Southwest Left Coast

The Hotel Figueroa, an oasis of cultured gentility in soulless downtown Los Angeles. Cathy Seipp, a transplanted Angeleno writer by way of Winnipeg. (And her fair Canadian complection seemed at times in danger of wilting from the SoCal summer heat). Several scores of her best friends and blog posters. The result: an amusing, almost magical few hours on Sunday for a
roast-tribute.

A touch of pathos -- but only a touch -- intervened during the event, acknowledging Cathy's struggle with cancer. That was also the hook for one of the lamest motivational lines I've ever heard: "If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. If life hands you cancer, you make cancerade."

Ewwwwwwwwww! My first thought was how yucky the taste would be of pureeed cancer cells. But no matter, Cathy kept that wry, somewhat inscrutable expression during the event.

Speaking of wry, I discovered where Cathy inherited that gene, from a brief chat with her father, Harvey Seipp. Cathy, it seems, was driven to be autonomous even as a toddler. That too is on video.

Some of Cathy's top blog commentators were there, including Dr. Mike Kennedy, Donna B., but not , sadly, David Ehrenstein, who chickened out, together with his conservative doppelganger, a mysterious character named Mark (no last name). I think they're the same person.

There's much more to say, and I will later. For now, here's a couple of pictures, of the Mistress of Honor and Sandra Tsing Loh.

Enjoy.