Terrific Reception

Camino PR hosted a benefit auction and reception for Project Libertad, a film that explores the impact of Mexican border issues on children. Independent filmmaker Pablo Toledo was on hand to talk about the project. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our new Camino offices and who lent their support to Project Libertad! Special thanks to Pablo, Laura, Winnie, Loretta, Kathleen, Jeff, Alexis, Mia, Jasmin, and Cathy. You can still bid on the art by linking to http://projectlibertad.com/.

Fundraiser hosted by Camino Public Relations

Please join writer and director Pablo Toledo, the creator of the successful independent feature Runnin’ At Midnite, and producer Laura Gatewood, as they raise awareness and funding for Project Libertad, a ground-breaking new organization that utilizes innovative and socially responsible methods to make a movie.

The cocktail reception hosted by Camino Public Relations, will begin with a short talk about Libertad, the film, as well as the youth component of the project, by writer and director Pablo Toledo, and afterwards, both director and producer will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the project on a person to person basis. Guests will also have the opportunity to donate to the fund by check or credit card and should be pleased to know that all contributions are 100% tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. To make the learning process go a bit more smoothly, wine, music, and hors doeuvres will be in large supply!

As a special addition to the evening, several notable contemporary photographers have donated a selection of works to the Project Libertad team. The pictures that are to be auctioned online (with all proceeds going directly to the organization) will be on display at the event, with two of the photographers in attendance as well. A link to the auction website will be sent two weeks before the fundraiser, and the closing date for purchase will be June 14th.

We would love for each of you to become part of the expanding group of people passionate about making a difference to border communities and committed to supporting the arts.

From more information about Libertad, please visit http://projectlibertad.org.

Forgiveness

You blunder. Maybe you said the wrong thing at the worst time, or locked yourself out of the house, or ate donuts instead of hot oatmeal. Or perhaps you blundered onto the front page of every newspaper in the country by writing a best selling true story that turned out to be fake. Maybe you made worldwide news when you secretly leaked confidential government information and were subsequently forced to resign.

If you are Karl Rove, after being forced out of the White House, you simply re-launch yourself as a journalist. Rove is now a Fox News analyst, and a contributor to Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. Last week he was named the number one most influential pundit in the United States by the London Telegraph.

If you are James Frey, author of the bestselling and disgraced novel “A Million Little Pieces”, you simply write another brilliant book. Which is now on bookshelves everywhere, titled “Bright Shiny Morning”.

Rove and Frey did not become different people, they just kept doing the kind of work they were best at. It may not be the path they set out on, but an unwavering belief in their own talent keeps pushing them toward the same finish line.

There is something eerily similar about the top pundits on the Telegraph’s list. Following Rove is Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. Three out of the top four rated pundits are all college drop-out’s who have a brilliant knack for surviving scandal. Like Rove, Limbaugh not only survived his prescription drug abuse scandal, he avoided both jail and obscurity. His voice is as influential today as during the conservative revolution he helped launch while Bill Clinton was President.

Sean Hannity started his career in scandal when he was fired from his first radio volunteer job at UC Santa Barbara for allegations of gay bashing. Hannity came under fire for hosting two shows featuring a book by conservative Gene Antonio, who argued that AIDS could be spread by casual contact like coughing and spitting. Hannity subsequently promoted himself as “the most talked about college radio host in America” and got hired at a much more prominent radio station that ultimately led to his Fox News career.

Hannity has ambition that is nothing less than making “Hannity’s World” a reality. In fact, Hannity has even launched his own dating service called “Hannidate”, so that conservatives can find each other and make new families. Perhaps as a result of his early gay scandal, Hannidate includes same sex love arrangements. It was hard for me to believe that Hannity was interested in matchmaking for lesbians, so I did a quick lesbian search on the site. My match was a woman who enjoys watching roller derby as well as listening to talk radio, “especially Sean Hannity whose voice encouraged me to embrace my sexuality”. I don’t know how to respond to that, except maybe to forward it to a lesbian comic like Kate Clinton to see if she might find it useful.

The one sure thing is that we will all blunder, big or small, on or off the airwaves. In the end it’s not always the blunder that matters, it’s where we allow the blunder to take us that is, perhaps, the true revelation.

Coming up tomorrow: I write about the top women pundits.

Taco Blitz

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

When I was a kid I thought this was a national holiday. We always had a school celebration and a huge festival in the park. Now I’m lucky if I get to honor the holiday with a taco dinner. Today my family is seeking out a taco truck in honor of the “Carne Asada is not a Crime” movement in Los Angeles.

