Strawberry Bulletin

FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 12 From the people who brought you the position paper, “Preserving a Home for Veterans”… e Metabolic Studio presents Our Town T H E G O P H E R P L A N Strawberry Bulletin A puppet show musical that tells it like it really is! Unstued! Uncensored! Unauthorized! Volume I, Number 7 Serving the 500,000 Veterans Living in Greater Los Angeles December 2011 The National Soldiers Home held in trust as A partial list of THE GOPHER PLAN puppet show musical show performances: a home for veterans in perpetuity is currently managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, December 16: 4pm—ACLU headquarters —Downtown LA—1313 W 8th St # 200 Golf Course Prepares the second largest cabinet department in the Los Angeles: 7:45pm—Electric Lodge in Venice—1416 Electric Avenue United States, smaller only than the Department of Defense. The West Los Angeles property is the December 19: 6pm—Ballington Plaza—622 S. Wall Street Los Angeles For a Grand Opening most valuable real estate in the VA network, one December 20: 4:30pm— e Rotary & e Barracks—543 S. Crocker Street which regards its health care responsibilities as Although the Heroes Golf Course at the north Los Angeles its main, even sole, function. The Strawberry end of the West Los Angeles VA campus has been Bulletin is communicating to the constituents for December 23: 4pm—Cal Veterans Home of West Los Angeles open for play for just over a year since its nearly whom the property is a home not a hospital. The More performances are scheduled for January 2012. two-year closure in 2009-2010, it has not had a passages listed here occur in the lives of some of Call 323-226-1158 to schedule a performance for your organization or visit real grand opening celebration since its “soft” the citizens of this place we claim as Our Town. 1888.metabolicstudio.org for further information and tour dates. opening in November 2010. September 2011: A meeting is convened Ricardo Bandini Johnson and Scott Morey of to discuss the threatened closure of the post Film Review the Bandini Foundation, which operates the office on the VA grounds as part of the U.S. course, are making plans to host such a Grand Postal Service’s belt-tightening nationwide. This Is Where We Take Our Stand Opening Festival and Ceremony on Saturday, January 21, in association with the VA Greater Many veterans depend on P.O. Boxes there, but What happens when returning soldiers defend the Constitution and their dedication Los Angeles Healthcare System. the facility’s future is not resolved. from war try to bring an end to that war to our nation’s democratic principles serve as Plans for the Grand Opening include as many October 2011: The Los Angeles County by simply telling the truth about their a positive reflection upon their military service. as two dozen booths set up around a main stage Veterans Advisory Commission moves this experiences? In March 2008 some bold They are the new face of American “citizen- in the golf course parking lot, entertainment month’s meeting from downtown to the veterans from the organization Iraq Veterans soldiers,” and are on the front lines of the new by the New Directions Choir and a jazz band, California State Veterans Home on the West Against the War converged upon the nation’s type of peace struggle that now exists in our post- community speakers, food, and an Amy L.A. VA grounds; residents and others address capital to exercise their right of free speech in 9/11 world. Alcott golf clinic. Alcott, 55, is something of a the Commission. an attempt to do just that. In January and February 2012, This Is Where professional golf legend, having won twenty- This proposal to CalVets was made in gingerbread by veterans working with the Metabolic Studio during October: Gov. Brown visits the CalVets Their public testimonies are documented We Take Our Stand will be broadcast on PBS. last December’s installation, No Place Like Home. Home for a swearing-in ceremony of California nine LPGA tournament events, including five in This Is Where We Take Our Stand, a film Pages of History Secretary of Veterans Affairs Peter J. Gravett; which premiered at the Hammer Museum just majors. although he was appointed by Brown months before Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November Chora Council Grants The long-closed Japanese Gardens adjacent Old Home Christmas, New Home Imperative before, Gravett was just confirmed by the State to the golf course will be used that day for the 22. The one-hour documentary is composed The Chora Council is made up of artists Senate in September. food trucks supporting the event, and will then Except for its first Noel in 1888, when might miss the program. In 1890, for instance, of footage extracted from a web series (http:// practicing in several different fields who November 2011: Metabolic Studio begins a be open to veterans and the public beginning the residents lived in tents and a gale blew, the veterans crowded into the library to “witness thisiswherewetakeourstand.com), and is recommend funding opportunities to the dialogue with Occidental College’s President January 22, said Johnson and Morey. Planned Christmas at the Old Soldiers Home was a … Perfection, or The Cork Leg.” Acted by the old co-directed by David Zeiger, Bestor Cram, Metabolic Studio. By funding the intangibles Jonathan Veitch about water and culture in Los construction of a lighted “driving range” cage festive affair, and a good time was had by soldiers and the wives and daughters of Home and Mike Majoros, three filmmakers with that precede creativity, support is offered to Angeles and the upcoming centenary of water adjacent to the golf course will be underway by almost all. “Almost all,” that is, because, officials, the farce – in which a young woman an established record of producing socially catalyze an artist’s practice. In 2011, the Chora entering the city from the Owens Valley. the time of the event, they said. as the Los Angeles Times reported over the pretends to have a prosthetic leg in order to find conscious work. The November screening Council recommended grants, which have been November: The Salon De Fleurus, now The Bandini Foundation, a nonprofit founded years, the brightness of the season also cast true love – was met with “hearty applause.” In at the Westwood-area museum played to an approved, to the following artists. complete, is on permanent loan at The in 2008 by Johnson and Morey, assumed a shadow side that sometimes deepened to 1909, professional actors presented The Spoilers, a audience of well over a hundred, including Victoria Coster studied sculpture at Falmouth Metabolic Studio and can be visited by operation of the golf course in June of this year tragedy. More of that later. play “based on a true story of corrupt government about a dozen veterans. School of Art and Design as a mature student appointment. Continued on page 4 In 1893, the veterans enjoyed a “royal officials stealing gold mines from prospectors,” This is a film with a distinct point of view. and a single mother to her now-grown child. November: Marine veteran Dakota Meyer, Christmas dinner.” A year later, they and by 1911 a silver screen in the thousand-seat The film is moving – in a gritty way rather than After graduation and a spell of homelessness, awarded the Medal of Honor in September sent “souvenir menu cards … to friends Ward Memorial Hall brought moving pictures a gentle, sentimental one. The stories and she travelled to India before returning to the U.K. for bravery in Afghanistan (Strawberry Gazette outside as assurance that they had been into the mix. articulations that the viewer is confronted to continue her art practice. Coster is working No. 5, September 2011), sues a British- well looked-after at Yuletide.” In 1896, the Not all the veterans found their amusement with can be brutally insightful and at times to define herself, her life, and her artistic owned defense contracting firm for allegedly Home’s Christmas dinner so impressed the at home however. On Christmas Day 1895, for even arresting. The veteran activists relate practice, which are all intrinsically related and harassing him and raising questions about L.A. Times that it printed not only the menu example, a bicycle race from Santa Monica to their various combat accounts and, in doing inseparable. his mental condition after he questioned the but also the quantities of ingredients used: Continued on page10 so, present a confrontation with the many Josh Kaufmann, an accordionist and founder practice of selling high-tech rifle scopes to the “Fat young turkey, 1500 pounds; challenges of war, especially occupation. of the Petrojvic Blasting Company, has travelled Pakistani military. three barrels of cranberries, sixteen Valentini Update Some of their conflicts involve things like across North America and Europe in a variety of December 2011: Garden of Defiance artist in boxes oranges, 2000 pounds fruit medication, murder, suicide, and, upon configurations with accordions, trombones, and residence Andrew Douglas accepts a position butter, 1000 pounds pumpkin, fifty their homecoming, the empty promises of a foot-drums. Recently returned from a pilgrimage Parties Await Ruling with the Metabolic studio. dozen eggs, 200 pounds cheese, The Los Angeles federal court has taken under veterans administration. to Eastern Europe, Kaufmann shared the stage December: The Dreamer’s Freedom Barber twenty-five gallons milk, 500 pounds submission the motion of the VA defendants By observing the veterans interviewing with some of ex-Yugoslavia’s best musicians Shop gets a makeover courtesy of L.A. Works, a sugar, ten pounds nutmeg and ten to dismiss the class action lawsuit challenging one another (a very effective device), an and performed everywhere from the streets of community service and workforce investment pounds allspice .… From the bakery land use at the West Los Angeles VA. As of the authoritative depiction emerges that reflects Belgrade to an ancient Roman coliseum. partnership. Dozens of workers repair the came thirty dozen each of mince and Bulletin’s press time on December 16, a ruling the anger and frustration many of them feel. Dan Knight is a sculptor working with energy leaky roof, install a new floor, repaint the trailer pumpkin pies and 3000 doughnuts. is still being awaited by the plaintiffs, disabled Soon, the viewer feels a little angry and a in the form of sound, movement, light, and inside and out, and provide outdoor seating From the great ovens came 122 homeless veterans seeking to enforce the 1888 little frustrated, too. (Maybe very angry and color. His work centers on collecting and giving and umbrellas. turkeys, all browned to a nicety.” deed restrictions, as well as by the VA defendants. frustrated.) Their controversial defiance new life to urban detritus, often with a spiritual December: The Veterans Park Conservancy The suit, titled Valentini v. Shinseki, was defines a boldness of candor and reveals element. Previous work includes a year spent and VA GLAHS hold an opening ceremony Like the food – much of which was grown filed June 8 against VA personnel by plaintiffs, character of the highest order. making a single-frame film with over 15,000 (the third in twelve months) at “The Women or raised at the Home – entertainment including Vietnam Veterans of America, Contrary to what some cheap, hawkish images of flowers. Knight also performs with his Veterans Historic Rose Garden” behind CJ, a puppet character in The Gopher Plan, is a was in abundant supply. The Home band represented by the ACLU of Southern California skepticism might suggest, their duty to sculpture. Building 220. Notwithstanding the Monday Continued on page 10 homeless veteran who travels underground passages played, and recitations and concerts were and other prominent lawyers, including with two pals to bring the Deed of 1888 to the nation’s Continued on page 9 performed several times so that none Continued on page 9 capital. OPINION IN THE BULLETIN Page 2 FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 11 Editorial @Zk]^gh_=^ÛZg\^ Grows into New Year A Home at the Holidays The end of the year is upon us, and it looks some herbs and spices, or transplant some like the Garden of Defiance is going to grow fruit trees. It varies from week to week, but the Much has been written, in our Strawberry through the finish line. For the new year, a tea and cookies made from garden produce are Bulletin pages as well as the national press, robust programming schedule has emerged always a welcome way to wrap things up. about the plight of homeless and disabled that serves a variety of campus veterans who Meanwhile, the exportation of our veterans and about the need for the VA to are active in the garden. horticultural endeavors to places like the do more for them, particularly in the area of On Veterans Day, veterans and civilian Exodus Lodge and the Domiciliary has housing. This is a most important subject, volunteers provided a day of service to install continued to evolve. Residents have weekly certainly worthy of the increased attention it a citrus orchard – the “Grove of Defiance,” open garden times to visit and learn about has been receiving of late. if you will. As always, the CalVets folks did a plants in a healing environment surrounded by But at this holiday season we are reminded superb job of coordinating a flawless affair. natural beauty. that home is much more than three hots and Very special thanks go out to Tree People, Last month, the fractured lath house at the a cot. Home is a hearth and all that implies – the Social Justice Learning Institute, and the Vets Garden behind Jackie Robinson Stadium camaraderie, warmth, good cheer, fellowship: Metabolic Studio – all righteous organizations was dismantled. For decades, the aging framed a family gathered at the table. Healthy growing on the front lines of Los Angeles structure greeted visitors as they ventured veterans who have a roof over their heads and urban agriculture. into the surrounding wooded womb. Largely enough to eat should participate in that home The weekly horticultural therapy program constructed from cedar and redwood, it hosted experience as much as the homeless and with New Directions is a success: our “Dirty countless horticultural endeavors over the disabled ones. It not only fills a need that all Dozen Tuesdays” are always a rewarding years; it has served its purpose there and is veterans share, but the interaction provides adventure. The programming is simple, but now ready for its re-genesis. The Garden of reciprocal benefits to the needy and the blest. it is stimulating and effective. It generally Defiance is proud to have salvaged a portion During the year now ending, we had starts with some light to medium work, just of the lumber and is re-purposing it now occasion to discuss the VA with a couple of to get the blood and oxygen flowing. Then by integrating it into our own horticultural friends who we knew outside the veteran we might plant some vegetables, learn about endeavor. Rancho Santa Ana was kind to have environment. Both are vets, and both knew we facilitated its procurement. worked in the veterans’ world – Bill is a high In other words, it is exactly because there school classmate now in real estate finance, Crossword Letters is this room for creative play, particularly ACROSS and Charles is a construction superintendent This holiday crossword puzzle is the product of puzzlers from both the American and British 1. Soldier abbreviated full time is present (a British multidisciplinary play—poetry (as in the use of with whom we go camping and fishing from We opened our “goodie bag” when we schools. The Brits lean more toward cryptic, word-play clues, while the Yanks tend to be rather crossword clue) language for evocation beyond communication), 4. After 3 down, a Christmas sentiment for “men” time to time. more straightforward. (Think George Smiley and Jack Ryan.) But both puzzlers agree that a returned from the December 4 Veterans’ Holiday dance (as in the movement of bodies through 2QO\RQHGD\DIWHU&KULVWPDVDQGWKHÀJKWLQJVWDUWV Bill, an Army vet, said he contacted the crossword is something to be savored, lingered over, and completed – if at all – over a period of Celebration (aka the Belushi Concert), and the space), painting (as mode of expression), and, 7. A good nose for 29 across, and good in 29 down too VA some time ago to see what it might offer, days rather than minutes. The solved puzzle appears on page 9. 