A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.

How many drinks do you drink a week? Alcoholic drinks, for those confused. Be honest.

You know how some websites have that lil image that shows up next to their URLs? How do you get that to appear? Now that I have a spiffy new header, I’d like to play too — cuz right now, I just have what looks like a blank sheet of paper :(

We’ve started a knitting club for the Culver City/Beverly Hills/West Hollywood area. As of now, we’re meeting Monday nights. Lemme know if you’d like to join in.

I still have free gmail invites, if you’d like one. Just let me know.

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Update, 6/17/06: Don’t live in Los Angeles? Check out this national list.

Want fair trade coffee by the cup? Check out these options, arranged by Los Angeles neighborhood. All options have SOME fair trade beans, but not all are fair trade certified. I’ve tried to consider commitment to fair trade practices, certification, locality, organic/shade grown concerns, and other issues (quality, yumminess, service, etc.).

Feel free to comment or email with your suggestions for additions, omissions, and revisions. For a list of LA spots where you can buy fair trade coffee to brew at home, go here.

Eagle Rock

Auntie Em’s Kitchen. 4616 Eagle Rock Blvd. 323.255.0800. I haven’t been here yet, but this yummy mom-n-pop restaurant serves fair trade Taylor Maid Farms Coffee.

Fatty’s & Co. 1627 Colorado Blvd. 323.254.8804. I haven’t been here yet, but I hear this veggie restaurant — with daily wine specials — serves Supreme Bean’s fair trade blends.

Hollywood

Caffe Etc. 6371 Selma Ave. @ Cahuenga. 323.464.8824. 7 am - 11 pm everyday. Caffe Etc. offers organic, fair trade coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee, yummy paninis and salads, and free wifi :)

Karma Coffee. 1544 N. Cahuenga Blvd. M-F, 8 am - 11 pm; Sa-Su, 9 am - 11 am. Comfy couches where you can hang out for hours drinking organic, fair trade coffee :)

Lou. 724 N Vine St. Los Angeles. 323.962.6369. Mo-Th 5 pm-11 pm, Fri-Sat 5 pm-12 am, Su closed.
This restaurant offers coffee from Monkey & Son — a 100% fair trade and organic company — as well as some organic wines and dishes.

Groundwork Coffee. 1501 N. Cahuenga Blvd. 323.871.0107. Mon-Thu, 7 am - 9 pm; Fri, 7 am - 11 pm; Sat, 8 am - 11 pm; Sun, 8 am - 9pm. Ethically sourced coffee (not yet fair trade certified), roasted in LA :)

Los Angeles, Downtown

Groundwork Coffee. 2 locations: 811 Traction Ave. 213.626.8650. Mon - Fri, 7 am – 8 pm; Sa - Sun, 8 am - 8 pm.; 108 W. 2nd St. #107. 213.620.9668. 7 am - 7 pm daily. Ethically sourced coffee (not yet fair trade certified), roasted in LA :)

Java City. 330 S. Hope St. Los Angeles. 213.613.1525.
This Cali-headquartered chain has a bunch of fair trade certified blends, and has a store in downtown LA.

Los Angeles, @ USC

Go here for all the deets on fair trade options at USC.

Los Angeles

Buzz Coffee. A cute coffee shop with free wifi and decent food that serves Groundwork Coffee.

Mani’s Bakery. 519 S. Fairfax. 323.938.8800. In addition to healthy, yummy food, Mani’s serves Groundwork Coffee.

The Coffee Cellar. Inside Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. 2124 W. 7th St. @ Alvarado. Mo - Su 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. The Coffee Cellar has a number of fair trade certified blends, and is part of a nonprofit program of the Institute for Urban Research and Development.

Noah’s Bagels at 8985 Venice Blvd. and 250 N. Larchmont Blvd. also brews a fair trade blend, Tribeca Blend, on a daily basis.

Mar Vista

Venice Grind. 12224 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles. 310.397.2227. Venice Grind offers Groundwork Coffee (see All Over), pastries from local bakeries, and free wifi.

