Enjoy reading some of my past posts! I've enjoyed writing them! Christine
5/15/26
5/9/26
RIDERS ON THE STORM : ROBBY KREIGER and JOHN DENSMORE : PLAYING FOR CHANGE : FANTASTIC VERSION!
The Doors: John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek- Drums, Guitar, Vocals Red Cloud Drum Group- Percussion Aaron White- Acoustic Guitar, Vocal Micah Nelson- Harmonica Lukas Nelson- Vocals, Guitar Sierra Ferrell- Vocals Rami Jaffee- Piano William Barton- Didgeridoo Don Was- Bass Boboulay Sissokho- Kora Macarena Montesinos- Cello Guarani Andeva Group- Percussion Iron Cult Dancers- Dancers Izzana Jaa- Vocals Ezequiel Acosta- Bandoneón Erik Prevost David- Trumpet
5/2/26
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY CELEBRATES 100 YEARS : 1926 - 2026 : ONE OF MY OLD HAUNTS
Photo of
LAPL Celebrating a Century of Light and Learning
Bookmarks by Christine Trzyna C 2026
4/25/26
LOS ANGELES HOMELESS STUDENTS : NUMBERS RISE TERRIFYINGLY : RESOURCES
LOS ANGELES HOMELESS STUDENTS NUMBERS RISE TERRIFYINGLY
In recent times I've met some adults at the library who are enrolling at certain community colleges in the county of Los Angeles for the benefits of being a student. These include:
Being able to park without harassment by police. i.e. a homeless student sleeping in their vehicle.
Free breakfast or other meals.
Free public transportation passes.
Free laptop computers.
Free showers - sometimes limited to those taking an exercise or gym class or using a campus gym.
Classes can include non-credit classes, certificate programs supposedly aimed at available employment; one need not be taking credit classes in order to eventually earn a degree.
This shows that at the community college level, it is understood that students living in poverty need basic-needs support in order to obtain education which may be necessary to compete for work. However, some of these full grown adults have simply found another means for their survival and do the same enroll and then dump out routine semester after semester. That strikes me as taking advantage of the college - or whomever the funder(s) is.
Some time ago I got up on my soapbox and ranted about the homeless student situation in Los Angeles and I recently reread what I wrote. I was stunned by my own expressed anger. That anger has not gone away, but maybe back then my sense of injustice also revealed an idealism I no longer have.
So this morning, I asked Google, about the Los Angeles homeless student situation. Based on the Los Angeles Times report as of April 2026 (though stats from a couple years ago were used by researchers)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-01/la-county-student-homelessness-study
Key drivers include a shortage of affordable housing, economic hardship, limited federal funding for schools and longstanding inequities affecting people of color and people with disabilities.
This is the link to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which has links to 'help'.
Excerpt: LACOE HEP works to help districts and charter schools maintain compliance with the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act, an integral part of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
According the the summation provided by Google AI:
Key Data on LA Homeless Students (2023-24): Surging Numbers: The number of homeless students has seen a sharp, rapid rise, representing the highest rate in the past five years.
Demographics: Latino students are disproportionately affected, accounting for 3 out of every 4 students experiencing homelessness.
Black Students: Approximately 11.5% of homeless students in LA County are Black, which is slightly higher than the state average.
Living Situations: Most students categorized as homeless are in "doubled-up" situations (living with others due to economic hardship), rather than on the streets.
Soon enough I realized what was happening. The same families were coming to the library for the Summer Reading Program Events. They were actually spending long hours - days on end - in the parks. At night some were in their vehicles and some were sleeping on the floors of more fortunate families, often renters in older neighborhood buildings.
Black Students: Approximately 11.5% of homeless students in LA County are Black, which is slightly higher than the state average.
Living Situations: Most students categorized as homeless are in "doubled-up" situations (living with others due to economic hardship), rather than on the streets.
