Just help ONE to save the world (9/28)

KARMA: It's everywhere you're going to be.

Two KFI 640 AM (an iHeart station, the largest talk radio station in the country) personalities rappelled down the 25 story Hilton Universal City (Los Angeles next to Hollywood) to bring attention to the unhoused situation in L.A. The succeeded in raising funds and not dying. The Just Feed 1 event continues Saturday, 9/8/24.

Beautiful Los Angeles -- with its Hollywood Land, Santa Monica, UCLA, USC, Caltech, beaches, mountains, woods, canyons, and rivers -- is the jewel of Southern California. It's big enough, with over ten million people in the county with about 4.8 million in the City of LA. One would never imagine how much homelessness and poverty exist here. It's a Tale of Two Cities.

Wait, I can help by rappelling down a building?

Well, what can I do about it? Nothing, you're just one person. When has ONE person ever done anything? Actually, even though we all believe that, the fact of the matter is that ONE person is the only person who has ever done anything. It begins with a will, motivation, or inspiration to help. Now just find a way. Just help one. How about this?

• URM's Over the Edge/JustHelp1.LA Event
• LA challenge is September 27 and 28, 2024

Could it be true, could karma be so strange?

Go Over the Edge

Jump? No, we're going to rappel down

On September 27 and 28, 2024, at the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City Hotel someone is going to get ready to go Over the Edge to fight homelessness and help kick-off the Just Help 1 challenge!

What if everyone in Los Angeles could just help one struggling neighbor? As (Saint) Mother Teresa famously stated, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”

Although the homeless numbers in LA feel insurmountable when we consider the total, if we break the problem down to one individual helping one other individual, one family helping one other family, things change — exponentially.

• Register
• Donate now
• Sponsorship

Union Rescue Mission knows the power of ONE:

A store of good karma helps.

• one friend to make sure one less child suffers from food insecurity
• one family to ensure that another family doesn’t have to spend one more night in their car
• one church to make sure one woman can find shelter in a safe community.

By joining us and rappelling 25 stories down from the roof of the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Hotel on September 27 and September 28, 2024, you can help get one more person, family, or child off the street for good.

I never want to stop helping others and myself.

Registration is FREE! Just raise $1,000 or more by 6:00 am on the day of your rappel, and you will qualify for this thrilling way to bring new hope to the City of Angels.

YOU CAN Just Help 1 — and possibly many more — find their way home. 

REGISTER TODAY!

• F.A.Q.s
• Fundraising Tips
• What to Wear at the Event
• URM has raised $1.4 million
• Goal is $2,000,000 (two million)
• Help continue the fight against homelessness!

Become a sponsor, make a donation, or register for the event and start fundraising today! Every dollar will be MATCHED to have DOUBLE the IMPACT! *Match is up to $600,000.

• Register
• Donate

ABOUT: Union Rescue Mission (URM) has for over 133 years provided safe shelter, meals, long-term rehabilitation programs, education, counseling, medical services, and spiritual encouragement to assist those wanting to escape the cycle of homelessness forever. Unfortunately, URM's work is far from over. 

Spiritual gets physical, intention becomes deed.

As the world is changing, so has the state of homelessness in the city. People need more than just four walls, a meal, and a bed. They need what URM is uniquely equipped for: HOPE that lasting change and a transformed life are possible. But URM can't do it alone. URM needs partners like YOU to join the Just Help 1 challenge -- a fresh approach to this on-going crisis.

This is your opportunity to turn your compassion into action and take a leap with URM in the fight against homelessness. Click here for more information about Union Rescue Mission.

URM SPONSORS... More

URM's Over the Edge/JustHelp1.LA Event

• Union Rescue Mission (justhelpone.org, Summer 2024); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradshaw (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Slo-Mo Battle: Eckhart Tolle vs. Ram Dass

A dialogue with Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle

(Baba Ram Dass) Let's spend an evening with gurus Ram Dass (former Harvard hippie Dr. Richard Alpert, Ph.D.) and Oprah's spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle (author of The Power of Now), as these two [Hindu-style] teachers engage in an open conversation about spiritual "awakening" [by which they seem to equate Advaita Vedanta principles or samadhi states with actual permanent liberation] and the transformation of consciousness.

