FrontPage Stories

New school director sees students as allies

By Pablo Jaime Sáinz

Some people in the South Bay, including teachers and administrators at the Sweetwater Union High School District, see the MAAC Community Charter School in Chula Vista as the place where you get to send the “problem kids,” the students nobody else wants, the students who are always skipping class and are considered “at-risk.”

Some say it is “a school for drop-outs.”

Terri Lapinsky, new director of MAAC Community Charter School in Chula Vista.

But for the MAAC Community Charter School’s new director, those labels are far from the truth.

“This is a school for students who have very diverse stories and backgrounds, a school for young people who, because of their special circumstances, the educational system has failed them,” said Terri Lapinsky, who became director of the school about a month ago. “Instead of calling them ‘at-risk,’ I prefer to call the ‘at-promise,’ because these students have lots of potential.”

Lapinsky said that she embraces the fact that these students struggle to stay in school and get an education, because that is proof that they want to graduate from high school.

“They’re in school, they’re getting educated,” she said.

Lapinsky comes to the MAAC Community Charter School with extensive experience in the field of international and multi-cultural education. She directed a workers’ rights and labor education program in Brazil before moving to San Diego.

Lapinsky seems like the perfect fit for the MAAC Community Charter School, which was founded in 2001 to provide low-income, “at-risk” students in grades 9-12 through age 24 a high school diploma in an educational environment where they are challenged, excellence is expected and differences are valued. The school opened with 55 students and has increased enrollment to 300 students. Around 90 percent of the students are Latinos and 75 percent are English learners.

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Los intersticios de la globalidad
Por María Dolores Bolívar
Sin papeles, sin esperanza, sin arraigo, los deportados deambulan las calles de Tijuana esperando no ser vistos. Desde que iniciaron las redadas masivas el número de ellos va en aumento. La mayoría se encuentran a miles de kilómetros de su lugar de origen. Los oficiales estadounidenses los deportan en grupos, a las puertas de su país cuando muchos, ni siquiera reconocen ya una casa en ningún punto de la que de otro modo sería “su tierra”. “Les pedimos su boleta de deportación”, dijo la jueza. Y luego ahondó en su infortunio, tienen que demostrarnos “remuneración” honrada.

When ICE Comes to Your Town
By Raj Jayadev
SAN JOSE – Eloy, Ariz., is nothing like San Jose. More than a thousand miles away, placed in the middle of the desert, it is a blazingly hot, desolate and an unremarkable town, roughly an hour and a half south of Phoenix. It is so secluded that Greyhound doesn’t even go there.

Steve Padilla
Wrong Baby Wrong!
You would have thought we had come as they used to say, “A long way, baby”, but apparently not. When listening to the rhetoric in this presidential election year about how to achieve energy independence, I shake my head in disbelief. What are worse are the chants of the crowds in enthusiastic agreement. As one of Hitler’s top lieutenants Joseph Goebbels famously said, “The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.” Yep, and if you throw in high prices at the pump, and a recession, then suddenly presto -“it” becomes gospel. The “it” this year is made up of renewed support for allowing off shore oil drilling, and the screams of crowds chanting “Drill Baby Drill” no doubt in the false belief doing so would help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lower gas prices and ease our energy woes. Right. You can also put out a three alarm structure fire with a garden hose and by stomping your feet and blowing hard. Drilling is a convenient, expensive, ineffective and unwarranted distraction.

Stories

Wars, Elections and Human Rights
Frontera NorteSur
A few lyrics from an old Bob Marley song went like this:

La Reina de National City
Por David Washburn
Para ser una casa de tus sueños, la casa de Janet Martinelli fue un poco confusa.

Transnational Economic Crisis Appears To Be Hitting Michoacan
By Mariana Martínez
It is said that when the United States gets the flu Mexico gets pneumonia.

