The Dredge Mobile is coming to town!

How many years has it been now? Seems
like ever since Congressman Chris Cox left us
to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission
...Newport Beach has been without a voice for a
Dredge in the bay! We never knew what magic
that Chris was able to conjure up.....but for
all his many years serving the 48th District...
we always got our Dredge money..every year.

Then came Congressman Campbell. Another handsome
and seemingly together vestige of responsibility.
John said he was Conservative fiscally and socially.
John said he was going to continue the Chris Cox
tradition of the "highest and best use" for each
and everything. Well, for about five years things
have not lived up to expectations and have been
bleak. No Dredge money from the Federal Government.
Maybe it was just because John Campbell was just a
junior Congressman and had little clout. Maybe it
was because of his single minded desire not use
"carve outs", "ear marks" or "special projects"
Federal money for anything but basics. He had very
little trepidation giving BailOut money to US
Automakers however! Along with trillions to those
Investment Banks.....oh well. Who cares about a
Dredge...when you can have lunch with Bankers?

In any event, Campbell didn't quite get the idea of
how important "The Dredge Money" was to Newport Beach.
We needed new sand too. The Feds could always help
there too. But did they? Hey, it got so bad that we
had to bring in the bench players: Congressman Ed
Royce(who has plenty to do for the Fullerton area),
Loretta Sanchez(who has plenty to do for Garden Grove),
Ken Calvert and even Senator Diane Feinstein...too!

Good grief....Chris Cox must have been some sort of
Congressional Studly Doright to need that many players
to replace him....on Dredging.

Today, Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff announced
that the Feds had awarded the City of Newport Beach
...not the $13 million dollars they needed, but $17
million dollars so that we could even water test for
ocean and bay pollution occasionally. We officially
thank all concerned for their efforts...so that our
bay can have tidal flush, our docked yachts enough
water under them..not to go aground, removing the
excess sand bars which are navigational hazards and
keeping the Newport Harbor the vital waterway that
it must remain.

An election is coming next year for Congress in the
48th District. Debbie Cook of Huntington Beach may
run, Steve Young, the perennial candidate will run
and hopefully someone will challenge John Campbell
to raise the bar. Whoever is chosen must resolve
without equivocation...that Newport Beach will get
Dredge Money.....each and every year...we need it.

READ MORE - The Dredge Mobile is coming to town!

The Balboa Underground....Part II

It never ceases to amaze us......how people
make choices sometimes. In the visionary words of
Butch Cassidy: "I see 20-20 and everyone else is
wearing bi-focals!"

As you walked around Balboa Island...before the big
day election....you could see that the battle lines
had been drawn. North Bay Front seemed firmly in
the "Yes" camp.....South Bay Front more so toward
the "No" camp. What was this bitter, neighbor vs.
neighbor issue all about? Underground Utilities!

This should have been a natural "no-brainer" and
the effort to bring Balboa Island into the 21st
Century should have been long in coming. Perhaps,
too long.

The story runs out like this: There is now a effort
afoot to recount the recent election: 501 Yes votes,
505 No votes! Yikes! With only 1200 owners available
you would think that each and every owner would have
stepped up to the plate with a position. Having been
ahead at the end of election night by 33 votes......
didn't insure our victory...so we can only say: "We
better wait..till the fat lady sings!" When might
that be? Who knows?

Our question is: Who are these people? Do they care
about their community or just about having the chance
to fight with each other? Underground Utilities on
Balboa Island should have occurred in 1930! FDR let
that Public Works Project be deferred in order to put
the CDM Breakwater in. Well, when times were good...
"Hey, why do we need to do that?" When times were bad
...."Hey, we can't afford that!"

There has always been an excuse to stay in the 1930's,
even down at Crystal Cove...the management told us last
year, that the ugly Utility poles "was vintage"! We
told them, so were Whale Lamps....and NO ugly Utility
Poles at all. How many electrical wires were there in
1920? No matter. When you go to Balboa Island, walk
around the Bayfronts...and see all the holiday fun stuff
it is hard to believe that these people are still living
in 1930! Even Coronado Island in San Diego undergrounds
their utilities...and the place is beautiful.

