Where Kanani Thanks The Pressmen

So this is where I thank every single one of you working to print the paper. If it hadn't been for you and your warm reception to my writing for the blog after Mr. Chandler died, I'd never have gotten my own started.

Writing is difficult, it's neither a sport where skills can be gained so I win a championship, nor is it a practice like yoga where my flexibility is measured by whether or not I can touch my nose to the floor while bending over. No, it's just pounding out word by word, sentence by sentence, hoping everything that I feel or think comes together in a coherent way that touches each of you. And I'm elated when I receive notes from you, or comments, or just see the hits on my counter go up. I like it when Ed calls, and I like the energy you put out in trying times. Hey, I even like MrOC, and I swear, one day Ed and I are going to drive to Costa Mesa and take that guy out to someplace really cheap!

I know that these have been difficult years for all of you. I know what it is to see something great slip into turmoil and still faithfully attend to it day after day. What keeps you going is a mixture of hope, pride and sometimes despair. And that's just at work.

Like you, I grapple with the difficulties with teens, money, health matters and the gamut that things that ensure us that our life is not a sitcom. We don't have people who do things for us, though often we wished we had a fairy godmother who'd clear a bit of emotional traffic for us. So I just wanted to say these following things, and lest you think they're all hyper-jingo from some damned seminar, they're not. It's simply a bunch of stuff I decided to when the shit hit the fan and I couldn't find the "off" button.

1. Don't let the assholes get you down.
2. Learn to clear negative people out of your life. "You are a broom, they are the dust."
3. Surround yourself with people who are positive and humor.
4. Laugh. Say nice things.
5. When people say critical mean things, say something even nicer to them. Dispense with them using kindness. You might annoy them, and they will go away. Then laugh and go on.
6. Enjoy the quiet moments with yourself. Seek to create them with your family and friends.
7. We are not the sum of our problems. What makes us great is our ability to create solutions.

Times are tough, there is no denying this fact. Cultivate goodness around you and I guarantee, you'll get it back tenfold. I know I have. That's what you've given to me. Like this:

from Al Martinez: Greetings, Kanani. You are one damned fine writer. Keep it up and stretch out to other areas. There's got to be a book in you.

And one last thing. In July or August, I want to host a party for the pressmen, wives and other LA Times writers in my backyard here in Fullerton. Ed will make the arrangements because that's what Ed does, and I know it's pointless to stop him.