'Take Me Out' To A Los Angeles Tradition

It's a wonderful time to be a Dodgers fan. As of July 22, the team entered sole possession of first place in the NL West, just 22 days after being in last place. Yes, just 22 days from "suck" to "success," thanks to The Puig, Hanleywood, a more consistent rotation, a more improved pen, keeping Brandon League away from save situations and overall better health. Enjoy this one:

While The Militant was watching Sunday's game where The Boys In Blue swept the Washington Nationals, announcer Steve Lyons (yeah, we know...) made a comment about baseball's 7th Inning Stretch, how it may or may not have been originated by president William Howard Taft during the Washington Senators' Opening Day game in 1910 where the famously portly Commander-In-Chief stood up in the middle of the 7th and took a stretch to relieve the fatigue of sitting in a seat that was too small for him. The other spectators, seeing this, stood up along with the prez, and a tradition was born.

The other tidbit uttered by the unfortunately non-Vin Scully broadcasters was that the baseball anthem, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" was first played at a baseball game in Los Angeles during a high school match in 1934.

"I find that hard to believe," quipped Lyons, fueling fire to the stereotype that Los Angeles was pretty much an empty desert until East Coast transplants arrived here, circa 1998 or so.

The story behind the song goes like this: It was written back in 1908 by Tin Pan Alley songwriters Jack Norworth (lyrics) and Albert Von Tilzer (music). Norworth was riding the subway in NYC (then brand-spanking new, only in existence for four years) when he saw an advertisement that read, "Baseball Today - Polo Grounds." The song was written with the songwriters having never been to a baseball game before (and hadn't even done so until over 20 years after the song was written).

And did you know the song as we sing it at Dodger Stadium, and at other stadia, is not the whole song? You're only singing the chorus part of the song! Here's the complete song, verses included, for y'allz:



The song was popular back in the days before records or even radio. People bought the sheet music and played and sang it themselves. It was also a popular pastime song in movie theaters - The audience sang it while the guy in the projector booth changed the film reels. But it would be some 26 years before it would be played at an actual baseball game, mainly because public address systems didn't exist until 1929.

Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" (now known as an Internet meme) is a song that came out 26 years ago, just to give you some perspective.

Several historical accounts mention "Take Me Out..." as having been first played at a high school baseball game in Los Angeles before being played at the World Series in St. Louis later that year.

But...which high school? 

It would be pretty awesomesauce if a certain high school's sports program took credit for it and literally ran the bases with it. Imagine having that distinction. Of course, Los Angeles schools don't care a thing about preserving their own histories, since teaching local history is banned in the LAUSD (assuming it was an LAUSD school). One account lists it as a "prep school" (which would likely make it a private school) and this page says it was first played "before the first game of the Los Angeles high school baseball season."

Well, there is a high school called "Los Angeles High School" which was founded in 1872 at Temple and Broadway in Downtown, moved to Fort Moore Hill in 1891 (right at pretty much the site of today's Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts) and moved to its current Olympic Blvd location in 1917. It once had an ornate gothic edifice (pictured left) which was damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and destroyed by an unrelated, though mysterious, fire later that year. Today's ugly-ass penitentiaryesque '70s-era school building is what replaced a beauty of a campus.

Interestingly, Los Angeles High does boast baseball-related alumni such as former Brooklyn Dodger Mel Almada, who in 1933, became the first Mexican American to play in the major leagues as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Other players include former NY Giants catcher Harry Danning and former Yankees outfielder Bob Meusel.

But perhaps the greatest Los Angeles High alum to make an impact on baseball was not a player, but a young woman named Rosalind Weiner who was eventually elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1953 and became the driving force in City Hall in bringing the Brooklyn Dodgers to their new home in Los Angeles.

Sounds like the stars were aligned for that one. So, unless any other school wants to take credit for it, you Los Angeles High Romans might want to steal this historical base.

"Take Me Out To The Ball Game" is a tradition of America's national pastime, performed over the years at the old Wrigley Field, at Gilmore Stadium, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, at Dodger Stadium, at Anaheim Stadium if you wanna count that, at Dedaux Field, at Jackie Robinson Stadium and at countless high school fields all over town where countless major league players once played. But one of them, whichever it is, was the originator.

If anyone out there has any solid leads on the exact high school that originated "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in 1934, please contact The Militant [militantangeleno at gmail dot com] immediately.

Public Militancy 101: The Militant Steps Out Of The Shadows

The Social Media: Power & Culture blogger panel. From back: Class instructor Will Coley, Jorge Rivas from Colorlines.com, Celeste Freemon from WitnessLA.com and Yes It's Really Him In Person.
Photo courtesy of Tafarai Bayne.

Since The Militant Angeleno began his blogging endeavor nearly five years ago, from the get-go he sought out to be a mysterious, anonymous figure.

Always dressed in his camouflage garb, he is able to disguise himself as an everyday Angeleno (whatever that may or may not look like) and easily blend into society. You may or may not have met him before!

On The Militant’s first anniversary of his blog, he revealed what he looked like – at least from behind his bandana mask.

