a five-course dinner for 130 people.  That dinner was the first of the Planned Parenthood “Food Fares.”

The 2013 PPLA Food Fare at the Civic was attended by more than 1500 people.  It was the 17th year PPLA hosted the Food Fare at the Civic.  An orange carpet marked the entry into the beautifully decorated and lit Civic, a great venue for this event.  Fare goers feasted on food prepared by Chef of the Year Joe Miller.   PPLA chose Miller for the Chef of the Year Award based on his culinary arts, his history of work with PPLA and his commitment to the goals and values of Planned Parenthood.  The list of participating restaurateurs reads like a “Who’s Who” of LA’s favorite chefs.

Alice Miler, Clementine
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Food Fare
March 7, 2013

Fare goers also bought chic goods from vendors selling everything from jewelry to pajamas. http://pplafoodfare.com/?page_id=8 

The credit for planning and organizing this event goes to the PPLA Guild President Marcy Bergren Pine and the approximately 200 Guild Members. They volunteer their time and their expertise to support PPLA’s fundraising and public outreach. The Food Fare is PPLA’s major fundraising event and this year, from attendees, donors, sponsors and contributors to the Fare, they raised over $800,000.00.

Supporting reproductive rights wasn’t always this fun or this easy.  Giving out information about birth control was once a crime in the U.S.   The reproductive rights pioneer Margaret Sanger was jailed for opening the first U.S. birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York in 1916.

“Planned Parenthood dates its beginnings to 1916 when Sanger, her sister, and a friend open America's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. In Sanger's America, women cannot vote, sign contracts, have bank accounts, or divorce abusive husbands. They cannot control the number of children they have or obtain information about birth control, because in the 1870s a series of draconian measures, called the Comstock laws, made contraception illegal and declared information about family planning and contraception "obscene."” http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/history-and-successes.htm

Sanger overcame legal and public obstacles and her clinic became the American Birth Control League.   Over time the League became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Margaret Sanger was Planned Parenthood’s first President.

Planned Parenthood “believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility regardless of the individual’s income, martial status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence.  We believe that respect and value for diversity in all aspects of our organization are essential to our well-being.  We believe reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual’s right to privacy.  We further believe that such self-determination will contribution to an enhancement of the quality of life and strong family relationships.” http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/vision-4837.htm

Serena Josel, the Director of Public Affairs for PPLA said, “In LA it can become easy for us to become complacent but when you look at what’s happening across the country you can’t be complacent.  From 2010 to 2012 there were over 2000 pieces of anti- women’s health legislation in the form of anti abortion and anti birth control bills across the country.

“We served over 136,000 patients last year in our 19 clinics and 80% of our patients live at or below the poverty level.  Our goal is to never turn anyone away,” said Josel.  “Fewer than 7% of patients are teens and the majority of teen patients come with their parents.  We provide reproductive health services, family planning, contraception, abortion, screening for breast, cervical and testicular cancer, HIV screening and counseling, STD testing and treatment.  We work to help people have healthy families.

“California often leads the nation on reproductive rights health care and that’s a signal to us to keep on.  We follow common sense, evidence based policies and when we don’t get bogged down by outside politics we can concentrate on our essential work.”

PPLA expenses totaled approximately $48 million in 2012.  Over $5 million came from donations.  The main source of funding is from reimbursements for individual health services from private health insurance companies or from public health coverage such as California Family Pact or from health care programs supported by Federal funding.

Federal funding to Planned Parenthood started in 1970 when President Nixon signed “The Family Planning Services and Population Research Act.”
The Act provides funding for family planning services and was supported by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. 

Signing the Act, Nixon said, “No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.”

What Say You?

Hometown Hero: The CALIFORNIA LIST and Bettina Duval

Hometown Hero:  The CALIFORNIA LIST and Bettina Duval

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

February 22. 2013

Duval started The CALIFORNIA LIST (http://californialist.org/) in April 2002.  Her mission?  To create opportunities for women to run for public office and the election of pro-choice, democratic women to the California State Senate, Assembly and Executive Branch.  “I started The LIST because it was a way for me to meld together my experience and my passion.  I’m proud and honored to be as involved as I have been,” said Duval.