Miracle Mile / Fairfax

Mani’s Bakery. 519 S. Fairfax. 323.938.8800. Yummy and healthy baked goods, tofu scrambles, and fluffy organic pancakes in a deli-like setting with organic Groundwork coffee :)

Studio City

Coffee Fix. 12508 Moorpark St. 818.762.0181. Supreme Bean tells me this place brews only SB’s fair trade certified coffee :)

Venice

Groundwork Coffee. 2 locations: 3 Westminster Ave. 310.452.2706. Mon - Fri, 6:30 am - 7 pm; Sat - Sun, 7 am - 8 pm; 671 Rose Ave. 310.396.9469. Mon - Fri, 6:30 am - 7 pm; Sat - Sun, 7 am - 7 pm. Ethically sourced coffee (though not fair trade certified), roasted in LA :)

Fig Tree’s Cafe. 429 Ocean Front Walk. Venice. 310.392.4937. 9 am - 9 pm daily. This place is right on the Venice boardwalk, and has an eco-friendly, sustainable menu in addition to organic Groundwork coffee :)

West Hills

Higher Grounds Cafe. Rosies at the front of the gym, Chaminade High School campus, 7500 Chaminade Ave. 818.371.4818. Tue and Thu, 7 am - 7:45 am. This coffee shop is on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory, and is run by students. The cafe serves only fair trade, organic coffee.

Westwood

Noah’s Bagels. 10910 Lindbrook Dr. Brews a fair trade blend, Tribeca Blend, on a daily basis.

Puzzles Café. Near Sproul Hall on the Hill at UCLA. This eatery serves fair trade coffee and organic tea and healthy vegetarian food alongside typical fastfood options.

For other SoCal cities including Brentwood, Burbank, Claremont, Culver City, Santa Monica, visit the list of fair trade coffee shops in California.

Tags: fairtrade, coffee, cafe, losangeles

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Liz Phair’s been added to musical line-up for Global Green USA’s annual Oscar party!

And, Global Green’s comped even MORE tickets for green LA girl readers. So — email me if you’d like to go. [Update: The list is now full! But you can email RSVP@globalgreen.org to be placed on the waiting list] I can even do you plus one, if you’d like to bring a date. Details on the March 3 party here.

For those who say Liz Phair’s sold out — ok, maybe. But despite her getting married and having a kid and getting happily divorced and hiring Avril Lavigne’s producers, a piece of my heart will always belong to her for making Exile in Guyville and singing about being a blowjob queen. My fave song of Liz’s — “Jealousy.” (on Juvenilia).

Standing on the mudflats watching the salmon fly
Wonder if I’ll ever bury the hatchet inside

See you on the green carpet –

Tags: oscars, lizphair, globalgreen, environment

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Wanna vote for lefty candidates without getting people like dubya elected? Then look into IRV.

When I wrote that I’m staying with the Democrats for now, Patrick, a green, encouraged me to look into Instant Runoff Voting (IRV, also known as ranked choice voting or RCV), which, in his words, lets people “vote Green without inadvertantly helping the Republicans at the expense of the Democrats.”

What’s IRV? Basically, instead of just voting for one candidate, voters rank candidates by preference. Everyone’s vote counts for their top choice, and the candidate in last place is elimiated. Then, everyone’s vote’s counted again and goes toward the highest-ranked of the remaining choices. Last-place candidates are eliminated one by one, and ballots are recounted accordingly, until someone has a majority.

Example: Say 3 people were running for prez, and my ranking went: #1 for Nader, #2 for Kerry, # 3 for dubya. Likely, Nader would get eliminated after the first round. Then, all votes would be recounted again — and my vote would go toward Kerry.

This way, people disenchanted with the direction the dems have been taking can voice that disenchantment by ranking someone else first, but without inadverdently splitting the lefty vote and “electing” dubya the new prez.

I looked for arguments against IRV — The ones I’ve come across point to rather vague concerns that this new method will cost more, and diatribes about how IRV takes away voter choice and majority requirements — neither of which is true. Those against IRV in Santa Clara county warned voters that IRV’s a “revolutionary method” — Ooooh, scary!