A new taco controversy has hit the national media by storm, thanks to two schoolteachers with a knack for marketing. The LA Times, the New York Times, Time Magazine, NPR, Slate, and more have all converged on the story about the effort to run taco trucks out of business in LA County by criminalizing the activity and increasing fines.

If you’ve ever eaten a meal at a taco truck you understand the impetus behind the save the taco truck campaign in Los Angeles. Motivated by complaints from restaurant owners, local city council officials have promised to crack down on taco trucks vendors, whose food trucks attract a loyal following. The rules say the taco trucks must move every hour, which few abide by. The new hefty fines and criminal penalties promise to put many taco trucks out of business, which is a tough regulatory pill for local residents to swallow. When I lived in Washington DC I used to follow my burrito truck around downtown even in winter months.

It’s easy to underestimate the taco truck culture. The LA Times covered the issue last week and spoke to government officials behind the crackdown, “To me it is surprising that these young people are taking such an interest” said Maria Cerdas, a deputy for Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke. “I did not foresee it’.

The LA Times published an editorial titled “Long live the taco trucks” and noted food critic Jonathan Gold published a list of his favorite taco trucks called “Keep on (taco) trucking”.

Two local schoolteachers, Aaron Sonderleiter and Chris Rutherford, were the brainstorm behind www.saveourtacotrucks.org. They were soon joined by other taco truck lovers who used new media such as Facebook to broaden the movement. Marketing has included a poster drive, a petition, and a day of action (we were all supposed to visit taco trucks on May 1). I’m not sure if these two schoolteachers had help with their marketing plan, but they’ve followed a classic formula: easy to understand (and catchy) messaging plus action for supporters to take plus a human interest angle for reporters.

Supervisor Gloria Molina is on the defensive, telling reporters that “we’re trying to create a better and more livable community”. Molina’s policy director, Gerry Hertzberg, told the NY Times that “the trucks had become ‘a big quality of life’ in some neighborhoods”. The media coverage, however, has not found community voices in opposition to the trucks, but rather has quoted local business owners worried about competition. The big showdown is May 15 when the new law is slated to take effect.

If the supervisors had underestimated the organizing prowess of taco truck lovers, the media blitz should prompt them to re-evaluate the situation. The story has a life of its own (and some catchy slogans). If I were advising the supervisors on media relations I’d recommend they move decisively and quickly on a new strategy.

In Defense of Fun

My daughter Mia was published in a magazine this month! She wrote an essay on beauty for New Moon Magazine, a quarterly national magazine for girls. Go Mia! Asked to write about what makes her beautiful, she cited her opposition to the war, her desire to succeed in school, and her ability to have fun. She says “after I have fun I am a lot friendlier to everyone, which makes other people happy…”

Which I can attest is true, and which might be good advice for adults.

I have just finished reading Jeffrey Toobin’s book on the Supreme Court (”The Nine”), where he discusses former Justice Sandra Day O’Conner’s penchant for parties and socializing. She required her female law clerks to join her in morning exercise, which at one point included a salsa class. She required her clerks to decorate pumpkins at Halloween. Her ability to zealously pursue life’s pleasures seems to have invigorated her legal mind and broadened her social views. She became, in her measured and careful style, the most powerful legal influence in this country and perhaps some may argue in the world during her time on the court.

Toobin’s book often draws you in like a reality TV show while making the nation’s legal machinations understandable to the common reader. Some of the quotes are sheer gossip but they are fun. Remember how Nina Totenberg “broke” the Anita Hill story during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings? Thomas later joked, “I have finally had the opportunity to have my surgeon remove her many stilettos from my back..” Justice Scalia, who often votes in synch with Thomas, was once asked to compare their judicial philosophies. Scalia replied, “I am an originalist, but I am not a nut”.

By the end of Toobin’s book I was left worried, again, about who might appoint the next justice.

Yesterday Mia was at the UN in her official capacity as middle school student council Vice President, strategizing with kids from dozens of countries on human rights issues. As she describes the meeting’s premise, kids from around the world became concerned that with weapons stockpiling the adults were going to blow up the planet. So they thought they better organize. Not a bad idea.

The Art of Arguing

“Mr Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Speaker, is blatant hypocrisy a violation of the rules of the House?”
Rep Barney Frank (D-Ma), Mar 11 2008

People like Barney Frank can make memorable quips like this (which was inspired by silly floor fighting between the Republicans and Democrats) and endear himself even to his opponents. Arguing is an art and winning an argument an even greater talent. [Read more]