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No rhetorical query, this. I were passing by round 7 p.m., on my way to Pete's on 4th, and two LAPD cars on 5th were joined by a hyperactive third (whose occupants exuberantly questioned a man in a wheelchair) while the little band on the corner stopped playing.
Thought there would be something on someone's blog by the time I stumbled across the river and home, but. . . nada?
Any news out there in L.A. blog-land?
-BusTard
If there is a change in the pattern of the ever-shifting battery of dead MTA escalators, rest assured I will sue and then use the money to make the shiftless MTA get its arse in gear lest I use the money to hire more aggressive attorneys!
But back to the inevitable slogging of three stairways per station unless one happens to work where the MetroLink commuters catch their train (i.e., Union Station).
Thursday found three stations along the former Red Line with dead escalators. Unfortunately, as I were prepping the camera to record the lifeless "lift" at Wilshire-Vermont, the station custodian came along and pressed a little button beneath the rubber handrail and—whammo!—she and her three-wheeled garbage can were taken to the street. Is it that damn simple? And if so, what penalties await one who attempts to be a present-day Harry Tuttle? Perhaps Pam, Roger and all that crew should stop wasting money on all that tree-eating propaganda spewing the $1-off deals at Wicked and sports crap, and get the buses to run on time and the escalators to simply work, hm?
As such, I have but two dead escalators to report, and owing to my hectic schedule, I was unable to examine the 7th/Fig and Pershing Square stations. No need to waste my time at Civic and Union; owing to the commuters what use it, there is rarely anything wrong at those two stations.
For the first of three nights of five films to be screened at REDCAT, I missed what I had hoped to be a weekend of jaw-dropping, eye-opening, mind-blowing and highly controversial cinema and debate: All Power to The People: The History and Legacy of The Black Panther Party. (White guy that I am, I opted to see some friends ice-skate while former good friends Leather Hy-, er LISTING SHIP, performed at Pershing Square. From there things turned to a favourite chair that has long known my olde arse at the Biltmore, then quarrelling in the streets and making friends with fellow crazies along midnight on 6th Street halfway to any given mission between San Pedro and Central.)
Anyhow.
So what I missed Friday were three films: "Off The Pigs," "Repression" and "The Murder of Fred Hampton." Three scary films for anyone who understands how things were and, for the lack of daily riotous outbursts, how bad they may well become. Come Saturday and Sunday, however, (and amid all I have to do to get a particular theatre up and running by 21 January), I will be seated to see the rest of this too-brief series.
This could be an epic post, what with my perspectives on anti-statism, violence, mob mentality and rapid change of the world, but I will give it a rest.
-BusTard
Things continue to be stale at Westlake on the Red Line, where the escalators have been dead at least four consecutive days. (How long does it take to service these things? And why is it that the escalators at Union Station are never dead?)
Pershing Square is usually troublesome on the side that is too often used by the homeless and vagrants. After a few days of working escalators, the one leading up to the non-working APT was dead, as were one of those leading from the platform to the mezzanine:
Wow, this is turning out to be some race.
I told BusTard and the boyfriend/fiance that McCain’s campaign wasn’t dead. Old dude has heart.
I have to say if I were an old white man and loaded (all of those things combined can make you completely out of touch with reality, well at least reality for the people not in your demographic) McCain would be my guy. Yeah I know it’s crazy, but he is old school Republican. The kind of Republican who hated darkies because god damnit it was the best thing for the country and truly thought that being prejudice would some how make America a better place.
It wasn’t about friends or money, yeah it was totally wrong, but at least that guy cared. At least that guy cared about America. Yeah he didn’t want me in America, but he did care, which is not like the guy we have in there now.
I don’t think George Bush cares.
I don’t think it’s about god or country or honor, I think it’s just about how can I hook my friends up right now.
Not even Reagan who people loved cared about the US. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to me were two peas in a pod.
Bill Clinton wasn’t really a Democrat and Reagan wasn’t really a Republican, inside they were both pretty moderate, but they both just picked the team that would help them get into the best parties. That’s great. I’d probably be that guy, but that guy (or gal) shouldn’t be president.
I blame many of the horrible things happening in the economy, not so much on Bush, but on Clinton. He started this, “fuck it, it’s all about me” attitude.
To me Reagan was the downfall of the Republican Party and Bill Clinton was the downfall of the Democratic Party, in regards to actually giving a shit. As I said, I’m not saying the ways of the past were ok, but I think deep down inside people used to care, well a little bit.
Now Hillary. If she were a guy, I really think she would have had this thing all wrapped up. Is that me saying I believe in her campaign one way or the other? No, just me saying if she were a guy the American public in all it’s wisdom (or at least the Democrats) would have put this to bed already.