8. The captain’s diary at Christmas first thing we pulled out was a crayon drawing of obviously, theater (as in the audience is part of and he was told that if he made more than 11. My Greek love’s mouth hangs open a Christmas Tree on a construction paper folder the act)—that Occupy 2011 is best seen as an art $27,000 a year, the VA had nothing for him. 12. Stocking stuffer, in the Army tradition with a handwritten letter inside from Vanessa in event. If 1968 taught us anything, it taught us the 13. One of Santa’s grunts Charles, a Navy vet, said he went to sign up Mrs. Kinsella’s 3rd grade class: power of imprecision and the street ballet. For 17. The hue of Santa’s suit, a robin’s breast, and for medical care when he got laid off and lost Dear Veteran, strawberries Mitt Romney is right: Wall Street is connected 18. He popularized the Christmas tree, wed Victoria, and his health plan; when the VA learned he made I want to start with thank you for fighting Continued on page 3 over $60,000 the previous year, it resisted even messed up my “printer cable” for us. I don’t really know so much about you ,I\RXGRQҋWZDQWWR\VIDOOLQJLQWRWKHÀUHEHVWGRWKLVWR giving him a card. Charles persisted and got veterans so I am 8 1/2 years old, I have a sister, old stockings before Christmas Eve his VA card, but the chilly reception made him 21. Golly gee, it’s hiding my favorite seasonal chocolate and I want to learn more about you veterans. This special holiday edition of the Strawberry feel unwelcome. cake! So you veterans are so brave because you Bulletin is being distributed at the Metabolic When your family or friends issue 24. “Every idiot who goes about with a ‘Merry Christmas’ on guys fight in armies for probably a long time Studio’s touring performances of The Gopher his lips should be boiled in his own – – – – – – –” invitations to Thanksgiving dinner, do they I’m guessing. Do you guys miss your families? Plan, a musical puppet show, as it visits $UPHGFRQÁLFWDQGDWLUDGHFRPELQHWRFUHDWHWKLV only invite the people who have nowhere else authority I would, because I love family. homeless veterans shelters and transitional to go? When your alumni group, service club, 26. “Ah,” said Hank, “that’s a piece of luck; I love this festival How do I get in an army? I think if I was in housing sites in the Los Angeles area. As well or church society hosts a holiday reception, do of light” an army and we were fighting I would just run as the Bulletin’s usual distribution channels. 29. “Hey, dude, what’s that white stuff on the mountains?” they only invite the destitute in the group? away or not even fight in the army. I just hope We wish happy holidays to veterans, friends 30. Mountainous state questions a dynasty The VA may claim that it is only a hospital you guys will always be there for us and know of veterans, artists, and friends of the arts 32. It sounds like I ride a bike, but I’m a frozen stalactite and not a home, but that is certainly not true – that we are cheering you on. 33. A shortening before the night before everywhere: Peace on Earth, Good Will to All. 34. Unstable “army” produces stable mother at least on the West Los Angeles property that I’m just in 3rd grade so my teacher said that was deeded in 1888 in trust to be a veterans’ you guys like getting letters, is that true? DOWN home. And a home welcomes all, even the Yes, Vanessa, it is true. 2. This indentation is not for atheists fortunate. Inside This Issue 3. A Christmas sentiment, a fervent prayer of veterans, and Open Letter Re: A Provisional Theory of Non- an anagram of “a neater epoch,” which it would be Veterans Day: A look at how 11.11.11 Page 4-5 5. “Floor those passageways, sailor!” Happenings: Occupation as Art was observed in Washington D.C. and 9. All’s quiet at 2200 hours Strawberry Bulletin To paraphrase Robert Smithson, the non- at the West Los Angeles VA 10. Outranks captain (in the Army, anyway) Published by the Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles happening is an event that is abstract, yet it 14. When you arrive here they have to take you in 1888.metabolicstudio.org represents an actual event that is happening. Kodak: The Studio’s Liminal Camera 15. “The city phoned, Alexander.” “I can ring the changes, visits the focal point of American pho- Graham.” Lauren Bon, Editor-in-Chief A happening is, of course, art as art event. tography, now in decline 16. Seventy years ago this month, a cultured babe dropped Terence Lyons, veterans correspondent The recent occupations are non-happening Story Page 5 a bomb on me Lawrence Flaherty and Jen Curtis, production design happenings, non-art events that are Photo Page 6-7 20. The druids decorated Carol’s house with two of their John Pecorelli and Lisa Marr, copy editors nonetheless art. Non-happening because they Commentary Page 8 sacred plants Contributing writers: Andrew Douglas, +ROLGD\HQWUHHVRUPRYLHÁRSV Rochelle Fabb, Bridget Kelly, Janet Owen Driggs are not fully determined, do not articulate Garden of Defiance grows and spreads Page 11 23. Feeling groggy? This mix’ll perk you up! Contributing artists: Lauren Bon, Owen Driggs, a precise ethical/aesthetic event, and yet, in &HOHEUDWHWKHÀUVWIUXLWVIRUVHYHQGD\VLQ6ZDKLOL Josh White, Metabolic Studio Optics Division fact, are happening, are ethical moves with an Crossword Page 11 28. Santa on Christmas Eve, or a racketeer making payoffs inherent aesthetic. 29. “Rabbit food” Edition of 2000 :KHUHWRÀQG+DZNH\H QRW,RZD 5DGDU QRWVRQDU Film Review: Taking a stand Page 12 and Potter (not Harry) FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 10 OPINION IN THE BULLETIN Page 3 Old Home Christmas Chora Council Grants Continued from page 1 Continued from page 12 2011 Year-End News Quiz The Strawberry Bulletin looks back over 2011 wing extremist in July? the Home and back drew “many of the old McClaren, “keeper of the menagerie,” returned Kathy Prendergast, a sculptor of quiet but and offers this review to see whether you were a. Norway b. Holland soldiers with Christmas cheer inside of to work at Christmas 1896 after an encounter immense sophistication, makes work that paying attention as the year rolled by. Some of c. Ethiopia d. Torrance them,” while in 1905 “an exodus of veterans” with “Joe, the vicious ape.” persistently revolves around a potent cluster of the events were reported in our pages and others, 8) The Associated Press reported in August accepted “invitations to dine with friends in Accidents were not uncommon among the issues, including sexuality, identity, landscape, alas, were not. The answers are on page 8. that the West Los Angeles VA was terminating Los Angeles and elsewhere.” (Incidentally, the predominantly middle-aged “old soldiers.” On mapping, and power. Recently her work has 1) At what location is it generally thought land use agreements for which non-veteran- cycle race was won by fourteen-year-old Leo Christmas day 1898, for example, “Stephen B. expanded to incorporate a series of large map the Arab Spring first bubbled in January? related uses on its property? Carrillo, “the chubby little son of the Mayor,” Seward, Company A … fell down steps at … the drawings that develop the artist’s ongoing a. Tiananmen Square b. The Hellespont a. A private school aquatics center, an oil who grew up to play Pancho in the television dining-hall and broke his right thigh.” project of creating an emotional Atlas of the c. Tahrir Square d. Thermopolae drilling operation, and a dog park As yet another year draws to a close without series The Cisco Kid.) But some Christmas injuries were not World, transforming generic maps of Europe 2) How old was Frank W. Buckles when he b. A bus company, a car rental firm, and a the first hammer having hit the first nail in the Speaking of Christmas cheer, on December accidents. Shortly after Mr. Seward fell, “John into magical views of a night sky where towns died in February as the last known surviving commercial laundry long-promised rehabilitation of Building 209 for 26, 1893, one Lewis Berger appeared in Hogan of Company B, cut his throat…from ear homeless veteran housing, we thought it would and cities become complicated constellations of U.S. veteran of World War One? c. A college baseball field, a motorcycling court in Los Angeles charged with public to ear.” And on December 19, 1902 both John L. be propitious to look back on all the talk about planets and stars. a. 86 b. 110 school, and museum parking facilities drunkenness. He “wore a blue coat with Barnett (64) and Charles Dunbar (68) attempted the vacant building near the north end of the Christine Quoiraud was born in France and c. 92 d. 212 d. A locked rose garden, a theater premier, West Los Angeles VA campus. After all, talk is all brass buttons and stated boldly that he had suicide. Mr. Barnett, “a talented member of the trained in modern dance, philosophy, and visual 3) What celebrity famously flamed out this and a carnival that we can look back on. Because talk is all that come up from the Soldiers’ Home to enjoy his Home Band,” took hydrochloric acid and was arts before working and living in Japan from 1985 year with bizarre rantings like, “I’m tired of 9) What bookstore chain was founded as has happened. Christmas, and had succeeded in his desires in found dying in his bunk, while Mr. Dunbar Regular readers of the Building 209 Watchdog to 1990 as a dancing member of Min Tanaka’s pretending like I’m not special. I’m tired of a used bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan in his own fashion.” Told to practice moderation cut his throat “on the street at Sawtelle.” He will recall that in 2007, then-Secretary of Veterans company, MAI JUKU. Quoirand started Body pretending like I’m not bitchin’, a total … 1971, grew to more than 1,000 stores from in future, Berger was released. Less fortunate “broke the blade … but missed the jugular … it Affairs Jim Nicholson designated Buildings 205, Weather work with Tanaka in 1980 in Europe. rock star from Mars,” as reported in the Los coast to coast, and closed its last store in 208, and 209 to be rehabilitated. Then in June were “two members of the home police” who is thought he will live.” She conducts Body/Landscape workshops and Angeles Times in March? September? 2010, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki committed $20 “imbibed adulterated spirits on Christmas Over a century after Mr. Dunbar’s “ghastly performances as well as artistic residencies all a. Lady Gaga b. Britney Spears a. Borders b. Barnes & Noble million to fund the rehabilitation of Building 209. Day” 1906, “fought at the guardhouse,” and attempt at self-destruction,” the L.A. Times At that time, Senator Diane Feinstein’s office over the world. c. Charlie Sheen d. John Lennon c. Waldenbooks d. TJ Maxx were promptly dismissed. reports that, despite a general belief to the issued a statement that “Secretary Shinseki also Melinda Ring explores a very liberal definition 4) What veteran-support initiative did 10) Hurricane Irene postponed until And what of Christmas gifts? In 1896, contrary, suicide actually decreases during committed to working with Senator Feinstein of choreography, creating dances, performance Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden undertake October the dedication of whose National and Representative [Henry] Waxman in the “quilts, cushions, slippers, reading matter the holiday season. Harvard psychiatrist Dr. pieces, videos, and installations. Recent venues in April? Memorial, inspired by his statement, “With months ahead to identify additional funds to and delicacies was received at the hospital Douglas Jacobs suggests that this may be include: The Whitney Museum, The Kitchen, a. Joining Forces this faith we will be able to hew out of the renovate buildings 205 and 208 [our emphasis].” as a Christmas remembrance.” In 1897, the because “people tend to reach out over the In August 2010, Waxman told the Strawberry Danspace Project, MASS MoCA, The Tang b. Desert Storm mountain of despair a stone of hope”? number of gifts arriving at the Home post holidays.” “Elderly people in nursing homes Gazette that the June meeting was “the pivotal Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, The c. The new G.I. Bill a. Booker T. Washington office “threatened to swamp it,” while the might suddenly get visitors. People who haven’t moment,” that he was “delighted by Secretary Box, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. She d. The Manhattan Project b. Frederick Douglass Shinseki’s decision,” and that “the $20 million following year “Postmaster Frew and his two heard from friends all year might get a card or is the curator for Danspace Project’s Spring 2011 5) What Vietnam-era veteran obtained c. