Volume XXVIII Number 16 April 23, 2004

FrontPage Stories

Chicano Park Day Celebration 2004

By Raymond R. Beltrán

City of San Diego Park and Recreation worker, Ruben Moreno, has been maintaining the landscape of Chicano Park for ten years now. As he whacks the weeds and rakes up the blades of grass sprawled throughout the Azteca-style sidewalk, he divulges, with pride, that not only will Saturday be one of the more successful Chicano Park Day celebrations, but that after a decade of caring for the grounds, it will be his last.

After the celebration, he will spend three full days recouping the cleanliness present now, two days before, and most of it he says will be due to people throwing cans all over the ground. Although, having been around for almost a third of the life of this historic Chicano landmark, he knows what to expect and is awaiting the thousands of people who gather to pay tribute to the Chicano community for taking a stand to build this park twenty-four years ago, while standing in awe of the park’s muralized pillars, the legs of the Coronado Bridge.

“I pity the guys taking over in June when I leave,” says Moreno humorously about the work it takes to care for the grounds. Although, the next person to slip into his position will have a handful of new amenities to look after when Moreno’s retired, and patrons of Chicano Park Day 2004, this Saturday, won’t be able to ignore them either.

As the city has been a thorn in the side of the CPSC (Chicano Park Steering Committee), headed by Chairwoman Tomasa “Tommie” Camarillo, victories have been won in working side by side with members of CalTrans, Ismael “Pye” Salazar in particular, according to Camarillo. A Tea Grant in the amount of $540,000 had been granted CalTrans for improvements and the construction of brand new amenities at Chicano Park two years back.

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ON THE BORDER, THE DEAD, DETAINED, AND DISAPPEARED
By Victor Clark Alfaro
TIJUANA, Mexico—Seen from here, the number of deaths along Mexico’s northern border with the United States in the last decade is entering an unusual dimension. Together with the dead, thousands of their surviving family members have become direct victims of the violence in what has become an astonishingly frightening Mexican border society. Even the way the hapless die is becoming more brutal.


Undocumented Students Struggling for Education
By Raymond R. Beltrán
It’s been ten years since seventeen year old Erika and her twin sister, Stephanie, have seen their hometown in Tijuana, México. Their mother crossed them over the border at age seven to help care for their relatives, all of whom live in San Diego, and eventually stayed permanently. Since then, the sisters have mastered the English language to the point that they are not able to carry on academic conversations with their own mother, who holds onto her Spanish language. They’ve only left San Diego County three times in ten years because of the Border Patrol checkpoints in the Imperial Valley and North County, and because their mother never applied for permanent legal residency, the girls remain without it as well.


Whose Human Rights is the Occupation Defending?
By David Bacon
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA and BAGHDAD, IRAQ — The disaster that is the occupation of Iraq is much more than the war that plays nightly across U.S. television screens. The violence of grinding poverty, exacerbated by economic sanctions after the first Gulf War, has been deepened by the US invasion. Every day the economic policies of the occupying authorities create more hunger among Iraq’s working people, transforming them into a pool of low-wage, semi-employed labor, desperate for jobs at almost any price.

SHARP BACKLASH AMONG LATINOS OVER IRAQ WAR
By Elena Shore
A cascade of doubts over the Iraq war has been resurfacing in U.S. Latino media, coinciding with the recent announcement that Honduras will join Spain in withdrawing troops from Iraq amid escalating violence.


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Stories

Time for a Change, Jill Galvez, Announces her Candidacy for Chula Vista Elementary School Board
By Perlita R. Dicochea
Jill Galvez officially began her campaign for Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) School Board upon last week. “My number one priority is to keep class sizes down and maintain a high quality of education overall. We need to make decisions that focus on our children,” Galvez asserted at the endorsement meeting with the Chula Vista Educators, a local chapter of the California Teachers Association.


