Volume XXIX Number 02 January 14, 2005

FrontPage Stories

Tu Voz TV: Border youth speaking out through video

By Luis Alonso Pérez

People often say electronic media is controlling children’s minds. Satellite television brings home more than 500 mind controlling channels that turn youth into passive entertainment consumers. But education programs like The Teen Producers Project, allow young ones to break from passiveness and become actively involved in the production of videos that deal with the issues that matter the most in their communities like education, pollution, violence, family, racism and history.

Future teen producers, learning their craft.

The Teen Producers Project is a fraction of the Media Arts Center San Diego (MACSD). It began in 2002 as a part of the MACSD’s goal of supporting and nurturing border region artists. The education program is directed to under-served youth in San Diego County ages 9-18, and was designed to provide video production and digital storytelling training to youth along the border region as a way of promoting self-expression, communication and social change among students.

Robert Bodle is the Director of Education in MACSD and oversees the Teen Producers Project. “Youth receive hands on project based collaborative learning opportunities, as opposed to a typical classroom situation. The learning happens before during and after production, in a team-building environment. So the learning is experiential and sequential, taking the youth through the stages of pre-production, production, and post production (planning, shooting, editing).”

For the rest of the story please follow this link:


Schwarzenegger’s Big Speech Misses The Mark on Education
By Donal Brown
ANALYSIS
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a chance to mount an imaginative and energetic campaign to solve the state’s education crisis, but instead retreated to stale proposals in his State of the State Address on Jan. 5.


Success of charter schools debated
By Rebecca Trela
WASHINGTON – Students in charter schools score about the same on reading and mathematics tests as their traditional public school peers, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported recently.


Los Rayos de San Diego pay tribute to San Ysidro
By Pablo Jaime Sainz
Before Joe Serrano, leader and drummer of norteño band Los Rayos de San Diego, wrote songs dedicated to his homeland San Ysidro, the small border community was only known in music history thanks to the popular corrido Camelia la Tejana.



Stories

Una ciudad golpeada por las lluvias: Visita a los albergues temporales de Tijuana
Fotos y texto por Luis Alonso Pérez
Las recientes tormentas han dejado a su paso severos estragos en las calles de Tijuana, particularmente en las áreas más pobres de la ciudad. Las zonas en declive fueron fuertemente golpeadas por deslaves de lodo, piedras y basura. Las calles sin pavimentar se transformaron en estanques gigantes de lodo.


A city devastated by the storms: a visit to the temporary shelters in Tijuana
Photos and text by Luis Alonso Pérez
Recent storms have caused severe destruction in the streets of Tijuana, especially in the poorest districts in town. Slanted areas where fiercely beaten by mudslides dragging rocks and garbage. Unpaved streets turned into giant mud puddles.


First Person
A few reflections on Midlife
By Heriberto Escamilla
In a few weeks from today, if our Creator continues being gracious with me, I will be celebrating the 52nd anniversary of my birth. By today’s standards, reaching this age is probably not much to write about. According the CDC, the life expectancy of a male living the United States in 2002 was about 74.5 years. In the last two years, modern science has no doubt granted us a month or two. Females in the United States can expect to live a little longer, to the age of 79.9. And the fact that I am a Mexican immigrant indicates that I may have even more time. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the life expectancy of Latino males exceeds that of Whites by about three years. Scientist believe that a better diet, tortillas, frijoles and a shot of Don Julio from time to time, no doubt decrease our tendency toward obesity and that condition’s related maladies. Seriously though, reaching the age of 52 is not a major accomplishment, there is little reason for despair, yet. If all goes well, I can probably look forward to greeting the morning sun for another 25 years.


Never too late to say thank you:
LULAC, San Diego Council #2842, Delivers Again
On Friday, December 17, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. the multi purpose room at Emory School in Imperial Beach was jumping with activity. LULAC members, volunteers from the community and National Guardsmen were busy putting together the Christmas Food Baskets that would be handed out to over 250 families in the community.


LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL
Por Dra. Aida Giachello
La Leche Materna: la mejor comida para tu bebé
La llegada de un bebé trae consigo nuevas experiencias y emociones. Como es natural, quieres asegurarle a tu bebé un gran comienzo brindándole la mejor nutrición; y el amamantamiento establece el estándar de oro en cuanto a nutrición infantil.