• [The Buddha taught that samma samadhi, "right concentration or stillness," while very beneficial and leading to saintly qualities is not nearly enough for the attainment of actual awakening (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana). It may seem a fine distinction, but the Buddha's whole reason for teaching was to establish the Dharma in the world that had been lost for thousands of years or much long, in spite of the fact that we had the Vedas and Brahmanism and Indian teachers all of that time. If those things had been enough to bring people to enlightenment, he would have had no reason to establish "right view" and a "path of purification" that leads to a real/permanent state of moksha or "liberation." While Hinduism literally uses the exact same words -- nirvana, moksha, samadhi, karma, and the like, they mean very different things in the Teachings of the historical Buddha. Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand, seems to have bought into the Hindu definitions and acts as a kind of popular sect of Hinduism more than as a form of Buddhism. But the average person will never know this without studying it deeply. Indeed, other religions have "salvation" and "liberation," but it is only because they are defining those words differently. From an Early Buddhist standpoint, the terms are being misapplied to impermanent states, to forms of rebirth in heaven or in the company of Brahma, as if one would stay there forever and therefore be free of samsara when someone was actually still fully immersed in the problem the Buddha found a final solution to.]

Host Tami Simon (Sounds True) referees (or mediates the conversation). Filmed in Maui, Hawaii, on October 28, 2011, posted on May 19, 2014.

People don't see it: Alan Watts on life's [Mahayana-Hindu] secret awakening

(T&H - Inspiration & Motivation) Dec. 27, 2021: Here is a brief, inspirational, and profound speech on life's illusions and secret awakening by Alan Watts. Original audio sourced from: Alan Watts - The Works. Speaker: Alan Watts, "Enlightenment or awakening is not the creation of a new state of affairs but the recognition of what already is," Alan Watts (1915–1973). #AlanWatts #TheSecret #T&HInspiration

ABOUT: The Love Serve Remember Foundation is dedicated to preserving and continuing the teachings of Ram Dass and his guru Neem Karoli Baba. Website: ramdass.org. Instagram: babaramdass, Facebook: babaramdass, Twitter: babaramdass.

How a chicken can fly: path to enlightenment

Gary Larson (art); Dhr. Seven (poem), Ashley Wells, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A flood? Why didn't you fly? - I lost the balloon.

"Oh, how sad, Chicken Bob, to see you try.

They call you Fryer, but you're meant to fly."

He muttered, I thought, asked, "Hey, what the cluck?"

I sat and I pondered: What could be up?

My eyes lifted as thought-balloon drifted.

Wide pupils shifted, reading, it's scripted:

How bright the idea that balloon brought!

Better the bulb than the darkness of thought.

Now what if he rows as I provide lift?

I get him to float, won't he flap his wings?

Now "what if" is no way to live a life.

For what if I ask, and he but denies?

So sinched at the waist, a string through his strut,

Seatbelt fitted in haste, he levitates up!

The helium balloon wafted him high.

I said, "Daft bird, see, it's better to try!"

Analysis

What is at the very heart of wisdom?

-So, Seven, you're saying, through symbolism and Gary Larson's comic strip, that we should figure out a novel solution and try it?

Poetry is not symbolic. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't. Then with a little help he could. It's like when I try to meditate, I can't. But with a little help, who knows. Once my teacher applied peppermint essential oil to my upper lip to keep my attention at the breath as it goes in and out (anapanasati bhavana). It worked. It was subtle, but peppermint is brightening and kept me awake and vigorous, yet not too excited as green tea might do. I would never have thought of that. "Plant helpers" can go a long way to bring us to the verge of samadhi and insight. But without a deva to point that out, it's hard for a fledging sitter or an old bird set in his ways to make progress.

O, hail, Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion!

-Ingenius! So you're saying everyone should try peppermint to advance their sitting practice.

I'm saying no such thing. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't.

-Is he "Chicken Little," symbolically?

No, he's Chicken Bob.

-Ah, and is "flying" meditation?

No, meditation is meditation, generally of two kinds, initial calming and subsequently systematic practice with a purified mind to know-and-see.

