4 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>08.16.18</strong>
GRE REAT ATER PASADENA’S FREE NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS •LETTERS • EDITORIAL EDITOR Kevin Uhrich kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com DEPUTY EDITOR André Coleman andrec@pasadenaweekly.com ARTS EDITOR Carl Kozlowski carlk@pasadenaweekly.com CALENDAR EDITOR John Sollenberger johns@pasadenaweekly.com CONTRIBUTING MUSIC EDITOR Bliss CONTRIBUTORS Patti Carmalt-Vener, Justin Chapman, Peter Dreier, Randy Jurado Ertll, Barry Gordon, John Grula, Aaron Harris, Chip Jacobs, Rebecca Kuzins, Jana J. Monji, Christopher Nyerges, Lionel Rolfe, Terri Schlichenmeyer, Ellen Snortland, Erica Wayne INTERNS Mollie Adams, Victor Garcia ART ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Torres artdirector@pasadenaweekly.com ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Richard Garcia PRODUCTION DESIGNER Rochelle Bassarear CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Danny Liao, Jen Sorensen, Tom Tomorrow ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING Mari Carmen Matinez, Brenda Clarke, Alexandra Valdes CLASSIFIED ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Ann Turrietta (Legals) BUSINESS HUMAN RESOURCES Andrea E. Baker PAYROLL Linda Lam CONTROLLER Ora Chart ACCOUNTING SPECIALISTS Perla Castillo, Yiyang Wang, Jimmy Weathersbee, Quinton Wright OFFICE MANAGER Ann Turrietta CIRCULATION Don S. Margolin PUBLISHER Dina Stegon SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING V.P. OF OPERATIONS David Comden PRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin Pasadena Weekly is published every Thursday. Pasadena Weekly is available free of charge. No person may, without prior written permission from Pasadena Weekly, take more than one copy of each weekly issue. Additional copies of the current issue if available may be purchased for $1, payable in advance, at Pasadena Weekly office. Only authorized Pasadena Weekly distributors may distribute the Pasadena Weekly. Pasadena Weekly has been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in Court Judgment No. C-655062. Copyright: No news stories, illustrations, editorial matter or advertisements herein can be reproduced without written permission of copyright owner. All rights reserved, 2018. HOW TO REACH US Address: 50 S. DeLacey Ave., Suite 200, Pasadena 91105 Telephone: (626) 584-1500 Fax: (626) 795-0149 SINS OF THE PAST STORIES OF THE PRESENT “Well, but is it true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks that come along? I heard they were talking of some such law, but I didn’t think any Christian legislature would pass it!” “Why, Mary, you are getting to be a politician, all at once.” “No, nonsense! I wouldn’t give a fig for all your politics, generally, but I think this | | GREATER PASADENA’S FREE NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY NEWS LIVING LIFE FRESHER IS BETTER ARTS PASSION FRONT DANGEROUSLY Glendale’s Better Fresh Burger AND CENTER Climate change and overpopulation lives up to its name Gino Vannelli evolves after contribute to larger, deadlier fires four decades in show business p. 7 p. 11 p. 19 SERVING PASADENA ALHAMBRA ALTADENA ARCADIA EAGLE ROCK GLENDALE LA CAÑADA MONTROSE SAN MARINO SIERRA MADRE AND SO PASADENA is something downright cruel and unchristian. I hope, my dear, no such law has been passed.” “There has been a law passed forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky, my dear; so much of that thing has been done by these reckless Abolitionists, that our brethren in Kentucky are very strongly excited, and it seems necessary, and no more than Christian and kind, that something should be done by our state to quiet the excitement.” What you just read was taken from page 91 of my copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” written 167 years ago. This conversation between a senator and his wife could easily play out almost verbatim in Washington, DC today when applied to illegal immigration problems we now face. We are enforcing laws and detaining people who are not runaway slaves but runaway refugees escaping war, crime, violence, drought, famine, climate change and much, much more. What this seems to tell me is that as social change surges forward all around us, America never seems to learn from its own mistakes. We do the same things over and over again. ~ J. R. BALL INGLEWOOD BEST of Pasadena VOTING VOTING CONTINUES CONTINUES JOURNALIST JEAN GUERRERO DISCUSSES LIFE AND DEATH, DAUGHTERS AND FATHERS, BORDERS AS METAPHOR AND HER PIERCING MEMOIR ‘CRUX’ BY BLISS BOWEN INCHING TOWARD DEMOCRACY Many serious thinkers these days ask whether Trump’s America is still a democracy. But perhaps we need inquire whether we ever were. Certainly we were never intended to be. The propertied white men who wrote the Constitution carefully safeguarded their privileged world from that possibility. They believed “the wealthy and well-born” were best able to govern. Majoritarian “passions,” they thought, would lead to disorder. Voting rights, for example, were left to the several states; and in most, only free men with property had that privilege. Females of any condition, slaves and the indentured and most white males were excluded. All but about 6 percent of Americans were barred from the most basic participation in selfgovernment. To further subdue the alleged passions of the many, members of the powerful upper house, the Senate, were chosen by state legislatures rather than directly by citizens until 1915 when the 17th Amendment ushered in our current process. Similarly, presidential results were filtered through the Electoral College whereby state electors cast their allotted votes for the winning candidate en bloc, rather than proportionately. Under this formula, in the last election, the candidate with 3 million fewer votes won the presidency. In reality, the Constitution’s framers were no different than any group intent on preserving its own class’ advantage. They also had the task of knitting together 13 “sovereign” states, each with its own elite to be satisfied if the document was to be ratified. The intent was to maintain the status quo, circa 1787. But, as we all know, America’s political structure evolved. Through generations of fierce struggle and often bloodshed, voting rights enlarged to encompass all adult citizens. Ordinary people gained more control over their lives and a more equitable share of wealth. Far more worthy of veneration than the Constitution’s authors are the many generations of agitators and activists whose struggles moved our nation closer to achieving genuine “consent of the governed.” Today we face a return to the founders’ intent — rule by the rich and well-born. In part, the High Court has enabled the regression with partisan decisions — such as quashing campaign finance limits or refusing relief from voter suppression acts. The latest candidate to join the court looks likely to further entrench plutocracy. Can America be made safe for democracy? ~ TERRY DEFARGE VIA EMAIL AUDITED CIRCULATION of 27,516 Serving Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, Eagle Rock, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, Montrose, Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena LETTERS WANTED: Send letters to kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com. To share news tips and information about happenings and events, contact Kevin at the address above or call (626) 584-1500, ext. 115. Contact Deputy Editor André Coleman by writing to andrec@pasadenaweekly. com or calling (626) 584-1500, ext. 114. <strong>08.16.18</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 5