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be used to fully restore and rehabilitate assistants … worked to the limit to handle the a phone call.” Platform, Susan Rethorst: Retro (intro)spective. a ruling in May that the West Los Angeles d. John Henry Building 209.” mail matter. The veterans have remembered This article was intended to amuse with some Also in August 2010, L.A. County Supervisor Robert Schaller studied for his MFA at the VA engaged in “unconstitutional viewpoint 11) What November holiday fell this year on absent friends most generously, and have morsels of history, but it seems to have wound Zev Yaroslavsky told the Strawberry Gazette that University of Colorado with Stan Brakhage discrimination” when it interfered with his a numeric repetition that has not been seen been equally well remembered in return.” its way to a more serious conclusion. For, with Shinseki had “made the pivotal executive decision and Phil Solomon, and then became a faculty hanging the U.S. flag upside down in the for a century (and will not be seen again for that will now move forward the renovation of the Christmas at the Home was not so the American Forces Press Service reporting member at the University of Colorado where distress position? another 100 years)? three buildings”; he was “thrilled” and grateful much lengthy as well-celebrated, for work in 2010 that some 6,000 veterans now commit he developed, among other things, a course a. Ron Kovic b. Bob Rosebrock a. Thanksgiving b. Veterans Day for Shinseki’s “crucial decision to fund the continued up to the celebration. Certainly suicide every year, it is particularly important rehabilitation [our emphasis].” He said 2012 was entitled “The Physical Properties of Film.” He c. Scott Olsen d. Tom Hayden c. All Souls Day d. Christmas Home Farmer Godley toiled in Christmas that we act on Dr. Jacobs’s suggestion and “the target date for the opening of Building 209.” has worked extensively with integrations of 6) Which actor, who appeared in The 12) December marked the 70th anniversary week 1897 when he set out “a portion of 9000 spread the comforts and joys of friendship and “There’s money in the federal budget in the different media with film, including musical Princess Bride, The Great Race, and Wings of of what event that occurred on the “date which one that President Obama just released the other Virginia everbearing and other equally choice home at this time of year. What can we say but: composition (he is a composer), modern dance, Desire died in June? He famously said, “Being will live in infamy,” as it was called by then- day to take three buildings on the West L.A.VA varieties of strawberry plants.” While William Please reach out this Christmas. theater, installation, kite-making (the ongoing chased by Columbo is like being nibbled to president Franklin D. Roosevelt? property, Buildings 208, 209, and 205, three big Aerial Cinema Project), and performance, buildings that would house several hundred death by a duck.” a. The bombing of Hiroshima homeless vets – and they need to be seismically in addition to the creation of emulsions and a. Robert Blake b. Wallace Shawn b. Pearl Harbor upgraded – the funds are there for that, and then handmade techniques. c. Peter Falk d. Elmer Fudd c. D-Day they need to be converted into housing units, and Dillwyn Smith studied painting at Canterbury 7) In which country were seventy-seven d. The adoption of the Nineteenth the funds are there for that. I expect that we will see College of Art and then at the Royal College of Art people, mostly teenagers, killed by a right- Amendment (women’s suffrage) some progress on that in the next 12 months [our where he gained an M.A. in 1986. Smith’s focus emphasis].” – Yaroslavsky speaking on KPCC on February 16, 2011 is on the energy, sensitivity, and dialogue in the In June 2011, Yaroslavsky told the Strawberry human being. His most recent exhibition, The Letters, cont. Bulletin, “The construction phase for Building Art of Intention, was installed in a living space in to Main Street like an I.V. to a vein, as the 209 is pending authorization by Congress for the $20 million which is in the President’s FY12 Bethnal Green, U.K. It incorporated paintings, occupations stringing from New York to film, bespoke clothes, Kirlian drawings, and budget.” L.A. are simultaneous performances of “The President’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Intention, a choreographed work made with deep social desire and lush discontent. includes $20 million to renovate Building 209 . dancer Noel Wallace. Vanessa Place . . The $20 million will be funds that have been Attorney at Law reprogrammed from prior year unobligated major construction funds, which requires an authorization by Congress.” – Congressman And finally, an out-of-state correspondent Henry Waxman in a June 2011 email to the FREEDOM closes out a year-end letter: Strawberry Bulletin … and so it goes ... we’re out of Iraq – “There’s an appropriation of some $20 million BARBER SHOP citizens mace their fellowshoppers on that sort of got lost in the shuffle, because that’s OPEN DAILY Black Friday – Herman didn’t have sex with a rounding error for this government.” – Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe on Charlie Rose on 9AM-7PM that woman he sent money to for 13 years July 11, 2011 ... oh yeah, THAT we really believe -- … and Advocacy at the federal level is a “long, slow, dead friends are not coming back. frustrating process.” – Santa Monica Human OEF/OIF Army veteran Carl LoFaro of Baltimore stands in the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum on bye for now, Judith DeLorca Services Administrator Setareh Yavari, speaking November 12, viewing the Liminal CameraSKRWRJUDSKRIDQHLJKW\IRRWÁDJUDLVHGE\WKH0HWDEROLF6WXGLR Denver, Colorado to the Santa Monica City Council on October 25, on the National Mall the previous day. 2011 NEWS IN THE BULLETIN Page 4 NEWS & FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 9 A Tale of Two Cities Our Town Two Cities Veterans Day in Washington D.C. Continued from page 12 morning “opening,” and notwithstanding Vets Day in D.C. “He puts so much into these weekends, as the company denied bankruptcy rumors, and the Open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday Continued from page 4 the one in Washington and the one at exhibited those photographs in the empty vaults signage, the Rose Garden is padlocked tight at of power and failures of the promises of Owens Lake, that he gets sick. He’s doing of the Bank of New York. We literally refilled 4 that afternoon. institutions that underpin citizenship. the stuff of dreams, not because he’s a the safes with silver, this time in the form of December: The Gopher Plan, Metabolic In addition to all of this, the Metabolic veteran but because he is a capable guy photography, before heading back down the Studio’s musical puppet show, bases its winter Studio hosted a Veterans Day dinner at the and he’s living up to his potential.” Erie Canal, itself a piece of engineering that, workshop in and around veterans shelters and first National Soldiers Home. We had more like the Los Angeles Aqueduct, underpinned the transitional housing in Los Angeles. than a hundred veterans for dinner in the 11.11.11 was the first Veterans Day in foundation that society was built around. December: Van Jones, Director of Rebuild cottage where President Lincoln wrote the our nation’s history with that auspicious The giant photographs from each of these the Dream Foundation, agrees to advise the Emancipation Proclamation. We parked date. It’s a date that comes only once every locations were on view at the Smithsonian’s Metabolic Studio’s special inquiry into the our Liminal Camera just outside Lincoln’s hundred years. One hundred years ago, there Hirshhorn Museum over the Veterans Day Occupy Movement. Cottage, and while the guests were coming was no holiday we now call Veterans Day – weekend. Several thousand visitors to the December: Professor Manuel Castells, USC and going they had a chance to see the power that emerged after the First World War. The museum had an opportunity to engage with the Annenberg School of Communication, agrees of a good idea. Metabolic Studio distributed our Special Metabolic Studio’s team, who spent the whole to participate in a dialogue about extending For the veterans on our team, what was Edition Strawberry Bulletin that day in two weekend in the museum. the reach of the Occupy Movement. also palpable is that Veterans Day is, after all, locations—the VA of West Los Angeles at the The team included veterans Terence Lyons, December: Veterans of the Strawberry Flag a day to salute those motivated to serve the Garden of Defiance and on the National Mall in who held a conversational table for veterans art project at the West L.A. VA in 2009-2010 principles of the last best hope, the United Washington D.C. all that weekend in the gallery space, and reunite for a lunch hosted by the Hammer States Constitution. You’ve got to use the We were in Washington to hang an eighty- Curtis Bailey, whose artwork can be seen in the Museum in Westwood, followed by a tour of muscle of citizenship or lose it. foot flag and photograph it with our Liminal Bulletin and on the T-shirts we distributed to the Hammer exhibit Now Dig This! Art & Black Camera. We had an exhibition the next day commemorate the 11.11.11 action itself. (The Los Angeles 1960-1980. Vets Day at West L.A. of these photos. Several thousand people quotation at the outset of this article is a team December: Lauren Bon is asked to lecture at Continued from page 5 participated in our weekend in D.C. They were member’s tribute to Bailey.) the USC School of Art and Architecture series, Over at the Domiciliary there was a barbecue all part of the Metabolic Studio’s action to Roxanne Steinberg, Dani Lunn, and Curtis “What Next?” Her lecture will take place on and a live band. Up at the golf course there Golf Course Opening bring awareness to the office of the President Bailey all took time to work on a book of were a few people golfing and grilling chicken. Continued from page 1 January 25. says that actually providing that housing is not its of the importance of securing a home for transparencies made from historic images of December: Larry Flaherty of the Veterans But mostly the campus was a ghost town. It responsibility. (Strawberry Bulletin No. 4, July 2011), after U.S. veterans at the VA of WLA. the Bonus Army’s 1932 March on Washington. Print Studio accepts a position with The was a federal holiday, so the VA humans had As reported in last month’s Strawberry Bulletin Vets, another private nonprofit, reopened the On Flag Day 2010, Vietnam veteran David We invited the public to cast the shadow of Metabolic Studio. a three-day weekend. The CalVets humans No. 6, Judge Otero – following a first round of course in November 2010 (Strawberry Bulletin Whittaker flew a similar flag at the opening of these soldiers on one of our photographic prints December: Jerome Larson, a veteran though, they were here all day. And I saw briefing in which the court received written No. 2, April 2011). Johnson is the grandnephew the California Home for Veterans in West L.A. of the Capitol. This is significant because the participant in Strawberry Flag at the West L.A. some other vets, peeking out the windows, arguments not only from the parties, but also of Arcadia Bandini de Baker, who was one of His health was in decline and he was homeless country is currently undergoing a redefinition VA, exhibits his drawings and paintings in wondering if anyone remembered them. from the Metabolic Studio and the City of Santa the 1888 donors of land that became the West at the time. The Metabolic Studio held the flag of citizenship through the occupation of public Hollywood at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. I crawled underground and ate a few nuts. I Monica, who filed friend-of-the-court briefs L.A. VA. for him until he could reclaim it – the flag itself space strategically selected to protest abuses December: Kevin West completes a three- know I’m just a gopher, but I don’t understand in support of plaintiffs’ claims against the VA The nine-hole, par 27 course is open to the had been on tour with Mr. Whittaker, who is in Continued on page 9 month edible archiving project with the Veterans Day. If all these men and women did – directed the parties to file additional briefs public based on a priority system in which VA the Guinness Book of World Records for largest Metabolic Studio in which he processed food such amazing things for their country, how “pertaining specifically to the arguments about in-patients and VA residents have first priority, flag on tour by a man in a wheelchair. A Veteran’s Visit grown at the Studio’s signature gardens. come there was hardly anybody on the VA the creation of a charitable trust.” The court with second priority given to other veterans, In the spirit of American exceptionalism, December: The Metabolic Studio’s Optics campus on Veterans Day? continued the pending hearing on the VA’s followed by public access to the course. The Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio Division invents a new processing technique motion to dismiss to December 5 to allow for the course was originally built by the members of brought their Liminal Camera – the largest To VA HQ in D.C. for the liminal prints. filing of the additional briefs. Hillcrest Country Club in West Los Angeles as mobile instamatic camera in the world – to A U.S. Army veteran who was in Washington December: Allison Nordstrom, curator Valentini Update After briefing was complete, Judge Otero issued a tribute to World War II veterans. Washington to photograph such a flag, which, D.C. for Veterans Day this year went to the from the George Eastman House Museum Continued from page 1 an order cancelling the December 5 hearing, The 4.5-acre Japanese Gardens, originally for whatever reason, was largely ignored that Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters on in Rochester, New York, plans a visit with Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. stating that he believed he could rule on the the Brentwood Hospital Gardens developed fateful Flag Day in 2010. Vermont Avenue to visit the government agency Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio’s Optics Tribe, charging that “the VA has eliminated motion on the basis of the written arguments in 1958 by various donors but now closed for The Liminal Camera tour, of which our responsible for his welfare. What he found was Division in January to discuss a publication permanent housing for disabled veterans, that had been filed, and that no purpose would years, have undergone substantial restoration, Veterans Day action on the National Mall that one cannot even enter the VA headquarters about the Liminal Camera and its photos. many of whom now literally sleep outside be served by oral argument at a hearing. Such including streams and koi ponds, over the last was the last stop, was called the Flag Tour. building without a specific appointment with a its walls, and it now leases portions of the an order is not unusual in federal court, and it few months by the Bandini Foundation. The We crossed the country staking the ground specific person. property to private companies.” provides no basis for speculating as to how the gardens will once again be open to the veterans and photographing places of particular “But I just came from the Rayburn [House Crossword Solution The complaint seeks an injunction directing court will rule. and will be available by reservation for private significance in terms of how the land is being of Representatives Office] Building and the (Puzzle on page 11) the VA to provide permanent supportive In a related development, the federal court of events and functions. used. Where the flag was being staked, the Dirkson and Hart [Senate Office] Buildings, and housing on the West L.A. VA campus, an appeals on November 16 granted the VA’s petition order mandating the VA to faithfully execute Johnson and Morey expect that the operation landscape itself was being surveilled by our I was welcome there.” Guard: “Yes, those are for a rehearing in the case of Veterans for Common will employ 140 veterans (not all full-time) crew. When we started out on Flag Day 2011 its obligations under the 1888 deed to use public buildings; this is the VA.” the donated land solely to provide a home for Sense v. Shinseki, in which a three-judge panel of by the end of 2012, including in that number in the center of one of the L.A. Department of “But I’m a veteran and I want to pay my disabled veterans, and a declaration that the that court had ruled in May that VA mental health Water and Power’s rehydration facilities, the as many as the Compensated Work Therapy respects to [VA Secretary] Gen. Shinseki.” Guard, land transferred under the 1888 deed created care delays constituted a violation of veterans’ (CWT) program can supply. This includes jobs country had not yet moved into the moment shaking his head in an attitude of incredulity a charitable trust and the VA is in breach of due process rights under the U.S. Constitution at the golf course, the extended-hours lighted we are in now just a few months later with the at the very idea: “Most all VA buildings are that trust. (Strawberry Bulletin No.3, May 2011). While the “driving range” cage, the Japanese Gardens, gestalt of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. restricted access, and this is the headquarters,” The VA’s lawyers on October 7 filed a motion appeals court on rehearing might reaffirm the and a new clubhouse/golf shop. The operation We traced the movement of silver from its as if to say that obviously that makes it the most to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the decision of the three-judge panel, the grant of currently employs “nine or ten” – none through origin around Owens Lake in the Eastern restricted. plaintiffs have no legal standing and the court rehearing renders the earlier decision withdrawn CWT as yet, but all of whom are veterans. Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Mountains across “But I met Gen. Shinseki when he was in Los lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. This motion as precedent in the meantime. Plaintiffs in the For the January 21 grand reopening, which the country to Rochester, N.Y., where it was Angeles.” Guard, regarding the veteran now argues that even if the plaintiffs’ “allegations Valentini case had relied on that earlier decision; about discrimination, breach of trust, and had been scheduled for November 11 but then processed into photographic emulsion and in a new attitude of respect and a little awe, as they now argue that the VA motion to dismiss postponed, the golf course will open at 8 a.m., then shipped back to California again to procedural error” are all true, “this case must though he’s never met anyone who’s actually be dismissed.” Although the motion says the should be denied in any event. The rehearing in with the Opening Ceremony at 10 a.m. and create Hollywood. met the Secretary: “I’m sorry, sir.” VA “has as a top priority the resolution of the Veterans for Common Sense was argued December We photographed the Eastman Kodak relics food service to start at 11 a.m. housing needs of homeless Veterans,” it also 13; the parties await a decision in that case too. FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 8 NEWS IN THE BULLETIN Page 5 margins or faster competitive pace of high-tech industries. At one meeting with Microsoft’s Bill The Liminal Camera Kodak’s Long Fade to Black Gates to discuss integrating Kodak’s photo CDs Columnist Michael Hiltzik ran the following product with a huge market demand; it just with Windows, Kodak Chairman Kay Whitmore Focuses on Kodak story in the December 4 Los Angeles Times. got sloppy and inefficient at turning out fell asleep. On the overleaf (pages 6 and 7) is an image of Given the Metabolic Studio’s involvement in its cars and trucks. That’s why the federal Whitmore was succeeded by George M.C. a Liminal Camera negative photograph showing a photography with its development of the Liminal government, not to mention GM’s unions Fisher, who as the former CEO of Motorola Kodak factory building in Rochester, New York. Camera and that camera’s work in photographing and other stakeholders, thought a dramatic had a better grasp of high tech. Fisher reached Eastman Kodak’s success was underpinned Eastman Kodak facilities in Rochester, N.Y., we restructuring might put it back on its feet. out to Microsoft and other new consumer by our nostalgia. The “Kodak Moment” became thought this column was worth sharing with (That it was a central player in an industry merchandisers. For example, Apple’s a familiar turn of phrase for many Americans. Strawberry Bulletin readers. employing hundreds of thousands of pioneering QuickTake consumer digital Most Rochesterians have worked for Kodak at Americans was part of the calculus too.) cameras, introduced in 1994, were mostly some point in their lives. The city’s decline is tied Like the passing of distinguished individuals, Kodak, however, markets a process Kodak products with Apple nameplates. But to the digital image and its challenge to Kodak. the passing of great corporations should technology; and as the chemistry of film Fisher never conceived of an entirely filmless “The Great Yellow Daddy,” as it’s known there, prompt us to ponder the transience of earthly has yielded to digital electronics, consumer world, either. was brought down, but not before wrecking glory. demand for Kodak’s traditional products Under Fisher’s successor, Daniel Carp, Kodak havoc on glacial time. In less than one century, So let’s pay our respects to Eastman Kodak, has evaporated. A similar transition afflicts moved headlong into digital photography, the effluence of film processing poisoned the which at this writing appears to be a shutter- newspapers, book publishers, movie studios, but at a cost. In 2001 it held the No. 2 spot in Great Lakes. click from extinction. broadcasters and record labels today, but the U.S. digital camera sales (behind Sony), but Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio’s Optics Once ranked among the bluest of blue chips, issues for those industries are different yet. its executives acknowledged it was losing $60 Division traveled with the Liminal Camera from a Kodak shares sell today at close to $1. Kodak’s Their business models are under pressure on every camera sold. By last year it ranked source of the silver used in photographic film, the chairman has been denying that the company because they’re dependent on outdated fourth. And it can hardly escape the company’s A Tale of Two Cities Sierra Nevada and Inyo Mountains, to Rochester. is contemplating a bankruptcy filing with such distribution technologies; but their core notice that an ever-smaller percentage of digital Our subjects, both the Owens Valley landscape vehemence that many believe Chapter 11 must products (information, entertainment) are pictures are being taken on digital cameras, as Veterans Day at the West L.A. VA and industrial buildings now themselves in ruin, lurk just around the corner. still very much in demand. opposed to cellphones and tablets. are stark reminders of the fleeting nature of all While much of the Metabolic Studio team you’re planting these trees? The gardener The Rochester, N.Y., company said it had So Kodak has faced a tougher challenge As time passes, Kodak looks more and more form. was in Washington, D.C. for 11.11.11, one of its invited me. He’s that red-headed fellow over $862 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30, but than automakers or content producers. Still, it like a truck spinning its wheels in mud. The (See also Michael Hiltzik’s Los Angeles Times members – who sometimes think of themselves there.” at the rate it’s losing money from operations has met the challenge ham-handedly. This is company hasn’t had a profitable year since column on Kodak’s demise, reprinted on page 8, as the ubiquitous gophers that tunnel about the “I’m a veteran too,” said the man in the red (more than $70 million a month), that hoard characteristic of companies that have enjoyed 2007. Its current chairman, Antonio Perez (a following the overleaf photograph.) West Los Angeles VA campus – remained behind shirt. “But this Bulletin is political, and we would barely last a year. As for future revenue, what one might think of as success on a tragic former executive at Hewlett-Packard, another and filed this report in the form of a first-gopher don’t want anything political here.” it’s banking heavily on winning patent lawsuits scale. company riding on bald tires), said last month account. “Have you read it?” the woman asked. against Apple and the maker of BlackBerry Almost from Kodak’s founding by George on announcing Kodak’s dismal third-quarter Since my gopher friends, Shiner and “No, but right here it says: ‘Mister President.’ phones. Eastman in 1880, the money had rolled in, results that he’s delighted in the profit prospects Auggie, were in Washington D.C. for Veterans That’s political.” Kodak Brownie and Instamatic cameras were thanks to Eastman’s razor-blade strategy of for its inkjet printers. But does anybody else out Day, I decided I would roam around the “Veterans’ issues are political,” the woman once staples of family vacations and holidays selling cameras cheaply and reaping lavish there think that desktop printing is a growth VA campus to see how the humans were said. “We’ve spent three trillion tax dollars on — remember the “open me first” Christmas margins from consumables — film, chemicals market? celebrating the nation’s bravest warriors. The the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And this VA ad campaigns? But it may not be long before a and paper. Kodak’s biggest revenue score of 2010 was sky was overcast, and the ground soft from land is worth at least five billion. How could SPAN Stretches generation of Americans grows up without ever As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% $838 million it collected from patent licensing, rain. The west gates into the VA were closed. anything involving that much money not be having laid hands on a Kodak product. That’s of film sales and 85% of camera sales in evidently including a settlement it reached The campus police were stationed at the political?” To South Bronx a huge comedown for a brand that was once as the U.S., according to a 2005 case study for with LG after suing the South Korean company south and east entrances, poised and ready for He left and went to tattle on her to a man in globally familiar as Coca-Cola. Harvard Business School. Such seemingly for patent infringement. Through the first The Bronx River Art Center’s exhibition Shifting something to happen. a gray shirt with glasses. He walked over. It’s hard to think of a company whose unassailable competitive positions tend to three quarters of this year, the same category Communities, which opened on December 2, My first stop was the Garden of Defiance. I’ve “We can’t have you handing those out. onetime dominance of a market has been so foster unimaginative executive cultures, and produced zero. But Perez is still hoping for a big includes one of Jules Rochielle’s Social Practices been trying to sample the lettuce there, but You’re not with us.” thoroughly obliterated by new technology. Kodak’s was no exception. score from another patent sale. Art Network (SPAN) “Listening Stations.” unfortunately it’s planted in very high bins. “I’m a veteran, and I think this is important Family snapshots? They’re almost exclusively Even after Fuji Photo crept into the U.S. It may be premature to write Kodak off. SPAN is an archive and an online resource for As a gopher, I’m having logistical troubles information about this land.” digital now, and only a tiny fraction ever get market with lower-priced film and supplies, After all, the company does have more than a artists, community groups, and institutions that but I will not give up. A hungry gopher is “But it’s political. And I’m in charge of this printed on paper. Kodak refused to believe Americans would century’s experience in consumer marketing engage in social practice: an art form that focuses a determined gopher. Around the garden event and I don’t want it to reflect on us.” Eastman Kodak engineers invented the ever desert its sacred brand. Complacently, and a technology portfolio potentially worth more on the development of social relations than there were seventy-five people digging holes, “Are you scared of the pink paper too?” digital camera in 1975; but now that you can the company spurned the chance to become billions. But companies that can remake on the creation and appreciation of art objects. planting orange trees. The diggers wore red “What? No I’m not scared. I just want these point and click with a cheap cellphone, even the official film of the 1984 Los Angeles themselves to survive changes on the scale of By creating a record of actions undertaken and and grey shirts. The trees went in quickly. I kids to plant these trees. They’re trying to do the stand-alone digital camera is becoming Olympics; the bid went instead to Fuji, which what Kodak confronts are rare indeed. memories spoken, SPAN documents activities sampled the tasty roots. The diggers seemed something nice.” an endangered species on the consumer exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent IBM has done so, and General Electric, but that may well otherwise remain local, intimate, very pleased with themselves and most excited “Do you think it might enrich their electronics veld. The last spool of yellow-boxed foothold in the marketplace. not many others. and invisible. to take a photo of their work. I think humans experience to know a little bit about the land Kodachrome rolled out the door of a Mexican Then came digital. Far from scorning the Kodak was once such a pervasive part of our Since leaving the Metabolic Studio and like to stand together and say “cheese.” I like into which they are digging?” factory in 2009. Paul Simon composed his new technology, Kodak ramped up research lives that the “Kodak moment,” defined as a founding SPAN in early 2011, Jules Rochielle has cheese. “No I don’t,” said the man. “Excuse me,” he hymn to Kodachrome in 1973, but his camera and development to nearly 10% of sales in the personal event that demanded to be recorded conducted over one hundred audio interviews I saw a woman handing out the pink paper said and turned away. of choice, according to the lyrics, was a Nikon. mid-1980s and integrated digital features into for posterity, entered our lexicon. with social practitioners and put them online at called the Strawberry Bulletin. I know it’s The woman left the garden. It’s not uncommon for great companies to its product lines, including video systems, Now when even the most private Kodak www.socialpracticesartnetwork.org. called that because I use it as wallpaper in my The men in the gray and red shirts posed be humbled by what the Austrian economist scanners and photo enhancement software. moment seems to unfold before the digital An extension of SPAN’s digital archive, the underground den. The woman offered the for another picture. They seemed very pleased Joseph Schumpeter called the forces of But its executives couldn’t foresee a future gaze of a hundred iPhones, it looks as though Listening Stations occupy real time and space in paper to a man in a red shirt. He looked at the with themselves. “creative destruction.” Technology, especially in which film had no role in image capture Kodak’s moment has passed. The circle of life in order to probe social and community practices in paper and walked away fast. After that I scuttled up to the front gates of digital technology, has been the most potent at all, nor come to grips with the lower profit business is a natural phenomenon, the lesson specific locations around the world. “I’m sorry my pink paper scares you,” the the VA to check on some nuts I’d stashed near whirlwind sweeping away old markets and of which shouldn’t be overlooked by companies By creating a set of interviews with socially woman said. the Women’s Park. I risked being spotted by old strategies for many decades. Changing that seem to have cemented themselves into engaged Bronx artists, SPAN’s Listening Station, Quiz Answers “I’m not scared. Do you even have the red-tailed hawks, but I wanted to see what economics and global competition have permanent spots at the top of the world today a Digital Community Archive, is letting visitors permission to be here? Who invited you?” the all the fuss was about. There were ten veterans reduced behemoths of the past, such as General (News Quiz on page 3) — including Apple, Google and Facebook. The tune into the rich cultural community, creative

man in the red shirt asked. and activists occupying the front lawn of the Motors, into mice of the present. b 12. b; 11. c; 10. a; 9. b; 8. lesson is: Nothing lasts forever. happenings, and history of a neighborhood that

FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 8 NEWS IN THE BULLETIN Page 5

