Mother on Fire author Sandra Tsing Loh is on a tear in the name of public schools, getting us to laugh while raising attention to the how-the-hell-did-we-let-them-get-this bad state of Los Angeles public schools. Witness the Burning Moms Gala featuring The Burning Momologues . “The Burning Moms are a guerrilla squad of L.A. public school mothers outraged by both continual California education budget cuts (the eighth largest global economy, California is 48th out of 50 states in per-pupil public school funding) and, on the other hand, the sheer bureaucratic waste of the LAUSD ($79 million this year alone has been budgeted for “consultants”). Meanwhile, it's California's children who are being squeezed — the only group that has no lobby. Most days it feels like only the Burning Moms' burnt snickerdoodles are keeping our children in PE, art, music, etc.” This benefit for the Moms Clubs of L.A. and for public school's Burning Moms features The Burning Momologues (think Vagina Monologues but for moms) with non-mom John C. Reilly, gay anti-mom Marga Gomez, California poet laureate Carol Muske Dukes performing a special mystical “Ode to California Mothers,” and Wendie Malick.

Sun., Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m., 2008

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