New Year’s 2001: A Short Story

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HolidayDigest

 

Editor’s Note: This week’s digest entries mark the final installment of submissions by writers in film director and local resident Christine Fugate’s writing workshop.

In 2000, Laguna Beach was not just a city with a near zero crime rate, sky high income levels, and America’s lowest rate of obesity, but according to the Census done that year, it was the whitest of all 33 cities in Orange County.

By Anita Razin
By Anita Razin

As a resident of Indian descent, I alone represented 1 billion from the subcontinent, leaving me feeling like a perpetual outsider. Laguna was also a sanctuary for yoga-loving, whole grain-eating, Hummer-driving, and youthful looking people. Their charitable acts included sending shoes and deodorant to the needy in far off places. Monthly, some lined up for Botox fish lip. In my opinion, they were masquerading as open-minded liberals.

The millennia had been good to Laguna Beach until that Tuesday morning when hijackers slammed airplanes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, making the threat of fanatical Islam seep into the American psyche like poison.

That horrifying tragedy forced Americans to abandon the arrogance held onto until Sept. 10. By Sept. 12, we were collectively scared, suspicious and skeptical. Additionally for me, as I vaguely resembled the enemy, I sensed racism brewing. For example, ordinary Americans who mistook them for Muslims brutalized turbaned Sikhs.

Three months later, when the holidays descended on Laguna, I felt the same mild irritation at the general population’s annual desire to help the hungry and homeless. I could not reconcile the maddening mall sales, toy of the year and Rudolph songs with this fleeting philanthropic streak.

It was when I was invited to a post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s party on Dec. 28 that I witnessed the new post-9-11 altered state of Laguna.

I was happy to attend the Milford’s dinner party because it didn’t require that I bring a wallet or a potluck dish. Though their tree was lit up, the home was infused with a sense of humility. Women wore less sparkle and arrived without giant designer bags. Everyone sipped alcohol gingerly and spoke demurely, making harmless jokes.

Just as we gathered around the buffet, Steve and Marisa Johnson, a boisterous pair notorious for making outlandish comments when least expected, arrived fueled with alcohol. A hush fell over the house as we kept our fingers crossed, knowing their devotion to “W” and his reckless foreign policy. I retreated in the folds of the velvet drapes not wanting to hear their perspectives on what George, the perfect man of war, needed to do.

“So what do you think of the assholes who blew up the World Trade Center?” Steve announced, looking around for support. “They’re just animals.”

“Hey man, let’s enjoy tonight,” the host, Dave Milford said, trying subtly to dampen Steve’s spirits. “Come on, grab a plate.”

“Sure, but that Saddam is freaking insane,” Steve continued. “First we let those psychos in. Remember when this was a great country?”

“That’s enough, man…” Dave said sternly. “Stop for now.”

“All right, but our immigration laws need revising, no more welcome mat. I say strip searches,” he said with a laugh while pouring gravy over fat slabs of roast beef in his plate. The rest of us nibbled on yams and corn, as though there was a pit in every bite.

“Man, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Dave finally said, shaking his head.

“What do you mean, dude?” Steve asked indignantly.

“It’s just an opinion,” interrupted Marisa, who was wearing a slinky white dress trimmed with faux fur and chandelier earrings. “Aren’t we entitled as Americans?”

“Not here. Not tonight,” Dave responded, gently taking Steve’s elbow and guiding him out the front door.

Sarah Milford tried to restore order with talk of snow and ski conditions ‘til Dave returned. When he came back, there was a sigh of relief.

“Okay folks, let’s eat!” he said without any anger. “But first I’d like to propose a toast to peace on earth, to a good new year and to our great nation!”

Thankful to have the Johnsons gone, the rest of us connected in our aim to stand up when things went wrong, to apologize on behalf of the poorly behaved and to be grateful to have caring friends.