He may or may not have revealed himself to a select few native Angelenos who have earned his trust. Last summer, he even treated three loyal readers of this here blog to a free Dodger game, and they got to meet The Militant himself (he still maintained a semblance of his anonymity though).

But The Militant had always wanted to know what it would be like if he presented himself to a group of people in public. 

This past Thursday, he finally got that chance, thanks to one of his loyal readers Tafarai Bayne, who gave him the opportunity to sit on a panel of bloggers for Los Angeles Trade Tech College’s CP10 Social Media: Power and Culture class, taught by Bayne and Will Coley.

The Militant joined fellow bloggers Jorge Rivas of Colorlines.com and Celeste Freemon from Witness LA.com.

The instructors and the class of about 20 students asked the panelists questions about how the bloggers started out, why they decided to blog what they do, what sort of editorial decisions go into making their blog posts, and the topic of content ethics (e.g. crediting photos, the legality thereof and related issues like fair use and meme parody versions).

One of the students even asked The Militant straight-up why he is anonymous, and why he refers to himself in the third person. If you’ve been reading this for a while, you probably already know the answer to that one, right? Militancy 101!

Class is in session. Professor Militant in da house. Aw yeah.
Photo courtesy of Tafarai Bayne

The Militant also shared the background stories behind some of his recent posts, like the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park post, where, after doing errands in the area, decided to just roll through and experience the park for himself; and the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station cell phone post, which was originally intended to be written about several months ago, but The Militant decided to just write about it this week.

As for anyone concerned about whether The Militant finally revealed himself or gave up his anonymity, none of them happened. The Militant didn’t have to give up a thing. Also, he didn’t reveal anything about himself that he didn’t already reveal on his blog if you pay close attention. Though one student asked him a question about whether he had any previous professional writing experience, and he may or may not have had an answer to that.

The Militant had a great time, and the fellow bloggers there were very cool folks who dropped some serious knowledge themselves. Jorge Rivas from Color Lines mentioned that it’s his blog’s policy to spend half an hour writing the headline for a story that took an hour to write, which one of the instructors found fascinating (In The Militant’s case, he won’t even start on a blog post unless he’s thought of some sort of witty/pun-filled/pop-culture-referential headline).

After the panel, some of the students stayed to set up their Tumblr accounts (pictured right). The class, which had been going on for about a month already, explores other facets of teh social media realm in other weeks, and a few of the students are considering embarking on their own blogs.

The Militant sincerely hopes he’s inspired the bloggers of tomorrow (or at least next month), and that they employ their own elements of Militancy in their work!

Now that's an education! Photo courtesy of Bobby Buck

Professor Militant...hmmm…

On another level, it was totally awesome to interact in person with actual people, many of whom stared at The Militant, most likely wondering, “WTF does this guy think he is?”

This may or may not open up other opportunities in the near or far future to do more public appearances! The Militant has always wanted to put on a group bike ride and visit some of the actual places he’s written about! Would any of you dig something like that?

The Militant thanks fellow bloggers Rivas and Freemon for the privilege of sharing our knowledge and experiences, and to instructors Bayne and Coley and the students of the CP10 class, thanks for an unforgettable first-time experience!

The Militant would also like to thank Los Angeles Trade Tech’s security officers for not giving The Militant a hard time as he sauntered through campus in full Militant gear! He really appreciated that! 

Native Month: The Water Still Flows In Kuruvungna

(Yes, it's October already, but seeing as Native Month started on September 5, he's still got the 30-day period to round out, so...let's continue...)

Los Angeles is often described as a "horizontal city," but The Militant actually sees it as a vertical one. No, not necessarily vertical as in high-rise structures, but vertical as in the stacked layers of various histories (Of course, only a militant Angeleno can see them...).

Take for instance University High School, the grade 9-12 campus in West Los Angeles which, since 1924 has produced alums such as Jeff Bridges, Judy Garland, Danny Elfman, Randy Newman, members of The Doors and Tone Loc. So it may or may not be fitting that the man who, in 1989, extolled the virtues of the Wild Thing,  walked from classroom to classroom in the presence of a wild spring.

Har har har.

For it is here on the Uni High campus that a series of natural springs churn out some 25,000 gallons of water daily (the city of Santa Monica once used it as a municipal water source), and have been since the Tongva.

One of the springs is smack dab in the middle of campus. The Militant visited Uni High recently during the afterschool hours and there it was:


While kids practiced soccer and parents stood watch just a few yards away, The Militant reached out his hand to touch the water. Supposedly it's clean enough to drink (The Militant wasn't that thirsty though...). It cascades down a man-made channel, parts of which are littered with snack food wrappers, and then descend into a drain, where it, along with H2O from the nearby Lost Creeks Of UCLA, empty into the Sepulveda Channel and into Ballona Creek.

The other spring is located towards in another part of campus. The Militant, having never stepped foot in this school before, had no idea where it was. But instinctively, he walked eastward, then south, then approached a tree-covered area with a staircase leading down into a parking lot. He kept walking....and then saw this through a fence...

