"We are Cousins"
SEPTEMBER 2019
Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-2019

Oil by Artist Violet Parkhurst  

Table of Contents

United States
Spanish Presence in the Americas Roots
Heritage Project
Historical Tidbits
Hispanic Leaders
Latino America Patriots
Early Latino Patriots
Surnames 
DNA

Family History
Religion
Education 
Culture 

Health

 

Books and Print Media
Films, TV, Radio, Internet

Orange County, CA
Los Angeles County, CA

California
 
Northwestern US

Southwestern US
Texas
Middle America
African-American
Indigenous
Sephardic
Archaeology
Mexico
Caribbean Region
Central/South America
Pan-Pacific Rim

Philippines
Spain
International
 
 
Somos Primos Advisors   
Mimi Lozano, Editor
Mercy Bautista Olvera
Roberto Calderon, Ph,D.
Dr. Carlos Campos y Escalante
Bill Carmena
Lila Guzman, Ph.D
John Inclan
Galal Kernahan
Juan Marinez
J.V. Martinez, Ph.D
Dorinda Moreno
Rafael Ojeda
Oscar Ramirez, Ph.D. 
Ángel Custodio Rebollo
Tony Santiago
John P. Schmal

Submitters/contributors to Sept 
Hon.Fredrick Aguirre
Linda Aguirre
Dale Alsop
David Andrews
Janet Armstrong
Gustavo Arellano
Cristián Arévalo Pakarati
Larry P. Arnn, Ph.D. 
Susan Barocas
Cristina Blanco
Nellie Bowles
Charles Burnett
Javier Brandolli
Carl Camp
Stephen L. D’Andrilli
Dale Alsop
Janet Armstrong
Gustavo Arellano
Javier Brandolli
Susan Barocas
Nellie Bowles
Frank R. Brandenburg
Charles Burnett
Carl Camp
Alfredo Cardenas 
Feliz Casanova
Virginia Correa Creager, Ph.D.
Stephen L. D’Andrilli
Beltrán de Castro 
David Dobson
Refugio and Sally Fernandez
Cassandra Fairbanks 
Jenna Fite
Michael Foust 
Lorraine Frain
David-James Gonzales
Rafael Jesús González
Robert Goodwin
Victor Davis Hanson, Ph.D.
Mary A. Helmich
Harold A. Henderson
John James 
Roger J Katz 
Julia Kelly 
Refugio and Sally Fernandez
Cassandra Fairbanks 
Jenna Fite
Michael Foust 
Lorraine Frain 
Rafael González-Acuña,  Ph.D,
Rafael Jesús González
Victor Davis Hanson, Ph.D. 
Mary A. Helmich
Harold A. Henderson
John James
Roger J. Katz
Julia Kelly 
Jack Kinsella
Lucette Lagnado 
Ellie Lennon 
Danny W. Linggonegoro
Eduardo Machuca

Alicia McDermott
Patrick J. McDonnell
Jerry Medina
Christian P. Milford
Elizabeth Shown Mills
Sunny Jane Morton
Paco Nadal
Joy Neugebauer
Anne Oldfield 
Violet Parkhurst
Annahita Parsan
J. Gilbert Quezada 
Francisco Reyero
Margaret Reynolds 
Robert Robertson
Raul Ruiz 
Gilberto Sanchez, Ph.D.
Sister Mary Sevilla 
Howard Shorr 
Mary Anthony Startz,
Mathew D. Staver 
Jo Anne Van Tilburg 
Albert V. Vela, PhD
Eduardo Verdugo  
Kirk Whisler
Jessica Wolf
Carlos Yturralde 
Catherine Zuckerman

 

Letters to the Editor

Hi Mimi,

My name is  Julia and I am a fourth-grade teacher in Florida.   One of my students, Bridget, found your web site while working on her genealogy project.

Bridget would also like to suggest a publication as a thank you for the hard work you put on your web site.

It is from homeadviceguide.com. SIX STEPS TO YOUR FAMILY HISTORY.  It is very easy to follow and it contains all the necessary information to guide new and more experienced genealogy researchers. 

http://www.homeadviceguide.com/
6-steps-to-your-family-history/


Julia Kelly 
julkelly78@gmail.com
 

Hi Mimi  I am sorry to read that you are retiring Somos Primos, I have enjoyed reading the articles through the past years. I have shared this site with many of my family. I read all Somos Primos  - sure hate to see it all end.  Mimi how do I register to get the archives? Or stay connected to Somos Primos.  

Anne Oldfield   annebronco03@msn.com 


Really good topics. Keep up the good work!!
Sinceramente,  Refugio and Sally Fernandez
cnsfernandez1943@sbcglobal.net 


I appreciate the outstanding work involved in the newsletter.  Thanks a bunch 
Jerry Medina  mmapmaker@aol.com 

 


mimilozano@aol.com
www.SomosPrimos.com 
714-894-8161

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

50th anniversary of the Moon Landing
First Meal on the Moon Was Communion
The Apollo Astronauts Signed Memorabilia in Quarantine—as Life Insurance
List of Hispanic Astronauts 

Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America 
Suit: Boston Bans Christian Flag but Approves 284 Other Ones
St. Louis Park, MN,  Bans Pledge of Allegiance, 5-0 vote
Immigrant Student Loses Miss World Title For Refusing To Try On A Hijab
Seattle School District “Endorsing Islam,” Asks Teachers to Bless Students in Arabic
What is the BDS movement and House Resolution 496?
Who is Ilhan Omar? . . a member of the Congressional Muslin Click, self-named, the Squad

LIST of Government Accomplishment by the Current Administration in Health Care

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life behind bars in a U.S.
Amid Opioid Crisis at Home, US spend tens of  millions of dollars to treat drug addition in Afghanistan 

Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants
The asylum seekers will be forced to apply in the first country 

Thoughts on the Electoral College
Utah Teachers Instructed in Using guns in response to an active-shooter situation.

Coming Attractions: The 1950 U.S. Census 
Overlooked No More: Ralph Lazo, Who Voluntarily Lived in a Internment Camp 

Unleashed and Unchecked, Fake News Media Propaganda Will Destroy America 
The War Over America's Past, Commentary by Victor Davis Hanson



50th anniversary
 of the Moon Landing

 

 


Feel the excitement the mission stirred at home and abroad in our gallery of archival images celebrating
the moon landing's 50th anniversary 
by   Photo edit by .  

See our 50 favorite photos from Apollo 11

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/our-50-favorite-apollo-11-pictures/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email ::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=SpecialEdition_20190720::rid=00000000000017929134 

 

  Apollo 11 astronauts stand next to their spacecraft in 1969, AP Photo.
from left: Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, lunar module pilot; Neil Armstrong, flight commander; and Lt. Michael Collins, command module pilot. 



First Meal on the Moon Was Communion. 
It Would Have Caused Riots in Present-Day US

 


July 20, 1969 may mark the peak of human achievement — for now, anyway. On that date 50 years ago, a man from Ohio with an American flag on his shoulder stepped off the lunar module onto the surface of the moon, etching his name into all of history.

That man, of course, was Neil Armstrong. With the big 5-0 anniversary of the moon landing finally here, the late commander of Apollo 11 is receiving a lot of attention, thanks in part to the recent “First Man” biopic which starred Ryan Gosling.

But it was the second man on the moon, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who made history in a very different way on that day in 1969. Although it’s now mostly a footnote in the NASA archives, one of the first actions on the moon wasn’t to pull on a spacesuit. It was to partake in Christian communion to thank God for all that had been accomplished.

“Aldrin, seated next to Neil Armstrong, became the first person to celebrate a religious sacrament on a heavenly body outside Earth,” Fox News reported.

“The ordained Presbyterian elder wrote in a piece for Guideposts in 1970 he chose Holy Communion because his pastor at Webster Presbyterian, Dean Woodruff, often spoke about how God reveals Himself through the everyday elements,” the outlet continued.

What is especially fascinating here is that Aldrin was very much a man of science. He was an expert in astronautics, wrote NASA’s vital guide to orbital docking essentially singlehandedly, and held a Doctor of Science degree from MIT. Yet Aldrin was also a man of deep faith.

“I wondered if it might be possible to take communion on the moon, symbolizing the thought that God was revealing Himself there, too, as man reached out into the universe,” he said in 1970. “For there are many of us in the NASA program who do trust that what we are doing is part of God’s eternal plan for man.”

Acknowledging his Christian faith was so important to the famous astronaut that he went out of his way to plan communion on the surface of the moon, taking a holy communion wafer and a silver cup with wine on the 239,000 mile journey to another world.

“I opened the little plastic packages which contained bread and wine,” Aldrin said. “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”

Mindful of the fact that the moon landing was being watched by millions around the world, the veteran astronaut didn’t push his personal views on others but asked observers for a moment to reflect on what had been accomplished.

“I would like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way,” he said. Audio of that radio call can be heard below.

Aldrin’s view that his Christian faith wasn’t incompatible with science, but rather complimented it, flies in the face of current attitudes in much of the establishment media.

In today’s world, anyone who believes in God is portrayed as some sort of backward anti-science peon.

In fact, NASA purposely kept the communion event under wraps in order to avoid any scandals. A year earlier during the Apollo 8 mission, astronauts had read from the Book of Genesis during Christmas Eve, which led to the space program being sued by an angry atheist. The lawsuit was later dropped.

You can safely bet that if America’s space program broadcast a communion today, there would be a loud outcry from left-leaning pundits and even protests over this display of faith. In the modern world, all hints of a higher power seem to be purposely stripped or ridiculed as backward.

Yet there is no denying that Buzz Aldrin was one of the most forward-thinking men of his time. He was able to balance science, technology, and faith at once. His achievements — and the achievements of so many God-believing scientists throughout history — speak for themselves.

Pretending that explorers and pioneers like Aldrin were only motivated by hard science misses a huge part of the story. Science and slide rules may have gotten Americans to the moon, but it was a deep belief that mankind is part of a bigger picture which motivated them to reach for the stars.  We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.




The Apollo Astronauts Signed Memorabilia in Quarantine
—as Life Insurance

 


Fifty years ago this week, three men stepped into a small capsule perched atop a nearly 400-foot-tall rocket. They were to travel 238,900 miles, through a crushing vacuum, at thousands of miles per hour, land delicately on a barren, airless rock—and then make the trip home. Survival was not assured.

The three Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins—knew they might not make it back. Just two years earlier, during an Apollo 1 launch rehearsal, a similar capsule had caught fire, killing the entire crew. Things could go wrong; they had before.

All three had families, though, who had to share in their risks, so the astronauts tried to find some measure of security for their wives and children should the worst happen beyond the surly bonds of Earth. They did so in a very American way: by capitalizing on their fame. In the weeks before the launch, all three men autographed hundreds of envelopes, each with a special design commemorating the mission and a postage stamp celebrating a previous Apollo mission. These envelopes were to be postmarked on launch day or Moon-landing day, ideally increasing their value as collectibles. If the astronauts didn’t return, their families could sell these “insurance covers,” as they were known, to stay afloat.

“It was driven by the fact that, given the nature of the astronauts’ livelihood, they were not able to secure much life insurance,” says Howard C. Weinberger, a collector and author who has written extensively about the Apollo program.

An insurance cover from the collection of Janet Armstrong.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apollo-insurance-covers-collectibles?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e9f2352161-
EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_23_Not_NYC&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-e9f2352161-
65936441&ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_07_23_2019_Not_NYC)&mc_cid=e9f2352161&mc_eid=48deecacd6
 

A “Type 3” insurance cover from Apollo 11,
 the least common of the three types the astronauts signed.
Courtesy Moonpans.com




List of Hispanic astronauts from Wikipedia
Country      Comment      Missions Launch date

 


1
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez Cuba September 18, 1980

2 Rodolfo Neri Vela Mexico First Mexican in space. November 26, 1985

3 Franklin Chang-Diaz Uiited States First Costa Rican astronaut January 12, 1986

4 Sidney M. Gutierrez United States First U.S.-born Hispanic astronaut (June 5, 1991

5 Ellen Ochoa United States ( Mexico) First female Hispanic astronaut April 8, 1993

6 Michael Lopez-Alegria United States ( Spain) First Spanish-born astronaut October 20, 1995

7 Carlos I. Noriega United States ( Peru) First Peruvian-born astronaut May 15, 1997

8 Pedro Duque Spain First Spanish astronaut October 29, 1998

9 John D. Olivas United States( Mexico) June 8, 2007

10 George D. Zamka United States ( Colombia) October 23, 2007

11 Joseph M. Acaba United States ( Puerto Rico) First Puerto Rican astronaut March 15, 2009

12 José M. Hernández United States ( Mexico) August 28, 2009

13 Serena M. Auñón United States ( Cuba) June 6, 2018


Other Hispanic astronauts

Jose Lopez Falcon Cuba Backup for Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez on Soyuz 38

Ricardo Peralta y Fabi Mexico Backup for Rodolfo Neri Vela on STS-61-B

Fernando Caldeiro United States ( Argentina) Died October 3, 2009.

Christopher Loria 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hispanic_astronauts 
The editor of this entry welcomes additions and corrections.

 


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Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America 
The first ten amendments to the Constitution - The Bill of Rights - were ratified effective December 15, 1791 

===================================
Amendments I

===================================
Amendments II

Congress shall make no law respect an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

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Suit: Boston Bans Christian Flag but Approves 284 Other Ones
by Michael Foust 
ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | Friday, July 12, 2019

The city of Boston is engaging in unconstitutional discrimination against religious speech by banning the Christian flag from its City Hall flagpoles, while permitting more than 200 other types of flags to fly, according to a new federal lawsuit.

The suit by Liberty Counsel was filed Monday on behalf of citizen Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution. Shurtleff wanted to fly the flag during a one-hour event on Constitution Day in 2017 and 2018 to commemorate the contributions of the Christian community but was denied.

The city allows a variety of flags to fly on its flagpoles to commemorate civic and cultural organizations yet prohibits non-secular flags.

A federal court and an appeals court previously ruled against Shurtleff. The new lawsuit includes a new set of “key facts” that should “compel a result in Camp Constitution’s favor,” the suit says.

Among those new facts: At least 13 times between 2005 and 2019, the city allowed the Turkish flag -- with its Islamic star and crescent – to be raised on city hall flag poles, the suit says. The city also allowed the Chinese, Cuban and Vatican flags to fly on city hall flag poles. All total, according to the suit, 284 different types of flags have flown. Not mentioned in the new suit are transgender and LGBT pride flags, both of which have flown.

“Yet, despite all of these many flag raisings containing religious symbols and imagery, and the City’s allowing the official flag of the Catholic Church, Camp Constitution’s proposed flag raising was denied because it was ‘religious,’” the suit says. “There can be no dispute that the City’s denial impermissibly discriminated between religion and non-religion, and discriminated between religious sects. Both violate the Establishment Clause.”

Further, “prior to Camp Constitution’s request for access to the City Hall Flag Poles,” the city accepted all applicants, the suit says. It also contends that the Christian flag was prohibited merely because of its name. The Bunker Hill flag — which has flown on a city hall flagpole — has a similar design with a cross.

The city’s denial violates the U.S. Constitution’s First and Fourteenth Amendments, the suit contends.

“Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted violates the First Amendment,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Boston city officials may not ban the Christian flag as part of a privately-sponsored event when they allow any other flag by numerous private organizations. It’s time for the court to stop the city’s unconstitutional censorship.”

ChristianHeadlines.com

https://www.christianheadlines.com//contributors/michael-foust/suit-boston-
bans-christian-flag-but-approves-284-other-ones.html?utm_source=Christian
Headlines%20Daily&utm_campaign=Christian%20Headlines%20Daily%20-
%20ChristianHeadlines.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2872966&bcid=
075338e3ece4d852546cfcf74a6b022b&recip=539781987%20

 


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St. Louis Park, MN,  Bans Pledge of Allegiance, 5-0 vote

 

The City Council in the town of St. Louis Park, MN, has voted to ban saying the pledge of allegiance before meetings. It was a unanimous 5-0 vote.

St. Louis Park is in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) district, so the town is in the unique position of having entire Somali villages transplanted there, thanks to America’s insane chain migration policies. The pledge of allegiance was eliminated by the left-leaning City Council because it offends the large Somali bloc of voters within the city limits.

This City Council’s excuse was that they are trying to serve a “diverse” community and that the pledge of allegiance makes the “diverse” ones uncomfortable. Isn’t that the central problem in America today?

The pledge of allegiance is not in the Constitution. It’s not required as party of any loyalty test for Americans. But it is a long-standing tradition, and one that is important. The words of the pledge tell the whole story:

I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America; and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

There is absolutely nothing controversial about those words. How else is a “diverse” nation supposed to hold together unless we are willing to voice adherence to common principles such as these?

The biggest threat to our gun rights and all of our other freedoms in America today is not the Democrat Party. The real threat is from the mass immigration that has consumed both parties in Washington, DC.

If new immigrants come to America, become citizens through the now ludicrously simple process that’s in place, and refuse to abide by American norms and traditions, how much longer can our freedoms survive?

If they refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag – such a simple act in and of itself – do you really believe they will feel any fondness or adherence to principles like the Second Amendment (or any other amendment that gets in the way of their political power)?

My kindergarten teacher in the 1970s was what you might describe, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, “old school Antifa.” He killed literal Fascists while storming beaches in Italy during World War II. He went to Japan after the war to help with reconstruction and became one of the first Americans in US history to earn a black belt in karate from that nation’s masters. He taught us how to read when were little and, if we were interested when we got older, he taught us how to break cinderblocks with our fists.

Needless to say, the pledge of allegiance was kind of a big deal in his classroom. There was a mound of dirt in a field across the fence from the schoolyard. The older kids insisted that children who refused to say the pledge of allegiance were buried there. We all believed them. Sadly, a patriotic teacher of his caliber would be banned from most school districts in America today.

Today the pledge of allegiance is increasingly derided as racist, xenophobic, oppressive, or pick your other negative adjective. How did we arrive here? Mass immigration is the only answer.

America has taken in more than 60 million legal immigrants since the 1965 Immigration Act. 

  Jul 18, 2019  

 

 


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Immigrant Student Loses Miss World Title 
For Refusing To Try On A Hijab

 


Beauty pageant officials wanted this outspoken winner to be quiet and submissive. Nevertheless, she persisted. University of Michigan student Kathy Zhu is savaging the Miss World America competition for revoking her Miss Michigan title just a day after crowning her, the Detroit News reports.

Zhu, also a College Republicans leader, tweeted an email from Michigan Director Laurie DeJack that blamed her social media posts for the decision to revoke her title.

They are “offensive, insensitive and inappropriate,” violating the competition’s boilerplate rules about bringing MWA “into disrepute” through a contestant’s “background,” DeJack wrote, copying National Director Michael Galanes and Chief Operating Officer Robert Gandara on the email.

The posts in question came from the past two years. While she was still a University of Central Florida student, Zhu (second from right above) criticized a “Muslim Student Association event that invited students to try on a hijab” in 2018, the News reports:

“So you’re telling me that it’s now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing?” Zhu had tweeted. “Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?”

Her comments prompted a Twitter fight and at least one call for expulsion, but officials ultimately concluded that none of the involved students’ actions violated the university’s rules of conduct.

In a text exchange posted online, a beauty pageant organizer also raised concerns with an October 2017 tweet by Zhu, who wrote: “Did you know the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community first before blaming others.”

Zhu wrote back a fiery email to the “gullible” competition officials, explaining the context of her posts:

What’s “insensitive” is that women in the middle east are getting STONED TO DEATH for refusing to obey their husband’s orders to wear hijabs.

A muslim woman tried to FORCIBLY put a hijab on my head without my permission. […] Are the people in MWA implying that they advocate for the punishment of women who refuse to wear a hijab?

If this was a catholic rosary that someone forced me to try on and I refused, people would not have even bat [sic] an eye.

I suggest you all fully review what you stand for and what you condemn. Statistics and facts are not always pleasant. [This apparently refers to the “black deaths” tweet]

Zhu said the revocation was based on “ONE PERSON’S COMPLAINT” about “photoshopped tweets.” She identified that person as Scotland Calhoun Perez, whose Twitter account was marked protected sometime after July 7.

https://realconservativesunite.com/2019/07/21/immigrant-student-loses-miss-world-title-for-refusing-to-try-on-a-hijab/

 


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Seattle School District “Endorsing Islam,” 
Asks Teachers to Bless Students in Arabic

The Dieringer School District in Seattle has come under fire recently for what’s seen as a blatant disregard of First Amendment rights. The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) claims that Muslim students are receiving preferential treatment when it comes to testing and religious acknowledgment. Superintendent Judy Martinson even went so far as to take the recommendations of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — also known as CAIR — and enact them as district policy, forwarding an email to district officials with guidelines that effectively endorse Islam. Is it any wonder that parents are in an uproar?

Observing holidays is not the issue at hand, after all, schools do observe Christmas, Good Friday and Easter (even though we aren’t allowed to have Christmas parties or “Easter Break” anymore). The real matter — and reason for concern — involves actively promoting Islamic culture by doling out blessings in Arabic and monitoring a student’s fasting habits. Like teachers don’t have enough to do when it comes to educating students, now they’re expected to acknowledge religious beliefs and practices? Add in the fact that CAIR wants teachers to adjust testing schedules for holidays Eid Al-Adha and Eid Al-Fitr, treating them with the same importance as Christmas, when there’s clearly no basis for doing so.

In addition, it’s widely rumored that CAIR has ties to radical Islamists and pushes anti-semitic beliefs. Sure, the First Amendment guarantees rights to religious freedom, but at what expense and why does this equate to preferential treatment?

https://www.conservativesociety.org/seattle-school-district-endorsing-islam-asks-teachers-to-bless-students-in-arabic/ 

 

 



What is the BDS movement and House Resolution 496?

 


Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib introduced a resolution aimed at supporting the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which targets the Middle East’s only democracy. 

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar proposed a resolution supporting the right to boycott Israel, likening the boycott of the Jewish state to boycotts of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The resolution seeks to push back against U.S. laws banning the boycott of Israel and  affirms the right of Americans to organize boycotts of foreign countries if they so wish.

While the resolution doesn’t explicitly name Israel or the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, she told media outlets that the resolution concerns the Jewish state.




WHO IS ILHAN OMAR?  . . . 
A member of the Congressional Muslin Click, self-named, the Squad.

Omar has a well-deserved reputation as an Israel-hater. Her first known dive into the anti-Semitic deep-end came in 2012 when she tweeted on the "evil doings of Israel." She later called it an "apartheid regime." 

More recently, Omar linked U.S. support for Israel to Jewish money. As she mockingly tweeted, "It's all about the Benjamins baby"—"Benjamins" meaning 100-dollar bills.

And then she invoked the dual loyalty canard--referring to the "political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country."

That so outraged House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel, who is Jewish and a Democrat, that he publicly scolded her for "invoking a vile anti-Semitic slur."

Her just-introduced resolution, H. RES. 496, in support of the right to boycott Israel, lists the U.S. boycott of Nazi Germany as one example of the exercise of this right. In an Al Monitor interview, Omar called her resolution "an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”

But in fact, the BDS movement is an anti-Semitic campaign to vilify and wage economic war on the Jewish state. And all for one end: to destroy Israel.

David Steinberg has done extensive research answering that questions. 
Omar has been engaged in breaking quite a few laws, Steinberg summarizes by stating:  "The facts describe perhaps the most extensive spree of illegal misconduct committed by a House member in American history."

I think you will be shocked with the facts and skills with which Omar practiced fraud so successfully.
Source: "Tying up loose threads in the curious case" by David Steinberg
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/07/david-steinberg-tying-up-loose-threads-in-the-curious-case.php 

After a three year study of Ilhan Omar, Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch states that "substantial, compelling and, to date, unrefuted evidence has been uncovered that Rep. Ilhan Omar may have committed the following crimes in violation of both federal law and Minnesota state law: perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, state and federal tax fraud, and federal student loan fraud."

It is supported by information gathered from public records, social media postings, genealogy databases, computer forensic analysis, unaltered digital photographs, discussions between the investigative reporters and the subjects of the investigation themselves, and information supplied by confidential sources within the Somali-American community.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/49809/ethics-complaint-filed-against-ilhan-omar-alleged-james-barrett?utm
_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=072419-news&utm_campaign=position1


David Steinberg has done extensive research answering that question who is Ilhan Omar?  
Omar has been engaged in breaking quite a few laws, Steinberg summarizes by stating:  "The facts describe perhaps the most extensive spree of illegal misconduct committed by a House member in American history."

I think you will be shocked with the facts and skills with which Omar practiced fraud so successfully.
Source: "Tying up loose threads in the curious case" by David Steinberg
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/07/david-steinberg-tying-up-loose-threads-in-the-curious-case.php 

State Rep. Ilhan Omar was arrested in 2013 for trespassing and booked at Hennepin County Jail “to prevent further criminal conduct,” according to a newly uncovered police report.  https://alphanewsmn.com/ilhan-omar-arrested-in-2013-for-trespassing-booked-at-hennepin-county-jail/ 

Yikes! Old Video Shows Ilhan Omar at a 2015 Rally Referring to Somalia as “Our Nation Back Home” More loyal to Islamic terrorists than the country she represents, she petitioned to reduce the sentences of convicted terrorists.

https://www.patrioticviralnews.com/articles/yikes-old-video-shows-ilhan-omar-at-a-2015-rally-
referring-to-somalia-as-our-nation-back-home/

 

 
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LIST of Government Accomplishment by the Current Government in Health Care

=================================== ===================================

HEALTH CARE 

Signed an executive order to help minimize the financial burden felt by American households Signed legislation to improve The National Suicide Hotline.

Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.

Signed Right-to-Try legislation, expanding health care options for terminally ill patients.

Enacted changes to the Medicare 340B program. saving seniors an estimated $320 million on drugs in 2018 alone.

FDA set a new record for generic drug approvals in 2017, saving consumers nearly $9 billion.

Released a blueprint to drive down drug prices for American patients, leading multiple major drug companies to announce they will freeze or reverse price increases.

Expanded short-term, limited-duration health plans.


Let more employers to form Association Health Plans, enabling more small businesses to join together and affordably provide health insurance
to their employees.

Cut Obamacare's burdensome individual mandate penalty.

Signed legislation repealing Obamacare's Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known as the "death panels."

USDA invested more than Sl billion in rural health care in 2017. improving access to health care for 2.5 million people in rural communities across 41 states

Proposed Title X rule to help ensure taxpayers do not fund the abortion industry in violation of the law.

Reinstated and expanded the Mexican Mexico City policy to keep foreign aid from supporting the global abortion industry. 

HHS a new division over protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom.

Overturn Obama administrations midnight regulation prohibiting states from defunding certain abortion facilities.

Signed Executive Order to help ensure that religious organizations are not forced to choose between violating their religious beliefs by complying with Obama cares contraceptive mandate or shutting their doors.  

COMBATING OPIOIDS

• Chaired meeting the 73rd General United Nations discussing the worldwide drug  problem with international leaders.

• Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce  Supply and Demand, introducing new measures  to keep dangerous drugs out of our communities.

• $6 billion in new funding to fight opioid epidemic.

• DEA conducted a surge in April 2018 that  arrested 28 medical professions and revoked 147 registrations for prescribing too many opioids.

• Brought the "'Prescribed to Death" Memorial to President's Park near the White House helping  to raise awareness about the human toll of the opioid crisis.

• Helped reduce high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent in 2017.

• Opioid Summit on the administration-efforts to combat the opioid crisis.

• Launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction.

• Created a Commission on Combat Addiction and the Opioid Crisis which recommended a number of pathways to tackle the opioid crisis.

• Led two National Prescription Drug Take Back Days in 2017 and 2018, collecting a recordnumber of expired and unneeded  drugs each time.

• $485 million targeted grants in FY 2017 to help areas hit hardest by the opioid crisis:

• Signed INTERDICT Act, strengthening efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids before they reach our communities.

• DOJ secured its first-ever indictment against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.

• Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet enforcement (J-CODE) team aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.

• Declared the opioid crisis a Nationwide Public Health Emergency in October 2017.

Extracted from the Official White House list of "289 Promises Kept" by President Donald Trump.

Editor Mimi: Surely one of the biggest accomplishments is the cooperation between the US and Mexico in putting Mexican "Drug Lord, El Chapo" in a US prison for life.  


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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City. (Eduardo Verdugo / AP)

The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life behind bars in a U.S. prison, a humbling end for a drug lord once notorious for his ability to kill, bribe or tunnel his way out of trouble.

A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence Wednesday, five months after Guzman’s conviction in an epic drug-trafficking case.

The 62-year-old drug lord, who had been protected in Mexico by an army of gangsters and an elaborate corruption operation, was brought to the U.S. to stand trial after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons.

Before he was sentenced, Guzman, complained about the conditions of his confinement and told the judge he was denied a fair trial. He said U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan failed to thoroughly investigate claims of juror misconduct.

"My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial when the whole world was watching," Guzman said in court through an interpreter. "When I was extradited to the United States, I expected to have a fair trial, but what happened was exactly the opposite."

The harsh sentence was pre-ordained. The guilty verdict in February at Guzman’s 11-week trial triggered a mandatory sentence of life without parole .

The evidence showed that under Guzman’s orders, the Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in court papers re-capping the trial. They also said his “army of sicarios” was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who got in his way.

Guzman has been largely cut off from the outside world since his extradition in 2017 and his remarks in the courtroom Wednesday could be the last time the public hears from him. Guzman thanked his family for giving him "the strength to bare this torture that I have been under for the past 30 months."

Wary of his history of escaping from Mexican prisons, U.S. authorities have kept him in solitary confinement in an ultra-secure unit at a Manhattan jail and under close guard at his appearances at the Brooklyn courthouse where his case unfolded.

Experts say he will likely wind up at the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” Most inmates at Supermax are given a television, but their only actual view of the outside world is a 4-inch window. They have minimal interaction with other people and eat all their meals in their cells.

While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify.

But evidence at Guzman's trial suggested his decision to stay quiet at the defense table was against his nature: Cooperating witnesses told jurors he was a fan of his own rags-to-riches narco story, always eager to find an author or screenwriter to tell it. He famously gave an interview to American actor Sean Penn while he was a fugitive, hiding in the mountains after accomplices built a long tunnel to help him escape from a Mexican prison.

Prosecution descriptions of an empire that paid for private planes, beachfront villas and a private zoo were a fallacy, his lawyers say. And the chances the U.S. government could collect on a roughly $12.5 billion forfeiture order are zero, they add.

 



Amid Opioid Crisis at Home, 
US spend tens of  millions of dollars to treat drug addition in Afghanistan 


In the midst of an opioid epidemic in the United States, the government has blown tens of millions of dollars to treat drug addiction in Afghanistan and has no clue if the programs are working. 

Since 2002 American taxpayers have doled out an eye-popping $9 billion to counter drug production in the Islamic nation, the world’s top opium producer. The money largely flows through the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). As part of the broader effort, Uncle Sam spent $50.5 million on dozens of drug treatment programs between 2013 and 2018. The treatment projects are implemented by the United Nations on Drugs and a cooperative for economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific known as Colombo Plan.

The problem is that, like many of these costly global initiatives, the U.S. government writes the big checks, but doesn’t bother following up to assure they’re effective. In this case, a report published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) slams the government for failing to monitor or evaluate the performance of its drug addiction projects in Afghanistan, writing that the State Department “does not know the impact to date of its investment.” Furthermore, the State Department didn’t even bother to conduct site visits to project locations and failed to maintain files or records required under agency rules. “Because INL has not evaluated the performance of its projects, INL cannot determine the progress or impact its drug treatment projects have had,” the report says.

The watchdog offers background information that explains why the U.S. is throwing so much money at this issue. Besides being a world-renowned producer of opium, Afghanistan has among the world’s highest per capita rates of drug users, between 2.9 million and 3.6 million. Among the favorite drugs are opium and heroin and around 31% of all Afghan households have at least one member who uses drugs. The State Department has tried to justify funding projects to counter the problem by pointing out that drug addiction causes a wide range of detrimental societal effects beyond health and welfare, including undermining economic development, reducing social and political stability and diminishing security. “To that end, the U.S. government has spent $8.9 billion on counter narcotics efforts” in Afghanistan, the new audit reveals.

So far it has been a humiliating failure. In fact, a few years ago Judicial Watch reported that the multi-billion-dollar investment actually resulted in a huge increase in Afghan poppy cultivation and opium production. Despite the free flow of American tax dollars to combat the crisis, opium production rose 43% to an estimated 4,800 tons, and approximately 201,000 hectares of land were under poppy cultivation, representing a 10% increase in one year alone. The embarrassing figures were laid out in an exhaustive quarterly report to Congress that was downright painful to get through. Judicial Watch reviewed the entire 269-page document and created a created a link for the counter narcotics section, which is around 19 pages and includes informative charts, graphs and the latest available statistics at the time.

The U.S. government’s troublesome counter narcotics effort is part of a larger and very costly failure involving the reconstruction of Afghanistan. More than $100 billion have been dedicated to help rebuild the war-torn country and much of it has been lost to waste, fraud and abuse not to mention corruption. Afghanistan reconstruction has been a huge debacle that continues fleecing American taxpayers. Judicial Watch has reported on the various boondoggles over the years, most of them documented in tremendous detail by the SIGAR. Highlights include the mysterious disappearance of nearly half a billion dollars in oil destined for the Afghan National Army, a $335 million Afghan power plant that’s seldom used and an $18.5 million renovation for a prison that remains unfinished and unused years after the U.S.-funded work began.

Among the more outrageous expenditures are U.S. Army contracts with dozens of companies tied to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The reconstruction watchdog recommended that the Army immediately cut business ties to the terrorists, but the deals continued. Another big waste reported by Judicial Watch a few years ago, involves a $65 million initiative to help Afghan women escape repression. The government admits that, because there’s no accountability, record-keeping or follow-up, it has no clue if the program was effective. The $50.5 million drug treatment programs are simply the latest example.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2019/07/amid-opioid-crisis-at-home-u-s-blows-50-million-on-leery-afghan-drug-treatment-
programs/?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=corruption+chronicles&utm_term=members&utm_content=20190724225839
 


Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants
Robert Robertson, robertrobinson453@gmail.com 

"Undoubtedly, this is impacted by the constraints imposed on Mexico by the US. However, it also reflects the economic reality that access to lower wage earners rebounds in terms of generic lower wages and unemployment of Natives. It is also true that solutions are structural rather than those who target immigrants. Mexicans are not perfect and ought not run from the data. More importantly, the data should be understood and placed within both a national and international context." ~ Bob

-- Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants after a year of heightened migration from Central America through the country, according to a survey conducted by The Washington Post and Mexico’s Reforma newspaper. Kevin Sieff and Scott Clement report: “More than 6 in 10 Mexicans say migrants are a burden on their country because they take jobs and benefits that should belong to Mexicans. A 55 percent majority supports deporting migrants who travel through Mexico to reach the United States. Those findings defy the perception that Mexico — a country that has sent millions of its own migrants to the United States, sending billions of dollars in remittances — is sympathetic to the surge of Central Americans. Instead, the data suggests Mexicans have turned against the migrants transiting through their own country. 

Editor Mimi:  This is of particular interest to me. I recall a conversations about 55 years ago with the Junior High Spanish teacher in Corona, California.  My son and daughter were attending school there.  It happened during the lunch break. A group of obviously scared Mexican boys, pushed open the door to his classroom and  rushed passed both of us.  They were being pursued by another group of Mexican boys.  

The Spanish teacher who was African-American nodded his approval for the boys to stay.  I don't think he was their teacher, but they could speak in Spanish to him.  Apparently, he was one of the few teachers at the school who spoke Spanish.  The teacher frequently ate his lunch in his classroom to accommodate the boys needing a safe place. 

I asked the teacher, why,  what was happening?   He explained that the boys frequently went to his classroom for refuge during the lunch period.  They were the children of temporary farm workers from Mexico.  The Mexican-American boys started fights with the newly arrived.  The Mexican-Americans felt that the temporary workers from Mexico were taking jobs away from their parents. The other male on the school grounds who sometimes provided them cover,  was the Spanish speaking custodian. 

This poll seems to express the same sentiments among Mexicans living in the United States and now Mexicans in Mexico struggling with Central and South Americans immigrants.  



The asylum seekers will be forced to apply in the first country 

According to a new rule published in the Federal Register, asylum seekers who pass through another country first will be ineligible for asylum at the U.S. southern border. The rule, expected to go into effect Tuesday, also applies to children who have crossed the border alone.There are some exceptions: If someone has been trafficked, if the country the migrant passed through did not sign one of the major international treaties that govern how refugees are managed (though most Western countries have signed them) or if an asylum-seeker sought protection in a country but was denied, then a migrant could still apply for U.S. asylum.

Ken Cuccinelli from US Citizenship and Immigration Services joined America’s Newsroom to discuss the new rules.

The asylum seekers will be forced to apply in the first country they enter instead of the US. They will have to be rejected by their first country before they can apply in the United States.  The new rules are meant to end the massive number of illegal aliens claiming asylum at the US southern border.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/breaking-trump-readies-new-asylum-rules/ 


"The apprehension of people from African countries illegally crossing our borders        continues to increase," Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a statement included in the release. "Our agents this year have encountered people from 51 countries other than Mexico including 19 countries from the continent of Africa."

