Gay History, SOS March DC, etc.: Post-Vacation update

Even away on the West Coast, the madness of education keeps chugging along.

It’s good to be back after a restful week in Los Angeles–and a brief weekend in Palm Springs (It looks pretty bad that a teacher would enjoy themselves so much, but who cares?!)  Just wanted to update the Neighborhood on some tidbits I ran into along the way, as well as info for the Save Our Schools March this Saturday in Washington:

• As soon as I touched down in Burbank, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 48, which requires California schools to include the achievements of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered individuals in social studies curricula, with a similar ban on any school material deemed offensive to said groups.  On Sunday July 17. the Los Angeles Times, not exactly a bastion of conservatism, published a scathing editorial lambasting SB 48 as an attempt to proscribe an agenda on California’s schoolchildren.  I, for one, have questions as to who will be included, how will the curriculum process work, etc.  I’ll write more on this later in the week.
• Just to show you that the lousy housing market knows no sacred cows, a landmark building couldn’t get sold for its asking price in LA.  The Ennis House, a Frank Lloyd Wright creation perched on the Los Feliz Hills overlooking the LA Basin, sold for $4.5 million–70 percent below the asking price.  I jogged by this house nearly every day: it’s in serious disrepair, but the views are spectacular.
• I’ll be driving to DC this Friday for the second day of the National Call to Action conference, leading up to the Save Our Schools March on Saturday.  Not such which workshops I will attend (maybe one or two) but I definitely will be at the social in the afternoon.  Furthermore, I should be with the NYC folks during the March, so that’s where to find me.  Weather permitting, you can find me with the Hawaiian shirt and straw hat ;)

That’s about it for now.  I’ll be writing more about SB 48 tomorrow.