La Crisis Económica Transnacional Está Golpeando Muy Duro a Michoacan
Por Mariana Martínez
Se dice que cuando a Estados Unidos le da gripe, a México le da pulmonía y esto parece ser cierto en la reciente crisis económica que ha repercutido en las remesas, el precio del petróleo y el turismo, las tres principales fuentes de ingresos de este país.

LA COLUMNA VERTEBRAL
Por Luisa Fernanda Montero
No compre si no tiene con qué
Si es cierto que todos somos víctimas innegables del descalabro financiero por el que atraviesa este país, también es cierto que si no tomamos las medidas necesarias ahora mismo, podremos tener mucho más que lamentar.

DoD Revises Purple Heart Eligibility Criteria to Allow Award to POWs Who Die in Captivity
The Department of Defense announced today it has expanded the Purple Heart eligibility criteria allowing prisoners-of-war who died in captivity to receive the award.

Pardee Homes Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Ocean View Hills with Founders’ Day Event
Pardee Homes, residents, local businesses and community organizations joined in celebrating the Third Annual Ocean View Hills Founders’ Day, a family event commemorating the founding of the Ocean View Hills community in 1998.

Community Notes:
Latino Health Leadership Summit
San Ysidro Health Center (SYHC)will hold a Latino Health Leadership Summit on Thursday and Friday, October 16-17, 2008 at San Ysidro Health Center’s Operations Complex located at 1275 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92154. The primary goals of this Leadership Summit are to increase the public’s general understanding of the key issues influencing the health and well-being of Latinos and provide a community-based forum to explore ‘best practices’ for delivering quality health services in a respectful, culturally proficient manner.

Editorial and Commentary

Editorial:
Parental Notification and Gay Marriages Two Controversial Propositions
This year the State of California has 12 propositions on the ballot. Of the 12, two are highly emotional, controversial, and have attracted their fair share of attention this year. The Propositions are Prop. 4 Parental Notification before an abortion is performed and Proposition 8 which will nullify the right for same sex marriage.

Ballot Recommendations
State Propostions and Local Elections

Commentary:
Repeal Proposition “$M” - Vote Yes National City’s 8- ¾% Sales Tax
By Herman Baca
National City (NC) the poorest city in SD County, 3rd in California and 9th in the U.S., has the highest sales tax 8- ¾% in SD County and one of the highest in California. For the third time NC voters will vote in November to either repeal, or retain (PROP $M) the 80-90 million 10 year so-called “penny” sales tax.

Comentario:
La Proposición “$M” de National City Vota “Sí” Para Rechazar el 8- 3/4% Impuesto
Por Herman Baca
National City (NC) la ciudad más pobre en el Condado de San Diego, tercera (3) en California y novena (9) en Los Estados Unidos, tiene el más alto impuesto sobre la venta 8- 3/4% en el Condado de San Diego. Por tercera vez los votantes de NC votarán en Noviembre para rechazar, o retener el llamado “centavo” de impuesto que costará $80-$90 millones en un periodo de10 años.

Commentary:
It’s time for Latinos to reach their voting potential
By: Gebe Martinez
Elections are a time of accountability, a time when the values of presidential candidates are judged by voters and when incumbents are forced to defend their records and rhetoric against ambitious challengers.

Comentario:
Obama 2, McCain 0
Por Humberto Caspa, Ph.D
El segundo debate ya está en la bolsa. Sólo falta otro, el de la próxima semana, y con eso termina una seria de preguntas y respuestas que dan a los candidatos, Barack Obama y John McCain, un forum abierto para presentar sus planes de gobierno.

Commentary:
Columbus Day Celebrates Western Civilization
By Thomas A. Bowden
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, opening a sea route to vast uncharted territories that awaited the spread of Western civilization. Centuries later, the ensuing cultural migration culminated in the birth and explosive growth of the greatest nation in history: the United States of America.

