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Kathryn Bigelow may win an Oscar as Best Director next month for her film, The Hurt Locker. That would make her the first female director to win an Academy Award. In fact, less than 10% of the films Hollywood produces are directed by women. Female executives run huge corporations and serve in high government offices, so why is the movie business so reluctant to let women direct their motion pictures?

OC Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano is the man behind the "Ask A Mexican" column. He visits our show to share a personal tale of unemployment.

You probably haven't heard of Polly Burns or Barbara Buttrick. You may not even be familiar with Christy Martin or Laila Ali, but you might want to take note of the names. Come 2012 women will duke it out for an Olympic gold for the first time, and these female fighters are among a long list of pioneers in their sport.

The British Burns boxed both men and women in the early 1900s. Buttrick appeared in televised bouts in the 1960s before launching the International Women's Boxing Federation in 1992. Martin rose to stardom as Don King's "female sensation," an undercard to headline fights featuring giants like Mike Tyson. And Laila Ali, well, she is the butterfly and the bee of boxing. The daughter of legendary Muhammad Ali, she brought a famous name and a degree of celebrity to a sport long shunned by promoters and public alike.

But these few by no means mark the end or even the beginning of the public's fascination with women in the ring. A dig through any major newspaper archive will reward you with some colorful anecdotes about the women who fought before fighting was hip, and long before it was officially sanctioned by any boxing authority.

And so we present, from the annals of women's boxing, some dispatches from the pugilist past, a few stories and scraps about the brave, the bold, the beautiful—the lady boxers.

1768
When a boxing match in 1926 featuring "two young girls" prompted a disapproving backlash in London society, the Atlanta Constitution tried to convey something of the sport's historical precedent. The paper ran a brief article which included a report from 1768 about a fierce female fight: "Two women fought for a new shift, valued at half a crown, in the Spaw fields, near Islington. The battle was won by a woman called Bruising Peg, who beat up her antagonist in a terrible manner."

Apr. 12, 1794
England's Sporting Magazine reported "a trial of pugilism at the Queen's Head between Hannah Elliot and a noted bruiser." That bruiser was a man, and after two hours the fight came out in favor of the lady.

June 5, 1795
Another dispatch from Sporting Magazine told of a "severe pugilistic contest" between "two heroic females." The women met in a field and battled over a purse of two guineas, displaying "many maneuvers relating to the art of boxing." One knocked her opponent to the ground "not less than 70 times" in a match lasting an hour and 20 minutes before finally being declared the victor.

Mar. 17, 1876
"A FEMALE BOXING MATCH. A NOVEL AND NONSENSICAL EXHIBITION AT HARRY HILL'S." So went the headline of a New York Times article announcing "a sparring match with boxing-gloves between two women." For a prize of $200, two variety dancers—24-year-old Nelly Saunders, wife of a boxer, and 25-year-old Rose Harland—answered the call of Harry Hill's "establishment in Houston street" for two women brave enough to box before an audience. The theater was reportedly packed for the show, and the costumes colorful. Harland wore blue trunks and white tights, while Saunders wore a white bodice, purple knee-breeches and red stockings. Faces were smashed and hair loosed in disarray, but both women stayed on their feet for four rounds and even walked out arm in arm. The judge called the match in Saunders' favor by a single point, but noted that he would have liked to have called it a draw.

Jan. 29, 1882
This New York Times article about a London fight speaks for itself: "At the Boarded House in Marybone Fields, to Morrow being Thursday, the 8th Day of August, will be perform'd an extraordinary Match at Boxing between Joanna Heyfield, of Newgate Market, Basket-Woman, and the City Championess for Ten pounds Note. There has not been such a battle for these 20 Years past, and as these two Heroines are as brave and as bold as the ancient Amazons, the Spectators may expect abundance of Diversion and Satisfaction from these Female Combatants."

At one time you surely had to go out of your way to catch such bouts. Now you can order one up on your favorite cable sports network.

But before you do, here's one more name for the record books: Elizabeth Wilkinson. The International Female Boxers Association, a professional organization that sanctions women's matches, traces the sport's origin back to the day this British fighter first stepped into the ring.

And that was in 1722.

Awards season. It's a time for designer gowns, fancy tuxedos and lots and lots of ribbons. From their origins as ways to show support for efforts to combat breast cancer and HIV, they proliferated to the point where it's impossible to tell what the ribbon means without a scorecard.

Our humorist Brian Unger breaks down the color code behind the ribbons, and wonders if their ubiquity is challenging our ability to be actually be "aware" of so many social issues.

At a hair under five feet and barely 100 pounds, Wendy Rodriguez doesn't look too dangerous. She works as a therapist, providing care for developmentally challenged infants. But she has another life, as well. She's a five-time world champion boxer.

