Symbols

For 81 years, Carpinteria residents have cheered on their high school's Warriors. And for about that long, graduating classes, community boosters and students have bestowed on the campus an array of Native American-themed logos, statues, murals and decals -- all without any public protest. But last year, a student of Chumash descent named Eli Cordero asked the school board to eliminate the symbols, though not the Warriors name. It was the kind of request that has rattled educators elsewhere for decades, and it triggered an uproar that could resound even after Tuesday, when the board finally is to rule which images to keep and which to ditch.

WASHINGTON - Joan Miró, the great Spanish painter of dreams and symbols, lived through so many harrowing eras of the 20th century that critics believe his masterpieces surely reflect the tensions of political events in one way or another. But Miró's world of art was so special - with stars and moons, biomorphs and delightful dogs and sly monsters and wonderful color - that it has always been difficult to find much politics there. An exhibition that just arrived at the National Gallery of Art - "Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape" - makes a spirited attempt to find and explore the politics.

WASHINGTON - Joan Miró, the great Spanish painter of dreams and symbols, lived through so many harrowing eras of the 20th century that critics believe his masterpieces surely reflect the tensions of political events in one way or another. But Miró's world of art was so special - with stars and moons, biomorphs and delightful dogs and sly monsters and wonderful color - that it has always been difficult to find much politics there. An exhibition that just arrived at the National Gallery of Art - "Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape" - makes a spirited attempt to find and explore the politics.

LAS VEGAS - It sits along a stretch of median on the less-glamorous south end of this city's glitzy gambling Strip, a stubborn holdover from another era. Yet, as the days turn to night and back into day, it beckons as many tourists, human tumbleweeds and adventure-seekers as any newfangled casino. They come to see, touch and photograph the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, a 1959 scramble of colors, typefaces and flashing light bulbs. They come in droves, as if on some obligatory Vegas pilgrimage, arriving in taxis, rental cars, stretch limos, golf carts, pickup trucks, motorcycles, double-decker tour buses.

Aaron Patzer lives in a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto with an old couch and TV. His favorite shoes are hand-me-down brown leather wingtips that, at 39, are older than he is. He gets $12 haircuts. He drove a 1996 Ford Contour until he ran it into the ground at 150,000 miles. His new ride is a Subaru Outback that he bought for $29,000. You'd never know that the 30-year-old entrepreneur sold his Internet start-up for $170 million in 2009 or that he is now a top executive at Intuit Inc., the financial software company.

Clashing symbols are sweet music to cartoonists' ears. A twisted picture is worth a thousand twisted words. So George Tenet's silky Medal of Freedom was just waiting for Tom Toles to sling it around a sow's neck. And it was only a matter of time until the late Pat Tillman, erstwhile symbolic war hero, was paint-balled with a broader brush, and until we applied the coup de grace to the prematurely celebratory "Fait Accompli" banner.

I was dismayed that you ran "Montreal a Haven for Fur" Feb. 1, an article singing the praises of Montreal's furriers. "Montreal a Hell for Animals" is a more apt title. Every year millions of animals are poisoned, gassed or electrocuted for their skins. These are the lucky ones. Fifteen to 30 million others slowly die in the jaws of steel leg-hold traps. Many chew off their paws in vain attempts to escape the pain of these torturous devices. The article upholds the myth that fur coats are symbols of status and luxury.

As the months separate us from the intensity of the April-May riots, the "No Justice, No Peace? Resolutions . . . " exhibit at the California Afro-American Museum brings back the chills. But the multimedia show also tries to explain the causes of the unrest and offers suggestions for avoiding more violence. The exhibition features expressions of anger in O.

How did Easter bunnies and colored eggs come to be associated with a major religious observance? The explanation lies in the convergence of cultures and religions over thousands of years; some of the holiest days in Judaism and Christianity begin today with Passover and Good Friday. * The Easter Bunny The rabbit is the symbol of the Eostre, the goddess of spring worshipped on ancient Northern Europe. The rabbit's awesome reproductive power made it a ready symbol of fertility.