 

 


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The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
HILLSDALE COLLEGE: PURSUING TRUTH DEFENDING LIBERTY 

 

 

 

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, or  NPV takes advantage of the flexibility granted to state legislatures in the Constitution:  "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors." The original intent of this was to allow state legislators to determine how best to represent their state in presidential elections. The electors represent the state—not just the legislature—even though the latter has power to direct the manner of appointment. By contrast, NPV  supporters argue that this present state legislatures to ignore th voters and appoint electors I the national popular vote. T the compact would require s

Of course, no state wouk unilaterally, so NPV has a "t only takes effect if adopted t states to control 270 electors other words, a majority that trol the outcome of presiden tions. So far, 14 states and th of Columbia have signed on;

total of 189 electoral votes.

JUNE 2019 VOLUME 48, NUMBER 6 < hlllsdale.edu

The measure of our fundamental law is not whether it actualizes the general will—that was the point of the French Revolution, not the American. The mea­sure of our Constitution is whether it is effective at encouraging just, stable, and free government—government that pro­tects the rights of its citizens.

Until this year, every state that had joined NPV was heavily Democratic:

California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The NPV campaign has struggled to win other Democratic states: Delaware only adopted it this year and it still has not passed in Oregon (though it may soon). Following the 2018 election. Democrats came into control of both the legislatures and the governor­ships in the purple states of Colorado and New Mexico, which have subse­quently joined NPV.

NPV would have the same effect as abolishing the Electoral College. Fraud in one state would affect every state, and the only way to deal with it would be to give more power to the federal govern­ment. Elections that are especially close would require nationwide recounts. Candidates could win based on intense support from a narrow region or from big cities. NPV also carries its own unique risks: despite its name, the plan cannot actually create a national popular vote. Each state would still—at least for the time b^ng—run its own elections. This means a patchwork of rules for everything from which candidates are on the ballot to how disputes are settled. NPV would also reward states with lax election laws—the higher the turnout, legal or not, the more power for that state. Finally, each NPV state would certify its own "national" vote total. But what would happen when there are charges of skullduggery? Would states really trust, with no power to verify, other state's returns?

Uncertainty and litigation would likely follow. In fact, NPV is prob­ably unconstitutional. For one thing, it ignores the Article I, Section 10 require­ment that interstate compacts receive congressional consent. There is also the fact that the structure of the Electoral College clause of the Constitution implies there is some limit on the power of state legislatures to ignore the will of their state's people.

One danger of all these attacks on the Electoral College is, of course, that we lose the state-by-state system designed by the Framers and its protections against regionalism and fraud. This would alter our politics in some obvious ways—shifting power toward urban centers, for example—but also in ways we cannot know in advance. Would an increase in presidents who win by small pluralities lead to a rise of splinter parties and spoiler candidates? Would fears of election fraud in places like Chicago and Broward County lead to demands for greater federal control over elections?

The more fundamental danger is that these attacks undermine the Constitution as a whole. Arguments that the Constitution is outmoded and that democracy is an end in itself are arguments that can just as easily be turned against any of the constitutional checks and balances that have preserved free government in America for well over two centuries. The measure of our fundamental law is not whether it actualizes the general will—that was the point of the French Revolution, not the American. The measure of our Constitution is whether it is effective at encouraging just, stable, and free gov­ernment—government that protects the rights of its citizens.

The Electoral College is effective at doing this. We need to preserve it, and we need to help our fellow Americans understand why it matters.

 


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Utah Teachers Instructed in Using guns in response to an active-shooter situation.


At least 30 Utah teachers banded together for a series of training sessions in which police instructed them on using guns in response to an active-shooter situation.

The training, held in a warehouse that looks like a school but also functions as a shooting range, showed teachers how to disarm a gunman, where to shoot on the body and how to properly aim and unload a firearm. Officers leading the training also went over de-escalation techniques, self-defense and medical responses such as how to pack a wound and tie a tourniquet on a child.

Utah law allows licensed gun owners to bring their concealed weapons in public schools, and is one of several states in the country, including Florida and Texas, to do so.

"If teachers are going to be bringing firearms into schools, let's make sure they know how to handle them safely," Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said.

About half the teachers brought their own handguns to the shooting range and many who attended the sessions -- which have become increasingly popular and now has a waitlist to attend -- felt reassured by the training.

"I know how to protect myself and my students now; I know what to expect if the worst happens," Nancy Miramontes, a school psychologist, told The Associated Press.

At least 39 states require lockdown, active-shooter or similar safety drills, according to the Education Commission of the States. Other states have less explicit requirements or leave it to districts to decide. Utah requires its elementary schools to conduct at least one safety drill each month, and its secondary schools to have detailed emergency response plans.

Despite the increasing popularity of such programs, some school safety experts disagree with a plan that involves arming teachers.

"Are police tasking teachers to perform a law enforcement responsibility by arming them to protect others? We have to be cautious of what we ask people to do in these traumatic, stressful situations," said Ken Trump, a school safety expert with the National School Safety and Security Services consulting firm.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
https://www.foxnews.com/us/utah-teachers-attend-firearms-drills-to-prepare-for-active-shooters

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
July 7, 2019

 


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Coming Attractions: The 1950 U.S. Census

J. Gilbert Quezada   JQUEZADA@satx.rr.com 

Hello Mimi,

To all my Baby Boomer friends, that is, if you were born in 1946, and even if you are not a Baby Boomer, but were born between 1940 and 1950, I would like to call to your attention that in three more years (2022), the much anticipated 1950 U.S. Census will be made available to the public. I, for one, will be waiting anxiously for this moment so that I can see my name in print for the very first time, and personal information about my family, for example, where we lived, where my Dad worked, etc., and who were our neighbors and their family history, etc. I am curious to know where I lived in 1950 in the Barrio El Azteca in Laredo. The 1950 U.S. Census, by law and for privacy reasons, will be made public after 72 years from the decennial census year, by the National Archives and Records Administration on April 1, 2022.

Many decades ago, after conducting genealogical research with other U.S. Census data from the mid-nineteenth century to the early part of the twentieth century, and knowing the exciting and exuberant feeling of discovering new information, I cannot wait for the year 2022 to arrive. The 1930 U.S. Census records were released to the public in April 2002, and the 1940 records were made available on April 2, 2012.

I know, it's three years away, but bear with me, and with God's blessings for good health, you and I will witness this historic moment. So, in the meantime, be sure and circle the date on your calendar--Friday, April 1, 2022.

 

 

 


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Overlooked No More: Ralph Lazo, Who Voluntarily Lived in an Internment Camp

About 115,000 Japanese-Americans on the West Coast were incarcerated after Pearl Harbor, and Lazo, who was Mexican-American, joined them in a bold act of solidarity.
Ralph Lazo in 1944. He pretended to be Japanese so he could be willingly interned with his friends.
Credit: Japanese American National Museum, gift of Rose Hanawa Tanaka

When Ralph Lazo saw his Japanese-American friends being forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II, he did something unexpected: He went with them.

In the spring of 1942, Lazo, a 17-year-old high school student in Los Angeles, boarded a train and headed to the Manzanar Relocation Center, one of 10 internment camps authorized to house Japanese-Americans under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order in the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor a few months earlier. The camps, tucked in barren regions of the United States, would incarcerate around 115,000 people living in the West from 1942 to 1946 — two-thirds of them United States citizens.

Unlike the other inmates, Lazo did not have to be there. A Mexican-American, he was the only known person to pretend to be Japanese so he could be willingly interned.

What compelled Lazo to give up his freedom for two and a half years — sleeping in tar-paper-covered barracks, using open latrines and showers and waiting on long lines for meals in mess halls, on grounds surrounded by barbed-wire fencing and watched by guards in towers? He wanted to be with his friends.

“My Japanese-American friends at high school were ordered to evacuate the West Coast, so I decided to go along with them,” Lazo told The Los Angeles Times in 1944.

By the time Lazo left Manzanar, his social consciousness had deepened and his outrage over the indignities suffered by Japanese-Americans had grown. It would define how he lived the rest of his life, as an activist who sought to improve education for underprivileged groups and push for reparations for Japanese-Americans who had been interned.

The military-style barracks at Manzanar. Many Japanese-Americans who were sent there recalled the communal bathrooms and showers as a major indignity of daily life at the camps. Credit Bettmann

The military-style barracks at Manzanar. Many Japanese-Americans who were sent there recalled the communal bathrooms and showers as a major indignity of daily life at the camps.

Unlike Lazo, most Americans were swept up by anti-Japanese sentiment propagated by politicians and the media. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Los Angeles Police Department shut down businesses in the Little Tokyo area, and teachers barred Japanese-American students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, Richard Reeves wrote in the book “Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II” (2015).

By Christmas 1941, F.B.I. agents were raiding the homes of Japanese-Americans and arresting them without due process. Public officials, including California’s governor and attorney general, endorsed the idea of detaining people of Japanese descent, even if they were born in America.

Though the Munson Report, commissioned by the State Department, concluded that Japanese-Americans did not pose a national security threat, President Roosevelt signed an executive order on Feb. 19, 1942, that cleared the way for their evacuation and relocation.

Amid the hysteria, expressions of solidarity were rare, said Eric Muller, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill and a scholar of Japanese internment.

“There were very small numbers of active allies,” Muller, who created a podcast about life in the camps, said in a phone interview. “There were almost no groups nationally in 1942 that stood up for and alongside Japanese-Americans.”

Lazo was born on Nov. 3, 1924, in Los Angeles, to John Houston Lazo and Rose Padilla. He and his family lived in the Temple Street neighborhood, near Little Tokyo. Lazo’s mother died when he and his sister, Virginia, were young, and they were left in the care of their father, who worked as a house painter and muralist.

At the ethnically diverse Belmont High School, Lazo counted Japanese-Americans among his closest friends. “I fit in very well,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1981. “We developed this beautiful friendship.”

And as many Americans were distancing themselves from their Japanese neighbors — or worse, attacking them verbally or physically — his identification with his friends grew deeper.

“Who can say I haven’t got Japanese blood in me?” he said in 1944. “Who knows what kind of blood runs in my veins?”

Before he left for internment, he told his father he was “going to camp,” creating the impression that he was going to summer camp. His father did not press him, and neither did government officials whose system for entry into the camps relied largely on self-reporting, Muller, the U.N.C. professor, said.

When Lazo’s father found out where his son had really gone, he did not reprimand him. “My father was a very wise man,” Lazo said in 1981. “He probably was very happy I was there.”

About 10,000 people were imprisoned at Manzanar, in the Owens Valley in Eastern California. They lived in military-style barracks under a punishing summer desert heat.

Despite their grim surroundings, the prisoners demonstrated resiliency, recreating the rhythms of normal life by running schools, newspapers, sports teams, gardens and hiking clubs, all of which the government allowed, Muller said.

Many at Manzanar were aware of Lazo’s ethnicity. One of his high school classmates, Rosie Kakuuchi, said that Lazo spent time amusing the orphaned children at the camp with games and jokes. He had a quirky way of telling stories, and one Christmas he rallied 30 friends to go caroling at the camp.

“We accepted him and loved him,” Kakuuchi, now 93, said in a phone interview. “He was just one of us.”

Ralph Lazo, far right in the middle row, was popular at Manzanar. “We accepted him and loved him,” said his classmate Rosie Kakuuchi, who is now 93. “He was just one of us.”CreditJapanese American National Museum

Ralph Lazo, far right in the middle row, was popular at Manzanar. “We accepted him and loved him,” said his classmate Rosie Kakuuchi, who is now 93. “He was just one of us.”

Ralph Lazo, far right in the middle row, was popular at Manzanar. “We accepted him and loved him,” said his classmate Rosie Kakuuchi, who is now 93. “He was just one of us.”CreditJapanese American National Museum

It wasn’t until August 1944, when Lazo was drafted into the Army, that the government discovered his secret. But he didn’t face any repercussions. In fact, the government issued a news release disclosing his unusual story, which led The Los Angeles Times to write about it. Lazo served in the Pacific until 1946, receiving a Bronze Star for bravery among other honors.

After the war, Lazo earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at U.C.L.A. and a master’s degree in education at California State University, Northridge. He married Isabella Natera, and they had two sons and a daughter; they divorced in 1977.

Lazo maintained ties to the Japanese-American community throughout his life, attending Manzanar reunions and supporting efforts for government redress payments, which were eventually granted, along with an official apology, as part of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In January 1945, shortly after a Supreme Court ruling that the government may not detain “loyal” citizens, the War Department announced that internees were free to leave. Most of the 10 camps closed in quick succession, with the last of Manzanar’s prisoners released by Nov. 21, 1945.

(One of the sites, an old Army base at Fort Sill, Okla., was being considered last month as a place to house unaccompanied migrant children, drawing protesters who demanded that the government “stop repeating history.”)

Lazo worked as a high school teacher and later as an academic counselor from 1970 to 1987 at Valley College, where he pushed for educational equity for Latinos and others.

“He was very committed, all his life, to what’s fair and what’s just and what’s morally correct,” Edward Moreno, a longtime high school principal who sat on committees with Lazo, said in a phone interview.

Lazo was 67 when he died on Jan. 1, 1992, of liver disease.

His story as a voluntary prisoner resurfaced in 2004 as the subject of the short film “Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story.”

But in his lifetime, Lazo sought to deflect the spotlight. In 1981 he urged a Los Angeles Times reporter to turn the focus away from him and toward what he considered to be the more important story.

“Please write about the injustice of the evacuation,” he said. “This is the real issue.”

 Sent by Gilbert Sanchez, Ph.Dgilsanchez01@aol.com

 


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UNLEASHED AND UNCHECKED, FAKE NEWS MEDIA PROPAGANDA 
WILL DESTROY AMERICA


PART FOURTEEN

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP STANDS AS A LONE BUT POWERFUL VOICE AND BULWARK AGAINST A SOCIALIST TAKE-OVER OF OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AND OUR FREEDOMS!

What we, Americans, are witnessing today is the incestuous union of technology, the Federal Bureaucracy and of radical, hateful elements in Congress, in the social media and in the Press, working in concert, at the behest of Billionaire Neoliberal transnationalists, in a naked, reprehensible bid to destroy our Great Nation and a free people, and all in an attempt to usher into existence a new system of governance—one devoid of once powerful Nation States—a neo-feudalistic New Monstrous Collectivist World Order, one comprising a few ruling “Elect Elites” on the one hand, and a multitude of serfs, hundreds of millions of citizens, including those of our own Country, citizens stripped of their citizenship and of their fundamental rights and liberties; reduced to abject servitude and misery, namely, the new Preterite (the Damned), the new denizens of the New World Order.

This is the vision of Radical Left Marxists and Antifa Anarchists—their notion of a paradise on Earth; but really a hell-world they wish to bring to fruition, into actuality. This is their vision of a new transformative America that they would bequeath to us in lieu of that bequeathed to us by the Founders of our Great Nation.

And insidiously, outrageously these Radical Left Marxists and Anarchists use the very power inherent in our Constitution and the very power of a free market economy upon which our Constitutional Republic exists, against that very Republic, and against the citizenry of this Nation. In so doing, these Radical elements would dare rob the American people of their birthright; all the while proclaiming that this a good thing; that this should happen; that this must occur to bring about equality and equanimity and justice; that this the way things ought to be—reducing us all to squalor, unrelenting malaise and poverty. It is happening before our very eyes, gathering increasing momentum. And the words and actions and methods of these Radical Left elements and Anarchists in Government, in the Press, in social media, in the entertainment business, in the information technology sector, and among the citizenry itself are becoming more and more outrageous, more and more bizarre, more and more acute.

Every day we see the worst excesses engaged in by those malevolent forces bent on destroying all that most Americans, the silent majority, hold most dear and sacred. And, only, we, the American people, can prevent it from playing out to its disastrous end, an end which means the destruction of our Nation’s Constitution; the loss of our people’s personal identity, history, culture and personal autonomy; the end of the independence and sovereignty of our Nation State, the end of our centuries old system of laws, and justice, and jurisprudence: all of it gone; and that this supposed to be a good thing! The end of the exercise of our own Free Will!

HERE, BELOW, ARE DELINEATED, A FEW OF THE SCHEMES RADICAL LEFT MARXISTS AND ANARCHISTS HAVE DEVISED AND UTILIZED TO UNDERCUT THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, AS AN INDEPENDENT, FREE REPUBLIC.

ENCOURAGE AMERICAN CITIZENS TO ABORT THEIR BABIES, REDUCING THE POPULATION OF EDUCATED AMERICANS, INCULCATED WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CONSTITUTION AND OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

ENCOURAGE UNSKILLED, ILLITERATE ITINERANTS TO EMIGRATE ILLEGALLY TO THE U.S., THEREBY FOSTERING A NEW POPULATION OF DRONES, CONDITIONED TO SERVITUDE AND IGNORANT OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND OBLIVIOUS TO AND UNCONCERNED ABOUT THE IMPORT AND PURPOSE OF OUR NATION’S FUNDAMENTAL, NATURAL, UNALIENABLE AND IMMUTABLE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

ENCOURAGE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO FORSAKE AND FORGET ITS UNIQUE HISTORY, HERITAGE, AND CORE CHRISTIAN VALUES, THROUGH MEDIA USE OF PROPAGANDA; AND THROUGH CENSORSHIP OF ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINTS TO SUPPRESS ALL DISSENT; AND THROUGH NOXIOUS, INCESSANT, REPETITIOUS CONDEMNATION OF AND EVEN ASSERTIONS OF HATRED, ABHORRENCE DIRECTED TOWARD OUR NATIONAL EMBLEMS, AND THROUGH ASSERTIONS OF LOATHING DIRECTED TOWARD OUR NATION’S INSTITUTIONS, AND THROUGH ATTACKS AGAINST OUR NATION’S WELL-DEVELOPED AND HONORED SYSTEM OF LAWS AND JURISPRUDENCE THAT HAS WELL STOOD THE TEST OF TIME; AND–AS IF ALL THAT WERE NOT HORRENDOUS ENOUGH–THROUGH INCESSANT ASSAULTS DIRECTED AGAINST OUR NATION’S ILLUSTRIOUS, LOVING FOUNDING FATHERS—AS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTRAGEOUSLY QUESTIONS WHETHER THE FOUNDING FATHERS, THE FRAMERS OF OUR SACRED CONSTITUTION, EVEN DESERVE OUR CONTINUED REVERENCE AND DEVOTION

SUBVERT AND SUBORDINATE THE SUPREMACY OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND STATUTES THROUGH ATTEMPTS TO BIND OUR NATION TO SECRETIVE INTERNATIONAL PACTS AND TREATIES, IN ORDER TO UNDERMINE OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AND INDEPENDENCE AND TO UNDERCUT THE PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF OUR NATION, GROUNDED ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL: OF INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY AND INTEGRITY AND SANCTITY OF SELF

DIVIDE THE NATION AGAINST ITSELF THROUGH THE MECHANISM OF IDENTITY POLITICS

RAISE THIS IDEA OF VICTIM-HOOD TO THE LEVEL OF A VIRTUE AND HOLY PRINCIPLE, INSERTING THIS FALSE IDEA INTO THE MIND AND PSYCHE OF THE AMERICAN CITIZEN; TO CREATE IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC A SENSE OF COLLECTIVE GUILT, THEREBY WEAKENING THE RESOLVE OF OUR NATION’S CITIZENRY TO THWART ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY A CITIZENRY’S PRIDE IN SELF AND NATION

INDOCTRINATE THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION TO ACCEPT COLLECTIVIST TENETS AND MARXIST POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES AS SUPERIOR TO THE TENETS OF INDIVIDUALISM UPON WHICH OUR NATION’S CONSTITUTION RESTS  AND UPON THE NOTIONS OF PERSONAL PROPERTY AND OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM, THAT ALONE ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE IMPORT AND PURPORT OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND OF THE STRUCTURE OF A FREE REPUBLIC

REEDUCATE THE ADULT POPULATION OF OUR NATION TO ACCEPT THE PRECEPTS OF COLLECTIVISM, TO CREATE A SENSE OF DEPENDENCY OF THE POPULATION ON GOVERNMENT TO SATISFY THE POPULATION’S NEEDS AND WANTS

TO CRUSH THE INDIVIDUAL INTO SUBMISSION BY INCULCATING IN THE POPULATION A DESIRE TO BELONG TO THE GROUP THROUGH PRE-PROGRAMMED BEHAVIOR—DEFINED BY AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT—THEREBY THWARTING THE PUBLIC TO RISE UP AGAINST THE TYRANNY OF GOVERNMENT.

DISARM AMERICAN CITIZENS TO PREVENT THOSE WHO DO NOT COMPLY WITH THE NEW COLLECTIVIST PHILOSOPHY FROM SECURING FOR THEMSELVES THE MEANS TO HOLD GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE

A compliant propaganda-laden Press, sold on the idea of a Marxist style one world Government—a vision of global domination of all Western Nation States, contemplating the end of the very notions of ‘nation state’ and ‘citizen of a nation state’—has demonstrated an ecstatic willingness and resolve to work on behalf of and to take its marching orders from the Marxist enterprise that the Democratic Party has slowly, inexorably, and inevitably devolved into. And, this Political Party, in turn, in all likelihood, takes its marching orders from our ostensible “allies” in Europe, in whom the Party shares common cause.

And, what is that common cause? It is nothing less than the destruction of the sovereignty and independence of all Western Nations, along with the subjugation of the polity of those Nation States, including the citizenry of the United States.

And, who are these purported allies of the Democratic Party? They include the innately and highly secretive, extraordinarily powerful, inordinately wealthy, inherently corrupt, abjectly ruthless, hedonistic and amoral, and insufferably decadent Rothschild clan and the clan’s minions, most infamously, George Soros—whom, curiously, Fox News has just begun to mention on its nightly news programs. And, how long shall it be before the Fox News media organization demonstrates the moral courage to mention the name, Rothschild, itself—the Centuries old family, inbred, through the ages, with the royalty of Europe—in whom plans were first drawn up for domination of the nations of the world, and that remains today the principal architect of plans for the dissolution of the Nation States of Europe and of the United States.

Simply witness the impact that implementation of their plans have had on the citizenry of the Nations of the European Union. The creation of the EU just didn’t happen by accident. The Blueprint for its construction began long ago, actually centuries ago, with the creation of the diabolical and horrific Central Banking System through which wealthy financiers, commencing with the ruthless Rothschild clan would be able to, were in fact able to, and were desirous of controlling the destines of Nations. And, the descendants of  the family Patriarch, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, have been machinating to bring their schema for a trans-global political, social, economic, financial, legal, and cultural system of Governance—the New World Order—to fruition.

What Americans are witnessing occurring in their own Country, and what native populations of the Nations of the EU are now witnessing occurring in Europe, is the gathering storm of disaster for European and U.S. citizens alike—a cascading sequence of events—a horrific, cataclysmic reconfiguration of the entirety of Western Civilization into something out of science fiction–a Dystopian nightmare reality, for the populations of of Europe, and for the citizenry of the United States, from which no one can awaken. 

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PART FIFTEEN

THE GREAT THREAT TO OUR NATION’S SURVIVAL COMES NOT FROM RUSSIA OR CHINA, BUT FROM RADICAL ELEMENTS HERE AT HOME, FED BY SO-CALLED “ALLIES” FROM ABROAD.

The Arbalest Quarrel has been warning about the threat posed to our Nation and to the Nations of Europe, by the Rothschilds; and we have discussed both the fact of and the nature of the attack by the transnationalist one-world, Government crowd on all that the populations of Europe and Americans, at home. Europe may not be salvaged, given the merciless grip of the Rothschild clan on Europe; but, then, apart from Nationalist fervor, a love of one’s Country, and history, and culture, and language, the citizenry of those Nation States of Europe did not have, and do not have a Bill of Rights to bind Governments and truly protect the rights and liberties of the populations of those Nation States, from tyranny.

Americans, however, do have, in their Bill of Rights, that the framers of our Nation, lovingly and wisely gave to us, the means through which the citizenry’s natural, fundamental, unalienable, immutable rights, bequeathed to that citizenry from a Loving, All Powerful Creator—are able to hold fervently and ably onto their individual autonomy. Individual autonomy, secures, for each American citizen, through the Nation’s Bill of Rights, in clear, categorical, imperatives, the definitive proclamation of one’s right to be left alone; that each individual American citizen has the right as  an individual to truly remain individual.

Our Bill of Rights is the living testament to The Creator’s Divine Imperative—that Government cannot, ever, lawfully deny to the American citizen the Integrity of Self-hood; for the Creator gave to each of us an individual living Soul. The Human Soul is a unique marker, defining one’s existence as an individual. And the very existence of our Bill of Rights makes that fact plain. The import of Individual Expression and Individual Autonomy succinctly and clearly exemplifies us as Americans.

But, how do Americans best protect their Sacred, Inviolate Self, against the evil of Government? By force of arms. For it is only by force of arms that Government, a necessarily corrupt, artificial construct, must forbear, from imposing its will on the individual American citizen.

It is only through the codification of the right of the people to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment that the might of the Federal Government is kept well in check. The Radical Left and the Progressive elements in society know this. And the Transnational Neoliberal Globalists know this. And the Radical Anarchist Group, Antifa—that horrid, disgusting group of malcontents knows this, too.

Antifa is beginning to learn about the power of firearms. Not incidentally or accidentally, the Globalists are  arming members of Antifa, with knives and other weapons. The public has recently heard about this from the Radical cable networks, like CNN, that oddly argue that this is a good thing. Likely, Globalists are also beginning to surreptitiously provide Antifa with firearms, teaching them how to use firearms to attack Americans who merely seek to uphold a Constitution and free Republic, in the form the founders gave to the people of our  Nation that we would remain free from the heavy hand of Government control; that Government should know and accept, even if only grudgingly, that each American citizen is an individual, who should be permitted to carve out his own destiny in America, as long as he harms no one else; that the life, well-being, and individual autonomy of each American citizen is sacrosanct, and inviolate. But the transnationalist Globalist elite find that idea offensive, repugnant, even; and, so they find an armed citizenry intolerable, as it upsets their plans for world domination. So it is likely beginning to arm those groups that do its bidding, like Antifa. And the mainstream media, a Seditious, virulent, Press, misusing the power the framers gave to it through the First Amendment, acts as an apt and pompous and singularly duplicitous, hypocritical apologist for the worst excesses carried out by that Group—rationalizing the Antifa’s heavy-handed tactics as just and necessary.

And, so, through the medium of “fake news,” the mainstream Press conducts a virulent, vicious, merciless campaign on the Bill of Rights–condemning especially the free exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The Press maliciously, sanctimoniously engages in an incessant reprehensible attack on the sanctity of our Nation’s Constitution and on the supremacy of our Nation’s laws.

The mainstream Press engages in a continuous and vicious assault on our Country as an independent Sovereign Nation State. It argues incessantly for open borders, knowing full well that a Nation that cannot and, in fact, is ordered by a corrupt Congress to refrain from defending the integrity of its land, the integrity of its borders, amounts to a wholesale denial of the right of a Nation to exist as a Nation. In fact, the Radical Left, along with Anarchists, openly assert that our Nation has no justification for existing as an Independent Sovereign. And those sentiments are echoed in the mainstream Press. We are to become, then, no more than a geographic region, no longer a Sovereign State. And, were that end to be realized, we would see as well that the very notion of what it means to be a citizen of the United States and the very notion of a what it means for a Country to exist as an independent, Sovereign ‘Nation State,’ would become meaningless concepts.

All that we have laid out here as true is now being openly attested to by at least one major news outlet: Fox News, as it rightfully condemns what it sees occurring in our Country; enabled by a vicious, virulent, renegade Press. Thus, the truth of what the Arbalest Quarrel relates to you, our kind reader, is vindicated by a major news source. Yet, it was surprising, to be sure, but both refreshing and wondrous to hear the night show host, Laura Ingraham exclaiming with singular clarity, to the insidiousness and ferocity of the attendant dangers that Collectivists pose to our Nation’s continued existence if, in the next few years, their vision comes to fruition.

In case you missed the recent broadcast, here are a few excerpts from the show that caught our attention (and more available at the Fox News website):

LAURA INGRAHAM: . . . American identity under assault. That’s the focus of tonight’s ‘Angle.’

The historical purge that we’re witnessing all over the country. It’s part of a larger agenda to destroy what it means to be American. And it’s getting more audacious by the day. In St. Louis Park, Minnesota, the geniuses on the city council there recently decided to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from town meetings. Their reason, to create a more welcoming environment to a diverse community. Welcoming to everybody, but Americans who actually love the pledge. Well, residents were rightly outraged by this insanity and local Patriots turned out and they stood up to the city council.

And then in San Francisco, the public defecation capital of the world, taxpayers are going to shell out $600,000 to paint over a George Washington mural that offended a few snowflakes there. So, let me just get this straight. People peeing in the fountains and stepping on dirty needles. That’s not offensive. But the first founding father is? Perfect.

So, why would anyone after hearing these kinds of stories be surprised when someone like Left, a soccer star Megan Rapinoe who knelt during the national anthem back in 2016 still refuses to respect it today. Or when midfielder, Allie Long drags the American flag on the ground while representing the U.S. on the world stage. And while mugging for the cameras then drops the flag like it’s a piece of trash.

Thankfully another midfielder, Kelly O’Hara picked it up. And of course, Rapinoe discovered early on though really that you’ll win permanent MVP status when you kick Donald Trump. Like when she used foul language nixing any traditional White House visit to the champions and this was before they even won the World Cup. [A REAL HUMAN BEING isn’t she, THAT Rapinoe; and New York gives the TEAM a ticker-tape parade; but for whom, exactly? Whom is it that the TREAM represents? The United States? Even as the TEAM drags our Flag on the ground? A bit discordant, no? Other Nations must have been embarrassed for us].

The easiest path to social media stardom today is one where you take cheap swipes at American symbols and traditions and you must understand that the Left truly believes America itself is illegitimate to its core. What am I talking about? Well, its founding was fraudulent. They believe its founding documents meaningless. All because of slavery and the people who were involved in it. Our progress on racial issues is conveniently ignored by cynical actors who are frankly using these past horrors for a power grab and they hope eventually a total reorganization of our society here and a massive wealth confiscation. The phrase white privilege. Well, it’s now the preferred weapon of choice and it’s used by socialists know nothings to tar their political opponents and avoid real debate. Only guess what? Now even old white Democrats are in the privileged crosshairs.

AOC blasts everyone and anyone any time of the day or night on social media. But when the leader of her own party calls her out, she cries foul. No, no Nancy is not a racist, but – well, but President Trump is routinely subjected of course to this kind of attack while his plan to put citizenship that question on the census was roundly derided as racist by Democrats. And today, referring to that issue, he shot back.

{VIDEO CLIP} DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Now, they’re trying to erase the very existence of a very important word and a very important thing, citizenship. We must have a reliable count of how many citizens, non-citizens and illegal aliens are in our country.

INGRAHAM: Bingo. How is this controversial? Asking about citizens. It’s like a question that has nothing to do with race at all. It’s about who is American and who is not. [see Stephen D’Andrilli’s UFT article republished, in unabridged format in Ammoland Shooting Sports News]. 

And by the way, African Americans have been the most directly impacted by the mass flow, massive flow of illegal immigrants in the United States. No wonder polls now show that a majority of both black and Hispanic voters support adding the question to the census. Are racing our history our sense of who we are is making it easier to turn America into just kind of another member of a globalist super state.

Europeans sacrificed their identities years ago on the altar of globalism, when they formed the European Union. Look at what it got them.

INGRAHAM: Now, we may have masked morons of ANTIFA to deal with. . . . There is a price for surrounding your sovereignty and your identity. And we’re going to pay it if we don’t defend our history and our traditions. And that’s “The Angle.”

Joining me now is Victor Davis Hanson, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover’s Institution. Victor why can’t the Left see the value of symbols and traditions that don’t blur the differences or the mistakes we made but that have the effect of binding us together at a time when so much else rips us apart.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER’S INSTITUTION: I think they feel that if they were to do that Laura, they would not win elections and that they have to change the past and the present, so they can have power in the future. It’s a war where demography, it’s a war over making residents, the equals of citizens and in their view, the argument that they’re advancing as we were so sin, we the Americans were so sin at our origins, we can’t be modified, adapted or improved. We have to be dismantled and reconstituted on their agendas, according to their agendas and therefore they’re going to have a lot of power and influence in the future.

And so when you mentioned all of these incidents of the San Francisco murals or the Nike shoe controversy or the soccer team, this is the trench warfare or these are the soldiers at the front who are fighting for these elites that we see in the Democratic primary who are advocating Medicare or health care for all, who cross borders, who are escorting people illegally into the United States, who are attacking the past, demanding reparations or the New York.

Remember the New York Times video op ed where they said we’re just OK, we’re not really exceptional or what Representative Omar detailed in a recent Washington Post interview where she said, she was very disappointed after leaving a refugee camp to see things weren’t too good here in the land of her host.

And so, this is the – I don’t know the raw side of what the elites are talking about, but it’s the same agenda, it’s to create a new future by reconstituting or redefining the past and the present. INGRAHAM: And Victor, don’t you agree if America herself is illegitimate. Of course, the founding documents and the principles undergirding those documents either have to be completely swept away and rewritten because they were written by a bunch of all racist white guys or many of them old racist white guys. That has to be rewritten, reconstituted, reformed, refounded as something very different. That seems to be where this is going. Because there is no concern for actual historical reference, historical context. It’s either evil or good—. . . .

HANSON: No, there isn’t.

INGRAHAM: And everything in the past is evil and everything now and present is good until that becomes evil, I guess.

HANSON: Yes, we’re not a physical society where we work all day in the field. So, we have the luxury of affluence and security and leisure to think that the world works the way your app does or your smartphone. And we believe that if we’re not perfect then we’re not good and that the sins of humanity which exists today, sexism, racism in every country to a much greater degree than they do in the United States. Those are uniquely our sins because we should be perfect just like our technology.”

A few courageous broadcast networks and commentators, along with our astute and heroic President, Donald Trump, recognize the seriousness of the dangers facing our Nation and to its citizenry and are meeting the forces that would dare crush us into submission, head-on.

The real danger to our Nation’s survival as a free Republic is not coming from, and never did come from Russia, or even from China. That was deception—carefully planned and carried out. How could those Nations harm us, fatally, really? Think about that for a moment. The silliness of the notion should be self-evident to all Americans. The public has been played for fools, ever since Trump took the Oath of Office. The true threat to our Nation’s survival as a free Republic is coming from so-called allies of us—the Commonwealth Nations and the EU; from ruthless, corrupt, and powerful Neoliberal Globalists and from those whom those Transnationalists, and Economic and Political Globalists control and fund, and organize and promote, within our Nation: the Radical Left; anarchist Groups, like Antifa, from Left-wing social media Tech Giants; from corrupt politicians and Government bureaucrats; and from a compliant Press.

The Rothschild Globalist “Elite,” has nurtured dissident elements within in our Nation. years ago, these stooges  of the Rothschild clan and its minions were sold on the idea that the United States must eventually be subsumed into transnational unified World Government, transforming the entirety of the Western Civilization into a neo-Feudalistic construct overseen by a secretive, insular Global Aristocracy.

This is the unfortunate but true, insidious nature of the real threat to our survival as a free Republic and a free people: that we might lose all we hold most dear and sacred from forces weakening us from within, fed with the necessary funds and organizational might and expertise from what the mainstream media refers to as our “allies”–those reprehensible, loathsome, ruthless forces from outside the U.S

 

Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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The War Over America's Past, 
Commentary by Victor Davis Hanson
Victor Davis Hanson

 

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The summer season has ripped off the thin scab that covered an American wound, revealing a festering disagreement about the nature and origins of the United States.

The San Francisco Board of Education recently voted to paint over, and thus destroy, a 1,600-square-foot mural of George Washington’s life in San Francisco’s George Washington High School.

Victor Arnautoff, a communist Russian-American artist and Stanford University art professor, had painted “Life of Washington” in 1936, commissioned by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration.

A community task force appointed by the school district had recommended that the board address student and parent objections to the 83-year-old mural, which some viewed as racist for its depiction of black slaves and Native Americans.

Nike pitchman and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick recently objected to the company’s release of a special Fourth of July sneaker emblazoned with a 13-star Betsy Ross flag. The terrified Nike immediately pulled the shoe off the market.

The New York Times opinion team issued a Fourth of July video about “the myth of America as the greatest nation on earth.” The Times’ journalists conceded that the United States is “just OK.”

During a recent speech to students at a Minnesota high school, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., offered a scathing appraisal of her adopted country, which she depicted as a disappointment whose racism and inequality did not meet her expectations as an idealistic refugee.

Omar’s family had fled worn-torn Somalia and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before reaching Minnesota, where Omar received a subsidized education and ended up a congresswoman.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team won the World Cup earlier this month. Team stalwart Megan Rapinoe refused to put her hand over heart during the playing of the national anthem, boasted that she would never visit the “f—ing White House,” and, with others, nonchalantly let the American flag fall to the ground during the victory celebration.

The city council in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, voted to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before its meeting on the rationale that it wished not to offend a “diverse community.”

The list of these public pushbacks at traditional American patriotic customs and rituals could be multiplied. They follow the recent frequent toppling of statues of 19th-century American figures, many of them from the South, and the renaming of streets and buildings to blot out mention of famous men and women from the past now deemed illiberal enemies of the people.

Such theater is the street version of what candidates in the Democratic presidential primary have been saying for months. They want to disband border enforcement, issue blanket amnesties, demand reparations for descendants of slaves, issue formal apologies to groups perceived to be the subjects of discrimination, and rail against American unfairness, inequality, and a racist and sexist past.

In their radical progressive view—shared by billionaires from Silicon Valley, recent immigrants, and the new Democratic Party—America was flawed, perhaps fatally, at its origins.

