Dear Beachhead – Therese Daniels
Dear Venice Beachhead – Tina Catalina Corcoran
My Solution: Build a Wall – David Moeller
The Law of the Land – Rene Kraus
TEDx Event Review and Feminism – Teresa Carney White
—————————————
Dear Beachhead,

I don’t know how I missed it, but yesterday I went to Gerry Fialka’s event at Beyond Baroque and picked up a copy of the March issue of The Beachhead. I was totally blown away. You people are awesome!!! It was one of the best Beachhead papers I have ever seen. Keep up the GREAT work!!!

Love to you all,
Therese Daniels
—————————————
Dear Venice Beachhead,

THANK YOU for being the AWESOME VOICE OF VENICE! Issue 400 and Party were AWESOME! Issue 401 is AWESOME! Can’t wait for issues 402 – to issue 420 – which will be so AWESOME!

Love,
Tina Catalina Corcoran
————————————–
My Solution: Build a Wall
Dear Beachhead,

I’ve noticed as of late that many people are not pleased with the direction Venice is heading. With gentrification, parking expansion and the commercial explosion on Rose and Abbot Kinney, our neighborhood is clearly at a crossroads. I have a modest, if maybe a tad extreme, proposal on how to save Venice.
 A wall. We build a giant wall on Lincoln, and don’t let anyone in (for free).
 I know it sounds ridiculous at face value, like I am an extremist conservative lobbying for a 2000 mile wall on the US/Mexico border. But really I just want a two mile wall that runs from Ocean Park to Washington. I think this will drastically cut down on the weekend overcrowding problem. Of course people are still welcome to visit, they must simply pay a fee to cross the wall. As for parking, charge $100 a space. People will pay it.
 What people you ask? The people that then shop at our restaurants, clothing stores and bars … not the folks that park for free outside our apartments and then walk to the beach with a cooler. 
Whether you be old-guard Venice or a USC frat bro that just got a job at Google, we are all neighbors bonding against a common enemy. There is a famous line in the classic scene Green Street Hooligans: “We don’t like outsiders.” Leave the restaurants on Rose alone, the real enemy is the East Side. Join me.

– David Moeller
———————————————-
THE LAW OF THE LAND

The law can be ANYTHING, ANYTIME. The land is only ONE. It has been here for a long time and will be for a long time to come – contrary to humans.
So what is the land value? Who is dictating the price? Once it was $60,000, and in no time it was $300,000 and now $1.6 million. Seems to me somebody here is joking.
Sitting Bull’s proclamation that “People belong to the Earth, the Earth does NOT belong to the People” is certainly a way to put it. Many WARS have been fought over it, lots of blood spilled on the Earth. People are getting buried in the Earth. The man is sustained by the land, he is fed by it, so what is it worth? Is it worth Preservation and Availability for EVERYONE?
But I suppose this is a pretty far-fetched idea anyhow, the thing that whoever takes care of the land is his keeper – because nobody can really own it FOREVER and EVER. Let’s Keep it OPEN, FREE, BEAUTIFUL and SACRED. Respect the right of EVERYONE to enjoy it to the fullest extent. EVERY square inch of VENICE is worthy of preservation. Embrace the history of this unusual place. Let’s come together on May 2 at 733 Brooks Avenue at 5:00 pm to speak our minds and take back the land.
Let’s put the money where our mouth is: let’s support the Venice Coalition to Preserve our Unique Community Character.

– Rene Kraus
——————————————–
TEDx Event Review and Feminism
Hello! 

I’ve just been reviewing my first edition of the Beachhead, the March 2015 International Women’s Day Issue. As a Venice resident and a woman, I was excited to read more about some local heroines through the eyes of the Venice Beachhead. Imagine my disappointment when I came across this quote in Brad Kay’s TEDx Venice Beach article in the same issue: 
“The men dressed in T-shirts, jeans, cutoffs, sandals; the women all were in baggy clothes, again, jeans – not a dress or decent pair of gams to be seen – no makeup.”
I think it would have been sufficient to simply write that men and women alike were dressed more casually than Mr. Kay felt appropriate. Further noting that the women were lacking tighter clothes, dresses and makeup implies that they should have been dressed that way. And the “decent pair of gams” comment is simply sexist and gross! 
Did no one review that TEDx article and find that offensive? I found it especially troubling to see that sort of a comment about women featured in the International Women’s Day issue.
Would Mr. Kay make those same comments about his female guides for the event? Or would he say the same about the women you featured on the Beachhead front page, and imply they should have been wearing more revealing clothing and makeup? I would like to hope he would give them the respect of focusing on their contributions to the community.
The women at TED events, like the men, are there to learn and inspire and build community. Surely he knows they can accomplish that with or without makeup on? TED events are supposed to celebrate brilliant new ideas and forward thinking. Mr. Kay seems to be missing the point entirely, at least in regards to feminism. 
The female TEDx attendees, just like the male attendees and the women featured on the front page of your paper, deserve to enjoy a local Venice event in comfortable and event-appropriate clothing. Please inform Mr. Kay that if he would like to see a decent pair of gams and some makeup at a TedX event (or anywhere for that matter), he can wear a dress and put on some makeup himself!

Best, 
Teresa Carney White