All USC sociology professor Manuel Pastor wanted to do was catch some Z’s before having to give a keynote speech at the annual meeting of the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations in Cleveland a couple of weeks back.
His plan was simple: catch the red eye out of Los Angeles International Airport the night before, land in Cleveland, take a short nap, and head over to the meeting.
But Pastor, 60, had the misfortune of arriving at LAX on Sunday evening Aug. 28. Instead of strolling up to the ticket counter and then the security line, he encountered a scene of chaos: people running out of terminals and then milling about.
“It didn’t start out as total panic but the panic soon developed,” he said. “I started out walking but then I started to run, too, though I had no idea what was going on.”
The panic was fed by social media reports of gunfire at one of the terminals, reports that turned out to be false. What sparked the initial reports was the detention of a man inside Terminal 7, wearing a black mask, cloak, and a sword that turned out to be plastic. Even after the all-clear was given a couple of hours later, Pastor’s adventure wasn’t over. He, along with thousands of other passengers, had to wait for their flights.
“My flight took off three-and-a-half hours late and I arrived at the Cleveland airport less than two hours before I had to give my keynote,” he said.
So much for the snooze time. But at least he made it in time to give his speech – barely.
Deeply Rooted
Living in Pasadena, Raul Anaya, president of Bank of America in greater Los Angeles, likes going to the Huntington Gardens with his wife and 2-year-old son.
“Seeing the different plants is a way to escape the demands of banking, professional life, emails,” he said. “That stuff relaxes me.”
Anaya also likes working in his own garden. His favorite plant is lantana, a shrublike plant with clusters of tiny orange, yellow, and pink flowers that attract butterflies, because of its drought resistance.
And the ongoing drought has forced him to adapt.
“It’s probably gotten me to think smarter about what type of plants to grow,” he said. “I tried to change my garden to reflect more drought-tolerant plants so I’m not having to water as often and to do my part in conserving water,” he said.
At home, he might spend six to seven hours over a weekend working in his backyard while listening to music, in his “own world.”
“Gardening is my home away from home,” he said. “It’s my therapy.”
Anaya generally keeps his hobby separate from his work, except when people ask him what he does on the weekends.
“It tends to be a topic that intrigues most people,” he said. “They don’t expect it to be something that a banker would say. They kind of look at me a bit funny.”
Staff reporters Howard Fine and Caroline Anderson contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Jonathan Diamond. He can be reached at [email protected].
