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SoCal Focus

SoCal Focus is a blog about the people, places, and issues in and around Southern California.

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With Sheriff Baca's Resignation, Time for a New Kind of County Sheriff
It will be hard to transform the culture of the Sheriff's Department, but that's the necessary work of the next person to wear the badge.
The whopping of a plastic bag in a tree.
Why We Should Put the Plastic Bag Away Forever
I closed my eyes and thought of sails carrying a breeze, but when I opened my eyes and looked above the heads of the playing children it looked more like an apocalyptic snowfall.
The Sameness of SoCal Weather and More Observations From the Year's Beginning
The weather was a metaphor for the start of the year. Beginnings and endings were wrapped in equal obscurity.
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Community Organizing May Trump Politics for L.A. School Board Seat
The effort to get George McKenna appointed to fill an LAUSD school board seat is an encouraging object lesson in how black organizing can actually trump black politics -- maybe.
Left: L.A. County seal between 1958 and 2004. Right: L.A. County seal after 2004.
Symbol Wars: The Cross Should Stay Off L.A. County's Seal
In 2004, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided, probably for the best, to erase the cross put on the county seal in 1957. Supervisors Antonovich and Knabe want to see the cross return.
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California, a Love Letter
This has been my life in California: retracing old steps with new eyes as the landscape changes underfoot.
A Ventura, CA sunset. | Photo: Hank Tovar
This New Year, Watch as Many Sunsets as Possible
Although I miss many moments in this life, I have tried very hard to pay close attention to sunsets.
Hot Town: Los Angeles in the 'Radium Age'
It's not possible to calculate the human cost of the "Radium Age" in Los Angeles. It lasted from at least 1908 until the mid-1930s, during an era when conventional medicine had little offer for chronic suffering and nothing beyond the scalpel for cancer.
Is Public Transit in L.A. a Humane Experience?
Carmen Mendoza and her two school-age children have a car, thanks to the generosity of Hector Delgadillo and his company's employees. She should have had an easier bus ride.
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Black Santa Claus Came to Town. And He's Still Here.
Black Santa is real all right. And I'm not just talking about the guys playing the part in shopping malls or figures hung up in windows.
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Why Holiday Cards Are My Favorite Gift During This Time of Year
Although confessing this publicly will now cheat me out of gifts forever, these holiday cards are my favorite gift. They remind me of a bigger picture and a broader season.
May Your Visit From Santa Be Without Incendiary Reindeer
Is it me, or does the 1951 version Santa seem leaner and more unkempt than the department store Santas of today? That beard wouldn't fool a baby.
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