-Know-and-see what?

Ultimate materiality (kalapas) and mentality (cittas).

-What does that mean?

There are particles of perception, and discreet mind-moments that form the stream of consciousness we take to be one thing when it's really part of an impersonal PROCESS going on. We take this process to be a "self," and we cling to it.

-Isn't it a "self"?

Heart of Perfect Wisdom (Prajna Paramita)

No, it's not-self. The Heart Sutra makes this clear: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are the Five Aggregates or "Heaps" clung to as self. But they are not self.

• Isn't it a self that clings to self? 
• -No, a "self" doesn't cling; ultimately speaking, form clings to form, feeling to feeling, perception to perception, mental formations to mental formations, and consciousness clings to consciousness. The whole entanglement is ignorance, avidya, and snapping out of it to wisdom, knowing-and-seeing, and right view is "awakening" or bodhi).

-What ARE they then?

They are impermanent, disappointing, impersonal (empty) phenomena arising and passing away. When we see that directly, we can let go.

-If we let go, is that flying?

Letting go is freedom. Enlightenment is possible in this very life, right here right now, because there's only now, right?

-The past is not real? The future is not real?

One is a memory, one is a dream, and all that's real is right now. This present moment is real and it's all that's ever been real. Forget the rest. Be at your best RIGHT NOW.

-Is that what Ram Dass (Harvard's Dr. Richard Alpert) was saying when he famously said, "Be here now"?

I don't know. But it's good advice. Be. Here. NOW.

-Isn't that Eckhart Tolle's advice?

I think it might be Byron Katie's advice. Do The Work, asking the Four Questions. That'll bring you into the present moment, that is this NOW.

-Then who needs help?

Sometimes we need help. People weren't just spontaneously awakening until the Buddha arose and pointed the Way, revealed the Path, gave step-by-step instructions to make an end of all suffering right now.

-Those instructions still exist?

Yes, they do. Each teacher might put a spin on them unique to each individual's capacity and unique experience, but the fundamentals are right there in the ancient texts.

-Which texts?

The Pali canon is pretty reliable. Pa Auk Sayadaw has renewed their vitality and cleared the cobwebs and so has awakened students like Beth Upton, Ven. Dhammadipa, Sayalay Susila, Sayalay Dipankara, Tina Rasmussen, Stephen Snyder, and my own erstwhile teacher. Even Ayya Khema and her student Leigh Brasington, with the help of a Sri Lankan meditating monk, made it back to the original right-stillness (samma-samadhi) practices for calm. Vipassana is a little more involved.

-But the Heart Sutra is in Sanskrit not Pali!

It is, and isn't it amazing that it is the mostly widely read "discourse" in Mahayana Buddhism, yet no one gets what it's about?

-What's it about?

Ven. Sariputra, foremost in wisdom

"Emptiness" (shunyata). The mark of things is that they are all impersonal. All composite "things" (dharmas) are anatta, "not self." The "perfection of wisdom" is the direct realization that all things are impersonal -- particularly those five things clung to as a "self": form (body) [arrangements of the Four Elements or characteristics of materiality]; feeling (sensation), perception (all we perceive), mental formations (all the other psychological stuff), and the hat trick consciousness (awareness) [the four characteristics of mentality].

-And that made you think up a bird poem?!

No, there's no symbolism. I'm just telling a story about a scared bird, Chicken Bob, who thought he couldn't.

Real life kindness caught on camera

Real life super people caught on camera

(#Mind Warehouse) Jan. 11, 2024: Rescue a kitty, stop a rolling car with bare hands, prevent a fight with pizza, it's metta-motivated super heroic magic. Let's discover the many ways to become a real-life superhero or heroine in this latest compilation!

BRAIN TIME ► goo.gl/tTWgH2. SLICED ► goo.su/v3QLR. For copyright matters, please contact: copymanager.mn@gmail.com. #MindWarehouse #IncredibleMoments #CaughtOnCamera  #MindWarehouse #IncredibleMoments #CaughtOnCamera #incredibleindia.

