FWD: Humor

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2006 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

Go on, forward this to your friends. you know you want to!

Bubbe & Zeyde's visit

Tony's parents were in this week from Idaho. On Monday night, Fran (Bubbe) and Don (Zeyde) came over to visit. Then on Tuesday, Fran, Don, Maiya and I went to the Indian food buffet in the Marina for lunch. On Tuesday night, Tony's godmother Valerie, Beth (godsister), Brian (godb-i-l)and Erin (Maiya's godcousin) came over, and we went to have Italian food. Fran and Don went to Lake Arrowhead for a few days, and came back on Friday night--and we went for Vegan Thai food, and then on Saturday, we met Nina, Danika and Chris at The Talpa for lunch, before they left to drive back home.

Mini-Activist Supporting the Farmers

Here are some pictures of Maiya at the Farm from about a month ago. She has been out to the farm about 5-6 times. I just figured out how to email photos from my cell phone, so here they are. We went to the farm again on Wednesday night, NCRR led the vigil 8 nights after the evictions. There were less people than the day after the evictions, but still there were probably close to 100 people there. Tomorrow, we are going to go to the Farm's Farmer's Market with our friends Scott, Emily and baby Tula from Detroit, where we first got active in the urban gardening movement. Although they don't have access to the farm, they are still going to do it from the outside of the farm.

(On another note, sorry I haven't been updating so much. Very busy with life and work and baby. Photos of Bubbe Fran and Zeyde Don's visit this week coming soon).

Recent pix & Farm Update

It's been awhile since we've put up photos of our favorite gal and some of her recent activities.

Maiya at Laura's book reading for "Black Brown Yellow Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles" in Silverlake.

Maiya eating Organic O's and blueberry yogurt with juice and water for breakfast in her new big girl chair
Maiya enjoying bubbles with Daddy.

Maiya is loving the turtle sandbox/swimming pool.

Last night we went to the South Central Farm for the nightly candlelight vigil, the day after the evictions. All around the farm you could see the devastation of the bulldozers. Some people had tears in their eyes, and I was holding back the emotions myself. But, people were feeling hopeful and the fight to save the farm continues. Although we could not be inside the farm, maybe 150 people walked around the outer perimeter of the farm chanting, "Save the Farm, Si se puede." Maiya danced and walked with us.

Here's a quote from Julia Butterfly Hill, "Like the flower pushing through the concrete, the spirit of the land and the people refuse to be bulldozed and concreted over.”

Stay tuned, this story is not over yet.

URGENT: The Farm is Under Seige!

The Sheriff's arrived at the farm at 5am this morning to forcefully evict the farmers. Here are 2 press releases from the SouthCentralFarmers website this morning. Also see southcentralfarmers.org for updates. As of 9:30 am on FoxNews, they are bulldozing parts of the farm in order to get to the protected Walnut Tree that Daryl Hannah and John Quigley are in. The protesters in the street outside of the farm are lying down in the street. If you go to the Farm, note that Alameda is closed from 24th Street to 41st Street.

I just got a call from one of the organizers. People are urged to

(1) call the Mayor's office (213) 978-0600
(2) call the City Councilwoman Jan Perry's office (323) 846-2651.
(3) go to the farm to show your support.

Jenni & Tony
=========

The Farm is under Siege!! Mobilize to the Farm

The South Central Farm is under siege. If you live in LA or anywhere near there please make your way to the farm to keep the protesters and farmers safe.

The immediate area around the Farm has been blocked off by the authorities limiting access to the site. Spontaneous rallies of support have sprouted on these perimeters with crowds increasing in size as the morning passes. Protesters still inside the Farm are being physically removed and arrested.

The easiest access is to come from the South side of the farm coming north on Alameda or to head east towards the Farm on 41st or any other streets that run east/west bound.

Once again, this is the Red Alert! The Sheriffs have begun and are carrying out the eviction! Mobilize as many people as you come to continue to protest this oppressive action

Arrests have already been made.

It is still unconfirmed but there are also reports that a protester was carried out on a stretcher. Bulldozer positioned nearby have began breaking through the fences.

Once again, please converge to the Farm.

41st Street and Long Beach Ave. Los Angeles, CA

Thank you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS EVICTION HAPPENING NOW

Contributed by Fernando Flores
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Press Release

SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS
Tuesday June 13
Media Contact
Fernando Flores 909-605-3136 Leslie Morava (310) 428-9380
Harold Linde 323-382-7554

URGENT BREAKING NEWS

SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS EVICTION HAPPENING NOW

5 A.M. SQUADRON OF HELICOPTERS & SQUAD CARS CAME TO EVICT FARMERS & PEACEFUL SUPPORTERS

WHEN:
Tuesday June 13, NOW

WHAT:
Eviction of South Central Farmers and Supporters Darryl Hannah and John Quigley still inside the property, other peaceful protestors conducting nonviolent civil disobedience.

WHERE:
South Central Farm
4000 S. Long Beach Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90058
(Media enter on 40th Pl. through Long Beach Ave. Park on 41st )

WHY:
For over three weeks supporters have been onsite at the South Central Farm, the nation’s largest urban farm, which serves as a 14-acre oasis in the middle of L.A.’s concrete jungle. This 14-year-old community gem functions as an active farm for more than 350 families and fills a local need for fresh produce, green space and a safe haven in a poverty-stricken region of Los Angeles. The farmers, community volunteers and celebrity supporters are in a daily state of peril anxiously awaiting the farm’s fate.

