Bethany Firnhaber

A once-empty superstore on Vine Street in Hollywood has been converted to fit the needs of a group of pro-active artists this week. The space, which previously housed the discount home store Big Lots, is now host to Manifest Equality, a temporary art exhibition.

 

Each piece of art in the make-shift gallery is loosely based on themes of equality, justice, respect, unity and love. The combination of these themes is meant to highlight and comment on civil rights issues that surround the passing of Proposition 8, which effectively banned marriage between homosexual partners in California in 2008.

 

The show drew from the works of more than 100 established and emerging artists, including graphic painters Ed Ruscha and Barry McGee and street artists Ron English and Shepard Fairey.

Nearly 200 people crowded the corner of Wilshire and Veteran near the Federal Building in Westwood Wednesday to protest President Obama's recent decision to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan.

 

Hippies, veterans, musicians and even a group of Aztec dancers came to show their disappointment in Obama's decision, and to rally support from passing traffic at the busy street corner.

 

Megaphone in hand, Ryan Endicott, a former Corporal of the Marine Corps and current President of the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, helped lead the crowd in chants.

 

"No to the escalation! Troops home now!" they shouted.

 

Endicott joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004.

 

"I joined to be a part of my country and to do the right thing," said Endicott. "I wanted to be a part of history and to go defend America from foreign enemies."

 

Endicott was stationed in Ramadi, Iraq for seven months. But the war wasn't what he expected. He disagreed morally with many of the things Marines were ordered to do while maintaining the American occupation of Iraq.

 

"What security really means, in reality, is kicking in doors and arresting innocent people, and bombing innocent houses," Endicott said. "After seeing that I realized that it's not a war about homeland security, it's not a war about protecting America."

 

A number of peace organizations joined forces to recruit the protesters to the corner, including the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and ANSWER LA (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).

 

Writer and protester Jim Nicoson learned about the protest through the United for Peace and Justice Coalition. He is familiar with protesting, coming out whenever he can to voice his opinions about the war.

 

"I don't think we need to be there spending too much money, wasting lives." Nicoson said, "Nothing is getting accomplished."

 

Many of the protesters maintain that the war is an "imperialistic, colonial war."

 

"People have been fighting there for thousands of years," said Nicoson, "and no one's ever taken over the country."

 

President Obama first authorized sending more troops to Afghanistan in February. The 17,000 additional soldiers and Marines then doubled the number of troops currently deployed.

 

As of now, the number of American troops in Afghanistan is up to 68,000. Add the 30,000 more that Obama has announced and the number reaches almost 100,000 - more than enough to fill to capacity all but the biggest of football stadiums in America.

 

At least 25 NATO nations pledged Friday to send a collective 7,000 additional troops to support American troops in Afghanistan.

 

In his speech to cadets at West Point on Tuesday, Obama said he did not take the decision to send more troops lightly.

 

"If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan," Obama said, "I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow."

 

But anti-war groups across the nation believe more troops will only endanger American lives more.

 

"It doesn't make us any safer at home," said Endicott. "It makes us more volatile. More people are picking up arms against America because they see their families killed and they see the poverty and squalor they live in during these occupations."

 

Anti-war groups held versions of this same protest in multiple cities around the country. But despite their opposition, the first new Marines will be sent to Afghanistan in early January, with the last of the 30,000 deploying by next summer.

 

Los Angeles almost lost a cultural institution last year when the Museum of Contemporary Art ran into serious financial problems. But today, thanks to the generosity of donor Eli Broad, the museum celebrates its survival and 30th Anniversary.

MOCA has been closed to the public for the past nine months under strict instructions from Broad, whose $30-million donation came with spending restrictions.

But those nine months were well spent: the museum has raked in an astonishing $60 million and prepared the largest-ever exhibition of its permanent collection.

The exhibit, composed almost exclusively of in-house pieces, was a cost effective choice for the now money-consious board. But putting up the exhibit was a work-intensive project. Greg Lee, a preparator at MOCA, gives us an inside look at the work that went into putting up the exhibit.

 

The Pasadena farmers' market is a family affair. Children run underfoot while parents pick out the fruits and vegetables they need for the week ahead.

But the market has more than fresh produce. Musicians entertain shoppers between tents and hope for a tip or a record sale.

King Swami G has been playing here for years. He provides instruments for children to play along to songs from his album, "Islands in the Sun."

Madison White plays the drums.

Matt Aldrich and his son Eli listen and play a hand bell.

The produce samples keep the children happy while their parents shop.

Lupe helps sell fruits and vegetables both here and on Sunday mornings at the Hollywood farmers' market.

Rogelio Ramos of Triple "R" Nursery brings potted herbs and flowering plants for those with a green thumb.

Anthony Maeyama helps sell the "best tasting strawberries" at the market.

The Pasadena Farmers' Market happens every Saturday in the Pasadena High School parking lot. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Carroll Avenue is a short, tree-lined street secreted on the top of a hill in Angelino Heights, Los Angeles' first suburb just north of downtown. The street is home to 9 "cultural historic monuments" in the form of Victorian-style homes in various states of renovation.

"Victorian" is a broad term, encompassing several architectural styles that were popular in England and the United States during Queen Victoria's reign (1840 - 1900). The houses on Carroll Avenue display several variations of the style, from the famous Queen Anne style to Eastlake or "stick" style and Gay Nineties style. Elements common to all the styles include: asymmetrical layouts, lavish ornamentaion, vibrant colors, multiple stories, and extensions such as wraparound porches, bay windows and towers or turrets.

Not all the Victorian homes on Carroll Avenue are monuments. The delapidated structure pictured below has it's own claim to fame as the "Thriller House" in Michael Jackson's famous zombie music video. Nearby gnarly trees and its run-down state lend the home an eerie aura even in daylight. (Another home on Carroll Avenue has been a hit film location. The purple/red home in the photo above was used to film the television series Charmed. It was also used to film parts of Sweet Dreams, Of Mice and Men, and Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo.) 

