There But For Fortune: An American Family

Those millions (!) of you who are regular readers of this blog know that faithful commenter Rosedog is – in real life— the accomplished journalist and author Celeste Fremon.

Time to toot her horn a bit and provide you, the reader, with some good…reading.

Celeste has just finished writing and publishing in the L.A. Weekly the last installment of an extraordinary  seven-part year long series on one American family – Luis and Frances Aguilar of East Los Angeles.

Not only does the series make an enthralling read, it also tells us two compelling stories at once.  The story of the Aguilars. And the story of what some intrepid reporting can accomplish.

Celeste’s assignment a year ago, which I had a minor role, was to find a local L.A. family that was living on the edge and then chronicle their lives throughout the year 2004.

Choosing the Aguilars as her subjects, Celeste had make a daunting decision. Here was a latino family headed by a guy who had just been paroled out of prison for gang-related felonies and was now going to try to make it on the outside. This was hardly the warm and fuzzy fallen middle-class sort of family that is the usual fodder for newspaper series on economic hardship.

Selling the Aguilars as a sympathetic case was arduous. Among the skeptical were some of Celeste’s editors, including yours truly.  But Celeste stayed on the case, and working with L.A. Weekly News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt, and backed by editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa, wound up producing a truly stunning real-time series. This is a vivid portrayal of a family at the bottom of the social heap that has to overcome not only the obvious external obstacles but also their own shortcomings, misjudgements and foibles.

Over the course of the last year, Luis was charged with new crimes and spent more time in jail before the charges were dropped. Celeste’s investigative reporting on the matter helped clear him and expose police over-zealousness. During the same period, the Aguilars lost their children to county authorities—and… well, I won’t give away anymore.

My suggestion is you print out the seven installments listed below (along with Celeste’s companion essay on the lessons learned from this year-long venture), that you staple them all together, and that you treat yourself to one fabulous read. Here is the power of what one reporter can do on his or her own – with few resources other than insight, compassion and a sense of justice.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

A Reporter's Analysis: The Lessons Learned 

The photos in this piece were taken by the talented Anne Fishbein who also shot the pictures for my book on Las Vegas.

Enjoy the reading. And, Rosedog, good luck on selling this as a book.

Comments

[Michael Turner]

"Lock 'em up and throw away the key. Three strikes and yer out. Just put 'em away."

Easy conclusions, but not only are they inhumane conclusions in many cases, they don't make good business sense either. Looked at from a strictly economic point of view, this vindictiveness is extremely expensive, and it's not worth it.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040812.html

It's not like I'm never been a crime victim myself. I'm mugged liberal, but still a liberal. I lived in fear, rage and despair for over a year when a man who had been convicted of attempted murder for assaulting a woman who later became my girlfriend was reported to have jumped parole. He was nowhere to be found by the police - but was occasionally sighted by this girlfriend of mine. Yeah, OK, you'll hear me say it: Lock him up. Throw away the key.

But what about all those people doing long prison terms for drug offenses and relatively minor crimes? We pay for their long incarcerations, and society pays again when some of these people become hardened criminals. And, as Celeste's story shows, law enforcement agencies add yet another unneeded expense, by going seriously overboard in pursuit of some suspects, and with repercussions for young children that threaten to perpetuate the cycle. There has to be a better way.

[reg]

thanks for posting this series...I don't see the LA Weekly and would have missed it.

[Amy Hiatt]

I'm glad you mentioned Rosedog aka Celeste Fremon. I always look for and enjoy her comments on your blog. Needless to say, I live for your blog. Here's to another year! I'll be lurking.

[steve]

"This is a vivid portrayal of a family at the bottom of the social heap that has to overcome not only the obvious external obstacles but also their own shortcomings, misjudgements and foibles."

Well, yes, every individual from each social class has to overcome foibles and misjudgements. The difference of course is when a foible or misjudgement is made by one of immense incomprehensible amounts of material means, they have the luxury of not having to pay dearly for such mistakes. Look at our president or his children or his nieces and nephews, brothers,...

[Randy Paul]

Thanks for the tip, Marc. I copied and pasted it and exported it as a PDF file. An impressive piece of work, Rosedog, er . . . Celeste. Look forward to reading it.

[Mark Schubb]

Stellar work, Rosedog. Congratulations.

[jim hitchcock]

This is a story that will stick with me for a long time, much as the tale of train hopping El Salvadorian Enrique's trip to see his mom in the U.S. has (a series that ran in the LA Times nearly three years ago). Always admired Boyle's efforts; like to see, someday, an expansion of the story on John Pedroza; maybe seeing him as a voice of reason vs. enduring LAPD gangsterism is a wild overstatement on my part; I just don't know. Thank you, Rosedog.