“The South Central Farm is a gem in the Los Angeles landscape. It supplies local communities with fresh, organic produce, gives children a safe environment to play and learn in, and provides a successful example of urban sustainability for the rest of the world to follow…”
- Dr. Joseph Hurwitz, Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Isaiah, Palm Springs

Tony interviews the J-town Grapefruit Tree

Listen to Your Elders: Save the South Central Farm
An Interview with a 130-Year Old Issei Grapefruit Tree

by Tony Osumi

The following interview was conducted with the wise 130 year-old Grapefruit tree living in the JACCC plaza located on San Pedro Street, between Second and Third Street in Little Tokyo.

Tony Osumi: Grapefruit Tree, how have you been? It’s been 10 years since I first interviewed you. Thank you for speaking with me again.

Grapefruit Tree: My pleasure, young man.

TO: To help some of our newer readers, may I ask you again when you were born?
GT: Back in the late 1800s, 1870 or so. My mom, dad, sister, brother, the whole family, a citrus grove, grew up on 2nd Street near Central Ave.

TO: That’s amazing. You’re over 130 years old. So genki.
GT: I try. My leaves have grayed, my bark has wrinkled, and as the young people say, “There’s more junk in the trunk,” but I still got my noggin—knock on wood.

TO: Can you talk about your sapling-hood?
GT: Let me see… When I was just knee-high I wanted to be a Redwood. I looked up to them giant Sequoias boys. I mean, who doesn’t? When I was a teenager I was really self-conscious. It was rough being yellow in the 1880s. In my 20s I thought the road to success was transplanting to Florida and getting a 9 to 5 for Sunkist Inc. But it never felt right.

TO: What do you mean?
GT: I got tired of all the manure. Then in my 40s I had a midlife crisis and started a long distance relationship with much younger beauty. Her name was Sugar Caine, from Hawaii.
TO: From Hawaii...
GT: I can picture her now, tall, slender and growin’ in the sun.
TO: Growin’ in the sun…
GT: Enough! She was a sweet, sweet girl, but it didn’t work out. She ended up with a good-looking Coffee Tree from Kona.

TO: You must have been broken hearted.
GT: I was for years. But the truth is, it wasn’t until I was in my 50s that I embraced my J-Town roots and really blossomed. I’m living proof it’s never too late to turn over a new leaf.

TO: What are you doing these days?
GT: Well, right now I’ve been helping out the South Central Farmers. The 14-acre farm is over on 41st Street and Alameda. Not too far from J-Town.

To read the rest of the interview, go to the kuidaosumi website.

Anyone want to buy a house?

Anyone want to buy a house? The sellers are very motivated. $869,000 and you can live in the same house I lived in from 5th grade through 12th grade. After 32 years, my parents are opening a new chapter in their lives and moving across town. The house is immaculate.

Let me know if you're interested... or you can check the link for the listing. If you buy the house based on this blog, I will buy you a pie. Any flavor you choose. I might even bake it myself.

KuidaOsumi Supporting South Central Farmers

Joan Baez says, "Save the Farm" (photo from her website)

Today Maiya is 16 months old. Hard to believe how fast the time goes. She is understanding more and more each day. Ask her where her pom-pom is, and she'll lift her shirt and point to her belly button. She can lift her leg and touch her feet if you ask her where her feet are. She can identify duckie, doggie, kitty cat, boy, girl, birdy and cow in any book, if you ask her where it is. It's very cute. Words we have heard her say are mama, dad dad, birdy (ba dee), dog (sounds like dad, but points to dog), yes and no. Maiya loves dogs from a distance, but if they start coming towards her, she gets a little freaked out if they come too close or too fast. Tantrums are frequent and intense. She loves balloons, and playing in dirt and water. This weekend I bought her a little sandbox/swimming pool shaped like a turtle for $5 at a garage sale. It was the happiest $5 I ever spent.

Tonight, we went to the South Central Farm, for the third time this week. We went to the Candlelight Vigil on Friday night, then the Farmer's Market on Sunday, and again tonight for the vigil we went with friends in J-town. It is a beautiful green oasis amidst warehouse after warehouse. 14 acres of urban farm, the largest in the nation. 350 families, mostly Mexican and Central American, grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and other indigenous medicinal plants.

Tony, his partner Kathy, and their students have been going more frequently, supporting the farmers. Kathy took a 4 a.m. shift the other day, and one of their students has been staying at the encampment several nights for the last week. We saw Julia Butterfly Hill and Daryl Hannah, who are up in a walnut tree in protest. You just have to walk the farm and see the beauty of all of the lush green vegetables and fruits, and why it should not be destroyed for the developer to build another lousy warehouse.

The other night, Maiya, Tony and I joined the procession, walking around the perimeter of the farm. Maiya walked about 3/4 of the way around by herself. Tonight's chant was "Save the Farm, Si Se Puede." I could see Maiya swaying and rocking to the beat. So proud of our little girl. It's ok that her favorite part was playing in the dirt. She's getting the seeds of activism from a grassroots perspective, so to speak.