Face it, this is not Barstow, Lancaster or the Inland
Empire. God love those places.....and we do...but they
do not require Undergrounded Utilities....and even there
each and every new community project get: Underground
Utilities! What does that tell you? Are you listening
...Balboa Island? Are you listening Balboa Peninsula?

Frustrating to say the least. Whatever happens we are
very disappointed that at least half of the owners on
Balboa Island...have no clue...couldn't care less and
are pleading "poor"! Someone lives in $2 million buck
home...but can't afford to borrow - from a guaranteed
government program: $35 grand? Spare us..your efforts
to convince anyone...."that times are tough!" Of course
times are tough.....what other time would have been
appropriate? What? When someone just gives you the
money to do the deal? No, you would have argued about
the inconvenience...we know you too well - naysayers!

Well, we will go to sleep tonight with a prayer that
"Divine Intervention" occurs and Balboa Island will
have "Underground Utilities" after all. If not.......
we will always remember...every time we go there and
so will everyone else! Nothing worse than a "Cheap
Millionaire"!

READ MORE - The Balboa Underground....Part II

Newport Beach Film Festival April 23rd Kick-Off!

It's opening night and people are talking about
numbers like 40 thousand plus....on the 10th Year of
the Newport Beach Film Festival. Even the inimitable
"Mr. G"......the guy that started "The OC" will be
there! Maybe there will be some of the "Real Desperate
Housewives from Orange County" there too! We will just
have to wait and see.

At any rate, probably a good time to try and fight it
out for a parking space at Fashion Island. Ever since
the "Sharper Image" store closed...there were plenty
of empty parking spaces....(Just kidding!) No doubt,
the "Gourmet Hot Dog" man is going to be buried in
customers! Think more Deli Mustard!!

In any event, people from all over the country have
suddenly found the "Newport Beach Film Festival" after
just 10 short years. Hey, "Sundance" took at least that
long to jump start and become unbelievably popular. We
haven't seen those very outrageous "publicity stunts" by
major stars yet...but we know that action is coming soon!

Anna and I covered this event last year......and tried
to get a little different look at Film Festivals in
general...to find out the how's and the whys? You can
go to the Cutting Edge - a talk show website and watch
last year's fun, cost and commercial free: Newport Film
Festival - www.cuttingedge-atalkshow.com

Just go to the Archives and scroll down or you can jump
to the Southern California page and click on the video
box.

In the meantime, enjoy the Festival......and we will see
you opening night - at the movies!

READ MORE - Newport Beach Film Festival April 23rd Kick-Off!

We are getting to be like old people.

Diseases and annoyances that I have discussed with friends today:
hot flashes
Hepatitis C
bipolar disorder
breast cancer
reaction to HPV vaccine: recurring rashes
chlymidia
strep throat
MS
polycythemia vera
fibrocystic breast disease
HIV-AIDS

Not as many as I thought.

It could be worse. It could always be worse. Everything, everything could be worse. Tonight K and I were walking down Broadway (New York) and right around Lincoln Center we saw (and heard) a line of 15 or so cop cars speeding down the street. It turned out to be a routine terrorist drill. I was walking by a fire station yesterday and saw a plaque with pictures of fire fighters who had died in 9/11. B read about a young girl who died from the HPV vaccine, and her mother's remorse at having urged the daughter to get it. How could she forgive herself? But it wasn't her fault. J said she loved Joan of Arc when she was young. B said she was fascinated by the story of Tamar in the Bible. She is also fascinated by temple prostitutes. J worked for Eliot Spitzer and said he was arrogant, just like people said. I went to St. John the Divine and it felt taller than European cathedrals. Arches (and probably naves; I always forget what they are) and bright bright stained glass. It's the first time I remembered seeing the American Poets' Corner. Molly Peacock is the poet in residence.
B met me across the street from the cathedral at the Hungarian Pastry Shop, where I first went about 15 years ago with A, whom I had contacted because we were researching the same person. She had had breast cancer and was a breast cancer activist and I wasn't sure what that meant. I didn't ask her because it sounded boring. She had been to the statehouse. L was downstate today, and stopped in Bloomington to interview the workers at the David Davis Mansion. Why would someone give a kid a first name so much like his last name? At a party years ago we met a guy who said his father changed the family name when the son was a teen, so that his name became Henry Henry. He did not forgive his father for that. And why are there so many men named "Dusty" Rhodes? Does each think he's the only one?