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez brings us the story of this flyweight powerhouse, who's changing young lives, opinions about women in boxing, and pulling no punches in either venue.

Extras:

Steve Lopez: "Obviously, Wendy and I are in different weight classes."

Wendy Rodriguez: "Even people who know me are surprised that I am a boxer."

Wendy and the KCET Crew. Left to right: Steve Lopez, Gary Stevenson - audio, Wendy Rodriguez, Angela Shelley - producer, Per Larrson - camera.

60-45 million years ago

The oldest known horse, alternately referred to as Eohippus or Hyracotherium, is about the size of a dog.

c. 4 million B.C.E.

Evidence suggests genus Equus (which includes modern horses, zebras and burros) originates in North America.

c. 3-2 million B.C.E.

Ancient horses cross over to Eurasia, likely by the Bering land bridge. Several migrations back and forth (and individual species extinctions) likely follow.

Though it is widely held that our wild horses descend from stock brought over by Spanish explorers, some scientists trace their lineage back to ancient horses of North America.

c. 1.7 million B.C.E.

Estimated origin of Equus caballus, the species we know today.

c. 8000 B.C.E.

The last ancient horses left in North America die out toward the end of the Pleistocene.

Horses now exist exclusively in Asia, Europe and Africa.

1493-1800

The horse returns to North America with the second voyage of Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus and with subsequent voyages made by the Conquistadors.

Over time Native American populations become skilled horsemen, while ranchers and farmers rely heavily on the horse for the hard task of "taming" the West.

The wild horse population begins to re-emerge as some of these horses get loose.

1800s

By the 19th century, some accounts estimate the wild horse population in North America at as many as two million or more.

1860-1861

The Pony Express famously employs riders on horseback to carry mail across the continent in record time—a mere 10 days.

Early 20th Century

The tractor begins to replace the horse on American farms. And the automobile replaces the horse and buggy as a means of transportation. 

Horses become less valuable. Slaughterhouses begin buying them for meat and other commercial purposes.

1959

Congress passes the Wild Horse Annie Act prohibiting the use of airplanes to hunt the animals on federal land.

Velma B. Johnston, later nicknamed Wild Horse Annie by her opponents, was instrumental in building support for the legislation after she followed a mustanger and saw how the animals were rounded up and slaughtered.

1971

Congress passes Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act recognizing the animals as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." The Bureau of Land Management assumes responsibility over the animals and gradually begins to reduce their population through a controversial adoption program.

2007

The last horse-slaughtering plant in the U.S. is forced to close under Illinois law. The DeKalb plant, run by Belgian company Cavel International, had been slaughtering 40,000 to 60,000 horses a year mainly for meat in overseas markets. 

Still, the Humane Society maintains that many wild horses sold off by the BLM end up in Mexican or Canadian slaughterhouses. The BLM disputes this.

Today

Roughly 45,000 wild horses under BLM protection live in some 200 herd management areas in 10 western states (shown in the map).

Half of the wild horses living on government land are located in Nevada.

Sources:
Journal of Heredity
Natural History Magazine
Rockford Register Star
Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
NET Nebraska
Humane Society

Five years ago, the LA Times' Steve Lopez wrote a column about a homeless man he'd heard playing a violin on a downtown street. Lopez wrote another column, and another, and another. Then he wrote a book. The book became a movie.

You might have read that book. Or, seen the movie. The Soloist.

Along the way, Lopez and that homeless musician, Nathaniel Ayers, became friends. The columnist has, for years, been trying to convince Mr. Ayers to record some of his performances on his cello and violin.

Finally, Lopez succeeded in getting it all together - a studio, recording engineers, musicians from the LA Philharmonic, and the Soloist - all in once place, for a recording session. See, and hear Nathaniel Ayers in performance, and find out how he's progressing.

After hundreds of hours of discussion and more than a dozen official meetings, the Los Angeles City Council has finally approved a new ordinance regulating medical marijuana clinics.

Critics note that while the council was deliberating, hundreds and hundreds of new pot clinics opened, making Los Angeles the undisputed mecca for cannabis clinics.

Correspondent Judy Muller has been investigating this story for more than two years. In this update, she explains what the new ordinance will do, why it took the council so long to act, and how some clinic operators are already preparing to challenge its legality.

Marcos Villatoro's daughter is now almost a grown woman, and very much an LA native. But she's adopted, and was born in Guatemala. He shares he story of coming to grips with the fact that she is nice this, or that - but both.

There are hundreds of agencies, generally privately run, that seek out egg donors and match them with recipients. Some agencies, and sometimes even individuals, advertise in student newspapers, seeking donors. This ad ran recently in the USC student publication, The Daily Trojan.