Liberated from Myth of American dream

Alissa Quart, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez (democracynow.org); Ed., Wisdom Quarterly

Alissa Quart on Liberating Ourselves from the Myth of the American Dream

Author Alissa Quart's Monetized: perfect pitch for the present (inquirer.com)

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Republic of Outsiders Alissa Quart (NYT)

(Democracy Now!) March 29, 2023. Journalist Alissa Quart (author of Squeezed), executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, talks about her new book, Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, which examines myths about individualism and self-reliance that underpin the U.S. economy and the inequality it fosters. Banks get welfare bailouts in the billions, but we don't shame them the way we do a single parent living on scraps. Quart says a focus on "succeeding through hard work" obscures the degree to which many rich and powerful people have benefited from social support, resulting in a cycle of "shame and blame" [and severe racial inequality] for those who fall short.

• List of largest bank failures in the USA
• Corporate welfare isn't capitalism
• Latest Democracy Now shows

An unsparing, incisive, yet ultimately hopeful look at how we can shed the American obsession with self-reliance that has made us less healthy, less secure, and less fulfilled.

The promise that we can “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” is central to the story of the American Dream. It’s the belief that if we work hard and rely on our own resources, we will eventually succeed.

However, time and again we have seen how this foundational myth, with its emphasis on individual determination, brittle self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment, does not help us.

Instead, as income inequality rises all around us, we are left with shame and self-blame for our condition.

BOOK

Acclaimed journalist Alissa Quart argues that at the heart of our suffering is a do-it-yourself ethos, the misplaced belief in our own independence, and the conviction that we must rely on ourselves alone.

Looking at a range of delusions and half solutions — from “grit” to the false Horatio Alger story to the rise of GoFundMe — Quart reveals how we have been steered away from robust social programs that would address the root causes of our problems.

Meanwhile, the responsibility for survival has been shifted onto the backs of ordinary people, burdening generations with debt instead of providing the social safety net we so desperately need.

Insightful, sharply argued, and characterized by Quart’s lively writing and deep reporting, and for fans of Evicted and Nickel and Dimed, Bootstrapped is a powerful examination of what ails us at a societal level and a plan for how we can free ourselves from these self-defeating narratives. Bootstrapped

• Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America (Alissa Quart)
• What if there were a way to stay beautiful? (vegamour.com)

Let's get spiritual with comedian Jimmy Dore

Jimmy Dore (jimmydorecomedy.com); Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jimmy Dore goes from self-help books to pop-psychology and deeper into New Age spirituality, which is a mix of Eastern Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism (a kind of catholic/universalist approach to religion), Hinduism, Gnostic Christianity, Jewish Kabbala, and the esoteric writings of various great men of history (and at least a few women like Theosophy founder Madame Blavatsky):

John Bradshaw, Ram Dass (Jewish-Hindu Harvard Professor Richard Alpert), Eckhart Tolle (Ulrich Leonard Tölle), Neem Karoli Baba (the "Ram" Alpert is a dass of), Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung,  and his very angry Italian Catholic dad and the equally angry Catholic nuns who mercilessly beat the Catholicism out of him as living examples of "the joy of the Lord."

• Kalyani recommends: Meetings with Remarkable Men

Apply now for $2,000 rent relief (7/13-7/17)

The government comes to the rescue. Now we can pay rent and won't be evicted.

Save your housing. Join a strike: #rentstrike (jimmydorecomedy.com)

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Rent Relief - LACDA (wwwa.lacda.org/programs/rent-relief) COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (for Tenants). The application period for this Program closed on... Assistance Program provides rent payments to property owners on behalf of an income-eligible household, up to $1,000 per month, for three months. ... To view PDF files located on this site.

Rental Assistance | National Low Income Housing Coalition (nlihc.org/rental-assistance) NLIHC has estimated a need for no less than $100 billion in emergency rental assistance and broke down the need and cost for each state (download Excel...)

Disaster Financial Assistance with Food, Housing, and Bills | USAGov (usa.gov/disaster-help-food-housing-bills) Learn about mortgage and rental relief. And find out how the... Long-term Care Facilities Cannot Claim Residents' Stimulus Payments. Your stimulus check...

