Then and Now, Predictions- L.A. high schools and L.A. life-

Checking the L.A. Times, with the “Then and Now” feature for Sunday that has a pretty interesting picture attached of Charlton Heston from the movie, “Earthquake,” that is representative the story topic, “A world of end-of-the-world predictions; End-of-the-world predictions and tales of catastrophe have long been part of the Southland's culture,” by Steve Harvey, March 22, 2009. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then22-2009mar22,0,909297.story The local predictions from the past are brought out in the story and showing us some effects that they had on the people of the times. The 1953 movie, “War of the Worlds,” used Los Angeles as the scene of the alien attack, and I remember it well from the “Noon Movie” presentation at Lincoln, (3 days at 10 cents a segment) or it could have been at Nightingale, for that matter (5 days at 5 cents each). I remember the H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” too, as a noon movie favorite, but that’s another topic for another day.

The look to the past brought little known details out, as usual with Steve Harvey (the columnist, not the comedian and radio host), and I found something that many younger people today might have been puzzled by at the end of the article. Harvey writes about the experience of one guy, “East L.A.-born Val Rodriguez, then a Roosevelt High School student. Rodriguez ditched school the day before the world was to end.”

It was not his excuse that I found as the surprise in the story, but the simple mention of his punishment barely avoided-

“The attendance counselor called the boys' VP, who in turn called the principal
to hear my excuse. They bought it! No swats.”

“No swats?” Do you remember those days in high school? Well, not from the 40’s- then you really have some years on we of the 60’s generation- but “swats” in high school when it was commonplace. I hadn’t thought of swats in school for awhile, although when I was teaching, it was a topic of retro-days at Lincoln High School that had the students amazed at such a thing happening. The thought of having that practice revived ocassionally crossed my mind with some of the student behavior that I encountered. Then the recollection of the turmoil caused by the teacher who put duct tape on talkative student’s mouth a few years back was the next thing that usually came to mind and that was that, more that enough for the fleeting thought to exit consideration immediately.

Occasionally, as I think of the old reasons for the "Walkouts" of 1968, I wonder whether swats were a part of the school assortment of disciplinary measures used district-wide, or did we have more of that applied more generously on "our side" of town? I don't recall comparing notes with others at college who attended "non-Eastside" high schools in L.A., or even bringing it up later. I'm just now thinking that there was a difference based on geography, which meant "school population," but at that time there were lots of differences for that reason anyway. The "Walkouts" were supposed to be about such things being handled "differently" at Eastside schools.

I don't want to be like Tony Cardenas, an L.A. Council Member who regularly slips in his digs at "us" and "them" and is such an example of a divisive element in local government. Example: One day last year in a Council Meeting, Cardenas said, in connection with LAPD officers acting as something of mentors or volunteers in recreational activities at local parks, "Police should not have any contact with our youth unless there is an official reason," and I paraphrase that, and continue with his take on the situaton, "Parents on the West Side would not tolerate that."

I see some history of "Police v. Tony Cardenas and bad experience" in the crystal ball for that one. The dichotomy of attitudes shown by Cardenas when it comes to police is undeniable. You see that when topics of crime fighting and working with the community are raised, and when congratulations are presented to police officers. Cardenas is right there with the routine praise- Kind of like Jose Huizar's actions when there was a shooting, a fatal one, of a suspected gang memember by an LAPD officer following a foot chase in Ramona Gardens last year.

Jose gets called to the scene at night and is prodded by local residents so he says, "I will be demanding an independent investigation tomorrow." There was an earlier incident, I don't recall which it was, but Jose wanted to be on the "community's" side, and in so doing, effectively said, "LAPD, I don't trust your organization to be honest. I don't trust the D.A.'s office to do a fair investigation of the "Officer-Involved shooting." The smoke barely had cleared on the location, and Huizar's making these accusatory statements when the LAPD had not even finished a preliminary sorting of what happened, yet to Huizar's already putting the blame them by calling for the "independent" investigation.

It was very revealing of the attitudes held by Huizar towards the operation of the police department and the critical view he must have held about the processes that are put into place for investigating shooting situations. A little premature to challenge anyone's veracity in the investigation process, I thought at the time, but Huizar's continual dilemma is choosing what to say and when to say it. Often it's poorly done by Jose, usually a risk when entering discussions on topics during Council meetings. Regardless of the intent, what it sounds like is not very well thought out. Think of the President on Leno's show last Thursday night for another example of choosing to speak at the wrong time on the wrong thing.

But getting to the immediate story again, just a little of the past is brought back to us in a few lines in a story. For another thought of the days past, do you remember when a call from anyone at school was something to be avoided at all costs? Nowadays, many home numbers for students on the speed dial of their teachers’ cell phones. There's more need now to call but there's not much changed after the call for many of the cases. Times change.