Gloria Steinem wrote an editorial in the New York Times. I didn’t like it. It kind of made me a little annoyed being a person of color and my gut reaction was, “that’s why I fucking hate feminists.”
But then I remembered I am a feminist and she is not a feminist. Though she thinks she is the Goddess of the feminist movement, because she has money and she’s pretty and she went to Smith and she had lots of rich friends and she dressed up like a Playboy Bunny and exposed the heinous working conditions of Playboy Bunnies, well she’s not!
She is just a rich jerk with privilege that uses feminism to fuck with people; it’s kind of like with Jesus. It’s not that Jesus was a bad guy, it’s just the nuts that follow him.
I think I used that analogy with Charles Bukowski on some post or maybe a comment.
It’s not that Bukowski was so horrible, its just the morons that read one book by him and now want to drink and write bad poetry and not work that make the idea of him so horrible.
"No I don't want to hear another one of your damn poems!!!"
That’s who Gloria Steinem is. She’s the reason people made third wave feminism. She’s the reason women of color won’t say they are feminists. To me if you’re a member of an oppressed group whether it be a woman, a homosexual person, a black person, an Asian person, a person who is an immigrant, a bisexual, a latino person, a person who is disabled you never ever play the “we are the most oppressed” game.
That is a stupid fucking game.
Everyone’s struggle is valid and how dare anyone regardless of how hard they have had it tell another oppressed person “your struggle isn’t or wasn’t as hard as mine.”
No need to be a dick. Share your struggles. Give advice. Don’t try to prop your struggle up by shitting on someone else’s and that’s what Gloria did in that editorial. And that is a very shitty, unfeminist thing to do.
A real feminist wouldn’t try to step on another oppressed group just to prop up what she views as “her” group. That’s something a straight white guy would have done openly, in the 1950s.
Bad sportsmanship Gloria. You are a bad feminist.
By Browne
First we brought you transformer toilets, then we brought you when toilets don't work, now the directors of those two great posts bring you:
"The toilet door is broken, but fuck it we'll just pry it open and use it anyway..."
We don't have a clip of the guy urinating with the door open, but we do have the pried open door.
The Bus Bench is doing an art project on January 10th and we need a car to murder.
Are you ready to release yourself from the chain of car ownership? Do you want it documented?
(LA Bus) Metro Trip Planner. This would include directions on how to get anywhere using any bus or rail line in LA Country.
Big Blue BusWestside!!
Montebello Bus Eastside!!
Gardena Muni Southside!!
Foothills Transit The SGV!!
Did you know there was an official where to go and how to do fun stuff in L.A.? Well now you do: Experience L.A.
L.A. is a special place, so we have lots of events. Your public transit ride could be impacted check here. Special Events Street Closures.
The Bus Bench’s roots are in Social Ecology.
The Bus Bench takes a satirical and editorial approach to dealing with the issue of mobility in Los Angeles. The emphasis of The Bus Bench is public transportation, but we also discuss class, race, gender and Downtown Los Angeles.
In commenting on The Bus Bench we do not mind if your opinion differs than that of an opinion of a writer on a particular post. We welcome discourse. We only ask that you be respectful. Do not be violent with your words.
Contact us at: browne@shametrainla.com
RANDALL (BusTard) FLEMING has spent two decades working in most every facet of publishing. A former magazine publisher (Angry Thoreauan, 1987-2001), he has also contributed to a great many books, periodicals and newspapers in Los Angeles and New York: New York Post, Brooklyn Spectator, Discover Hollywood!, Ben Is Dead, Flipside, Los Feliz Ledger, Sabotage in The American Workplace (Pressure Drop Press), Notes From the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Verso), and several of the Unreinforced Masonry Studio books about Los Angeles.
Art Gonzo was raised in Los Angeles. He is a visual artist. He has seen a bus. When not at The Bus Bench he is a contributor at LA Eastside.
A Valley-born Los Angeleno, Simon Ganz only recently returned from the liberal enclaves of Northern California where he, to his surprise, found himself more than happy living without a car. Now back in his hometown with only a political science major to show for his journey, he is of course constantly unemployed and hoping to join/start/follow a movement to create better transit for everyone in Los Angeles.
Rogelio Gomez is a public transit rider and an avid cyclist. He blogs at My Daily Ride when he's not sharing his adventures on The Bus Bench.
Sirinya Tritipeskul is a graduate student studying to become a transportation planner at UCLA. She writes on The Bus Bench about living car-free on the Westside. Her own blog, The Valley Girl Planner (in training), is a tribute to her Valley Girl roots and her travels around the Los Angeles area.
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