READ MORE - We are getting to be like old people.

The cool part of Birmingham or: Kafka in 'bama

If you ever find yourself in Birmingham, Alabama, and you want to be reminded of, say, East Berlin not long after the fall of the Wall, when lots of artists cooperatives and little restaurants sprang up in alleyways and empty buildings, then take yourself to Greencup Books, 105 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. South. This space (and this space only) has the feel of E. Berlin. I had a little reading there on Friday. Next door is Bare Hands Gallery, which had on display some shiny silver deer heads and a political piece made of an old water fountain. (You look down in the hole where the pipe went and you see Obama cards and in the middle, a black and white photo of a bigot in front of the statehouse, probably in the 1960s.)

Greencup has a portrait of Kafka painted on the wall, flanked by (painted) cockroaches, and a couple of shelves of lit mags and zines from all over. It's a nonprofit, which hosts classes and performances, and designs and prints books. Outside on the sidewalk was a bin of romance novels. Inside were shelves and shelves of used books. Plus some couches, typewriters, and people sitting with their laptops. My reading started late, upstairs, where there were large skeleton costumes hanging up, in storage from the annual Dia de los Muertes festival. Not that many people are here, the head guy told me, after checking upstairs, where the reading would take place, and then I went up there and saw one person waiting. In the end, there were seven in the audience, plus a dog, who didn't seem to be much interested in cancer or Cancer Bitch. I'd met three of the audience members at the gallery. One of them had a mastectomy about 20 years ago when she was penniless and insurance-less, and had reconstruction more recently. She said she was sick of pink ribbons and we talked about pink-washing, whereby corporations and sports teams support breast cancer benefits in order to clean up their public profiles. We sat in a sort of oblong and I read and we talked. It was very intimate. I'd read the night before at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, in a gallery, with an audience of students and faculty, as far as I could tell. All my books were for sale but I don't know how many were sold. Friday night I brought books to sell and sold two. Which is a good percentage.

I have a reading in Princeton tomorrow at noon and am now in the basement of my friends' house in that fair city. I met G in France ten or more years ago at a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar on the legacy of fascism in France, Germany and Italy. Her husband is here on a Hodder fellowship. I don't know yet where the cool places in Princeton are--beyond here, in this house.

Tacheles, Berlin


Greencup, Birmingham

READ MORE - The cool part of Birmingham or: Kafka in 'bama

The Reluctant Guest

So I decided to have some kind of little seder on the second night of Passover, some of this and some of that, not really a seder because seder means "order," and this would be more dadaist and disorderly. I invited a few people. I went to Whole Foods yesterday to get wine for the first seder we were going to. The cashier was chatty and said he'd never been invited to a seder, and his friends tell him they're boring. I told him to get invited to a good one. Then I left and ran an errand and had the great thought: I could invite him.
I drove back to Whole Foods and invited him, giving him a piece of ppaer with my phone number and address. He said he'd bring kosher wine.
I didn't tell L. I was embarrassed. I thought he'd think I was goofy. I put together a little service, and decided that the Guest would be our focus, that he would ask the four questions and we would answer them, and we would explain things to him as we went along. I was nervous. I didn't want him to think I was going to kidnap him. I didn't think he was going to rob us; I didn't get that vibe from him.
At 7 S and J arrived. Then M. Then G. It got to be 7:25 and the cashier hadn't shown up. We decided to get started. This means that S and J presented a medly of tunes that tell the Passover story. They were quite amusing and we clapped.
So I felt momentarily lost because I'd lost my blank slate upon which I could project my holiday information blitz. The others joked about him, saying that the kid had been afraid I was going to make matzah from his blood. (This is what it means to live in America now, that we can joke about this, about what's known as blood libel, because it is so absurd, carries no weight in our lives, and the outside, goyish world agrees (mostly; there must be some anti-Semitic paranoiacs around). We are safe. At this moment.
So we proceeded without the non-Jewish cashier and read pieces of a Berkeley haggadah and small parts from The Love + Justice in a Time of War hagaddah from the internet. It offers tidbits like this: A) Some of the questions people are really
asking as they participate in a seder:
1. How many more hours until we eat?
2. Why on this night do some of us traditionally eat balls of
reconstituted fish parts?
3. Will G-d strike me down if I get up to go to the bathroom during
the maggid?
4. Why on this night do said fish balls always have slice of carrot on
top, and is it true that jelled broth is in fact the Jewish people’s
most enduring contribution to humanity? (2)B)
We discussed:
Annoying Plagues of our Times:
1. Reality TV
2. Thong underwear above the pants line
3. Cell Phones
4. Patchouli on white people
5. Starbucks
6. Dr. Phil
7. Muzak
8. Macrame
9. SUV’s
10. 80’s retro fashion revival
Soon we were complaining. And then when it got to Dayenu, we realized there were many things that by themselves would not have been enough.
We are a demanding lot.
We ate, we drank, we sang, S opened the door for Elijah... and the reluctant guest did not walk in. He is somewhere out in the night. It is dark with a fullish moon and he is probably thinking, guiltily? relievedly? of us.

