FrontPage Stories

Diversity at UCSD a priority

Fiesta de las Estrellas raises funds for Latino students

By Pablo Jaime Sainz

When Ricardo Chavira, the star of “Desperate Housewives,” was a student at UCSD, he used to play the “Count the Mexicans” game.

“I would sit in the middle of campus and spend an hour counting all the Mexican students. Unfortunately, it would only be about four or five total, and many of them were ‘if’s.’ They might’ve been Middle Eastern. If they had the right tan, I would include them,” said a smiling Chavira, who plays “Carlos Solis” in “Desperate Housewives.”

From left to right: Actor Ricardo Chavira, UCSD student Adrian Gutierrez, and Robert Villarreal, from the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council.

Chavira returned to UCSD on Thursday, April 13, to receive the Alumni Excellence Award at Fiesta de las Estrellas, an annual event created by the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council to raise scholarship funds for stuents, while also recognizing the achievements of the local community “Estrellas” –outstanding San Diego leaders who are making a difference for Latinos.

Some of the other Estrellas this year include Jose Betancourt, a retired rear admiral who received the Excellence in Leadership award, and Irma Cota, CEO of North County Health Services, who received the Excellence in Healthcare award.

When Chavira graduated from the MFA program in Theater in 2000, he said he was the only Latino in the program.

Chavira, whose father is Mexican and mother is German/Irish, said that his family always emphasized the value of an education.

“Education wasn’t an option. It was something I knew since I was little that I would do it,” said Texas-native Chavira.

Although since he graduated from UCSD the percentage of Latino students has increased, there’s still a lot to do, he said. That’s the reason he supports events such as Fiesta de las Estrellas.

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Study to determine health needs of region
By José A. Álvarez
Six months ago, Ben Medina had to be rushed to the University of California San Diego trauma center after a major car accident. The center had no more room and Medina, from National City, was originally turned away. After coaxing from paramedics and given the severity of his injuries, Medina was accepted but had to spend the weekend on a gurney because the hospital had no beds available and he could not be admitted.

Estudio Para Determinar las Necesidades Médicas de la Región
Por José A. Álvarez
Hace seis meses, Ben Medina tuvo que ser llevado de emergencia a la University of California San Die-go después de un aparatoso accidente automovilístico. El centro no tenía lugar y Medina, de National City, al principio fue rechazado. Después de mucha persuación por parte de los paramédicos y dándose cuenta de la gravedad de sus heridas, Medina fue aceptado pero tuvo que pasar el fin de semana en una camilla pues el hospital no tenía cuarto ni camas disponibles.

La juventud fronteriza trabajará unida para restaurar el estuario del Río Tijuana
Por Luis Alonso Pérez
La madre naturaleza no conoce fronteras. El aire que respiramos, los ríos de los que bebemos y el océano en el que nadamos fluyen libremente y atraviesan las divisiones políticas creadas por el hombre.

Stories

Patricia Mercado Visita Tijuana
Por Luis Alonso Pérez
Los mexicanos que emigran al otro lado han demostrado que son gente productiva, respetuosa y que luchan por sus derechos, declaró la candidata a la presidencia de México Patricia Mercado, en una visita a la ciudad de Tijuana el pasado lunes 17 de abril, donde se dirigió a los mexicanos que viven en ambos lados de la frontera.

One Year Later: Still No Justice for Mexican Journalists
One year has passed since Nuevo Laredo journalist Guadalupe Garcia Escamilla was gunned down in front of the radio station where she worked. After struggling with multiple wounds for days, Garcia died on April 16, 2005. A popular crime beat reporter and radio host who probed delicate topics, Garcia left behind an 18-year-old son and a city increasingly mortified by the mounting violence that’s transformed Nuevo Laredo into a battleground between rival organized crime cartels. Despite official promises to get to the bottom of the Garcia crime, no suspects have been arrested.

Protests Turn the Tide on Immigration Debate
By Laura Carlsen
The immigration demonstrations held across the country not only marked an historic mobilization of one of the nation’s most silenced sectors. They also turned the tide on a national debate that threatened the basic values and cohesion of U.S. communities.

