Last weekend I thought I’d check out the local version of National Go Topless Day, an event of unusual origin, promoting equal rights for women as men have to be allowed to go topless in public. By unusual origin, I mean that the movement was started by the male French singer/songwriter/race car journalist-turned-spiritual leader Rael, founder of the Raelian movement, which teaches that life on earth was created by extra-terrestrial humans. That aside, they made their point, though I’m betting it’ll be a while before much progress is made in this arena. As expected, the event, which featured a dozen or so topless women wearing flesh-colored nipple pasties and a few men donning bras, drew numerous male onlookers and a few local media photographers, who backpedaled all the way down the boardwalk viewing the spectacle through the tiny monitors of their cell phone cameras. I was hoping to get some good gawking crowd photos, but for the most part people seemed to stop and take note and then go back to their meals or whatever they were doing. It’s a hard task to illicit shock on the boardwalk. One group that did amuse me, however, was a group of fellas from the Phoenix House, a treatment center for drug and alcohol abusers, who were all smiles as they pressed up against the window to have a look.

Last week I participated for the second time in Flashes of Hope at the UCLA Children’s Hospital. The ASMP regularly works with the organization by providing volunteer photographers to come in and take portraits of patients and their families. The families ultimately receive prints donated by White House Custom Color. Just like last time, it was a challenging and rewarding afternoon and I met some great people.