GARGOZO MANUSCRIPT

Unbeknownst to my sister-in-law I’ve invited several former San Diego mayors to her Christmas party.  According to Natasha Wolfe’s party planning tips I found in The Daily Beast , “The best gatherings are generally ones that have a few unexpected guests.”  All the better of course if they are well-known, “The curiosity for a luminary and the awe of an accomplished individual adds a little magic to a gathered group.”  Since my sister-in-law lives in San Diego most of the party goers would surely recognize any one of the six I’ve invited who led the city all but 10 years since 1983. Working in the same order in which they held office I began with Roger Hedgecock (1983-1985) who was charged with several felonies related to receiving over $350,000 in illegal campaign funds and was forced from office.  He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and was found guilty of twelve counts of  perjury.  Four days after he resigned he began a nationally syndi...

Image from the Hollywood Reporter I was convinced Terry Gilliam had ghost written the magazine article I found in The Occidental .  He graduated from Oxy the year before I started there and the article had the same combination of tongue-in-cheek and outrageous slapstick that Gilliam had contributed to Monty Python’s Flying Circus .  As I worked my way through it chuckling to myself, it slowly dawned on me what I initially thought came from Gilliam’s devilish imagination had in fact actually taken place. It seems that students had occupied the college’s administration building on a Monday in November of last year.  The activity was part of a nationwide demonstration in response to racially charged events at the University of Missouri .  The day began with the demonstrators sharing accounts of microaggressions; marching around campus chanting “My neck, my back/Get the f*** out yo class;” and prior to taking over the admin building, handing the college Pres...

Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP There she was again; orchestrating another press conference while supplying her distraught client with tissues.  Given the media frenzy surrounding the 2016 presidential election, I wondered why it had taken so long for her to join in the fray.  She is getting on (75 last July) and hasn’t seen the inside of a courtroom in years, but I didn’t think that would be enough to keep her off the front page.  Then I learned she was supporting Hillary which meant she had to lay low until they started trotting out females violated by Clinton ’s opponent instead of by her husband. Gloria Allred’s efforts on behalf of mistresses and other women wronged by the well-known and well-to-do have brought her fame and fortune but there’s more to it than that.  Despite her pronouncement “The more I know about men the more I like dogs,” she doesn’t always go after men.  She helped submarine Meg Whitman’s 2010 run for governor when Allred represente...