margins or faster competitive pace of high-tech industries. At one meeting with Microsoft’s Bill The Liminal Camera Kodak’s Long Fade to Black Gates to discuss integrating Kodak’s photo CDs Columnist Michael Hiltzik ran the following product with a huge market demand; it just with Windows, Kodak Chairman Kay Whitmore Focuses on Kodak story in the December 4 Los Angeles Times. got sloppy and inefficient at turning out fell asleep. On the overleaf (pages 6 and 7) is an image of Given the Metabolic Studio’s involvement in its cars and trucks. That’s why the federal Whitmore was succeeded by George M.C. a Liminal Camera negative photograph showing a photography with its development of the Liminal government, not to mention GM’s unions Fisher, who as the former CEO of Motorola Kodak factory building in Rochester, New York. Camera and that camera’s work in photographing and other stakeholders, thought a dramatic had a better grasp of high tech. Fisher reached Eastman Kodak’s success was underpinned Eastman Kodak facilities in Rochester, N.Y., we restructuring might put it back on its feet. out to Microsoft and other new consumer by our nostalgia. The “Kodak Moment” became thought this column was worth sharing with (That it was a central player in an industry merchandisers. For example, Apple’s a familiar turn of phrase for many Americans. Strawberry Bulletin readers. employing hundreds of thousands of pioneering QuickTake consumer digital Most Rochesterians have worked for Kodak at Americans was part of the calculus too.) cameras, introduced in 1994, were mostly some point in their lives. The city’s decline is tied Like the passing of distinguished individuals, Kodak, however, markets a process Kodak products with Apple nameplates. But to the digital image and its challenge to Kodak. the passing of great corporations should technology; and as the chemistry of film Fisher never conceived of an entirely filmless “The Great Yellow Daddy,” as it’s known there, prompt us to ponder the transience of earthly has yielded to digital electronics, consumer world, either. was brought down, but not before wrecking glory. demand for Kodak’s traditional products Under Fisher’s successor, Daniel Carp, Kodak havoc on glacial time. In less than one century, So let’s pay our respects to Eastman Kodak, has evaporated. A similar transition afflicts moved headlong into digital photography, the effluence of film processing poisoned the which at this writing appears to be a shutter- newspapers, book publishers, movie studios, but at a cost. In 2001 it held the No. 2 spot in Great Lakes. click from extinction. broadcasters and record labels today, but the U.S. digital camera sales (behind Sony), but Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio’s Optics Once ranked among the bluest of blue chips, issues for those industries are different yet. its executives acknowledged it was losing $60 Division traveled with the Liminal Camera from a Kodak shares sell today at close to $1. Kodak’s Their business models are under pressure on every camera sold. By last year it ranked source of the silver used in photographic film, the chairman has been denying that the company because they’re dependent on outdated fourth. And it can hardly escape the company’s A Tale of Two Cities Sierra Nevada and Inyo Mountains, to Rochester. is contemplating a bankruptcy filing with such distribution technologies; but their core notice that an ever-smaller percentage of digital Our subjects, both the Owens Valley landscape vehemence that many believe Chapter 11 must products (information, entertainment) are pictures are being taken on digital cameras, as Veterans Day at the West L.A. VA and industrial buildings now themselves in ruin, lurk just around the corner. still very much in demand. opposed to cellphones and tablets. are stark reminders of the fleeting nature of all While much of the Metabolic Studio team you’re planting these trees? The gardener The Rochester, N.Y., company said it had So Kodak has faced a tougher challenge As time passes, Kodak looks more and more form. was in Washington, D.C. for 11.11.11, one of its invited me. He’s that red-headed fellow over $862 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30, but than automakers or content producers. Still, it like a truck spinning its wheels in mud. The (See also Michael Hiltzik’s Los Angeles Times members – who sometimes think of themselves there.” at the rate it’s losing money from operations has met the challenge ham-handedly. This is company hasn’t had a profitable year since column on Kodak’s demise, reprinted on page 8, as the ubiquitous gophers that tunnel about the “I’m a veteran too,” said the man in the red (more than $70 million a month), that hoard characteristic of companies that have enjoyed 2007. Its current chairman, Antonio Perez (a following the overleaf photograph.) West Los Angeles VA campus – remained behind shirt. “But this Bulletin is political, and we would barely last a year. As for future revenue, what one might think of as success on a tragic former executive at Hewlett-Packard, another and filed this report in the form of a first-gopher don’t want anything political here.” it’s banking heavily on winning patent lawsuits scale. company riding on bald tires), said last month account. “Have you read it?” the woman asked. against Apple and the maker of BlackBerry Almost from Kodak’s founding by George on announcing Kodak’s dismal third-quarter Since my gopher friends, Shiner and “No, but right here it says: ‘Mister President.’ phones. Eastman in 1880, the money had rolled in, results that he’s delighted in the profit prospects Auggie, were in Washington D.C. for Veterans That’s political.” Kodak Brownie and Instamatic cameras were thanks to Eastman’s razor-blade strategy of for its inkjet printers. But does anybody else out Day, I decided I would roam around the “Veterans’ issues are political,” the woman once staples of family vacations and holidays selling cameras cheaply and reaping lavish there think that desktop printing is a growth VA campus to see how the humans were said. “We’ve spent three trillion tax dollars on — remember the “open me first” Christmas margins from consumables — film, chemicals market? celebrating the nation’s bravest warriors. The the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And this VA ad campaigns? But it may not be long before a and paper. Kodak’s biggest revenue score of 2010 was sky was overcast, and the ground soft from land is worth at least five billion. How could SPAN Stretches generation of Americans grows up without ever As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% $838 million it collected from patent licensing, rain. The west gates into the VA were closed. anything involving that much money not be having laid hands on a Kodak product. That’s of film sales and 85% of camera sales in evidently including a settlement it reached The campus police were stationed at the political?” To South Bronx a huge comedown for a brand that was once as the U.S., according to a 2005 case study for with LG after suing the South Korean company south and east entrances, poised and ready for He left and went to tattle on her to a man in globally familiar as Coca-Cola. Harvard Business School. Such seemingly for patent infringement. Through the first The Bronx River Art Center’s exhibition Shifting something to happen. a gray shirt with glasses. He walked over. It’s hard to think of a company whose unassailable competitive positions tend to three quarters of this year, the same category Communities, which opened on December 2, My first stop was the Garden of Defiance. I’ve “We can’t have you handing those out. onetime dominance of a market has been so foster unimaginative executive cultures, and produced zero. But Perez is still hoping for a big includes one of Jules Rochielle’s Social Practices been trying to sample the lettuce there, but You’re not with us.” thoroughly obliterated by new technology. Kodak’s was no exception. score from another patent sale. Art Network (SPAN) “Listening Stations.” unfortunately it’s planted in very high bins. “I’m a veteran, and I think this is important Family snapshots? They’re almost exclusively Even after Fuji Photo crept into the U.S. It may be premature to write Kodak off. SPAN is an archive and an online resource for As a gopher, I’m having logistical troubles information about this land.” digital now, and only a tiny fraction ever get market with lower-priced film and supplies, After all, the company does have more than a artists, community groups, and institutions that but I will not give up. A hungry gopher is “But it’s political. And I’m in charge of this printed on paper. Kodak refused to believe Americans would century’s experience in consumer marketing engage in social practice: an art form that focuses a determined gopher. Around the garden event and I don’t want it to reflect on us.” Eastman Kodak engineers invented the ever desert its sacred brand. Complacently, and a technology portfolio potentially worth more on the development of social relations than there were seventy-five people digging holes, “Are you scared of the pink paper too?” digital camera in 1975; but now that you can the company spurned the chance to become billions. But companies that can remake on the creation and appreciation of art objects. planting orange trees. The diggers wore red “What? No I’m not scared. I just want these point and click with a cheap cellphone, even the official film of the 1984 Los Angeles themselves to survive changes on the scale of By creating a record of actions undertaken and and grey shirts. The trees went in quickly. I kids to plant these trees. They’re trying to do the stand-alone digital camera is becoming Olympics; the bid went instead to Fuji, which what Kodak confronts are rare indeed. memories spoken, SPAN documents activities sampled the tasty roots. The diggers seemed something nice.” an endangered species on the consumer exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent IBM has done so, and General Electric, but that may well otherwise remain local, intimate, very pleased with themselves and most excited “Do you think it might enrich their electronics veld. The last spool of yellow-boxed foothold in the marketplace. not many others. and invisible. to take a photo of their work. I think humans experience to know a little bit about the land Kodachrome rolled out the door of a Mexican Then came digital. Far from scorning the Kodak was once such a pervasive part of our Since leaving the Metabolic Studio and like to stand together and say “cheese.” I like into which they are digging?” factory in 2009. Paul Simon composed his new technology, Kodak ramped up research lives that the “Kodak moment,” defined as a founding SPAN in early 2011, Jules Rochielle has cheese. “No I don’t,” said the man. “Excuse me,” he hymn to Kodachrome in 1973, but his camera and development to nearly 10% of sales in the personal event that demanded to be recorded conducted over one hundred audio interviews I saw a woman handing out the pink paper said and turned away. of choice, according to the lyrics, was a Nikon. mid-1980s and integrated digital features into for posterity, entered our lexicon. with social practitioners and put them online at called the Strawberry Bulletin. I know it’s The woman left the garden. It’s not uncommon for great companies to its product lines, including video systems, Now when even the most private Kodak www.socialpracticesartnetwork.org. called that because I use it as wallpaper in my The men in the gray and red shirts posed be humbled by what the Austrian economist scanners and photo enhancement software. moment seems to unfold before the digital An extension of SPAN’s digital archive, the underground den. The woman offered the for another picture. They seemed very pleased Joseph Schumpeter called the forces of But its executives couldn’t foresee a future gaze of a hundred iPhones, it looks as though Listening Stations occupy real time and space in paper to a man in a red shirt. He looked at the with themselves. “creative destruction.” Technology, especially in which film had no role in image capture Kodak’s moment has passed. The circle of life in order to probe social and community practices in paper and walked away fast. After that I scuttled up to the front gates of digital technology, has been the most potent at all, nor come to grips with the lower profit business is a natural phenomenon, the lesson specific locations around the world. “I’m sorry my pink paper scares you,” the the VA to check on some nuts I’d stashed near whirlwind sweeping away old markets and of which shouldn’t be overlooked by companies By creating a set of interviews with socially woman said. the Women’s Park. I risked being spotted by old strategies for many decades. Changing that seem to have cemented themselves into engaged Bronx artists, SPAN’s Listening Station, Quiz Answers “I’m not scared. Do you even have the red-tailed hawks, but I wanted to see what economics and global competition have permanent spots at the top of the world today a Digital Community Archive, is letting visitors permission to be here? Who invited you?” the all the fuss was about. There were ten veterans reduced behemoths of the past, such as General (News Quiz on page 3) — including Apple, Google and Facebook. The tune into the rich cultural community, creative

