Barb offers this to the BLOG:
Last night I got a phone call from muralist Judy Baca and SPARC director
Debra Padilla. They were the two main people I interviewed for the story
on LA murals in the NY Times. They called to say they had received a
$50,000 grant from the Annenberg Foundation as a result of the article.
And that another grant-giving foundation contacted them and asked them
to apply, also as a result of the article. There was more, too...things
like the city's mayor taking notice again and promising to mention the
mural in their promotional materials...stuff like that. For me, it was
unusual to hear of such immediate responses. When I was an editor at SF
Focus, one of my responsibilities was to edit the letters to the editor
page. Indeed, some months would pass with no letters, no response, no
nothin'. So I would apply my creative writing talents, or at least my
interview talents to have enough letters to fill two columns. I remember
one party in San Francisco where I interviewed three people who SAID
they read some story but would never feel strongly enough to write
someone a letter about it. (Of course, ever since I view letters to the
editor pages as possible fiction inserts.) So, here was some real-life
reaction! It's also very cool that a publication in New York can have
such far-reaching impact across the U.S. We hear about New York being
the cultural center of the country all the time. It's neat to see the
more small, subtle way that plays out.
Love, Barb

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