The "Sessions House" at 1330 Carroll Avenue is one of the most lavishly ornamental homes on the street. The house was built in 1889 to be "peculiarly graceful and so peculiarly Californian," according to a brochure handed out to those taking one of the many walking tours of the street.

 

The house at 1300 Carroll Avenue is situated on the corner at the south end of the street, and, while also not officially a monument, is one of the more beautiful homes on the block. 

 

 

 

 The only home currently for sale on Carroll Avenue is in a serious state of disrepair, having only started the renovation process. Below the "for sale" sign is another that asks visitors to "please do not disturb occupants." One might wonder what kind of spirits occupy this hauntingly beautiful place. Halloween on Carroll Avenue attracts more than 2,000 children.    

Extravagance is not limited to architecture on Carroll Avenue. Vintage street lighting was added to the street in 1981 in celebration of Los Angeles' bicentennial. 

Residents of Carroll Avenue embrace the history their neighborhood provides and maintain a sense of community grounded in that shared interest. David Butler and his wife Anna Marie Von Firley live in this purple "gay nineties" home built by Charles C. Haskins in 1894 with their son Stewart and two dogs.

Butler and his family moved in about 6 years ago. He loves the eclectic collection of people living in the area he counts as one of two "undiscovered countries" in Los Angeles. For Butler, living on Carroll Avenue is "kind of like living in San Francisco, but with more land."

Sheri Lee Fink is small in stature. She weighs less than 100 pounds and measures just over 5 feet tall.

And her digital footprint is equally petite:

Fink is a doctor-turned investigative journalist with a cause.

In an interview with Matt Borondy for identitytheory.com in 2003, Fink described her interests in journalism:

"I'm dedicated to writing about the intersections of medicine, science, human rights, humanitarianism, and civil rights, globally and locally."

A word cloud consisting of the text of the top 10 google hits for "Sheri Fink" nicely describes her work and focus: (created by www.wordle.net) Born to Annette and Herschel Fink in 1969, Fink grew up in West Bloomfield, Mich., on the north-western outskirts of Detroit. She attended services at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills with her family, where her father currently serves as treasurer.

Sheri Fink attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a Bachelor's in Science in 1990 before moving on to Stanford University Medical School. There, she earned both her Ph.D (1998) and M.D. (1999).

Sometime during her first years at Stanford, Fink made genocide one of her first major "causes." Her interest was piqued during a lecture she attended by Dr. Michael Thaler, a Holocaust survivor who spoke that evening about Holocaust denial. Fink introduced herself to Thaler and began volunteering at the Holocaust Center of Northern California. It was then she first studied doctors' roles in wartime, taking a course on medicine in Nazi Germany.

She was at Stanford when the Bosnian War broke out in 1992, and in 1993 she helped co-found the national Students Against Genocide (SAGE), a non-profit organization that ran for about 5 years.

Fink left for the Balkans in late March, the day after officially becoming a doctor. She arrived at the Macedonian border of Kosovo on March 31 as part of Physicians for Human Rights to help document human rights violations and provide medical assistance. There, she questioned refugees and doctors about the conditions of war-time hospitals, patients, and the doctors themselves. Her time in the Balkans served as the beginning of 5 years of research that culminated in the publication of her book, "War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival."

Upon completing her book, Fink turned to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and other emergencies, including the 2004 Asian earthquake and tsunami and later hurricane Katrina. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Discover, as well as scientific journals including JAMA, the American Journal of Public Health, and Health and Human Rights. 

On April 17, 2008, she joined the staff as a reporter for ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism organization.

A significant portion of her digital footprint is made up of the work she has done for ProPublica, most notably the article she released on Aug. 25, 2009: "Strained by Katrina, a Hospital Faced Deadly Choices." The article was published jointly by ProPublica and The New York Times and made news both for the stellar investigative work put into the piece and for the stellar price: at 13,000 words, the article probably cost $400,000 to produce.

Fink did seveal interviews about her work on the alleged euthanasia performed at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, one of which was posted on youtube. 

Most of the personal information available about Sheri Fink on the internet is found by circuitous routes. She does not seem to have a facebook or myspace page, let alone a twitter account. Everything she is personally responsible for posting is of professional, journalistic nature.

Her family, however, is another story. 

Her father, Herschel Paul Fink, has a more personal digital footprint, allowing more detail into Sheri's life.

On a high school 50th reunion webpage, Herschel Fink discloses identifying information including his date of birth, current city of residence, marital status and email address. He also notes that he has two children. Sheri has a brother, Marc Joseph Fink. 

Googling her mother results in a death notice: Annette Fink, "beloved wife of Herschel Fink" and "dear mother of Dr. Sheri Fink and Marc Fink" passed away on Dec. 3, 2001. The death notice also provides names of more relatives.

Further investigation of Herschel Fink reveals he is an attorney, specializing in Media Law. He was named a Michigan Leader in Law in 2009. This was useful to Sheri in several documented incidents, first as a member of the board of directors for Friends of Bosnia and then again when writing and researching her book (found in the acknowledgements: "thanks Dad!").  

A simple whitepages search and the knowledge that Fink currently resides in New York reveals her mailing address:

PO Box 1043, New York, NY 10014-0706

There is plenty of information about her political activism related to genocide, but concrete affiliation to a particular political party is no where to be found. That information is much easier to find for her father, who financially supported the Republican Party on several occasions.

While it is probably safe to assume that her physical footprint corresponds to the petite size of her body (I could not find any online references to her shoe size), her digital footprint follows suit. It is definitely making marks, but is limited to primarily professional content.