“Yes,” she said, “I’m a veteran so I belong VA. They made a ruckus, so the police removed Kodak’s decline is of a different order a; 7. c; 6. b; 5. a; 4. c; 3. b; 2. c; 1. Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times has a deep roots in collective, socially engaged here. This is veterans’ land. Isn’t that why them. from GM’s. The latter still manufactures a Reprinted with permission. Continued on page 9 artistic practice. NEWS IN THE BULLETIN Page 4 NEWS & FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 9 A Tale of Two Cities Our Town Two Cities Veterans Day in Washington D.C. Continued from page 12 morning “opening,” and notwithstanding Vets Day in D.C. “He puts so much into these weekends, as the company denied bankruptcy rumors, and the Open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday Continued from page 4 the one in Washington and the one at exhibited those photographs in the empty vaults signage, the Rose Garden is padlocked tight at of power and failures of the promises of Owens Lake, that he gets sick. He’s doing of the Bank of New York. We literally refilled 4 that afternoon. institutions that underpin citizenship. the stuff of dreams, not because he’s a the safes with silver, this time in the form of December: The Gopher Plan, Metabolic In addition to all of this, the Metabolic veteran but because he is a capable guy photography, before heading back down the Studio’s musical puppet show, bases its winter Studio hosted a Veterans Day dinner at the and he’s living up to his potential.” Erie Canal, itself a piece of engineering that, workshop in and around veterans shelters and first National Soldiers Home. We had more like the Los Angeles Aqueduct, underpinned the transitional housing in Los Angeles. than a hundred veterans for dinner in the 11.11.11 was the first Veterans Day in foundation that society was built around. December: Van Jones, Director of Rebuild cottage where President Lincoln wrote the our nation’s history with that auspicious The giant photographs from each of these the Dream Foundation, agrees to advise the Emancipation Proclamation. We parked date. It’s a date that comes only once every locations were on view at the Smithsonian’s Metabolic Studio’s special inquiry into the our Liminal Camera just outside Lincoln’s hundred years. One hundred years ago, there Hirshhorn Museum over the Veterans Day Occupy Movement. Cottage, and while the guests were coming was no holiday we now call Veterans Day – weekend. Several thousand visitors to the December: Professor Manuel Castells, USC and going they had a chance to see the power that emerged after the First World War. The museum had an opportunity to engage with the Annenberg School of Communication, agrees of a good idea. Metabolic Studio distributed our Special Metabolic Studio’s team, who spent the whole to participate in a dialogue about extending For the veterans on our team, what was Edition Strawberry Bulletin that day in two weekend in the museum. the reach of the Occupy Movement. also palpable is that Veterans Day is, after all, locations—the VA of West Los Angeles at the The team included veterans Terence Lyons, December: Veterans of the Strawberry Flag a day to salute those motivated to serve the Garden of Defiance and on the National Mall in who held a conversational table for veterans art project at the West L.A. VA in 2009-2010 principles of the last best hope, the United Washington D.C. all that weekend in the gallery space, and reunite for a lunch hosted by the Hammer States Constitution. You’ve got to use the We were in Washington to hang an eighty- Curtis Bailey, whose artwork can be seen in the Museum in Westwood, followed by a tour of muscle of citizenship or lose it. foot flag and photograph it with our Liminal Bulletin and on the T-shirts we distributed to the Hammer exhibit Now Dig This! Art & Black Camera. We had an exhibition the next day commemorate the 11.11.11 action itself. (The Los Angeles 1960-1980. Vets Day at West L.A. of these photos. Several thousand people quotation at the outset of this article is a team December: Lauren Bon is asked to lecture at Continued from page 5 participated in our weekend in D.C. They were member’s tribute to Bailey.) the USC School of Art and Architecture series, Over at the Domiciliary there was a barbecue all part of the Metabolic Studio’s action to Roxanne Steinberg, Dani Lunn, and Curtis “What Next?” Her lecture will take place on and a live band. Up at the golf course there Golf Course Opening bring awareness to the office of the President Bailey all took time to work on a book of were a few people golfing and grilling chicken. Continued from page 1 January 25. says that actually providing that housing is not its of the importance of securing a home for transparencies made from historic images of December: Larry Flaherty of the Veterans But mostly the campus was a ghost town. It responsibility. (Strawberry Bulletin No. 4, July 2011), after U.S. veterans at the VA of WLA. the Bonus Army’s 1932 March on Washington. Print Studio accepts a position with The was a federal holiday, so the VA humans had As reported in last month’s Strawberry Bulletin Vets, another private nonprofit, reopened the On Flag Day 2010, Vietnam veteran David We invited the public to cast the shadow of Metabolic Studio. a three-day weekend. The CalVets humans No. 6, Judge Otero – following a first round of course in November 2010 (Strawberry Bulletin Whittaker flew a similar flag at the opening of these soldiers on one of our photographic prints December: Jerome Larson, a veteran though, they were here all day. And I saw briefing in which the court received written No. 2, April 2011). Johnson is the grandnephew the California Home for Veterans in West L.A. of the Capitol. This is significant because the participant in Strawberry Flag at the West L.A. some other vets, peeking out the windows, arguments not only from the parties, but also of Arcadia Bandini de Baker, who was one of His health was in decline and he was homeless country is currently undergoing a redefinition VA, exhibits his drawings and paintings in wondering if anyone remembered them. from the Metabolic Studio and the City of Santa the 1888 donors of land that became the West at the time. The Metabolic Studio held the flag of citizenship through the occupation of public Hollywood at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. I crawled underground and ate a few nuts. I Monica, who filed friend-of-the-court briefs L.A. VA. for him until he could reclaim it – the flag itself space strategically selected to protest abuses December: Kevin West completes a three- know I’m just a gopher, but I don’t understand in support of plaintiffs’ claims against the VA The nine-hole, par 27 course is open to the had been on tour with Mr. Whittaker, who is in Continued on page 9 month edible archiving project with the Veterans Day. If all these men and women did – directed the parties to file additional briefs public based on a priority system in which VA the Guinness Book of World Records for largest Metabolic Studio in which he processed food such amazing things for their country, how “pertaining specifically to the arguments about in-patients and VA residents have first priority, flag on tour by a man in a wheelchair. A Veteran’s Visit grown at the Studio’s signature gardens. come there was hardly anybody on the VA the creation of a charitable trust.” The court with second priority given to other veterans, In the spirit of American exceptionalism, December: The Metabolic Studio’s Optics campus on Veterans Day? continued the pending hearing on the VA’s followed by public access to the course. The Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio Division invents a new processing technique motion to dismiss to December 5 to allow for the course was originally built by the members of brought their Liminal Camera – the largest To VA HQ in D.C. for the liminal prints. filing of the additional briefs. Hillcrest Country Club in West Los Angeles as mobile instamatic camera in the world – to A U.S. Army veteran who was in Washington December: Allison Nordstrom, curator Valentini Update After briefing was complete, Judge Otero issued a tribute to World War II veterans. Washington to photograph such a flag, which, D.C. for Veterans Day this year went to the from the George Eastman House Museum Continued from page 1 an order cancelling the December 5 hearing, The 4.5-acre Japanese Gardens, originally for whatever reason, was largely ignored that Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters on in Rochester, New York, plans a visit with Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. stating that he believed he could rule on the the Brentwood Hospital Gardens developed fateful Flag Day in 2010. Vermont Avenue to visit the government agency Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio’s Optics Tribe, charging that “the VA has eliminated motion on the basis of the written arguments in 1958 by various donors but now closed for The Liminal Camera tour, of which our responsible for his welfare. What he found was Division in January to discuss a publication permanent housing for disabled veterans, that had been filed, and that no purpose would years, have undergone substantial restoration, Veterans Day action on the National Mall that one cannot even enter the VA headquarters about the Liminal Camera and its photos. many of whom now literally sleep outside be served by oral argument at a hearing. Such including streams and koi ponds, over the last was the last stop, was called the Flag Tour. building without a specific appointment with a its walls, and it now leases portions of the an order is not unusual in federal court, and it few months by the Bandini Foundation. The We crossed the country staking the ground specific person. property to private companies.” provides no basis for speculating as to how the gardens will once again be open to the veterans and photographing places of particular “But I just came from the Rayburn [House Crossword Solution The complaint seeks an injunction directing court will rule. and will be available by reservation for private significance in terms of how the land is being of Representatives Office] Building and the (Puzzle on page 11) the VA to provide permanent supportive In a related development, the federal court of events and functions. used. Where the flag was being staked, the Dirkson and Hart [Senate Office] Buildings, and housing on the West L.A. VA campus, an appeals on November 16 granted the VA’s petition order mandating the VA to faithfully execute Johnson and Morey expect that the operation landscape itself was being surveilled by our I was welcome there.” Guard: “Yes, those are for a rehearing in the case of Veterans for Common will employ 140 veterans (not all full-time) crew. When we started out on Flag Day 2011 its obligations under the 1888 deed to use public buildings; this is the VA.” the donated land solely to provide a home for Sense v. Shinseki, in which a three-judge panel of by the end of 2012, including in that number in the center of one of the L.A. Department of “But I’m a veteran and I want to pay my disabled veterans, and a declaration that the that court had ruled in May that VA mental health Water and Power’s rehydration facilities, the as many as the Compensated Work Therapy respects to [VA Secretary] Gen. Shinseki.” Guard, land transferred under the 1888 deed created care delays constituted a violation of veterans’ (CWT) program can supply. This includes jobs country had not yet moved into the moment shaking his head in an attitude of incredulity a charitable trust and the VA is in breach of due process rights under the U.S. Constitution at the golf course, the extended-hours lighted we are in now just a few months later with the at the very idea: “Most all VA buildings are that trust. (Strawberry Bulletin No.3, May 2011). While the “driving range” cage, the Japanese Gardens, gestalt of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. restricted access, and this is the headquarters,” The VA’s lawyers on October 7 filed a motion appeals court on rehearing might reaffirm the and a new clubhouse/golf shop. The operation We traced the movement of silver from its as if to say that obviously that makes it the most to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the decision of the three-judge panel, the grant of currently employs “nine or ten” – none through origin around Owens Lake in the Eastern restricted. plaintiffs have no legal standing and the court rehearing renders the earlier decision withdrawn CWT as yet, but all of whom are veterans. Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Mountains across “But I met Gen. Shinseki when he was in Los lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. This motion as precedent in the meantime. Plaintiffs in the For the January 21 grand reopening, which the country to Rochester, N.Y., where it was Angeles.” Guard, regarding the veteran now argues that even if the plaintiffs’ “allegations Valentini case had relied on that earlier decision; about discrimination, breach of trust, and had been scheduled for November 11 but then processed into photographic emulsion and in a new attitude of respect and a little awe, as they now argue that the VA motion to dismiss postponed, the golf course will open at 8 a.m., then shipped back to California again to procedural error” are all true, “this case must though he’s never met anyone who’s actually be dismissed.” Although the motion says the should be denied in any event. The rehearing in with the Opening Ceremony at 10 a.m. and create Hollywood. met the Secretary: “I’m sorry, sir.” VA “has as a top priority the resolution of the Veterans for Common Sense was argued December We photographed the Eastman Kodak relics food service to start at 11 a.m. housing needs of homeless Veterans,” it also 13; the parties await a decision in that case too. FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 10 OPINION IN THE BULLETIN Page 3 Old Home Christmas Chora Council Grants Continued from page 1 Continued from page 12 2011 Year-End News Quiz The Strawberry Bulletin looks back over 2011 wing extremist in July? the Home and back drew “many of the old McClaren, “keeper of the menagerie,” returned Kathy Prendergast, a sculptor of quiet but and offers this review to see whether you were a. Norway b. Holland soldiers with Christmas cheer inside of to work at Christmas 1896 after an encounter immense sophistication, makes work that paying attention as the year rolled by. Some of c. Ethiopia d. Torrance them,” while in 1905 “an exodus of veterans” with “Joe, the vicious ape.” persistently revolves around a potent cluster of the events were reported in our pages and others, 8) The Associated Press reported in August accepted “invitations to dine with friends in Accidents were not uncommon among the issues, including sexuality, identity, landscape, alas, were not. The answers are on page 8. that the West Los Angeles VA was terminating Los Angeles and elsewhere.” (Incidentally, the predominantly middle-aged “old soldiers.” On mapping, and power. Recently her work has 1) At what location is it generally thought land use agreements for which non-veteran- cycle race was won by fourteen-year-old Leo Christmas day 1898, for example, “Stephen B. expanded to incorporate a series of large map the Arab Spring first bubbled in January? related uses on its property? Carrillo, “the chubby little son of the Mayor,” Seward, Company A … fell down steps at … the drawings that develop the artist’s ongoing a. Tiananmen Square b. The Hellespont a. A private school aquatics center, an oil who grew up to play Pancho in the television dining-hall and broke his right thigh.” project of creating an emotional Atlas of the c. Tahrir Square d. Thermopolae drilling operation, and a dog park As yet another year draws to a close without series The Cisco Kid.) But some Christmas injuries were not World, transforming generic maps of Europe 2) How old was Frank W. Buckles when he b. A bus company, a car rental firm, and a the first hammer having hit the first nail in the Speaking of Christmas cheer, on December accidents. Shortly after Mr. Seward fell, “John into magical views of a night sky where towns died in February as the last known surviving commercial laundry long-promised rehabilitation of Building 209 for 26, 1893, one Lewis Berger appeared in Hogan of Company B, cut his throat…from ear homeless veteran housing, we thought it would and cities become complicated constellations of U.S. veteran of World War One? c. A college baseball field, a motorcycling court in Los Angeles charged with public to ear.” And on December 19, 1902 both John L. be propitious to look back on all the talk about planets and stars. a. 86 b. 110 school, and museum parking facilities drunkenness. He “wore a blue coat with Barnett (64) and Charles Dunbar (68) attempted the vacant building near the north end of the Christine Quoiraud was born in France and c. 92 d. 212 d. A locked rose garden, a theater premier, West Los Angeles VA campus. After all, talk is all brass buttons and stated boldly that he had suicide. Mr. Barnett, “a talented member of the trained in modern dance, philosophy, and visual 3) What celebrity famously flamed out this and a carnival that we can look back on. Because talk is all that come up from the Soldiers’ Home to enjoy his Home Band,” took hydrochloric acid and was arts before working and living in Japan from 1985 year with bizarre rantings like, “I’m tired of 9) What bookstore chain was founded as has happened. Christmas, and had succeeded in his desires in found dying in his bunk, while Mr. Dunbar Regular readers of the Building 209 Watchdog to 1990 as a dancing member of Min Tanaka’s pretending like I’m not special. I’m tired of a used bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan in his own fashion.” Told to practice moderation cut his throat “on the street at Sawtelle.” He will recall that in 2007, then-Secretary of Veterans company, MAI JUKU. Quoirand started Body pretending like I’m not bitchin’, a total … 1971, grew to more than 1,000 stores from in future, Berger was released. Less fortunate “broke the blade … but missed the jugular … it Affairs Jim Nicholson designated Buildings 205, Weather work with Tanaka in 1980 in Europe. rock star from Mars,” as reported in the Los coast to coast, and closed its last store in 208, and 209 to be rehabilitated. Then in June were “two members of the home police” who is thought he will live.” She conducts Body/Landscape workshops and Angeles Times in March? September? 