Facts.
J.T.
Summer has arrived in Los Angeles, and J.T. is going to Publishing School with LARB
(Pandemic in Los Angeles: Day 96)
Our blog is officially kicking the season off with a fundraiser for yet another special program with yours truly this summer 2020. The Los Angeles Review of Books Fellowship (LARB) for entrepreneurial projects is a special opportunity rightfully fitting for Los Cuentos. Starting in July, along with a group of fellow burgeoning writers and storytellers, I’ll be work-shopping for five weeks under the guidance of the editor-in-chief at LARB to grow J.T. The L.A. Storyteller into a premier platform for working class voices in our communities as I know it needs to be.
Because if you think up to 100 blogs in a row for Pandemic in Los Angeles makes for a lot of reading, you haven’t seen anything yet, Los Angeles.
I believe in the power of words because they were once only a few words that endangered my life. Just as they were once only a few words that saved it.
Today, there are septuagenarians–or readers in their seventies–who follow Jimbo Times, and who I’m proud to count among the ranks. But there are also 13 and 14 year olds who follow the blog, who I’m inspired to think gain some perspective from its words. Most of all, there’s an array of readers in between these ranges who’ve come to count on Jimbo Times for thoughts and analysis of the always interesting times we find ourselves in.
One such friend and supporter told me to “tell those stories” from my eyes at the LARB workshops. I thought then of all the young people whose eyes have seen the depths of hardship in Los Angeles in ways that no one would wish for others. I am fortunate to be here, and fortunate to be able to make this call to the community in honor of our collective ‘eyes’, once again towards a brighter future for all in this sacred pueblo we call Los Angeles.
J.T.
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Pandemic in Los Angeles: Day 39
The week ahead will once again move quickly. Just this Monday morning I’ve got two more masks to deliver to another buyer, bringing my total to 30 masks sold for the first week with the accessories.
I’ll head out to the San Gabriel Valley for the delivery, where maybe I can pick up some dumplings afterwards, if not some milk-tea with boba, it feeling like ages since I enjoyed either. Afterwards, I’ll make my way back across to downtown Los Angeles, where I’ll pick up more plain masks from Zenon, the Oaxacan fellow whose work has supplied this whole journey with the goods.
The day from there should transpire, as it usually does, like salt in the palm of my hands. After downtown, I’ll have to decide whether or not to traverse out to Compton, to see Aaron, the brilliant screen-printer whose expertise has given our masks their rightful names; we have also discussed stickers, which it’d be wonderful to get started on.
It’s just that apart from more for Los Cuentos, I’ve also got the 16th episode of J.T. The L.A. Storyteller Podcast to edit for. The good news is that the episode has already been recorded via phone, but the other news is that for some odd reason my voice sounds completely muffled throughout, meaning I’ve got to re-record my parts so I don’t sound like I’m in a bubble.
If all goes according to schedule, I should have the 16th episode by mid-week, keeping consistent with my two-week intervals between publication.
I’m working on making all of it more stabilized, Los Angeles, but I’ve learned that consistency is the work of miracles coming together. I’ve also learned that if I’m really going to improve on such things as schedules, it helps tremendously to learn from and collaborate with others.
To that end, it’s my pleasure to announce that I’ve been accepted to a publishing workshop this summer with none other than the Los Angeles Review of Books.
It’s been ages since I attended a summer workshop, nearly five years, to be precise, but I’ve realized that if all of my work is not just going to continue, but blossom all over the city like the Spring sunflowers, tulips and daisies prevailing over it now, then I’m going to need to learn from other professionals in the field. I’d say connecting with a group of professional publishers at LARB is an ample step in that direction then, wouldn’t you?
But now we’ve got to hit the road once again Los Angeles; the cuento continues.
J.T.
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Our Community is Getting Stronger, Este Hollywood
From the words of Dr. Mary Gallagher, President of Los Angeles City College:
“On Saturday, August 24th from 4 to 8 PM, staff from the non-credit department of LACC participated in a great local community event called Back 2 School 2, marking the second year of this event. I was able to attend and hear all of the things going on at the ‘grass roots’ level of our community. LACC was included because of the GED preparation and testing we do. We also provided information from some of our students currently attending non-credit classes. It was a fabulous event. I look forward to next year.”