Things have not gotten much better in the country’s subsequent 243 years, nor will they get any better—at least not until America as we know it is dismantled and replaced by a new nation predicated on race, class, and gender identity politics agendas.

In this view, an “OK” America is no better than other countries. As Barack Obama once bluntly put it, America is only exceptional in relative terms, given that citizens of Greece and the United Kingdom believe their own countries are just as exceptional. In other words, there is no absolute standard to judge a nation’s excellence.

About half the country disagrees. It insists that America’s sins, past and present, are those of mankind. But only in America were human failings constantly critiqued and addressed.

America does not have to be perfect to be good. As the world’s wealthiest democracy, it certainly has given people from all over the world greater security and affluence than any other nation in history—with the largest economy, largest military, greatest energy production, and most top-ranked universities in the world.

America alone kept the postwar peace and still preserves free and safe global communications, travel, and commerce.

The traditionalists see American history as a unique effort to overcome human weakness, bias, and sin. That effort is unmatched by other cultures and nations, and explains why millions of foreign nationals swarm into the United States, both legally and illegally.

These arguments over our past are really over the present—and especially the future.  These elites see Americans not as unique individuals but as race, class, and gender collectives, with shared grievances from the past that must be paid out in the present and the future.



 A beautiful painting of a Grey Stallion in a Stable by Jose Manuel Gomez. The BAPSH would like to thank Sr Gomez for the kind use of his painting


SPANISH PRESENCE in the AMERICAS ROOTS 

The Spaniard who helped win the Revolutionary War has a new statue in Washington, D.C.  
La memoria recuperada de Bernardo de Gálvez - Virrey de Nueva España y héroe de la independencia de USA


The Spanish Horse (Andalusian) is believed to be the most ancient riding horse in the world. Although the origins of the breed are not clear, Spanish experts adamantly maintain that it is in fact a native of Spain and does not owe one single feature of its makeup to any other breed.
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Bernardo de Galvez

The Spaniard who helped win the Revolutionary War has a new statue
 in Washington, D.C.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/g9i0qQUmY4wnYeiSPPsE39iHJws=/480x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/SKHXVQVIYEI6TBZTJDEHENPTSY.jpg

Ambassador Santiago Cabanas, left, greets Jim Torgerson, chief executive of Avangrid, at the unveiling last month of a statue of Bernardo de Gálvez outside the Spanish Embassy. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

 

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John Kelly , Local columnist, Columnist, July 17

There’s a new statue outside the Spanish Embassy in Washington and though it honors someone who died more than 230 years ago, it seems oddly relevant today.  

 

I’d never heard of Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish general who was honored last month at the statue’s dedication, but I had heard of Galveston, the Texas city that’s named after him. And I’d heard of the 18th-century conflict in which Gálvez played a pivotal role, a little something called the American Revolution.  

Gálvez (1746-1786) was a military officer who served as the governor of Louisiana when that vast territory was in Spanish hands. When the upstart American colonists decided to throw off the yoke of British oppression, Gálvez was only too happy to help, first providing ammunition and supplies, and then mobilizing 7,500 men to attack British interests in what today are Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He also laid siege to Pensacola, Fla.

By turfing the British out, Gálvez denied them a port in the Gulf of Mexico.

Spain’s interests weren’t entirely pure. What’s that saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? The Spanish figured helping the rebels was a way to stick it to the English, whom they’d never forgiven for sinking their armada. I didn’t notice any British diplomats at the statue’s unveiling. (Spain is still sore about Gibraltar.)

“People don’t understand how much Spain contributed to American independence,” said Marion Startz Reeb, who was at the dedication with her mother, Mary Anthony Startz. Marion is descended from Spanish patriots who aided in the War of Independence. They were in town for a meeting of the Daughters of the American

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The statue of the Spanish general — by Madrid artist Salvador Amaya — is from a 2018 exhibit called “Recovered Memories: Spain and the Support for the American Revolution.” (John Kelly/The Washington Post)

Why do Spain’s contributions so often get overlooked?

“Most history books were written by East Coasters,” said Mary Anthony.

These East Coast historians tended to focus on the contributions of French figures such as the Marquis de Lafayette and Count Rochambeau.

We may not prize Gálvez, but George Washington did. He felt the aid the Spanish general provided was a deciding factor in winning the Revolutionary War. In 2014, Congress granted U.S. citizenship to Gálvez, one of only eight foreigners so honored.

Inscribed on the base of the 32-inch statue is Gálvez’s motto: “Yo solo,” which means “I alone.” It refers to how Gálvez steered his warship into Pensacola Bay to attack the British fort there. The rest of the fleet was reluctant to attack, so Gálvez got things started by himself.

Washington already had a statue of Gálvez, a handsome equestrian sculpture not far from the Kennedy Center. The new statue — by Madrid artist Salvador Amaya — is from a 2018 exhibit called “Recovered Memories: Spain and the Support for the American Revolution.” That exhibit was sponsored by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola and its U.S. subsidiary Avangrid.

The new statue joins others in town of figures I knew were Spanish — like Queen Isabella I, outside the Organization of American States — and those I didn’t. Spain claims as a son naval hero David Farragut. The admiral who shouted “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” at the Battle of Mobile Bay was born to a father from the Spanish island of Minorca and an American mother.

After Spain’s ambassador, Santiago Cabanas, unveiled the statue, the assembled crowd went into the embassy for some tasty Spanish food and drink.

Mary Anthony Startz, Molly Fernandez de Mesa (sisters) 
and Marion Startz Reeb attending the statue dedication


Mary Anthony Startz, Regent
Lady Washington Chapter, NSDAR
State Vice Chair Spanish Task Force
National Vice Chair Lineage Research – Spanish Task Force
Member of America 250! Membership Task Force

malstartz@outlook.com

713-203-1931

www.dar.org




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La memoria recuperada de Bernardo de Gálvez - 
Virrey de Nueva España y héroe de la independencia de USA

 

HERITAGE PROJECTS

Mimi's Life Stories, Chapter 21: Space Chase Changed the World
 



 "Images taken of the earth from the moon, reveal us all as  
brothers who know now they are truly brothers … riders on the Earth together".
  ~Archibald MacLeish



SPACE CHASE  -   CHANGED the WORLD  
Chapter 21: Mimi's Life Stories


SPACE CHASE  -   CHANGED the WORLD  
Chapter 21: Mimi's Life Stories


August 2019, the United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of our pathway to the moon. The accomplishment brought about profound changes in many attitudes towards the earth and its inhabitants.  While I was occupied in launching Aury and Tawn in school and exploring the concept of spiritual dance, Win was engaged in the government's national involvement in exploring cosmic outer space.

We had moved to the city of Manhattan Beach because the location put us in the middle of some of the major national aerospace companies.   The nation was involved in the excitement of space travel.  Win was a Systems Analyst and worked over time for all of following companies:  TRW, North American, McDonald Douglas Aircraft, Hughes Aircraft, Northrop Aerospace, and Rams.  Most of Win's analytical work was with reliable, sustainable "sample gathering" systems, such as the Surveyor designed for that purpose.

As we celebrated the accomplishment of our heroic astronauts, the world was stunned.  William Bainbridge wrote in his book The Spaceflight Revolution that Apollo was "a grand attempt to reach beyond the world of mundane life and transcend the ordinary limits of human existence through accomplishment of the miraculous – a story of engineers who tried to reach the heavens".

In viewing photos of the earth taken from the moon, Carl Sagan, twenty years later summarized the perspective: 

"That's home. That's us.  On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives,  the aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, economic doctrine, every year, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar" every "supreme leader" every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a
mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."   Pale Blue Dot 1994


THE SPACE ADVENTURE
July 16, 1969: Apollo 11 Lift-off
19 December 19, 1972: Last three astronauts to visit the moon returned. 

The accomplishment has moved many to address the need for preserving and defending the earth and, at the same time, harnessing the new technologies to benefit mankind.  Change was in the air.  Hughes Aircraft was sending engineers as consultants to different countries. The Middle East was in turmoil. We were scheduled to go to Iran when the Shah was overthrown. 

Soon after our disappointment
about not being able to fill that adventure, TRW assigned Win to take over a position in Alice Springs, Australia. We were both excited.  Except for Tijuana, neither of us had been out of the country.  Win went first by himself,  we were to follow.  However, the wife of the engineer that he was to replace got pregnant.  She had had several miscarriages and they were concerned about traveling.  Instead, they did decided to stay in Australia  and Win was directed to return to the states.

It was a disappointment for all of us.  The kids were excited about living where the wild kangaroos roam.  I was excited about learning to hang glide, very popular in Alice Springs.  The change in plans resulted, however, in the first of our many international adventures. I say adventure because our travel plans were very loose and we stumbled and happened onto more delightful aspects of people and places than we could have expected.

Win was sure he was going to be laid off when he returned
home without a new assignment, but since his flight was already paid, he suggested that I meet him in Hong Kong and we explore the Orient.  Mom was willing to stay with the kids, so I went.  From Hong Kong we went to Taiwan and then to Japan.  We traveled on our own, using local transportation.  For meals, we would eat wherever we saw lots of people gathered purchasing food. We would point to what we saw people eating, signal two and nod. Win was good with the money exchange, but sometimes Win would just hold an open palm out with coins and the merchant would pick out the correct amount. 

Our hotel in Hong Kong turned out to be right across from a vegetarian restaurant/bakery whose items included delicious filled buns of unknown ingredients and assorted tastes, from salty to sweet.   We ate there during our stay in Hong Kong.   At one point
, I remember looking up and seeing three cooks from the kitchen standing in the doorway looking at us with big grins.  I was puzzled.  One of the three suddenly disappeared and moment later walked over to Win with a huge cooking fork and a big smile.  I was used to using chopsticks, but Win was not. 

The building next to the hotel was a convention hall/auditorium.  It so happened that we were there on their 10-10 weekend event, a big Communist Celebration.  We were not aware of it.  However several incidents
demonstrated strong hostility.  A shop-keeper angrily threw our change for a purchase, purposely, on the floor, waiting for my husband to respond. Without any show of emotion, Win quietly bent over and gathered the coins and we left.

Another incident, the hatred from a stranger was so intense, I have never forgotten it.  We were in a street car with a bench on both sides of the trolley.  It was crowded.  We were seated and a
man was standing above me. I could feel he was staring at me. I looked up and was met with such profound, all-consuming, irrational hatred, it stunned  me.  I felt that if he could have killed me on the spot, without having to pay for it, he would have. 

I see that hatred now in the brutality of the ANTIFA and growing Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Christianity. I don't understand it, but I see it. 

Hong Kong was very crowded. The hotel we were in was not in the tourist area. We were on the 2nd floor. The building behind us appeared to be occupied by various families staying in the same apartment.  I am assuming that because of the use of the kitchens.  The kitchens of many apartments seemed occupied most of the day, with a variety of cooks.  The streets also were over-used, traffic moving in every direction, even in the late evening, men in business suits, and workers.

However, one woman stood out, a mother, in the quilted pants and jacket common to the Chinese peasants.  She walked by our window and I have never forgotten her.  She looked out of place. She had one child on her back, one in a sling in front of her and
was holding the hand of a third.  She looked pregnant.  She was walking slowly, and I could see that her ankles were swollen. Where was she going?  What was ahead for her and her children?  So sad.  Hopeless, helpless drudgery seemed to be her life.

Another image remains of a life which I will never understand.  Many individuals live on small boats. Some also conduct a business from their boat. They eat, sleep, and live their life on their boat.   Visitors  can stand on a bridge and overlook the boats as they pass by.  Observe a lifestyle totally foreign. Some boats  are occupied by families
. The one that stood out most to me was a  slender woman in a small slender boat.  She was happily watching television on a very large TV which sat in the middle of her small boat, the sides of which almost touched the sides of the boat. Since all of their programming seemed to be American programs, I wondered how the lady sustained herself emotionally, contrasting her life with the Hollywood version of the lives of the  Americans.

Leaving Hong Kong appeared to be a problem.   The travel agents would disappear when we tried to book a flight to Taiwan.  Finally we found someone willing to sell us a ticket.  We made it to Taiwan
, but I did have some doubts.  The plane was constructed of wood.  Once boarded and in the air,  you could actually see thru the slots of wood. 

Taipei, Taiwan was quite a contrast to Hong Kong, clean and friendly people, unrushed and peaceful.  Tourist sites easy to reach and beautiful landscapes.  Two memories stand out, unplanned.  We happened to visit a small village when they were holding an autumn festival.  Among the activities was a folk dance circle in which it appeared anyone could participate. . . so I did.  Following the flowing movement of the lady in front of me, I was able to keep pace with the circle and really enjoyed being part of the community.

We took a walk out of town and, just as we were ready to turn around and go back, we happened on a series posters on the side of the road, posters which I recognized.  They were posters from my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   We followed the posters and discovered that we were at the National University of Taiwan.   After chatting with the Elders, both from southwest states, we walked on campus. We stopped when  I heard what sounded to me like a dance studio.  As I was telling Win, I had a feeling a dance class was in session.  Two students on  an overhead balcony leaned over  and  yelled down  to us  "Americans Teachers?"

When we nodded yes, they invited us up.  It was a dance class and an emotional experience for me.   The students  were learning  very controlled basic Chinese dance movements.   It was such a contrast after the freedom of modern dance at UCLA, the class session fascinated me.  Control exerted over the body did not in anyway limit the freedom of the sprit. Only now in writing this do I fully understand what the dance choreographer/director meant
when describing me in my role in Carousal as controlled abandonment.

Controlled abandonment seems paradoxical but
, in fact, is not.  Complete freedom does not exist .  We are all interconnected and inter-related, with life, the elements, and history.  Best we accept our dependency with one another and define our framework -- the guidelines within which we give ourselves complete freedom.

From Taiwan we went to Japan.   We flew into Tokyo and quickly found a room.  It was in Tokyo that I had a terrible bout of homesickness.   I was sitting in the tub bawling, asking Win to please take me home. Please, please.  I missed the kids so much . .  I hurt.  

Win was able to quiet my spirit, explaining the myriad of difficulties and complexities of him changing our flights, with him traveling on his company's ticket.  That painful bout of homesickness, which I had never experienced,  helped me to  better understand what soldiers and separated families feel.  I can relate to them with more compassion.The hotel prepared some cards with questions we might need to ask while we were sightseeing. There was much to see in Tokyo. We took little short city tours.  Everyone was courteous and willing to give us directions.   We found no hostility.  Except once,  and it was my fault.  

In a grassy park, there was an open pavilion with fiber mats on the stone floor. No one was there. I walked to the center when suddenly a man dressed as a Holy man came running towards me  yelling  pointing at my shoes
and motioning me to leave. He was barefoot. I quickly realized my mistake and  I backed out,  bobbing up and down from the waist, profusely  apologizing for the lack of respect.  Win was waiting outside.  I was glad to rush into his arms.  The Holy man was very angry.

We took a bullet train south and stopped in Kyoto.  Kyoto was once the capitol of Japan. It is famous for its many numerous classical temples, as well as gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto Shrines and traditional wooden houses. We visited a park filled with large monkeys who roam free, taking food from your hand. .  

In addition to the monkeys and classical historic beauty of Kyoto, we did have an usual cultural experience.
  A local cab driver was trying to sell us to take a personal tour of the city with him.   It was hard communicating.  When I mentioned we were from California, surprisingly, he asked me in Spanish if I spoke Spanish.   It turned out that he had lived in Los Angeles and was very comfortable with Spanish. 

We had a train connection to make so we didn't take his tour, but before we finished our conversation, a large crowd had gathered around us, thoroughly curious and  perplexed at what language the Japanese man and American woman were conversing. 

Traveling by ourselves, we frequently learned cultural lessons that were a surprise and a mystery.  We took the bullet train to the very most southern town of Kyushu to a Peoples' Village, a recreational lodge and facility run by the Japanese government. 

On the way
, Win and I shared a drink out of the same cup.  Suddenly, I became aware that everyone in our train section was looking at us, whispering, giggling and laughing among themselves.  It turned out that a man and woman drinking out of the same cup is foreplay for sex. We had innocently made a spectacle of ourselves.

We made a major faux pas at our stay in a Peoples' Village. We were the only non-Japanese.  No one spoke English, but the staff was very helpful.    We slept on mats on the floor and ate what was served for meals. The morning breakfast was a bowl of rice with a raw egg, which you dropped and whipped in with your chopsticks.  

Noteworthy of the dinner meal, quite obvious,  several families moved away from us.  It took us several days and some kindly suggestions to understand.  We should bathe first and and then eat.  We were the dirty Americans.  The habit in Japan is to bath before dinner.   I  wondered if we exuded an odor which was offensive.

The facility  had huge communal baths of different temperatures for the whole family to bath and relax together.   I could not bring myself to disrobe in the company of men  and join in a communal bath.  Fortunately
, they also had some small private bathing  tubs with the temperatures set much higher.

Kyushu is mountainous and has Japan's most active volcanoes.  As we indicated at the first desk
, we intended to walk to the volcano instead of taking their transportation. They quickly brought out a pair of galoshes for each of us. The direction that we got was follow the road  until you see the volcano, then walk towards it. We were enjoying the view, but  got thoroughly lost.  Just at the point we were ready to admit we had a problem,  we saw a group of farmers working in a distant field.  We were so grateful, we rushed towards them yelling a greeting; however, they started running away from us . . . .  yelling amerikan, amerikan.  They were afraid of us!  We did not want to lose them.  We figured they knew how to get out of the fields and forest, so we had to keep them in our sight. We ran after them.  We followed them to a lookout for viewing the  volcano.  We finally made it. We rode back in the Peoples' Village transportation.  I am sure the farmers were relieved to find out that the Americans were not invading the island of  Kyushu. 

We
made it to northern Japan, which I had wanted to see since Junior High. While studying Japan in Social Studies, I came across a photo of men of the Hairy Aniu tribe, a tribe indigenous to Japan.   They reminded me so much of my Abuelito and my two Chapa uncles. I felt an affinity, love and respect for the men in the photo, which I could not explain. About 60 years later, I had the same emotional reaction in Washington, D.C. In one of the museums,  I turned a corner and came face-to-face with a wall-size photo of a group of men of the Hairy Aniu tribe. My reaction was the same.  I just stood there,  transfixed.  It was the same sense of familiarity, of recognition.

I think we carry memories in our DNA, memories from our ancestors.  In Japan, I felt like I was home.  More than any place in the world, I had wanted to go to Japan. Win fulfilled a promise made to me many years before,  that
he would take me to Japan by 1970 and he did.  It just happened that he did. 

Following the successful Space Chase, employment opportunities for engineers was greatly reduced. Below is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive: 

           "Engineers' Unemployment Rate Almost Doubled in Year
 OCT. 10, 1971"

The unemployment rate for engineers last June and July was reported at 3 per cent, almost double the rate of 1.6 per cent for the same individuals in the spring of 1970, according to survey commissioned by the National Science Foundation.

The survey carried out by the Engineers Joint Council was based on the replies from 59,200 responding engineers. The survey indicated that on the basis of previous studies the 1971 unemployment rate for all engineers might have reached as high as 3.4 per cent. The national unemployment rate for all workers for the second quarter of 1971 averaged 5.8 per cent.

The latest survey showed that engineers with master's degrees had a 3.2 per cent unemployment rate while those with bachelor's degrees reported a 2.8 per cent rate. Engineers with doctorates had a 1.9 per cent rate.

The highest unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent was found among engineers previously involved in space activities followed by those in defense work, with 4.8 per cent. Engineers who had been employed in public works showed the lowest unemployment rate, 1.3 per cent.

The survey reported that nearly two–fifths of the unemployed engineers had specialized in four fields: electronics, aerospace, manufacturing and systems engineering. Other fields with high unemployment rates were computer
‐mathematics and product engineering. Analyzing the age groups among the unemployed engineers the survey found the lowest rate among those in their thirties, the highest among those under 24, followed by those 60 to 64 and then those 55 to 59.

The states with the highest engineer unemployment rates were Washington and California, followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey and New York.

This was a very sad time for engineers.  One afternoon
, Win came home early.  His skin was ashen.  "My God, what happened?"   With a bewildered, grieved expression, he said,   "One of the men killed himself in the men's room. He was laid off, and he just went in there and slit his wrists." 

The sad stories continued to grow over the following months.  One engineer, after two months of being laid off had still not told his wife.   Another showed up every day, sat at an unoccupied desk which he found at the plant, and sat there with no assignment. . .  and no salary.

The companies attempted to give the engineers assistance in their job hunting, but the need had diminished.   Several Cal State Universities had special programs to help engineers get a California Teaching credential. 

Since we had so much fun traveling, we decided that it might be a good time for me to get a California Teaching Credential.   However, we could get teaching jobs in another country and the kids
could enjoy the life experience of living in another culture. Being a classroom teacher had never appealed to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed  the enthusiasm, curiosity, and exploratory nature of children. My research for my thesis was on the development of creativity. Meanwhile, Win kept sending resumes looking for a any kind of a job.  When the layoff notice came Win  did some substitute teaching and filled vending machines for a friend.

I enrolled at Dominguez College to pursue getting a California  Teach
ing Certificate.  I was sure I was going to be accepted, and was shocked when the dean said that I had not passed the English grammar test.   I had assumed that a BS and MS from UCLA would be sufficient to get into the program. 

I started to leave his office and almost under my voice sadly said
,  "I always wanted to work with children."  He stopped me.  "Wait, tomorrow  bring in a typewriter, paper and a dictionary.    I will give you an essay topic." 

I returned the next day, with my typewriter [which I had had since high school - earned as a soda jerk at Smittys.]  The Dean  gave me a topic, length and a quiet room.  I finished the essay within the prescribed time.  Only a quick glance by the Dean indicated I was   . .  "In!," he said.  He told his secretary, "Process her."  I was back in school.  I was greatly  relieved.  Obviously I had still not overcome the effects of learning English as a second language, but I learned to deal with it. 

In preparing Somos Primos I review for reading clarity by  reading my writings out loud.  Let my ear judge  what sounds right.    I  move phrases and parts of a sentence from one place to another.  I   move sentences around within a paragraph, or paragraphs within a column.   As  I do, it reminds me  how the Lord takes the "weak things" of the world and assigns them to fulfill a task, so we will learn to depend on Him for our strengthens and to turn and listen to Him for guidance.

I can remember three distinct occasions when I was writing something and I included a word  with which I was NOT familiar. The word just popped in my head.  With the help of the dictionary, I found that in each case, the word was actually perfect! 

Obtaining a credential required both classroom attendance and student teaching, but I was fortunate.  The program was a government effort to increase the number of teachers nationally, particularly in English. The US had experienced an influx of immigrants and refugees from all over the world.  Many countries were recruiting  American teachers.   Increasing the numbers
, too, were the children from the 1950-1960s baby boom . School administrators were being creative to fulfill the national need.

For example
, the Dominguez Hills California State University college classes I took were held in a local high school through Adult Education. The first semester concentrated on the history and philosophy of education.  l was able to arrange my student teaching to be done at the junior high which Aury and Tawn were attending.  The logistics of just getting to school and home each day was greatly eased by being on the same campus.   It was surely a blessing.  I was able to intercede with the teachers for Aury and his continuing problem of dealing with dyslexia.

I was assigned two English Master teachers.  It made it difficult. They each had a different teaching style of maintaining control and authority.  My training and experience had been in recreational leadership roles.
  I remember crying one evening,  trying to solve the  problem of completing the credential. I needed to complete it to attain our goal of teaching and traveling. However, I was not handling the situation well, and it appeared that both of the Master teachers had decided on a sink or swim attitude about me.  After all, I already had a Masters in Public Recreation and Administration, so let me figure it out.  

What I did figure out was a positive solution.  The school had a special program underway.  It offered short 6-week  enrichment classes.  I asked if I might be allowed to  write a curriculum for and teach a  unit on puppetry. As a teaching tool, puppetry encompassed reading, writing, literature, dialogue, storylines, props, background, music, sound effects, concept  development,   performance, construction,  etc.   All administrative levels agreed.   They were willing to let me do it.  The rest of the school year remained challenging, but fun.  I also struggled take care of family needs, meals, laundry, to find enough time to prepare the daily lesson plans,  evaluations and  reports for my Dominguez Hills supervisor.  Win's frequent job changes and uncertainties was an ever present threat. It hung over us. Win had been able to get a job with the Navy in the city of Corona, about two hours away.  He  rented a room and came home on the weekend. 

I believe I was able to teach the
puppetry class 4 or 5 times.   I could not understand, though,  why each session seemed to be getting progressively harder and harder to teach.  Then I found out that  teachers were  putting  their  problem students in my class.  They had observed that students who had gone through my class underwent positive changes in attitudes and behavior.  Interestingly, too,  about later 5 years later, I found out that the puppetry class was still being offered.

I completed my California
teaching credential.  Win and I started e started sending out our resumes together.   We got very few nibbles.  In California, only two, Coalinga  and Calexico, no job offers.  Internationally, Win got an offer to teach electronics/electricity in the South Pacific on the Island of Ponape. I was offered a job in the Virgin Islands.

The government must have over-sold the demand, or they were looking for single, unmarried teachers for overseas assignments. Fortunately, Win's  job with the Navy appeared to be secure for another year.  We decided instead of the expense of Win renting an apartment and being separated as a family, we would join him.  The house we rent was considerably less than we rented our house for, so we actually made money.  

Moving to Corona turned out to be an adventure which included a mountain lion, Indians attacking, and visiting a ghost town.

 

 

HISTORICAL Treasure 

The Epic Story of Spanish North America 1498-1898 - ebook
La historia épica de la Norte América Española  -  Libro eléctronico de Robert Goodwin en inglés  

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Un regalo para los que desconocen esta historia de nuestros ancestros

~ Carl Campos campce@gmail.com 

This is a gift for those who do not know the history of our ancestors; however, I do not agree with this author on one point.

He refers to the Spanish provinces in the New World as the colonies, the same way the English described their overseas possessions. These Spanish provinces were not colonies, the organization was totally different, it followed the kingdom model of Spain at the time: Kingdom of Castilla, Aragón, etc. in the new world they were: Nueva España, Nueva Galicia, Nueva Granada, etc. organized as a Viceroyalty not a colony. It may be a technicality to some, but to a semanticist, it is an important difference. In practice it had a huge difference.  Read and Learn.... 

La lectura cura la peor de las enfermedades humanas, "la ignorancia".   Reading cures the worst of human diseases "Ignorance"

 


https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=576EDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=robert+goodwin&hl=es&sa    =X&ved=0ahUKEwjfwsSfhbvjAhVumK0KHSCdA4gQ6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q=robert%20goodwin&f=false
Editor Mimi:  Strongly recommend reading "The Epic Story of Spanish America, 1493-1898

 


HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

Raul Ruiz, Journalist Activist for the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles by Gustavo Arellano

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Raul Ruiz, Journalist Activist for the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles 
by Gustavo Arellano

Los Angeles Times
6/15/2019

When Raul Ruiz took to the podium last year at Self-Help Graphics for a history symposium, many in the packed house were at first perplexed.

The longtime reporter, activist, and professor was there to talk about his role in the Chicano moratorium, the 1970 antiwar march in East Los Angeles that ended with law enforcement indiscriminately assaulting protesters and killing former Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar. Ruiz’s gripping photo of a sheriff’s deputy firing a tear-gas canister into the bar that Salazar had ducked into to escape the violence had run on the front page of the Los Angeles Times and became one of the most iconic images of the Chicano movement.

 


a close up of a newspaper© Los Angeles Times

But many of the veteranos (elder activists) at the Self-Help Graphics event hadn’t seen Ruiz in years. College students in attendance had only read about him in history books. And the general public “had no idea who Raul was,” said symposium co-organizer Carlos Montes.

The confusion ended as soon as soon as Ruiz spoke. “Everyone was just fixated,” Montes said. “He was just real.”

Ruiz died on Thursday June 13 in his sleep, his family said. He was 78.

The son of a railroad worker, Ruiz was born in El Paso before moving to South Los Angeles as a teen. After working at a draftsman in Orange County, Ruiz enrolled at Cal State Los Angeles to major in engineering but quickly found himself on academic probation.

His life changed after he took classes on Latin American history taught by Tim Harding. The professor challenged Ruiz to dive into Chicano history, giving him a copy of “North From Mexico,” a 1949 book by Carey McWilliams considered the first serious study of Mexicans in the United States.

The tome, Ruiz told a biographer decades later, “made me understand that men and women — not only by knowing themselves but also by reacting to their social conditions — make history.”

The political awakening came just as the Chicano movement began to bubble up in Los Angeles and the Southwest. While pursuing a master’s at Cal State L.A., Ruiz helped to found two underground newspapers, Inside Eastside and Chicano Student News, that criticized police brutality, apathetic school administrators, and the mainstream media’s stereotypical depiction of Mexican Americans.

Making no pretense of objectivity, Ruiz simultaneously reported on and helped to organize el movimiento, even getting arrested for everything from sit-ins at Los Angeles school board meetings to disrupting a Christmas Eve midnight Mass at St. Basil Church led by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, whom Ruiz and others accused of slighting poor Mexican Catholics.

“He always had a camera, he always was asking questions,” says Montes, a longtime activist. “All the major things of that era, he was there.”

Eventually, Ruiz became co-editor of La Raza, a pioneering Chicano newspaper that documented Mexican American life across the country until it shuttered in 1977. The publication ran Ruiz’s photo of Salazar’s purported killer on its cover under the headline in English and Spanish, "The Murder of Ruben Salazar."

He let the Times reprint and syndicate the shot worldwide to expose what he called a “farce” of an investigation into the columnist’s death. A coroner’s inquest jury asked him to testify during a public hearing, but their open skepticism about Ruiz’s eyewitness account infuriated him.

“You are questioning my integrity, but of course I expect that,” he told them. “Because I am a Mexicano.”

His advocacy eventually brought Ruiz to the La Raza Unida Party, a political party created by activists who felt the Democratic Party ignored Chicanos. He ran under the party’s banner in 1971 for a state Assembly seat that analysts predicted would easily go to Richard Alatorre, then a rising star. Ruiz earned 7%t of the vote, enough for Alatorre’s Republican opponent to pull off a stunning upset — and angering the Eastside political machine.

Ruiz was unapologetic. He told the press he hoped his race inspired activists to "never let a Democrat have an easy election in a Chicano district again."

While he reported and protested, Ruiz also taught in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at Cal State Northridge; he retired in 2015 after 45 years.

“He created a pathway for my generation to follow and grow the discipline,” says Denise Sandoval, who first met Ruiz as a graduate student at CSUN in the early 1990s and eventually became a colleague. “I will remember those moments I stopped and looked into his classroom while he was teaching so I could just listen for a few moments.”

Though Ruiz never formally returned to journalism after La Raza, Los Angeles reporters frequently leaned on him for a good quote on anything Chicano. He even got into musical productions in his final years, producing sold-out shows at the Ford Amphitheater that highlighted Mexican legends like Juan Gabriel and Jose Alfredo Jimenez.

But even then, Ruiz couldn’t resist politics. Last year, according to Montes, he said some harsh words about President Trump, which didn’t sit well with some in the crowd.

“He didn’t apologize,” Montes said. “He told it like it was. He didn’t hold back. He stood his ground.”

gustavo.arellano@latimes.com 

Twitter: @GustavoArellano

Sent by Sister Mary Sevilla, CSJ

 

 


Latino soldiers
 Cebu, Phillipines, WW II

  LATINO AMERICAN PATRIOTS

Latino Advocates  for Education, Inc.

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Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941


Since
the Revolutionary War to the present, Hispanics have been a part of the United States military heritage that makes this country so strong. Through nine wars and conflicts, Hispanics have served their country with pride and distinction.

Latino Advocates for Education, Inc. in collaboration with the Orange County Department of Education commemorate the undaunted courage and sacrifice of these service men and women that exemplify the highest traditions of the United States Armed Forces.

In the air, on land, and at sea and in all fronts and services, the patriotism of Hispanic service men and women has been documented through diligent research and personal stories. For over 17 years, Latino Advocates for Education, Inc. has conducted this independent research which includes a detailed compilation of national casualty, personnel, and award recipient statistics, as well as profiles of over 2000 local Hispanic veterans.   The statistics and personal biographies presented herein provide an educational and historical insight to the participation of Hispanic service personnel in the defense of our country.

Latino Advocates  for Education
Hon. Fredrick Aguirre 

https://aplh.webs.com/
 

Editor Mimi:  If you are planning a program for Hispanic Heritage Month,  this is perfect, length and content.  From ball players, to ballet, from war heroes to boxers.    All will go home uplifted.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfb0gAnL4KSIDnLQvLB7AWQ  <  Another  resource.
 

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Spanish SURNAMES

Farias/Faria/Farrias
Fernandez/Fernan/Fernando/Ferrandez 
Flores 

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Farias - Faria - Farrias

Wednesday, March 16, 1994 * EXCELSIOR 
* Volviendo a Nuestras Raices 
heraldic
A: CONOZCA EL ORIGEN DEL APELLIDO

=================================== ===================================

In a study of the top 4500 Spanish surnames in use today among those of Hispanic origin living in the United States, Farias ranks 465th. The surname originated in Portugal. A castle built in 400 A.D. still stands and bears the name of Farias.

Juan de Farias, Portuguese, was named as official at Almaden (Monclova), Coahuila, Mexico in 1588. In 1604 he is noted as serving as an official in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. By 1611, six Farias individuals are identified in Northeastern New Spain and the Provencia de Tejas.

Mimi Lozano, traces a direct line back to the original Juan de Farias through her maternal grandmother, PETRA FARIAS (born 6 July, 1885). Petra Farias was the daughter of Juan Pablo Farias who is a Farias on both his paternal and maternal sides. Juan Pablo was the son of Jose Farias and Maria Antonia Farias. Juan Pablo's paternal grandparents were Jose Irineo Farias and Maria Gertrudis Aguirre married 26th January 1797 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. His maternal grandparents were Juan Jose Farias and Catarina de la Fuente, married 14 November 1790, also in Saltillo.

The Farias of Mexico were receivers of grants of land in several counties in southeast Texas, Bejar, Hidalgo, Nueces, and Jim Wells. They were cattlemen and soldiers. They can be found living in the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Jalisco, and Zacatecas.

 

The most prominent Farias historically was Valentin Gomez Farias, (1781-1858) (an uncle of Petra Farias). Valentin, physician, liberal, educator, is considered by many historians to be "el padre de la Reforma." He served as Vice-President uneasily with President Santa Ana, three times as acting President before being forced into exile to the United States in 1834. When he returned to Mexico, Valentin was given the privilege of being the first to sign his name to the "La Constitucion Politica de 1857," encompassing the principles for which he had fought all his life.

Petra Farias married a liberal politician and educator, Alberto Chapa, 21st September, 1901. Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. They had 12 children, 9 of which reached adulthood. In 1925, the family moved to San Antonio, Texas. The move was to be temporary, to wait out the political termoil. Eventually, however, the family migrated to Los Angeles, California, and then to Stockton.

Petra Farias Chapa has many descendents living in California from San Diego to Sacramento. First and second generation Americans, they are in all areas of occupations, educators, lawyers, engineers, doctors, businessmen, construction, food services. All proud of being Americans of Mexican heritage.

Written by grandaughter, Mimi Lozano, member of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancetral Research.

 

 


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Fernandez - Fernan - Fernando -  Ferrandez  Ferrandez 

Wednesday, April 21, 1993 * EXCELSIOR 
Volviendo a Nuestras Raices

heraldica
CONOZCA EL ORIGEN DEL APELLIDO

=================================== ===================================

Femandez is an ancient surname, derived from the given name Femando. It is the second most popular surname in Spaii and the 11th most popular Hispanic surname in the United States. Numerous Femandez men served with Cortes in the 1520 entrada and received land grants. The recipient was required to develop the land and pay taxes on the increase. If unsuccessful, the specified land returned to the crown. Prosperous care retained the rights of inheritance for descendents

MARK) GRAJEDA FERNANDEZ, through a 1708 will and 1815 land documents has traced a line back to the property JUAN FERNANDEZ DE RETANA. Juan declared to have been bom in 1648 in the Vizcayan town of Manclares de Gamboa, Province ofAlava, Spain. In 1688, Juan is appointed Captain of the frontier Presidio de San Francisco de Conchos. In 1707, Juan becomes Alcalde Mayor of Santa Eulalia, now the city of Chihuahua. A year later, in 1708, Juan dies leaving a last will identifying and detailing his property.

Bartolome Femandez de Mendoza, Alcalde Mayor of Leon claims the inheritance rights of a "sitio de ganado mayor" (large hacienda) from a Juan Femandez de Retana. The document is registered in the Archive de Parral in 1723.

Casimiro Femandez married to Micaela Gonzales registers fhisSame title in 1772. Among their children is Francisco Femandez. Francisco marries Petra Ortega Leyva.

Francisco's 1842 will details valuable information concerning the decimation of the family ranch by an Indian attack in which all original land titles and documents were lost. In 1815, the King of Spain demanded that all lands not paying ta3 be re-registered and titles given so that taxing could commence and royal revenues again assessed. Mr. Grajeda has a notarized copy of the 1815 assignment of property received by Francisco Femandez, approximately 18 square miles.

 

Jose Dolores Femandez, a descendent of Francisco and Petra Saenz became the next administrator of the family trust, which in the last will states that property must be held as a "mancomun", held in common by all the descendents and to work the land as brothers "in-solidum." Responsibility passes next to son Juan Jose Jesus Femandez (bom 1837) marri( to Petra Grajeda Valles, Mr. Grajeda's ancestor, his great, great grandfather. The original settlement of 50 related familii has presently become a town of about 5,000 people, now known as La Boquilla, Chihuahua.

