Vodie to the max

I'm sure I'm not the only one who tosses the yellow pages phone book straight to the recycle bin when a new edition appears on the front doorstep. Strange how the more obsolete the hard copy phone books have become, it seems we're bombarded with more and more versions - the "original", the Spanish language edition, the chamber of commerce book, etc. etc.

This might sound nuts, but when I was a wee lad I couldn't wait for the replacement phone books to arrive. I was fascinated by the write-ups on the local San Jose attractions, and wondered which photo would land the coveted cover spot. I'd read up on how to telephone strange sounding countries, and flipped to the z-section of the yellow pages to check out the listings under "zoo."

When I was really young and still illiterate, I'd page through the yellows browsing for ads that caught my eye, like that creepy Buster Brown and his dog, and my favorite, the auto bears. I'm pretty sure the first time I ever picked up the phone and dialed out was to the auto service shops that advertised with that damn cuddly bear. "Do you sell toys?" I asked the workers who must've thought they were getting cranked.

Here in Sana Ana we have the surviving Vodie's bear sign specimen on 17th Street, just east of Bristol. The site was developed in 1956, which fits for this type of happy bear sign. The property was on the market earlier this year, so our bear has dodged another bullet for the moment.

Santa Ana Library doesn't stack up!

As cities throughout California have beefed up their library services in recent years, as California voters approved a $350 million state library construction bond, as the neighboring City of Orange more than doubled the floor area of their main library to 45,000 square feet, the City of Santa Ana has done nothing. Unless you count slashing the bookmobile service.

Santa Ana is the 9th most populous city in California. I compared Santa Ana's library system (focusing on number of libraries in relation to population) with the 8 California cities with more residents than Santa Ana and the 8 cities just below Santa Ana in population.

The result...

The only large city in California with as pathetic a library record as Santa Ana is Modesto. Holy cows, what an embarrassment!

City	Population	Libraries	Residents per Library
Los Angeles	3,834,340	72	53,255
San Diego	1,266,731	36	35,187
San Jose	939,899	19	49,468
San Francisco	764,976	25	30,599
Fresno	470,508	12	39,209
Long Beach	466,520	12	38,877
Sacramento	460,242	15	30,683
Oakland	401,489	18	22,305
Santa Ana	339,555	2	169,778
Anaheim	333,249	6	55,542
Bakersfield	315,837	8	39,480
Riverside	294,437	6	49,073
Stockton	287,245	5	57,449
Chula Vista	217,478	4	54,370
Modesto	203,955	1	203,955
Fremont	201,334	4	50,334
Irvine	201,160	3	67,053

Peace Corps Threatened By Short Funding

What's up with the news of the Peace Corps having to halt their new wave of recruits from being deployed to their prospective countries because Congress hasn't passed a budget? Aren't Obama, Bush, and McCain trying to sell us on the need to expand humanitarian assistance programs?

Well the Peace Corps is the way to go. These volunteers are ambassadors for this country. Each teacher, engineer, or agricultural volunteer represents a view of Americans that differs by miles from the asinine teenage flicks that inundate our movie screens, or the dirtbags in reality TV shows that flood international homes.

They get paid close to nothing and have to live the way their students live. I was a volunteer myself (in the late '90s in Sri Lanka before the Feds yanked us out when the civil war heated up) and was paid thirty dollars a month. I learned to make do with what I had just like the folks I was serving. It taught me humility and understanding which I sorely needed.

To hear that volunteers aren't being deployed because there is not enough budget is unbelievable to me. We spend so much on war where we end up killing and being hated. The Peace Corps teaches a different approach: building wells, ensuring safe water, garden projects, teaching English, job skills, and teaching about AIDS, safe sex, and other health related curriculum.

The Peace Corps supports over 8000 volunteers in 74 countries. To lose a chunk of these volunteers is a true loss to this country.

The DeceptiColonel

Remember the episode of the old Hulk TV series with Bill Bixby when a meteorite radiates the Hulk and he only halfway morphs back to David Banner? He becomes the Dulk, if you will. That's what I'm reminded of when I see the Kentucky Fried Chicken designed by Jeffrey Daniels on Western near Beverly. (Does that make me Mr. McGee?) This may be the most unique looking corporate fast food restaurant anywhere, and the corrugated metal predates the overdone corrugation nation we're living in. I'd say it's a bucket transforming into a chicken. Let's call it a chucket.

Cityscapes & Googie Fetish

My husband bought me some paint and canvasses to keep my mind from wandering. I'm bipolar and I tend to be self-destructive at times, but that's another story. Anyway, I've been doing a series on cities so here they are...

Half Baked: Not All Eurasians Come Out Purty

My nephew is a quarter Russian, quarter Korean, and half Filipino. He's so damn adorable. Then I have a couple of friends with multi-racial kids that are super cute. One too many times, however, I've been told by people (experts in their own minds) that if I were to have a little watermelon, it'll look way cute. My husband is a halfy himself - white and Mexican.

Then of course there are those who say, "Half white and Asian kids are always so adorable. Good combination, always."

I say to this...WHATEVER! I've seen a lot of mixblix in my time, and the genetic theorists are frikkin' wrong. There was nothing cute about some of the multis except for their predictable GAP attire. These generalizations and exotic fallacies piss me off. The truth is there are as many plain, average, and ugly halfies than there are cute ones. You end up with the same cute factor spectrum as anyone else, with the same percentage of 2s, 7s and perfect 10s. So chill, everyone. Shut your trap and don't let me hear you say what a great combination Asian and white children are. I will slug you. And no. There will be no watermelons popping out of my delicate apertures.

Library, library, quite contrary

I've heard way too many excuses for Santa Ana's failed library "system", now down to the Main Library and the Newhope Library Learning Center. Apologists point to the housing slump, bleak tax revenue, public safety funding that should override other city services, and on and on. Yes, crime is up. The recent high-profile shootings are horrible. But why can't the city leadership see the direct connection between libraries, literacy, education, and jobs?

A strong library system is a sign of a healthy city. A city council that supports improving libraries - expanding hours, adding services, staffing highly qualified librarians, rehabilitating facilities, expanding libraries, constructing new libraries - is a city council that supports creativity, child development, adult literacy, skill development, gang intervention, safe learning, and employment.

Let's look at the Santa Ana City Council. If the economy is up or down, doesn't matter, the Council has gutted the libraries to fund other priorities. Even the bookmobiles were stripped of their funding! How long do the councilmembers think the current economy will be in the doldrums? They're not even willing to start planning for better times. As long as improving the library system is off the table, we're stuck with another symbol of a sick city.

We need libraries now more than ever.