Kid Angel Foundation teaches children, education is fun and fruitful
By Katia Lopez-Hodoyan
Having the undivided attention of a class filled with elementary school students is a challenge in and of itself for any teacher. Adding the fact that more than half of students are severely behind in reading, writing and mathematics is not only a setback for instructors, it’s also an educational crisis. For years now, Barbara Antinoro has attempted to eradicate this nation wide problem locally by creating and directing the Kid Angel Foundation in San Diego. As non-profit organization that grants tutoring scholarships for children in need, the Kid Angel foundation strives toward eliminating the educational gaps that are at times left vacant by the current education system. Perhaps equally as important, the foundation recognizes the essential role parents play in the successful education of their children by holding parent workshops that delve into the proactive measures one can take in their child’s education.


LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL
Por Ellen Alderton
Una Vacuna: la más grande esperanza contra el SIDA
Contrariamente a los rumores que tal vez hayas escuchado, la vacuna contra el virus del VIH aún no existe. Lamentablemente, no contamos con ninguna herramienta médica capaz de evitar que personas saludables contraigan el VIH, causante del SIDA, ni tampoco una cura para las personas infectadas. Sin embargo, los mejores investigadores en el campo de la medicina de los Estados Unidos y el mundo entero, coinciden en que una vacuna preventiva contra el VIH es la única manera de detener la expansión de esta epidemia global.


Creating a Community Through E-Health Access
By Sara Rose
In San Diego’s Sherman Heights neighborhood, a young mother came to the community center searching for help. New to this country, alone, overwhelmed with feelings of isolation and worried about her family’s health, she stumbled into a room filled with computers.


Community Notes:
CARE children take a field trip through a movie set
The children of the Imperial Beach Boys & Girls Club Oneonta CARE Program enjoying their Spring Break, took a walking field trip back in time to Los Angeles’ Venice Beach circa 1970 or at least that’s what it looked like as the children surveyed the Imperial Beach Pier Plaza and the preparations for the film “The Lords of Dogtown” starring Heath Ledger and Johnny Knoxville.

Cluninary/Food Page:
Weekly food recipes/themes & Recipe archieves -- Enjoy


Editorials

Editorial:
Charter Review Commission Required to Change City Charter
City of San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy is not what you would call a strong mayor. Dick Murphy is a competent, successful person; however, his personality and his style of management do not lend itself to the strong Mayor type. To this point, he has been found lacking in the ability to provide leadership. He has been unable to forge coalitions with the city council members, who are sufficient enough to move projects and issues through that are vital to the everyday life of the city. The City of San Diego is going through rough times such as the employee pension fund, the recent fires, the economic demise of the state, which impacts the city, and the Chargers. Through all this and more, the mayor has been an ambiguous leader.


Editorial:
Pres. Bush’s War on Terrorism Blindsided by Hispanic Nations
The withdrawal of more than 1300 troops out of Iraq by Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, the new Spanish Prime Minister, whose Socialist Party handedly won the March 14 General Election, just three days after the Madrid train bombings, came as a shock and surprise to President Bush and his war administration. It was not to be the only surprise that would cause concern at the White House. Shortly there after, Honduras announced it would remove its 369 soldiers from Iraq and bring them home. Not surprisingly, the Dominican Republic announced this week that it also was withdrawing its 300 troops from Iraq! All in all nearly 2,000 troops will be leaving Iraq.


Commentary:
Impunity and emigration
By Andrés Lozano
Manifold are the reasons for the Mexican emigration to America. The dire vicious circle of joblessness and poverty is often underlined as the most prevalent. Probably it is. Not that often the reasons for this catch-22 situation are fully scrutinized. After all, Mexico is far from being a destitute nation in both manpower and resources: Under no circumstance! So, where does this no-win situation arise? It does from widespread impunity: At the government and its pull peddlers.


Comentario:
Impunidad y emigración
Andrés Lozano
Diversas son las razones de los mexicanos para emigrar a EUA. Se menciona el patético círculo vicioso pobreza-desempleo como la razón más importante. Quizá lo sea. Empero, poco se escrutan razones por las cuales existe este laberinto. Después de todo, México dista de estar desposeído de recursos humanos y materiales. ¡Bajo circunstancia alguna! Entonces, ¿de dónde surge el círculo vicioso? Surge de la impunidad generalizada en el gobierno y sus privilegiados.