San Francisco’s been using RCV since November 2004. Now, there’s a movement to bring it to LA. Wanna get involved? Los Angeles Voters For Instant Runoff Elections’s working on city and county charter amendments for IRV in city and county elections. Join in by signing up for the emailing list. Those in Santa Monica might also be interested in Santa Monica Ranked Voting.

For state elections: California IRV Coalition’s working to get IRV implemented in all statewide single-winner elections. This group’s sponsored by Californians for Electoral Reform (below). To join free and help out the group’s efforts, add yourself to the directory.

Californians for Electoral Reform’s a Cali-specific org that promotes election methods like IRV and forms of proportional representation. Standard membership costs $25 a year and automatically enrolls you as a member of FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy– a national org that’s working towards electoral reforms like instant runoff voting, proportional voting, direct election of the president and automatic voter registration.

If you’ve read this far, you might also be interested in National Popular Vote, a nonprofit — strongly supported by FairVote — that’s working to get the prez elected by popular vote, as opposed to the current electoral college.

And dems, keep tabs on the Speak Out California weblog to prep for the June 6, 2006 primary elections.

Tags: vote, california, losangeles, santamonica, fairvote, irv, rcv

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It’s green, and it’s very LA. Most importantly, green LA girl’ll be there. Plus, it’s free — if you email me quickly enough.

What: Global Green USA’s annual Oscar party.
When: Friday, March 3, 2006. The green carpet rolls out at 8 pm.
Where: Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd.

How much: $50 for general admission, but Global Green USA’s kindly given me a few comp tickets. Email me ASAP if you’d like to go. First come, first dibs — unless I know you personally and know you can pay for it, in which case the tix will go first to the less affluent. For those who can afford it: Please go here to buy tix. [Update: The list is now full! But you can email RSVP@globalgreen.org to be placed on the waiting list]

Here’s the description on the Global Green site:

Global Green’s Oscar Party is a star-studded music event to celebrate smart solutions to global climate change. The evening will feature live performances by top musicians, celebrity participants, an eco raffle and auction, along with a green building showcase display. Proceeds will benefit Green Rebuilding on the Gulf Coast.

I’m not sure which celebrities will actually be in attendance, but the one I really, really want to meet is Julie Delpy, who’s on the host committee. Vous etes une inspiration! (Maya, please correct my French when you get the chance) Yes, I’m aware that most of the rest of the gals will prolly wanna see Orlando Bloom, who’s also on the committee. The thing is, I only watched 1/2 of 1 of the Lord of the Rings films.

Global Green has what some would consider a rather broad set of main goals: climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and the need for clean water. It appears to me that one of the unique things about this org is that it uses celebrity appeal towards accomplishing these goals (check out the LA committee founding members list). Of course, this may just be because the org’s HQ’d in Santa Monica. Anyone can get involved as an e-activist.

As with very year, Angelenos — be prepared for street closures in the next week. I’m so glad they don’t do this at The Shrine anymore — It made getting to USC a hellish task.

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Thanks to Jasmin of The Worsted Witch for the purdy new banner design! Send her some love, or fair trade coffee –

And for those who still don’t do RSS feed subscriptions (hey grandma!) who keep emailing me about letting you know when I’ve posted something new, enter your email below and hit “Gimme green LA girl!” to get green LA girl delivered to your inbox:

You should know, however, that the email only goes out once a day. If you want your green LA girl on a more timely basis, get thee to bloglines. Feed links for green LA girl are on the left sidebar.

I love you for reading –

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A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.

Due to the USFT convergence in Denver last weekend, I totally forgot about my Tuesday questions. Thus, here they are now, 5 days belatedly:

When does blog-stalking become too much?

a) When the blogfan starts calling every night. You screen the call and don’t answer, but you start questing your sanity about giving your number out in the first place. In your defense, this someone lives thous of miles away and seemed “safe” at the time.

b) When the blogfan says he/she needs a vacay, and asks if he/she can crash on your couch for 10 days or so while visiting SoCal. When you ask how the blogfan will get around lalaland (cuz you have classes and other obligations), the blogfan says he/she assumed you’d spend all your time together.

c) When the blogfan makes and sends you a mixed CD, with a 4-page letter outlining the reasons why he/she picked the songs on the CDs.

d) When the blogfan writes numerous blog posts about you, inspiring a friend to start a myspace campaign to get you to give the blogfan “a chance.”