READ MORE - The Reluctant Guest

The Hostile Bitch

When they first met, the young woman was saying that she turned down a great job to stay home with her son. Cancer Bitch wondered what the job was. When she found out it was tenure-track, she was angry. Why was she so angry with a woman she barely knew? This is the Bitch part of Cancer Bitch. She is judgmental and thinks that no one should turn down a good job as a professor. Is she jealous because no one has ever ever ever offered her a tenure-track job? Is she alienated because she doesn't understand how anyone would want to spend all day with a baby? Is she secretly envious and wistful that she never had her own baby, the lady doth protest too much and all that? Or is it perhaps that she's lost friends when they've become wrapped up in their children and would talk about nothing else, and that she is transferring her anger and hurt from them to this nice young stranger who happens to like being with her own child?
Cancer Bitch just learned more: that the young woman wanted to go back to full-time work after two months, then changed her mind, as the baby turned more and more into a person. Cancer Bitch fears being left alone with a baby, though she babysat for real babies as a teen. What would she do with a baby? How do you hold it and stop it from crying? They are alien, though she knews she was once one herself, unbelievably, and so were most of her friends.
A decade and a half ago she and her friend made up a song. The chorus was: Your baby bores me. But even this is not true. She likes to hear about people's babies. But she prefers to hear about their dogs.

READ MORE - The Hostile Bitch

Cutbacks

Management decided that the workers were drinking too much tea. Specifically, the various types of tea that sat in the cabinet in the break room, which Management paid for. Management decreed that from now on there would be fewer choices of teas. There would only be black and green, caf and decaf. And no honey. That cost too much, too. The idea was that with fewer choices, people would drink less tea. Or if they missed their favorite flavors, they would purchase their own.
The financial outcome has not yet been determined. The question persists: Why does Management assume that people will buy and bring their own? Why wouldn't it assume that in these austere times, the workers would be frugal, sighing and drinking the same amount of tea as before, accepting the fewer choices?

It could turn out that Management will pay the same as it always has for tea, except that more of the budget will go toward basic tea and none for herbals and relative exotica.

READ MORE - Cutbacks

Platelet dreams/Brooklyn screams

I know that other people's dreams are usually boring, so I'll try to fly through this one really quickly.
I dreamed that I missed the first night of a journalism class at Well-Regarded University. I was excoriated, and P, who used to teach there with me, defended me on TV, saying that I had eaten a pepper that had made me sick. This was a fabrication; I had gotten the date wrong. But then I tried to insert my real disease (polycythemia vera) into the excuse so that it wouldn't be 100 percent false. I do, after all, turn red from PV and I did go to the hospital recently (in real life and in the dream), directly-indirectly because of PV.
This illustrates my confusion about how important my disease is to me and my mortality. My hematologist is pretty sanguine shall we say about my prospects. I read online that people live 3 or 5 or 10 or 20 years after a diagnosis. Usually men over 60 are the patients. I am not a man over 60.
This week I got a prescription for hydroxyurea, scary medicine to reduce my platelet count. I got it filled today and took one of the garish capsules. So far I have not suffered nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, constipation, severe decrease in blood cell counts, signs of serious infection, seizures, brown urine, blackened skin, yellowing skin, purple skin spots. I have not had tingling/burning/numbness of hands/feet/legs, though I had itching that is a result of the disease, which I'm taking another medication for.
***
This happened more than 50 years ago, in Brooklyn.
A young woman was set to meet her sweetheart's family. She was sheltered and an only child, and was accustomed to acting with decorum and wearing white gloves when she went out. She went to the family's apartment in Brooklyn (she lived in Brooklyn, too) and they sat down to dinner. At the table, everyone yelled. She was so upset she cried.
And then married the man and over time became a loud person herself.