That night, the intrinsic notion locked inside the American holiday season became clear to me as demonstrated by well-meaning Lagunans. As the party wore on, the hosts and guest worked collectively to make those of us who looked different keep from feeling different. They inquired with kindness about my well-being with gentle questions. They listened to me with sensitivity, making me believe I was no outsider, but one of them.

 

After a lifetime of writing for herself, Anita Razin feels ready to share her stories, fiction and non-fiction. An educator, a wife, a mom, and now, perhaps,  a “writer, ” says her muse, local filmmaker Christine Fugate.

 

 

 

 

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  1. UPDATE ON RACE BAITING AND CULTURAL BIGOTRY BY LAGUNA BEACH NEWSPAPER

    LAGUNA BEACH INDEPENDENT DOUBLES DOWN ON COVER-UP OF FICTION-FACT-OPINION SNAFU:

    The smart move would have been for the Indy simply to admit it made a mistake by publishing political fiction laced with public policy opinion and ideological commentary on race issues in Laguna Beach, without informing readers that it was all three – fiction, opinion and ideological manifesto.

    Instead, the Indy has chosen to attack its critics, and the truth. In its January 9 edition the Laguna Beach Independent printed an excellent Letter to the Editor from another reader, exposing the lack of author and editor ethics in the January 2 publication of the Anita Razin’s essay blaming American arrogance for 9/11. That was the least the paper could do to allow opposing voices to be heard.

    But in a continuation its stonewalling on ethical problems with the article, the Indy labelled the critical reader’s letter in a manner intended to make light of the writer’s well-taken points. “Fictional Tale Antagonizes Reader” was the Indy’s way of misleading readers to believe the reader had over reacted to a fictional story. That implies the Razin story had been labelled or presented as fiction, which represents a revision of Indy’s earlier admission that it failed to make the fictional pretext of the story “clear enough” in its print or original online edition. Revision of an earlier admission equals a cover up.

    Worse yet, the Indy invited the author’s writing coach to defend the Razin essay and rebut the critical reader’s letter. Pretty intense damage limitation tactics. But instead of dealing with content and issues the writing coach engaged in rhetorical triumphalism, declaring the article a “success” because it aroused passion. This is the same defense of fraudulent journalism employed to justify the contrived Rolling Stone article on sexual assault on college campuses and reporting on the fake Duke Lacrosse team rape case. So now we have the Indy and the writing coach defending Razin’s article, which uses fiction, opinion and ideology to blame 9/11 on American arrogance, and allege that misdirected anti-muslim sentiment is the cause of white racism in Laguna Beach toward all non-white people.

    If the Indy thinks snide quips by Razin’s writer workshop coach or after the fact online edition clarification of the nature of this writing makes it right, the Indy is wrong. It is the Indy, the writer and the writer’s coach who are the antagonists and antagonized players in this entire shoddy affair, not the reader who responded in a measured and restrained tone.

    Fiction or not the piece appeared under the opinion heading in the online edition. Fictional characters aside, the first person narrative of the writer asserted than 9/11 was linked to American arrogance that now feeds pervasive racism in Laguna Beach. There is a broad ranging multi-modal social media discussion of this writing and the way Indy handled its errors in its publication. People in our town from across the political and social spectrum agree this is reverse racism and slanderous hate speech directed at our community.

    Not to mention that it was done during the holidays and at a time when racial issues and terrorism are subjects that require insight and moral logic, not the ability to arouse emotion disconnected from reason and intellectual honesty. At a time when Jews are fleeing Paris for the first time since Hitler was on the march and a new wave of Islamo-fascism and terror is predicted by western nation intelligence services, our town paper thinks it is a priority to falsely accuse our community of being so filled with anti-muslim hate that it causes us to be racist toward all non-white people. No matter how soft-peddled in “writers workshop” drivel about Razin “finding their muse,” this is not the time for what we have here, which is truly delusional polemics that border on apologetics for reverse racism and and cultural bigotry.

    If nothing else, Razin needed and deserved intellectual and creative guidance and direction from her writers workshop coach, as well as from Indy’s editor, who was collaborating in the publication of materials developed in the workshop. How could the Indy fail to see that the core logic of this essay by Razin is identical to the reasoning behind the reverse racism of Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright?