Continuous Apache attacks, French intervention, Mexican civil wars, and the Mexican-American war wrecked havoc  to the estate. Bribed public notary conspired with immoral foreign investors to rob the Femandez clan of water rights.

In defense of land, gun fire broke out against "Las Gorras Blancas," an army of merceneries hired by foreign investors to enforce legalized stealing of property. Epigmeno, son of Juan Jesus Jose, fearing reprisals from Porfirio Diaz, fled the area  and joined Pancho Villas army.

Seven sons and one daughter were bom to Epigmeno Femandez and Maclovia Fierro Rodallegas. Exiquio, born 1896 married Concepcion De La 0. Garcia, the line through which Mr. Grajeda traces his roots. Mr. Grajeda remembers as a child traveling from California with his mother Margarita Femandez (born1935) to visit his grandparents in Mexico.

"My grandfather was tall and very Spanish. My grandmother, was the opposite with many Indian features and influences.. I witnessed social, cultural change unfolding within my own family. It fascinated me. This "mestizaje" gave me the foundation to know who I am and to be proud of my ancestral roots. When I took college history classes, I remembered my grandfather's stories about the history of the family. The names, the battles, all had personal meaning. I wanted to know more and still want to know more."

Other surnames on this line: Saenz, Cano, Fierro, Rodallegas, Ortega, De La 0., Garcia, Gonzalez, Grajeda, Valles. Compiled by Mimi Lozano, member of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research.
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Flores 

Wednesday, August 25, 1993 * EXCELSIOR 
Volviendo a Nuestras Raices

heraldica
CONOZCA EL ORIGEN DEL APELLIDO

=================================== ===================================
In the United States the surname Flores (flowers) is the 16th most popular surname among modern ; families. Known since the 1100's and extended throughout Spain during the reconquest. No i ancestor of origin. The given name Froyla or Fruela, were patronymic for Froylez or Frolaz from witch Florez came.

The earliiest Flores in Nueva Espana is Francisco Flores in Santo Domingo in 1510 who joined the 1520 Naravez entrada into Mexico. Francisco Flores was joined by another Flores, Cristoval on the Cortes entrada into Mexico City in 1521. Both received land grants in and around Mexico City.

Expansion north brought a Pedro Flores into Saltillo in 1605. He became a prominent office-holder in of Saltillo. He had 5 sons and one daughter, Pedro, Nicolas, Tomas, Diego, Juan and Clara. A Pedro Flores, (possibly the son) served as the city attorney in Monterrey in 1642, 1654, 1658, 1661, and was appointed acting mayor by the city council in 1670.

There many Flores in northeast Mexico and Texas in the colonial period, particularly in San Antonio.  It is very popular in Texas today. The largest concentration of the surname is in Los Angeles and Houston, most are of Mexican ancestry. 

Vivica Scott of San Francisco traces a direct maternal line back to early grandparents from Nuevo Leon, JOSE NICOLAS FLORES and Maria Isabel Saenz. (married c.1755) through their son Jose e Flores married (c.1780) to Maria Gertrudis Salinas. Son Leonardo Flores married Maria de la Pena, June 15, 1807 in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon. Two of their children were Prima Feliciana Flores and Maria de Las Nieves Flores, whose children, first cousins, married one another.

Marriages between cousins was not encouraged, but not uncommon. Isolation of communities and tight family  clans in friendship over the generations with other families frequently brought young people  together in marriages requiring church investigation of sanguinity through blood or marriage. 

Dispensations from the Catholic Church were required for the marriage to be allowed. Why this couple  was  allowed to marry is unknown. A case on file showed a young man's petition for marriage, listing 17  young ladies ineligible because of familial closeness.

Thus on Miss Scott's pedigree are two Flores grandmothers, sisters, Prima Feliciana Flores and Maria Nieves Flores. Prima Feliciana Flores (married June 6, 1827) Jose Dionicio Chapa. Their son Anestacio, married his first cousin, Maria Teodora Sanchez, daughter of his aunt Maria de las Nieves  and Juan Jose Sanchez. The son of the marriage of Anestacio Flores and Maria Teodora lez was Alberto Chapa, born in Sabinas Hidalgo, April 7,1879. 

• Surnames on this line: Sanchez, Pena, Salinas, Saenz piled by Mimi Lozano, member of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research.

 

 

DNA

History Rescued: DNA and Border Facts 
NO Support to claim Palestinians are descendents of Canaanites 
Netanyahu: New Philistine DNA Study Affirms That Israel Is Jewish Land by Michael Foust 

QuickSheet: Citing Genetic Sources for History Research Evidence! Style Elizabeth Shown Mills


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History Rescued: DNA and Border Facts 

Editor Mimi: As I was preparing this DNA section, I realized what a great tool DNA is in support of TRUTH, and a shield against lies.   There is so much confusion, with intentional distortion of facts, further augmented by ignorance of history.  

Beyond a question or shadow of doubt, DNA is a scientific tool for determining parentage,   It's use is a near perfect reliable instrument to help solve two current major problems, entry at the US-Mexican border, and to answer questions of Israeli and Palestinian  issues. 


"Homeland Security to use DNA tests to thwart 'fake' illegal immigrant families" 
By Dave Boyer and Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Border authorities have identified more than 1,000 “fake families” over the past seven months featuring adults trying to use children who aren’t their own to sneak into the U.S.

Homeland Security officials revealed the number Wednesday as they announced a pilot program to begin using DNA testing to match children and the adults trying to sneak across the U.S.-Mexico boundary with them.

“It’s definitely an escalating trend that we’re seeing,” one department official said of the fraudulent families.


Extracts from "Trafficked Children are Among Those at the US-Mexican Border"

June 20, 2018  by Arthur Hunter  [About the Author]

Each year, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked in the world, tens of thousands are trafficked in the United States each year, and of those, it is estimated that 30% are smuggled into the United States through the border with Mexico. 

More Transparency Is Necessary

And hence, the real issue going on at the border is that many parents and children are separated in a way that is harmful, without proper sensitivity to their mental health needs, and without transparency. There are too many dark areas of secrecy happening that the public is kept from, raising suspicions of harmful behavior towards children. To minimize damaging effects on children, any separation must be carefully executed with oversight by mental health professionals, and be as brief as possible, so they are quickly re-united with their parents.

But one thing is certain, if we adopt a policy that keeps all children with their escorting adult "guardians" no matter what, without any documentation, simply on the basis that we believe blindly that every child crossing the border with an adult equals a child with a real parent, then we are complicit in trafficking enslaved children who had a real chance at rescue, and instead were thrown back into darkness where they may never be discovered again. This is because some of those children at the border are being trafficked, we know this for a fact, and no one has documentation, no one has proof of parenthood, and there is simply no comparison of the devastating damage happening to trafficked children, vs ones who are temporarily separated from their parents.

Rapid DNA Testing can Help Determine Trafficked Children

Technology can play a crucial role in the current multi-decade long crisis at the US border where children are separated from their parents. Field DNA tests are capable of rapidly determining whether or not someone is an actual parent. In this regard, science can play a critical role in rescuing those children who are flying under the radar as slaves. To minimize harm towards all children at the southern border, DNA testing can go a long ways towards making quick determinations and reducing, or eliminating altogether, the traumatic effects of parent-child separation, while not ignoring the far greater evil of child trafficking.

 


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No Support to claim Palestinians are descendents of Canaanites 


There is no support to the claim of . . . Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who told the UN in 2018 that Palestinians “are the descendants of the Canaanites who lived in the land of Palestine 5,000 years ago.”

A Palestinian Authority spokesman went even further, announcing the Palestinian people have a "glorious heritage that goes back to the dawn of humanity."

To put it mildly, there’s no evidence from history or archaeology to support this wild claim. In fact, the “Palestinian people” came into existence after 1967.

But this “big lie” does serve a useful purpose. It's a cynical and deeply anti-Semitic strategy to erase Israel's past and displace it with a new "Palestinian history."  In this twisted history, Palestinians are the central figures—and Jews are the outside intruders, the colonialists, the settlers robbing Palestinians of their made-up glorious past.


The Temple never existed?

Not only is Jesus a “Palestinian”—as Abbas claims—but in the much-revised Palestinian version of history, the Temple never existed.

Incredibly, Palestinians convert the Temple Mount — where Jewish temples stood for some 900 years — into an exclusively Muslim holy site. PLO leader Yasir Arafat told a shocked Bill Clinton in 2000 that there never was a Temple in Jerusalem. And just a few months ago, the PA’s official daily newspaper dismissed the “myth of the alleged ‘Temple.’”

But facts are stubborn things—especially when they’re embedded in stone. What I’m about to share powerfully testifies to the Jews’ “rock-solid” claim to their biblical homeland. And how far Palestinians leaders will go to deny the truth about Israel’s Jewish past. You’ll be stunned by this recent event. . .

"Pilgrimage Road" displays Jewish history from time of Jesus

Just this month in Jerusalem, archaeologists inaugurated one of the most compelling and significant archaeological finds since modern Israel came into existence. Dubbed the “Pilgrimage Road,” it’s a 2,000-foot stone path that extends from the Pool of Siloam up to the Western Wall where worshipers would ascend to the Temple on stairs. 

Discovered in 2004, this 25-foot wide once-buried road dates to the time of Jesus. It’s very likely that Jesus Himself and His disciples walked it. Like millions of other pilgrims, they would have purified themselves in the Pool of Siloam and then made the journey up the stone road to the Temple to worship God.

The Pilgrimage Road dig has turned up hundreds of artifacts—a clay shard with a sketch of the Temple menorah, a gold bell probably used for ceremonial dress and even arrow fragments and catapult balls likely used when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

But one of the most extraordinary finds is an ancient bronze coin, dated to the year 70, which declares in Hebrew, “For the freedom of Zion.” It’s a powerful testimony to Jewish history and Israel’s ancient and well-settled claim to the Holy Land.

But Palestinians reject the Pilgrimage Road entirely.

For them, the massive dig is just a fabrication. The Palestinian Authority dismissed it as a “falsification of history and the Judaization of Jerusalem.” Saeb Erekat, a top PLO official, trashed the Pilgrimage Road as “fake.”  

"It's a settlement project," Erekat charged. "It's based on a lie that has nothing to do with history."


But history and truth are not on the side of the enemies of Israel. Faced with overwhelming evidence, those who hate Israel have no option but to issue ludicrous denials — to traffic in “big lies” which, if not refuted, will be repeated, gain believers and do real damage.  

 

Help us tell the truth about Israel!

And that’s why I’m asking you to support Christians in Defense of Israel today. Because of friends like you, we’re on Capitol Hill and we reach out across America to tell the truth about the Jewish state.  Plus, we’re producing energetic young ambassadors for Israel through our allied Covenant Journey ministry.


But to keep on doing all this, I need your help. Your gift now will help CIDI answer and defeat the "big lies" that incite hatred for Israel.


There is a strategic effort to invent a Palestinian past that never existed — and to utterly deny the Jewish people’s deep roots in their ancient homeland. You and I, working together, can help ensure this strategy utterly fails!


Support CIDI today. And as you give, be sure to ask for the fascinating resource, Big Lies: Answers to the Top 10 Slanders, Smears and Libels Against Israel.


Thank you for your friendship and for your love for Israel and the Jewish people!

Together for Israel,

Mathew D. Staver
Founder and Chairman


P.S. Your gift now will make a real difference to expose and defeat the "big lie" strategy that aims to delegitimize and destroy Israel. Please let me hear from you right away!

 

Christians in Defense of Israel
PO Box 540209
Orlando, FL 32854
407-875-1948 

©2014-present Christians In Defense Of Israel. The mission of Christians in Defense of Israel (CIDI) is to strengthen your Christian faith and to inspire you to be a goodwill ambassador for Israel and the Jewish people. We accomplish this mission through education and immersive experiences in Israel. Christians in Defense of Israel is a nonprofit education organization. Privacy Policy.

 


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Netanyahu: New Philistine DNA Study Affirms 
That Israel Is Jewish Land

Michael Foust,  ChristianHeadlines.com  
 Monday, July 8, 2019

 

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New DNA research indicating the biblical Philistines originated from Europe bolsters the case that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Scientists studied the DNA of skeletons from a 3,000-year-old Philistine cemetery and published their findings last week in the journal Science Advances. The study showed the DNA was related to the gene pool of southern Europe.

The Philistine cemetery was uncovered in 2016 in Ashkelon, in southern Israel. Ten of 108 skeletons had sufficient DNA to be used.

Netanyahu made his case on Twitter.

“A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible -- that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe,” Netanyahu wrote.

Netanyahu then referenced Amos 9:7 and Jeremiah 47:4, which say the Philistines came from Caphtor – modern-day Crete, the Greek island in southern Europe.

“The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete,” Netanyahu wrote. “There’s no connection between the ancient Philistines & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later.”

The word “Palestinian” is thought to have derived from “Philistine,” although modern-day Palestinians say they did not originate from that people group.

The Philistines often warred with the biblical Hebrews. Goliath, who was defeated and killed by David, was a Philistine.

“For more than a century, we have debated the question of where the Philistines came from,” archaeologist Eric Cline told National Geographic in an email. “Now we have the answer: Southern Europe, and probably more specifically mainland Greece, Crete, or Sardinia. This fits with what had seemed the most likely answer previously, especially judging from [the archaeological remains], and so this seems a logical finding.”

 

Netanyahu concluded, “The Palestinians’ connection to the Land of Israel is nothing compared to the 4,000-year connection that the Jewish people have with the land.”

The word “Palestinian” is thought to have derived from “Philistine,” although modern-day Palestinians say they did not originate from that people group.

The Philistines often warred with the biblical Hebrews. Goliath, who was defeated and killed by David, was a Philistine.

“For more than a century, we have debated the question of where the Philistines came from,” archaeologist Eric Cline told National Geographic in an email. “Now we have the answer: Southern Europe, and probably more specifically mainland Greece, Crete, or Sardinia. This fits with what had seemed the most likely answer previously, especially judging from [the archaeological remains], and so this seems a logical finding.”

 


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QuickSheet

Citing Genetic Sources for History Research Evidence! Style

Elizabeth Shown Mills

 


DNA analysis is the new frontier in genealogical research. Combined with traditional research methods it is the gold standard in genealogy. Four types of DNA tests are commonly used in genetic testing: 
(1) Y-DNA;  (2) MT-DNA;  (3) AT-DNA;  and (4) X-Line DNA. 

The successful use of these tests requires interpretation, but in conjunction with docu­mentary research, indisputable genealogical evidence can easily be established.

One of the purposes of this QuickSheet is to show how to cite sources in compiling a genealogy using DNA analysis. As Ms. Mills demonstrates, the standards for citation, evidence analysis, and proof—when using DNA tests for historical purposes—are the same as those for sound historical and genealogical research. This Quick­Sheet demonstrates how to report test results, analyses, and instructional matter in ways that support those standards.

To begin with, she explains the basic citation formats, depending on whether you cite an online resource or an offline report. To make the job of citing sources simpler, she provides a template which shows exactly how you should identify source list entries and reference notes. Then she provides examples, or models, of common source types, showing how to use them in a source list entry, in a full reference note, and in a short reference note. On this com­plicated subject, nothing could be easier to use.

Written by the doyen of source citation and evidence, this QuickSheet is quick to read, handy to use, and is cer­tain to become the basic guide to citing genetic sources. Following the style of the famous QuickSheet series, it is published as a 4-page folder and is laminated to withstand heavy use.

2nd Ed. 8%" x II". 4 pages folded and laminated. 2019. ISBN 9780806320298. $11.25
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.   www.genealogical.com

 

FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH

Six Steps to Your Family History
How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records

 

SIX STEPS to Your Family History

 


Hi Mimi,  
My name is  Julia and I am a fourth-grade teacher in Florida.   One of my students, Bridget, found your web site while working on her genealogy project.  Bridget would also like to suggest a publication as a thank you for the hard work you put on your web site.

It is from homeadviceguide.com. SIX STEPS TO YOUR FAMILY HISTORY.  It is very easy to follow and it contains all the necessary information to guide new and more experienced genealogy researchers. 
http://www.homeadviceguide.com/6-steps-to-your-family-history/
Julia Kelly, 
julkelly78@gmail.com
 

Editor Mimi: 
These are the six steps. . . . .  basically a system to get organize.
1. Have an attitude that this is possible and doable, because it is doable.
2. Get a box.
3. Put a project in your box.
4. Set up a log.
5. Find a Mentor.
6. Make a commitment to yourself.

I strongly recommend the website for beginners However there are hundreds of suggestions which even very advanced and seasoned researchers will find helpful.  

 

 

 
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HOW TO FIND
YOUR FAMILY HISTORY IN U.S. CHURCH RECORDS

A Genealogist's Guide

With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900 
Sunny Jane Morton
and Harold A. Henderson, CG 

Records created by the major Christian denominations before 1900 in the United States are an underutilized resource for family historians. In these records, you may find ancestors' births, maiden or married names, marriage details, deaths, family relationships, other residences, and even immigrants' overseas birthplaces. You may uncover information about ancestors who have been unnamed in other records—women, children, ethnic minorities, immi­grants, and the poor. You may find details about your an­cestors recorded long before the existence of civil records.

However, it is not always an easy task to track down U.S. church records. That's where this unique book comes in. For it takes readers step-by-step through the process of identifying, locating, and gaining access to these genealogi­cal gems; included are hundreds of links to church research resources, as well as chapters devoted to specific resources for the major Christian denominations before 1900. More than 30 archivists, historians, and genealogical experts in specific faith traditions have contributed their knowledge to these denominational chapters.

Sunny Jane Morton (www.sunnymorton.com) is a Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine, the NGS-award-winning Editor of Ohio Genealogy News, and a past Contributing Editor for the Genealogy Gems Podcast. She has degrees in History and Humanities from Brigham Young University, and in preparation for writing this book, reviewed hundreds of original church record collections. Harold A. Henderson, CG (www.midwestroots.net) is a professional writer and board certified genealogist whose research focuses on the Midwest and its feeder states. He has served on the board of the Association of Professional Genealogists and as a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Harold has taught and lectured nationally and has published more than 100 genealogy articles.


81/2" x II". 154 pp., illustrated, indexed, paperback. 2019. ISBN 9780806320953. $29.95 
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.   www.genealogical.com

 

Image result for world religions symbols

RELIGION

September 22, 2019 . . . Bless Israel Sunday
Jesus, Land, Gun Control, and the Coming Prince  by Jack Kinsella

 
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September 22, 2019 . . . .  Bless Israel Sunday 

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Does your church desire to learn more about the significance of Israel and the Jewish people in God's plan?

Bless Israel Sunday is a special opportunity to enrich your church's understanding of the importance of God's plan for Israel. Your church will have many options in which to participate, like experiencing the Jewish culture, deepening your church's understanding of the common Jewish roots, and opening up the hearts of your congregation towards seeing all Israel saved.

Your church will be provided with an opportunity to learn, experience and share in God's work to bless all Israel. Join churches from all across the country and dedicate Sunday, September 22, 2019 as a day to bless Israel.

Resources for Bless Israel Sunday are limited, so sign up today! Get started today! Learn more about your options for your church in getting involved and sign up! Get Started. 

Last Will and Testament Support at Jewish Voice 
Jewish Voice Ministries International, Volunteer Ministry 
P.O. Box 81439, Phoenix, AZ 85069-1439
602-288-9827 | Email us at: Ambassadors@jvmi.org 

 


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Jesus, Land, Gun Control, and the Coming Prince

by Jack Kinsella


”A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (US Constitution, 2nd Amendment, ratified December 15th, 1791)

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is apparently written in language so mysterious and sublime that it means something different to everybody who reads it.

Evidently, it also changes meaning as the clock ticks forward, since it continues to be interpreted and re-interpreted as if there were an ongoing contest for the most original interpretation of a sentence that, to the ignorant and uninitiated masses, seems to make perfect sense just the way it reads on the surface.

For about the first two hundred years of the Republic, the 2nd Amendment meant American citizens had a Constitutional right to keep and to bear arms.

And, for about the first two hundred years of the Republic, the 2nd Amendment functioned as it was intended. It kept the government at bay.

Originally, the Constitution was approved without a Bill of Rights, then sent to the states for ratification. The states felt the Constitution, as written, failed to give enough protection to individual rights that they wanted specifically protected by amendment .

Among the rights the states sought to enshrine as Constitutionally-protected were the rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right to keep and bear arms.

The intent of the Bill of Rights was to protect individuals from government powers. They were meant as a guarantee to the individual state governments as well as the American citizens that the Federal government would not try to take away the freedoms which many of them had so recently fought for.

Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, noted at the time that,

“to preserve Liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

James Madison said in the Federalist Papers that the 2nd Amendment preserves,

“ the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

Noah Webster observed that,

“before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence , raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.”

Patrick Henry argued that the power to resist oppression rested entirely on the right to bear arms, saying,

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.”

It would seem, as I noted at the outset, that the 2nd Amendment was intended to mean pretty much what it says. Indeed, our country was born when a group of colonists rose up in arms against British rule.

Guns empower the masses: they are the last line of defense for a citizenry confronted with an evil government.

The regimes of Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s U.S.S.R. recognized this principle and seized all weapons, precluding any effectual resistance to their tyranny. One need only read the newspapers in New York and Los Angeles to realize that even the innocent have cause to fear the police.

Communities around the country are justifiably hesitant to relinquish their weapons and be at the mercy of local law enforcement. Law enforcement, by definition, is powerless to act until AFTER a crime has been committed. Police can’t protect individuals, they can only prosecute after the fact.

(Which, in the case of murder, is of little consolation to the victim)

In countries like Canada and England that have imposed what amounts to a ban on private ownership of weapons, citizens are most vulnerable in their own homes.

Home invasions (burglaries) became the crime of choice among criminals who became the embodiment of the slogan, ‘when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.’

A 1998 study by the US Department of Justice found that there were 40 percent more muggings in England, and burglary rates were almost 100 percent higher than in the United States.

And, counter-intuitively, rates of crimes using handguns is on the rise. In 1999-2000, crimes using handguns were at a seven year high.

Apparently, criminals were easily able to access guns, but law enforcement officers and law-abiding citizens were not allowed. (When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns, remember?)

In America, burglars aren’t sure if homeowners are armed or not, but the odds favor there being at least one gun in the house. So they avoid burglarizing occupied homes. Only thirteen percent of US burglaries are against occupied homes.

In Canada, the overall burglary rate is higher than the American one, and a Canadian burglary is four times more likely to take place when the victims are home.

In Toronto, forty-four percent of burglaries were against occupied homes, and twenty-one percent involved a confrontation with the victim.

Most Canadian residential burglaries occur at night, while American burglars are known to prefer daytime entry to reduce the risk of an armed confrontation.

A 1982 British survey found fifty-nine percent of attempted burglaries in the UK involved an occupied home, prompting the Wall Street Journal to report that;

“Compared with London, New York is downright safe in one category: burglary. In London, where many homes have been burglarized half a dozen times, and where psychologists specialize in treating children traumatized by such thefts, the rate is nearly twice as high as in the Big Apple. And burglars here increasingly prefer striking when occupants are home, since alarms and locks tend to be disengaged and intruders have little to fear from unarmed residents.” ( WSJ, Apr. 19, 1994, page A1)

The London Sunday Times, pointing to Britain’s soaring burglary rate, calls Britain “a nation of thieves.”

In the Netherlands, forty-eight percent of residential burglaries involved an occupied home.

In the Republic of Ireland, criminologists report that burglars have little reluctance about attacking an occupied residence.

In America, burglars are reluctant to invade an occupied home because they might get shot. One out of every 31 burglars gets shot. That is about equal to the burglar’s odds of being sent to prison.

Assuming that the threat of prison is a deterrent to burglary, as in Canada or Britain, it seems reasonable to conclude that the equally large risk of being shot provides an equally large deterrent.

In other words, private individuals with firearms in their homes double the deterrent effect that would exist if government-imposed punishment were the only deterrent.

On the other hand, Switzerland has few restrictions on who can own or carry a firearm.

As a consequence, Switzerland has some of the lowest crime rates in the world, despite very high levels of gun ownership. Also, despite being sandwiched between two aggressive powers during World War II, the country remained untouched by those powers, largely due to the heavy rates of private gun ownership.

Hitler and Mussolini knew that the heavily armed Swiss population would defend itself fiercely, (something they didn’t fear from the French, for example)

But these facts seem to be as lost to gun control advocates as is the clear meaning of the 2nd amendment. To them, being at the mercy of invaders, either foreign or domestic, is a small price to pay to get guns off the streets.

Most gun-control advocates point to the recent upsurge in gun violence by children as an example of why guns need to be controlled.

The fact is the upsurge in gun violence corresponds with the various successes enjoyed by gun control advocates. There were more guns in circulation in America in previous generations, but far fewer gun deaths. (The first federal regulation of firearms in America wasn’t introduced until 1934.)

Previous generations of Americans grew up with guns. They were familiar objects around the house, like a shovel or a wrench. There was nothing mysterious about them. Kids knew better than to play with them.

Assessment:

Gun control advocates argue that the 2nd Amendment gives the right to keep and bear arms to a well-regulated MILITIA, and not to the ‘people’. According to this interpretation, the 2nd Amendment gives the government the right to keep and bear arms via the National Guard.

The silliness of this argument is obvious to anybody but a liberal or an activist judge. Why would the government give itself the right to bear arms by constitutional amendment, since the Constitution already gives it the right to do so in order to ‘provide for the common defense’?

But that has been the prevailing legal opinion since the passage of the Brady Bill. That the right to bear arms is granted to the government via a ‘well-regulated militia’ by the 2nd Amendment.

According to Title 10 of the United States Code:

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

In other words, the ‘militia’ and ‘the people’ mean the same thing.

Among the various documents and action plans uncovered among the terrorist camps in Afghanistan was a plan for suicide operatives to simply walk up to someone’s door and shoot whoever answers.

Another called for terrorist operatives to set up sniper posts in American cities simultaneously and starting picking off victims.

Both tactics have been used by Palestinian terrorists against Israeli settlements, but were seldom successful, since all Israeli settlers are armed to the teeth.

The terror threat facing the homeland prompted a reexamination of the gun control debate by the DoJ. IN 2004 they released a 103 page Memorandumm Opinion For the Attorney General” issued in August by Assistant Attorneys General Steven G. Bradbury, Howard C. Nielson, Jr. and C. Kevin Marshall.

They studied the history of anti-gun legislation and anti-gun court cases and reached the following conclusion:

“Our examination of the original meaning of the Amendment provides extensive reasons to conclude that the Second Amendment secures an individual right, and no persuasive basis for either the collective-right or quasi-collective-right views.”

The memorandum was titled; “Whether the 2nd Amendment Secures an Individual Right” and conspicuously put the conclusion in the subtitle; “The Second Amendment secures a right of individuals generally, not a right of States or a right restricted to persons serving in militias.”

When I queried Google using the keywords ‘2nd Amendment’, there were only nine stories relating to the DoJ memo. Of them, only one was in the national media. The Washington Times carried the story under the headline, “Gun group urges 2nd Amendment observance”. (since removed)

Other than that, the media seems to have spiked the story. To the liberal left, gun control is more than an issue, it is a matter of doctrine.

Gun control is a front for the advancement of the socialist agenda. Giving in to the idea that guns are dangerous concedes to the notion that it is better to let some lowlife steal your property, rape your wife, and beat you half to death than it is to expedite his passage into the next world.

(Your property was all gained at his expense anyway, so in a moral sense, he’s entitled to it as much as you are.)

That is the core of the socialist doctrine. And it is the dominant worldview of most of the industrialized world.

But that worldview is changing, it would seem, in the newly discovered country of ‘JesusLand’. The world is marching in one direction, but Red State America is beginning to turn itself around and march the other way, dragging the Blue States along, kicking and screaming all the way.

As a consequence, Red State America is now the only obstacle in the path of the globalist social engineers who are unwittingly, but eagerly, preparing the way for the antichrist.

Paul says that the ‘mystery of iniquity’ is already at work, but that the Restrainer will continue to restrain, ‘until He be taken out of the way’ at the Rapture.

Without the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit working through the indwelt Church, the Blue State Americans left behind after the Rapture will be only too happy to turn back around, throw away their guns, and defenselessly march in lockstep with their socialist cousins — straight into the waiting arms of the Beast.

“And THEN shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His Mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” (2nd Thessalonians 2:8)

 

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Sent by Odell Harwell odell.harwell74@att.net 


EDUCATION

Angelica Loera Suarez, Ph.D. President, Orange Coast College, Orange, California 
Lily T. García, New Dean of the School of Dental Medicine University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Eunice Santos, New Dean, School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Student’s Religious Freedom Violated When Forced to Write the Islamic Conversion Creed
Freedom of Expression: A Remnant of the Past by Gilberto Quezada  
Killing Free Speech’ Documentary Exposes Far-Left Propaganda in Schools 
Identify: The Power of Affirmation in the Education of 100 Chicana PhDs by Albert V. Vela, PhD

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Angelica Loera Suarez , Ph.D., 
President, Orange Coast College
 

An educational leader for more than 30 years who is committed to the transformational power of the community colleges, Dr. Angelica Suarez serves as the 11th President of Orange Coast College (OCC).  

2701 Fairview Road Costa Mesa, California 92626
(714) 432-5072 
gilsanchez01@aol.com
  

President's Biography

She oversees Orange County's largest community college, which has been serving students since 1947. With a student population of more than 20,000, OCC provides exemplary programs leading to Associate degrees and certificates in more than 130 career programs. OCC is a leader in transfers to four-year institutions, a designated "Military Friendly Institution," a qualifying Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and boasts the only community college sailing and seamanship program in the state.

Before accepting the presidency at OCC in 2019, Dr. Suarez served as the Vice President for Student Affairs for the Southwestern Community College District. In this role, she was responsible for the leadership of the District's student support services and programs serving approximately 20,000 students each semester in five locations. Additional administrative experience includes serving Southwestern College as Acting Superintendent/President; Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs; and Academic Dean for the Higher Education Centers in Otay Mesa and San Ysidro. While working for City Colleges of Chicago, she served as Academic Dean at Wright College. Dr. Suarez has held faculty positions in counseling at Wright College and Southwestern College.

Dr. Suarez is recognized as a collaborative leader focused on creating accessible and equitable pathways to higher education for all students. As past president of the California Community Colleges Chief Student Services Officers organization, she has championed statewide reform focused on the implementation of innovative, responsive and equitable student success initiatives designed to close student educational achievement gaps. As chair of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Chief Student Services Officers, she led efforts to strengthen the pathway for students to local transfer universities.

At Southwestern College, her steadfast commitment to increasing access for all students resulted in the design of intentional pathways for students through support services inside and outside of the classroom, such as a First Year Experience Program, HSI/Title V's Doorways to the Future program, and the Student Veterans Resource Center. True to this commitment, she led efforts to build two new comprehensive education centers in the communities of Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.

Dr. Suarez' personal narrative as an immigrant and first-generation college student connects her very directly to the shared experiences of California community college students. Her collective community college experience has provided her with multiple perspectives as a former student, classified staff member, faculty member, and administrator. Her educational background includes a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University Chicago, a master's degree in counseling psychology from California State University at Long Beach, a bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University at Long Beach, and an associate degree from East Los Angeles College.

Sent by Gilbert Sanchez, Ph.D.  gilsanchez01@aol.com 

 


Lily T. García, New Dean of the School of Dental Medicine University of Nevada, Las Vegas
 

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Eunice Santos, New Dean 
School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Eunice Santos will become the dean of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign effective Aug. 16, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Andreas C. Cangellaris, the vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, recommended the appointment to Chancellor Robert Jones after the conclusion of a yearlong national search.

Currently the Ron Hochsprung Endowed Chair and Professor of Computer Science and the chair of the department of computer science at the Chicago-based Illinois Institute of Technology, Santos is a renowned scholar in computational social systems including social networks analysis and socio-cultural modeling. She is the recipient of multiple research awards including the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Computer Society Technical Achievement award and the IEEE Big Data Security Woman of Achievement award.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Santos has served as the director and principal investigator of many federal research centers and programs. Her work has led to significant insights related to community resilience, disaster response, and belief and opinion change.

“This is an extremely exciting opportunity to further advance our global leadership in the information sciences and more fully realize our mission in the world,” said Allen Renear, the current iSchool dean who will return to a faculty role in August. “Professor Santos is an inventive, committed scholar and an exceptionally creative and entrepreneurial academic leader; there is no one better prepared to lead our rapidly growing school and ensure that we engage the challenges that face our society.”

Santos earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in both mathematics and computer science.

Santos joined IIT in 2015 and led a number of significant departmental advances, including creating or expanding new education programs in data science, cybersecurity, bioinformatics, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, designtech and decision sciences; and expanding K-12 outreach and diversity programs. She also doubled the department’s physical space to allow for expansion, led the department strategic plan and secured support from the IIT administration to implement a faculty growth plan. Also under her leadership, the department raised roughly $10 million in philanthropic support for student scholarships, faculty chairs and research facility improvements.

“I am confident that professor Santos will strengthen, diversify and amplify our top-ranked iSchool’s excellence and leadership in this century of digital transformation,” Cangellaris said. “Her experience leading federally funded research initiatives in the use of computational social science to understand the behavior of social networks and communities will further advance the iSchool and university reputations as national leaders in information and data sciences.”

Editor’s note: For more information, contact Christopher Harris, senior director of strategic communications, 217-333-5010, csharris@illinois.edu




Student’s Religious Freedom Violated When Forced to Write the Islamic Conversion Creed



“Under the guise of teaching history or social studies, public schools across America are promoting the religion of Islam in ways that would never be tolerated for Christianity or any other religion.”

These were the words of Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Society, who represented 11th grade student Caleigh Wood.

You see, in 2014, Caleigh was told by her school that she had to write something that violated her Christian faith.

She was being forced to write out the Islamic Creed of Conversion.

“Many public schools have become a hotbed of Islamic propaganda. Teaching Islam in schools has gone far beyond a basic history lesson. Prompted by zealous Islamic activism and emboldened by confusing court decisions, schools are now bending over backwards to promote Islam while at the same time denigrate Christianity.”

“The general point is that there’s nothing wrong in teaching about other religions, whether it’s Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism. The question is when you cross the line between giving an objective, accurate account of presenting a religion and go into proselytizing a religion.”

Freedom of Religion is the premier right written for us in The Bill of Rights. However, for one Maryland student, her right to choose her religion has been severely threatened.

She was being forced by her school to write out the Islamic Creed of Conversion.

What is this creed? It is the creed that is proclaimed when a person decides to convert to Islam. This creed states that, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” and this did not sit well with miss Wood.

Furthermore, she did not agree with the way La Plata High School taught their students about Islam. In the slides that were shown to the students, they were told the following statements:

“Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

“Islam at heart is a peaceful religion.”

Jihad is a “personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline.” (As well as jihad being a holy war.)

“To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshipped in Christianity and Judaism.”

“Men are the managers of the affairs of women.”

“Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

Many of these statements are skewed and sugar-coated. Why would a school want to sugar-coat the religion that they were teaching their students about? Are they possibly trying to make it sound appealing to the students?

Miss Wood did not want to write something that she did not believe in. She felt like it would be against her religion and her God. But when she refused to turn it in, she was given a failing grade.

Her father was outraged. Caleigh and her family sued the Charles County Public Schools in Maryland, but the outcome was not what they had hoped for.

The Woods lost the lawsuit and Appeals Court Judge Barbara Keenan agreed with the ruling stating, “A reasonable observer, aware of the world history curriculum being taught, would not view the challenged materials as communicating a message of endorsement.”

But the Woods disagree. Helped by the Thomas More Law Center, they are taking their case to the Supreme Court.

The Thomas More Law Center strongly supports the Woods and their goal of stopping schools trying to proselytize students to Islam.

They were disturbed by the fact that miss Wood’s “world history class spent one day on Christianity and two weeks immersed in Islam. Such discriminatory treatment of Christianity is an unconstitutional promotion of one religion over another.”

The TMLC are a nonprofit organization that states that they are dedicated to “preserve America’s Judeo-Christian heritage; defend the religious freedom of Christians; restore time—honored moral and family values; protect the sanctity of human life; promote a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America.”

This is a strong statement, and they are not going to give up their battle. Neither are the Woods. They are looking for justice for their daughter and for any other student that feels as if they should not have to do anything that violates their religious beliefs. They are fighting for the freedom of the First Amendment. They are fighting for our freedom to worship and serve our God, our heavenly Father.

Let us pray for the Woods and for anybody who is fighting for our right to be Christians, and everything that entails. We will have many battles to come, but with God by our side, we will win the war. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

https://christianlifedaily.com/students-religious-freedom-violated-when-forced-to-write-the-islamic-conversion-creed/ 




Freedom of Expression: A Remnant of the Past
by Gilberto Quezada   JQUEZADA@satx.rr.com 


Hello Mimi,

A recent and most unfortunate incident occurred with two friends who are professors at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas that brought to mind a letter I had sent Dr. Thomas Mengler, president of St. Mary's University about a year ago, applauding his comments that he so well expressed and so candidly and truthfully stated in his article, "Being Catholic and Marianist shows us the way, Treating everyone with respect and dignity (Gold & Blue Alumni Magazine, 2018 Spring Issue). I commended him and praised his efforts for continuing the great intellectual tradition at St. Mary's University of allowing the free expression of ideas as a learning experience.

