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| A Bigger Splash (1967) |
I instinctively knew I was going to like it and as I flew over San Bernardino and saw the swimming pools and the houses and everything and the sun, I was more thrilled than I have ever been in arriving in any city.
--British expatriate artist David Hockney, on the many sun-drenched paintings, particularly those of swimming pools, that he produced while living on the West Coast.
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| 1937-2026 |
Cyndi Lauper, honored by Outright International this past June 1 for her longstanding support for the LGBTQ community, yuks it up with transgender actress Laverne Cox, who emceed the event. Further evidence, as if any was needed, that girls, whether they were assigned as such at birth or not, just want to have fun.
I once dreamed of living in LA. I also once took a United States Postal Service exam. The latter wasn't a dream, just what was in those pre-internet days a practical goal of job security and a good pension. I got 60%, enough to pass the exam but it didn't put me high on the list, so I was never hired. Actually, I'm surprised I got that good a score, as a portion of the test required memorizing addresses. I can barely remember my own! Anyway, had I gotten a job as a mailman, it would have been in Cleveland, not Los Angeles, and that may have been a good thing if the above chart is any indication, as it would have meant 40 less chances of getting bit. Finally, I ask that you not judge canine mailman-phobia too harshly. According to cartoonist Gary Larson, it may someday be our only hope:
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in.
--Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), "Declaration of Conscience" speech, 6/01/1950
