From The Margins:

My first memory of getting involved in American politics goes back to the 1980s. I did it grudgingly and under mild pressure from my girlfriend.

She was a second-generation American and understood the importance of being involved in elections. Being a product of an immigrant family, I believed all political decisions were made at the top of the food chain. The little people did not matter, unless there was a revolution. And even then, once the dust and the fervor of rhetoric had settled, the little people continued not to matter.

But somehow, I volunteered for a campaign on the Westside. Tom Hayden was running for California Assembly, and his politics sounded edgy at the time. Moreover, he was married to Jane Fonda. I considered “Barbarella” (directed by Roger Vadim, 1968) to be an all-time Hollywood classic. I harbored a secret hope that Fonda would make a guest appearance at the campaign headquarters, and I’d get to shake her hand.

As I listened to Hayden’s fiery thank you speech to the volunteers and friends, I quickly learned an important life lesson: Good looks are not a necessary condition for a man to land a beautiful and outspoken actress as a wife. I still don’t know what I did with that piece of invaluable wisdom, but it’s still there in my brain databank. I can retrieve it whenever.

Being associated with the American left was cool at the time. I even thought rent control was an interesting idea. I always dreamed of moving to Santa Monica to hang out with the liberals and help the homeless.

Although I was drawn to the Westside liberalism, I had no faith in mainstream political activism. I could not comprehend how my actions could affect the course of politics in Sacramento or Washington, D.C. Regardless, I tagged along for canvassing.

Time elapsed, and I changed.

For years, I moved my office to Santa Monica and lived nearby. The experience did not match up to the hype I had created in my head. There is nothing cool about coming across homeless people on a daily basis. Seeing how the middle class abused the system to get ahead did not do much to enforce my faith in rent control. And although “Barbarella” remains an interesting choice for a ’60s flashback movie night, it is no longer on my top 10 classic list.