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Apr 29, 2012
The Days L.A. Rose from the Whiskey Glass:
(a birth of an artist as a young man)
What will I tell my children about the L.A. Riots? Now, at it’s 20th anniversary, today.
Will I get caught up in the word: Riot. Will I call it an uprising? Get in the whole explanation of how naming things will inform how people remember things? Perhaps. That’s only part of the story.
Perhaps, I will tell them that the L.A. Riots was the pre-cursor to Hunger Games society they will inherit. A game played by then LAPD Police chief Darryl Gates. While I watched the movie yesterday, I couldn’t help that 4.29.92 was part of governmental theater, just like the 80s drugs war was orchestrated by the CIA — they the drug kingpins of South Central Los Angeles in the 80s.
Or perhaps, I will tell them how the events of April 29, 1992 sparked their father, the artist, into who he is today. I didn’t need the Riots to fuel me. My consciousness already fully fueled by Mike Davis, LA Weekly columnists of the late 80s and early 90s, and other texts and performances I was ingesting on a daily basis, hungry for knowledge.
I will not tell them I was a hero. I ran to the Westside on that day. I drove from UCLA (where I went to school) to see if my apartment was on fire. Their grandmother, my mother, scared the bejeezus out of me. Warning me not to stay near my neighborhood, and to stay low, and “look in the river for dead bodies” as people in her native Guatemala had done whenever there was an earthquake or anything that was cause the government to lash back at the people. She put that in my mind early that what was going on April 29th was definitely something in which the government would not take lightly. That everything going on around me was much bigger than Rodney King, and the rage of La Gente against the machine. I listened, and drove west after going east.
On the drive there, I already noticed that the police were taking care of a building in Beverly Hills faster than they were the electronics store burning a block from my apartment.
I will tell them that we saw smoke everywhere, and there was so much uncertainty. Who was dead? Will the police crack down on everyone? I was staying in a place that was mainly men: Asian American, African American, Latino. What was the future for them and their children?
For the first time in my life, I lost all faith in all institutions, and I did not think anything was going to come good out of it. Especially when the National Guard was brought in.
Yes, The National Guard protected the materials of the wealthy more than the poor, law enforcement corralled of the homeless in downtown, there was an overall lack of listening by the government about the ails of the community.
However, instead of wallowing in a paralyzing cynicism, L.A. rose. (and created my spark). I sometimes tell people that my art is akin to the Missing Piece looking for the Big O. The Piece that always looking to fit in, but instead has to find its own way, its own path. What I saw in the following days was that. Folks building their own path, amidst a fire and uncertainity.
In Watts, I followed a theater troupe out of Jordan High School that performed all through Los Angeles, young college journalists led by Julie Ha, one of the editors of Pacific Ties at UCLA and an incredible cross-cultural group of people made a newsmagazine converging all the pieces, and I observed and listened to so many people, as I was taken from place to place to help out with a rebuilding, or listen to upset folks. There was so many things happening. People were upset, but they were not giving up.
I sometimes tell folks that I know two L.A.s. The one that is Hollywood, and the one with La Gente — filled with all the paths of the folks from around the world that end up in the City of Angels. There are the events that happened on April 29, 1992 that the media called the L.A. Riots. And then there’s the days L.A. Rose, the act of Los Angeles and it’s people rising; they constantly rise, even though they are knocked down. It’s that power that makes one to be an artist. Even though you get knocked down, you keep getting up.
Also, when you notice a town has multiple identities that it constantly shifts to survive, then everyone’s multiple identities reveal themselves. The façade of Hollywood that is marketed is just that. I realized that the necessity of knowing who you are and being clear about your role in society, was/is necessary.
I will tell my children, unborn that they are, there is so much left to say. That every year on the Anniversary, I take the time to remember and write. The issues of April 29, 1992 have not left the U.S. or even the world. It’s not just about police brutality and racial profiling; it’s about the injustice that causes a fruit vendor to burn himself in Tunisia or the shakiness of self-defense that makes a man in Florida innocent and a transgender woman in Minneapolis guilty.
I will tell them on April 29, 1992, in Los Angeles, I learned obstacles are placed in people’s way, just like the Hunger Games, everyday, as if it’s some contest. However, folks don’t let it stop them. Twenty years ago, I still carry that lesson in my heart; it drives who I am everyday.
Note: all props to the title, go to Gwendolyn Brook’s Blackstone Rangers
Love at First Bite for Open Kitchen in March
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Mar 14, 2012
That’s right! Mero Cocinero is having a contest, a fun friendly contest for our Desserts Edition of Open Kitchen!