Which Six Feet Under character do you most relate to? Cuz I fucking love the show –

Tags: myspace, stalker, sixfeetunder

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[Alice Spills Her Tea, by Lola. Via Cartoon Brew.]

Oddly, I first heard about Gallery 1988’s “Remixing the Magic” exhibition via The Worsted Witch, who’s all the way in NYC.

I went yesterday, cuz I heart Alice in Wonderland. I even wrote a series of poems titled “alice, eaten” a while back.

The show topic was a lil broader than just Alice, to include a buncha animated Disney characters. (Here’s the LA Times review of the exhibit) Still, Alice was quite prominent — In fact, I wanted to buy an Alice-inspired painting by Lola (above), but all her paintings already had that red dot :(

What I like about Lola — Her love for Alice, for one. Her use of the color red. Her surrealism-influenced elongated necks and other body parts. Her use of whimsical, Gorey-esque titles for her paintings.

Gallery 1988 doesn’t represent Lola, but in a remarkable feat of technical prowess, I managed to find Lola’s own website. Yey!

It wasn’t easy — Everyone, it seems, has a hidden alterego called Lola. Myself included…

Tags: lola, aliceinwonderland, fineart, gallery

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I know this cuz his friend Sam started a campaign by posting up a bulletin on myspace, asking people to email me to get me to email this guy Josh.

Apparently, Josh emailed me sometime back, but I never responded. I’m guessing that email must’ve gone straight to junkmail, because I’m quite susceptible to flattery — surely I would’ve emailed back if I’d gotten it?

‘Sides, I’m on myspace, and pretty easy to find — which is why I’m gonna try and add this Josh guy as a friend.

And just to be clear, declarations of love are always welcome from blog readers :P Just don’t, you know, get scary.

Tags: myspace

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My non-bloggie friends’ most frequent complaint to me about the blog: I’d comment, but dude, all the fair trade stuff’s way over my head.

This one’s for you: another car post. Cuz Mut got broken into.

That’s right. Since, I’ve realized that it’s kinda tough to get any sympathy about car theft in Los Angeles if you drive a 95 Honda Civic, the #1 choice for car theft.

What got taken: My engine computer. Until a few days ago, I didn’t even know that my engine HAD a computer.

Nor did I know that I had some super vigilant neighbors. Cuz when Mut wouldn’t start, I called Better World, and when my neighbors saw the tow truck pull up, they came running out, and asked, “Is this your car?”

Apparently, Jayonn, one of my neighbors, saw some suspicious people hanging around my car last Thursday night around 2 am, when Jayonn and his girlfriend got back from a party at a friend’s place. The two of them watched a guy come out of the van parked behind Mut. And each time another car came by, the guy’d try to hide.

After a few tries, this guy got into my car and popped the trunk and the hood — at which point my neighbors called the cops. Unfortunately, the suspicious people were gone by the time the cops got there. And because there was nothing visibly missing or wrong with Mut, the cops came and left.

Which is why the theft wasn’t discovered until Tuesday morning, after I got home from Denver, when I tried to start the car to get to class.

In a way, I’m really lucky that my window got broken before — otherwise, I wouldn’t've known where to go with my engine probs. Fortunately, I had Thom of Monkey & Son’s recommendation for Jim Matson Automotive (website under construction).

When I got there, I talked to Jae, a nice Korean man who first thought there was something wrong with the distributor and told me it would be arond $500 including labor. Later, he found out that the real prob was the missing engine computer, at which point he called around for a used one.

Total cost to replace the missing computer, including labor: $468.87. According to Jae, getting the part new would’ve cost over $1000.

Now Mut’s back and running, but I’m now more eager than ever to move to Santa Monica and get rid of car-ownership responsibilities altogether…

Update, 7/23/06: Mut gets de-lighted –

Update, 1/12/07: Some people suck. Mut’s engine computer got stolen, encore.

Tags: car, automobile, theft, losangeles

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