Step outside of your conversation boxes

BARBARA DIAMOND

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that people in this town ever talk to

anyone more than 4 feet outside their own orbit.

Saturday night, the Community Clinic will present Icons and

Legends, its major fundraiser, Mayor Cheryl Kinsman will host a

fundraiser for her reelection, and Laguna’s own Carl St. Clair will

conduct the Pacific Symphony in its first-ever concert here -- not to

mention wonderful activities planned for children.

Last Sunday, the Board of Realtors had its Chili Cook Off and Pet

Parade at Tivoli Too, while just down the road, the Boys and Girls

Club of Laguna celebrated its grand re-opening at the same time.

We have a communication gap in this town, the most active of

communities. We need an all-encompassing, year-round community

calendar.

“People don’t talk to anyone outside their own little world,” AIDS

Services Foundation founder Al Roberts said. “That’s why we always

kept “Splash” on the same weekend, every year.

“We moved the fundraiser to Sept. 25 this year because of the

symphony, but I have already reserved the grounds for our usual date

next year.”

Roberts and partner Ken Jillson knew about the concert, because

they are both on the Laguna Beach Concert Committee, and Jillson will

be performing.

The city puts out the Laguna Beach Arts Calendar, but the most

recent issue didn’t list the concert.

A Chamber of Commerce calendar attempts to include events of

community interest but goes only to chamber members.

“I don’t have the time to pull events off of everyone’s websites,

but I have been asking organizations to contact me with information

so that we at least are informed,” chamber administrative manager

Linda Luse said.

Neither the concert nor Kinsman’s fundraiser were listed in this

month’s calendar.

In fact, chamber officials moved an event planned for next month

to another date because they recently discovered that Tivoli Too was

“uber-Oktoberfested.”

“Just Monday, we switched the date to Nov. 10,” Luse said.

Lillian Reiter, spokeswoman for the Laguna Beach Democratic Club

reported that close to 1,000 people attended the opening celebration

Sept. 10 of the club’s election headquarters.

Did you know about it in time to make plans to attend or did you

already have tickets to “Tuesdays With Morrie” at the Laguna

Playhouse? Would you have switched ticket dates if you had the

opportunity?

Attempts have been made to create a central clearinghouse for all

events. The chamber tried a couple of times, once after

reorganization in the 1980s and again under the management of Sande

St. John and Sandy Thornton.

If anybody in town knows what is going on, it’s the Sandies, and

even they couldn’t pull it off.

“Organizations just didn’t send in their information,” St. John

said.

Not all events are planned a year ahead. Some are. The dates

should be available.

Every year, the chamber welcomes the many community groups in town

to a luncheon. Participants are asked to recite accomplishments of

the previous year and goals for the next one. What an opportunity to

collect information for a community calendar.

Even if times and locations are not nailed down, at least the date

would be posted, if not reserved.

Trust me: The Laguna Art Museum knows at least a year in advance

when it will hold its Arts For Aids fundraiser at the St. Regis.

Wouldn’t you like to know?

ON A HAPPIER NOTE

The Assisteens of Laguna Beach will hold their first meeting of

the school year on Tuesday.

“I encourage anyone interested in a fun way to perform community

service to attend,” said board member Adria Kloke

Kloke clerked Saturday with members Christina Mestre and Brianna

Neal at the Turnabout Thrift Shop operated by the Assistance League

of Laguna Beach. Assisteens are a league auxiliary.

“This is an opportunity to do community service with girls of your

own age,” Mestre said.

All three girls joined the group as ninth-graders

“I knew I had to have 40 hours of community service to graduate,

but now all my best friends are in Assisteens,” 2004-05 board chair

Neal said.

The group has about 50 members. More would be welcomed.

Students at Laguna Beach, Dana Hills and Capistrano Valley, Santa

Margarita, St. Margaret’s and Sage Hill high schools are eligible.

Last June, Neal visited Thurston Middle School to talk to

eighth-graders about the group, which ranges from ninth-graders to

seniors.

“Incoming freshmen are terrified -- that’s the way it is for

everyone,” Kloke said. “Knowing you have a place to go with seniors

who really want to talk to you is very reassuring.”

Activities fall into three categories: community service,

self-improvement and social events.

Members are required to work in the league’s resale shop twice a

year and attend monthly meetings.

Community service projects have included filling tube socks with

personal items like toothbrushes for the Laguna Beach Resource

Center, stuffing backpacks for Even Start and Head Start students and

delivering them, playing Bingo on Sundays with seniors.

This year, the group will assist Working Wardrobes, a supplier of

suitable clothing for people looking for jobs without the means to

dress for success.

Self-improvement programs include college preparation, career

guidance and rules of etiquette.

“We are expanding the career meeting this year to include the

arts,” Neal said. “Before, we have had mostly professions.”

Meetings also allow time for craft programs.

“We have made placemats and Christmas decorations for the senior

center and gift bags for their Bingo winners,” Kloke said.

Social events include the Mother/Daughter Tea, Father/Daughter

Bowling, sleepovers, an end of summer party -- held this year Aug. 29

at Kendall Hellman’s home, a Christmas potluck and an end-of-term

recognition of graduating seniors and installation of new officers.

Board members for the upcoming school year: Neal, Mestre, Kloke,

Hellman, Torrey and Corinne Anderson Schoepe, Anne Olson, Lucille

Wagner, Katherine McIntryre, Katie McComb, Gina Yocum, Megan Vick,

Marhi Barne and Ali Hawthorne.

For more information about the Assisteens, call (949) 499-1223.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949)494-8979.