Because dessert is always an issue when we are talking about health, especially Diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2), Mero thought we should engage in some moderation, and see who can make us love something at First Bite.
Here are the rules:
Mero Cocinero’s Love at First Bite Friendly Dessert Contest
Rules:
- Bring a dessert from your culture, whatever you think that means.
- The dessert must be able to feed people 20 bites
- There must be a story behind the recipe
- Bonus points for those that bring utensils that are easy to recycle or wash
- SUPER Bonus points for using agave or low-glycemic substitute
- Note: We don’t know who is showing up, so gluten free or vegan or vegetarian or low sugar desserts are encouraged, but if what comes from your culture doesn’t fit in those categories, just go ahead and bring your dessert!
Winner receives a Cooking Show limited edition apron, and is part of a drawing for 2 free tickets to the premiere of the new episode of The Cooking Show in Fall 2012 at Intermedia Arts!
To sign up, click here to email us and let us know what you are bringing. Remember, Open Kitchen is a potluck of food and ideas, so come through. Mero Cocinero will be hosting, so it will be fun!
Thinking about earthquakes…
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Mar 11, 2012
And risk. When I was a boy, earthquakes were my first lesson that we are mortal. In Guatemala in the 70s and in California I encountered numerous earthquakes. I became afraid of the earth as a child. Until one day after an earthquake, an teacher at my school said: ” are you going to stop walking, playing because there may be an earthquake?”
The thought of being paralyzed by my fear made me sad. I didn’t want to be the only 3rd grader stuck inside because I was afraid. So I When I was young I realized that there were things out of my control, and I had to submit to the moment. Everyday was a risk, but not in a bad way. In a good way, and if earthquakes come, you can only go under a door frame, and pray really good thought. In the end, everyday is a day to express good energy.
So my good energy risk today is this poem/drawing for Japan on 3.11.11. It’s a mix of things I heard and saw on that day. It’s in Spanish because the reality of the day was not in English ( and I can’t write Japanese)
Today is the final open kitchen for 2011
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Dec 21, 2011
Yep, i am serving beverages and we’re having an open kitchen from 4-6 today at intermedia. Join us!
Can someone explain this?
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Dec 20, 2011
Sometimes people write things on my wall in my residency space that makes no sense. Like this. Anyone want to give it a shot as to explaining it.
On my wall today
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Dec 16, 2011
Will be shooting various photos of pics from my wall here in mu AIR space. Here’s on that hit me today!
Research necessary
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Dec 07, 2011
After going to India, I am now in Phoenix, AZ again talking to various groups. It’s interesting how much leg work is needed to do art work that connects with a community that is sustaining. Not sustainable. Sustaining. Many times when I do a show, it’s one shot, then done. I really want to reconceptualize how an artist does a residency, so I can have 2-3 year relationship with a community. Working with Phoenix is part of that. Also, I have been looking for good basic cookbooks for Mero Cocinero to share with people while we are here. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Northern India and Farmer Suicides
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Nov 15, 2011
In 2007 when I was writing The Cooking Show: Quest for the Secret Ingredient, I had read about farmers in India committing suicide. I tried to put it in the show, especially because at the time a lot of people didn’t know that it was going on. Maybe it was too fresh, but we didn’t find a way to put it in.
While I was in Derradun, I came across an article in the India Today that caught my attention.
Check out the article, and let me know what you think?
Viva Las Roots closes, I am off to India
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Nov 12, 2011
It is Wednesday, and I am writing this entry from a train in India on my way to Dehra Dun. I have been travelling non stop for almost 2 days.
Incredible that we just closed Viva Las Roots 5 days ago. The transofrmation back to its original state was a reminder of all the great work our environmental designers did.
I am India for a wedding, but also to research how food is used as medicine here in India. This may be the first of many trips I hope to make. We’ll see. 
Why a PopUp Kitchen?
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Oct 31, 2011
A lot of people have asked me why did you turn the Cooking Show con Karimi & Comrades into a PopUpKitchen?
We are looking for new ways to engage folks to talk about food, cooking, and culture. And many times the model of a Cooking Show doesn’t activate people to cook. I am looking for different ways to get audience to interact with each other and the Cooking Crew (The Kitchen Staff) and become performers, too.
That is something I strive for, to make audience active participants in my work, to make them more than just part of the show, but to have a role that they can easily own. I do this, so they can have ownership in the performance and if they want to, delve deeper in the experience.
The PopUp Kitchen was created so people could be a part of the meal, not just watch it be made for them. It will be interesting to see, as it has been the last two nights, how everyone chooses to engage!
