A long string of a lot

I’ve been quite busy and my mind has been so full I’ve failed to keep up on my blog...my apologies.

TAADAAAAA...I've now cruised the streets of LA in my Stude.

A couple of weeks ago it got here to So Cal. This past Thursday was my first ever driving of it. And yesterday I picked it up. Quite a bit was done to it in the shop to get it drivable…new transmission, water pump, electric fuel pump, tune up, starter, battery stuff. And the shop people have been so great, it’s a shop that only works on Studebakers.
When I first left the shop I had a little problem which was resolved by adjusting the throttle a bit. And then I had a glorious time driving it about halfway to my destination...it was running fantastic on both street and freeway.
And then something happened. I was able to get it parked in a safe place, and it did start up after a wait – but something is wrong with it. So it was towed back to the shop. Hmmmm…these problems are expected in ironing out kinks of a car that’s been sitting for 25+ years. I hope for hope that this is just a kink…but in my gut I think it might be something more serious. If that’s the case I’m going to have to sell her (which I had begun to rest on the nickname of “the pup”…which for those of you don’t know, is also one of my many nicknames too)
Selling the pup will be such a shame. I can’t tell you how fun it was driving the pup – and there wasn’t anything about it that I didn’t like. The noise, the shifting, the starting it up…it doesn’t bother me…and in fact I quite like it! And I also like that I’m willing to work for it, I’ve never had a possession that I’ve been willing to do much work for…seeing as I don’t live by quite the same material rules as middle america. But perhaps I’ll have to do some more work in advance before I can have an old car– I don’t know…we’ll see. But I know one thing, I’m attached to Studebakers – they’re great cars.

Other then car business I’ve been up to a lot. School is out for the summer, which means no more teaching. I will still go to work as normal (albeit not so early in the morning – yay!) It was really fun the past 2 weeks wrapping up the 3 different classes I’ve been doing for the past few months. I did a pizza party in 2 of the classes – for the winning teams of our last-day Jeopardy-style quiz game. That’s really fun.
I love that job so much. I’ve been thinking a lot about the possibility of moving down there (work is 22 miles from home.) Part of me really wants to, but when I think about it, all the connections I have made while here in LA are up near me, downtown, Hollywood, Silverlake/Echo Park. It’s quite a dilemma and a huge thing that’s been on my mind lately.

There’s been some exciting rumblings of things happenings in regards to the prostitution/human trafficking work I want to do also. There’s a crew of people forming here in LA that will begin to tackle the issue by answering the question “What does trafficking look like here in LA?” In order to do this you need to take to the streets with open eyes for what is going on as well as building networks in communities (such as ethnic communities.)
I’ve also been in contact with an organization that may be a great place for me to hook up with and be guided in doing some other work I want to do that’s related to these issues. We’ll see where it leads – but it’s exciting to see some things coming together. I still really yearn for a community of people to gather with around these issues which I’m passionate about.

On other fronts – stuff is still happening with the art group. We opened a student show a couple of weeks ago, which was cool…we’re giving a couple of scholarships to students at the local high school. And we have a show opening in a couple weeks. Which…I need to sign off so I can go work on my pieces. I was daunted…but after doing some painting a couple nights ago – I’m getting excited about my pieces!

Ending with a line I heard today from my all-time favorite radio show, A Prairie Home Companion…
“Live what you love and love what you live.”