Musings
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT HE WAS GONE
By Sue Pascoe · July 25, 2024
I seem to be on Mike Bonin’s email list. It appears that I emailed him while he was in office, and voila, he seems to have that email list. I contacted L.A. City Ethics and councilmembers are not supposed to take email lists that they established while working for the city—but who enforces these kinds of things? The city doesn’t even enforce shoplifting. But I digress. What did Mr. Bonin want to let me know? That Traci Parks is awful, that the City Attorney Feldstein Soto is awful and that we are all awful, too, because we’re all racists and we have criminalized homelessness and poverty. The hero? Mayor Karen Bass because she cares about housing equity. Of course, the real hero is Bonin. Why might you ask? When he decided not to run again, the residents of CD11 were able to choose a real leader.
PLEASANT SURPRISE
On my doorstep were two framed photos taken by James Kenney. He passed away last November. His first career was as a dentist, but then he discovered hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains with the Temescal Canyon Association. That led to a second career of not only maintaining the hiking trails, but as a photographer. His photos were in the book, Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains. He also contributed to several other publications about the Santa Monica Mountains and wrote and photographed for local newspapers, including the Palisadian-Post, which is where I met him.
In the early 2000s his photography went from wildflowers to birds of the Malibu Lagoon, where he spent most of his mornings. He became a member of the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society. His daughter Valentina left them for me because she knows how much I admired his art. If I had a wish, it would be that his photos of birds were put into a book, so everyone could have them.
Sue Pascoe
Editor, Circling The News ·
circlingthenews.com