Bettina Duval
President and Founder
The CALIFORNIA LIST

“In California we think we’re ahead of the game because we have representing us three very powerful women in national public office.  Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer and Congresswoman Pelosi.  The role of The CALIFORNIA LIST is to help create the pipeline for our next generation of women leaders.  Attorney General Kamala Harris is a rising star in California political life.  Debra Bowen, Julia Brownley, Karen Bass, and Judy Chu are wonderful examples of women holding public office.  Early in their political careers The CALIFORNIA LIST encouraged and supported these office holders.

“Thankfully public perspective has changed during my growing up years and now most Americans have favorable views of women who run for office and there is a continually increasing expression of a comfort level with women holding public office.”

Duval credits the 1972 Title IX Act,  “a watershed moment for women as changing higher education in the United States and, under the laws of unintended consequences, also contributing to broader, societal changes in the perception of women in public life,”

Duval was raised by a strong, independent and loving single mom and loving grandparents.  They were a family of four and lived in Davis CA.  Duval went to Berkeley for college.  She studied rhetoric and considered becoming a lawyer.  At Berkeley she ran for student government and lost but that got her the position of Commissioner for Student Elections. 

She was introduced to the League of Women Voters when she needed to bring in credible outside monitors for the student elections.  Her introduction to legislative politics had started earlier, at Davis Senior High School, where she was on student government and the first student representative to sit on the Davis Board of Education.  When she graduated from Davis Senior High School she received the Gordon H. True Cup, a coveted award for service to the school.

Duval recounts an early ‘aha’ moment when she was an intern for then State Assemblyman Vic Fazio and Senator John Dunlap and was sent to Sacramento on a work errand.  “In 1978 I was in the Galley at the State Capitol and looked down at the floor.  It seemed to be all men.  No, there were 38 men and 2 women.  It made an impression on me and was a catalyst for my future work.”

Duval has a list of accomplishments on her path to starting her own organization in support of electing women to public office.  After graduating from Berkeley she moved to DC to work at the law firm of Covington and Burlington.  It was there she realized she didn’t want to pursue a career in law.  One of the partners was part of the Mondale/Ferraro campaign and she went to work for them as an advance person.

That brought her to San Francisco where she met Glenn Duval.  They married in 1985.  He is part of a family owned Cable Television Company in LA and that helped them to decide to move to the Hollywood Hills after their marriage.   Duval became active in the Junior League of Los Angeles in 1986 eventually becoming League President.  Her position required her to be out in the community essentially full time and was a great introduction to Southern California for her.

In 1990 they decided to move to Santa Monica, which they saw as “a great community and a wonderful place to raise our children.   My husband is a Republican and that makes for lively dinner table conversations!   Those conversations, along with my work, spiked the interest of our children.  Our oldest son formed his own political party at UCSB, “Better Our School System” (BOSS), our eldest daughter has been part of Student Government at Johns Hopkins, another daughter is at Berkeley and is on the crew team, and our youngest is applying to Boys State.  All are very politically aware and understand that political decisions impact them as individuals as well as impacting the world they live in.”

In Santa Monica, Duval became active in local campaigns, another major catalyst for her.  She then decided to go to work as the Southern California Director for Emily’s list.  It was 2002 and there were 34 women elected to state public office, 24 in the State Assembly and 10 in the State Senate.

Now, as the President of The CALFORNIA LIST, Duval continues to look for ways to support women running for public office.  “What’s happening with women, I think, is that they are not running for office in the numbers they could be and so we are actively seeking to understand how to help women decide to run for office.  We also continue working with the women who have run for office, whether they won or lost.  We are looking at new ways of fundraising.  And, of course, the Internet has allowed us to change and grow in wonderful ways.”

Bettina Duval ended our interview saying, “It is wonderful when you are supporting a great candidate.  There is something very wonderful about watching the achievements and contributions of the women I’ve helped to win elective office and I’m excited about continuing this work.”

