September 2021

Environmental Services Plants Trees for Latino Heritage Month

On September 25, KYCC Environmental Services joined the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Councilmember Kevin De Leon, Council District 14, City Plants, and more, to celebrate Latino Heritage Month with a Community Tree Planting and Adoption event in Boyle Heights. The day focused on bringing together climate action and community by working with the city’s Tree Ambassadors and volunteers to plant 47 street trees along Judson Street and the surrounding neighborhood blocks. Read more

September is:

National Indoor Plant Week (9-19-21 to 9-25-21)

When you add plants to your indoor environment, you:

·         Improve air quality

·         Reduce noise and distractions

·         Decrease stress

·         Increase productivity

·         Increase creativity

·         Decrease absenteeism

·         And they are just pretty to look at!

Some ways you can celebrate National Indoor Plants Week:

· Take extra care of the houseplants you already own. Fall is a perfect time to give them a last dose of fertilizer until spring. Dust off the leaves with a soft cloth soaked in warm, soapy water

· Bring home some new friends for your houseplants from your favorite garden store.

· Give a houseplant (or a cutting) as a gift to a friend, especially someone at home a lot such as a retired relative or friend.

· Learn more about the benefits of houseplants to your health.  

· Stand by your houseplant and breath in the air! It’s producing healthy oxygen just for you.

· Teach your kids about growing and caring for plants, and encourage them to care for some plants of their own.

· Talk to your plants. People believe plants respond positively when you talk to them. It can’t hurt – and you will benefit from the positivity too.

· Most of all, have fun spending quality time with your beautiful indoor plants.

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Here are some events around LA you can celebrate Latinx (Hispanic) Heritage Month:

1.   Let’s Make Music 

Children will be able to recycle plastic containers into colorful percussion instruments, including maracas, guiros, drums and more. The socially distanced program will be held in an outdoor courtyard and all materials provided. The free event will take place at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Alma Reaves Woods – Watts Branch Library, located at 10205 Compton Ave. For more information, visit lapl.org/branches/watts

2.   Día de los Muertos at Grand Park 

Celebrate the holiday at this free event that includes 24 large-scale altar installations that begin with a Noche de Ofrenda or Night of the Offerings (or Altars). The event invites park-goers to contribute to the community altar. The event will take place Oct. 22 at Grand Park in downtown LA, located at 200 N. Grand Ave. For more information, visit Grand Park’s Facebook page. 

3.   QFilms 2021 – Latinx Queer Shorts Program

The Long Beach QFilm Festival is the oldest film festival in Long Beach and the only festival dedicated to showcasing the diversity of the LGBTQ community. This LGBTQ cultural event in Long Beach features narrative films, documentaries, shorts and special tributes. This in-person and virtual event will run from Sept. 30 through Oct. 3 at the Art Theatre. For more information on ticket prices and start times, visit qfilmslongbeach.com

4.   Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy

Boyle Heights delves into the in-depth history of the Los Angeles neighborhood. It showcasing the potent experiences of its residents — from early contact between Spanish colonizers and native Californians to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also shed light on the hunt for hidden Communists among the Jewish population, negotiating citizenship and belonging among Latino migrants and Mexican American residents, and beyond. This free ongoing event can be streamed online. 

5.   I am: New Afro-Latinx Narratives

This exhibit celebrates the African heritage with its influence in Latin American countries. Through a selection of artworks and artistic perspectives, the exhibit presents an open conversation through art, around important themes like race, power and heritage, revisiting the fight for identity in communities of African descent. The free ongoing event can be streamed on the Museum of Latin American Art website. 

The national website for Latinx (Hispanic) Heritage Month

https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

is the holiest day of the year in Judaism (Jewish Religion). Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a day-long fast, confession, and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.  This year Yom Kippur begins the evening of 9-15-21 and ends the evening of 9-16-21.

National Pepperoni Pizza Day 9-20-21

We will be celebrating Pepperoni Pizza Day on Tuesday, September 28.  All sites will have pizza delivered for lunch.

Birthdays and KYCC Anniversaries

Did you know

KYCC’s computer network is a shared system.

In order to maximize performance for each of us, we need to free up resources when we’re not using them.

When you leave for the day or for meetings, please sign out of your Terminal Services session.

Click the Start button and click on the head icon on the top of the list, then click “Sign out”.

Don’t just close the window or click the X on the upper right. Disconnecting looks similar but doesn’t free up resources.

Thank you for helping us keep our computer system running at its best.

Now you know!

Rigor and Rigid

Messing with Strathern’s Law 

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Marilyn Strathern expanded on Charles Goodhart’s comment about monetary policy and turned it into a useful law of the universe.

As soon as we try to manipulate behaviors to alter a measure, it’s no longer useful.

That’s why you can’t believe social media metrics. Because they don’t measure anything except whether someone is good at making them go up.

–          Seth’s Blog