The Public Forum . . . El Foro Publico
The City’s Barrio Logan stake holders meeting was hot and crowded
The most surprising thing that came out of the Barrio Logan Stake Holders meeting held Tuesday (Sept 30, 2008) was what Ms. Gates said, that she would guarantee that the people living in the barrio “today” would be in the barrio well after the new community plan goes into effect. Moreover, as it appears (as listed in the 2007 city report) that some 90 percent of those living in the Barrio are renters. She will have very hard job ahead of her to keep her promise. I am not sure even if Ms. Gates (representing the City of San Diego) will be with the city by the time they complete this project. Nevertheless, I take my hat off to her for saying she cares that much about the people of the Barrio; we do not hear a single other person, even the area’s elected officials, saying anything like that.

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

¡ASK A MEXICAN!
By Gustavo Arellano
SPECIAL RECAP EDITION
Dear Readers: I don’t like to rerun columns ‘cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but I realize that, as my column invades foreign terrain (Chattanooga! Columbia, South Carolina! Steamboat Springs, Colorado!), new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most-frequently asked questions about the Mexican’s methodology:

Why I Love Watching White Girls Cry
By Alex Jung
I was an avid viewer of America’s Next Top Model from the very first season up until the ninth. The show was my weekly fix, as it offered up a crazed Petri dish filled with wannabe models and their leader, Tyra Banks. As the show lurched towards its tenth cycle, you could say it had lost its edge. The ever-increasing shrieks of the modeltestants seemed to be a calculated disguise of Tyra’s own mounting disinterest in the show, and the churning out of winners twice a year made each one more forgettable than the last.

Monareta: El nuevo sonido de Colombia
Por James Klein
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA (KPRENSA) – Monareta es el nuevo sonido de Colombia. Ahora, el dueto colombiano lanza Picotero, su primer disco en Estados Unidos, y en el cual rinde un homenaje a algunos ritmos de las Antillas como el reggae, cumbia, porro, cha-cha-chá y merengue, entre muchos otros, tejidos con los sonidos electrónicos de los teclados, computadoras y tornamesas.

Peña says ‘Lucky Ones’ not political
By Kiko Martinez
Originally from Chicago, actor Michael Peña has led a successful 14-year career in Hollywood. From starring in a number of Academy Award-worthy films like “Crash,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “Babel,” to working alongside industry icons like Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, and Oliver Stone, Peña has created his own path to stardom and continues to be one of the most sought after Latino actors working today.

“Lioness” To Screen at San Diego Public Library
How five female Army soldiers engaged in direct combat alongside the Marines
The San Diego Public Library and Media Arts Center San Diego will host a film showing of Lioness at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, October 15, in the 3rd floor auditorium of the Central Library, located at 820 E Street in downtown San Diego. This event is FREE to the public.

Visitan “El Cubo” Estudiantes de la Escuela Secundaria General No.17
Por: Paco Zavala
La sensación del momento en Tijuana es la apertura que se realizó recientemente de los espacios museísticos de “El Cubo” los cuales forman parte integral de las instalaciones del Centro Cultural Tijuana, para orgullo de lo tijuanenses, pues estos espacios son considerados los más modernos y cómodos del noroeste del país azteca.

Aguarda Reto Importante A Nuevos Entrenadores
TIJUANA — Con el arranque de las etapas estatales rumbo a la Olimpiada Nacional, los nuevos entrenadores incorporados a los programas de trabajo de Talentos Deportivos en el estado, tendrán sus primeras etapas de evaluación y observación de deportistas.

De La Hoya-Pacquiao Made It To East Los Angeles
By Armando Cabrera
Oscar De La Hoya made his final stop in East Los Angeles under the arch on Whittier Blvd. and Arizona Ave. on Tuesday. The six-day city tour went from New York, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

San Diego State Athletics Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2008
The San Diego State Department of Athletics will welcome a new class this winter of five individuals into its Aztec Hall of Fame, presented by the Wise Foundation.

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