What Say You. The Development Agreement Conversation

What Say You.  The Development Agreement Conversation

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

February 9, 2012

Development Agreement (DA) is the buzzword of the day when talking about new building projects in Santa Monica.  Although the City entered into its first DA in the 1980’s only a handful have been processed since.  Now the City has a whopping 31 DAs in the pipeline. And that’s what the conversation is all about.

A development agreement is a tool in the planning toolbox.  It allows a city and a developer to enter into a negotiated contract for an exchange of rights and benefits not covered by other, standard planning tools such as conditional use permits and variances.  It is a tool that allows greater flexibility.  Note however that, by law, all Development Agreements must be consistent with the LUCE.

The LUCE, adopted in 2010, is a blueprint for the build out of the City for the next 20 years.  The Zoning Ordinance must conform to the LUCE as it lays out development rights.  The new Zoning Ordinance is in progress and a draft will go to the Planning Commission this coming spring and to the Council for final approval at the end of 2013. 

The Planning Department currently lists 48 pending applications, a mix of DA requests and Administrative Approvals.  Four are hotels: the Miramar, the Courtyard Marriott, the Hampton Inn and 710 Wilshire.  Two are for auto dealerships.  One is for a Science Classroom Building.  One is Bio Tech Research and Development.  The rest are for residential development.  Some are residential only and some ask for ‘mixed use’, which is a combination of residential and office and/or commercial.

The two largest projects are ones that, due to their size and their complexity, would be DA applications even after the new Zoning Ordinance is adopted. 

One, The Miramar proposes to “redevelop a mixed use hotel with new food and beverage facilities, spa, banquet facilities, retail space along Wilshire Boulevard and condominiums on the upper floors of new buildings and the retention and rehabilitation of the existing Palisades Building and the preservation of the Landmark Moreton Bay Fig Tree.” 

At issue are the design changes to a locally and internationally known hotel, the increased size and scale of the proposed project for a new total of 565,000 sq. ft., the addition of new condominiums, and the addition of affordable housing on 2^nd Street property owned by the hotel. 

Central to the discussion are the community benefits being offered by the hotel and/or requested by the City as part of the negotiation of the DA contract.  The Miramar has had two ‘float up’ hearings in front of the Planning Commission and one ‘float up’ hearing in front of the City Council.  

The largest requested DA is located on the old Papermate site in the Bergamot District.  It is proposed to be a mixed use Creative Arts/Residential and Neighborhood Commercial for a total of 766,000 sq.ft.  That includes 498 new residential units in 361,000 sq. ft.; creative arts spaces in 375,000 sq.ft.; and neighborhood commercial in 30,000 sq.ft.

The 766,000 sq.ft. currently being requested is a significant reduction from the original application.  The proposal has met with community opposition to both the proposed scale and to the design.

Both projects have been in the pipeline for several years with community meetings and planning meetings. Further meetings for both projects are on a to be determined basis and there will be much discussion on each of these projects in the community and at public hearings.

But what about the projects that are not grabbing public attention? The greatest number of projects on the Planning Department list is residential.  Planning Director David Martin said, “This increase is the result of several factors including: LUCE policies that encourage the construction of mixed-use residential projects along transit boulevards and near light rail stations, a CEQA exemption for mixed-use housing projects with 100 units or less located within one half mile of a major transit stop, an increase in the number of rental housing units being proposed and constructed in the Los Angeles region, historically low interest rates, the strong demand for housing in Santa Monica, the stability of Santa Monica as a place to invest, and the overall desirability of the city as a place to live.

Reading from the list of pending applications we see, for example, 32 units in a total of 31,717 sq.ft.; 55 units in a total of 33,137 sq.ft.; 100 units in a total of 54,280 sq.ft.; 100 units in a total of 54,942 sq.ft.; 100 units in a total of 55,064 sq.ft.; 100 units in a total of 37,200 sq.ft.; 498 units in a total of 361,000 sq,ft.  These are seven examples of the proposed 40+ projects that include residential development.

Do the math and you will see that what is being proposed is mostly studios along with some small one bedroom units.  Perfectly wonderful as part of a larger mix, but of concern if all, or most, are in this low end of the size range.

