Eye Level Pasadena

I met Tableau Vivante this weekend at the farmers’ market. We were the same booth, she had a camera around her neck and was talking about photography with the vendor. ‘Could this be the mysterious Tableau Vivante?!?‘ I wondered. It was! I got to meet the woman responsible for introducing me to apriums. She covers the Pasadena Saturday farmers’ market with photos, descriptions, and recipe ideas at http://tableauvivante.livejournal.com/.

Aaron Proctor, whose blog introduced me to Pasadena politics and got me started following them, has moved temporarily to Missouri.

Proctor for Mayor: Well, if you haven’t heard by now…

Under the Dome: Proctorless Pasadena

Pasadena Star-News: Proctor leaves Pasadena: Eccentric former mayoral candidate garnered attention

This afternoon, everyone in our community is invited to participate in a march and vigil in response to the recent violence in our community.

Here are the details from this week’s Wired Women*:

4:00 p.m., Community call to action at La Pintoresca Library Lawn

4:30 p.m., Pilgrimage/Healing Ceremony all along Summit Avenue ending at Jackie Robinson Center

6:00 p.m., Community dialogue at Jackie Robinson Center

In response to the increase in violence and death in our community, the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley Chapter and Pasadena/Altadena Mothers on the Move (MOM), along with local churches and civic groups are calling on us all to participate in a mourning/healing event this Thursday, June 14th. We will meet on the La Pintoresca Library lawn, at the corner of Raymond and Washington Blvd. We will walk down Summit Avenue and then over to the Jackie Robinson Center for community dialogue. Yes, I know. Not all of us do marches. Vigils are not necessarily our thing. Some of us may be weighing the “opportunity cost” of taking time to do this. Others may be thinking, “What’s the ROI for my time and energy?” Others of you on this list have been engaged in community dialogue for decades and are weary of yet another “conversation”. Margaret Wheatley, trained as a scientist and now a consultant focused on systemic change, says, “I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation where we each have a chance to speak, where we each feel heard, and where we each listen well to our experiences, hopes and fears. This is how great changes begin.” If you can carve out the time, please come.

*Wired Women is a women-focused email newsletter published by Monica Hubbard. It announces local events and opportunities. To receive it, email monica.hubbard@charter.net.

Local high school sophomore Leslie Brian founded a STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) chapter at Polytechnic to raise money for people in Darfur. Check out the students’ website and these articles about their project:

• Los Angeles Times: Pasadena teens reach out to Africans in need
• Pasadena Star-News: Student fundraiser to benefit refugees: “I can’t single-handedly solve genocide,” [Leslie Brian] said. “But I can look back after a few years and know that I personally did not let it happen. We have an obligation to help people.” (link)
• Pasadena Now: Students Stage Sew-a-thon to Raise Money for Darfur Relief

The students are raising money for the Darfur Peace and Development Organization (DPDO). Here’s a link to the Polytechnic STAND page on the DPDO site.

Happy birthday to Susan at 2020 Hindsight!

Hugo Schwyzer teaches history and gender studies at a local community college, and he published a powerful post today on the self-criticism he sees in many of his female students: “Fat”, “Slut”, “Selfish”: a note on the three great fears.

Jacarandas for Kelly, with love:

Jacarandas, 1

Jacarandas, 2

Jacarandas, 3

2020 Hindsight: Catalina Fire

“…I can’t explain it, but the thought of the island in flames brings me to tears. The mention of “Catalina” and “fire” in the same sentence just sets me off. I can’t figure out why.

“Well, okay, I know why. I grew up in a sailing family, and we’d spend about a week each summer on the boat at Catalina. More recently, I’ve gone to dance camp there. Blog Post 1, post 2. But those pictures and memories do not have the same power over me as this flood of Catalina memories:

“Rigging the flopper stopper (a device to stop the slop in the waves)

“Rowing the dinghy from boat to boat to visit our friends.

“Breakfasts of eggs and cantaloupe eaten in the cockpit, paper plate nested in a wickery basket backing. Grill toast (buttered english muffins, toasted by sauteeing face down in the pan).

“Avoiding the damn yellow jackets.

“Donning a swim mask with a friend and spending hours in the water pretending we are mermaids as we swim near the shore of the clear waters of Emerald bay….” (more)

Read the whole post. It’s beautiful.

Here are a few more pictures from the bloggers’ picnic:

Miss Havisham’s deviled eggs

Chez Shoes’s shoes (lighting advice for this photo provided by The Blurry Lens)

Also, Erin shared the cooking instructions for the mint cream filled cupcakes she brought (pictured below) on her blog.

This weekend was the First Quarterly Pasadena Bloggers’ Picnic. Gavin and I visited with old friends and we met new friends who we had only known online before yesterday.

James from PasadenaNow.com

Kathy and Sam from Aphrodite in Jeans

Amanda and Theo from Living in Monrovia

Sarah from Cook and Nifty Wench

Frank from Unwired Adventures

Marielle from Chez Shoes and Ron from The Blurry Lens

Kelly from West Coast Grrlie Blather

Susan from 2020 Hindsight and Family Oral History Using Digital Tools (Why, oh why, did I take only one picture of you, Susan? I was so absorbed in our conversation that I forgot to keep using my camera!)

Even worse, I was so intent on photographing the cupcakes that my friend Erin from erin’s kitchen brought that I forgot to take a picture of her.

Erin from erin’s kitchen‘s cupcakes

In lieu of a picnic photo, here is a picture of me and Erin at a conference we went to together last year:

me and Erin at BlogHer

Back to the picnic:

Mike from blogwaffe and Automattic

Dianne from Miss Havisham’s Tea Party

Kolby from Kahunna.net and Aaron from Aaron Proctor for Mayor of Pasadena

If you blog in or around Pasadena, and you would like to be on the email list for the next Quarterly Pasadena Bloggers’ Picnic, send me a note at eyelevelpasadena@gmail.com.

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Update 6/20/07: Pasadena Pundit was previously pictured here, too. He elected to move in a fewer photos of himself on the internet direction, so I removed his picture at his request.