Blogger Debbie Lopez is Twittering a 2nd grade field trip she’s chaperoning to the La Brea Tar Pits.

The average reader may not be too interested in updates such as, “Passing out bananas for snacks” or “We’re getting on the bus figuring out our seating arrangements,” but faculty of Beckford Elementary and the student’s parents may appreciate the microblogging of the day’s events… especially with updated notes on when the kids will be back at the school for pickup, safe and sound.

A very cool example of what Twitter can be used for.

An L.A. City College student is suing the school after an anti-gay marriage speech he was giving in a public speaking class was cut off by his professor, who objected to the content, labeled him a “fascistbastard ” and then refused to give him credit.

Jonathan Lopez, who is working on his associate of arts degree at Los Angeles City College, quoted a dictionary definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman and cited several Bible verses during a public speaking class in late November, his suit says. His professor, John Matteson, interrupted, called Lopez a “fascist bastard” and refused to let him finish his address, according to the suit.

The professor also refused to give Lopez a grade for the speech, telling him to “ask God” for his mark, the suit alleges. And when Lopez complained to college officials, Matteson threatened to have him expelled, the suit says. [from LA Now]

If true, we have a professor who not only believes it’s okay to mock someone’s religious beliefs while censoring speech, but also abuses their authority when a student tries to report such behavior? Can someone at Fox News please get Professor Matteson a talk show? He’d fit right in.

(to be fair, though, the very unscientific site “RateMyProfessor.com” gives a largely favorable impression of Matteson, with the most common critique being that he’s crazy “in a good way.”)

California announced today that there will be a 30-day delay on tax refunds because the state is broke.

From the AP:

Controller John Chiang said Friday he must delay $3.7 billion in payments next month because lawmakers have failed to address California’s growing deficit.

Let me get this straight…

1. A tax refund is money that you owe us because we overpaid you on taxes.
2. You failed to do the job that we, the taxpayers, elected you to do.
3. You now want to keep our money a little longer.

Anyone else find this outrageous? Anyone else find this to be a complete failure? Anyone else ready to march from Los Angeles to Sacramento and fire everyone?

From the Daily News:

Los Angeles Unified school board members voted 4-2 Tuesday to authorize sending layoff notices to about 2,300 teachers, although the district superintendent said the notices might not necessarily be sent.

“It is strictly precautionary mainly, because I am trying to put pressure on Sacramento,” Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.

He vowed not to send any notices before the board’s next scheduled meeting in two weeks, adding the notices would be sent only if there were no other options to save the jobs.

The president of the teachers union condemned the vote, saying it was more than a bluff.

“It’s more than pressure,” said United Teachers Los Angeles President AJ Duffy. “No matter what Cortines said the reality is with Megan Reilly, the district chief financial officer, who has a budget based on laying off 2,200 teachers.”

Cutting education is no way to solve a budget crisis. Who is running this joint, and why haven’t they been fired?

I’m on a mailing list for NorthEastLA (NELA) community issues and this came across my desk: the City of Los Angeles Budget Survey. I just completed the survey myself. I think it’s a good exercise and brings up a lot of interesting questions. Why no survey questions about subway funding or routes? And why do they even have to ask about what they call “needs based budgeting,” which would divert funding to areas that appear to need them the most? Is the city actually NOT “Repaving streets based on condition of the streets and the usage of the particular street?” or NOT “Focusing gang reduction services in communities where gang crime occurs most”…? Why do they even have to ask me if this is a good idea?! It made me think of a recent report I heard on local newsradio, where a representative from the Westside was bitching about higher-crime communities diverting his crime-prevention forces. “I know we don’t have as much crime as those areas,” he admitted, then went on to whine about the whole thing.

Well, ’nuff said. Go voice your own opinion here. The letter that came with the link is behind the jump.

Info on the current budget & process is here; the fiscal year 2008/09 budget itself is here. (more…)

Yup, LAUSD is doing it to the teachers again.  Budget cuts, threats of teacher lay offs, state funding dilemmas the works all falling on their backs.  LAUSD Teachers are busting their butts for our kids and the district rather than find ways to keep the teachers we have is recruiting out-of-state.  

Our own Spencer Cross already named LAUSD Supt Brewer as a Grinch of the Year, but this tidbit fell through the cracks.  Nice job Brewer, what else are you going to toss at the teachers?  I do believe Spencer was onto more than he gave in the nomination.

Hat tip to Aaron Proctor of the Philly Metblogs for sharing that Craig’s list recruiting item.  Just in case the post mysteriously disappears from Craig’s List, I have a pdf available on request of the page.  Dawgs.

Forging a bond between the creative pursuits of established visual artists and young writers, Poketo, a Los Angeles design company specializing in limited edition, affordable art products, teamed up with 826LA, a non-profit organization that teaches writing skills to students ages 6 to 18, to create a special series of artist wallets.

826LA held a writing workshop called When Wallets Eat Words, where students developed short stories to line the inside of the artist wallets. Each wallet was then illustrated with a Poketo artists’ interpretation of the stories. The series was conceived when Poketo approached 826LA with an offer to curate a project for the organization.

Started by McSweeney’s Quarterly founder David Eggers, 826 has grown into a nationwide network, with two facilities in Los Angeles (Echo Park and Venice,) as well as branches in San Francisco, Seattle, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Boston and Brooklyn.

The wallets are available for $20 on the Poketo site , as well as at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, 1714 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles 90026. Proceeds benefit student writing programs at 826LA.

Wallet designed by Martha Rich.

Inner-City Arts, the non-profit arts education center smack in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles’ skid row, held the grand opening for their newly expanded campus today. A parade of children wound around the gleaming white complex on Kohler Street carrying kites, pinwheels and other artwork they created.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa led a group of community leaders and donors in a ribbon cutting ceremony that gave way to performances by musicians, dancers and puppeteers and a walking tour of the campus.

Opened in 1989, Inner-City Arts has been serving thousands of LA’s most at-risk elementary, middle and high school students each year, using the arts as a tool in teaching academic subjects. The organization serves at no cost to students.

Photos: Keith Knueven

The anti-Scientology group known as Anonymous announced that at 7:30am this morning they will be picketing outside of the New Village Academy private elementary school in Calabasas due to the school’s use of “Study Technology” developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. New Village Academy was founded by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

In a brief email exchange with “outed” Anonymous member Ryan Benno, aka Blvd Nights, explained:

We have decided that we will stay as far away as possibly away from the kids. None of us want to scare the kids at all. But this is a hugely profiled school and we want to bring attention to Study Tech. I personally think its robbing real education away from these kids. I am sure a few parents are unaware of what Study Tech is and most likely will like to know what we have to say. That is why we are doing it.

Benno adds that member of Anonymous have spoken with the Calabasas Sheriff’s Department to alert them to the protest.

A brief summary of what Study Tech is after the jump. (more…)

Spotted on billboards all over Los Angeles: equal parts cultural sensitivity, never overestimating the intelligence (in-tel-ee-jens) of the public and pandering to the masses of Princesses, Chiquitas and their human companions in LA.