Housing of this size and type is traditionally temporary in nature.  It is designed for students or for starter housing.  It could be used as a weekend or vacation getaway for someone with a house elsewhere.  It could have many uses but it typically has one, sometimes two, occupants and a relatively high turnover.

We could change the demographics of our population if all of the proposed residential development were approved as proposed.  We could have a less permanent population and therefore perhaps one that is less involved in the City.  Yet much of our dynamism as a City comes from the sense of ownership of the City that is felt by so many.  

Analyzing the size of residential units to understand their impact on the future of the City is an essential part of the complex decision making process that should go into every DA negotiation. 

The LUCE identified Santa Monica as needing more housing and it identified affordable housing as a community benefit. Building smaller units is one way to create affordable housing but there are other ways.  Affordable housing for families, for people who work in the City but can’t afford to live here are also identified in the LUCE as a community benefit.

Each project needs to be looked at with an understanding of how it will enhance or detract from the character of the City. Will it bring the kind of benefits identified as we went through the LUCE process? What are the traffic impacts of the project? What are its impacts on schools and parks and City services?   What benefits will the project bring to the City? 

The hard part for everyone, through all this dry reading, is to be able to “see” the changes each project would make to the future life of the City.  But it is that understanding that the Council will ask for as they review the list of projects in the pipeline again at its February 12 meeting.

We want good applicants.  Their projects are a part of what makes Santa Monica a dynamic city.  As we approve new development let’s remember why the City is so desirable and let’s make decisions protective of the character of the City even as it grows and changes.

What Say You? 

Honoring Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
   Courtesy Photo

SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

Georgia. Summer 1965.
 

There were 17 of us walking in an orderly line, as directed by the Deputy Sheriff of Baker County. I recognized some of the faces from church and some were new to me. No one was talking. We didn’t know what to expect. We were all nervous and all wanting to appear strong. 

 

Just a few moments earlier we had been on the sidewalk in front of the Baker County Georgia Courthouse walking carefully and singing freedom songs quietly. Some of us, I among them, had attempted to walk into the courthouse with the people who were going to try to register to vote.

I was a white, 18 year old college student from California working with the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee. I was there to give witness and to support the people trying to register to vote.

Newton GA, the capitol of Baker County, was a poor town. It’s red brick courthouse sat in the center of a small city block of unhappy grass, a telephone booth on the front lawn, and not much else.

We had been arrested for ‘disturbing the peace’ and ‘creating a public nuisance.’ The jail ahead of us was a concrete box with openings where the windows were meant to be. The cells were metal bars of walls, divided into four, inside the concrete block structure.

Typically for the time of year the day was hot, dusty, and without a breeze. I looked at the others, looking for clues as to how to act. And I looked at the Sheriffs, wondering what they were thinking and worrying that, as the only white person, I would get singled out for ‘special’ treatment, which might be worse than the others or it might be better, but in either case it would isolate me from the others and I didn’t want that.

We weren’t booked right away. Instead we were put directly into the cells. In the cell I was in people were curious about me. They all knew there was a white girl come to be a civil rights worker, but they didn’t all know me.

One woman, a very large and solidly strong black woman called AJ, was put in a cell by herself. She was known to the sheriffs and I thought they were afraid of her. I’d heard her speak in church and had heard her say she could paint a house in a day and pick cotton better than any man.

Our cell was crowded. We took turns lying down on the dirty, uncovered mattresses. June bugs, huge beetles, came in through the openings where the windows should have been and competed for room in the cell. The toilet was a hole in the corner. I thought not eating was a good idea and eagerly joined in when a hunger strike was called.

Each morning the Deputy Sheriff would come in with a plate for each of us with a large spoonful of grits, one slice of wonder bread and a tin cup of dark water he labeled ‘coffee.’ Each evening he again brought a plate for each of us. Beans replaced the grits in the evening meal. Everything else stayed the same. That made it real easy to stay on the hunger strike.

But not AJ, she ate the plate of food brought to her and then we passed our plates through the bars to her and she ate most of ours.

We sang, we tried to sleep, and we talked. It was the beginning of my conscious understanding that while we all lived in the same geographical world and at the same time in history, there are a multitude of cultural worlds in the United States.

