As the year comes to a close, we asked our long-term Post writers to pick their favorite stories they wrote in 2012 and reflect on them a little. Some of these were about subjects close to our hearts, important stories we felt needed to be told or just things we thought didn’t get the attention they deserved the first time around.
From all of us at the Post, we wish you a Happy New Year. Here’s to more of the best in Long Beach news, business, lifestyle and sports in 2013!
Sander Roscoe Wolff, Culture Agent
Podcast: Tricia Allen – A Tangible Reminder
I’ve shared 112 stories in 2012, excluding a few written specifically for the monthly print edition, which did not appear on line. Most are interviews with local artists, and some with visiting artists. One which I found to be most interesting, but didn’t get the attention I felt it warranted, was a podcast conversation with the internationally renowned tattoo artist, Tricia Allen during her residency at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum. In addition to her work as an artist, she’s a scholar, a passionate advocate for the preservation of the art form in historical and cultural contexts, and has worked tirelessly to bring modern knowledge to this ancient practice. She is a great person, and I felt humbled to share some time with her, learning about her life, and work. I’m also really proud of my interview with Mike Wylie, partly because it has helped him with his mission of activating Pine Avenue north of 3rd Street.
Kate Karp, Pet Post
We Speak for Them: Animal Cruelty Conference (Part I)
We Speak for Them: Animal Cruelty Conference (Part II)
For me, the most important article of the year was the two-parter on the Animal Cruelty Conference that was held through the efforts of our city prosecutor’s office and brought into being by my erstwhile writing partner, Judy Crumpton. Animal cruelty has an impact on every animal from household pets to barnyard roosters who are cruelly trained to fight. For anyone who feels that animals hold second place to humans (which I don’t, of course), it might be worth noting that animal cruelty can go hand in hand with cruelty to fellow humans and is also one of the markers of serial killers.
Sarah Bennett, Executive Editor
Westside Community Begs Port at Forum: ‘Keep 55 Alive’
As a hopeless nostalgic and avid supporter of retaining what unique historic amenities this city has left, it made me indescribably sad to hear that the beloved Berth 55 (and all of its restaurants, boating operations and sportfishing businesses) was going to be closed so a security complex could be erected in its place. Like many Westside residents, I walked into the community forum at Queen’s Wharf Restaurant heavy-hearted, trying to adjust my brain to a day when I wasn’t going to be able to take out-of-town visitors to Berth 55 and show off the only-in-Long-Beach personality and character living just underneath our shipping cranes. The news writer in me, however, listened with an open mind to Port and Fire officials as they explained their side to the people and I began to understand how this wasn’t just about a fire boat station or copious fair notice of vacation given, but about how public access to the Port just might not be consistent with our post-9/11 world. When I got home, I cried for hours. I considered writing an op-ed about how destroying history does nothing for the future, but opted instead to suck it up and write what I went there to do: a fair news piece, giving balance to both sides of the debate. In the end, the businesses at Berth 55 received a small repreive while an EIR is drafted for the security complex, but reporting on the saga taught me to look at both sides of everything and not take things we love in this city for granted.
Brian Addison, Senior Contributor, LGBT Section Editor
Undocumented and Queer: Finding a Space for Identity
The opening line of this piece—one that was particularly important for me—says it all: they didn’t choose their identities. Oftentimes, we overshadow the one thing that ties us all—being a human—with political brouhaha that strips one of that very bind that ties. There already lies a heavy weight on the shoulders of those who are brought to the U.S. when they’re a baby, growing up here with no previous conception of their original birthplace, and then being told one is not a part of that place… If you throw in being marginalized even further by being queer, it becomes overwhelming. This tale of all-American struggle proves that “American” is a term that supersedes any concept of sovereignty or borders, language or birthright—and even more importantly, that sometimes our rights are not rights, but privileges in which even the most dedicated of citizens sometimes don’t receive.
Greggory Moore, Senior Contributor
Feds Deny LBPD Claim Regarding Medpot Ban
LBPD Chief Jim McDonnell has stood against medical-marijuana dispensaries from the beginning, and he’s done his best to push city council in that direction. In June—the same month in which his officers were caught on video smashing surveillance cameras after stepping on the neck of a facedown, fully compliant suspect during a medpot raid—McDonnell told the council that it was necessary to pass a complete ban on dispensaries in order to get federal help in dealing with any illegal operators. Problem is, that’s untrue. This followed on the heels of City Manager Pat West’s untrue claim to Mayor Bob Foster and the council that the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office wouldn’t file felony drug charges against any dispensary operator while exemptions to a complete ban were in place. I like this story because it’s a clear example of how truth is often a casualty in the push-and-pull of city government—at least in our city.
What were some of your favorite stories this year? Let us know in the comments!