The two professors in question and I were involved in a series of dialogues about Fox News, conservative viewpoints, political incorrectness, religious freedom, and the lack of God in the modern secular society we now live in. If I had been one of their students and had written an essay on any of these topics, for sure I would have received an F. Their unfortunate myopic and narrow point of view does not allow for other opinions or ideas that differ from their dogmatic current political correctness and ideology. It is sad because not only is this professorial liberal attitude common with these two eminent professors, but it is also prevalent in many colleges and universities throughout the United States where only what they think and believe is what counts. Lamentably, the students are being indoctrinated in only one point of view. Professors with conservative views are in the minority and conservative speakers are not allowed at these institutions of higher learning.

There was once a phrase I remember hearing and was a common expression in public debate, "I disagree with everything you say but I would die to defend your right to say it." Regrettably, this statement is no longer true, and especially with my two former friends from TAMIU, since that notion has disappeared from our civil discourse and has been replaced with, "I disagree with everything you say and therefore you should not be allowed to say it."

I am very proud to say that St. Mary's University has always been, and with Dr. Mengler's strong leadership, will continue to be an institution of higher education that values intellectual curiosity, the free expression of ideas, and vigorous debate where young people will feel free to find themselves, and at the same time, be exposed to new and different points of view, which will allow for the development of critical thinking skills. Kudos to Dr. Mengler for continuing this attitude at my beloved alma mater.

And this was Dr. Thomas Mengler's response to my complimentary note: "Thank you, Gilbert, for your kind note and your loyalty to your alma mater. Warm regards Tom"

Take care, Mimi, and God bless.

Gilberto

 



‘Killing Free Speech’ Documentary Exposes Far-Left Propaganda in Schools

https://redoubtnews.com/2019/07/full-video-killing-free-speech-part-1/


Schools have the opportunity to do more than just instruct students in math and science; they have a lasting impact on each student’s views on cultural and societal issues that shape the way our nation will look and feel in the future. According to a recent documentary, that power over children’s and teen’s world views is being co-opted by progressives, as far-left propaganda continues to infiltrate and is increasingly powerful in American schools.

Killing Free Speech takes an in-depth look at how the educational system, from curriculum to administrators and even individual teachers, is increasingly using propaganda and bias to control the way kids think and react. It’s not just college kids, either, according to the documentary. Kids as young as 5 are already being exposed to leftist ideals and progressive values, many of which are in complete opposition to what a child learns at home.

Film maker Michael Hansen tackles the topic in this independent release. In this documentary, Hansen reveals real documents from real schools across the nation. These documents, which include emails, videos and more, showcase some of the ways teachers are instructed to influence children’s political opinions — most fall well outside the scope of the material being taught.

One of Hansen’s examples is an email shared in a New Jersey school district, instructing teachers how to present a political agenda and opposition to President Trump’s recent travel ban. In the emails, teachers are urged to show support for “Muslims” despite the ban being a geographic one that includes people from a wide range of countries and cultures. To show their outrage over the ban, teachers are instructed to wear burkas and hijabs in class, and to distribute pro-Islam pamphlets to students. Teachers are to speak out against the ban, and showcase their support in not only their behavior, but in their dress and the way they present materials in class.

This far-left focus looks at just one side of this politically charged issue, and presents a deliberately biased narrative on the facts. It also has nothing to do with the lessons being taught in the typical elementary school classroom. When Hansen asks the principal of the school on film about the suggestions, she claims to know nothing about it, despite the emails with her name on them.

The film also targets some new concepts being introduced, including “hate facts” which sound chillingly like “newspeak” from the classic 1984. Filmed live, with real people, real insights and real reactions, Killing Free Speech takes an unflinching look at what kids are really learning and how they are being influenced in the classroom, even at an early age. You can see this chilling documentary in full here; we’d love to hear your thoughts.

https://www.conservativezone.com/articles/killing-free-speech-documentary-exposes-far-left-propaganda-in-schools/

 


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Identity

The Power of Affirmation in the Education of 100 Chicana PhDs

© Albert V. Vela, PhD  
January 17, 2019  

 

What are the odds of low socioeconomic Chicanas earning a doctorate degree in the 1970s-1980s? The odds would’ve been predictably low considering that only between six or seven of 10 Mexican Americans graduated from high school in Southern California.  

As a prelude to this article on Identity, I will mention how important are the words of affirmation by family, teachers, friends, and benefactors. You will see how powerful affirmations are in forming self-confidence, high aspirations, self-motivation, perseverance, moral character, and what is known as ‘voice’ in the lives of daughters and sons.  

This article is a study of the experiences of Chicanas who earned a doctorate degree sometime between the 1970s and the 1980s. Shirley Achor and Aida Morales are the authors of the study published in Anthropology & Education Quarterly (September 1990). They sampled 200 Spanish-surnamed women by means of a 12-page questionnaire. The investigators received 138 responses, an exceptionally high 69% rate of return. A hundred of the 138 respondents met the criteria for the study (p 272).  

Unfortunately the investigators do not describe the American culture of the time regarding the mis-education of Latino students in the Southwest. At the end of this article the reader will find a few titles of books that further describe the social, cultural, and educational barriers Mexican Americans had to overcome: segregated schools, tracking or ability grouping, and the misuse of intelligence tests.  

The role of religious values is another factor the investigators failed to discuss. Over ninety percent (90%+) identified their families as Roman Catholic (81%) or Protestant (13%). I also wish the researchers had identified the generation of the Chicanas, whether first, second or third. Third generation persons usually lose their ancestral language and are unaware of their cultural background. Second generation persons, on the other hand, are bilingual and have some knowledge of their cultural inheritance.  

Back to the study. Here I will cite from the Introduction of the 1968 report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Mexican American Education about their plight.  

            If anything, the sense of a common identity is probably stronger now than it ever was, in  spite of the general tendency of the dominant society to ignore or suppress it and in spite of (or because of many years of overt and covert discrimination. . . .The high drama and nationwide visibility of the civil rights movement have tended to obscure the more localized protests of Mexican American groups and the demands of their spokesmen that Mexican Americans achieve the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship and be enabled to participate fully in American economic, political, and social life. The protests have been steadily growing in number and strength, however, and they bespeak an increasing solidarity and militancy within the community. During early 1968, to cite only three examples, Mexican American students boycotted several Los Angeles high schools,” (pp 1-2).

For this study, the 12-page questionnaire asked for familial, cultural and socioeconomic information as well as the Chicanas’ experiences in their doctoral college programs: support systems, educational barriers, and how they overcame their barriers. The survey instrument also included open-ended items where respondents could relate critical experiences (p 272). Here are some of the findings.  

Economic Level: Family Background of Chicana PhDs

A remarkable seventy-one percent of the respondents indicated they came from families who had severe financial difficulties (18% poverty level), or were marginally poor (53%), while 23 percent said they were middle class (Table 1, p 273).    

Cultural Orientation (Values, customs, family roles, attitudes, food)

In this category the investigators wanted to know how deeply felt was the culture of families. Here is how Chicanas described their family culture: Very traditional 42%; somewhat traditional 37%; somewhat Anglicized 15%; and, Very Anglicized 8%.  

Language use

Seventy-three percent (73%) of the Chicanas reported that Spanish was spoken at home: Spanish only 22%; mainly Spanish with some English, 30%; and, English-Spanish equally used, 21%. Twenty-one percent (21%) wrote that English prevailed with some Spanish; English only came to 6%.    

Religious affiliation

As noted earlier, the majority of Chicana homes (94%) practiced a religious faith, either Roman Catholic 81% or Protestant 13%.

Parents’ Educational Achievement

College / Postgraduate Studies. More mothers (13%) had a graduate degree than fathers (3%). Mothers also earned more college degrees than fathers, 7% to 3%. In combining the years of study from some high school to graduate degree, 70% mothers were in these categories, compared to 49% of the fathers (Table 2, p 274).  

High School. Respondents reported that 17% of the mothers had a high school diploma and 24% had some high school. Their fathers trailed behind. Only nine percent had the diploma and 19% had some learning in high school (Table 2, p 274l.

Elementary School. Forty-four percent (44%) of the fathers had some elementary or elementary diploma, while 38% of the mothers had some elementary or elementary diploma (Table 2, p 274).

 

Commentary

Achor and Morales tell us that 82 percent of the women were native-born of native-born American parents. And slightly more than one out of five came from a middle class family. It’s commonly known that the majority of college and postgraduate Anglo students come from high to low middle class families. In this sample, however, we note that a prevalence of 71% come from low-income families. Also significant is that 21 percent of the families are completely bilingual and a paltry six percent say English is the language of communications at home.  

A majority of the Chicanas with a postgraduate degree reported that their family (41.9%) encouraged them to earn their doctorates (p 275). This should not be surprising in light of the educational achievements of their parents and despite the low socioeconomic status of the families (Table 1, p 273). The following excerpt illustrates the important influence of parents.  

            Since I was in the elementary grades my parents told me I was going to college some day. They wanted their daughters to be self-supporting, financially independent and well-educated. They wanted us to have more than they did growing up. I grew up with the  idea I would be a career woman.  

            My family provided the stimulation and support to achieve. My mother facilitated the academic goals by teaching me to read in Spanish at pre-school. She shared with me her love of books and reading. My father loved to tell stories. He transformed historical information, both national and familial, into mini-series to be parceled out at bed time.

             After my father died (when I was 13), my mother had a very hard time surviving since she really had little education. She always encouraged me to go to school and have a career  so I would not have as hard a time as she had,” (p 275).  

Other Related Factors  

The researchers were surprised to learn that 31% of respondents stated they encountered no barriers in their doctoral programs. (Obviously, 69% experienced barriers.)  We learn that 12 of the 31 Chicanas experienced some form of discrimination but they considered them inconsequential, a little bump on the road (p 277). Most important to them was the availability of funding and inspiring role models and mentors at the university. Forty-nine percent received federal grants, 42% scholarships, 38% became graduate assistants, 30% obtained loans, and 27% held fellowships (p 277). Twenty percent wrote about the importance of role models at the Academy. One wrote:  

            I would say that the support coming from two of my profs at. . . .was critical. They convinced me to go on, and offered me their support. I suppose the decision to pursue a doctorate after my master’s came as a result of my conversations with a professor who encouraged me. She knew of my familial responsibilities and duties, but she encouraged me by her example, (p 278).
 

Overcoming Gender and Racial Discrimination

A big percentage of Chicanas, fully 65%, felt racial or gender discrimination while studying for their doctorate. Thirty-four percent indicated they felt “racism/sexism and other institutionally related factors that became major barriers. Twenty-four percent identified administrative actions or policies, and 21% cited university policies such as “restrictions related to probationary status, unequal access to assistantships, lack of sufficient direction or support from dissertation committees, and limited opportunities for co-publication,” (p 278).    

Forty-three Chicanas cited faculty members for their negative treatment or attitudes by the faculty, students, or other university officials. Lamentably, 27% identified their academic advisers for maltreatment who were patronizing or condescending, withheld support, or made ethnic jokes at the expense of Mexicans (p 278).   

A Chicana described some of her experiences:  

            One professor was very outspoken about her bias. . . .will never forget a statement she         made to me. ‘People of your background seldom complete a doctoral program.’  

            I think some faculty saw me as less qualified. I think they thought I had gotten into    graduate school because of my ethnicity and sex. My primary adviser held some very   distinct opinions about minorities as ‘marginal students.’  

            My advisor was surprised at my abilities. . . .He was always pointed out how he felt my        Spanish language was interfering with my written English.  

            The major barrier I found was a preconception of my ability based on gender and  ethnicity. One professor went as far as to admit that at first he didn’t think I could complete the program, but that I surprised him with my ability to meet the assignments.  

            The major barriers that I encountered were some of my professors. Their attitudes generally racist in nature and it took a lot out of me emotionally to constantly have to  prove my competency in the various areas of study (pp 278-279).  

Chicanas (28%) also felt prejudice from their Anglo peers. One reported that these students saw her as an “affirmative action charity case.” But Chicanas strongly resisted blatant forms of racism at the Academy rather than to submit to intimidation. The authors state that this is a “dominant theme recurring throughout much of the [Chicana] narratives,” (p 280).  

The researchers quote one of the Chicanas who wrote:  

            I’d say that the very direct experience of prejudice while student teaching led to my decision to go beyond any level attained by female family members. One example was when I was observing a teacher teach history as part of my practicum. When I asked him why there was a group of Mexican kids in the class who were off to a corner, totally disengaged, he replied, “Why bother with those Mexicans? They’re dumb and will never pass, so I just let them do what they want!” I was so angry, I decided I’d pursue a higher degree, so some day I’d be in a position of power and leadership. Then I could fire jerks like him!  

            My decision to pursue higher education stemmed from negative attitudes of my teachers and professors. [There were] several incidents throughout schooling years in which I felt powerless to articulate frustrations. Somehow, achieving further education would, I believed, empower me to confront individuals and situations in which I felt powerless (i.e., discriminated against).  

            After having been told that “I’d never make it.,” along the way I decided that I was the only one who could allow that to happen. That point in my life was a critical one which I call upon when I need a push,” 
(p 280).

Chicanas also had to attended to family responsibilities and resolved financial hardships. Of the sixty-one percent who were married, fifty-five percent reported that their husbands were very supportive. Another huge number, 59, had at least one child to care for. One sent $50 of her $250 monthly salary from her teaching assistantship to her family because of the guilt she felt as a non-contributing member of her family. Slightly more than half of the graduate students took a semester off because of economic hardships or family obligations.  

Note: The reader should know that on average roughly forty-four percent of graduate students complete all course requirements except the writing of their dissertation. These persons are known as ABDs or “all but dissertation.” Some 56% of doctoral students earn their PhD within 10 years. www.statisticssolutions.com/abd-all-but-dissertation/ Jan 17, 2019). Seven years is regarded as the average number of years to earn a doctorate.  

What factors explain how the 100 Chicanas were able to meet their doctoral, social, and familial obligations and overcome university-related racist barriers? Achor and Morales list a number of significant explanations but I believe that fundamentally important were the families who encouraged and supported their daughters by instilling them with feelings of self-worth, inspiring them with the belief they could and would succeed, and filling them with high levels of aspiration and motivation (p 282).  

A Chicana PhD wrote:  

            “In summary, I would have to say that all the hard work one has to endure to attain a doctoral degree is worth it. The personal sense of attainment is something that one has forever. The pride that one’s family feels is unduplicated. To the Mexican-American  woman, it means much more. It means one is a survivor. Why? One is a survivor because one has overcome barriers of blatant discrimination and barriers of a traditional culture that discourages its women from pursuing high educational levels and status. I grew up during an era when there was blatant discrimination against Mexican Americans.    However, my mother broke tradition by encouraging both my brother and me to pursue high educational goals. She herself always aspired for higher education, but because of  socioeconomic reasons was denied the opportunity. She vowed that her children would not be denied. This opportunity. My father held two jobs, and my mother worked by his side to insure that we had every opportunity to complete our education.  

            I strongly encourage young minority women to pursue doctoral degrees. Nothing can  take the place of having the credentials and the competencies to compete for positions in  the higher echelons of education or business institutions,” (p 283).  

 

Recommended References

Bartolomé, LI. (1998). The Misteaching of Academic Discourses: The Politics of Language in the Classroom. Boulder, CO:Westviw Press.  

Carter, T. (1970). Mexican Americans in School: A History of Educational Neglect. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.  

Donato, R. (1997). The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era. NY: State University of New York.  

González, GG. (1990). Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation. Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press.  

Phelan, P, & Locke Davidson, A. (Eds.). (1993). Negotiating Cultural Diversity in American

Schools. New York and London: Teachers College, Columbia University.  

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (1968). The Mexican American. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. [accessed on Internet Jan. 18, 2019. https://www2.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12m57.pdf]  

Valencia, RR. (Ed.). (1997). The Evolution of Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought andPractice. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

 



CULTURE

50 Playwrights Project
La luna sale llena/The moon rises full
100 Books Every Child Should Read Before Kindergarten

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https://50playwrights.org/the-original-50/__

Inspired by Adam Szymkowicz’s “I Interview Playwrights” series, the Original 50 selection on the50 Playwrights Project: 50 short, to-the-point interviews with contemporary playwrights working in the Latin@ theatre movement.

Editor Mimi:   I was so happy to see our primos y primas expressing themselves through playwriting; it made me cry.

There is an excellent mini-interview, mini-bio of each playwright . .  a lesson in our diversity on many levels. Do go to the website and enjoy the creativity which is enriching both the Latino and non-Latino communities.  
=================================== ===================================
1. Josh Inocéncio
2. Alvaro Saar Rios
3. Krysta Gonzales
4. Emilio Rodriguez
5. Virginia Grise
6. Mercedes Floresislas 
7. Migdalia Cruz
8. Josefina López
9. Wilfredo Ramos, Jr.
10. Caridad Svich
11. Carlos Morton
12. Magdalena Gómez
13. Diana Burbano
14. Xemiyulu Manibusan
15. Marisela Treviño Orta
16. Jelisa Jay Robinson
17. Marco Antonio Rodríguez
18. Luis Alfaro
19. Guadalís Del Carmen
20. Ricardo Bracho
21. Anne García-Romero
22. Amparo Garcia-Crow
23. Beto O’Byrne
24. Carmen Pelaez
25. Gregg Barrios
26. Tlaloc Rivas
27. Karen Zacarías
28. Bernardo Cubría
29. Elaine Avila
30. Maria Alexandria Beech
31. Miryam Madrigal
32. Tanya Saracho
33. Quiara Alegría Hudes
34. Edward Paulino
35. Carmen Rivera
36. Mando Alvarado
37. Kyoung H. Park
38. Isaac Gomez
39. Monica Palacios
40. Georgina Escobar
41. Hilary Bettis
42. J. Julian Christopher
43. Erlina Ortiz
44. Evelina Fernandez
45. Melinda Lopez
46. Raúl Castillo
47. Dane Figueroa Edidi
48. Milta Ortiz
49. Ryan Oliveira
50. Cherríe Moraga




 Hasui Kawase 川瀬巴水 (1883 – 1957)

============================================= ===========================

La luna sale llena.

No hay briza que agite las campanillas de bambú,

sólo la luz las toca.

El silencio nocturno es un canto

en las harmonías de luz. 

 

                © Rafael Jesús González 2019

 

The moon rises full.

No breeze stirs the bamboo chimes;

only light plays them.

The night silence is a song

in the harmonics of light.


             © Rafael Jesús González 2019

 

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100 Books Every Child Should Read Before Kindergarten
Booklist compiled by Youth Services Staff of Maricopa County Library District
Arizona, California


1    A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka -
PICTURE OUTSIDE PETS 

2     A Hat for Minerva Louise by Janet Stoeke - PICTURE OUTSIDE BARNYRD 

3    Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith VIorst -   PICTURE ME! 

4    Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett - PICTURE STORIES BARRETT

5    Are you my Mother? by P.O. Eastman - READER EASTMAN

6    Bats at the Library by Brian Lies - PICTURE STORIES LIES

7     Bark. George by Jules Feiffer -  PICTURE OUTSIDE PETS 

8    Bear Snores On by Karma Wllson -PICTURE STORIES 

9    Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown -PICTURE OUTSIDE BARNYARD 

10   Blackout by John Rocco - PICTURE ME! 

11   Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey -PICTURE STORIES 

12   Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin - PICTURE CONCEPT COLORS 

13   Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina -PICTURE STORIES 

14   Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin - PICTURE CONCEPT ALHPA 

15   Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin - PICTURE OUTSIDE BARNYRD 

16   Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell -PICTURE FRIENDS 

17   Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee -PICTURE STORIES 

18    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barren - PICTURE STORIES 

19   Corduroy by Don Freeman -PICTURE FRIENDS 

20   Deaf Zoo by Rod Campbell - PICTURE OUTSIDE 

21    Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton - PICTURE OUTSIDE DINOS 

22   Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
by Mo Wlllems - PICTURE FRIENDS 

23   Duckl RabbHI by Amy Krouse Rosenthal -PICTURE OUTSIDE CRITTERS 

24   Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert -PICTURE CONCEPT ALPHA 

25   Eloise by Kay Thompson -PICTURE FRIENDS 

26  Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Schaar Idle • PICTURE STORIES IDLE

27  Freight Train by Donald Crews -PICTURE CONCEPT COLORS 

28    Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae PICTURE ME! 

29   Go Away, Big Green MonsterI by Ed Emberiey -PICTURE STORIES BEDTIME 

30   Go, Dog. Go/ by P.O. Eastman -READER 

31   Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown -PICTURE STORIES BEDTIME 

32   Green Eggs and' Ham by Dr. Seuss -READER 

33   Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney -PICTURES STORIES BEDTIME 

34   Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion -PICTURE PETS OUTSIDE 

35   Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocked Johnson - PICTURE FRIENDS 

36   How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night by Jane Yolen - PICTURE STORIES BEDTIME 

37   I Ain't Gonna Paint No More/ by Karen Beaumont - PICTURE STORIES
 

38   Love My Hair  by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley -PICTURE ME! 

39   Stink by Kate McMullan -PICTURE ROOM

40   Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen -PICTURE STORIES 

41   If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most -PICTURE OUTSIDE DINOS 

42   If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Numeroff  - PICTURE STORIES 

43   Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino -PICTURE OUTSIDE CRITTERS 

44   It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw -PICTURE CONCEPT SHAPES

45   Jamberry by Bruce Degen -PICTURE STORIES 

46   Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales - PICTURE CONCEPT NUMBERS 

47   Krtten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes -PICTURE OUTSIDE PETS 

48   Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems -PICTURE STORIES 

49   Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes -PICTURE MEI 

50   Little Pea by Amy Rosenthal -PICTURE ME! 

 


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Con el español se trabaja, se estudia, se viaja: 
Segunda lengua del mundo, detrás del chino.


 

HEALTH

Jessica Rose Nutrition jessicarose3388@pb01.wixshoutout.com

Suicide Warning: Our Teenagers Are Killing Themselves And No One Seems to Be Talking About It
The Christian Answer to America’s Suicide Epidemic 

How Doctors Use Poetry by Danny W. Linggonegoro
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Suicide Warning: 
Our Teenagers Are Killing Themselves And No One Seems to Be Talking About It

 


A dangerous teen suicide epidemic is sweeping the nation, and no one seems to be talking about it. Some misguided adults try and downplay the teen depression crisis as simply “teen angst”, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen suicide is the THIRD leading cause of death for teens ages 10-24, with 4,600 lives lost each year.

That’s 4,600 teenagers who had their entire lives ahead of them but felt the pain was just too great. But what’s causing teens to take their own lives? Social media is putting pressure on teens to fit in like never before. In addition, kids can be cruel, and many are using social media as a way to continue to harass or bully fellow teens even outside of normal school hours.

For some teens, especially those without a strong support system, the pain can just be too much. And with some adults in the schools not taking the crisis seriously, things are only getting worse.As a result, tragically even young children are ending their own lives. One 9-year old was bullied so bad, she took her own life. The mother of the girl said the school knew about the bullying and did nothing.

So, what can we do to help our teens? To start, make sure you know what’s happening in their schools. Radical out-of-control teachers are often pushing a leftist political agenda in the classroom, leaving teens confused and even questioning their own “gender”. Others are pushing a grotesque “sex ed” curriculum which encourages teens to be promiscuous and sexually active.

As a parent, it’s critical to talk with your teen to know what they are being taught in the classroom. In addition, take the time to talk with your children, and remind them of how much you love them.

When they mess up and make mistakes (and they will) have grace. If your children learn to know they can trust you, they’ll come to you when they have problems. And hopefully this means if they’re really feeling down they’ll view you as a safe person to talk with. But remember, teens are teens.

We were teenagers once too, and we know we didn’t tell our parents everything. So, while it’s good to give teens privacy, with social media being so out-of-control, make sure to install a filter on their device so you can track what they are viewing. One app alerted a mom that her previously suicidal teenager was searching for how to take pills to end her life. Because of this app, the teen’s live was spared

And don’t count on the schools alerting you to what is really going on. As parents, we must be the ones to spark up conversations with our kids. Their lives depend on it.

https://mommyunderground.com/suicide-warning-our-teenagers-are-killing-themselves-and-no-one-seems-to-be-talking-about-it/

 


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The Christian Answer to America’s Suicide Epidemic

 

When contemplating the top causes of death, most people likely think of cancer, heart disease, car accidents or drug overdose as being the primary culprits. While these do claim more people than preferred, they are far from the only offenders.

Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, both well-known celebrities, recently lost their lives at their own hands through suicide, causing the issue to once again be in the forefront of the news. In addition, the “why” behind such a thing is being contemplated anew.

Of course, understanding what causes someone to commit suicide is difficult. After all, these two examples were both well respected, loved and overwhelmingly successful individuals. Their family members and friends whom they left behind to pick up the pieces said they seemed happy and loved living life. Why then would someone who seems so happy, so eager to live life simply decide to end it? It is a question that needs to be considered like never before as data seems to indicate the problem is only going to get worse.

According to a report recently released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in America. Since the deaths of a few high-profile celebrities, the issue is becoming harder for many Americans to ignore.

The study also discovered that instances of suicide have been on the rise in recent years. Along with drug overdoses and Alzheimer’s disease, are the three causes of death that continue to increase year after year. The report stated that suicide levels in 49 states had risen more than 30% between 1999 to 2016.


Video Banned by CNN    https://1776christian.com/the-christian-answer-to-americas-suicide-epidemic/

Many people assume that suicide only comes about due to the presence of a mental illness. The CDC report found that some 54% of people who lost their lives due to suicide had no history of mental illness. An additional study by the CDC, cited by the Omaha World-Herald, discovered that “many victims acted after relationship problems or loss; substance misuse; physical health problems; or job, money, legal or housing stress.”

“Our data suggests suicide is more than a mental health issue,” study author Deborah Stone said.

She went on to clarify that contrary to popular belief, data shows it is “very rare” for people who suffered from chronic depression to commit suicide. The term “more than” a mental illness is important as the CDC research seems to indicate what led up to suicide is often an inability to cope with life. This doesn’t mean mental illness is not involved just that it doesn’t stop there.

It is always a great idea to encourage people to speak up if they are having suicidal thoughts according to the CDC. Simply putting a voice to their feelings can go a long way towards healing. In addition, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which can be reached at 800-273-8255 is a valid tool to help those facing the temptation of taking their own life. When it comes to Christians, though, so much more needs to be done…

According to the book “Preventing Suicide” by Karen Mason, “people who are contemplating suicide want to be rescued.” This doesn’t mean they will articulate this, though. In many cases, they will battle their own self, as they are torn between their innate desire to live and their despair with life. Suicide takes place when their desire to die outweighs their desire to live, or moves beyond their ability to utilize coping mechanism designed to help them deal with their pain.

Christians must be the first ones to step up and offer people the resources they need to cope with their issues. Healing, or coping, might come through counseling, therapy or even medication. However, no method of healing should be looked down upon just because it involves modern medicine or science. In fact, just about the worst thing a Christian can do is say, “Oh taking medication is unspiritual. If we just believe or pray more, then we’d be able to heal this.”

No person, Christian or otherwise, would dare question a cancer patients need for chemo or a diabetic’s dependency on insulin. However, some believers look at taking medication or seeking therapy or counseling as a lack of faith. With the increase of suicide rates ever climbing; though, now is the time individuals must open their eyes to the truth of brain chemistry, neuroscience and medicine.

Christians must encourage those seeking help to find it through both prayer and medicine. Suffice it to say, conversations in the church about the hot topic of suicide and how to prevent it need to happen now before one more life it lost to it clutches.

 


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How Doctors Use Poetry

A Harvard medical student describes 
how he is learning to both treat and heal.

 

One part of the Hippocratic Oath, the vow taken by many physicians, requires us to “remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.”  When I, along with my medical school class, recited that oath at my white coat ceremony a year ago, I admit that I was more focused on the biomedical aspects than the “art.” I bought into the mechanism of insulin lowering blood sugar. I bought into the concept of diabetes-induced kidney damage. I bought into the idea of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in patients with diabetes. But art’s—poetry’s—role in the modern practice of medicine?

I’ve changed my mind. Physicians are beginning to understand that the role of language and human expression in medicine extends beyond that horizon of uncertainty where doctor and patient must speak to each other about a course of treatment. The restricted language of blood oxygen levels, drug protocols, and surgical interventions may conspire against understanding between doctor and patient—and against healing. As doctors learn to communicate beyond these restrictions, they are reaching for new tools—like poetry.

 LINGGONEGORO_BREAKER
Mark DotyUNM Alumni / flickr

Researchers have demonstrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging that reciting poetry engages the primary reward circuitry in the brain, called the mesolimbic pathway. So does music—but, the researchers found, poetry elicited a unique response.1 While the mechanism is unclear, it’s been suggested that poetic, musical, and other nonpharmacologic adjuvant therapies can reduce pain and the use and dosage of opioids.2

One randomized clinical trial by researchers at the University of Maranhão studied the effect of passive listening to music or poetry on the pain, depression, and hope scores of 65 adult patients hospitalized in a cancer facility. They found that both types of art therapy produced similar improvements in pain intensity and depression scores. Only poetry, however, increased hope scores. The researchers conjectured that poetry can break the so-called law of silence, according to which talking about one’s perception of illness is taboo. After listening to poems from Linhas Pares by Claudia Quintana, one participant said “I feel calmer when I hear those words. That agony, that sadness passes. They are important words, they show me that I’m not alone.”3

Poetry is a way to both embrace the hospital encounter, and escape from it.

In another study, 28 Iranian women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer participated in eight weekly sessions of group poetry therapy. Their quality of life, as measured by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire, showed improvements.4

Insights like these are already making their way into the clinic. Sarah Friebert, a physician at Akron’s Children’s Hospital, has integrated poetry into her clinical practice. She runs a pediatric palliative care center where children are visited by a writer-in-residence who helps them create poems and stories. On discharge, patients and families can request home visits on a monthly basis, and patients can submit completed work for publication.

I learned about Friebart’s program at a poster session at the 9th Annual Hippocrates Poetry and Medicine Symposium, which I attended this year in Chicago along with three of my medical school classmates. We were all supported by the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry in America Initiative. Armed with a bit of training in how to use a video camera and how to do an interview, we camped out in the lobby of Northwestern Medical School, interviewing a slate of researchers and poets alike. In one interview, we met with Catherine Belling, an associate professor of medical education, and asked her how she thinks poetry can be used in the medical sense.

“Poetry is a beautifully condensed form of what all of language does, which is what captures the real world and turns it something manageable and meaningful,” she told us. Physicians and patients can sometimes assume that the other party is on the same page, she said, when they are not. Language is not always transparent and sometimes our vocabulary is insufficient to describe our mood. Poetry is, in some ways, uniquely capable of addressing this problem. “Poetry has a structure, which is something we can experience with our bodies,” Belling says. The medical evidence suggests that this is true in more ways than one.

We also interviewed the poet Eric Elshtain, who uses poetry on the wards to teach children the power of self-expression at Children’s Hospital University of Illinois. He’s found that many of his patients (whom he likes to call “students”) write haikus about the things that make them human, like sports or their favorite stuffed animal, rather than their experience in a hospital bed. Poetry, he said, is a way to both embrace the hospital encounter, and escape from it.

Rafael Campo and Mark Doty in conversation at the 9th Annual Hippocrates Poetry and Medicine Symposium.

Midway through the conference, we filmed one of the plenary events of the day: a discussion between our mentor, the physician and poet Rafael Campo, and the poet Mark Doty, a National Book Award winner who came to prominence with his poems about the AIDs epidemic. Campo and Doty lamented that medical professionals can get too easily caught up in treating disease. When pharmacology and procedures end, there is still a space for healing. While a sonnet a day won’t help a diabetic’s blood glucose, it might help with preventing diabetes burnout—the state in which he grows tired of managing his condition. When physicians care for their patients, they have a responsibility both to treat, and to heal. And poetry can help with healing.

As Campo and Doty talked, I thought about Doty’s poetry reading the night before, when his sublime words prompted all of us to gaze at the horizon of our mortality.  One of the poems he shared was “This Your Home Now,” set in a barbershop called Willie’s:

… the men I have outlived …
—though in truth I have not forgotten one of you,
may I never forget one of you—these layers of men,
arrayed in their no-longer-breathing ranks.
While, I have not lived well in my grief for them;
I have lugged this weight from place to place
as though it were mine to account for,
and today I sit in your good chair …

The poem reminded me that each person has a story of griefs and happiness; that my mundane day at the hospital may be someone’s worse day of their life. In my first year of medical school, I’ve been taught how to conduct a thorough history. That means asking patients about their illness, medical history, medications, and about how their illness is affecting their life. The problem is, all of this needs to fit inside the boundaries of an electronic medical record template.

I’ve decided that I’ll learn how to meet my patients beyond the chart documents; that I’ll encourage them to write their own empowering stories; that I will heal as well as treat. In other words, that I’ll honor each and every word in the oath I took last year. 

Danny W. Linggonegoro is a medical student at Harvard Medical School.

This article was supported by the Poetry Foundation, an independent literary organization and publisher of Poetry magazine.

 


BOOKS
& PRINT MEDIA

Sept. 28, 2019:  North San Diego Festival 
Part One: The Joy of Reading --- A Literary Odyssey by J. Gilberto Quezada 
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SD fest

Saturday, September 28, 2019

NORTH SAN DIEGO FESTIVAL 

MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA
Learn More >

 



Part One: The Joy of Reading --- A Literary Odyssey

J.Gilberto Quezada 
JQUEZADA@sat.rr.com
 

This is Part One and the first of three parts on my personal experiences with literature.  I would like to share with you some of the books I have enjoyed reading.  With this hot and humid weather, the best thing to do is to stay indoors and read a good book.  I am going to give  you a synopsis of some of the tomes I have read.  I guess I consider reading as a hobby, but I am a voracious and omnivorous reader, so central to my existence, that I might as well add breathing as another hobby.  Before we left for Zapata a few weeks ago, I finally got down to enjoy reading the English poet and writer John Donne (1571-1631).  Just prior to reading this book, I had read Ernest Hemingway:  Selected Letters, 1917-1961, by Carlos Baker, and I remembered a letter where he looked to John Donne for inspiration to a title for one of his novels.  Well, I found it in John Donne's Meditation 17--"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."  The title of his novel was, of course, For Whom the Bell Tolls, a captivating story about his adventures on the side of the Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and it is the most widely read of all his novels.  

There is an interesting book on euphemisms, that is, if you are interested in understanding what you hear or read in the news media  today, titled, Euphemania:  Our Love Affair With Euphemisms by Ralph Keyes.  Sometimes we take these euphemistic words for granted and not realizing that they create ambiguous and adumbrated meanings.  

For example, "self-provisioning" is a milder word for looting and stealing; "applying pressure" actually means torturing someone; and "friendly fire" is a softer word for soldiers killing soldiers who happen to be on the same side.  And, I am sure you can remember other euphemistic words you have heard.  If you are still interested and want to read another book on euphemisms, try How Not to Say What You Mean by R.W. Holder.  Question:  At what point does a neologism become a euphemism or a politically correct word?  In either case, I think, the real meaning of what is being said or is being described is camouflaged, intentionally or unintentionally, by an indirect or vague term.   

Alas, I was disappointed with a book I just finished reading, What Made the Crocodile Cry? 101 Questions About the English Language, which was not what I had expected.  

For one, it is a very easy read, the subject matter is too superficial and too elementary, and the intended audience is probably geared towards high school students.  For example, one chapter (all the chapters are rather short) deals with sesquipedalian words.  

What are the two longest words in the English language?  Give up?  They are:  
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters) 
and in second place, 
floccinausinihilipilification (29 letters).  

The definition of the latter is in the Oxford English Dictionary and it means, "The action or habit of estimating as worthless."  And, the former appeared as the magic word sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the 1964 Disney movie, Mary Poppins, and it means "something to say when you have nothing to say."

The other afternoon I came back from the Johnston Branch Library where I dropped off a novel I finished reading, titled, Homer & Langley by the octogenarian author E.L. Doctorow.  The novel is based on a true story of two sexagenarian brothers who were only four years apart--Homer and Langley Collyer.  They were both super wealthy and eccentric bachelors from a highly respectable Manhattan family and lived in a fashionable neighborhood on Fifth Avenue.  In the spring of 1947, their decomposed  bodies were discovered amid more than a hundred tons of trash in their family four story brownstone mansion.  They were compulsive hoarders, to the extreme, or to use a euphemism--collectors.  And, isn't the expectation of some of us, that one day, we will find use for all these items?  I must confess....I do have an older sister who was a hoarder.  Now that she is living in a nursing home, that habit has been curtailed.  In any event, according to the police investigation, Langley was crawling through a maze-like tunnel surrounded by mountains of stuff to bring food to Homer who was by now, blind and deaf.  The latter starved to death and the former was finally found sixteen days later under piles of debris that suffocated him.  He was only a few feet from where his brother's body had been found.  In the story, their lives are interwoven with personal occurrences and with the historic events of the 20th century.

While in Zapata, I read a very insightful and interesting book, Edmund Wilson:  Letters on Literature and Politics, 1912-1972, edited by his wife Elena Wilson.  He was the husband of Mary McCarthy, and most important, he was the one responsible for bringing the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the attention of the world at large.  If it wasn't for him, the subject of the Dead Sea Scrolls  would not have been known at all.  At any rate, I came across a section where, in the mid-1950s, he is doing research on the Iroquois for a future series of articles for The New Yorker.  Well, I noticed in one of his letters to William Shawn, the renowned editor of The New Yorker, where he states that, "Anyone who edits the MS or reads the proofs ought to know that the Allegany reservation, the Allegheny River, and the Alleghany Mountains are all spelled in different ways."  Then, I checked the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition), and on p. 46, the spelling is the same:  "Allegheny Mountains" and "Allegheny River."  One of these days I am going to write a letter and bring this difference to the attention of the Houghton Mifflin Company.  