At first I did more listening than talking. There was so much to see and to hear and to think about. It was all consuming.

On about the third day my hair, which I had put up on my head and tied a scarf around, came down. I had no brush, no way to put it back up.

The Deputy Sheriff came into the jail with our usual morning plates and practically dropped the plates when he saw me. “You're white!” he said.

I hadn’t realized he hadn’t known this already. It was an ‘aha moment’ for me as I realized his prejudiced belief system had interfered with his ability to see the person who was right in front of him.

“I don’t have another cell. What am I going to do?” he was genuinely concerned. I think for me, because from his point of view, how could I be okay with sharing a jail cell with ‘n…s.’ (The word all the sheriffs used when they talked to any of us.) And concerned for himself as he was sure to get into trouble with his boss, Sherriff L Warren Johnson.

L. Warren Johnson was a man so mean it was hard to believe. He used to boast that he’d killed 49 people. When he was younger he was part of a posse that had brutally tortured and then hanged a black man. That lynching trial went all the way to the Supreme Court in the notorious Screws Case.

I answered the Deputy’s worries and said I would stay in the cell with my friends but that he needed to bring us food we could eat. I asked for fresh water with ice, for apples and, still being a teenager, I asked for cookies.

Unbelievably, he started to bring better food and he brought the water, the apples and cookies. I talked to him and was as friendly as I could be and still be honest.

During the time I was in jail my parents were understandably terrified. My mother and her friends decided they would call the Congress in Washington every day. Their message was, “Susan is in Baker County GA in a jail cell because she is doing the work the American government should be doing. What are you doing to keep her safe?”

One Congressman set up a daily telephone call with me. At noon the Deputy Sheriff would take me out of the cell and walk me across the street to the lone telephone booth in front of the Courthouse. I would wait outside, in the noontime sun, for the phone to ring. The routine was the same every day. He would answer the phone and then he would get me and tell me to go into the phone booth and that I should tell the Congressman I was okay. He would then walk me back to the jail.

The news of these daily phone calls got out and I became a spectacle for some of the local, white men. They would wait for the Sheriff to bring me out and then they would say terrible things to me.

Like in fairy tales, they looked as evil as they were mean. One stringy elderly man had stained teeth and mouth from chewing tobacco. Brown spittle would drool down his face as he was jeering me. Another, father and son I think, both had huge bellies that hung over their belts, belts that were needed because they had no hips and spindly legs.

The jeers were usually sexual. In any case, that’s all they talked about to me. Following civil rights/non-violence training I kept silent and didn’t engage with them in any way.

Then there was a day when the talk became menacing and violent, “you are going to end up at the bottom of Flint River and no one will ever find you.”

When I went back to the jail cell I thought about what I might do. I decided to talk to them. I was not putting anyone but myself at risk.

I had the confidence of a young woman who had been respectfully treated all her life and I thought, that if I really talked to the small group of miserable looking men who had been taunting me for days, it might make a difference.

Something about all the hatred was so wrong. Not wrong in the moral sense, which, of course it was, but wrong in the sense of being ‘off.’

How could it be that people of color could be trusted to raise white babies, be the nannies to white children, cook and care for white families in sickness and health, be on such physically intimate terms and still not be ‘clean’ enough to share a public bathroom or drink at a public drinking fountain, or eat in a public restaurant.

The rules of Jim Crow were not only immoral they made no sense. To me it was a surreal world. I didn’t know most of the ‘rules’ and so was forever doing something ‘wrong.’

The next day at noon the taunting started again. I was ready to do something else that broke the surreal rules of the Jim Crow South.

“You’re hurting my feelings,” I said in a soft and sad voice.

“We are?” I had startled them. I had broken my silence. My voice was unhappy but not angry. In that moment I began to make myself a person to them.

They were curious about me, in a bad way. They began to ask personal questions about my life. Mostly mean questions.

I talked about going to college and how I loved reading. I talked about California and movies and museums and beaches and parks and restaurants – all things they didn’t have in Baker County.

I told them black people could register to vote in California without any problem of any kind. In fact everyone was encouraged to vote.