    It was the job of the Indy’s editor to protect the Indy, Razin, and even her writing coach from the indiscriminate use of this material, without at least a disclaimer about its political opinion and racially charged ideological content, as well as its fictional passages dehumanizing white people who do not share Razin’s opinions on 9/11. This is not about Razin’s freedom of speech, which is undisputed, it is about how she, her coach and the Indy presented the material to readers, and then tried to blame readers who exposed the true nature of the material for “over-reacting” to fiction.

    Ironically, the “clarification” notes by the Indy and the self-serving writer workshop coach are best evidence that the Indy created an ethics problem but did not deal with it responsibly. Declaring success because the writing created negative reactions is pretty pathetic. As so often is the case, the cover up is worse than the breach of ethics.

    I once spent some quality time in Sonoma and Mendocino with Anais Nin and some of her writers workshop pals, and she talked with us about ethics in fiction and non-fiction writing. The Indy’s editorial standards for how the ethics of this publication was handled fall far short of the principles Nin as the mother of all women’s writing workshops upheld.

    The Indy had more than one chance to come clean and didn’t do it. The Indy is diminished and less than it was because of this. But it has proven to a lot of us that the social media frees us from codependency on any news and opinion source. This is our town, and the response to e-mail and facebook networking has exceeded all expectation. If there is any success in this it is that.

    TO BE CONTINUED…

    PLEASE FORWARD IF YOU FIND THIS INTERESTING:
    LAGUNA BEACH INDEPENDENT PUBLISHES “HATE SPEECH LITE” AND RESTRICTS REBUTTALS

    The January 2 print edition the Laguna Beach Independent published a front page story asserting that the 2001 terror attack on the U.S. was somehow about America’s national “arrogance.” This astonishing assertion was then accompanied by allegations of white racist bias against non-white people in Laguna Beach. It appeared to be non-fiction, and in the internet on-line edition it was listed in the Opinion section.

    But when readers reacted the editor claimed it was fiction and conceded that had not been made “clear enough,” but still defended the value of the “story” as an exploration of anti-muslim bias. The on line version was then modified to inform readers it was an expression of the writer’s political opinion but she used fictional characters to illustrate her point of views.

    So misleading readers is justified if it generates “discussion” of the issues raised in a “story” that is not true? Where have we heard that journalistic ethical relativism before? I have done a lot of guest opinion column and letter to the editor writing in the LB Indy, too much, and I was looking forward to taking a break, but I had too many people call me and make sure I was doing a commentary on this fiasco to ignore it.

    Although I was busy and tired of writing about local political affairs, this was a local issue related to national affairs. So I submitted a timely opposing view commentary, but the editor rejected it, offering only to consider a letter to the editor, allowing less than half the word count as the story accusing our town of directing anti-muslim racism at all non-white people. I actually prefer letter to editor format, but this material linking 9/11 to American arrogance required a literary deconstruction to separate fact from fiction. I was doing the newspaper a service by enabling it to show impartiality, after its failure to manage publication of this bizarre material in a responsible way.

    Fine, it is a free country, the editor can selectively and in a self-serving manner limit rebuttals and commentary to letters to the editor, even though that is not the paper’s standard practice. But for anyone interested here is the commentary the Indy refused to print:

    STRANGE FRUIT FOR HOLIDAY GIFT
    By Howard Hills
    A few days after the 9/11 attacks on America, I patronized the local business of an American of the Muslim faith. Before leaving his shop I told the owner fear of terrorism wouldn’t stop me from being one of his long time loyal customers.
    He was so appreciative I assured other Muslims I knew and trusted 9/11 did not change my feelings toward them. This is what my grandparents, who moved to Laguna Beach in 1929, would have done, and that is how my parents raised me. Our town has always had character because we value character, and don’t accuse or fear people who are different, unless there is a damn good reason.
    The character of our town was unfairly demeaned by the Indy’s “Holiday Digest” (Jan. 2), featuring “New Years 2001: A Short Story” by Anita Razin. Though ambiguously framed, whether fiction or opinion this fabricated tale of racial victimization in our town features thinly veiled reverse racism and cultural bias.
    The real fiction would be to pretend Razin’s “story” is not ideological in its description of our community’s alleged rampant racism. Thus, Razin’s “victim” allegedly was targeted for being of “Indian descent” and treated as a “perpetual outsider” in Laguna Beach because she is not white.
    Razin portrays her neighbors as decadent white people “masquerading as open minded liberals,” whose lifestyles warrant contempt. She disdains yoga, SUV’s, beauty spa treatments and our culturally ignorant charity, “sending shoes and deodorant to the needy in far off places.”
    To prove her case Razin reaches back 13 years to the 9/11 terrorist attack on America in New York, recalling “I vaguely resembled the enemy, I sensed racism brewing.” These feelings of persecution in “the whitest city” of Orange County turned to “irritation” after 9/11, when our town rallied its spirit for the Judeo-Christian holidays.
    Of holiday giving Razin writes “I could not reconcile” this “fleeting philanthropic streak” with “maddening mall sales…and Rudolph songs.” This cognitive dissonance about balancing secular and spiritual values on religious holidays is familiar not only to Americans who celebrate Christmas, but to people of all faiths and philosophies in all nations.
    As portrayed by Razin, the moral shallowness of our holiday traditions became intolerable in 2001, as Laguna spiraled into a “new…altered state” after 9/11. Her accusatory narrative about Christmas 2001 then resolves itself into a tale of two cities.
    One Laguna is inhabited by arrogant, racist, war mongering white people eating and drinking excessively at garish Christmas parties. She demonizes these ugly Americans in stilted unconvincing caricatures of our neighbors, portrayed making loudly profane declarations of race driven support for America’s “reckless foreign policy” in combating terrorism.
    In the other Laguna we encounter a morally superior class of people who do not see 9/11 as mass murder by religious fanatics on American soil. Instead, 9/11 is a “horrifying tragedy” of unknown cause or origin that “forced Americans to abandon the arrogance held onto until September 10.”
    In the “good” Laguna mild mannered people show restraint in holiday celebrations, displaying Christmas decorations with “humility.” Women refrain from the immodesty of flashy jewelry.
    All faiths value humility, but Razin demands it on her own morally warped terms. She does not praise austere holidays out of respect for thousands murdered in the Hellish inferno that brought down iconic skyscrapers full of innocent people in the name of Allah. Rather, she extols the virtue of neighbors she saw as humbled and chastened because America’s “arrogance” and racism were punished on 9/11.
    But to what manifestation of arrogance and racism does she refer?
    Was it the 65% of all annual worldwide food donations to poor countries provided by the USA? Or, was it the 1.5 million legally admitted alien immigrants we allow to become citizens each year, more than legal immigration allowed by all other nations of the world combined?
    I grew up in this town believing the dark skinned Filipino man next door and his white wife were my Uncle Carl and Aunt Velma. Never heard race based hate expressed in our home once, not ever.
    My wife is Micronesian, a deeper brown than how Razin portrays herself. If anyone here tried to treat my wife as an outsider she would give them an attitude adjustment right on the spot, but it never happened here.
    Still, she has some very funny stories about Latino and Asian nannies in the park gossiping with her because she is brown. You wouldn’t believe what she learned about the real Laguna Beach from those loose-lipped nannies.
    My wife also has hilarious tales of white moms who assume she is a nanny for our own grandkids because they are more white. She often went along when instructed to watch their children, even feed and change diapers, while these very entitled moms dished the dirt on the cell phone.
    But that is human fallibility that comes with diversity, not in itself hate based racism. Razin and the Indy should know the difference before disparaging our town’s character. A lot of less-white and minority-white towns are a far less tolerant racially and culturally than Laguna Beach.
    Howard Hills

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