The Public Forum... El Foro Público
Políticos Tras el Voto Latino
Justo cuando se intensifica la guerra en Irak y se inicia la campaña política estadounidense, también se anuncia la primacia de la minoría hispana y se estrena “El Alamo” como película histórica. ¿Es simple coincidencia o conciencia actual?

Etc. Etc. Etc.
Entertainment, Reviews, Sporting news, and other tid bits

La Esquina
arte de la comunidad
Nuvia Crisol Guerra Creates Her Own Lotería
by Geneva Gamez
For many, being part of two nationalities isn’t easy, however, for others it turns into a nurturing essence which sets a thriving desire to pursue and succeed. It’s a mixture of identities that can either detach from each other or come together to create a stronger presence. Nuvia Crisol Guerra is a twenty five year old, striving artist who has pursued her talent and culture. She has combined the two, and consequently, her results reflect in her culturally colorful art.


La Esquina
arte de la comunidad
Poetry of Liz Huerta

Realizan en Tijuana la XIV Muestra Internacional de Cine
En escena el grupo rockero “Cast Rock” con una nueva propuesta en “NIMBUS”
Por: Paco Zavala
Se está desarrollando en Tijuana con mucho éxito la XIV Muestra Internacional de Cine en la que se están exhibiendo producciones de los continentes: europeo, asiático y americano. Este evento le otorga a la ciudad una aureola de credibilidad y de adelanto.


El Guitarrista, una lección honrosa
Por: Paco Zavala
“El Guitarrista”, es un libro excepcional, que contiene una narrativa introductoria densa y pesada, con una descripción minuciosa que enmarca filigranas accesibles al diletante.


VAMOS AL CINE
El anti-héroe mero macho
Man on Fire exalta la creatividad en la venganza
 Por Jose Daniel Bort
Desde esta parte del continente, noticias en las que cineastas americanos viajan a latinoamerica a reflejar “la realidad” producen crespos en el espinazo. Sobre todo si planean gastar muchos millones y volar autos, quemar edificios, etc. muy al estilo del cine de acción. La nueva película de Tony Scott, “Man on Fire”, le hace honor a su calidad y expone a la ciudad de México en su embriagante e inusitada maravilla.


VAMOS AL CINE
Mary Kate y Ashley en la pantalla gigante
Por Jose Daniel Bort
Las hermanas Olsen han formado un imperio de la nada, el cual facturó nada menos que un billón de dólares el año pasado, entre sus negocios de moda, estilo, libros, películas directo al video y juegos de video.


De cumpleaños en California
El “Fons” tiene altas expectativas con su nueva producción
Por Jose Daniel Bort
Hoy es el cumpleaños de Luis Fonsi, y a estas alturas está haciendo promoción a su disco en las áridas planicies de Bakersfield, en las laderas del valle de San Joaquín, en plena mitad de California. Hace un calorón, y el pobre Fons no tendrá a nadie de su familia cerca para celebrar su cumpleaños numero 26.


Third Word “The Fusion of Music & Poetry”
Third Word “The Fusion of Music and Poetry” is sure to be the premiere hot bed of open mics, fostering a living organism of poetry and music while holding true to the series’ mission statement. Third Word is a socially conscious open mic promoting community empowerment through multicultural art forms. Welcome people of all cultures, class, sexual orientations, and alternative political viewpoints. Our mic is your mic.


Hundreds Compete at Southwestern College’s Festival of Student Art Competition
Chula Vista — Hundreds of projects and student works are competing at Southwestern College’s (SWC) Fourth Annual Festival of Student Art (FOSA), sponsored by the College’s Associated Student Organization. However, only 13 will get to claim the top prize in as many categories and only one will win the coveted Best of Festival award.


Diaz Determined to Break School Record
By John Philip Wyllie
Senior Javier Diaz has accomplished a lot in his four years of running track for the Sweetwater High Red Devils. As Diaz, the team captain, heads into his last month and a half of high school competition, he is focused on leaving a lasting mark.

Juan Diaz vs Martin O’Malley
By Fiona Manning
Juan “El Torito” Diaz made short work of his talented, tough but overwhelmed opponent Martin O’Malley in the main event at Pechanga Resort and Casino on Sunday.

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