On October 7, 2010, Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez spent the entire day on campus, starting us off with a lunchtime talk hosted by leaders of the student chapter of Society of Professional Journalists. Co-presidents Natalie Veissalov (journalism major) and Avo Ovakimyan (broadcast journalism major) introduced Lopez to the audience and got him going with thoughtful questions about The Soloist. Natalie and Avo opened up Q & A for the audience, and several faculty and students asked good questions that led to Lopez giving us more details about his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers. Excellent job, Natalie and Avo!
Afterward, Lopez joined Natalie, Carly Hill (another journalism major and Campus Times editor), Professor George Keeler (Communications Dept. Chair), and myself for lunch. Lopez had encouraging advice to give the journalism students about their careers.
Next, it was off to Dr. Cathy Irwin’s Intro to Creative Writing class, where students studying fiction, nonfiction, and poetry got to ask Lopez questions about his writing process. Lopez told a great story about finding his voice as a columnist, and about the novel he’s currently writing, from 5 – 8 am every morning! I personally was inspired by his discipline, and have my own plan to wake up at 5 am (so far it’s worked twice in the past two weeks).
For the evening talk, the Campus Center was packed, and Lopez summarized his relationship with Ayers. I thought most people responded to his stories about how he’s now become an advocate for mental health policies, and how he and Ayers are always invited to speak at conferences for mental health issues. Many students had more questions, but Lopez had to run off to Disney Hall, 35 miles away in downtown L.S., for another story on the LA Philharmonic that he was chasing. He signed books on his way out, and two students even followed us to his car to ask hime a question about detail in the book that I never even considered myself, which was Ayer’s ability to cite the “To Be or Not to Be” monologue in Hamlet. Lopez was very kind to answer the students’ question, even though he had literally one foot on the gas pedal and the keys in the ignition.
All in all the culmination of the first One Book, One University program at La Verne ended with a memorable day of stories shared by one of the city’s most popular storytellers of the urban and the daily. I’ll post here my introduction to Lopez for his evening talk, which several people have complimented me on.
Lastly, many thanks to all of the faculty, staff, and students who worked to make this first One Book event an enriching one for many.
An Evening with Steve Lopez
Introduction by Jolivette Mecenas
October 7, 2010
One of the most thrilling scenes of the film version of The Soloist for me was when we get to see newsprint running through the presses at the LA Times. Throughout the heyday of print journalism, which has been for most of my life, newspapers meted out the cadence of a city, in daily or weekly rhythms. Newspaper columnists fulfilled that expectation, that without fail, a reader could always count on turning the page to find a personalized account of the city, in a familiar voice. Since joining LA Times in 2001, Steve Lopez has fulfilled that expectation for readers with his column.
When I started reading Steve Lopez’s column, his writing re-oriented me to my home city, reminded me that much of the jarring T.V. news reports of urban violence were just one part of the picture. His column brings to readers the voices of the city and county of Los Angeles. The baseball stars, the governor, the mayor - they’re to be expected. But the dialogue of Salvadorean immigrant environmental activists, of out-of-work set designers, of returned veterans, beleaguered LAUSD teachers – these people are hardly ever chased by the media. And of course, the voices of the homeless, the marginalized, the resilient; Steve Lopez’s detailed, humane accounts of these conversations have mesmerized us as we’ve read The Soloist here at La Verne over the past month. These voices get lost in the star machine of Hollywood, but not in his column. In his column, these voices sing.
Now we’re in the digital age; the news is no longer measured in the daily or weekly, but delivered in an unceasing stream of information, constantly updated, revised. And yet, Steve Lopez’s reporting still anchors the conversation, still manages to keep us “squinting at that distant paradise,” for good or for bad. Even though he is originally from Northern California, I think he has tapped into Los Angeles in the way journalists who care about their city do. He writes it is “the city where the 21st century is likely to be defined. Sure we're struggling, but we're struggling with the crucial issues of our times — and we're doing it with the ocean lapping at our feet, under the shade of the palms and with a backdrop of mountains in the distance.” Academics like to deconstruct Los Angeles until it is an apocalyptic mess. But I’ll take my culturally and geographically dissonant city delivered through Mr. Lopez’s reporting, with a cup of coffee. Ladies and gentleman, I welcome to the University of La Verne Mr. Steve Lopez.