2010, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki committed $20 “imbibed adulterated spirits on Christmas Over a century after Mr. Dunbar’s “ghastly performances as well as artistic residencies all a. Lady Gaga b. Britney Spears a. Borders b. Barnes & Noble million to fund the rehabilitation of Building 209. Day” 1906, “fought at the guardhouse,” and attempt at self-destruction,” the L.A. Times At that time, Senator Diane Feinstein’s office over the world. c. Charlie Sheen d. John Lennon c. Waldenbooks d. TJ Maxx were promptly dismissed. reports that, despite a general belief to the issued a statement that “Secretary Shinseki also Melinda Ring explores a very liberal definition 4) What veteran-support initiative did 10) Hurricane Irene postponed until And what of Christmas gifts? In 1896, contrary, suicide actually decreases during committed to working with Senator Feinstein of choreography, creating dances, performance Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden undertake October the dedication of whose National and Representative [Henry] Waxman in the “quilts, cushions, slippers, reading matter the holiday season. Harvard psychiatrist Dr. pieces, videos, and installations. Recent venues in April? Memorial, inspired by his statement, “With months ahead to identify additional funds to and delicacies was received at the hospital Douglas Jacobs suggests that this may be include: The Whitney Museum, The Kitchen, a. Joining Forces this faith we will be able to hew out of the renovate buildings 205 and 208 [our emphasis].” as a Christmas remembrance.” In 1897, the because “people tend to reach out over the In August 2010, Waxman told the Strawberry Danspace Project, MASS MoCA, The Tang b. Desert Storm mountain of despair a stone of hope”? number of gifts arriving at the Home post holidays.” “Elderly people in nursing homes Gazette that the June meeting was “the pivotal Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, The c. The new G.I. Bill a. Booker T. Washington office “threatened to swamp it,” while the might suddenly get visitors. People who haven’t moment,” that he was “delighted by Secretary Box, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. She d. The Manhattan Project b. Frederick Douglass Shinseki’s decision,” and that “the $20 million following year “Postmaster Frew and his two heard from friends all year might get a card or is the curator for Danspace Project’s Spring 2011 5) What Vietnam-era veteran obtained c. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be used to fully restore and rehabilitate assistants … worked to the limit to handle the a phone call.” Platform, Susan Rethorst: Retro (intro)spective. a ruling in May that the West Los Angeles d. John Henry Building 209.” mail matter. The veterans have remembered This article was intended to amuse with some Also in August 2010, L.A. County Supervisor Robert Schaller studied for his MFA at the VA engaged in “unconstitutional viewpoint 11) What November holiday fell this year on absent friends most generously, and have morsels of history, but it seems to have wound Zev Yaroslavsky told the Strawberry Gazette that University of Colorado with Stan Brakhage discrimination” when it interfered with his a numeric repetition that has not been seen been equally well remembered in return.” its way to a more serious conclusion. For, with Shinseki had “made the pivotal executive decision and Phil Solomon, and then became a faculty hanging the U.S. flag upside down in the for a century (and will not be seen again for that will now move forward the renovation of the Christmas at the Home was not so the American Forces Press Service reporting member at the University of Colorado where distress position? another 100 years)? three buildings”; he was “thrilled” and grateful much lengthy as well-celebrated, for work in 2010 that some 6,000 veterans now commit he developed, among other things, a course a. Ron Kovic b. Bob Rosebrock a. Thanksgiving b. Veterans Day for Shinseki’s “crucial decision to fund the continued up to the celebration. Certainly suicide every year, it is particularly important rehabilitation [our emphasis].” He said 2012 was entitled “The Physical Properties of Film.” He c. Scott Olsen d. Tom Hayden c. All Souls Day d. Christmas Home Farmer Godley toiled in Christmas that we act on Dr. Jacobs’s suggestion and “the target date for the opening of Building 209.” has worked extensively with integrations of 6) Which actor, who appeared in The 12) December marked the 70th anniversary week 1897 when he set out “a portion of 9000 spread the comforts and joys of friendship and “There’s money in the federal budget in the different media with film, including musical Princess Bride, The Great Race, and Wings of of what event that occurred on the “date which one that President Obama just released the other Virginia everbearing and other equally choice home at this time of year. What can we say but: composition (he is a composer), modern dance, Desire died in June? He famously said, “Being will live in infamy,” as it was called by then- day to take three buildings on the West L.A.VA varieties of strawberry plants.” While William Please reach out this Christmas. theater, installation, kite-making (the ongoing chased by Columbo is like being nibbled to president Franklin D. Roosevelt? property, Buildings 208, 209, and 205, three big Aerial Cinema Project), and performance, buildings that would house several hundred death by a duck.” a. The bombing of Hiroshima homeless vets – and they need to be seismically in addition to the creation of emulsions and a. Robert Blake b. Wallace Shawn b. Pearl Harbor upgraded – the funds are there for that, and then handmade techniques. c. Peter Falk d. Elmer Fudd c. D-Day they need to be converted into housing units, and Dillwyn Smith studied painting at Canterbury 7) In which country were seventy-seven d. The adoption of the Nineteenth the funds are there for that. I expect that we will see College of Art and then at the Royal College of Art people, mostly teenagers, killed by a right- Amendment (women’s suffrage) some progress on that in the next 12 months [our where he gained an M.A. in 1986. Smith’s focus emphasis].” – Yaroslavsky speaking on KPCC on February 16, 2011 is on the energy, sensitivity, and dialogue in the In June 2011, Yaroslavsky told the Strawberry human being. His most recent exhibition, The Letters, cont. Bulletin, “The construction phase for Building Art of Intention, was installed in a living space in to Main Street like an I.V. to a vein, as the 209 is pending authorization by Congress for the $20 million which is in the President’s FY12 Bethnal Green, U.K. It incorporated paintings, occupations stringing from New York to film, bespoke clothes, Kirlian drawings, and budget.” L.A. are simultaneous performances of “The President’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Intention, a choreographed work made with deep social desire and lush discontent. includes $20 million to renovate Building 209 . dancer Noel Wallace. Vanessa Place . . The $20 million will be funds that have been Attorney at Law reprogrammed from prior year unobligated major construction funds, which requires an authorization by Congress.” – Congressman And finally, an out-of-state correspondent Henry Waxman in a June 2011 email to the FREEDOM closes out a year-end letter: Strawberry Bulletin … and so it goes ... we’re out of Iraq – “There’s an appropriation of some $20 million BARBER SHOP citizens mace their fellowshoppers on that sort of got lost in the shuffle, because that’s OPEN DAILY Black Friday – Herman didn’t have sex with a rounding error for this government.” – Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe on Charlie Rose on 9AM-7PM that woman he sent money to for 13 years July 11, 2011 ... oh yeah, THAT we really believe -- … and Advocacy at the federal level is a “long, slow, dead friends are not coming back. frustrating process.” – Santa Monica Human OEF/OIF Army veteran Carl LoFaro of Baltimore stands in the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum on bye for now, Judith DeLorca Services Administrator Setareh Yavari, speaking November 12, viewing the Liminal CameraSKRWRJUDSKRIDQHLJKW\IRRWÁDJUDLVHGE\WKH0HWDEROLF6WXGLR Denver, Colorado to the Santa Monica City Council on October 25, on the National Mall the previous day. 2011 OPINION IN THE BULLETIN Page 2 FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 11 Editorial @Zk]^gh_=^ÛZg\^ Grows into New Year A Home at the Holidays The end of the year is upon us, and it looks some herbs and spices, or transplant some like the Garden of Defiance is going to grow fruit trees. It varies from week to week, but the Much has been written, in our Strawberry through the finish line. For the new year, a tea and cookies made from garden produce are Bulletin pages as well as the national press, robust programming schedule has emerged always a welcome way to wrap things up. about the plight of homeless and disabled that serves a variety of campus veterans who Meanwhile, the exportation of our veterans and about the need for the VA to are active in the garden. horticultural endeavors to places like the do more for them, particularly in the area of On Veterans Day, veterans and civilian Exodus Lodge and the Domiciliary has housing. This is a most important subject, volunteers provided a day of service to install continued to evolve. Residents have weekly certainly worthy of the increased attention it a citrus orchard – the “Grove of Defiance,” open garden times to visit and learn about has been receiving of late. if you will. As always, the CalVets folks did a plants in a healing environment surrounded by But at this holiday season we are reminded superb job of coordinating a flawless affair. natural beauty. that home is much more than three hots and Very special thanks go out to Tree People, Last month, the fractured lath house at the a cot. Home is a hearth and all that implies – the Social Justice Learning Institute, and the Vets Garden behind Jackie Robinson Stadium camaraderie, warmth, good cheer, fellowship: Metabolic Studio – all righteous organizations was dismantled. For decades, the aging framed a family gathered at the table. Healthy growing on the front lines of Los Angeles structure greeted visitors as they ventured veterans who have a roof over their heads and urban agriculture. into the surrounding wooded womb. Largely enough to eat should participate in that home The weekly horticultural therapy program constructed from cedar and redwood, it hosted experience as much as the homeless and with New Directions is a success: our “Dirty countless horticultural endeavors over the disabled ones. It not only fills a need that all Dozen Tuesdays” are always a rewarding years; it has served its purpose there and is veterans share, but the interaction provides adventure. The programming is simple, but now ready for its re-genesis. The Garden of reciprocal benefits to the needy and the blest. it is stimulating and effective. It generally Defiance is proud to have salvaged a portion During the year now ending, we had starts with some light to medium work, just of the lumber and is re-purposing it now occasion to discuss the VA with a couple of to get the blood and oxygen flowing. Then by integrating it into our own horticultural friends who we knew outside the veteran we might plant some vegetables, learn about endeavor. Rancho Santa Ana was kind to have environment. Both are vets, and both knew we facilitated its procurement. worked in the veterans’ world – Bill is a high In other words, it is exactly because there school classmate now in real estate finance, Crossword Letters is this room for creative play, particularly ACROSS and Charles is a construction superintendent This holiday crossword puzzle is the product of puzzlers from both the American and British 1. Soldier abbreviated full time is present (a British multidisciplinary play—poetry (as in the use of with whom we go camping and fishing from We opened our “goodie bag” when we schools. The Brits lean more toward cryptic, word-play clues, while the Yanks tend to be rather crossword clue) language for evocation beyond communication), 4. After 3 down, a Christmas sentiment for “men” time to time. more straightforward. (Think George Smiley and Jack Ryan.) But both puzzlers agree that a returned from the December 4 Veterans’ Holiday dance (as in the movement of bodies through 2QO\RQHGD\DIWHU&KULVWPDVDQGWKHÀJKWLQJVWDUWV Bill, an Army vet, said he contacted the crossword is something to be savored, lingered over, and completed – if at all – over a period of Celebration (aka the Belushi Concert), and the space), painting (as mode of expression), and, 7. A good nose for 29 across, and good in 29 down too VA some time ago to see what it might offer, days rather than minutes. The solved puzzle appears on page 9. 8. The captain’s diary at Christmas first thing we pulled out was a crayon drawing of obviously, theater (as in the audience is part of and he was told that if he made more than 11. My Greek love’s mouth hangs open a Christmas Tree on a construction paper folder the act)—that Occupy 2011 is best seen as an art $27,000 a year, the VA had nothing for him. 12. Stocking stuffer, in the Army tradition with a handwritten letter inside from Vanessa in event. If 1968 taught us anything, it taught us the 13. One of Santa’s grunts Charles, a Navy vet, said he went to sign up Mrs. Kinsella’s 3rd grade class: power of imprecision and the street ballet. For 17. The hue of Santa’s suit, a robin’s breast, and for medical care when he got laid off and lost Dear Veteran, strawberries Mitt Romney is right: Wall Street is connected 18. He popularized the Christmas tree, wed Victoria, and his health plan; when the VA learned he made I want to start with thank you for fighting Continued on page 3 over $60,000 the previous year, it resisted even messed up my “printer cable” for us. I don’t really know so much about you ,I\RXGRQҋWZDQWWR\VIDOOLQJLQWRWKHÀUHEHVWGRWKLVWR giving him a card. Charles persisted and got veterans so I am 8 1/2 years old, I have a sister, old stockings before Christmas Eve his VA card, but the chilly reception made him 21. Golly gee, it’s hiding my favorite seasonal chocolate and I want to learn more about you veterans. This special holiday edition of the Strawberry feel unwelcome. cake! So you veterans are so brave because you Bulletin is being distributed at the Metabolic When your family or friends issue 24. “Every idiot who goes about with a ‘Merry Christmas’ on guys fight in armies for probably a long time Studio’s touring performances of The Gopher his lips should be boiled in his own – – – – – – –” invitations to Thanksgiving dinner, do they I’m guessing. Do you guys miss your families? Plan, a musical puppet show, as it visits $UPHGFRQÁLFWDQGDWLUDGHFRPELQHWRFUHDWHWKLV only invite the people who have nowhere else authority I would, because I love family. homeless veterans shelters and transitional to go? When your alumni group, service club, 26. “Ah,” said Hank, “that’s a piece of luck; I love this festival How do I get in an army? I think if I was in housing sites in the Los Angeles area. As well or church society hosts a holiday reception, do of light” an army and we were fighting I would just run as the Bulletin’s usual distribution channels. 