At that moment I realized that, yes I could teach people how to read and I could walk with them into the courthouse to register to vote, but my real value was I was able to show everyone in the South, black and white, the possibility of a different world.

I do know that, in 1965, not one person of color was registered to vote in Baker County GA. As much as we demonstrated and sang and called Washington and went to jail, we never could get anyone registered to vote in that summer of 1965.

I also know that, in 2008, half of the registered voters in Baker County GA were African-American and that Obama carried the County when he won the Presidential election.

What Say You: Marion Davies Celebration

Nicole DeSilva and Dylan Regalado
Photo courtesy Bart Bartholomew

SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror


The Annenberg Community Beach House was a really fun place to be on Sunday, Jan. 6. About 300 people were there to celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of Marion Davies. It was a party but it was also serious. We were there to honor our City history, the buildings of Julia Morgan, the success of the new Beach House and the famous Santa Monica resident Marion Davies.

The Santa Monica Conservancy hosted the party. The Guest House, designed by the renowned California architect Julia Morgan, was filled with people in period costume listening to stories of Marion’s life.

As guests sat on comfortable sofas they looked out at the Pacific and listened to Ruthann Lehrer, the Chair of the Conservancy Program Committee. She portrayed Marion’s mother, Rose. Speaking as Rose she said, “Marion was a generous spirit who loved her family. She also loved pranks and could be very silly and she wasn’t interested in school. However she excelled at ballet and tap. With older sisters in vaudeville, Marion decided to do the same. Tall, blue eyed, slender, and vivacious she became a celebrated showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies.

“William Randolph Hearst was 52 and married with five sons when he spotted Marion on stage,” she said. “She was 18 and dancing with the Ziegfeld Follies and he was smitten. He was to love Marion for his entire life.

“Marion was already an experienced actress when Hearst became interested in the movie business. He started a film company with Louis B. Mayer and Marion Davies became his leading lady.

“In 1924 he bought 750 feet of prime beach frontage, hired Julia Morgan to design the mansion, the guest house and the pool. He built a dream house and he gave it to Marion. He was always giving her fabulous gifts and some would say it was to make up for never being able to marry her.”

Charlie Chaplin met Marion Davies when she was a Floradora girl with the Ziegfeld Follies and starred in “The Floradora Girl.”  The talented Phyllis Bernard ably played Chaplin.

“I soon became her good friend,” said Bernard speaking as Chaplin. “We went to parties and dinners together. We made comedic home movies with our neighbor Harold Lloyd. Our friendship pleased Hearst but it also made him jealous. One time he hired a private detective to spy on us and Marion was so angry that Hearst and she nearly separated.

“Hearst was a conservative, a powerful conservative. One out of four Americans got their news from a Hearst source. Louis B. Mayer was a conservative.  I lived in America but I was a British citizen and I was a communist.  They would talk politics and Mayer would get mean but Hearst stayed polite.  Apparently it was okay to disagree politically but Hearst wouldn’t allow any other man to be romantically interested in Marion.

“And of course, many other men were interested. She was so pretty, so fun and so kind. We used to go to the Pier, ride the carousel and the roller coaster. She and Gable and I used to love to drive the bumper cars.”

Marion Davies also loved to dance and, in her honor, swing dance lessons were offered in the new beach house, designed by Fred Fisher to be both modern and yet refer back to the original Julia Morgan design.  All the partygoers got together in the new Beach House to toast Marion with champagne and to share birthday cake.

Marion Davies was a talented and beautiful woman. She was also a good businesswoman and a loyal friend. Throughout her life Davies was a generous philanthropist and would often give money without letting anyone know she was the donor.

Davies lived in a different era and her own times were not always kind to her. She was Hearst’s mistress and that was a scandal. He only published rave reviews of her work and she felt that diminished her as an actress. It contributed to her ending her acting career. Although by that time she had made 29 silent films and 16 talkies.

Carol Lemlein, the President of the Santa Monica Conservancy, said, “Marion Davies frequently gets a bad rap. Yet she was a wonderful person, generous to her family and friends and a great philanthropist.”

I say it’s time to rethink our view of the life of Marion Davies.

What Say You?