[reg]

A CAUTIONARY NOTE: If you intend to download these stories for printing later, don't use Marc's links. I did that and when I opened them up a day later found that I had saved marcCooper.com pages with marc's orginal post instead of the story segments. It's because the web "frame" isn't the orginal LA Weekly stories. I did this via Firefox, so it could be idiosyncratic BUT you can go to the current LA Weekly and back-link via a sidebar, story by story.

[rosedog]

Marc, thanks many times over for your great generosity in posting this.

And thanks to the various commenters. (Geeze, Michael. That’s a scary story. It's that kind of person whom we'd all want to see locked up.)

Jim H. I appreciate your idea about expanding upon Pedroza, the good cop. It’s clear to me that I need to do far, far more on Rudy Chavez who is the sort of Javert character in the story. In the series, he’s awfully 2 dimensional, mostly due to the limitations of space and time. But frankly I never thought of expanding on Pedroza. It’s an excellent notion. He’s a decent guy, but---very conflicted, I sense, although he’s never said so. I’ve heard via the grapevine that he may not have been promoted on the last go round because he’s not enough of a hard ass, and doesn’t have a record of making a lot of arrests. Yet he genuinely practices community policing---which everyone holds up as the gold standard, at least in theory. But in practice it appears that another ethic may be the one that’s still rewarded. Lately I see him trying to be a lot tougher, yet he wears it badly, like a poorly fitting suit.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion. I’m going to make use of it.

[Josh Legere]

I regularly read the Weekly and I have really enjoyed this series. Good work Rosedog.

The series is a great example of what journalism should be.

Hopefully the Weekly will continue to publish solid journalism and not shift towards culture.

LA needs more of this.

[Tom Grey - Liberty Dad]

I'm planning to download and read in the next week or so -- but the conclusion is very important, and the best (movie) Daredevil line:
Nobody is innocent.

But the small guilts don't deserve the big punishments, usually. On the other hand, being nice to bad and good people, and supporting bad people in being bad to neighbors, is not good to the neighbors.

Rosedog (Celeste) -- great job. Any thoughts of doing a little more following the local community there? Who was complaining to the cops before, who has changed their minds about Luis, who hasn't?

Also, any questions for the rich liberals in LA -- why aren't any hiring ex-cons?

Finally, the whole drug war is so negative. I don't like drugs, but don't like the drug war either.

Happy New Year.

[Mavis Beacon]

Great piece. I was particularly interested in your coverage of DFCS. Currently, there are financial incentives for DFCS to take children away from parents. And lots of money is spent on foster children once they are removed from their homes. In certain instances, those kids would be better served by directing those dollars toward the birth family and not into the foster system. Call it a parental rehibilitation program.

Thanks again. I'll look forward to your next project.

[Woody]

I haven't had time to read any of this because of family commitments; however, I would like to comment on one thing--the title of this posting, which is "There But For Fortune: An American Family."

Too often the left describes people who are poor as "unfortunate" and the people who support themsevles as "fortunate." Generally, one's condition is usually a result of life choices--not luck. If you make good choices, then you can be well off. If you make bad ones, then you can end up in jail. It comes down to personal responsibility and personal choices to determine where most stand in life.

This view doesn't make me less compassionate, but it does address a real problem that others want to deny.

[steve]

"Generally, one's condition is usually a result of life choices--not luck. If you make good choices, then you can be well off. If you make bad ones, then you can end up in jail."

That very claim is easily refuted by looking at the result of bad decisions by the President in his lifetime and those of his kin, immediate and distant numbering in the dozens.

[Woody]

steve, if I invested $100,000 in a high risk venture and lost, then that would be a bad decision on my part. If Bill Gates invested $100,000 in that same venture, then it would not necessarily be a bad decision for him. The difference is that Gates knew that there would be adequate resources behind him. If Bush did make bad decisions along the line, at least he knew how far he could push them or when to stop.

However, again, I don't want to minimize the terrible circumstances of some people or my concern for them. The best way to overcome a bad situation is to admit and address the real problem rather than blaming others or luck.

[steve]

"If Bush did make bad decisions along the line, at least he knew how far he could push them or when to stop."

Is it me or is Woody the ultimate relativist?

[rosedog]

Again thanks so much for the comments. I know that reading any of this puppy is a not a quickie endeavor.