Ley Televisa: Entregando los medios de México a unas cuantas manos
Por Luis Alonso Pérez
El Senado de México recientemente aprobó una ley que permite al gobierno extender concesiones de telecomunicación sin licitación a las grandes compañías de la comunicación del país, con la condición de que paguen una compensación económica fijada a discreción de las autoridades federales de comunicación.

LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL
Por Luisa Fernanda Montero
Un día para la historia
¡Quiero ver a mi hijo, llevo trece años sin ver a mi hijo! Me dijo con la voz quebrada Silvia Zapata, una inmigrante chilena que marchó el pasado 10 de abril en Washington por los derechos de los inmigrantes; no tuve valor para preguntarle nada más, mi grabadora y mi postura de periodista parecían sobrar ante la mirada suplicante de una mujer que se ha pasado la vida limpiando casas ajenas para darle a su hijo todo lo que ella, quizás, no tuvo y a la que el destino le ha negado también la fortuna de verlo crecer.

Study Finds Widespread Segregation of California’s English Learners
Some schools face challenges in educating students from up to 26 language backgrounds
A new study finds that California’s English learners-students who are not yet proficient in English-attend highly segregated schools, which hinders their educational opportunities. The study found that, at the elementary school level, more than half of California’s English learners attended just 21 percent of the state’s public schools, where they comprised more than 50 percent of the student body. The study also found that 80 schools in the state have English learners from more than 20 language backgrounds.

UCSB Professor Wins W.T. Grant Scholars Award for Research on Improving the Lives of Young Latinas
A faculty member at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara is one of five young scholars nationally to be named one of this year’s William T. Grant Scholars.

Be an American cultural ambassador by working as a teacher assistant in Spain
The Education Office of the Embassy of Spain in the U.S. and Canada is offering grants to fill over 400 vacancies for teacher assistants in the Spanish regions of Madrid, Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-León, Extremadura, Madrid, Pais Vasco (Vasque Region) and La Rioja.

Editorials

Editorial:
Call goes out for ‘A Day without Immigrants’ or “The Great American Boycott”
Across the nation, the call has gone out for a massive job and economic boycott on May 1. Various groups and organizers are asking members of the Hispanic communities and Immigrants to stay home from work, not buy any products, and for students to walk out of school! The intended purpose is to send a message to the Senate of the importance and dependency of the American society to this silent/invisible community and to have an impact on the immigration debate.

Comentario:
CARTA ABIERTA PARA UN INMIGRANTE DEPORTADO
Por Manuel R Villacorta O.
Tiempo atrás tuviste la idea de dejar tu patria. Esta fue creciendo hasta convertirse en una decisión irreversible. Decidiste viajar a Estados Unidos para buscar un mejor futuro. Tus planes eran llegar allá, trabajar mucho, ahorrar dinero y quizás, retornar a tu país para montar un buen negocio. O probablemente pensaste en quedarte a vivir definitivamente en Estados Unidos para luego integrar a tu familia en esa nueva vida. Otros casos de amigos o familiares te habían servido de ejemplo, pensaste: “si otros lo hicieron y lo lograron ¿por qué yo no podría hacerlo también?”

Commentary:
The Truth? Bush?
By Ernie McCray
What’s with all the talk about George W. Bush needing to tell the truth about the leaking of classified intelligence regarding the Iraq War?

Comentario:
Unidos en la misma tragedia
Por Humberto Caspa, Ph.D
¿Está cerrada la cicatriz que dejó el horroroso ataque terrorista del 11 de Septiembre?

The Public Forum . . . El Foro Publico
Vote on Election Day!
As an American Mexican, I find it utterly deplorable that the lawmakers of the “greatest” democracy in the world would want to punish illegal immigrants as felons. Felons are murderers, child abusers, and serious offenders of those freedoms we hold as sacred. The modern day immigrant for the most part, are economic refugees, wanting to come to this country for a better way of life. Like your forefathers or pilgrims, they came to this land for a future of growth, prosperity and religious freedom. Why have the parameters of democracy changed?