The Gift of Music: SMYO and Shab Fasa

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SUSAN CLOKE

SMYO Concert December 16, 2012 Virginia Avenue Park

Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror
January 4, 2013

The audience was hushed and proud with good reason.  They were the parents, family, friends and supporters of the student musicians playing the first Holiday Concert of the new Santa Monica Youth Orchestra. (SMYO)

All Santa Monica students are welcome to join the orchestra.   To be a member of SMYO you need to be a student at a Santa Monica public school, private school or live in Santa Monica and be home schooled.  The founder of SMYO, Shabnam (Shab) Fasa, said, “We don’t audition.  We take everyone.  We don’t ask anyone to pay.”

SMYO is based on El Sistema, a government sponsored program of music education in Venezuela.  Los Angeles Philharmonic’s beloved conductor Gustavo Dudamel is originally from Venezuela, had studied with El Sistema, and made starting a youth orchestra in Los Angeles a part of his contract with the LA Philharmonic.   El Sistema music education goals are to teach students to make and love music and to become members of the international community of music.  Fasa had the opportunity to work with Dudamel at the Youth Orchestra of LA and that gave her the confidence to start the SMYO.

Shab Fasa works as a Manager for Community Corp in Santa Monica.  She studied at SMC and then went on to get a degree in Ethnomusicology from UCLA.

She was born in Iran.  Her mother, who had studied at Berkeley, left Iran because of the revolution and brought her family to Denmark where they were granted political asylum. 

In Denmark, as part of her schooling, her mother gave her a choice, “Study the piano or study the violin.”  She chose the violin because she wanted to be able to carry her instrument and because she fell in love with the Brahms Violin Concerto.

“The cool thing about the symphony for kids is that they become part of a collaborative body of sound.  You are dependent on everyone else in the orchestra to be able to make a great sound.  It makes you humble and it makes you proud at the same time.” said Fasa.

“I felt part of the community in Denmark because I was a violinist.  The feelings of togetherness in an orchestra bring people together across boundaries.”

She and her family moved from Denmark to the US in 2002 and, after trying a few other places, landed in Santa Monica.   Fasa said, “I did my research and Santa Monica is where I wanted our family to live.”

In January of 2012 she and Julius Carlson and Damian Berdakin, the original music mentors of the SMYO, held their first rehearsal.  “We invited 400 kids and 9 kids showed up!”

There are now 49 student musicians in the SMYO.  Their conductor, Clarinetist Ryan Dedenbostel, recently came to Santa Monica from his job at New York's Manhattan School of Music.  Shab Fasa is the founder of SMYO, a violinist and the violin instructor.  Bassist, cellist and luthier Gabriel (Gabo) Golden mentors the cello students.  He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at the USC Thornton School of Music and performs with Les Surprises Barogque and with Tessarae.  Musicologist and classical guitarist Julius Reder Carlson mentors the students and teaches the history of music.  He studied at the University of Chile and at UCLA and is the editor of UCLA's Ethnomusicology Review.

With their conductor in front of them and their mentors interspersed among them, the students began an almost 2 hour rehearsal.  It got off to a cacophonous start and I watched with admiration as Dudenbostel gently, carefully, charmingly and with demanding expectation brought the students together into an orchestra.

The concert opened with a holiday medley of Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night.  They then played “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Gustav Holst and closed the concert with selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. .

As a treat for the students and audience alike the conductor and the mentors brought out their own instruments and played a gorgeous interpretation of Rock of Ages.

The gift to the students is the gift of learning music.  Through music study they learn focus and concentration, learn about the music of their own and other cultures, and as Fasa thoughtfully said, “The students learn to access their own inner world and to have respect for their own imagination and for being able to be with each other.”

The people working to make all this possible are Board Members Dorothy Chapman, Deborah Bogen, Betsy Hiteshew, Melissa Sweeney and Irene Zivi, the Cultural Affairs Department of the City, the Boys and Girls Club and the families of the student musicians.

The afternoon was a gift of music for all of us in the filled to capacity Thelma Terry Center at Virginia Avenue Park.  It is a gift of generosity from the teachers and mentors and supporters.  It was a gift of inspiration to take with us into the New Year.