Tom, about: "Also, any questions for the rich liberals in LA -- why aren't any hiring ex-cons?" Boy am I with you on that. This is where I get the angriest at my liberal pals. It's fine to be supportive in theory, as long as none of it gets near MY house. (In fairness, I also know a lot of folks---both liberal and conservative---who've taken the extra step and hired an ex-con or a former gang member---with the understanding that sometimes, in the beginning this may mean that you may have to be a mentor, as well as an employer. And when those folks do it, they almost inevitably talk about how much THEY've gotten out of the experience of helping somebody---even though it made them nervous at first.)

Mavis, I'd love to hear more about your experiences/knowledge of DCFS. The mediator on the Aguilar's case told me much the same thing, that the Foster Care lobby has become very, very strong and that while, on paper, the emphasis is for family reunification, there's another whole political wind blowing that is counter to that. I'm going to look into it further---as the experience I had on this case was….really disturbing. (Although some of it I'm, as yet, unable write about since I’m bound by a gag order.)

Woody, selfishly I hope you do read it---even though I know it’s really long. I’d particularly be interested in your take---since you do tend to be more conservative than I am. Same for Tom. So I'd be interested if your views change at all---or not---after reading the series. I'd find your views instructive---since I don't want to just preach to the choir.

[rosedog]

Also, Tom…in the book (that I hope to do) I intend to go much further into issues of the community. (I went into them a bit more in the other chapters.) There were basically three groups. One was made up of the average disgruntled semi-middle class community members---who understandably wanted a safe neighborhood, and felt Frances and Luis were a negative presence. But once the homeboys stopped hanging out at the Aguilars, this group pretty much chilled out.

The second group represented the preponderance of the neighborhood's families who generally tend to be much less judgmental---mainly because in so many of LA's poorer communities, nearly everyone has a family member or extended family member who’s run into trouble with the law at some time or another---most often with regard to gangs.

The last group was the Neighborhood Watch Committee. Every urban neighborhood I know of in LA has some version of this group. But this particular gaggle of folks was a Neighborhood Watch on steroids. They functioned, quite literally as a secret society. No other community members could attend their meetings—unless specifically invited. And the meeting places were always secret, and always changed. They were quite the piece of work. (Naturally they hated me, and refused to meet with me despite months of trying.) Anyway, thanks for the comment and the question.

[steve]

Rosedog, you'd like a book called "Ain't No Makin It".

[rosedog]

Thanks, Steve. Wasn't familiar with it. But I just now checked it out on Amazon and ordered it.

[Woody]

rosedog wrote: "Woody,...I hope you do read it.... ...interested in your take."

I will and I'll let you know. Lately, I've been dealing with siblings over putting a parent in a retirement home--a huge problem for us, but small compared to what others may face.

---------------------

steve wrote: "Is it me or is Woody the ultimate relativist?"

steve, it's you. In my world things are more black and white than grey. Basically, I was saying that people shouldn't make choices to where they bite off more than they can chew. That's not relative. It's just that Bush can chew off more than others with his financial resources.

[steve]

"That's not relative. It's just that Bush can chew off more than others with his financial resources."

Right, so in other words, if Bush makes a bad decision, drinks like a fish, runs companies into the ground, whores around,...no biggie. Ditto most of his family. But if a poor person makes such a mistake, for shame, for shame.
Sounds like the stuff of ideology designed to reproduce such a structure of inequality for eternity.
Even slaves didn't accept such a state of mind, forget wage-workers in capitalism. Not since the Great Depression at least.

[Woody]

steve wrote: "..., so in other words, if Bush makes a bad decision...no biggie.

No. I wasn't making moral or business judgements. It's just a simple statement that people get into trouble by going beyond their means to recover...sort of like young people do with credit card debt. Bush avoided such trouble by being smart enough to stop when he had to...and, he turned his life around.

[steve]

Well, yes, but you miss the point then, which is crucial. Whether or not Bush turned his life around would have had no impact on his material capacity to reproduce the lifestyle of opulence. For him or any other of his class to lecture people about behavior is farce at best. And the belief that poor people are poor by virtue of bad decisions is only true within the context of massive constraints that the likes of a Bush never will have to face. The game is rigged.

[Woody]

You go to war with the army you have (on both sides) and you go into life's battles with the genes and oportunities you have. Life isn't rigged--it's what it is and you make the best of it. Also, I haven't seen Bush lecturing the poor, but rather he tries to help them. (School vouchers, for example, to give them better educational opportunities.) steve, the fight between communism and free enterprise ended a long time ago, and communism lost because it is a flawed system. Even those people who claim to be for the working class, whether Stalin or the Democrats, really do anything to help them except talk. Gotta go.