The other morning, I made an interesting discovery.  When I started to read a passage from Sirach (Chapter 44, verse 1), as part of the day's devotional readings (I still use the Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, 1965, which was given to me by a nun and a very dear friend from the old days at St. Mary's University as a graduation gift.), the first sentence startled me.  Where had I seen that sentence before?  It was:  "Let us now praise famous men," and that was exactly the title of one of James Agee's books that he wrote in 1941.  He later won the Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for, A Death in the Family.  Sometimes authors do that, they check the bible and other sources for ideas for their titles.  A novel by John Updike, who is one of my favorite authors, titled, In the Beauty of the Lilies, was taken from the last lines of Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic:

    "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
                     With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
                     As he died to make man holy, let us die to make man free, 
                                While God is marching on."

A few years ago, I read another novel, Terrorist, by John Updike, and the author did an enormous amount  of research into the Muslim world, into Islam, and into the subtleties and nuances of the Holy Qur'an.  His protagonist is eighteen-year-old Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy, who is living in Pennsylvania, a son of an Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father, who walked out of their lives when he was just three.  It is a fascinating read, quintessential John Updike.  Reading this book brought back unforgettable memories of my Muslim roommate at Charles Francis Hall, Abdul Annani, a graduate student from Jordan who was studying  Economics.  Although he was not a terrorist.

The other evening I finished reading a very interesting biography by Michael Scammell, titled, Koestler:  The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic.  I first heard of Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) in the 1960s when I read Whittaker Chambers' classic autobiography, Witness.  Then, I became interested in reading his novel, Darkness at Noon, which was published in 1941; it is about his repudiation and disillusionment with Communism.  And, twenty-four years ago, I ran into Koestler again when I read Buckley's book, Odyssey of a Friend:  Whittaker Chambers Letters to William F. Buckley, Jr., 1954-1961.  Koestler also wrote many novels, memoirs, nonfiction, and essays, for a total of 40, and the two other novels that I want to read are:  The Sleepwalker (1959), and The Ghost in the Machine (1967).  On March 3, 1983, he and his wife stoically committed a carefully planned suicide (barbiturate overdose) in their London home.  How sad, indeed.  He was a literary lion in his day.  Eighteen biographies have been written since 1956, nineteen with this one.  

A few years ago, I read another novel, Terrorist, by John Updike, and the author did an enormous amount  of research into the Muslim world, into Islam, and into the subtleties and nuances of the Holy Qur'an.  His protagonist is eighteen-year-old Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy, who is living in Pennsylvania, a son of an Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father, who walked out of their lives when he was just three.  It is a fascinating read, quintessential John Updike.  Reading this book brought back unforgettable memories of my Muslim roommate at Charles Francis Hall, Abdul Annani, a graduate student from Jordan who was studying  Economics.  Although he was not a terrorist.
The other evening I finished reading a very interesting biography by Michael Scammell, titled, Koestler:  The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic.  I first heard of Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) in the 1960s when I read Whittaker Chambers' classic autobiography, Witness.  

Then, I became interested in reading his novel, Darkness at Noon, which was published in 1941; it is about his repudiation and disillusionment with Communism.  And, twenty-four years ago, I ran into Koestler again when I read Buckley's book, Odyssey of a Friend:  Whittaker Chambers Letters to William F. Buckley, Jr., 1954-1961.  Koestler also wrote many novels, memoirs, nonfiction, and essays, for a total of 40, and the two other novels that I want to read are:  The Sleepwalker (1959), and The Ghost in the Machine (1967).  On March 3, 1983, he and his wife stoically committed a carefully planned suicide (barbiturate overdose) in their London home.  How sad, indeed.  He was a literary lion in his day.  Eighteen biographies have been written since 1956, nineteen with this one.  

A few years ago, I read another novel, Terrorist, by John Updike, and the author did an enormous amount  of research into the Muslim world, into Islam, and into the subtleties and nuances of the Holy Qur'an.  His protagonist is eighteen-year-old Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy, who is living in Pennsylvania, a son of an Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father, who walked out of their lives when he was just three.  It is a fascinating read, quintessential John Updike.  Reading this book brought back unforgettable memories of my Muslim roommate at Charles Francis Hall, Abdul Annani, a graduate student from Jordan who was studying  Economics.  Although he was not a terrorist.
The other evening I finished reading a very interesting biography by Michael Scammell, titled, Koestler:  The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic.  I first heard of Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) in the 1960s when I read Whittaker Chambers' classic autobiography, Witness.  

Then, I became interested in reading his novel, Darkness at Noon, which was published in 1941; it is about his repudiation and disillusionment with Communism.  And, twenty-four years ago, I ran into Koestler again when I read Buckley's book, Odyssey of a Friend:  Whittaker Chambers Letters to William F. Buckley, Jr., 1954-1961.  Koestler also wrote many novels, memoirs, nonfiction, and essays, for a total of 40, and the two other novels that I want to read are:  The Sleepwalker (1959), and The Ghost in the Machine (1967).  On March 3, 1983, he and his wife stoically committed a carefully planned suicide (barbiturate overdose) in their London home.  How sad, indeed.  He was a literary lion in his day.  Eighteen biographies have been written since 1956, nineteen with this one.  

About eight years ago, in the Catholic Southwest Journal, Vol., 20, there is a fascinating story on Sor María Jesús de Agreda (the Lady in Blue) by Merilyn H. Fedewa.  I also noticed an article on Father Thomas Merton by Donald R. Boucom.  This article caught my attention because since I was in high school, Father Merton was my role model, in an intellectual sense.  Before he joined the Trappist Order, he was a man of the world, he had a Ph.D. in Literature from Columbia University, taught at the Franciscan University of St. Bonaventure in New York, was a womanizer, enjoyed drinking with friends and women, etc., in a nutshell, he led a luxurious epicurean lifestyle.  After reading the article, I had the inspiration to finally read his autobiography, a paperback entitled, The Seven Story Mountain, which I had purchased in the early 1960s and never read it until now.  It is an intriguing and interesting spiritual journey  of discovery of a man who had it all, and yet, found a more fulfilling experience, both spiritually and intellectually, inside the walls of a Trappist monastery.  He became quite a prolific writer.  His other book that I want to read is entitled, No Man is An Island.  Oh well, another trip to the library. 

You might be interested in reading Alan M. Klein's 1997 book, Baseball on the Border:  A Tale of Two Laredos, published by Princeton University Press.  It is a very interesting read and I wouldn't be surprise if some of you from Laredo and I were in attendance at Washington Park on San Bernardo Avenue, where the civic center is now located, watching the Laredo Apaches, or a minor league farm team of the Cincinnati Redlegs practicing during one hot and dry summer, ca. 1956 or 1957, or the little league Mexican baseball team from Monterrey play against the Laredo All-Stars.  Like some of you from Laredo, I have many fond memories of that old "corralon," as my grandfather used to call it.  He was an umpire in the Mexican League and an avid baseball fan.  Another interesting book by Drs. Arnoldo De León, Samuel O. Regalado, José Alamillo, and Jorge Iber is Latinos in US Sports:  A History of Isolation, Cultural Identity, and Acceptance (2011).  The book is a very comprehensive study, spanning 500 years from the 16th century to the present, of the Latinos sporting experience in the United States. 

And for those of you who are in academia, were in academia, or are curious about what is going on in academia, I highly recommend the novel, Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy.  She was the second wife of Edmund Wilson, and besides this book, she also wrote The Company She Keeps.  There is another similar tome by Alison Lurie, titled, Truth and Consequences.  I checked this book from the public library and the setting takes place at Corinth University, situated somewhere in the New England area.  The four protagonists are: Alan Mackenzie, a full professor in the College of Architecture, who has a passion for Colonial Architecture, and is a world-renowned expert on eighteen-century architecture and the holder of an endowed chair.  He also has another talent and suffers from a chronic lower back pain.  His wife, Jane Mackenzie, works as the administrative director of the Matthew Unger Center for the Humanities and as the administrative secretary of the Humanities Council.  Delia Delaney, a very voluptuous, charming, and pulchritudinous woman, is a famous writer and author and has been awarded a Visiting Fellow at the Matthew Unger Center for one year.  Her husband, Henry Hull, is a poet and a free lance editor.  The action begins when the four lives of the main characters intertwined into an interesting labyrinth of love, sex, lies, and academia.  There are other colorful characters like Selma Schmidt, a young literary theorist from Comparative Literature; the laid back Bill Laird, a professor of Music; Professor Charlie Amir, a distinguished economist from Bosnia; David Gakar, a famous professor from Yale University, and many others.  It is a fast paced novel, full of innuendos and nuances of university life, which I know you will enjoy reading.   

And for those of you who are in academia, were in academia, or are curious about what is going on in academia, I highly recommend the novel, Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy.  She was the second wife of Edmund Wilson, and besides this book, she also wrote The Company She Keeps.  There is another similar tome by Alison Lurie, titled, Truth and Consequences.  I checked this book from the public library and the setting takes place at Corinth University, situated somewhere in the New England area.  The four protagonists are: Alan Mackenzie, a full professor in the College of Architecture, who has a passion for Colonial Architecture, and is a world-renowned expert on eighteen-century architecture and the holder of an endowed chair.  He also has another talent and suffers from a chronic lower back pain.  His wife, Jane Mackenzie, works as the administrative director of the Matthew Unger Center for the Humanities and as the administrative secretary of the Humanities Council.  Delia Delaney, a very voluptuous, charming, and pulchritudinous woman, is a famous writer and author and has been awarded a Visiting Fellow at the Matthew Unger Center for one year.  Her husband, Henry Hull, is a poet and a free lance editor.  The action begins when the four lives of the main characters intertwined into an interesting labyrinth of love, sex, lies, and academia.  There are other colorful characters like Selma Schmidt, a young literary theorist from Comparative Literature; the laid back Bill Laird, a professor of Music; Professor Charlie Amir, a distinguished economist from Bosnia; David Gakar, a famous professor from Yale University, and many others.  It is a fast paced novel, full of innuendos and nuances of university life, which I know you will enjoy reading.   

Am I enjoying my retirement?  You bet!  I have to be careful not to spill my glass of cold wine on these wonderful and interesting books from the public library.  I know, I know, you are probably thinking that books in print are a thing of the past, like the anvil or buggy whips, and that I should be reading books on Kindle, ebooks, Nooks, or on other electronic devices.  But, I still prefer to hold a book in my hands, to feel it, and if it is an old tome, delight in smelling its musty aroma emanating from its pages.  Books in print, to me, are my most dependable opiate. They are my intellectual Viagra--my relentless form of mental exercise necessary to keep my intellect continually fertilized and enriched with new ideas, new stories, and new material.  

Ever affectionately,  Gilberto

 

 

FILMS, TV, RADIO, INTERNET

Sin Raiz Documentary
Latino Media Awards Honorees Announced!
Lifetime Achievement Honoree: Gregory Nava
Tiger by the Tail

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Sin Raiz (2015) - Documentary "Without Roots"

Published on Jun 25, 2015

This is a short documentary about the lives of 14 undocumented students (also known as DREAMERs) whose parents brought them to the United States since a very young age, some of them living in the USA for over 20+ years, and through a Chicano Latino Studies class/program at the California State University Long Beach, these students had the chance to visit their home country for the very first time. They were able to fly to mexico and come back to the United States through a special USCIS permit called Advance Parole. They were excited to fly "home" for the first time, only to find a huge cultural shock which made them question their true identity. Follow them on this journey.

Directed by: Lidieth Arevalo and Carlos Mendez Cinematographer: Carlos Mendez Editor: Jett Montoya Producer: Antonio Brown / Lidieth Arevalo Production Mentor: Dave O'Brien Trip Facilitator: Armando Vazquez Ramos California State University, Long Beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOeeg8BDEys&t=274s 

Sent by Danny W. Linggonegoro  


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Latino Media Awards Honorees Announced!

 

Lupe Ontiveros Award: Karla Souza! 
The 2019 Lupe Ontiveros Award will be presented to Karla Souza! This award recognizes actors who take roles that expand the Latinx narrative in entertainment and around the world. From her leading roles in films like Nosotros los Nobles to her prominent role as Laurel Castillo in the hit series How to Get Away with Murder, Souza has built a vast and engaging career that highlights the importance of Latinx representation. We will be presenting this award to Karla Souza at the Latino Media Awards on Saturday, July 27th.

Industry Pioneer: Carla Hool
NALIP is excited to announce the Industry Pioneer Award to casting director Carla Hool! Hool has been honored with a Casting Society of America award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting-Animation Feature for her work on Coco. She has cast for such films including, The Infiltrators and Miss Bala, to television shows like, Narcos: Mexico, Los Espookys, and upcoming Netflix show’s, Selena and Gentefied. We will be celebrating Hool’s career and achievements during the 2019 Latino Media Awards at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, CA on Saturday, July 27th, 2019.

The Media Advocacy Award:   Gloria Calderón-Kellett & Tanya Saracho 

The 2019 Media Advocacy Award will be presented to Gloria Calderón-Kellett and Tanya Saracho! This award aims to honor individuals that have used their platform to enable a cause. Gloria Calderón-Kellett, the co-showrunner of One Day at a Time, and Tanya Saracho, the showrunner of Vida, have joined their efforts to empower Latinx voices within the industry by advocating to strengthen the Latinx community through social change. We will honor Gloria Calderón-Kellett and Tanya Saracho on Saturday, July 27th at our Latino Media Awards in the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, CA

Lisa Quiroz Media Advancement Award:  Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) 
Join NALIP in honoring the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) with the Lisa Quiroz Media Advancement Award at the 2019 NALIP Media Summit! As a longtime supporter of NALIP, CPB has shown their commitment to diverse storytelling. Named in memory of TimeWarner’s first Chief Diversity Officer, Lisa Quiroz, this award honors those who are fostering the growth and development of the Latinx community. VP of Diversity and Television Content Sylvia Bugg will accept this award on behalf of CPB on Saturday, July 27th at the 2019 Latino Media Awards.

 

 

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M Lifetime Achievement Honoree: Gregory Nava

 




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Strategy & Soul: 
From More Cars in LA to No Cars in LA July 12, 2019

The journey of consciousness of a revolutionary auto worker by Eric Mann

In 1981, Eric Mann, as a communist labor organizer, was hired at the GM Van Nuys Plant, at the time employing 5,000 workers making the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. Soon, the plant was threatened with a closure by General Motors. Mann invented and initiated the Campaign to Keep GM Van Nuys Open, a pathbreaking labor/community coalition led by Local 645 President Pete Beltran, Mark Masoka, Jake Flukers, Kelly Jenco and hundreds of GM Workers along with community allies Father Luis Olivares, Rev. Frank Higgins, and then assemblyperson Maxine Waters. The movement, threatening GM with a boycott of its products in LA, the largest new car market in the U.S., won an unprecedented agreement with GM. GM agreed to keep the plant open for at least 3 more years that eventually extended to a full decade for a plant workforce that was 50% Latinx, 15% Black, and 15% women. Filmmaker Michal Goldman magically captured that movement in the film Tiger by the Tail, that won Best Labor Film at the New York Film Festival, that we will show Friday night July 12 at 6 PM.

Since then, Eric Mann, Chris Mathis, and other UAW workers became aware of the great environmental harm that the auto causes and as the growing climate crisis intensified, Eric and the Labor/Community Strategy Center have initiated the No Cars in L.A. Campaign. Eric will discuss, along with many grassroots leaders, why he changed his understanding of the auto and why autoworkers all over the U.S. should work against their short-term interests for free public transportation and no cars to protect the long-term interests of their families, their communities, the people and the planet.

Tiger by the Tail

An award winning film by Michal Goldman about the movement that kept California’s last auto plant open for ten more years was shown Friday July 12th, 2019 @6pm 3546 w Martin Luther King Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90008.  Sent by The Strategy Center info@thestrategycenter.org 


 

ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Sept 14: “Genetic Genealogy – How to Use DNA to Find Your Elusive or Undocumented Ancestors” by Dale Alsop 
Sept 14- Oct 5  Exhibition: A Class Action: The Grassroots Struggle for School Desegregation in California 
Westminster Through the Years
May 16, 1936: Union-Mexican Farm Workers of Garden Grove & Confederation-Unions of Mexican Farm Workers 


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Sept event

September 14, 2019

“Genetic Genealogy – How to Use DNA to Find Your Elusive or Undocumented Ancestors” by Dale Alsop,  covering these areas:


1) What you need to know before you take a DNA test, 

2)What you need to do after you get your DNA results, and 

3) How to combine genetic genealogy with traditional genealogical research.

 

 

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A Class Action: the Grassroots Struggle for School Desegregation in California

Exhibition Dates 
September 15 - October 5, 2019
Ehlers Event Center, 8150 Knott Ave
Buena Park, CA 90620

Learn How California Led the Way for National School Desegregation
Reception: September 14 at 6:00 p.m.

 

BACKGROUND: In March 1945, five fathers in Orange County, California, brought a class-action lawsuit against four school districts on behalf of their own children and 5,000 other children who were being forced to attend segregated "Mexican Schools."   This exhibition tells the story of their landmark lawsuit, Mendez et al. v. Westminster School et. al. and reveals how community organizing and grassroots activism can produce positive change in schools and communities across the United States.  Experts have called this the most important case about segregation before Brown v. Board of Education.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS: The interactive exhibition provides  physical space where visitors can explore the case, its origins, and how its legacy inspired others to make a difference.  Exhibition features include photographs and items from all plaintiff families, interactive elements and oral histories, docent-led
tours, and a space for community dialogues and civic engagement.

Visitors of all ages are encouraged to participate in workshops, lectures, ad tours.  To plan your visit, educators and members of the community are encouraged to make a viewing appointment by call 
(714) 562-3867. 

HOST: The City of Buena Park's Community Services Department in partnership with the Museum of Teaching and Learning (MOTAL), the Fine Arts Division and the Senior and Human Services Division.



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Westminster Through the Years
Colony was carved out of past Spanish land grant.


The story of Westminster that was and the Westminster that has changed through the years to become the thriving city as we know it today, is one of a cooperative spirit purpose and determination.

The settlers who founded the temperance colony of Westminster in 1870 were not the first to come to the coastal plain. The earliest settlers were the Oak Grove people who occupied the land over 8,000 years ago and stayed until the climate became too dry am vegetation dwindled. The area remained uninhabited until the Gabrieleno Indians move( in from the desert to this area and numbered over 200,000. White man's diseases -measles, smallpox, and diptheria eventually decimated the Indians almost to extinction

The next recorded history of the North Orange County area dates to 1492, when Pope Alexander IV decreed that all unclaimed land in the North American continent belonged  to the King of Spain. Large land grants called ranches were awarded by the King to induce colonization of the continent.

The Spaniards cleared, surveyed, and mapped their new land. In 1784 the Spanish Governor of California honored Manuel Nieto with a 21 mile square concession of land to be called the Rancho Las Bolsas. It covered most of what we know today as West Orange County. The rancho prospered with large crops and fine herds, however, after Nieto' death in 1804 his heirs quarreled and the rancho was partitioned in 1834.

During the 1850's with California's admission to the Union, the U.S. Land Commission was set up to review claims that rose from original Spanish land grants. 

An America named Abel Steams saw this as a opportunity to buy up shares from th disputing factions of the Rancho Las Bolsa.   With the Commission's acceptance, Steam became sole owner of the rancho changing the name to Steams Rancho.

                       FIRST DECADE OF THE WESTMINSTER COLONY

Westminster was the second colony in Orange County to be deliberately foundec but in contrast to the first which was Anaheim, Westminster was not founded by any one ethnic group nor did it center around a one product economy.

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The Rev. L.P. Webber.


Colony's first schoolhouse.

Westminster was founded as a temperance colony by the Presbyterian Reverend, Lemuel P. Webber in 1870 upon his purchase of some 6,000 acres of the Steams Rancho. Fulfilling his dream, he invited those people with like ideas in religion and morals to locate on individual 40 acre farms in his new colony. The town was named for the Westminster Assembly of 1643 which prescribed the basic tenets of the Presbyterian Church. John Y. Anderson, a native of Virginia, was the first man to respond to the Reverend's invitation. Anderson took up residence on the corner of what we now know as Westminster Boulevard and Monroe Street.

In 1872, the town's first schoolhouse was built after a tax was levied which raised over $3,000 for the project. School started that August with 13 students.

In the spirit of cooperation, the township soon realized it had to make supplies more readily available for all to share. In 1874, the township opened the first "general store" beginning the first business district on Almond Avenue, which today is known as Westminster Boulevard. 

At the end of 1874, the colony had 225 inhabitants, 62 families, and 52 farms. Acreage prices that started at $13 rose to $20 and $30 per acre in 1875.

Soon, 1,800 additional acres were needed and added to the northern part of the colony. The first community newspaper, the Tribune, was started in 1878. 

The district was surrounded with wild Spanish cattle, hogs, and horses. Meat was sold through a butcher for 9 cents per pound. Horses were rounded up and domesticated for riding and for work.

At the close of the first decade three churches had been built — the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist. By 1879 all three churches were free of debt, testifying to the character of the towns people. An additional two general stores had been opened  two blacksmiths, a wagon shop, a harness shop, a  milliner, and a shoemaker. A sorghum mill and  two creameries set the scene for future industry and the self-sufficiency of Westminster.

THE 1880's

The second decade was one of continuing development. This agricultural community had overcome swamps and tules and a rainy season that flooded the region due to the lack of any drainage system. The Drainage Act of 1881 turned thousands of acres into productive soil and opened the most thriving celery fields in the world.


First Presbyterian Church served colonists (1878).

 

The Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads brought settlers from the Missouri River to west coast for $15 and during the price wars, the price went down to $1.00.  Railroad travel marked a population and land boom in all of  in all of Southern California.  Before that pioneering families could only arrive by ship which passed through the Panama or overland in wagons through the hot desert.

Commuter train arrives in Westminster, circa 1907.

Oxen teams hauled harvested crops from Irvine Ranch to Anaheim Landing and returned inland with lumber for Westminster's growth. The 1880's secession of the southern part of Los Angeles County which was to become Orange County.

THE 1890's

Dairy farming was the principal source of income for many ranchers. cooperatively built creameries which provided more jobs and eventually products being exported. Peatland was yielding 12,000 bunches of ce trade went on.

Early settlers had pledged not to grow grapes, but outside influences modified tradition, and soon, grapes began to flourish and the first saloon was then opened.

                                                 The 1900's

Westminster was growing. The colony continued to gain the reputation as the finest dairying center in the country. Chinese were brought in from Los Angeles and Los Francisco along with, some Japanese and Mexicans to farm the rich productive soil.

The first library was set up in the newly built Odd Fellows Hall in 1900. The telephone was installed for the Wells Fargo mail agent, J.F. Patterson, who also became the agent for Southern Pacific Railroad when the line reached Westminster  in1902. The "Plaza Association" was organized to develop Sigler Park and also to provide awards to  those citizens who caught chicken thieves. The Westminster Chamber of was formed to promote the town's business.

The business district on Almond Avenue, now Westminster

THE 1920's

Westminster was known as a quiet village - an area primarily of scattered farms. It was one of the most ideal communities in which to raise a  family. It had the best schools and the finest  facilities in the local area.

1924 saw the Midway City subdivision 1927 Barber City was begun. The world's largest goldfish farm moved into the area were the Westminster Mall stands today.  The Westminster Gazette newspaper was established, and at the same time the original Green Kat tavern was built. It was ironic that this colony first established as a temperance colony, should have a tavern as its landmark decades later.  

THE 1930's

With the building activities of the late twenties, it seemed that Westminster and become more than just a farming community in the thirties, but major altered its growth. In the spirit of cooperation the "Association of the Unemployed during the depression years assisting in securing food for the area. Then March 10th, 1933 a devastating earthquake damaged much of the city and all of its brick buildings.  The 17th Street Hoover School had to be rebuilt by WPA and was opened

Additionally in 1938 Southern California was struck by a severe flood. Fortunately it bypassed Westminster proper but left washes and debris across roads which disrupted access to the town for months.

County parades Acre held in Westminster. Westminster's Products Float of

 

As the forties began one could view orange groves, lima beans, and suger beets fields which surrounded the few business in downtown Westminster. By 1942 the population  had reached 2,500. However, World War II brought several more changes which again effected the development growth of Westminster. Young men left the area to join the armed forces, and the Japanese, nearly all of them farmers, were moved out of  Orange County. Defense workers from the midwest settled in Westminster and joined their fellow neighbors working at local shipyards and aircraft factories which were located nearby.

At the end of the war many servicemen who enjoyed the Southern California climate decided to stay. Huge housing tracts grew in areas surrounding Westminster, but the agriculture remained untouched by this population boom, and sheep herders were able to keep their paths open through Westminster.

During these trying times, Westminster was part of the first desegregation case in the United States. A federal judge denounced segregation in public schools, and integration came to most of California schools.THE 1950's

Recovering from the earthquake, the flood, and World War II, Westminster found itself growing once again. Land developers became interested in acquiring local farms. Eventually, new tracts were built, and in 1956, the population was recorded at 10,755.

In March of 1957 proceedings began to form a municipality called the Tri City. However, when Midway City withdrew from the venture a spirited contest resulted. The voters finally chose to incorporate by a vote of 1,096 to 1,008, and retain its historical name of Westminster. The first permanent City Hall was located in the Hoover Schoolhouse. 

On September 10,1959 Westminster High School became a reality.  It was at that time, the most modern and up-to-date school in the county. Deriving its name and tradition from the English Westminster Abbey, the mascot became the lion, and colors of  the Royal Guard, red, black and white, were used.

THE 1960's

In the 1960's the population quadrupled. The number of schools grew from three in the fifties to 22 at the end of the sixties. Freeways were completed that linked Westminster with the Southland Freeway system.

In August of 1968, the city moved its base of operations from the condemned Hoover  Schoolhouse to the new municipal facilities which in keeping with tradition followed the English theme. The Tower of Westminster, California, was t square of brick civic buildings.

THE 1970's

In the 1970's we find a thriving community concerned with original spirit of cooperation  the townspeople showed throughout the years. Most vacant land has been developed in residential zones, and new construction is replacing older dwellings. Two libraries situated in storefront buildings have been accommodated by one  I new facility. The Historical Society joining with the City has restored and resettled the 1874 McCoy-Hare Heritage Park as a reminder of the earlier days. It is open to the public month every third Sunday of the month..

This has been a prosperous decade for commerce.  A prestigious new shopping center has been built which is the Westminster Mall, housing 180 shops.  Further construction of municipal buildings has included an administration building and a  senior citizens facility.  New fire department buildings are being considered along with renovation oft he civic auditorium which is now underway.  Street improvements and other capital outlay for the city continues with the same positive outlooks held by the everyday pioneers  It has been this cooperative spirit, purpose and determination that is the earmark of our city, Westminster.

Historical information courtesy of Mrs. Joy Neugebauer
Westminster Centennial Committee

 


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UNION OF MEXICAN FARM WORKERS OF GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA  
ALLIED WITH THE CONFEDERATION OF UNIONS OF MEXICAN FARM WORKERS

May 16, 1936

               To the Mexican President of the Republic, General Lázaro Cárdenas,

                                                                           Honorable President:

By this Memorial [Letter], we the undersigned as Mexican citizens and as residents of  this place, very respectfully present to you the following:  

We are work as Pickers of Oranges and have been stumbling over difficulties with our bosses, and having transmitted [these] difficulties to the respective Department like the Labor Department of the State of California. This Department has communicated to us that we are right in soliciting that it investigate these irregularities. But the Department told us they found it impossible to open these investigations due to lack of money. However the Labor Department indicated to us that we should direct ourselves, in the sense here exposed, to our own government (the Mexican Government). This way the investigations can move forward according as the circumstances may require.  

It’s because of what we explained above that we direct ourselves to you who worthily preside over the general government of our nation. And lacking absolutely in formulism that these matters may require, we do in with the modesty which characterizes us Mexican workers.  

The difficulties that we have been referring to in this letter consist of the following: The different companies that we work for in picking oranges refuse completely to take into consideration our just petitions for better remuneration for our work because the salary that we actually enjoy is not sufficient to satisfy our humble necessities for our subsistence and that of our families. Said companies have manifested to us that our salaries that we enjoy is more than sufficient for our sustenance.  

In addition, the Labor Department of the state of California manifested to us that it cannot exercise any coercion to force said companies to take our petitions into consideration due to the fact it is unable to present any proofs to justify the aspirations of the workers. And to collect these proofs a complete investigation of the case is necessary.  

So our petition that we present in this Memorial can be summarized concretely in the following:  

It is the desire of the Organization to which we belong the solicitation through legal means, that the Mexican government free up an appropriation of funds so that through the conduct of our Consulate in Los Angeles, California, worthily led by Ricardo G. Hill, an investigation into our case herein described can be opened.  

Hoping that your worthy investiture that we have solicited here may be taken into consideration, we are pleased to reiterate before you with our due respect assurances of our most worthy subordination.  

By General Antonio Robles and Lauro Castro.  
Post Office: R.F.D. 1, Box 68 – Garden Grove, California  

The following are the signers of these petitions:               

 
PROTECTION DEPARTMENT 
NO: 0717 EXP: (73-27) /
663 SUBJ: Recommendation [of] Celso Medina 
Los Angeles, California 1st of February 1936 
To the Mexican Colony of this Jurisdiction: 

By means of this notice we acknowledge Mister Celso Medina as the Regional Organizer 
of the Federation of Mexican Farm Workers of the County of Orange. 

Whatever service and support given to Sr. Medina by the workers of our colony 
will be duly appreciated by this Consulate. 

I reiterate to you my careful consideration. 
Real Democracy; no re-election.
The Mexican Consul, Ricardo G. Hill

CC: Secretary of [Foreign] Relations, Federal District of Mexico

 


Source of above information: David-James Gonzales,  Asst. Professor of History,  Brigham Young Un djgonzophd@gmail.com who writes: 

My dissertation touched on the Citrus Strike, but more as context that led to later civil rights struggles. I used interviews of Celso Medina by Gil Gonzalez’s (held in UCI library) and another by COPH at CSU Fullerton in my dissertation, but didn’t write about Celso or the strike too much mostly because Gil Gonzalez covered the strike in his book Labor and Community .   I’m currently revising and expanding my dissertation into a book that will be published with a university press. I do plan to add a bit more about the citrus strike, so any leads, photos, or documents are appreciated.


 

LOS ANGELES, CA

September 7, 2019:  Honoring the souls of the departed members of the Mexican Diaspora of 1913-1930
Sustainable La Grand Challenge. UCLA
Health of Homeless, UCLA 
June 3, 2013 The CSRC was honored to host a 20th anniversary
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September 7, 2019:  
Honoring the souls of the departed members of the Mexican Diaspora of 1913-1930

 

Educator, Dr. Henry M. Ramirez was serving as Chief of Mexican American Studies on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights when President Nixon was elected President of the United States, November 5, 1968. 

On June 11-12, 1969, an Inter-Agency Senate Committee on Mexican-American Affairs met.  
"Nixon found us. He made us known and famous. Only Nixon or I could have written this book. He and I are the only ones who knew what visions we discussed and planned in the Oval Office. It is a disclosure of how his visionary actions brought an unknown, forgotten, and conquered raza into mainstream America.

When he became president, he did not forget those noble Mexicans of the Diaspora. On his own initiative and without advocacy from screening people, he determined what had to be done, pg. 62-63.  * In summary, President Nixon accomplished the following:   

  • Nixon decided to employ me to be in charge of all matters dealing with Mexican American affairs;
  • In the Oval Office, Nixon swore me in as chairman of his Cabinet Committee on Opportunities for Spanish- Speaking people; he also discussed with me his knowledge of and admiration for Mexican-Americans and what he wanted for them;
  • Nixon conducted a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Oopportunities for Spanish-Speaking People and directed Cabinet officers on what he expected from them to accomplish his defined objectives for the Mexican- American;
  • Nixon ordered the Census Bureau and other government agencies to count Mexican-American;
  • Nixon ordered conference in all regional offices serving the Spanish-speaking people.
  • Nixon ordered equal employment opportunities for Mexican-American;
  • Nixon ordered high level appointments of Spanish-speaking people;
  • Nixon ordered business opportunities from government procurement;
  • Nixon invited a Spanish-speaking Catholic archbishop to celebrate a Sunday service in the White House;
  • Nixon approved advocacy with the Vatican for ordination of Spanish-speaking bishops;
  • Nixon ordered paperwork for his signature, to grant amnesty to Diaspora Mexican; and
  • Nixon proclaimed National Hispanic Heritage Week.

Dr. Ramirez is heading an effort to honor the souls of the departed members of the Mexican Diaspora of 1913-1930, by holding a mass this year on September 7th at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pomona.  

For more information, please contact:
Yolanda Madrigal, ymadrigal@67yahoo.com 
909-622-4553
 

For the history of expansion of National Hispanic recognition from one week to one month, go to:
 http://www.somosprimos.com/heritage/heritage.htm#MONTH 

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Declaration of Independence
Sustainable La Grand Challenge 

Health of the Homeless

=================================== ===================================

THE WATER YOU DRINK probably comes from somewhere else. Most of the energy you use also comes from far away. 

Los Angeles does not control its own sustainable destiny. But soon it will. And UCLA is writing the blueprint.

The university's Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, which launched in 2013, unites dozens of UCLA faculty, researchers, students and collaborators to create a road map that will make Los Angeles the world's first sustainablmegacity — and a model for others around the world. UCLA is developing the technologies, policies and strategies to transition L.A. County to 100 percent renewable energy (including wind and solar), 100 percent local water and enhanced ecosystem health.

The ambitious project's Five-Year  Work Plan lays out more than 100 innovative research recommendations critical to achieving the Sustainable LA

Grand Challenge goals by 2050. This research is already informing policy decisions in the region and will form the basis for a comprehensive Imple­mentation Plan that UCLA will develop in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders by 2020.

From understanding future climate patterns and maximizing the region's solar potential, to understanding how gender plays a role in reducing our daily water use and revolutionizing plant animal conservation management, Sustainable LA Grand Challenge  is spearheading the research 
necesary to define the region's pathway to sustainability. . This monumental effort will require our region t solve its troubled transportation system, stanch the loss of wildlife habitat, and tackle the  unsustainable water and power demands.

 

THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO, when the Union Rescue Mission asked whether the UCLA School of Nursing would consider offering care to its residents, the school took a leap into uncharted territory, little was known then about the health issues facing the homeless. Skid Row, only 15 miles to the east of UCLA, felt like a world away. But the endeavor fit with the School of Nursing's mission of transforming nursing care in a rapidly changing and diverse environment.

The partnership resulted in the UCLA School of Nursing Health Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission, a nurse-managed clinic providing acute and primary care, on site medications and basic lab work. One of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country, the clinic serves as a national model for delivery of health care to the poor and the homeless.

It remains one of only a few full-time clinics in the Los Angeles area to serve these populations. Two nurse practitioners and two licensed vocational nurses staff the facility, providing care alongside UCLA nursing and medical students who receive valuable training during their tenure at the clinic.

Since its founding, the clinic has logged more than 250,000 patient visits. Last year alone, staff cared for more than 2,500 men, women and children. Many clients suffer from medical conditions exacerbated by their time on the streets. Harsh envi­ronments and a lack of regular care often lead to complex health condi­tions and such chronic diseases as diabetes and high blood pressure.

"When you don't know where you'll get your next meal or where you'll sleep each night, it's hard to focus on your health," says Linda Sarna '69, Masters of Nursing,'76, dean of the School of Nursing. "The clinic takes people who have been marginalized in the health-care system and provides them with a holistic approach to care."



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June 3, 2013 The CSRC was honored to host a 20th Anniversary
20th Anniversary Celebration: Mujeres in the Movement for Chicana/o Studies at UCLA

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
Published on Jul 31, 2013

 

Celebration of the UCLA hunger strike that led to the creation of the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. This event includes a panel discussion with Cindy Montañez, Josefina Santiago, Cristine Soto DeBerry, and moderator José M. Aguilar-Hernández, plus commentary from and a documentary photo exhibit curated from the personal collection of journalist and Chicano Studies professor Raúl Ruíz. Cindy Montañez was the assemblymember for California's 39th District from 2002 until 2006 and one of the hunger strikers for Chicana/o studies at UCLA in 1993. Josefina Santiago is the associate director of Workforce Development, Marina Del Rey Work Source Center.

She was MEChA Women's Unit Coordinator during part of her undergraduate career and served as one of MEChA's representatives during the hunger strike negotiations. Cristine Soto DeBerry is an attorney at the San Francisco District Attorney's office. She was elected as a negotiator during the 1993 hunger strike. José M.Aguilar-Hernández is a PhD candidate in Race and Ethnic Studies in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and a Teaching Fellow with the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. He is writing his dissertation on the 1990-1993 movement for Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. Raúl Ruíz is a professor of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge. As a journalist activist in the 1960s and '70s he documented the Chicano Movement's most seminal events and created many of its most iconic images. This event was co-sponsored by the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the CSRC.

