Around Town: In 500 words or less -

The title caught my eye. The La Cañada Thursday Club Community Relations Committee will show a film, open to everyone in the community, on Sunday, July 31, from 3 to 5:30 p.m., at the clubhouse at 4440 Woodleigh Lane. The film is entitled: “In 500 Words or Less.”

The film follows four students and their families “as they begin today’s highly competitive college application process,” according to the invitation. “A ‘must see’ program for high school students and the people who love, support, and guide them.”

Thursday Club Past President Suzanne Tutt alerted me to the program. Its title grabbed my attention because my mission each week is to write about topics of local interest “in 500 words or less,” a task less stressful for me than for a high school kid (or their families). Their futures hang in the balance, while I describe past experiences, including trips down Foothill Boulevard with our dog, a black Lab rescue dog named Miss Audrey Hepburn.

Parenthetically, some of my classmates from Palm Springs High School post in a private Facebook group. We have shared memories of Smoke Tree Stables, a girl who died, a field trip to Amboy Crater, the Vietnam War, classmates who died in the Vietnam War, and the annual Junior-Senior Egg Fight.

Luckily they don’t do egg fights in the 91011. We used to put eggs on the roof in September. By Halloween, the eggs were ready. When we moved to La Cañada Flintridge, the first time a kid put a firecracker in our mailbox, Len got mad, but I didn’t. How can you get mad at stuff when you grew up in Palm Springs?

But times are different now. Youngsters are under a lot of pressure to succeed. As for the Thursday Club, the film showing is in keeping with the club’s mission, including its scholarship program. Each year, the club gives between $7,000 and $10,000 in scholarships to local high school students.

The program speakers on July 31 will include: Sally Spangler, La Cañada High School college counselor, and a student panel of recent high school graduates.

Admission is $8 per person ($20 for three people) and will be collected at the door. Sue Tutt says they are serving pizza and salad. Reservations are required. To make yours, please call Thursday Club member Jacquie Townsend at (626) 284-5140.

ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com.


Around Town: In 500 words or less - LA Canada