New Americans Immigration Museum presents their first conference, Immigrants, Remittances and Development: Transforming Countries
The New Americans Immigration Museum and Learning Center announces its first 2005 conference, Immigrants, Remittances and Development: Transforming Countries, to be held on January 21, 2005 at the Institute of the Americas, UCSD.



Editorials

Editorial:
Governor Schwarzenegger Shows his True Colors
The second week of the New Year is with us and our movie star governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, wasted no time in showing his true colors. In a demonstrable show of weakness and lack of backbone, he submitted a $111.7 billion state budget that does not call for any new taxes! The Governor did not have the intestinal fortitude to place a tax on the 18 percent of the wealthy population, and/or upon major businesses and/or corporations. These are entities that yearly dodge paying taxes through shelters that are provided for them by our elected politicians at the Federal, State and local levels!


Editorial:
Reply to Mayor’s State of The City Address
With heightened anticipation, I listened to San Diego Mayor, Dick Murphy, deliver his 2005 State of the City Address. Most readers of the weekly La Prensa San Diego are acutely aware that the Publisher and Editors have been highly critical of the Mayor Dick Murphy’s performance during his term of office.

Editor’s Note: Logan Heights/Barrio Logan is scheduled to have a new library built on property that is currently a part of Logan Elementary School. While no one questions the need for a new library, there has been some question about the site selection. Construction is set to start soon. We have two points of view, by Ms Katerine Lopez who represents the opposition to the Logan Elementary site and Benjamin Hueso who represents supporters of the site selected. Both are long time community residents.


Commentary
Is Logan Elementary the Best Place for a Library?
By Katherine Lopez
Anyone who grew up in the Memorial/Logan area remembers visiting the Logan Heights Public Library; our first visit was an important rite of childhood, introduced to a wide world of books and knowledge, scrawling our name on a library card one of our earliest acts of responsibility. That lovely old building long ago exceeded its capacity to keep up with the needs of the community and for years area residents asked for a new library, but were told funding was not available. Library after library was built in other parts of the city while we were neglected.


Commentary
Logan Heights Library: It’s LONG Overdue!
By Benjamin Hueso
How could someone be SO opposed to bringing a new Library to Logan Heights? The last time I witnessed a person opposed to building a library in a community, it was Congressman Bob Filner that addressed his opposition to a Library being built in a San Ysidro Shopping Center because it would be the least accessible and most dangerous location for children. He advocated for the Library to be built on a school site in a residential community. In regards to location, the current proposed Logan Heights library can resist any criticism by Congressman Filner.


National City Spotlight:
Worst-Case Scenario or Best Possible Future?
By Ted Godshalk
The community meeting held last Saturday was originally called for one purpose. The original purpose was to allow for community members to learn about the Downtown Specific Plan and to have a dialogue on how to best deal with the impacts from new residential units in high and mid-rise buildings. To many others and me the meeting overreached its scope and, in doing so, neither the impacts of the plan nor the fears of the residents and business owners were meaningfully addressed. By adding a lengthy discussion period about affordable housing at the beginning of this meeting, participation predictably dropped off as the meeting proceeded to the Downtown Plan and finally the issue of eminent domain. Several of us stuck it out for the entire five hours but many others could not.


Comentario
El Presupuesto de Arnold
Por Humberto Caspa, Ph.D
La gracia del gobernador Arnold Schwarzenegger desaparece como por arte de magia cada vez que configura el presupuesto del estado. El año pasado su paquete económico se sustentó sobre la base de un “targetazo” de $ 15,600 millones, el cual equivalía a 11% del total del presupuesto. Dicha suma fue prácticamente devengada por los más ricos del país, quienes compraron los bonos que puso a la venta el Capitolio a órdenes del gobernador.


Commentary:
Which Way for Latinos? Dr. Galarza v. Judge Gonzales
Jorge Mariscal
One of the great figures of Mexican American history is Ernesto Galarza. The son of an immigrant family who worked his way out of poverty and racist schools in the early twentieth century, he became one of a small group of Latinos to attend college and one of the first Latinos to earn a Master’s degree (Stanford) and a Ph.D. (Columbia).


Commentary:
Dear Mr. Gonzales
By Marjorie Cohn
Dear Mr. Gonzales,
You have been rewarded for your unflinching loyalty to George W. Bush with a nomination for Attorney General of the United States. As White House Counsel, you have walked in lockstep with the President. As Attorney General, you will be charged with representing all the people of the United States. Your performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday verified that you will continue to be a yes-man for Bush once you are confirmed.