READ MORE - Platelet dreams/Brooklyn screams

Hey Sailor....you are double parked!

We opened the Daily Plot this Sunday morning and were
amazed to see they were writing about something that
actually had an impact on our community. A seemingly
sincere Tom Ivicevich had written a three column letter
to the editor. Actually, Mr. Ivicevich was writing an
open letter under Mail Bag to the City Council and the
Administrators of Newport Beach relating to the possible
implementation of a tough forthcoming boating ordinance.

Well, being generally pro-boater and and pro-sailor on
these issues we were amazed that after a careful reading
of Mr. Ivicevich's letter - that we agreed heartily with
the City Government! So, what is the big issue here that
has Mr. Ivicevich and his pals so upset? Anchoring their
boats off Corona Del Mar Big Beach! Actually, it is about
how long and how many times someone can park their boat
there on a monthly basis. The City wants to restrict
that access to one event with a maximum of one 72 hour
or less stay per month.

OK, for those who haven't driven by Corona Del Mar say
in the last few years....you might be surprised to find
hundreds of boats just off shore from Corona Del Mar
Big Beach within the lee of the CDM jetty! That is, if
there is no South Swell. Hey, we have walked by there
many times and been amazed that any boats were allowed
to park off CDM at all. In fact, we are totally against
any so-called "Cruising Boats" being allowed to park in
this area. If there is no dockage in the Harbor..tough!

Now why would we oppose these boats being allowed to
stay there and why should we put up a "NO Parking" sign
off CDM Big Beach? Well, it starts like this: Back in
1962 a Blue Whale landed on CDM Big Beach. Back then,
we had environmentalists too. They were surfers, caring
animal lovers and kind people in general. Our group of
City Lifeguards were pretty nice too....then! At any rate,
it took a very concerted effort.....but we were all able
to move the big Blue Whale off the sand and back into the
waters heading out to sea! We didn't declare victory over
evil dark forces or anything....about 150 people just did
a good deed. The truth is that we were not so lucky with
several other Greys, Blues and a few Orcas!

Then we had the Oil Tanker land on CDM Beach...that was
a biggie...if you will excuse the expression. That took
weeks to remove. We have had maybe 20 or thirty times in
CDM history that a variety of large and small yachts, a
few fishing boats, seals, and even bodies that have shown
up on Corona Del Mar Beach. We bring this to your
attention, because for as long as we can recall until this
last couple of years.....no boats were allowed to anchor
off CDM at all, because of several issues.

Issue one, visiting and local boaters dumping their
bilge and toilet tanks into the bay water! When you get
transitory "Cruising Yachts" they some times run into two
major issues. (1) Stupidity and (2) Full Bilge Tanks with
no place to dump them or they are too drunk or too lazy to
dump them legally. This of course could create a health
concern for those wanting to hang out on CDM Big Beach
with their families and friends.

Issue two, people thinking because they have a yacht
they should be treated better than everyone else. Having
spent a year and half on a 72 Foot Motor Yacht, 6 months
on a 72 Foot Ocean Racing Yacht and 4 months on a 93 foot
MotorSailor we can attest that when cruising.....you meet
all kinds. When people save their whole life to take that
"around the world self styled sailing adventure" well,
most are not as prepared for the realities as might be
necessary. Watching people use a 10 dollar stand up
barbecue, complete with briquettes all aflame on the top
deck of a pitching anchored wooden sail boat is not pretty
to watch. Seeing little naked children climbing into
dangerous situations on a pitching sailboat unattended
while their parents unaware, sip Mint Julep's on the fan
tail...again is not pretty. When people do too many
drugs or have too many drinks or beers..it is not pretty!
Getting the picture yet?