Emergency Renters Assistance Subsidy Program (hcidla.lacity.org) Applications will be accepted from Monday, July 13 at 8:00 AM through Friday, July 17, 2020... The program will provide a temporary rent subsidy for tenants in the City of Los Angeles... of up to $1,000 per month to cover the monthly lease rent (based on the rent... or misuse of the web site and/or materials contained on the web site, or that...

L.A. leaders OK $100-million coronavirus rent relief program (Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2020)... The city will pay a tenant's rent up to $1,000 per month, with a maximum payment of $2,000 per household. The money would go directly to the...

Corona Benefit Concert (free, Fox TV, 3/29)

Entertainment Weekly, March 26, 2020; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

News Flash: Elton John to host Coronavirus Benefit Concert

The first major benefit concert to provide relief and support for Americans impacted by COVID-19 is happening tonight, Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 6:00 PM, PT (9:00 PM ET). It stars Elton John, Billie Eilish, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Billie Joe Armstrong, lame talk by Lady Gaga, Lizzo vamping with Elton, some country act, and many more. And it's free on Fox TV.

EW News Flash brings breaking news and exclusive stories from the world of entertainment, keeping the pulse on the latest updates in music, TV, movie, and celebrity news, full of behind-the-scenes coverage from A-List events and first looks at the newest TV and films trailers and teasers. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY is a pass to Hollywood’s most creative minds and most fascinating stars. With sharp insight and unparalleled access, it keep TV addicts plugged into pop culture. Web: ew.com, Twitter: bit.ly/Twitter_EW, Facebook: bit.ly/Facebook_EW, Instagram: bit.ly/Instagram_EW, Snapchat: bit.ly/Snapchat_EW, Pinterest: bit.ly/Pinterest_EW.

Dia de Los Muertos, Los Angeles (Nov. 2-3)

KCET; LA Day of the Dead (Hollywood Forever); Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

(KCET Online, S10 E3, 5/29/19) Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead has been adapted for centuries from its pre-colonial Aztec roots to the popular depictions in mass media today such as "Coco." Inspired by rich Oaxacan traditions, it was brought to East Los Angeles in the 1970s as a way to enrich and reclaim Chicano (Mexican-American) identity through a small celebration at Self Help Graphics & Art. Since then the celebration has grown with renditions enacted in communities all around the world. In contrast to all the glamorous fanfare Dia de los Muertos now receives, KCET's Artbound offers a more intimate look at this ritual through the story of artist Ofelia Esparza, who continues the tradition of building altars (ofrendas) to remember dead ancestors, the dearly departed. Journey with her as she travels to Mexico in search of her ancestral roots.

Celebrating in Hollywood, Alta California

Monarch butterfly over a Mexican sunflower, Michoacán, Mexico (Rbreidbrown/wiki)

Hollywood Forever’s 20th annual Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") celebration will take place on Saturday, November 2nd, 2019. This year, the guiding theme is the monarch butterfly and its winter home, the Mexican state of Michoacán. Michoacán is one of the two cultural heartlands (the other being Oaxaca or "wah-hah-kah") in Mexico where the ancient Aztec traditions of Dia de los Muertos have been celebrated the longest and most vibrantly.

It's great to be Mexican-American for the best of both worlds, old and new (Dega86)

You are altered by your altar.

The monarch butterfly is also embraced as a symbol of Dreamers and immigrants whose personal journeys echo the annual migrations the butterflies make between Mexico and the USA. The monarch’s pending inclusion on the Endangered Species List is also an urgent call to love and protect our shared Earth (Tierra). As this is the 20th anniversary of celebrating at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, gratitude for the beautiful migration of Dia de los Muertos from its homeland of Michoacán, Mexico, to the heart of Hollywood, California is shared with all.

• Tickets and details

Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha's Words...

The Amaravati Sangha (Sn 1.8; Khp 9); Ellie, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Love is what we are."

This is what should be done
     By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
     Let one be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
     Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
     Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,
      Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let one not do the slightest thing
     That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
     May all beings be at ease!
Whatever living beings there may be,
     Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
     The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
     Those born and to-be-born —
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
     Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
     Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
     Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
     Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
     Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
     Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
     Whether standing or walking,
seated or lying down
     Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
     This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed [wrong] views,
     The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
     Is not reborn again into this world.