Sent by Dorinda Moreno pueblosenmovimientonorte@gmail.comHide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D2G3ae2Ym4

 

 

CALIFORNIA 

173rd Anniversary of Battle of Dominguez Hill
234th Anniversary, Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores, celebrated June 29th
San Diego Old Town 250Year Long Celebration 
Historical event
California borra a los españoles en el 250 aniversario de San Diego
Waterford Upstart Virtual pre-K for needy - is rural issue By Nellie Bowles

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Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum Commemorates

173rd Anniversary of Battle of Dominguez Hill

(Rancho Dominguez, CA)—The Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum will commemorate the 173rd Anniversary of the Battle of Dominguez Hill with a battle re-enactment. The Battle of Dominguez Hill, originally took place on October 8th and October 9th, 1846, was a military engagement of the U.S.-Mexican War that took place within Manuel Dominguez's 75,000 acre Rancho San Pedro. Captain José Antonio Carrillo, leading fifty Californio troops, successfully held off an invasion of Pueblo de Los Angeles by some 300 United States Marines, under the command of US Navy Captain William Mervine, who was attempting to recapture the town after the Siege of Los Angeles. By strategically running horses across the dusty Dominguez hills, while transporting their single small cannon to various sites, Carrillo and his troops convinced the Americans they had encountered a large enemy force. Faced with heavy casualties and the superior fighting skills displayed by the Californios, the remaining Marines were forced to retreat to their ships docked in San Pedro Bay.

Commemorating the historical event, on Saturday and Sunday October 5th and October 6th, 2019 from 10:00am to 4:00pm, the public is invited to experience the battle re-enactment as well as many aspects of life during the 1800s; including, military encampments, vendors, music and dance. Children’s activities will include: corn husk doll making, tortilla making, cattle roping, adobe brick making and gold panning. Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

The public is invited to attend the free event and is encouraged to take a tour of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum.

 

About The Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum The mission of the friends of Rancho San Pedro is to preserve and increase community awareness of the Dominguez family, Homestead adobe, and the Rancho San Pedro, the first Spanish land grant in California. This is accomplished through educational programs and the operation of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum. # # #

Luis F. Fernandez, Executive Director
(310) 603-0088
luis.fernandez@dominguezrancho.org
  

The Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum is Located at 18127 South Alameda Street, 
Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220.

 


Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores, 234th  Anniversary

Honoring Our Ancestors - 243rd Anniversary of the arrival of the soldiers and colonists of the 2nd Anza Expedition, 1775-76, and the founding of the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores, Pershing Square, June 29, 2019.
Lorraine Frain 
lorrilocks@gmail.com
 
Photos: Margaret Reynolds 
margaretjeanreynolds@gmail.com
 
 

 

The free event honors the heritage of early Californian cultures—Native American, Spanish and Mexican—and the founding of El Presidio de San Francisco in 1776.
 

Prior to the arrival of Spanish colonists, indigenous tribes of Ohlone people called the Presidio home, with archeological evidence for native villages dating back to 740 A.D. In 1776 the Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition from Sonora and Sinaloa (in modern Mexico) arrived with 191 colonists under the Spanish crown, many of whom were children, and established El Presidio de San Francisco and Mission Dolores. In 1835, the descendants of these and other colonists established the Mexican pueblo of Yerba Buena, which gave rise to a new American city called San Francisco.

 

 


Lorraine Frain, Early California Descendent with Re-enactor




San Diego 250 Anniversary for the whole year

For more information: info@sandiegohistory.org or 619-232-6203

 





California borra a los españoles en el 250 aniversario de San Diego

Los actos rinden homenaje a los nativos de la región y olvidan a quienes fundaron el 16 de julio de 1769 la misión de San Diego, con la que comenzó el poblamiento hispano de la costa oeste de lo que hoy es Estados Unidos. blob:https://www.abc.es/79fca173-38b2-467c-94c7-4466198ed1e4

El 16 de julio de 1769, Día de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, el franciscano mallorquín Junípero Serra fundaba con una solemne misa la misión de San Diego de Alcalá en un remoto paraje a orillas del Pacífico. Junto con un presidio militar, este enclave religioso sería el germen de la ciudad de San Diego y el inicio de la colonización de lo que hoy es el próspero estado de California. Mucho antes de la fiebre del oro y la supuesta «conquista» del Oeste por Estados Unidos, los españoles habían sido los verdaderos pioneros que llevaron la civilización europea y la fe católica a unas tierras que gobernarían hasta 1822, cuando pasaron a ser parte de México.

Ahora, 250 años después, San Diego conmemora la efeméride con una serie de actos en los que paradójicamente España, gran protagonista de aquel hito, está en segundo plano. Este 16 de julio se celebrará en el parque del Presidio una ceremonia que incluirá el izado de una bandera de los kumiai y se cerrará con cánticos de este pueblo nativo. En cambio, no se prevé ni siquiera que tome la palabra ninguna autoridad española.

Fuentes de la Embajada de España en Washington destacan que esta fecha «es un recordatorio más de la larga data de los vínculos» entre los dos países y que la presencia de España en el aniversario «está plenamente justificada». El Consulado en Los Ángeles ha recibido una invitación del alcalde de San Diego, el republicano Kevin Faulconer, para «asistir» a los actos, si bien por la jubilación del cónsul acudirá el canciller del consulado, encargado provisional de la plaza. Por su parte, la organización del aniversario ha ignorado las reiteradas peticiones de entrevistas por parte de ABC para ofrecer su versión.

Los inicios de la exploración de la costa norteamericana del Pacífico se remontan al siglo XVI, con Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo y Bartolomé Ferrer. Más de medio siglo después, ante la necesidad de hallar puertos de abrigo para el tornaviaje del galeón de Manila, Sebastián Vizcaíno exploró el litoral californiano con mayor minuciosidad. Fue entonces, en 1602, cuando se bautizó la bahía de San Diego y se descubrió la de Monterrey.

Pero sería ya bien entrado el siglo XVIII cuando los españoles emprendieron la gesta de poblar aquel territorio, espoleados por la amenaza que suponían para sus posesiones las incursiones de los rusos por Alaska en busca de pieles de nutria. Desde Madrid se ordenó ocupar las costas altacalifornianas y parar los pies a los intrusos.

El visitador general de Nueva España, José de Gálvez, se puso manos a la obra. Tras establecer como base el puerto de San Blas, en el actual estado mexicano de Nayarit, organizó lo que pasaría a la historia como la Santa Expedición. Su misión, «establecer la religión católica entre una numerosa gentilidad sumergida en las oscuras tinieblas del paganismo», así como «extender la dominación del Rey Nuestro Señor y poner esta península a cubierto de las ambiciosas tentativas de una nación extranjera».

La Santa Expedición busca «establecer la religión católica entre una numerosa gentilidad sumergida en las oscuras tinieblas del paganismo», así como «extender al dominación del Rey Nuestro Señor y poner esta península a cubierto de las ambiciosas tentativas de una nación extranjera»

Se trataba de una doble empresa, por mar y por tierra. Los paquebotes San Carlos y San Antonio harían la travesía marítima hasta San Diego, donde se debían encontrar con las caravanas terrestres. Desde allí se continuaría hasta la bahía de Monterrey.

El San Carlos, alias «El Toisón de Oro», zarpó el 10 de enero de 1769 del puerto de La Paz, en la actual Baja California, a las órdenes del mallorquín Vicente Vila y con 25 miembros de la Compañía de Voluntarios de Cataluña a bordo. La navegación, con un implacable viento en contra, fue extremadamente complicada, y el paquebote se vio obligado a alejarse de la costa y fondear en la isla de Cedros en busca de agua. El escorbuto hizo estragos y cuando la nave arribó a San Diego el 29 de abril, apenas había hombres capaces de gobernarla.

Allí esperaba ya el San Antonio, pese a haber salido desde el cabo San Lucas más de un mes después, el 15 de febrero. Juan Pérez, mallorquín como Vila, era su capitán. Aunque el escorbuto también afectó a su tripulación, entró en San Diego el 11 de abril. Un tercer paquebote, el San José, debía llevar más tarde suministros, pero nunca llegó a su destino.

Entre tanto ya se había puesto en marcha la expedición terrestre, dividida en dos columnas. La primera estaba encabezada por el capitán Fernando Rivera, natural de Nueva España, y la segunda por el gobernador de California, el leridano Gaspar de Portolá. Iría acompañado por alguien llamado a desempeñar un papel trascendental, el franciscano mallorquín Junípero Serra, presidente de las misiones de Baja California tras la expulsión de los jesuitas en 1767.

Durante cuatro meses, Rivera fue de misión en misión por aquella península haciendo acopio de «mulas, caballos, aparejos, víveres y demás útiles» y a primeros de marzo de 1769 se encontraba en Santa María de los Ángeles, «frontera de la gentilidad», es decir, a las puertas del territorio indígena. De allí pasó al paraje de Velicatá, donde se le uniría el franciscano Juan Crespí, procedente de la misión de La Purísima de Cadegomó. A las cuatro de la tarde del 24 de marzo, Viernes Santo, la caravana, con 25 soldados y unos 40 indígenas neófitos, emprendió la marcha por una tierra «estéril, árida, falta de zacates y de agua», entre «ramajes, espinos y piedras de que abunda mucho está península», describió Crespí en su diario (publicado en Miraguano Ediciones).

De vez en cuando salían al paso «gentiles», los varones desnudos y las muchachas «honestamente tapadas» con hilos por delante y cueros por detrás

Avanzaron por caminos polvorientos entre cerros y lomas, cruzaron valles y cañadas, y subieron y bajaron empinadas barrancas, siempre preocupados por hallar aguajes para satisfacer la sed de personas y bestias, y localizando emplazamientos para futuras misiones. Por el camino, cinco de los neófitos de la caravana perecieron, mientras que otros huyeron.

De vez en cuando salían al paso «gentiles», los varones desnudos los varones y las muchachas «honestamente tapadas» con hilos por delante y cueros por detrás. Los expedicionarios les regalaban abalorios y otras fruslerías para mostrar su talante pacífico. En una ocasión, un soldado ofreció a uno un cigarro encendido, que este «chupó con mucho garbo». En otra, aparecieron 29 nativos con arcos y flechas en un paso entre lomas y tres dispararon sus armas, sin llegar a impactar en nadie. Los españoles respondieron con «dos escopetazos», que tampoco causaron heridos.

El domingo 14 de mayo, la caravana arribó al «tan deseado y famoso Puerto de San Diego». Tras efusivos abrazos por el reencuentro, los recién llegados sintieron «el pesar de encontrar el real hecho un hospital con casi todos los soldados voluntarios y marineros del San Carlos y El Príncipe acabándose del mal de escorbuto o loanda». Entre los del primero ya se contaban nueve muertos, «dos echados al mar y siete enterrados en este puerto».

Sobre los habitantes de la región, Crespí decía que eran «todos indios muy despiertos, satíricos, codiciosos y, muy grandes ladrones». Uno al que llamaron Barrabás robó a los soldados unas espuelas y unas mangas, y al propio fray Junípero le hurtaría unos anteojos y la campanilla de sanctus. En todo caso, los españoles llevaban instrucciones de José de Gálvez de «que se castigue con el más severo rigor a cualquiera de ellos que ofenda los habitantes del país sin expresa orden del oficial comandante o que haga a las indias, cuya ofensa no olvidan jamás los naturales del norte de esta península».


Los auténticos pioneros

San Junípero Serra. El franciscano de Petra (Mallorca) fundó la misión de San Diego e impulsó otras 20 en la Alta California.

José de Gálvez. El visitador general de Nueva España, de Macharaviaya (Málaga) organizó la Santa Expedición a la Alta California.

Gaspar de Portolá. Este leridano fue el primer gobernador de California y el responsable de la expedición para poblar el territorio.

La segunda parte de la expedición terrestre, la liderada por Gaspar de Portolá, salió el 11 de mayo de 1769 de Santa María, donde se incorporó fray Junípero Serra procedente de Loreto. Siguieron los pasos de Rivera. En un par de ocasiones, Portolá tuvo que ordenar disparar al aire para que los nativos no impidieran la marcha.

En el caso del franciscano mallorquín, a los padecimientos propios de la expedición añadía las dolencias en una de sus extremidades, aunque no fueron suficientes para frenar al pertinaz religioso, que se hizo aplicar un remedio a base de sebo y hierbas silvestres y siguió adelante. «Salí de la Frontera malísimo de pie y pierna –escribiría al padre Francisco Palou el 3 de julio–, pero obró Dios y cada día me fui aliviando y siguiendo mis jornadas como si tal mal no tuviera. Al presente, el pie queda todo limpio como el otro; pero desde los tobillos hasta media pierna está hecho una llaga, pero sin hinchazón ni más dolor que la comezón que da a ratos».

Portolá, adelantándose al presidente de las misiones, llegó a San Diego el 29 de junio y dos días después lo hacía el religioso balear en medio de gran algazara. El 16 de julio fundó la misión de San Diego de Alcalá. California iniciaba una nueva etapa en su historia.

El actual párroco de la misión basílica de San Diego y por tanto el vigésimo segundo sucesor de fray Junípero, el padre Peter Escalante, destaca en declaraciones a ABC que con este enclave religioso empezaba «la historia escrita de California» y que fue «el primer asentamiento permanente de España en la Alta California, donde se plantaron las primeras semillas, preparando así el terreno para el gran estado agrícola de California, y la primera reunión de personas para establecer el cristianismo».

El padre PeterEl padre Peter - Mission San Diego

En cuanto al tratamiento a los nativos, advierte de la necesidad de «basar la historia en fuentes originales». «Por los escritos, diarios e inventarios, sabemos que el propósito de los españoles era reclamar esta región para España e introducir el cristianismo». Según el padre Escalante, san Junípero Serra «trató a los nativos que venían a la misión como un padre a sus hijos». «Los españoles introdujeron la agricultura en una cultura cazadora y recolectora, el adobe en un pueblo que vivía en cabañas de ramas, la esquila, el tejido de telas y la ganadería donde nunca se habían visto caballos, vacas, ovejas ni cerdos -continúa-. Aunque sufrimos cierta negatividad, mantenemos el legado de los franciscanos acogiendo y dando de comer y beber a todos».

San Junípero Serra y los continuadores de su obra pondrían en marcha 20 misiones más. Las exploraciones navales españolas proseguirían por el Noroeste americano hasta la última década del siglo XVIII, instalándose un fuerte en el puerto de Nutka, frente a la actual isla canadiense de Vancouver, y haciendo ondear la bandera española en las lejanas costas de Alaska.

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante (campce@gmail.com)

Source: https://www.abc.es/cultura/abci-california-borra-espanoles-250-aniversario-inicio-colonizacion-
201907160851_noticia.html?vca=rrss&vmc=abc-es&vso=fb&vli=cm-cultural&fbclid=IwAR3WqAoSla3s
GS47pTr6wArlap-34p6pXM2RGhBlDUB4Kakuf_aidyY_d3E

 

 

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Waterford Upstart
Virtual pre-K for needy - is rural issue

By Nellie Bowles, The New York Times 

 

Fowler: David Cardenas, a mechanic and the mayor of Fowler knows families in his Central Valley town want high-quality and free daylong preschool.  

But options are thin. A government-subsidized program fills up fast and fits only a small fraction of the town's 4-year-olds, he said. A private program that closed a decade ago was unaffordable for many of the 6,500 residents of Fowler, a predominantly Latino community, of agricultural workers southeast or Fresno, California. There are private day cares.

So Cardenas recently seized on an unusual preschool alternative that a group from Utah presented.

Cardenas was referring to a "kindergarten readiness program" for 4-year-olds that takes place almost entirely online. Called Waterford Upstart and run by a nonprofit group, Waterford.org, it has children spend 15 minutes a day, five days a week over the course of nine, months, tapping through lessons on a computer. About 16,000 children in 15 states graduated from the program this year./

This is not a program for the children of the rich, who are generally  enrolled in play-based preschool that last at least several hours. Instead it is geared to lower-income families. 

Online preschools are cheaper than traditional schooling.

Many Democratic presidential contenders have universal pre-kindergarten prominently on their agendas. But the arrival of the digital preschool alternative raises questions about education quality and what exactly preschool is meant to teach. As the economic chasm in the United States grows, those who get access to human interaction is becoming a stark dividing line through every stage of life. "Children who come from families of means have always gone to and still go to terrific quality K programs," said Nancy Carlsson Paige, a co-founder of Defending the Early Years, a nonprofit campaign promoting universal pre-K. "Any program, you see these things, it's kids engaged with teachers, blocks, paints and other kids. It's all these things that everybody knows is quality." Not surprisingly, many early education experts balk at the idea preschool online. Steve Barnett co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, said a preschool program typically developed a child's social and emotional abilities, as well as ingraining lessons like thinking before you act.

"All of that can't be done online,  " he said.

But some advocates and Waterford Upstart argue that an on program is better than the current preschool options available to low-income families, which often ten nothing. Through the program children can learn nursery rhymes and letter sounds from the comfort of their homes, with just a computer. In one lesson, for example, children can listen to a song watch a video about how "gh" is silent in many words. The progrram is free to families that register.

Waterford Upstart says the quality of of its videos is higher than most YouTube content for youngsters.

Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA July 7, 2019

https://www.waterford.org/donate/audacious/?utm_source=Google%20Adwords&utm_medium=PPC&utm_ campaign=Audacious&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3I2VkvW54wIVCL3sCh09fAHQEAAYASAAEgL_2vD_BwE 

https://www.waterfordupstart.org/ 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/online-programs-are-filling-a-preschool-gap-
experts-warn-its-no-substitute-for-face-to-face-learning
 

 

NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES 

Juan Dolores Romero of  Roy, New Mexico by Anne Oldfield 
Becoming a Professional Genealogist
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Juan Dolores Romero of  Roy, New Mexico
by 
Anne Oldfield 
annebronco03@msn.com 

I can’t remember when I discovered Somos Primos online, but it was when I was doing research on my family on ancestor.com.

After  I retired  I decided to do a family ancestor research. I started my search back in early 2000’s, I went though  many sources,  checking the history  of those times,  making sure my information was backed by records.  

As I did my research I checked the history from  the times my ancestors came to what was then New Spain and today it  is North Eastern New Mexico.  I found that my family stayed in that area  from 1598 to around the early 1900’s before some in the family started to move off to other areas  through out the United States. 

In my search I  traced my  Romero linage through Baptism. Birth, Marriage  Death and Military records going back to 1598 when my 11th great grandfather Bartolome Romero and great grandmother Maria de Adeva  came to then New Spain  with Onate under Spain - today  that area where my ancestors  settled  is  North Eastern New Mexico.I have  many,  many records on my Manzanares, Arguello, Rodriguez, and all the rest of my ancestors going back to that time,

I have read many stories in Somos’ Primos about the Spanish being  in the United States going  back before it was the United States.  My familia was and is one of those families. 

The history  of New  Spain  included much of the southern United States  and Mexico,  times when people from many European  countries and other  parts of the world came to New Spain for whatever reasons. 

Mexico got its independence  from Spain  became Mexico and southern United States  became many territories and later states.   

As these families came to this part of the world -  some -  married into the indigenous families,  this is true of so many nationalities  that came to this country.  

How  can anyone  be racist  - just look back into your ancestry  most will find  many nationalities  mixed in the pot :). God created the human race - ONE RACE -  we come  from many nations.   One day everyone will die and answer to GOD. 

Those who came to New Spain -  what is Mexico today - later  migrated  into what is now the United States, some like my family have been in this land of the United States for several hundred years. 

In my family history some came  from Europe, Spain, Israel,  Portugal,  some came through Florida and some though Mexico  - migrated into what is today North Eastern New Mexico.

Sharing here a memory of my oldest brother Juan Dolores Romero and my dad Agustin Marcelino Romero  - Two men I loved deeply.  There  is so much history in my family, like most families history,  it would take a book :) Life story

Agustin Marcelino Romero was born on August 28, 1900, in Mora, New Mexico, his father, Jose Dolores Romero, and his mother, Luiza Manzanares

Augustin married Apolonia Arguello in 1931 in Mosquero, New Mexico. Agustin Marcelino Romero died 1975 in Las Animas Colorado where he is buried next to his wife Apolonia Arguello Romero and two of his sons, Rudulpho Ramon Romero and Gabriel Pacomio Romero

Juan Dolores Romero was born on May 13, 1933, in Roy, New Mexico, his father, Agustin Marcelino Romero, his mother, Apolonia Arguello.  

Juan Dolores  graduated from Roy High School in 1953  went into the Army and served 2 year from 1953 -1955.  Juan retied from the Army National Guard in Las Animas Colorado also retired from Fort Lyon Veteran Hospital as  a licensed occupational therapist after 34 years .  

Juan married Rosemary Gonzales in 1957 in Rocky Ford, Colorado.  They had five children in 13 years of marriage.  

He died on February 11, 2014, in Rocky Ford, Colorado, at the age of 80.  Juan Dolores Romero's aches are spread over the canyon at the Romero ranch which has been in the Romero family since 1934 - the ranch is located in North Eastern New Mexico and it is still owned by the Romero family.

 


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Becoming a Professional Genealogist
https://www.byui.edu/online/certificate-and-degree-programs/family-history-research-aas
 

=================================== ===================================

Genealogy is a rapidly growing industry as countless people around the world seek to learn about their ancestors and family roots. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a world leader in genealogical research for years and BYU-Idaho is excited to have partnered with The Church in developing the courses for this program.

This degree is ideal for those seeking to increase their skills and knowledge in the expanding field of family history research. Students will gain internet and computer research skills and practical experience in research methodologies and client report writing and will learn the fundamental skills needed to become capable family history researchers and to even establish a successful research business.

The coursework in this degree program will give students a solid foundation in family history research and the completion of this degree will start them on the path to obtaining a professional certification or accreditation.

 

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

STUDENTS WITH THIS DEGREE ARE SUITED FOR CAREERS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

  • Genealogy Companies
  • Small Businesses
  • Professional Researcher
  • Educational Institution

The AAS in Family History Research degree can be taken entirely online. Students must complete 17 credits of required Foundations courses, 38 credits of major courses (listed below) plus 5 additional elective credits to reach a total of 60 credits. Students may also choose to do a minor or concentration in Family History Research. Review the course list below or check the University Catalog for specific degree requirements. Check course availability and offerings or contact us today at (208) 496-1800.

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SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES   

Litchfield Elementary School District cements Belen Soto’s legacy by Connor Dziawura
August 20th: Tucson's Official 244th Birthday Fiesta!
How the American West was won ! - It is not how you think
The Butterfield Overland Mail by Mary A. Helmich
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Litchfield Elementary School District cements Belen Soto’s legacy
By Connor Dziawura, Jan 18, 2019
Arizona


Belen Soto Moreno, center, applies the first dollop of mortar to the incoming elementary school’s cornerstone. Also pictured are her husband, Rudy Moreno, left, and Director of Facilities Dan Ensign. 
(West Valley View photos by Pablo Robles)

=================================== ===================================
The Belen Soto Elementary School Storm came one brick closer to its first semester January 9.

That Wednesday morning, Litchfield Elementary School District officials and community members gathered at the K-8 school for the ceremonial cementing and installation of a cornerstone.

Belen Soto Elementary School will begin classes August 5 on 18 acres at 18601 W. Campbell Avenue, Goodyear, just north of Indian School Road and east of Perryville Road, and within the master-planned Sedella community.

Among those who attended the cornerstone celebration were dignitaries and elected officials spanning the Southwest Valley, from Goodyear Mayor Georgia Lord to Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck, Rep.-elect Joanne Osborne, various cities’ council members, various neighboring school districts’ officials and local partnering organizations.

Also present was the 85,000-square-foot school’s namesake, Belen Soto Moreno.

“It’s special because the schools of this nation are the heartbeat of who we are,” said past ASU president Dr. Lattie Coor of the district’s name selection. Coor attended Litchfield High School with Moreno, who was the 1954 valedictorian. Coor was the salutatorian.

“Often it goes to people who make major donations – nothing wrong about that – and it often goes to significant persons, leaders in the district or leaders in general. Having one of the educators who has given her entire life to being an educator is the most special recognition one can have. For Litchfield Elementary, it’s even more special because she’s one of your own.”

Having grown up in Camp 54 of Goodyear Farms, Moreno is the daughter of an irrigation foreman and was the first Mexican-American from the Southwest Valley to graduate college. She earned a teaching degree from Arizona State College at Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona University, and dedicated much of her life thereafter to the youth as a teacher.

“From the very beginning, with our large class of 33, we knew that Belen was somebody very, very special,” remembered Coor, who said he met her as a freshman. “We knew it because she was active, but she also had a purpose in her mind, and that was to be a teacher, to spend her life as a teacher.”

In June, Moreno will celebrate her 60th wedding anniversary with her husband and first-grade sweetheart, Rudy Moreno, with whom she has four children and three great-grandchildren.

“It is a privilege to honor this land and the people who farmed it for generations before I was even around,” said district board member Kimberly Moran.

“As a former valedictorian and educator, Mrs. Moreno’s commitment to education will certainly inspire the incoming students to reach for the stars and achieve the level of proficiency that they are all capable of achieving,” Lord added.

“It is such an honor to be able to name our school and to be able to have met this wonderful family and to hear all of the stories,” Superintendent Jodi Gunning expressed. “It is so critical that we hold onto our history and our legacies.”

Moreno’s awe remains in tact, as she had previously expressed to the West Valley View.

“To tell you the truth, it’s almost unbelievable,” she said in an honorary video presented to attendees. “It’s hard to believe that a dream that I once had ended up like this.”

Upon opening in August, the school - the district’s 16th - will enroll more than 800 students, possibly along with preschool students, said Planning Principal Courtney Frazier.

Frazier called the new two-story, Verrado Heritage-inspired school design “innovative” and new to Litchfield, with flexible classroom seating, a “beautiful” media center, and an overall strategic school design to “increase engagement and motivation.”

The school’s colors are black and green, and its nickname is the Storm.

“We are the Belen Soto Elementary Storm and you’ve heard that, we’ve seen it around here today, and a storm can mean a bunch of things,” Frazier said. “It can mean change, it can mean fresh starts and new beginnings, and for us, though, the Storm really symbolizes the students, the staff, parents and community moving together as one.

“The tighter we are on our purpose and our vision, the stronger our storm will get, the more energy we will create,” continued the former L. Thomas Heck Middle School assistant principal.

“There will be calm in our storm and there will be growth that takes place because of it.”

As the West Valley View previously reported, the project cost is around $15 million and was funded by voter-approved bonds, adjacent ways and other means. Orcutt | Winslow and Chasse Building Team were involved in the project.

Frazier previously said it would be energy efficient, with baseball, softball and soccer fields; a special area building with a gymnasium; music and art rooms; a science lab; a media center; a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) lab with makerspace; and additional space.

She also said the district has a “guaranteed and viable curriculum.”

Dan Ensign, director of facilities, previously compared classroom sizes to those at other campuses and said the school would have a “more open feel” with larger playgrounds and additional outdoor learning spaces, as well as safe routes and improved traffic patterns.

The overall message Frazier offered to the community at the cornerstone celebration capped off with a 65th-anniversary update of Moreno’s valedictorian speech: “The year is 2019 and the future is ours.”

 


 

For more information, visit lesd.k12.az.us/17/home or lesd.k12.az.us/17/Principal, or find Belen Soto Elementary School on Facebook. 
For a video with renderings, visit youtu.be/UALekQwvhWE .  For a video about Belen Soto Moreno, visit youtu.be/XT4FdcFo4tE.

Litchfield Elementary School District, new school
Belen Soto Elementary 
18601 West Campbell Ave
Goodyear, AZ 85395

Sent by Virginia Correa Creager, Ph.D.  Litchfield Park, AZ  drvcreager@aol.com 

https://www.westvalleyview.com/news/litchfield-elementary-school-district-cements-belen-soto-s-legacy/article_c56472f0-
19e1-11e9-b810-4714c8d41984.html
    


 


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Tucson's Official 244th Birthday Fiesta!

Tuesday, August 20 Free Event! Gates open at 4:45 pm
Hosted by the Tucson/Pima County Historical Commission,

Performances by Los Changitos Feos Mariachis, Danzacultura Folklorico, and Gertie and the T.O. Boys playing Waila music

Free birthday cake sponsored by Long Realty and served by El Presidio Histroci Neighborhood neighbors

A happy hour with El Charro taco bar and refreshments for sale (The first 300 city or county employees to show their ID will receive a free happy hour taco!)

Community tables with activities and information from local organizations, such as Mission Gardens, the San Xavier Co-op, the Mexican Consulate and others

Presidio San Agustin del Tucson 196 N. Court Avenue Tucson, AZ 85701

 

 


 

How the American West was won ! - It is not how you think..
Cómo realmente se conquistó el Oeste americano !

Carl Camp campce@gmail.com 

 First won by the Spanish explorers, 
Second patrolled by the Dragones de Cuera from New Spain

 


El Soldado de cuera o Dragón de cuera fue un tipo característico de soldado del Imperio español que ocuparon los presidios de la Nueva España. Su nombre derivaba de la cuera, chaqueta de cuero crudo que llevaban como protección.Historia

Los dragones de cuera diferían del ejército regular español por su contratación y equipamiento. La mayoría eran nacidos en América, normalmente criollos o mestizos. Iban, por supuesto, a caballo y cargaban con un armamento más potente. Mientras un soldado regular español tenía fusil o pica y la espada; los dragones de cuera estaban equipados con lanza y escudo. Además, en lugar de espada ropera o espadín, llevaban la llamada espada ancha, espada típica de la América Española, más corta y apta para punta y corte. Cada Dragón de Cuera tenía seis caballos a su disposición, mientras que un dragón normal solía tener sólo dos.Los requisitos para el alistamiento como Soldado de Cuera consistían en: haber alcanzado los dieciséis años de edad, debía ser de 150 cm de estatura, sano, católico y libre pecados. Reglamentaciones Uniformes 1772 prescriben una chaqueta corta de lana de tela azul con estrechos diferenciales de color rojo y un collar rojo, pantalones azules, una gorra azul, un pañuelo negro, un sombrero con una cinta roja, zapatos y polainas. Cada soldado de cuera también tienen un potro y una mula.Estaban armados con un fusil corto, un par de pistolas, un arco y flechas, una espada corta, una lanza y un escudo de piel de búfalo . 

Estos soldados fronterizos fueron reclutados entre la población criolla, mestiza, indios hispanizados y esclavos liberados. La mayor parte de los oficiales eran criollos. Los soldados de cuera manejaban los presidios que se extendían desde Coahuila y Texas, Nuevo México, Alta California y Baja California.Durante y después de la Guerra anglo-española los dragones desempeñaron un papel importante en los conflictos militares dentro del país como la batalla de Puebla durante la intervención francesa, hasta la revolución mexicana. Una de las marchas militares más conocidas en México es la marcha dragona la única usada actualmente por la caballería y las unidades motorizadas durante el desfile del 16 de septiembre para conmemorar el día de la independencia.Referencias

↑ Bueno, José María (2014), Las Guarniciones de los Presidios de Nueva España: Los Dragones Cuera, Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa. p. 21.Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldado_de_cuerahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldado_de_cuera  

Even Hollywood made a movie about it. 
La lectura cura la peor de las enfermedades humanas, "la ignorancia".
Carl Campos campce@gmail.com 

 


 

Stagecoach drawing from Transportation: Pictorial Archive by J. Harter

THE BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL

By Mary A. Helmich
Interpretation and Education Division
California State Parks, 2008
Download PDF of Article


On September 15, 1857, businessman and financier John Butterfield of Utica, New York won a coveted six-year, $600,000-a-year federal contract to transport mail twice a week between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco in 25 days. At the time, it was the largest land-mail contract ever awarded in the United States, requiring mail deliveries year-round.

Before then, the fastest service across the continent had been provided by the San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line across approximately 1,475 miles of desert and mountains between the two points in about 52 days. (That service had been organized by James Birch and begun months earlier in July and August, 1857.)

In modern terms, what the two stage lines offered in mail delivery could be the contrast between today’s fiber optic network and a dial up computer connection. In the mid-19th century, bringing the continent together by stageline from St. Louis to San Francisco with such unheard of speed elicited wonder and excitement and tremendous pride.

John Butterfield’s line followed the so-called “oxbow route,” skirting the Rocky Mountains and heavy winter snows by traveling south through Texas, the New Mexico Territory, Fort Yuma, near present-day Yuma, Arizona, and Southern California, before rolling on to San Francisco. It bypassed San Diego.

The undertaking was enormous. Butterfield, in association with the principals for Wells, Fargo & Co. (for the American Express Co.), invested more than a million dollars getting the stage line organized. The company had to build or repair roads and bridges, set up and staff about 150 stations, purchase stagecoaches and wagons, as well as buy horses, mules, and feed. Water wells had to be dug and mountain passes cleared. And, there were 800 employees to be hired!

Operation of the 2,800-mile route began on September 15, 1858. The mail went through almost without exception in the 25 days required. However, the lack of water and conflicts with native Indian peoples continually plagued the Overland Mail throughout its existence. Butterfield famously exhorted his employees, “Remember boys, nothing on God’s earth must stop the United States Mail!” (1)

Overland Mail Stage departing for San Francisco

The Overland Mail stage departing for San Francisco, October 23, 1858
From Frank Leslie's Illustrated News

Though the stages had the mail as its first priority, hardy, adventurous passengers were also accepted. Passage over the entire route cost $200. Twenty-five pounds of baggage were allowed, along with two blankets and a canteen. Stages traveled at breakneck speeds, twenty-four hours a day. There were no overnight hotel stops—only hurried intervals at stations where the teams were changed.  Waterman L. Ormsby, a reporter for the New York Herald and the only “through” passenger on the first westbound Butterfield Overland Mail Stage, expressed his opinion of his experiences over the 2,812-mile journey upon his arrival in San Francisco in 1858,   “Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I know what Hell is like. I’ve just had 24 days of it.” (2)

 

Loading passengers in San Francisco

Loading passengers in San Francisco
From Harper's Weekly, December 11, 1858


Operation of a section of Butterfield’s route between Fort Yuma and Vallecitos duplicated part of the San Antonio and Antonio and San Diego Mail Line’s run. When the San Diego run did not continue to produce the expected revenue, it was halted.  Short line stage companies began coordinating service with the Butterfield Stage. For example, passengers traveling on the Butterfield line who wanted to go to San Diego, used a shuttle stage service. Thornton Boulter described it in an article published in the San Diego Union on April 8, 1934:

Overland travelers who booked passage to San Diego on the Butterfield line left the Stage Coach at Warner’s Ranch and traveled a shuttle line that wound down into Santa Isabel, then to Rincon, through San Pasqual Valley, into Poway, over the mesa to San Dieguito Valley, and then back of what is now Del Mar, through Sorrento Valley and up Rose Canyon and on into Old Town.  (3)

Central Overland California Route

Competition to Butterfield’s line was mounted by William Russell, William Waddell, and Alexander Majors in 1860 in the form of the Pony Express. It began relay operations along a central/northern route. While it succeeded in delivering the mail within 10 days time between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, the company failed to get the U.S. mail contract and became enmeshed in debt. (4)  However, the Pony Express did succeed in proving to the postal service the advantages of using a central route over the longer “oxbow route.”

In March 1860 with debts mounting for the stage line’s upkeep and repairs, Wells, Fargo and Co. (which held several unsettled loans) took control of the Butterfield Overland Stage Company from John Butterfield, forcing him out as president. Congress ordered the southern route discontinued and the service transferred to the central course at the beginning of the Civil War on March 12, 1861. (5)  The contract directed mail stages to travel through Nebraska, South Pass and Salt Lake City and designated the line the “Central Overland California Route.” (6)

 

Crossing the Rockies

An Overland Mail stage crossing the Rockies
From Harper's Weekly, February 8, 1868

The last Butterfield stage on the Oxbow run occurred March 21, 1861 with service ceasing June 30, 1861. The stock and coaches along the southern route were moved north for the new line. It took about three months to transfer them and to build new stations, and to secure hay and grain for the operation of the six-times-a-week mail line. (7)

While the western end of the Central Overland California Route was controlled by Wells, Fargo and Co., the eastern end of the route was taken over by Ben Holladay, who called his line the Holladay Overland and Express Company. (8) Packages and mail on Holliday’s stage line were delivered to his terminus at Salt Lake City then further carried westward in Wells, Fargo’s charge. (9) Hard feelings mounted between the two operators. Holladay disliked collaboration and Wells, Fargo became infuriated by his high rates and the poor care of his equipment and animals. (10) Holladay’s abrupt sale of his line to Wells, Fargo in 1866, enabled the company to have a long-distance stagecoach and mail service monopoly, until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

 

Butterfield Overland Stations in California


(1)   David Nevin, Time-Life Books Eds., The Expressmen, The Old West, Time-Life Books, New York, 1974. P. 32.
(2)   Waterman L. Ormsby, The Butterfield Overland Mail: Only Through Passenger on the First Westbound Stage. Edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, University of California Press, 1991.
(3)   Kenhelm W. Stott, “Stage Coach Operations in San Diego and Imperial Counties, 1857-1874.” Ms. San Diego State College, 1950. On file in the Research Archives, San Diego Historical Society. P. 30. 
(4)   Nevin, The Expressmen. Pp. 100-108.
(5)   W. Eugene Hollon, “Great Days of the Overland Stage,” American Heritage Magazine, June 1957, Vol. 8, No. 4.
(6)   Frank Root and William Elsey Connelley, The Overland Stage to California. Crane & Co., Topeka, Kansas, 1901. P. 42.
(7)   Ibid.
(8)   Nevin, The Expressmen. P. 209.
(9)   Ibid.
(10) Ibid.

