Weekend Links: Oct. 21-23
Dodger blues, tortilla titans, and 8 other stories to consider in your quest to understand the Golden State
Greetings from What is California? HQ, where the latest data show that the crestfallen tears of Dodgers fans have elevated reservoirs statewide to an average 50% capacity. “It’s nowhere near normal,” said noted climate scientist Lou Seal. “But every little bit helps.”
Welcome to new subscribers and followers!
It’s been amazing to see so many new folks following, sharing, and listening to What is California? here on Substack, on Twitter, and wherever you listen to podcasts. I’m grateful to have you here, and I hope you’ll stick around! If you like the show and the newsletter, please consider rating and reviewing What is California? on Apple Podcasts and/or sharing What is California? among like-minded folks.
ICYMI: This week’s podcast
This week’s podcast features Greg Lucas, the California State Librarian. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Lucas has the absolute coolest job in California. It was one surprise after another in our chat—just another reminder how much greatness and wonder hides in plain sight all over California. Have a listen below or wherever you get podcasts:
On with the Weekend Links
Meanwhile, I hope you'll consider checking out some of these nifty California stories if/when you are so inclined.
NOTE: I try to link to stories that are not behind a subscriber-only paywall. If you can, please consider subscribing or donating to news organizations that provide this essential California coverage.
Honoring ‘The Toughest Chicano’: Joe Kapp’s Legacy in Salinas and Beyond - Nick Lozito, KQED
Here’s some inspiring news to start off with: A tribute to a football veteran we don’t hear much about and whose experience may rank him among the most underrated California sports figures of the last 50 years: “[T]he only quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl (with UC Berkeley), Super Bowl and Grey Cup (Canadian football’s title game),” as Lozito notes, with deep Chicano roots as well as the distinction of being the Cal head coach whose team memorably steamrolled the trombone player (and, more importantly, beat Stanford) with “The Play” in the teams’ infamous 1982 matchup. A warm hometown crowd recently welcomed Kapp, now 84, back to Salinas for an event celebrating his life and legacy, including the dedication of a football field at his childhood alma mater.
Who is to blame for Dodgers’ October failure? How about the players? - Bill Plaschke, LA Times
It was an absolutely brutal showing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their National League Division Series against the flinty San Diego Padres, who ousted the 111-win Dodgers at an electric Petco Park on Oct. 15. As baseball fans in L.A. and nationwide assess what went wrong (again), the eminent Times columnist Plaschke has a simple, persuasive theory: “This one is on the $260 million worth of players who came up cheap.” Damn. Sorry, just a few more: “This one is on the indifferent bats that hit .147 with runners in scoring position, nearly 130 points lower than their league-leading average in the regular season. […] This one is on the businesslike collection of clubhouse veterans who didn’t show the sort of fire necessary to match the upstart Padres and their crazed fans. Where was their Kirk Gibson when they needed him? Where was their Bulldog?” Facts.
Why was Newsom absent during Biden visit? - Emily Hoeven, CalMatters
When President Biden dropped by Southern California for a visit last weekend, a cavalcade of local and state leaders met him to talk infrastructure, health care, and other issues. Who was missing? Who do you think? But Hoeven, our leading Gavinologist, is on the case, extracting this thin-ass excuse from a Newsom flack: “The Governor unfortunately had scheduling conflicts. For example, he had an event in Sacramento on Friday morning for his book, in addition to state commitments.” Of course. Just can’t change those plans for the president, “unfortunately.” Nope. Got those “state commitments.” NB: Could you imagine the unceasing media opprobrium and grief a Republican governor would get for standing up Joe Biden? Why do we give Newsom a pass? Such an embarrassment.
Shasta Lake Helped Water California; Now Its Dryness Is a Threat to the State - Jim Carlton; photos by Matt Black, Wall Street Journal
This is an incredible story and photo essay chronicling the challenges faced by the Californians—households, tribes, farmers, fish, and pretty much everybody else 400 miles south of Lake Shasta—who depend on water from the depleted reservoir in the North State. Here’s something I hadn’t read before: “Salmon need cold water to spawn, and usually enough is available at the bottom of the lake to send downriver. But with lower, warmer waters this year, giant chillers had to be brought in to cool lake water that was delivered to a salmon hatchery located at the base of the 602-foot dam.” Giant chillers! Oy. Anyway, if you’re looking for a straightforward, just-the-facts explainer about what’s at stake as we withstand the worst drought in 1,200 years, it’d be hard to do better than this piece.