Nowadays, most of the donor agencies have Web sites. They use them to recruit both donors and recipients. Most have databases that contain information about available donors. And most are careful to guard this information from the merely curious; they require some sort of registration in order to access information about the donors.

But there are a few Web sites that don't restrict access to information about their donors. One in particular, eggdonor.com, puts the photos, along with a good deal of information, right out in the open for anyone to see.

Egg Donation, Inc., which runs the site, claims to be one of the oldest donation agencies with one of the largest rosters of donors. Based in Encino, the firm says it offers discounts and pro bono donations to low-income recipients, and at least according to a brief survey of internet forums devoted to IVF, enjoys a good reputation.

Perhaps in the age of Facebook, it's not so surprising that many young women interested in donating their eggs would be willing to have their pictures and personal information available on a Web site accessible to anyone. But what is astounding about this particular site is that a number of the women have submitted photos that, well, could not be considered anything approaching matronly. They appear to be more appropriate for a racy dating site.

For an interesting, if fairly scientific overview of the egg donation business in the US, we recommend an article published two years ago in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Egg Trade — Making Sense of the Market for Human Oocytes.

It began as a ragtag group of street performers in Quebec. Today, Cirque du Soleil is an entertainment juggernaut. Individual troupes now perform in 20 locations across the globe.

SoCal Connected's Val Zavala takes you behind the scenes at Cirque du Soleil, for a look at the amazing amount of hard work - and danger - that goes into producing a show under the big tent.

She's a dancer. A choreographer. An entrepreneur. And an impresario.

She's gotten there by working with people. Collaborating. With organizations, communities, and other artists.

Twyla Tharp came to Los Angeles this week to promote her new book, The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together. I went to see her at a breakfast sponsored by Drucker School of Management, where she shared some of her tips for working with others.

We're looking this week at the glut of MacMansions on the market. And while our investigation focuses on homes in the $2-$10 million dollar range, there are a host of far more expensive homes currently on the market. Here's a small sampling. And you thought your mortgage payments were hard to manage!

Bet you don't think about getting all your day's fat in one sitting when you're scarfing down that tasty treat. Take a quiz to find out how much you know about making smart food choices.

Photos by Flickr members Bruce Tuten, kali.ma, jspace3, emborg, adwriter, and Hienrock. Used under the Creative Commons license.

SoCal Connected anchor Val Zavala takes us on a mobile dining adventure, inside the food trucks that remain a vibrant part of the LA food scene. From the ubiquitous taco wagons, to the upscale restaurants on wheels, and all the specialty food vans in between, these migrating eateries are an important part of the local economy. And, she says, technology now makes finding them easy.

This week we're featuring stories about food. The politics of food, and the joy of eating at food trucks.

Southern California has been a crockpot of innovation when it comes to how and what we eat. Scroll through a few of our culinary contributions:

Photo: Chris Humphrey, all rights reserved

Convicted arsonist John Orr, when he was with the Glendale Fire Dept.

In the history of arson investigation, no case has been more surprising than that of John Leonard Orr.

A fire captain and arson investigator, Orr was convicted in 1992 of three counts of arson and sentenced to life in prison. Though he has always maintained his innocence, investigators believe he may be the among the most active serial arsonists in history. A federal agent who investigated Orr believes he may have been responsible for as many as 2000 arson fires between the 1984 and 1991, when he was arrested.

The case against Orr had its roots in a 1984 fire that destroyed a hardware store in South Pasadena. Though a host of investigators concluded the cause of the fire was an electrical malfunction, Orr, who was among the investigators, insisted it was an arson fire.

Over the next few years, a series of of fires were set near the sites of arson investigation conferences. A fingerprint was found on a piece of notebook paper at the site of one of the fires. Eventually, investigators were able to match the print to John Orr.

Agents placed a tracking device in Orr's car, and on December 4, 1991, when he was found at the scene of a suspected arson fire, Orr was arrested.

That an arson investigator would be an arsonist is strange enough, but to add another bizarre note to the incident, Orr had written a novel, Points of Origin, which centered on a serial arsonist who was also a fireman. The book became the basis of an HBO film, Point of Origin, starring Ray Liotta. And Orr's story was also the basis of a novel, Fire Lover by ex-LAPD officer Joseph Wambaugh

Thanks to Chris Humphrey for providing the photo of John Orr. In the 1980's, Humphrey was a photographer for the Glendale News-Press. He now lives in Northern California.

Read an excerpt from Michael Connelly's new book, "Nine Dragons." For more, including an audio clip from the same book, visit his website.