It was a Tongva kiche. He gasped in awe. Did the ancient Tongva spirits lead him there? Was it just his native Angeleno instincts? No one knows for sure, but The Militant was in the Tongva village of Kuruvungna ("The place where we are under the sun.").
The other spring, regarded as a sacred site by today's Tongva descendants, percolates from a small lagoon, surrounded by native riparian trees and plants. The 1769 Portola Expedition stopped by here, and Father Juan Crespi documented the experience (before he started a chain of doughnut restaurants known as Crespi Kreme). The Militant obviously couldn't get to it at this time (and didn't wanna piss off the Tongva spirits by breaking in).

The site isn't that secret, though. It is a designated historic cultural monument by The City after all. And there was an annual Tongva Festival that just happened this past weekend, which The Militant may or may have missed (ARRRRGH! DAMNIT!!!).  
The site, on the southeast corner of campus, on Barrington, just north of Ohio Avenue, is open on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. where the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation conducts free tours of the site and opens its small museum on an onsite LAUSD bungalow structure. 
As The Militant left the school, he searched the campus for any sort of visual sign acknowledging its Tongva connections. Lessee, there was an Obama mural and a generic "tree of knowledge"-type mural, but nothing Tongvaesque or even anything referencing that active natural water source there. How sad, but not surprising, given the LAUSD's penchant for destroying history over actually teaching it. History - much less local history - doesn't count in standardized tests anyway, so why even bother, right?

The Militant bothers. But more remarkably, the water from these springs still bother to flow.

Superintendent Militant Angeleno?

With the recent stepping-down of Supernintendo Superintendent David Brewer from the Los Angeles Unified School District, it appears that the second-largest public school system in the country is in need of a new leader. Someone with new ideas, who's not afraid to take risks, and one with a true vision for education in Los Angeles.

The Militant knows exactly the person who can accomplish this.

Himself.

Yes, the Militant Angeleno is putting it right out there: He would like to be the next Superintendent of Schools for the LAUSD.

So the Militant lacks the experience, you say? Surely you jest. The LAUSD needs someone who really knows the school district. Brewer's predecessor, Roy Romer, was once the former Governor of Colorado. Brewer, a former Navy admiral, has military experience. This blogger has, of course, militant experience.

Brewer has had a total of two years of experience in the LAUSD. Romer had five years.

The Militant, on the other hand, has 13 years of experience in the LAUSD.

Okay, granted, all of those 13 years were being a K-12 public school student. But still, who better to know the needs and issues of the school district than an actual product of it?

The Militant, as a high school student, excelled in subjects like English, History and the arts. At the same time, he was an awful Math student, was not so hot in Science, and very mediocre in foreign languages.

When the Militant was but a little kid, he was fascinated with science, so much that one of his childhood aspirations was to be an astronaut. But see, the poor quality of teaching and educational materials made science a dull subject for him so much that his desire waned, and so did the grades. So there you go, that's one of the areas where our schools are sorely lacking.

Again on the topic of experience, maybe it is true the Militant is not experienced enough -- the Militant will gladly admit that he sorely lacks experience in corruption, allowing massive cost overruns and gross incompetence.

And Brewer's $400,000 salary? Heck, the Militant will work for half that! Even quarter that! (It'll still be oodles more than his current militant income...)

As far as a vision, the Militant definitely has one:

• First off, stop this idiotic LAUSD land grab we have seen in the past few decades. It's no secret that we've lost a lot of our history because of this. The Militant will build school sites with a smaller footprint, rather than large-acreage schools that take away people's homes, commercial areas and precious parks, recreation and open space.

• Develop vocational partnerships with local industries, such as health care, trade/manufacturing and the entertainment/tourist industry. That way we can develop a loyal local pool rather than rely on transplants showing up at the Greyhound station to take all the jobs.

• And speaking of local, establish a local history curriculum. The Militant knows his Los Angeles history, as you all know, but virtually none of it came from the classroom. He had to learn it on his own. We have kids who live and breathe and learn and play here, yet they have absolutely no concept of how this City came to be, and how it functions, on a societal, cultural, economic and governmental level.

• Lastly, as superintendent, the Militant will make sure the LAUSD follows this one motto: Quality over Quantity. For decades the LAUSD has been psychotically obsessed with capacity, capacity, capacity, resulting in the aforementioned land grab to accommodate the overcrowding. Enough of this, it's the quality of the edjumakation that has to be at the forefront. And losing kids to private and charter schools shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if they're that obsessed with containing capacity and keeping classroom sizes down.

Seriously now, the Militant saw his share of teacher's strikes and walkouts back when he was in school; those things leave a lasting impression for a young, aspiring militant. He also recently had a conversation with an unspecified former member of the Board of Education who candidly told the Militant that the situation regarding the relationship between the teachers union and the District is "downright chaotic" nowadays as compared to when the Militant was in school.

Enough of this, the Militant says, crap will be cut and credibility will finally be restored to our ailing school system.

And if he doesn't do such a great job as superintendent, well...they can always buy out his contract.