California’s tomato farmers are getting squeezed by water crisis - Stephanie Elam, CNN
Speaking of water shortages, get ready for the Great Tomato Reckoning of 2023, triggered by drought and skyrocketing prices for fuel and fertilizer. That has already prompted some industrial farmers to abandon the crops that produce canned tomatoes, sauces, and other processed tomato goods. “There aren’t any farmers making any money on tomatoes in California this year, even with a record price,” one grower tells Elam. “All those inflationary prices that consumers are seeing in the store and food prices going up? Well, we’re seeing the same thing happening to us at the farm level.” Yeesh. How long before our ketchup is made in China?
The Gig Law Causing Chaos in California Strip Clubs - Morgan Meaker, Wired
It had been a while since I’d heard about AB 5, the 2019 law whose aim to stop exploitation of gig workers had unexpectedly dire consequences for industries from journalism to… strip clubs? “Many clubs decided to restructure the way dancers are paid after AB 5 was introduced in 2019, taking larger cuts of the money workers earned through private dances,” Meaker reports, noting that dancers have made less money almost unilaterally since AB 5 mandated their classification as part-time employees. “[M]any clubs now say they need to keep the first $100 or $120 a dancer earns from private dances to cover the cost of paying employees minimum wage, and still take a cut of any money dancers make after they reach that threshold.” And there are quotes from a dancer named Velveeta.
What We’ve Lost Playing the Lottery - Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker
Schulz is the best writer on just about anything she covers—not just for the storytelling (cf. “The Really Big One,” her haunting report on the imminent, catastrophic Cascadia quake) or spice (cf. “Pond Scum,” her classic takedown of Henry David Thoreau), but for the exhilarating surprise she brings to readers in even the most quotidian subjects. Here, she assays the decrepitude of state lotteries (including California’s) and the corporate powers at Scientific Games Inc., whose lotto lobbying over the years has yielded results far, far less than those foretold: “In California, where an S.G.I.-backed lottery initiative passed after a high-profile campaign touted it as a boon for schoolchildren, the resulting revenue covered, in the lottery’s first year, about five per cent of the state education budget. As of this year, according to the California Department of Education, lottery income accounts for roughly one per cent of all K-12 funding.”
Oakland Cops Hope to Arm Robots with Lethal Shotguns - Sam Biddle, The Intercept
Welcome to What is California?’s Dystopia Corner, where we’re thrilled to bring you this report of Oakland Police hustling the city council for a war toy called a “percussion actuated nonelectric disruptor.” What does it do? As Biddle reports: “The PAN disruptor affixes to a robot and directs an explosive force — typically a blank shotgun shell or pressurized water — at suspected bombs while human operators remain at a safe distance. Picture a shotgun barrel secured to an 800-pound Roomba on tank treads.” Sounds totally sane. Great job, Oakland. No notes.
La Princesita wins the 2022 KCRW and Gustavo’s Great Tortilla Tournament - Gustavo Arellano, KCRW
Where does Gustavo Arellano find the time to do it all? In addition to his column and podcasting duties at the LA Times, his books, his newsletter, and his guest-starring ubiquity on shows like, uh, What is California?, the hardest-working man in the Southland recently stewarded the latest edition of his namesake tortilla throwdown. Congratulations to La Princesita, whose yellow-corn tortilla knocked off three rivals of both the corn and flour varieties to rule them all. And… now I want tacos.
And finally…
BINGE WATCH: All 2022 California ballot props explained - Brandon Rittiman, ABC10
Does the sight of your California Voter Guide yellowing on your coffee table thrust you into a vortex of anxiety? Are you confused and/or driven mad by this year’s ballot measures (and the unceasing ads for and against each)? Curious why we got a Proposition 1 in a year of Propositions 26-31? This video offers a great lightning-round explainer for what the props mean and why they matter—all in about 10 minutes. Highly recommended:
Thanks for reading, and have a safe, happy weekend! 🐻 ❤️
-Stu