Slightly modified version of ©1994 English Sangha Trust. From Chanting Book: Morning and Evening Puja and Reflections (Hemel Hempstead: Amaravati Publications, 1994) revised for AccessToInsight.org on Nov. 2, 2013.

• Four alternate translations: Ven. Ñanamoli, Ven. Buddharakkhita, Ven. Piyadassi, Ven. Thanissaro

Mudras: hand gestures for meditation

Crystal Quintero and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit; pinterest.com

Hand and finger positioning can be very helpful in the practice of meditation.

Yoga (bodily poses) and mudras (gestures) are so easy, even kids can do them (pinterest)

 

The Buddha, vajra mudra

What is a mudrā? It is a Sanskrit (मुद्रा) word for "seal," "mark," or "gesture" (Tibetan ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ or chakgya).

It is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Vedic Brahmanism (the ancient tradition inherited and preserved by Hinduism) and Buddhism.

Some mudras involve the entire body, as when the Buddha is sitting in full lotus pose holding one hand close to his heart with fingers signifying absorption (jhana).

Will they help me sit and focus the mind?

But most are performed with the hands and fingers. A mudrā is a spiritual gesture and an energetic seal of authenticity employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian [Dharmic] religions. One hundred and eight mudrās are used in regular Tantric rituals.

 

In yoga, mudrās are used in conjunction with pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), generally while seated in lotus pose, easy pose, or vajra pose to stimulate different parts of the body involved in breathing and to affect the flow of energy/chi/prana in the body. More

Fighting gentrification in L.A. (audio)

Leslie Berestein Rojas, AirTalk (KPCC/scpr.org); CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

Latinas in Boyle Heights dress up for Dia de los Muertos (selfhelpgraphics.com)

Activists opposed to gentrification in Los Angeles' historic Boyle Heights are protesting local art galleries, with the latest protest taking place this past weekend.

 

They say new galleries opening in the neighborhood are ushering in wealthy outsiders, and unwanted development. But some say they’re casting too wide a net.

 

In the latest protest on Saturday, activists objected to the opening of the United Talent Agency Artist Space, which is part of an expanding “gallery row” on the western edge of Boyle Heights and along and around Anderson Street near downtown Los Angeles.

 

The anti-gentrification activists view the galleries as contributing to rising rents that they say can displace working-class residents in the neighborhood.

A representative for the United Talent Agency Artist Space did not respond to requests for comment.

 

In the mix of galleries are some unlikely targets, like Self Help Graphics & Art. The community arts nonprofit moved to Boyle Heights five years ago from East Los Angeles, where it had operated for decades.

 

Joel Garcia, director of Self Help, said the gallery's role is to nurture local artists of color. Activists should not paint all of the art spaces...

"This is real. People have lost homes and businesses," one activist group called Defend Boyle Heights posted on its Facebook page. The group also provided video from the weekend protest.

KPCC FM (SoCal Public Radio) has been covering rising rents in Boyle Heights for over a year and mapping cases where businesses and residents have been displaced or evicted. More + AUDIO

• Court rejects California teacher evaluation lawsuit
• Highland Park (Gentrification Central) plans rent strike
• Christian terror: Man sets Muslim woman on fire in NY
• Pacific Islanders moving to Inland Empire to find affordable homes and escape gangs of L.A.

POLL: Petition to get In-n-Out to carry veggie burgers 

A petition started last week on change.org calls for the Irvine-based chain to stop “letting its fans down by failing to serve anything that would satisfy a burger-loving customer who wants a healthy, humane, sustainable option.”

The petition started by The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to food sustainability complains:

“If you want a meat-free meal at In-N-Out, you’re going to be stuck eating multiple orders of French fries or a cheese-slathered bun.” This isn’t the first time people have petitioned In-N-Out to change its menu. In 2012, an LA-area vegan also petitioned the chain to add a veggie burger. At last count the petition has already exceeded... More

Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising, Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles (tiachucha.org)

• AUDIO: What change do you see in Boyle Heights?
• VIDEO: Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade rides with purpose
• In Boyle Heights, local nonprofit seen as a gentrifier
• SLIDESHOW: Boyle Heights: "As American as we want and as Mexican as we want"