Author: leh

Roller Derby!

Years ago, when I worked at UCLA, one of my colleagues was a tall (at least six foot), muscular woman with a wonderfully positive frame of mind, but a fearless approach to speaking her mind.  She was a single mother who was proud of her at-home, unemployed adult son because he spent his time reading instead of mixing and doing drugs with the street crowd in her South Central neighborhood.  As I grew to know her, I learned that she was once a professional roller derby star in Los Angeles, traveling around the country for her bouts.   So I sought out some roller bouts on TV, but never saw anything live.

Saturday morning on my walk to my workspace, I noticed a poster in the window of a local video & board games store.  I immediately called Kim and we made plans to attend the final bout of the season between the Walla Walla Sweets Rollergirls and the Beet City (Nampa, ID) Bombers.  So that very night, we made our way to the venue and witnessed the rather amazing spectacle that ensued.  Herewith, some documentation — far from Sports Illustrated standards, but perhaps enough to give you a sense of the organized melee.

[rDay Twelve-Hundred-Eighty-Four]

A Child’s Neighborhood and Its Effect on Poverty

As reported by the New York Times: “On Monday the Census Bureau, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard and Brown, published nationwide data that will make it possible to pinpoint — down to the census tract, a level relevant to individual families — where children of all backgrounds have the best shot at getting ahead.”  Check out the interactive graphics in this article to see what you can learn about your own neighborhood.

POW, BAM and Other Three-Letter Expressions

And let’s not forget CRASH, SPLAT, WHACK and many others …

Remember the 1960s Batman TV series?   The question might only apply to readers of certain age, but … it turns out that Adam West, the actor who played Batman and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne, originated in Walla Walla.  And on his birthday, the city celebrates Adam West Day, which closes with a display of the fabled Bat Signal on the side of the tallest downtown building.   It also turns out that there is a prime view of the event from the back bathroom of the building across the way which houses my workspace.  So I scouted out some shooting locations in the afternoon, then at 9pm I trundled up and did a few captures.

To give you a little flavor of the old Batman TV action:


And here is more background from the local newspaper:

Adam West Day honors Walla Walla’s native son _ Top Stories _ union-bulletin.com