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

Tracing Your Indigenous Roots in México
By John P. Schmal
Because I volunteer as a Mexican genealogical consultant at the Los Angeles Family History Center a few days out of each month, many people have asked me for assistance in tracing their indigenous roots in México. For three hundred years, México was blessed with an exceptional record-keeping system. For the most part, Spanish padres in the small Mexican parishes were very diligent in recording the lives of their parishioners. In many parts of México, expedientes de bautismos, matrimonios y defunciones provide family history researchers with interesting details about the lives and origins of their ancestors that cannot be found in most other countries.

First Person
Tripping on tipping
By Al Carlos Hernandez
Like many of my broke baby boom generation compatriots, I can never remember a time when our family went out to a restaurant. My Dad’s philosophy was, if we had food at house, why go anywhere else to eat, especially since most restaurants didn’t specialize in spam and eggs.

Chicano Park Day to Celebrate 36th Anniversary
“Their Spirit Lives Within Us,” will be the theme of this year’s 36th annual Chicano Park Day, which will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2006, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, in historic Chicano Park. Chicano Park is located in the Barrio Logan community of San Diego, south of downtown San Diego. This family celebration is free and open to the public.

MACUILXOCHITL'S KIVA
Agua Dulce
By Francisco H. Ciriza
Agua Dulce is a great example of a band that has taken the do-it-yourself ethic to heart. The San Diego-based group which specializes in dance and party music and vibe started out by recording and producing their first CD, the E.P. Agua Dulce (1998) which utilized the group’s blend of Afro-Cuban, Nuyorican salsa, samba, Bossa nova, Latin-jazz, Cumbia, and reggae to etch it’s own unique sound.

Ya Cumplimos Diez
Por Alma Delia Martínez Cobián
Piano pianito y ya llegamos a los 10 años.
Al principio, cuando tuvimos que -literalmente- “amarrarnos el cinturón” y sostenernos con vales de comida que nos intercambiaban por publicidad los del Carl’s Jr., veíamos muy lejana esta fecha (sobre todo en las tristemente famosas “Cuestas de enero” -que más bien se prolongaban hasta febrero- o durante los baches económicos provocados por algún intento fallido de financiarnos mediante eventos grandes).

Renovada la VIII Muestra de Danza Internacional
Por: Paco Zavala
La expresión plástica corporal tendrá una nueva oportunidad de proyectarse compartiendo el escenario compañías de danza provenientes de Distrito Federal, Monterrey, Hermosillo, Suiza, España y de la propia ciudad de Tijuana, ciudad sede de este magno festival dancístico.

VAMOS AL CINE
La colina silente
Más acción de video juegos en pantalla grande
Por Jose Daniel Bort
Los aficionados a los video juegos tendrán una vez más la oportunidad de ver sus fantasías convertidas en realidad a través de la versión cinematográfica del juego “Silent Hill” el cual es considerado (al menos en su tercera versión) uno de los mejores video juegos de supervivencia en el género macabro.

Teatro de la Tierra to Perform at UCSD Center Theatre
Teatro de la Tierra, a theatrical group which employs the arts for social change, will perform “Heroes and Legends” at 7 p.m. April 26 in the Price Center Theatre at the University of California, San Diego. The event is sponsored by the UCSD Cesar Chavez Celebration Committee and the Helen Edison Lecture Series, and is free and open to the public.

World Cup 2006: Guardado on the fast track
A year ago Andres Guardado was an unknown, just another reserve player with Mexican giants Atlas, patiently waiting for an opportunity to prove himself in the first team. Little did he know what the next 12 months would bring.

Contreras Following in Brother’s Footsteps
By John Philip Wyllie
It takes a special person to be a lacrosse goalie. You have to be utterly fearless, immune to pain and have the reflexes of a cat. Bonita Vista High senior Ulises Contreras is one such person.

Bullfight World
By Lyn Sherwood
New Tijuana Bullfight Season Begins April 30
It was a long winter, without bullfights, but aficionados are rejoicing that the 2006 Tijuana bullfight season will begin, anew, April 30. And, it promises to be a sell-out, for the card will be headlined by the internationally popular Julián López “El Juli”.

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