Saturday: saints and stars and defenders

Since their Saturday morning hiring committee interview was cancelled, Rebel Girl and familia headed up to Los Angeles. There was an afternoon memorial service for her friend, the Public Defender, to be held within Elysian Park at the Montecillo de Leo Politi Park.

They arrived early and caught an exhibit at the Autry National Center: All the Saints of the City of the Angels. Los Angeles has 103 streets named after Catholic saints—and, a few years back, local artist C. Michael Walker decided to explore each street, learn the history of each saint, and see if he could locate the spirit of the saints in today's Los Angeles.

The result is a beautiful and moving collection of paintings that educate people not only about the saints but also about today's city and the resilience of its people. Just brilliant. The artist himself was there conducting a tour and so Rebel Girl and family tagged along.

The afternoon service was held under a blazing sun. Over 200 people and at least thirty children of all ages. By afternoon's end the children had done what children do, made fast friends. Clusters of girls were weaving chains of flowers and the boys were chasing balls and playing tag, dodging in and out of the bushes, clambering up the soaring trees, shaking seed pods at each other. Pretty damn idyllic.

The grown-ups moved more slowly. Rebel Girl hadn't seen some of these people in 15, 20 years, but after a while it all came back. She thought she saw a Famous Movie Star, but Rebel Girl is notorious for failing to recognize people or for thinking she saw Someone when she didn't—so she kept the celebrity sighting to herself even though she thought the fellow had the most amazing resemblance to, well, a Famous Movie Star. We're talking Academy Award nominated, Golden Globe type of movie star. But it couldn't be, she decided. It never is with her.

The service was full of live music and eulogies. Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic." A children's choir. A brother. An uncle. A sister. Good friends. All saying what people say and more. And then, the Famous Movie Star—introduced as a friend of the family. He had, the Famous Movie Star said, been a neighbor of the family for 10 years. It was during the time he had become a Famous Movie Star. He knew that the Public Defender bragged to his friends about living next door to him. But here the Famous Movie Star began to weep a bit, voice cracking—and he explained that he thought that making it through law school then working as a public defender was much harder than anything he did in the movies, much more worthy. What the Public Defender didn't know, said the Famous Movie Star, was that he, the Famous Movie Star, used to brag about living next door to the Public Defender and his wife, the Social Worker.

And then he sang, a capella, that strange song, "Nature Boy," written by Eden Ahbez and made famous by Nat King Cole:

There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea
A little shy
And sad of eye
But very wise
Was he

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me:
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"

"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"

It all sort of worked out, that long afternoon in the sun, finding their way through their grief back to each other. They staggered away as the sun began to set, carrying a potted tomato plant. Everyone got one.

They got on the 10 and got off on Santa Fe (Saint Faith) and, while they waited for the signal, saw Homeboy Industries, founded by Father Greg Boyle, another kind of saint, who hadn't made it to that afternoon's services because he was in Italy and sent words to be read.

They were headed over to an art show: LA vs War, set up in a couple alleys and a warehouse. (They don't get up to the city all that much so when they do, well…they go places.) It was a scene that reminded them how young they were when they first met all those people back in Elysian Park. It was great and loud, too loud for their little guy so they left the music and the art for the young people and headed home.

NATURE BOY