29. “Hey, dude, what’s that white stuff on the mountains?” they only invite the destitute in the group? away or not even fight in the army. I just hope We wish happy holidays to veterans, friends 30. Mountainous state questions a dynasty The VA may claim that it is only a hospital you guys will always be there for us and know of veterans, artists, and friends of the arts 32. It sounds like I ride a bike, but I’m a frozen stalactite and not a home, but that is certainly not true – that we are cheering you on. 33. A shortening before the night before everywhere: Peace on Earth, Good Will to All. 34. Unstable “army” produces stable mother at least on the West Los Angeles property that I’m just in 3rd grade so my teacher said that was deeded in 1888 in trust to be a veterans’ you guys like getting letters, is that true? DOWN home. And a home welcomes all, even the Yes, Vanessa, it is true. 2. This indentation is not for atheists fortunate. Inside This Issue 3. A Christmas sentiment, a fervent prayer of veterans, and Open Letter Re: A Provisional Theory of Non- an anagram of “a neater epoch,” which it would be Veterans Day: A look at how 11.11.11 Page 4-5 5. “Floor those passageways, sailor!” Happenings: Occupation as Art was observed in Washington D.C. and 9. All’s quiet at 2200 hours Strawberry Bulletin To paraphrase Robert Smithson, the non- at the West Los Angeles VA 10. Outranks captain (in the Army, anyway) Published by the Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles happening is an event that is abstract, yet it 14. When you arrive here they have to take you in 1888.metabolicstudio.org represents an actual event that is happening. Kodak: The Studio’s Liminal Camera 15. “The city phoned, Alexander.” “I can ring the changes, visits the focal point of American pho- Graham.” Lauren Bon, Editor-in-Chief A happening is, of course, art as art event. tography, now in decline 16. Seventy years ago this month, a cultured babe dropped Terence Lyons, veterans correspondent The recent occupations are non-happening Story Page 5 a bomb on me Lawrence Flaherty and Jen Curtis, production design happenings, non-art events that are Photo Page 6-7 20. The druids decorated Carol’s house with two of their John Pecorelli and Lisa Marr, copy editors nonetheless art. Non-happening because they Commentary Page 8 sacred plants Contributing writers: Andrew Douglas, +ROLGD\HQWUHHVRUPRYLHÁRSV Rochelle Fabb, Bridget Kelly, Janet Owen Driggs are not fully determined, do not articulate Garden of Defiance grows and spreads Page 11 23. Feeling groggy? This mix’ll perk you up! Contributing artists: Lauren Bon, Owen Driggs, a precise ethical/aesthetic event, and yet, in &HOHEUDWHWKHÀUVWIUXLWVIRUVHYHQGD\VLQ6ZDKLOL Josh White, Metabolic Studio Optics Division fact, are happening, are ethical moves with an Crossword Page 11 28. Santa on Christmas Eve, or a racketeer making payoffs inherent aesthetic. 29. “Rabbit food” Edition of 2000 :KHUHWRÀQG+DZNH\H QRW,RZD 5DGDU QRWVRQDU Film Review: Taking a stand Page 12 and Potter (not Harry) FEATURES IN THE BULLETIN Page 12 From the people who brought you the position paper, “Preserving a Home for Veterans”… e Metabolic Studio presents Our Town T H E G O P H E R P L A N Strawberry Bulletin A puppet show musical that tells it like it really is! Unstued! Uncensored! Unauthorized! Volume I, Number 7 Serving the 500,000 Veterans Living in Greater Los Angeles December 2011 The National Soldiers Home held in trust as A partial list of THE GOPHER PLAN puppet show musical show performances: a home for veterans in perpetuity is currently managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, December 16: 4pm—ACLU headquarters —Downtown LA—1313 W 8th St # 200 Golf Course Prepares the second largest cabinet department in the Los Angeles: 7:45pm—Electric Lodge in Venice—1416 Electric Avenue United States, smaller only than the Department of Defense. The West Los Angeles property is the December 19: 6pm—Ballington Plaza—622 S. Wall Street Los Angeles For a Grand Opening most valuable real estate in the VA network, one December 20: 4:30pm— e Rotary & e Barracks—543 S. Crocker Street which regards its health care responsibilities as Although the Heroes Golf Course at the north Los Angeles its main, even sole, function. The Strawberry end of the West Los Angeles VA campus has been Bulletin is communicating to the constituents for December 23: 4pm—Cal Veterans Home of West Los Angeles open for play for just over a year since its nearly whom the property is a home not a hospital. The More performances are scheduled for January 2012. two-year closure in 2009-2010, it has not had a passages listed here occur in the lives of some of Call 323-226-1158 to schedule a performance for your organization or visit real grand opening celebration since its “soft” the citizens of this place we claim as Our Town. 1888.metabolicstudio.org for further information and tour dates. opening in November 2010. September 2011: A meeting is convened Ricardo Bandini Johnson and Scott Morey of to discuss the threatened closure of the post Film Review the Bandini Foundation, which operates the office on the VA grounds as part of the U.S. course, are making plans to host such a Grand Postal Service’s belt-tightening nationwide. This Is Where We Take Our Stand Opening Festival and Ceremony on Saturday, January 21, in association with the VA Greater Many veterans depend on P.O. Boxes there, but What happens when returning soldiers defend the Constitution and their dedication Los Angeles Healthcare System. the facility’s future is not resolved. from war try to bring an end to that war to our nation’s democratic principles serve as Plans for the Grand Opening include as many October 2011: The Los Angeles County by simply telling the truth about their a positive reflection upon their military service. as two dozen booths set up around a main stage Veterans Advisory Commission moves this experiences? In March 2008 some bold They are the new face of American “citizen- in the golf course parking lot, entertainment month’s meeting from downtown to the veterans from the organization Iraq Veterans soldiers,” and are on the front lines of the new by the New Directions Choir and a jazz band, California State Veterans Home on the West Against the War converged upon the nation’s type of peace struggle that now exists in our post- community speakers, food, and an Amy L.A. VA grounds; residents and others address capital to exercise their right of free speech in 9/11 world. Alcott golf clinic. Alcott, 55, is something of a the Commission. an attempt to do just that. In January and February 2012, This Is Where professional golf legend, having won twenty- This proposal to CalVets was made in gingerbread by veterans working with the Metabolic Studio during October: Gov. Brown visits the CalVets Their public testimonies are documented We Take Our Stand will be broadcast on PBS. last December’s installation, No Place Like Home. Home for a swearing-in ceremony of California nine LPGA tournament events, including five in This Is Where We Take Our Stand, a film Pages of History Secretary of Veterans Affairs Peter J. Gravett; which premiered at the Hammer Museum just majors. although he was appointed by Brown months before Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November Chora Council Grants The long-closed Japanese Gardens adjacent Old Home Christmas, New Home Imperative before, Gravett was just confirmed by the State to the golf course will be used that day for the 22. The one-hour documentary is composed The Chora Council is made up of artists Senate in September. food trucks supporting the event, and will then Except for its first Noel in 1888, when might miss the program. In 1890, for instance, of footage extracted from a web series (http:// practicing in several different fields who November 2011: Metabolic Studio begins a be open to veterans and the public beginning the residents lived in tents and a gale blew, the veterans crowded into the library to “witness thisiswherewetakeourstand.com), and is recommend funding opportunities to the dialogue with Occidental College’s President January 22, said Johnson and Morey. Planned Christmas at the Old Soldiers Home was a … Perfection, or The Cork Leg.” Acted by the old co-directed by David Zeiger, Bestor Cram, Metabolic Studio. By funding the intangibles Jonathan Veitch about water and culture in Los construction of a lighted “driving range” cage festive affair, and a good time was had by soldiers and the wives and daughters of Home and Mike Majoros, three filmmakers with that precede creativity, support is offered to Angeles and the upcoming centenary of water adjacent to the golf course will be underway by almost all. “Almost all,” that is, because, officials, the farce – in which a young woman an established record of producing socially catalyze an artist’s practice. In 2011, the Chora entering the city from the Owens Valley. the time of the event, they said. as the Los Angeles Times reported over the pretends to have a prosthetic leg in order to find conscious work. The November screening Council recommended grants, which have been November: The Salon De Fleurus, now The Bandini Foundation, a nonprofit founded years, the brightness of the season also cast true love – was met with “hearty applause.” In at the Westwood-area museum played to an approved, to the following artists. complete, is on permanent loan at The in 2008 by Johnson and Morey, assumed a shadow side that sometimes deepened to 1909, professional actors presented The Spoilers, a audience of well over a hundred, including Victoria Coster studied sculpture at Falmouth Metabolic Studio and can be visited by operation of the golf course in June of this year tragedy. More of that later. play “based on a true story of corrupt government about a dozen veterans. School of Art and Design as a mature student appointment. Continued on page 4 In 1893, the veterans enjoyed a “royal officials stealing gold mines from prospectors,” This is a film with a distinct point of view. and a single mother to her now-grown child. November: Marine veteran Dakota Meyer, Christmas dinner.” A year later, they and by 1911 a silver screen in the thousand-seat The film is moving – in a gritty way rather than After graduation and a spell of homelessness, awarded the Medal of Honor in September sent “souvenir menu cards … to friends Ward Memorial Hall brought moving pictures a gentle, sentimental one. The stories and she travelled to India before returning to the U.K. for bravery in Afghanistan (Strawberry Gazette outside as assurance that they had been into the mix. articulations that the viewer is confronted to continue her art practice. Coster is working No. 5, September 2011), sues a British- well looked-after at Yuletide.” In 1896, the Not all the veterans found their amusement with can be brutally insightful and at times to define herself, her life, and her artistic owned defense contracting firm for allegedly Home’s Christmas dinner so impressed the at home however. On Christmas Day 1895, for even arresting. The veteran activists relate practice, which are all intrinsically related and harassing him and raising questions about L.A. Times that it printed not only the menu example, a bicycle race from Santa Monica to their various combat accounts and, in doing inseparable. his mental condition after he questioned the but also the quantities of ingredients used: Continued on page10 so, present a confrontation with the many Josh Kaufmann, an accordionist and founder practice of selling high-tech rifle scopes to the “Fat young turkey, 1500 pounds; challenges of war, especially occupation. of the Petrojvic Blasting Company, has travelled Pakistani military. three barrels of cranberries, sixteen Valentini Update Some of their conflicts involve things like across North America and Europe in a variety of December 2011: Garden of Defiance artist in boxes oranges, 2000 pounds fruit medication, murder, suicide, and, upon configurations with accordions, trombones, and residence Andrew Douglas accepts a position butter, 1000 pounds pumpkin, fifty their homecoming, the empty promises of a foot-drums. Recently returned from a pilgrimage Parties Await Ruling with the Metabolic studio. dozen eggs, 200 pounds cheese, The Los Angeles federal court has taken under veterans administration. to Eastern Europe, Kaufmann shared the stage December: The Dreamer’s Freedom Barber twenty-five gallons milk, 500 pounds submission the motion of the VA defendants By observing the veterans interviewing with some of ex-Yugoslavia’s best musicians Shop gets a makeover courtesy of L.A. Works, a sugar, ten pounds nutmeg and ten to dismiss the class action lawsuit challenging one another (a very effective device), an and performed everywhere from the streets of community service and workforce investment pounds allspice .… From the bakery land use at the West Los Angeles VA. As of the authoritative depiction emerges that reflects Belgrade to an ancient Roman coliseum. partnership. Dozens of workers repair the came thirty dozen each of mince and Bulletin’s press time on December 16, a ruling the anger and frustration many of them feel. Dan Knight is a sculptor working with energy leaky roof, install a new floor, repaint the trailer pumpkin pies and 3000 doughnuts. is still being awaited by the plaintiffs, disabled Soon, the viewer feels a little angry and a in the form of sound, movement, light, and inside and out, and provide outdoor seating From the great ovens came 122 homeless veterans seeking to enforce the 1888 little frustrated, too. (Maybe very angry and color. His work centers on collecting and giving and umbrellas. turkeys, all browned to a nicety.” deed restrictions, as well as by the VA defendants. frustrated.) Their controversial defiance new life to urban detritus, often with a spiritual December: The Veterans Park Conservancy The suit, titled Valentini v. Shinseki, was defines a boldness of candor and reveals element. Previous work includes a year spent and VA GLAHS hold an opening ceremony Like the food – much of which was grown filed June 8 against VA personnel by plaintiffs, character of the highest order. making a single-frame film with over 15,000 (the third in twelve months) at “The Women or raised at the Home – entertainment including Vietnam Veterans of America, Contrary to what some cheap, hawkish images of flowers. Knight also performs with his Veterans Historic Rose Garden” behind CJ, a puppet character in The Gopher Plan, is a was in abundant supply. The Home band represented by the ACLU of Southern California skepticism might suggest, their duty to sculpture. Building 220. Notwithstanding the Monday Continued on page 10 homeless veteran who travels underground passages played, and recitations and concerts were and other prominent lawyers, including with two pals to bring the Deed of 1888 to the nation’s Continued on page 9 performed several times so that none Continued on page 9 capital.