Dr. Gallagher’s recognition of BTS 2 is a milestone achievement for the work to uplift more vecindades in East Hollywood and throughout Los Angeles. In the days ahead, the work to keep strengthening our community will remain challenging, but I also believe that as our special event showed this past Saturday–and last year–the promise of the work will remain bright and full of encouragement. There will be more following up on the success of BTS 2, but for now, I’d like to express my deepest thanks to each supporter, close and afar, who took a moment to contribute to this critical day for our neighborhood and families all throughout this great city.
J.T.
Okay, Let’s Review this Summer 2019
For summer break this year, we created a list of goals for how to beat Summer 2019. We did this because it’s long been known by educators and other professionals that when summer hits cities like Los Angeles, it can be a challenging time for young people and their families in particular; summer’s heat-laden days and nights without any school in between breaks many of our rhythms, and can lead to issues at home if we lack the best guidance over how to fill the sudden free time. So, The L.A. Storyteller got active with a series of blogs for youth that anyone could do at home with a simple WiFi connection and a dab of motivation:
We called our list of tips How to Beat Summer 2019, Parts I, II, and III, and even threw in a FREE Black & White Los Cuentos Hoodie for students who wanted to go the extra mile with our tips, which ranged from reading & writing activities to exercise, and more! We then followed this list with 10 WAYS NOT TO BEAT Summer 2019, ’cause we know how much kids love to be told what not to do. And also how often it works. Right?!
Following this, we introduced students to our very own outline process for our blog’s schedule with How To Outline Your Summer 2019, in order for youth to try their own hands at planning the days and weeks’ activities. For the more adventurous, outdoorsy young people, we published Secret Agent: How to Discover Your Neighborhood in Los Angeles, which details how to use L.A.’s more popular destinations to think about planning the future of our own sides of the town.
This felt like enough tips for a while then, but suddenly from out of nowhere came the barrage of fireworks leading to the 4th of July. To let students know in case they weren’t having the best 4th of ’em all–that it would still be okay–we published 5 Tips for When 4th of July Sucks.
Then, because I knew that some students still hadn’t put down their Fornite to read about everything else they could do, I published three more blogs to close out the writing series. These blogs featured tips that I felt youth especially needed to read about regardless of what they were doing this summer, including tips on how to get along with the family, how to “stay” friends with the squad, and even how to best deal with relationships.
This made for a total of ten blogs all for young readers this Summer 2019, after which the season would never again slow down for yours truly. This was due to another adventure, which was also one of the challenges on our list I suggested that students try out for themselves: the creation of a podcast. In our first ever podcast together, known as J.T. The L.A. Storyteller Podcast, my friend Ed and I published two episodes to start off a series centered on yet another special project for us, which the whole world and their mom now knows is BTS 2.
Things to do would pick up thunderously with this special day, and in a flicker of time, it’s now been over two months since we first set our sights on making Summer 2019 something special; the event is now just a single week away!
I’m hopeful that by sharing about all these different projects and things to do, a handful of students and families out there learned about different creative strategies for the season that they may have missed otherwise. But I also know that no matter how much I might write, the summer for some students can still be filled with so much going on that even if they really meant to read our blogs, it was still one of those things they just couldn’t get to.
Indeed, it’s like this for many Youngs during the school-year as well, but as I like to tell these and other students during the busy and fast-paced school-year: it’s alright, because of course there’s still the next season to tackle, during which we can try everything we missed before and even more.
In fact, that’s what our 2nd Annual Back to School Party is all about: a culmination of all of our creative efforts this summer as much as it is an invitation to young people and their families to celebrate the possibilities with us. Because no matter how far a person might go or how much time they put in to create something new, there’s still always more to do.
So come on Los Angeles! Go and get your raffle tickets for Back 2 School 2! You and your fams may just be the biggest winners of them all.
J.T.