Taking a spin on your bike should be fun, but wrestling with traffic often isn't. Last year, 630 bicyclists died on U.S. roadways, accounting for 2% of traffic fatalities in the nation. (For a closer look, read 2008 data on traffic safety released this year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National Center for Statistics and Analysis.) Many cyclists are working in their states to push for a "3-foot" rule -- a law that requires motorists to stay at least 3 feet from riders before passing; 15 states already have adopted such laws.

Mike Bresnahan covers the Lakers for The Times and ties up loose ends before all their playoff games. The Lakers use Twitter for different reasons. Metta World Peace invites people to midnight movie screenings. Pau Gasol transmits his thoughts on "Game of Thrones" episodes. Kobe Bryant avoids it completely. Then there's Devin Ebanks. He recently switched his Twitter handle from his name to A$AP Ebank$. It coincided with his rise in responsibilities while Bryant was sidelined by a sore shin.

The brazen and well-coordinated attacks by insurgents against four embassies and other key sites in the heart of Afghanistan's capital were aimed less at inflicting high numbers of casualties, analysts said, than at humiliating the government and its foreign allies as Afghan forces take increasing responsibility for protecting their own homeland. Taking positions on high-rise construction sites, attackers on Sunday rained down rocket-propelled grenades, bullets and fear on Kabul, targeting major symbols of Afghan and foreign power, including the U.S., British, German and Russian embassies and NATO headquarters.

The worst disease known to the citrus industry may have arrived in California on a bud of friendship. A graft of pomelo - a symbol of good fortune and prosperity in many Asian cultures - was the likely source of the state's first documented case of huanglongbing, a citrus disease with no known cure, say researchers involved in the investigation. The suspected plant shoot, or budwood, was passed freely among San Gabriel Valley church friends who loved to garden and experiment with hybridization, according to residents.

Joe Biel seems quite at ease on a recent Saturday morning, sitting for a conversation in his Chinatown live-work studio, sipping iced coffee. He faces a panoramic drawing of 1,124 tiny televisions aligned in towering stacks, each set with a meticulously rendered and often recognizable image on-screen. Biel, 45, has been working on the piece for two years and expects it will take him an additional year to complete. As eloquent and enthusiastic as he is about the work's sources and his process, "Veil," he admits, also makes him uncomfortable.

NEW DELHI - Pakistan's president arrived in India on Sunday, the first official visit one leader of the wary neighbors has paid to the other nation in seven years. No breakthroughs were announced, but both sides hailed the meeting as a sign of easing tensions along one of the world's most dangerous borders. Spinmeisters on both sides worked overtime to lower public expectations of the "private" trip that saw Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discuss the 2008 terrorist attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, modest if expanding trade links, the disputed territory of Kashmir and efforts to bring various militants to justice.

The busiest subway stop in downtown Washington was until recently festooned with green banners and billboards warning of a terrible danger. One of America's great national symbols is under attack: the one-dollar bill. A few unpatriotic senators want to phase out the dollar bill and replace it with a dollar coin. Several previous attempts to do this have foundered on people's fondness for paper money. In the subway ad campaign, riders are importuned to sign an online petition and go to a website for more information, which of course I did, since I always follow orders from billboards.

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - For Republicans, Wisconsin and its embattled governor have come to symbolize the danger of lurching too far to the right in a presidential battleground state. Now, the party's top White House contenders are running the risk of making the same stumble as Tuesday's primary nears. Rick Santorum has traveled the state railing against Mitt Romney for his healthcare record as governor of Massachusetts, heaping scorn on the requirement that religious institutions cover contraception in their medical plans for employees.

Football coaches wear them on the sidelines. Toddlers sport them on trips to the park. They are what we grab when we run to the market or head out in the cold to walk the dogs. Yet somehow the humble hooded sweat shirt has evolved from basic, everyday apparel to a sinister symbol of urban terror. It has become a touchstone in the conversation about the death of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was wearing a hoodie when he was fingered as "suspicious" and shot by a Neighborhood Watch patroller.