Some years ago I volunteered informally to support a so called Summer Reading Program at a branch of LAPL. The librarians told me that they were surprised at the huge increase in attendance and also that children's parents or other adult family members where staying and participating with their children rather than awaiting the children. Activities often included snacks. Students received, at program/summer end, backpacks, shoes, school supplies. (Not much reading was actually going on in the arts and crafts aspect of the program.)
That summer there was also special program to help teen students get job experience. It was considered to be gang membership prevention in the City of Los Angeles. It was held at various parks including a park close to that LAPL branch.
One day they had a little fair during which various local politicians had tables. I went to the fair and saw that families were being given a free evening meal and some basic activities, such as good old-fashioned games. Music was blaring. These feeds were happening at least five evenings a week for about six weeks.
Soon enough I realized what was happening. The same families were coming to the library for the Summer Reading Program Events. They were actually spending long hours - days on end - in the parks. At night some were in their vehicles and some were sleeping on the floors of more fortunate families, often renters in older neighborhood buildings.
Then the evictions started for building tear downs. Whole families were coming into the library to ask the librarians where they could find housing.
It's my suspicion that the 2025-2026 statistics, if they were available, would reveal a tripling of the statistics used for this LA Times article.
C 2026 Christine Trzyna
4/23/26
4/1/26
3/16/26
I GOT PLACES TO BE : FRED AGAIN and ANDERSON PAAK
I used to listen to this one in the morning, on my way - Lot's of energy here. Lyrics?
3/15/26
3/13/26
GIVE ME SHELTER : THE ROLLING STONES
Yes... I HAVE heard Rolling Stone's music being used for TELEVISION COMMERCIALS.
2/25/26
TALES OF THE AMERICAN (HOTEL IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - AREA NOW CALLED THE ARTS DISTRICT) : CHRISTINE TRZYNA FILM REVIEW
https://www.talesoftheamerican.com/ A documentary.
I attended a presentation of this film, made a few years ago, of excellent quality, at LAPL - Central. It was made by Stephen Seemayer and Pamela Wilson and they interviewed over 140 once-upon-a-time and current artist residents in the process. The history of the building, built in 1905, which had other names, was that it was the first hotel in the city of Los Angeles to welcome Negro guests - and was then called, interestingly enough, The Canadian. It then became a place where recent Japanese immigrants could live; some were put into camps after the United States entered World War II. Eventually artists, writers, and musicians moved in. The rent was low and the then-Arts District- was vibrant - lawless - but you had a chance of honing your craft and skill because it was affordable. Now the Los Angeles Arts District is becoming too expensive for someone who is, at best, up and coming.
Perhaps the American was the Los Angeles equivalent of New York's Chelsea Hotel?
I had never heard of it.
It was not my kind of place which is probably why I had not.
Affordable. That is the buzz word these days. The word Affordable should never be used to advertise rooms for rent or apartments for lease or townhomes for sale. It's a joke word.
I was thinking while viewing the Tales of the American documentary about my experiences being around people who were .... vexations to the spirit. As, apparently, some of the people who made this place - and the in-house Al's Bar - "home" were or would be to me.
I haven't lived a life free of such people. They are everywhere. I'm just getting better at discernment/avoidance.
Lately, and I'm not the only one saying this, it seems crazy-makers are everywhere, that one cannot find that hidey-hole where one can be alone, think, sleep enough - or work.
I think there is, overall, the wrong idea that artists of every sort need chaos, that creativity needs chaos.
Actually, what one needs to create first and foremost is the time, which usually means time off, being able to either not be concerned with affording time away from the usual pursuit of self-support, maybe because parents or partner take care of that or you inherit, or because it doesn't bother you too much to hear loud music through your floors every night or have to share a filthy bathtub and toilet with twenty other people.
I'm just the opposite. I like clean. I like quietude and privacy and knowing I'm safe without three bolts on a door.
C 2026 Christine Trzyna
2/24/26
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