But what has this all got to do about allowing those
great crusing sailors to stop by to pick up a new
turnbuckle at West Marine or then maybe grab a dinner
at the Villa Nova? Aren't they just bringing commerce
to our community? Of course, allowing unfettered access
to our community may have some pluses, but much more
importantly we don't need boats going adrift at night
or letting go in the daytime and running aground into
someone soaking rays or trying the waves at CDM. We also,
do not need to see 10 of these boats have their anchors
pulled and uprooted by a stiff South Swell and wind up
on the beach....then have them turn around and sue the
City of Newport Beach for allowing them to park there
in the first place! "After all,(Ron & Anna told you!)
you knew that it could happen..now we want our complete
restitution's!"

Mr. Ivicevich, seems a nice sort and we are sure that he
would make sure his boat was secure before retiring at
night. We are sure he will take his boat to an authorized
pump out station and we are sure he will check the weather
reports hourly, almost like a community watch....and let
his brother and sister boaters know if a big storm or
earthquake off Panama was on the way!

We are also quite sure that the sea life, the seals on
the bell buoy, occasional whales, sea birds and dolphins
are not going to be direly impacted by "Cruising Boats"
throwing their kitchen scraps over board every night or
fishing off the back of their boats for dinner. Hey,
what could that hurt?

The reality is that as our world and national economy
contracts...more people are going to be leaving their
homes and winding up on their last owned item..."their
boat". For those to find enough anchorage at a reasonable
price will become, more and more limited. The harm to
our environment will take a toll. Our opinion is, that
we need to go back to the day when NO Boats were allowed
in front of CDM Beach. If you park there...you can do
so for $1000 dollars a day!

Realistically, if in fact your boat is broken and you
could be considered "a hazard to navigation" ..."the
laws of the sea" must apply and perhaps exception given.
Hey, you want to park in front of CDM to fix something
that is broken...OK! But to park there just to have a
barbecue...for a month - NO WAY RENE!

READ MORE - Hey Sailor....you are double parked!

Old Before My Time

I don't like to complain, a student once said to me, and I took a chance and said, I think you do. In fact I was meeting with him because he had complained about the first night of his first course. I too could say that I don't like to complain. Is that true? I think I like to whine. The only reason I don't love it is that I know no one wants to listen.

Instead, I will state facts, just like Harper's. Number of doctors seen in the last seven days: six (two ER docs on Saturday, gyne on Monday, gyne and a resident on Tuesday, hematologist and podiatrist today). If you change the word to "healer," it's seven, because I went to physical therapy yesterday, where I declared cured of Achilles tendonitis.

I don't like to complain, but... I've had a headache since Saturday. That by itself wouldn't bring me to any doctor, but I mentioned it in the ER and with the blood doctor today. It's a tension or sinus headache and maybe it was caused by stressing out my neck and shoulders with the backpack. Nothing helps it, except maybe some massaging of my temples my neck. Are you a headache person? the hematologist asked me, and I said yes. I think headaches were a sign of growing up, a sign of allegiance to my father's side of the family. My father had headaches and neck aches and he and his brother both had those mysterious weights ("traction") they used to help with the pain. Headaches were a sign of seriousness, of studiousness, of bookishness, Jewishness, of learning and erudition. Isn't that pitiful? I am a serious person, therefore my head hurts. I am frail and intellectual, like a tubercular tailor from the ghetto who nonetheless makes time to study the holy books.

My friend Paula has had a headache for more than a dozen years. I hesitate to mention mine because it pales next to hers.

But really I do not want to complain complain because it is tedious. So I had a D & C and the worst thing about it was getting up early. The drugs knocked me out (or made me forget any pain). Before I was wheeled in to the OR, I told the doctor I'd had bad experiences with residents, was she going to do the inserting and scraping herself? She said she would do it all, but the resident would help her, and that she herself had studied with a Mexican gentleman, Rafael Valle, who pioneered hysteroscopy, and he was a male chauvinist but she managed because she was Italian, and because he mentored her, she felt obligated to show others how to do it, as long as she was alive.

In fact, he wrote the book on it: Manual of Clinical Hysteroscopy.