Commentary
Gonzales Appointment Latest Step In Browning of Justice
By Roberto Lovato
People living along California’s bucolic highway 99 in the San Joaquin Valley are of different minds about Bush Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales, a man who will soon be crowned the nation’s first Latino Attorney General. Following a recent drive along the 99, I saw some Latinos living in towns along the highway who, like most national Latino civil rights and political leaders — Democrat and Republican alike — consider it an act of ethnic fealty to support the Gonzales nomination.

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


Reseña
La Buena Suerte “Claves de la Prosperidad”
Por: Paco Zavala
Pero, por favor ¿Quién no cree en la buena suerte? Muy pocos. ¿Quién no desea tener buena suerte? Todos. Otra pregunta: ¿Quién inventó esta frase?: “De la buena suerte”. Creo que ésta fórmula, se inició con la aparición de la comunicación entre el género humano.


Se Inaugura la Exposición “Pinta tu Feria”
“Tijuana de mis sueños, que puedo hacer yo por mi ciudad”
Por: Paco Zavala
Los niños representan el futuro de toda civilización, de toda etnia, de todo el mundo, por lo tanto necesitan de estímulos y de cuidados muy específicos.


Poetry and Art in the Museum of the Living Artist
by Michael Klam
What if Charles Bukowski had bought a membership to Gold’s Gym instead of staying up all night drinking wine and writing poetry to the music of Dmitry Shostakovich? What if the Beat Poets had become disciples of Ezra Pound and TS Eliot instead of reacting to the dense intellectualism of esoteric verse? What if Jackson Pollock never explored the virtues of splatter? What if poetry and art never shifted their ground, never sought out new modes of expression?


Festival de la Canción Latinoamericana de California Cumple 25 Años
Ya comenzaron las inscripciones para el 25avo Festival de la Canción Latinoamericana de California 2005.
Este festival, con una trayectoria de 25 años, se ha consolidado como uno de los concursos musicales y poéticos internacionales más respetados y queridos en el mundo de habla hispana. Año tras año, desde hace un cuarto de siglo, compositores, cantantes y poetas de diversas ciudades del mundo se reúnen en esta popular competencia para exponer sus canciones, sus poemas y su talento artístico al público y a jurados integrados por profesionales del mundo del espectáculo, representantes de radio, televisión y prensa escrita y ejecutivos de editoriales musicales y compañías discográficas.


Elektra Adolescente
Marvel Comics crea una heroína para ellas
Por Jose Daniel Bort
Pareciera que la horma haya calzado perfectamente en el zapato de los ejecutivos que vieron en Jennifer Garner la nueva adoración de las treceañeras y al personaje que desarrolló en “Daredevil”, Elektra, como una franquicia en servicio de la misma demográfica. El sumar de 1 más 1 dio esta producción dirigida por Rob Bowman que llega a las carteleras hoy.


 Do burritos increase athletic performance?
By J.D. Hawk
What does a burrito and fighting have in common? Nothing really —until now. Carne asada burritos could be to restaurant owner Joaquin Farfan Jr., what spinach is to Popeye the sailor.


Hilltop’s Santillan Striving to Place in State Competition
By John Philip Wyllie
As a two-time Master’s and two-time CIF wrestling champion, Hilltop’s 119 pound Sergio Santillan doesn’t have many problems when it comes to the sport he has grown to love. Considered the best wrestler in the county in his weight class, Santillan hopes to reach the rarified air of being a finalist later this season once the state tournament begins.


Jimenez Selected to Optimists All-Tournament Team
By John Philip Wyllie
Bonita Vista High School sophomore Sasha Jimenez was born into a family that both appreciates its Mexican heritage and loves basketball. Throughout elementary school and junior high Jimenez split her time between folklorico dancing and shooting hoops. Once she enrolled in high school however, Jimenez realized that balancing her schoolwork with ballet folk-lorico and competitive varsity basketball might be too much to juggle. So, she opted to hang up her dress and narrow her focus to hitting the books and playing basketball. Her 3.6 G.P.A. attests to her academic success and her recent selection to the Girls Basketball Optimists All-Tournament Team indicates that she also knows her way around a basketball court.


Return to Archieves Page