Play Examining 4 L.A. Riots Heightens Awareness

MUSICAL LESSONS: The Leuzinger High School students approached the class as they would any other. The only difference was that this one was a course in putting on a play. But after presenting “The Nature of Riots/Civil Unrest in L.A., 1871--1992” at the Galaxy Theater in Hollywood at the end of their semester Saturday, the 15 students from the Hawthorne school said they walked away with a deeper respect for each other’s cultures.

Sponsored by the National Conference of Christian and Jews

and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, and funded by a Federal Emergency Management Agency “riot recovery” grant, the goal was to ease racially motivated tensions at the school.

“Leuzinger High approached us,” said actress Danielle Bedau, the play’s director and a member of the Interdisciplinary Theatrical Exchange, a Los Angeles theater company that puts on community productions focusing on bridging cultural gaps. “We thought it would be a good place to do the production, because they have a significant representation of all groups.”

The students met every day during the semester and worked after school, doing research. The 45-minute play focused on four episodes in Los Angeles history: The anti-Chinese riots of 1871, the Zoot Suit riot of 1943, the 1965 Watts riot, and last year’s unrest following the verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating trial.

In addition to being done at the Galaxy Theater, the play was also performed at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and twice at Leuzinger.

Student Brandie Whaley, a freshman at Leuzinger, said being a part of this production changed her view of other ethnic minorities. “We did research on the different riots, and learned about other cultures, how they felt, and how it was for them. The oppression we think is just on blacks . . . Asians and Latinos have gone through it too. Now, I can identify with their cultures more than I could before.”

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WAVING THE FLAG: About 600 Washington School students waved flags and cheered as speaker after speaker extolled the virtues of patriotism and showing the flag during a one-hour celebration Friday honoring the Stars and Stripes.

The program at the Redondo Beach elementary school was sponsored by the Redondo Beach Lions Club, which supplied the flags as well as the pomp and circumstance. “This is something we do every year, to help instill in the kids a sense of appreciation for the flag and what it stands for,” said Chuck Durham, a member of the Redondo Beach Lions.

Students were honored for writing essays and designing posters expressing their own budding patriotism.

“They (the students) thought it was wonderful,” said Judy Hatlie, program coordinator for the school. “We needed a little rah-rah.”

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BEAUTIFUL NARBONNE: For five of the last seven years, Narbonne High School in Harbor City has won the sweepstakes award for overall excellence in all categories in the Student Beautification Program sponsored by Los Angeles Beautiful Inc.

This year, Narbonne beat 32 other schools in the competition in the high school division. The schools are judged in three categories: school gardens, community project and home project.

Agriculture teacher Arnold Vosburgh said 20 of his 55 students worked on the community project, doing the landscaping for Community Bible Church in Lomita.

“The students do everything,” Vosburgh said. “They did the design, determined the budget, and interviewed the church to find out what they needed.”

On the church site, the students pruned shrubbery, planted 25 annual flowers for color, fertilized the lawn and even repaired the sprinklers. The young architects also kept detailed paperwork on the project’s progress.

Student Venus Campos took on the home project by beautifying the yard surrounding her apartment complex. Vosburgh said Venus put in a flower border along the property, laid a brick walkway, painted the garage, put up hanging baskets and renovated the lawn.

Vosburgh said Venus’ mother made her pay for the job, but ultimately gave her daughter some financial assistance. Still, Venus did all the work.

“The students work long, hard hours,” Vosburgh said. But the gratification is immediate and lasting.

“They are learning responsibility, keeping records of all they do,” he said. “People who come down and see our garden are really impressed.”

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COMMUNITY SERVICE: Brian Makoto Noguchi is a busy guy. During the past school year, the honor student played varsity volleyball for Narbonne High and attended advanced math classes in the evening at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. He also logged nearly 2,000 hours in community service projects, which included working at a homeless shelter, and training athletes and officiating at the Special Olympics. He also volunteered at various Japanese-American service organizations.

Noguchi, 18, was awarded the 1993 Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Program scholarship. He has given $500 of the $1,000 award to the South Bay Japanese American Citizens League.

The senior, who will attend Pomona College in the fall to study molecular biology, wrote an essay for the scholarship program on why he performs community service.

“I didn’t expect to win; I’m not a good writer,” he said.

So far, Noguchi has also won scholarships from the Crescent Bay Optimists, the Kiwanis Club, and a math and science scholarship from TRW.

He said he didn’t know how he survived his hectic year. But, he said: “I don’t like sitting around. I get bored.”

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CABLE AWARD: A science teacher’s ingenuity in using cable television as a classroom tool has earned Fleming Junior High in Lomita an award from a local cable company.

Copley/Colony Harbor Cablevision recognized Richard Morgon for his use of nature programs from the Discovery Channel to teach eighth-graders about the diversity of plant life in the area. The cable company donated five TV/VCR sets to Fleming, and presented a 35-millimeter camera to Morgon.

A panel of educators and cable television professionals judged the contest, which included several Harbor area junior high schools. The “Cable in the Classroom Innovation Awards” competition has been sponsored by Copley/Colony Harbor Cablevision, and its affiliated operators nationwide, since 1988. The company provides educational cable programming to 37 local public and private secondary schools.

Items for the weekly Class Notes column can be mailed to The Times South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance 90505, or faxed to (310) 373-5753 to the attention of staff reporter Carol Chastang.