Soon to be a major motion picture.

(O, Italian, I thought, and felt partially satisfied. I'd wanted to place her, I wanted to know her country of origin. Through Google I found out she's Jewish. Why O why does this matter, O Cancer Bitch? Is she Sephardic? Cancer Bitch asked herself. Or was she Italian Catholic and did she convert? Jews are even more provincial than New Yorkers.)

Today her nurse called and said that the pathology report came back and I have no abnormal cells. That's good. I do have a big fat fibroid that the doctor showed me a picture of Tuesday, and she wants to take it out. I was too woozy to ask why. L says it's because it's in the way. In the way of what? It's not like I'm storing anything in my uterus. And I have other fibroids that I've treated with benign neglect. I remember that she said it hadn't shown up on the ultrasound. So it's a surprise fibroid. In the picture it looked just like an egg.

READ MORE - Old Before My Time

Citizen of the Year....or Century?

Congratulations to Norm Loats, WWII Navy Veteran and
former Superintendent of the Newport Mesa Unified
School District. Norm is 86 years young and will be
touted June 11th by the Newport Chamber of Commerce
at a location to be determined. Norm Loats 2009
Citizen of the Year!

The Daily Plot was kind enough to add the entire list
of recipients stemming back from Bob Murphy the very
first Citizen of the Year...back in 1949! We took a
quick pass over the list and couldn't be more surprised
when the list included people...that we even had known
at one time or the other. Oh sure, they had all the
usual suspects with familiar names like: Irvine, Beek,
Robins, Gardener, Hoag, Lusk and Ficker. Add to those
names some that actually did something along the way:
Heather, Shelton, Hart and O'Neil. Then you have they
usual array of restaurateurs: Prager, Hamilton, and
Dale! Mix in the eclectics: Gronsky, Salata and even
crooner Harry Babbit....and you are talking a diverse
group of recipients.

OK, what about Doreen Marshall, Dora Hill and Lucille
Kuehn....nice ladies all. Then you have to mention
the strictly political appointments: Wynn, Turner,
Ring, Petit, Edwards, Hill, Watson and Tozer. But
hey, even a broken clock can be right twice a day and
within this huge list of ego driven, self aggrandizing
Citizens of Meaning.....stands out one name:
Arvo Haapa! Now, what kind of name is that and why
in the world do we think that this one recipient is the
one deserving most recognition and thusly the title of
Citizen of the Century?

Arvo Haapa and lovely wife worked tirelessly, day in
and day out as the Publisher, Editor and Writer of the
Newport - Corona Del Mar Ensign Newspaper! As we can
recall, his little newspaper worked out of a small
location behind the Port Theatre. Arvo was named the
1977 Newport Beach Citizen of the Year, probably because
he got some great people started in the newspaper business
and really did ask much. Arvo was a dyed in wool Newport
Beach conservative. He supported Ronald Reagan for the
Governor spot in 1964 and helped Paul Hummel and other very
conservative Newport Beach City Council members both with
his Editorials and his small back pocket.

Arvo was a lovable, tough minded character. He made
choices based on ethics, caring and wanting to do the
right thing first. Sadly, Arvo passed away along with
the Ensign and Newport Beach was left "less than" when
he had participated in the process.

Awards always leave people wanting. There is never an
award that truly respects the efforts of great deeds and
self sacrifice that they are supposed to represent. Many
times good awards are made. Sadly, many times those good
choices are followed by those that are not quite to the
level of excellence we expect. What happens is that the
entire Award process becomes demeaned. The Miss America
Contest is a great example. Maybe society needs to add
new Awards rather than just continue tradition when the
meaning or value of the award has been diminished over
the years by the selection process.

Miss Universe and Miss World used to be a big deal: In
1960, Sigradur Geirsdottir was from Iceland and she was a
beautiful blond babe...but didn't make the cut. Our point
is that there are lots of very deserving Citizens in
Newport Beach that never get the recognition or gain the
appreciation they deserve for making our community better
in every respect. When they do, we all must be are grateful.

As we started: Congratulations to Norm Loats the latest
Newport Beach Citizen of the Year 2009!

READ MORE - Citizen of the Year....or Century?