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25444

Sent by Robert Smith 
 pleiku196970@icloud.com 

 

 


TEXAS

Los Tequileros featured in Duval County presentation
This Week in Duval County History, July 15-21 Murder Trail of Lawmen Results in Deadlock Jury
This Week in Duva County History, July 22-29 
Church fair, Beggers and Prostitutes in the News

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Los Tequileros featured in Duval County presentation


The era of the tequileros during Prohibition played an important role in Duval County. 
As the well-known corrido says very clearly “el rumbo que ellos llevaban era San Diego mentado!”

=================================== ===================================


        Dr. George T. Diaz


Carolina Monsivais

Dr. George T. Diaz:  It is a seriously unreported era. The group La Santa Cruz de la Concepcion Tejanos will have a presentation on this topic on Saturday, August 10, 2019, beginning at 1 p.m. on the second floor of the Duval County Courthouse. Dr. George T. Diaz professor and author will be the featured speaker. His topic will be “Los Tequileros of South Texas, The Duval County Connection.”

Diaz, who earned his Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University in 2010, is a professor of history at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville. In addition to numerous pieces in scholarly journals, Diaz also authored Border Contraband: A History of Smuggling Across the Rio Grandeavailable at Amazon (see link at end of the blog.)

Carolina Monsivais: In addition to Diaz, Carolina Monsivais will present on the topic “Skirting the Law, Female Liquor Smugglers, and Sellers Through Prohibition Along the Rio Grande.” She is currently working on her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at El Paso in their Borderlands History Program. A poet, she authored Elisa’s Hunger,  where “tongues unfold across generations.” Monsivais also wrote Somewhere Between Houston and El Paso for which she won the Poesia Tejana Prize.

Monsivais has a Masters of Fine Arts from New Mexico State University and has taught Literature and Creative Writing at New Mexico State University and at El Paso Community College. She is a native of El Paso where she makes her home.

Admission free. Information: Richard Stillman at (361) 960-4950 or J.R. Garcia at (361) 946-9500.
Sent by Alfredo Cardenas  https://www.soydeduval.com/ 
https://www.soydeduval.com/2019/07/los-tequileros-featured-in-duval-county-presentation/ 

 


This Week in Duval County History, July 15-21

July 15   W.B. Croft donates funds for new Episcopal Church
A new brick sanctuary was dedicated at San Diego by Episcopal Bishop James Steptoe Johnston of San Antonio. A choir of 15 left Corpus Christi on the train to San Diego and 12 more people joined them in Alice. A large group met the train, despite sporadic rainfall as church bells rang out. The church was packed to capacity. Mrs. Jacobs, the church organist, played the Voluntary as the choir led Bishop Johnston and Revs. A. J. Holworthy and Samuel Thulin into the church. At the end of the hour-long services, Rev. Holworthy preached and paid tribute to W.B. Croft and his sister who donated money to build the church. The newspaper account indicated that the Episcopal church was often thought of as a “rich man’s church”. “Today, thank God, this reproach has been removed from the jurisdiction by the consecration of this beautiful building, so complete in all its appointments, the gift of one man and he was not a rich man, as ordinarily, men use that term, to the memory of God and in honor of his beloved parents,” Rev. Holsworth said. The Bishop confirmed three children and gave communion to 37.  
Corpus Christi Caller
, July  20, 1900

July 16  Rock Quarry takes shape
John Hardy, who was in charge of the rock quarry being developed near Benavides to extract rock for the Aransas Pass Harbor, came to the area to begin developing the site. He expected to take out 7,000 tons of rock. The project would use six steam engines for drilling with each engine having its own wagon of powder and dynamite. Hardy brought a supply of Army tents for use by workers until homes could be built from lumber. Before long it was expected that a new town would spring up.   
The Brownsville Daily Herald
, July 16, 1895

July 17  “Mexicans” organizing for elections
The Corpus Christi Caller reported that Mexican Americans in Duval County held a “political meeting…at the Garfield House to permanently organize for November elections.” They planned to recruit Mexican American candidates for every county office. The gathering gave pause to the “Americans” who stood outside the meeting place “listening to speeches”. Many Mexican Americans from the area, including Starr County, attended the meeting. Another meeting was planned for Concepcion where candidates would be nominated. “There is dissatisfaction among Mexican citizens on the management of county and public affairs in Duval County,” the Caller reported. The correspondent believed that the Mexicans were making a “grievous error. No one should be led by a demagogue or political sorehead…Americans have never banded together to deprive Mexicans of holding office or voting. A voter that can be bought or sold is not trusted by either party,” the correspondent opined. Corpus Christi Caller, July 21, 1888

July 18 Injunction dissolved
Judge Russell dissolved an injunction in the case of C.C. Lewis and others against Sheriff Wright and others of Duval County. It allowed the sheriff to execute an order of sale issued by a court in Bexar County against Francisco Cardena of Duval County for 15,000 acres, 7,000 head of sheep and 10,000 head of cattle.   Dallas Morning News, July 19, 1889

July 19 Jury deadlocks in the murder trial of law enforcement officers
A Duval County jury deadlocked with eleven for conviction and one holding out for not guilty, in a case against A. Dillard and Victor Sebree for the Starr County murder of Abran Resendez. Members of the jury included Alfred Ridder, Charles Adami, W.W. Meek, John Buckley, William Utley, C. Tibilier, B. Miret, W.C. Douglas, Harry Reynolds, F.D. Perrenot, Dan Murray, and Archie Parr. District Attorney, D. McNeil Turner, assisted by Mac Anderson, argued for the state. James B. Wells, J.R. Monroe, and R.W. Stayton represented the accused.

Resendez was killed in Rio Grande City on May 16, 1888. At the time of the killing, he was a member of the grand jury and mail contractor between Rio Grande City and Roma. He was a suspect in a robbery but authorities on both sides of the border were keeping quiet in hope of getting names of others involved. He was arrested and placed in the sheriff’s office where he was killed.

Dillard was a Texas Ranger detailed to Sheriff Shelly on a special matter. Sebree had been a river guard for two years. They were escorting Resendez to a jail cell, which was being opened by the sheriff. Resendez supposedly “resisted and attempted to escape; he was fired upon and killed.” The defendants admitted to killing Resendez but claimed they did so to prevent an escape. The defense claimed the jury could only convict the two of murder in the second degree. 

The courthouse was overflowing during the trial. Defense attorney Monroe displayed too much prejudice to suit the district attorney.  Wells made the closing argument for over an hour. After his closing, it appeared on the jury’s faces as if the verdict would be not guilty. Anderson countered strongly. 
Corpus Christi Caller
, July 21, 1888

July 20 
San Diego gets new cotton gin
A second gin and mill was going up in San Diego and was quite a sight as one entered town coming from Benavides. H.S. Glover was also starting gin in Benavides. Laredo Daily Times, July 23, 1889

July 21 
Freer gets Post Office
A Post Office opened in Freer on July 21, 1927, with Mrs. C.W. “Minnie” Freer as postmaster. Freer was also known as Government Wells and Rosita Valley. The post office application was made under Government Wells.
Texas Post Offices

 

 

 

July 22 Descendants of early San Diego land grants affirmed as owners by the Mexican government
On July 22, 1831, the descendants of Julian and Ventura Flores were placed in actual possession of the San Diego de Arriba and San Diego de Abajo land grants which originated under the Spanish Government and were perfected under articles 23 and 26 of Decree No. 42 being the Colonization Law of Tamaulipas. On that same day, Rafael Garcia Salinas was placed in actual possession of the San Leandro Grant under the same laws. Each grant was comprised of four leagues of land.  General Land Office

July 23 Cotton, vegetables and fruit crops blossom in Duval County
July 23, 1889 – The new gin in San Diego was almost finished but machinery had not arrived. Cotton picking had started and the first bale had been ginned at the Barkman gin and shipped to Galveston. Farmers were expecting four times the cotton production from the previous year. Cotton, vegetables, and fruit were widely grown in Duval County.  Laredo Daily Times, July 24, 1889

July 24  Collins Estate partitioned
The Anna Collins Estate worth more than $1 million, the richest in Southwest Texas, was partitioned. Heirs included Lizzie Singer, Anna Bagnac, R. Schallert from Corpus Christi; Mary J. Luby (wife of James Luby) and Charles Hoffman, from San Diego; Sophie Bodet, Liddie Robicheaux and A. J. Ridder of San Antonio. Surveyor Charles Blucher was working on properties in Corpus Christ and San Diego, Nueces and Duval Counties.  Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, July 24, 1908

July 25  Results of 1915 Texas Constitutional Amendments election
An election was held on July 1915 to amend the Texas Constitution. Interestingly, statewide all proposals failed by large margins. In Duval County voting in San Diego and Benavides were diametrically opposed. Prop 1, which called for “Empowering legislature to authorize property taxes for authorized purposes. Allowing local government bond issues and lending of credit for reclaiming and improving certain wetlands,” received the most votes. San Diego opposed the amendment by 68 against and 13 for. In Benavides 218 voted in favor and only 4 opposed. San Diego voted for the remaining amendments by a margin of 78 to 2 while Benavides voted them down 218 to 2. It is not clear why the two communities voted opposite of each other, but at that time San Diego still had a number of Republican-leaning voters while Archie Parr was already in clear control in Benavides.  Corpus Christi Caller  & Daily Herald, July 25, 1915

July 26 Water that burns
One mile east of Benavides in the Piedras Pintas Creek which is dry most of the year, except here and there where water is kept alive probably by springs. Near where it is bridged and crossed by the Texas Mexican Railroad is a pool which is never dry. It tastes strongly of sulfur. It is said that a piece of loose cotton can be dragged lightly over its surface and a lighted match is turned to it, it will burn brightly with blue flame-like coal oil. Some think it is a kerosene reservoir but no careful investigation has been made. There must be millions in it. A good oil well would be a bonanza to the owner.  
Corpus Christi Call
er, July 26, 1885

July 27  Gray convicted by Laredo Jury
Richard Gray was convicted in Laredo for committing an “unnatural act” (rape) on a change of venue from Duval County. He was given 10 years. Caldwell News-Chronicle, July 27, 1900

Laredo attorney W. McNeil, meanwhile, returned from San Diego where he had been assisting the state in the examining trial of Luther Gillette, who was charged with the murder of Dep. Sheriff McNeil at San Diego the previous month. Bail was set at $8,000.  Corpus Christi Caller, July 27, 1900

July 28  Church fair, beggars and prostitutes in the news
July 28, 1887 – The church (article did not indicate which church) fair was a success taking in $100. On the program was the vocal duet of Hays Dix and his sister, Mrs. Sutherland; a vocal comic duet by Dix and Coyner; a piano duet by Misses Croft and Garcia; a vocal solo by Mrs. Jarvis of Canada; and an instrumental solo by Lillie Ridder. After the fair young people hired music and went to another house and danced until the early hours of the morning.

In court action, the Grand Jury returned 26 true bills and the petit jury returned 11 convictions and one acquittal. E.N. Gray, Julian Palacios, and George Bodet formed jury commissioners to select petit and grand jury for next term. Frank Feuille was becoming a popular defense attorney.

The previous Saturday, six dances were well attended in San Diego. Music, as well as partners, were in demand. The Confederate Flag, the meeting of the G.A.R. at St. Louis, Runge’s cotton corner and failure and even prohibition fails to excite people much. Rev. S. Trefonio, a Mexican minister, spoke in Spanish on the Plaza in favor of prohibition to a small crowd and did not get much enthusiasm. The general impression was that he did his cause more harm than good.

Beggars – vagrants – infest San Diego streets daily; one especially, an old man with a staff, goes to every house with a bag and feeds two or three prostitutes with what he begs from good-hearted matrons. He wants money but will take what he can get.  Corpus Christi Caller, July 30, 1887

 

 

MIDDLE AMERICA

Natchitoches Colonials, a Source Book: Censuses, Military Rolls & Tax Lists, 1722-1803
Atlanta Police Arrest Single Mother,  Then Change her Life for the Better

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Natchitoches Colonials, a Source Book: Censuses, Military Rolls & Tax Lists, 1722-1803
Elizabeth Shown Mills & Ellie Lennon

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The Frontier outpose of Natchitoches was the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, having been built by France along the Texas border as a buffer against Spanish and Indian aggression.  It later became the hub of colonial trade with the Southwestern tribes and alter the gateway to the west for Americans seeking new land after the American Revolution. The work brings together an astounding number of censuses, tax lists, and muster rolls for citizen soldiers and regular troops gleaned from archives in France, Spain, Cuba, and Mexico, as well as the U.S.

234 pp. indexed paper, # 3884, $27.50
www.genealogical.com

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Atlanta Police Arrest Single Mother,  
Then Changes her Life for the Better

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It seemed Ebony Rhodes’ life could not get worse. Her two jobs did not provide enough money to rent a home so she, along with her four children, lived and slept in her old car. Her youngest child battled Lupus, one of her sons needed treatment for serious burns and the four children regularly missed school due to their unstable situation. Surprisingly, her recent arrest by the Atlanta Police Department didn’t completely ruin her family’s life. Instead, it totally transformed it.

Ebony Rhodes was pulled over by an Atlanta police officer for driving with an expired tag and was then arrested when it was discovered she had a suspended license and no insurance. When the officer who arrested Ebony discovered that Ebony and her children were in fact living out of the car, she immediately told deputy chief Jeff Glazier and other officers about this family’s sad plight.

Upon hearing the news, Jeff, a dedicated Christian, decided to take immediate action. He began calling shelters and by a miracle found one that had room for the entire family. This was no small feat given the fact that Atlanta shelters rarely have room for large families in the winter; in fact, Ebony had called a number of shelters seeking a place to stay and was told that her only option was for her family to split up between two different places.

Jeff’s simple act of kindness in helping Ebony find a place to stay with her children touched her deeply; however, it was just the beginning of an outpouring of kindness from the police department and the entire community.

Ebony didn’t know it at the time, but Jeff Glazier had far more in mind than simply providing a needy family with temporary shelter. Realizing that living out of a homeless shelter is not a long-term solution for a single parent with children who need medical care and attention, Jeff and other police officers helped Ebony rent an apartment for her family.

The police department then started a GoFundMe campaign for Ebony so that she would have savings to fall back on if she cannot work due to ongoing health problems. The campaign has raised over $59,000 to date, providing Ebony with funds needs for rent, transportation, medicine and food so she and her family are not at risk of becoming homeless once again.

Ebony Rhodes still faces challenges. Her daughter, who has Lupus, is also partially blind in one eye. One son has both asthma and a number of developmental challenges. Another son juggles high school and work in order to contribute to the family’s finances.

At the same time, Ebony has health challenges of her own. While she has held down a number of jobs to support her family, she frequently has to take time off work. When this happens, she doesn’t have benefits to fall back on and she doesn’t get paid.

Even so, her life has drastically changed for the better. Her four children are able to attend school regularly and are all studying hard. Ebony has a job as an assistant manager of a fast food restaurant. Best of all, she also has a circle of friends she can depend on when the going gets rough. She is no longer a single mom trying to eke out a living for her family on her own. She recently noted that the Atlanta Police Department has become like family to her and her children due to many officers’ care and dedication to seeing her succeed long-term.

As Deputy Chief Jeff Glazier recently noted, whatever we do for the least of these, we do to Jesus. Recent statistics show that there are over 176,000 homeless people living in the United States. While many of these individuals live in shelters, tens of thousands are living out of their cars. Parents like Ebony stay up all night watching over sleeping children and their belongings, wondering what the next day will bring and hoping they will someday be able to find a way out.

While changing the life of one single mom and her four children may seem small considering the vast need, it’s a great place to start. This story is a touching reminder of what a small group of caring people can do when stepping beyond obligations to help a needy individual with his or her struggles.

~ Christian Patriot Daily
https://www.theravive.com/today/post/trafficked-children-are-among-those-at-the-us-mexican-border-0003245.aspx
 

 

 

 


AFRICAN-AMERICAN

John James running for office in Michigan
Nelson Mandela Capture Site
Black Truths Matter
Father of Kamala Harris Says Her Ancestors Owned Slaves by Cassandra Fairbanks
Data on African-Americans soldiers serving the military
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John James running for office in Michigan

At the age of 17, I dedicated my life to service. I worked my way through West Point and became an Army Ranger. 

Then, I spent eight years in uniform and more than 750 hours in the air piloting and commanding Apache helicopter platoons, including flying missions over Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. I wanted to fly Apaches because I wanted to take the fight to the enemy. 

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When I returned home, I took over my family’s business and raised revenue by millions. But more importantly, I created jobs in my community and around the country, and kept American jobs in America.Donate to keep American jobs in America

I was building our local economy and spending precious time with my beautiful wife and energetic young boys, but the call to service continued to ring in my ears. 


It became clear that the federal government had forgotten many people in my community. As the mainstream media talked of financial recovery, I saw family, friends, and neighbors still struggling economically. Washington isn’t listening to us – that’s why I’m running for Senate.

My conservative ideals are and always will be steadfast.

I am:100% pro-life

100% pro-Second Amendment

Guided by my Christian faith and commitment to my family

A conservative outsider who wants to take back Washington from the establishment. 

Most D.C. politicians have never created a job, never signed a paycheck, never had to worry about making payroll for their employees, never had to deal with tax increases and ridiculous regulations dreamed up by faraway D.C. politicians and bureaucrats. 



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On this day July 18th, 1918,  the iconic Nelson Mandela was born. One of the greatest leaders of our time, he will always be remembered for his wisdom and desire for human justice who led with compassion, forgiveness and an open heart. Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

I had the privilege to be in South Africa in 1995 on his 77th birthday which was a very festive day and today is International Nelson Mandela Day.

In 2017, along with Louise, we went back to South Africa for the most remarkable trip of our lives. One of the most amazing places we visited was the Mandela Capture Site near Pietermaritzburg. On August 5, 1962, Mandela was captured and spent the next 27 years behind bars. On the 50th anniversary of this sad event the artist Marco Cianfanelli created the Nelson Mandela Capture sculpture that is comprise of 50 steel columns, each one is 31 feet tall. The only place you can see Mandela image is where we are standing and it is breathtaking!

"Racism is a blight on the human conscience. The idea that any people can be inferior to another, to the point where those who consider themselves superior define and treat the rest as subhuman, denies the humanity even of those who elevate themselves to the status of gods."  ~ Nelson Mandela

Howard Shorr 
hjshorr@gmail.com 



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Black Truths Matter

L.A. REBELLION

FILMMAKER CHARLES BURNETT '69, M.F.A. 77

Burnett grew up in Watts, in South Los Angeles. "Down­town Watts was a mecca back then," Burnett recalled in UCLA Magazine. "You had black businesses all over. It was like being in Harlem. It was a really fun place."

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However, by the time Burnett enrolled at UCLA in 1967, his community had changed. Watts was the scene of the most iconic of urban riots that roiled American cities during the Civil Rights era. 

 

 

Burnett was soft-spoken and gentlemanly, hardly the image of a revolutionary. And yet he became arguably the most visible member of L.A. Rebellion, a small group of African-American and African student film-makers who arrived at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television in the early 1960s. The most widely known  L.A. Rebellion film is Burnett's Killer of Sheep, the story of a physically and emotionally exhausted slaughterhouse worker and his family who try to live with dignity amid crushing poverty.

The group also included Haile Gerima '72, M.F.A. '76 (Bush Mama), Larry dark M.F.A. '81 (Passing Through), Billy Woodberry M.F.A, '82 (Btess Their Little Hearts), Ben Caldwell M.F.A. '77 (/ and I), Alile Sharon Larkin M.F.A. '82 (A Different Image), Julie Dash M.F.A. '85 (Daughters of the Dust) and Jamaa Fanaka '73, M.F.A. '79 (We/come Home, Brother Charles).

These storytellers didn't see their stories and experiences on the screen, particularly in the popular "blaxploitation" Hollywood studio films that were being marketed to urban African-American audiences. The filmmakers set out to tell stories that reflected their lives and communities.

Burnett's masterpiece is regarded as one of the most significant first features in American cinema. Many of the group's other works made history but never made it to mainstream American theaters.

Says UCLA Film & Television Archive director Jan-Christopher Horak, "To my knowledge, it is the only movement of filmmakers that has come out of a film school."

UCLA magazine, May 2019

 


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Father of Kamala Harris Says Her Ancestors Owned Slaves

Editor Mimi:  What I find interesting is that President Obama, Kamala Harris, and her father Donald Harris were all descendents of slave owners, and became very successful.  It shows integration in the United States did and is succeeding.   

The father of Kamala Harris detailed how their ancestors owned slaves, an inconvenient part of her history as she has spent much of her campaign focusing on race politics.

The Democrats have been up in arms about an NBC News report that detailed how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers owned slaves in Alabama in the 1800s.

Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor and father of 2020 Democrat candidate, wrote about how they are descendant of an Irishman who owned a slave plantation in Jamaica in a piece titled “Reflections of a Jamaican Father.”

“My roots go back, within my lifetime, to my paternal grandmother Miss Chrishy (née Christiana Brown, descendant of Hamilton Brown who is on record as plantation and slave owner and founder of Brown’s Town),” Mr. Harris wrote in his article for Jamaica Global.

The Free Beacon reports that “a research archive of Jamaican records indicate that at one point in 1817, Hamilton Brown owned scores of slaves. The majority were brought in from Africa, though he also owned many Creole slaves.”

Harris has been pushing for “some form of reparations for black people,” saying that “we have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities.” Apparently, she should be looking into the history of her own family.

McConnell has responded to the reports about his ancestors by pointing out that the family of former President Barack Obama also owned slaves.

“You know, I find myself once again in the same position as President Obama,” McConnell said. “We both oppose reparations, and we both are the descendants of slaveholders.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/father-of-kamala-harris-says-her-ancestors-owned-slaves/ 




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Ask Smithsonian:  Your Question answered by our Experts, July/August issue


Question: How many African-American soldiers served in the Revolution? 
In the Civil War?
In all American wars combined? 

Answer: African-Americans have served in every American war, but pre-Civil War numbers are inexact.  During the Revolution, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 black soldiers fought for the Colonies, and an uncertain number fought for the British. During the Civil War, more than 179,000 served in the Union Army and 20,000 to 30,000 in the Union Navy. Estimates for earlier conflicts, such as the War of 1812 and the Mexican- American War, are soft, so it would take a herculean effort to come up with a precise total. 

Anyone bold enough to try might start with the National Archives database at 
http://www
.archives.gov/research/ military.

 

 

INDIGENOUS

Native faces of América, from Alaska to Patagonia 
Spaniards found East Texas mission
Lamar expresses good will to Chief Colita


Native faces of América, from Alaska to Patagonia 



Editor Mimi: I am amazed that the artist who matched up these carved stone faces with living people was able to do it. I especially like this bottom photo in the middle, the youth's smile seems amused with us.
"We've always been here"



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On This Day: 
Texas State Historical Association 

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July 9th, 1716 -- Spaniards found East Texas mission

On this day in 1716, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches Mission was founded by the Domingo Ramón expedition in a village of the Nacogdoches Indians. Father Antonio Margil de Jesús was in charge of the mission, which was abandoned temporarily in 1719 and became the first Zacatecan mission to be restored by the Marqués de Aguayo in 1721. Although the Nacogdoches mission was generally unsuccessful in its goal of converting the local Indians, it provided an important presence to offset French influence. It was permanently abandoned in 1773. In 1779 the deserted buildings formed the nucleus for the settlement of Nacogdoches.

 

 

 

July 9th, 1839 -- Lamar expresses good will to Chief Colita

On this day in 1839, Mirabeau B. Lamar, president of the Republic of Texas, wrote to Colita, chief of the Coushatta Indians, expressing regret that conflicts had occurred between the Indians and white settlers. The event is notable because it marked a sharp divergence from Lamar's general Indian policy. Unlike Sam Houston, whose administration had attempted to conciliate the Indians--especially Houston's "own" tribe, the Cherokees--Lamar thought that the Indians should be either exterminated or driven from Texas. This animus helped to bring about several of the most serious clashes between Indians and whites in early Texas. Lamar's proffer of friendship toward the Alabamas and Coushattas was therefore a striking exception to his usual policy. Perhaps he was remembering how these East Texas Indians had helped the white settlers to escape from the Mexican army in the Runaway Scrape (1836). In any case, Lamar offered land to the Alabamas and Coushattas and appointed Joseph Lindley as a mediator between the Indians and the settlers. The gesture turned out to be futile, however, for when the Indians saw their land being marked off, they assumed it was for white settlers and abandoned the area; whereupon white settlers took the land.

SEPHARDIC

Our Culinary Mexican Heritage Rooted in Spanish Jewish Culture by  Susan Barocas
Book: “There Were Once Jews Here” by Lucette Lagnado

Film," Nobody Wants Us"
"Pay for Slay" 

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Our Culinary Mexican Heritage Rooted in Spanish Jewish Culture
 by  Susan Barocas


So many Mexican dishes that my blessed mother prepared and that I have enjoyed all my life and continue to enjoy came from the Sephardim, and not too many people know this cultural and culinary fact. My blessed mother was from Veracruz, Mexico. This is a lengthy article that was sent to me by a good friend. It is highly elucidating and instructive, so get comfortable, and enjoy it.

Gilberto
JQUEZADA@satx.rr.com

Susan Barocas is passionate about family, friends, food and film. She is a writer, caterer, speaker and teacher of cooking to all ages. She helped launch the Jewish Food Experience® as its first project director following several years as director of the Washington Jewish Film Festival. A member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, Susan writes, teaches and talks about food as well as catering and organizing special events.  When not in the kitchen, Susan writes and produces documentary film and consults with film festivals.  https://jewishfoodexperience.com/author/susanb/ 

Today, when we eat a sopapilla in a Mexican restaurant, enjoy a slice of sponge cake or an almond cookie, or share Spanish tapas with friends, we don’t recognize that these and other dishes can be traced back through centuries to Spain’s medieval Jews and the recipes that Spanish Jewish women carried when they fled religious persecution, scattering over much of the known world. Like generations and generations of women before and since, we know very few of their names. Still, we prepare and eat food we can trace to the dishes these women in medieval Spain made either daily or for Shabbat and for holiday celebrations. Via mothers and daughters, mistresses and maids, the foods of the original Sephardim have endured for hundreds of years, and have influenced cuisines around the world.

This knowledge has special meaning to me. I am descended from these Jewish women of Spain, and I think of them often, especially when I’m cooking. Now it’s time our culinary precursors get the recognition their foods warrant—even if the cooks themselves must remain unavoidably anonymous.

For me, when I first got interested in knowing more about Sephardic food, it wasn’t at all a women’s story. For me, the knowledge came through my father, and the foods he brought to our family from his parents.

Growing up in Denver in the 1950s and ’60s, the only Sephardic food I knew was what my father cooked at home. (See Lilith, spring 2017, for my early cooking experiences.) There were no Sephardic cookbooks around, and my mother’s food was strictly Ashkenazic. But from my Poppi, whose parents emigrated from places in the Ottoman Empire that are now part of Turkey and Macedonia, I learned to cook lentils, fassoulya, yaprakas (also known as dolmas, stuffed grape leaves), and his favorite sponge cake. I learned to love cooking not just with the garlic my father grew, but also with onions, leeks and eggplants.

I don’t remember even seeing a leek or eggplant in my friends’ homes back then, much less seeing any other father who cooked. Food at home was the realm of women. Yet, outside of our homes, all the real chefs I knew were male—from Chef Boyardee with his picture on those labels to every restaurant chef my dad befriended in pursuit of his not-so-secret desire to own a restaurant someday. The important cooking, the cooking that mattered beyond survival, seemed to be done by men.

When I moved to New York in the late 1980s, I started to explore my Sephardic heritage and to learn more about the history, culture and the wonderful variety of Sephardic cuisines. I read books and took classes in Ladino. I became active in Sephardic organizations and met women who cooked all kinds of Sephardic foods, women from Turkey, Greece, Italy, Syria, Morocco, Mexico, Yemen, Israel, Argentina and more. I found cookbooks with written recipes for Sephardic dishes, compiled, I was surprised to see, starting in the 1970s by sisterhoods of synagogues in Atlanta (The Sephardic Cooks, Congregation Or VeShalom, 1971), Los Angeles (Cooking the Sephardic Way, Temple Tifereth Israel, 1971) and elsewhere. I sometimes attended Manhattan’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, where I heard my father’s Ladino being spoken and met Gilda Angel, whose 1986 Sephardic Holiday Cooking: Recipes and Traditions has become a classic.

Through the foods of these contemporary American women, I started to find my way to the Jewish women and food of medieval Spain. It was obvious in the synagogue cookbooks that there were recipes for similar foods submitted by women from many different countries: huevos haminados, the long-cooked hard boiled eggs, and quajado (sfongato) a baked dish usually with leeks, eggplants, Swiss chard and/or spinach bound together with eggs. There were rings of shortbread-like cookies called biscochos by Jews of Turkey, Greece and Mexico, and crispy friedbimuelos or loukomades drizzled with honey syrup, or with rose or orange water. Even with different names and some variations, the dishes were clearly connected by ingredients, process and even by the occasions on which they were served, if the recipe authors provided the foods’ social history.

The more I found out, the more it seemed to me that no Jews were ever more marked by the food they grew, cooked, served and ate than the Jews of Spain. This was food closely related to a history that twisted and turned from persecution to prosperity and back again many times, according to who ruled Spain—in simplest terms, whether rulers were Christians or Muslims. Jews first settled in the Iberian Peninsula around 250 B.C.E., where they lived under the control of the Visigoths and the Holy Roman Empire. The early Catholic Church ostracized Jews from the larger Spanish community through decrees that included refusing communion to any cleric or layperson who ate with a Jew. Worse yet, in 613 C.E., nearly 900 years before the well-known expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal, the Church ordered Jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. Some managed to survive as Jews, but many did leave or became Spain’s first “secret Jews.”

The conquest of nearly all of Iberia in 711 by the Islamic Arab and Moorish army from northern Africa ushered in what we fondly remember as the “Golden Age of Spain,” for most of four centuries a time of Jewish renaissance. Spain became the center of Jewish life and religion, with more Jews––probably around half a million at the peak––living in Iberia than in any other place in the world. Synagogues and schools were built. Kosher butchers and other Jewish stores lined the streets in Toledo and other cities.

During these centuries, when Jews enjoyed freedom of movement and socialization, Jewish and Muslim women often visited in each other’s homes, sharing food and recipes. Jews incorporated and adapted ingredients and spices brought to Iberia from northern Africa with the Moors. They began cooking with seasonings like saffron, caraway and capers as well as with rose and orange waters. Rice and artichokes found their way onto Jewish tables.

Homes had gardens where women grew the leeks, eggplant and chard favored by Jews, along with lettuce, lavender, purslane, edible flowers, radishes, parsley, cilantro, fennel, garlic, citron leaves, mint, thyme and the bitter herb called rue. Vinegar made from leftover wine was combined with olive oil for dressings. Often verduras, cooked green vegetables, were sprinkled with the wine vinegar. Honey, almonds and pine nuts were favorite ingredients along with spices like cinnamon, cloves, cumin, ginger and nutmeg.

The chickpeas, garlic and onions that are so important in Sephardic dishes were considered lower-class foods and were not found in many Christian or Muslim recipes. Yet chickpeas, grown in Iberia since the days of the Romans, were an important source of protein, especially when there were problems getting kosher meat.

What differentiated Jewish cuisine from that of their neighbors in medieval Spain was much the same for Jews throughout history: how meat was prepared so that it was kosher; how unkosher foods were avoided, including fish without scales and the pork so beloved by Christian Spaniards; the separation of meat and milk; and special foods for the observance of the Sabbath and festivals.

These special food traditions included snacking on cold appetizers and small dishes called “mezé” during Jewish family gatherings for Shabbat and holidays. Some common Sephardic hors d’oeuvres were cheese dumplings, yogurt soup, fried pumpkin, simple salads with fresh ingredients from home gardens, olives, pickled and preserved fish such as anchovies in vinegar. Many of these are still popular today. This Sephardic tradition influenced the famous Spanish custom of tapas, dining on small appetizers, that became particularly popular on Sunday afternoons after Mass when Spaniards gathered in homes and bars. With the Inquisition, hosts would sometimes test to see if any of their guests were secret Jews by serving slices of cold ham, still a popular tapa today.

I was surprised to discover, on my intellectual and sentimental journey to recover as much as I could of the cuisine of my distant ancestors, that there are no cookbooks from Spain’s medieval Jewish community. However, cookbooks from the Christian and Islamic communities of the time reveal as much through occasional references to “Jewish” methods of preparation as they do by what’s left out, including recipes with those leeks, onions and garlic considered low-class and Jewish food.

Life for Sephardim started to become very difficult in the 11th century with the advance of the Christian Reconquista, literally the reconquering of Iberia. There were anti-Jewish riots and mass killings of Jews, mostly in the 14th and 15th centuries, in Toledo, Granada and many other cities. In some places, Jews were forced to live as separate political and social entities in Juderias, Jewish ghettos.

In the end, most of what we know about the food of Spain’s medieval Jews comes from the tragedy of the Inquisition, both the decrees of the Edict of Expulsion—1492 in Spain, 1496 in Portugal—and from vivid testimony against accused individuals over the ensuing years.

There are detailed decrees related to food and customs around food as a way of revealing if someone was Jewish, even if the person had converted and was living as a secret Jew. These telltale decrees about what to suspect in your neighbor or employer included keeping the Sabbath by slow-cooking food on Fridays to be eaten on Saturday; cleaning meat of fat, nerves and sinew or soaking it in water to remove the blood; avoiding pork, rabbit, cuttlefish, eel or other scaleless fish popular among the Christians; and even eating hard-boiled eggs and olives after the death of a parent.

Inquisitors were especially attuned to the preparation of Shabbat and holiday foods and also ordinary foods that were eaten or displayed in some ritual observance or as part of keeping kosher. One of the most common dishes used to identify Jewish observance was adafina, still a popular dish in Spain and North Africa. Similar to hamim and cholent, adafina is a traditional Sabbath stew of meat, chickpeas or fava beans, onions, garlic, cumin and other spices, often with eggs hard-cooked in their shells in the stew. The ingredients weren’t as important as the method of slow cooking in banked coals, starting before sundown on Friday and eaten for lunch on Saturday. In one case, in 1570, Inquisitors recorded a maid testifying that she witnessed her mistress cooking “mutton with oil and onions, which she understands is the Jewish dish adafina.”

The more I learned the more I realized that the testimony of the Inquisition often turned woman against woman; it was hard for a Jewish woman to hide food preparation from a maid. In another well-known testimony of a maid, a simple salad of lettuce and radish was used against Juana Nuñez at her trial in the early 1500s, because she would serve it to her women friends who came to visit nearly every Saturday afternoon. Not only was Doña Nuñez serving only uncooked food, but all the women were relaxing and not working to take care of households at that time, as was customary when observing the Sabbath.

In the spring, a woman making any kind of flat bread with small holes poked in it was damning evidence of Passover preparations. More fatal evidence, mentioned often in Inquisition testimony, was quajado, a vegetable-egg casserole, often prepared with Spanish white cheese for a dairy meal. Other names for the dish are sfongato (sponge) and asquajado, meaning “coagulated” in Ladino. The long history of these vegetable casseroles that started in Spain became an element of Sephardic cuisines throughout the Ottoman Empire where quajado continued to be made. A version with spinach, onions and matza, called anchusa, became part of Passover menus.

I’ve often thought that had things stayed favorable and comfortable for the Sephardim, we likely would not have so much knowledge of their food, and certainly its influence on other cuisines would be diminished. But with the Inquisition, about half of Spain’s Jews chose to leave rather than convert or become secret Jews. The largest number of Sephardic refugees, an estimated 120,000, were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire, primarily in what is now Turkey, Greece, Italy and the Balkans. They also scattered to Syria and throughout the Middle East, North Africa and the New World of Mexico, South America and eventually, in 1654, New Amsterdam, today’s New York.

In addition to those savory dishes with leeks, chard and eggplant, the Sephardim also created sweets. Marzipan, almond macaroons and almond cakes all come from Sephardim. Sponge cake, first baked in Moorish Spain around 1000 C.E., became identified as a Jewish dish that eventually became popular throughout Europe. Called “pan de España,” “bread of Spain,” it is a pareve dessert, adaptable for Passover when matzah meal and potato starch stand in for flour, with excellent results.

A deep-fried treat meant to invoke the miracle of the oil at Hanukkah, bumuelos (buñuelos, bimuelos, burmuelos) were a favorite of Spanish Jews that became popular throughout the Ottoman Empire and Morocco. Sephardim carried them to the New World where they show up throughout Central and South America, in Mexican food morphing into sopapillas. They are sometimes called Sephardic or Turkish beignet, but instead of getting a beignet’s dusting of confectioners’ sugar, the Sephardic treats are drizzled with a cooked honey syrup that may be flavored with rose or orange water.

When the Jews left their Spanish homeland, they couldn’t take much with them, but they could and did take their heritage, their faith, their Ladino or Judeo-Spanish language, and their foods. It is the women who carried the culture and the cuisine. Their recipes became part of the foods eaten and shared in their new homelands. Today they’re a living inheritance of the Jews of Spain. When I make their foods, I gratefully remember the women of medieval Spain and so many others in the generations since.



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“There Were Once Jews Here”

By Lucette Lagnado, Tablet

Flight of Egyptian Jewry 

After Israel triumphed against all odds in the Six-Day War, Arab rejectionists responded by taking revenge on the Jews still living in their midst. From Algeria to Iraq and points in between, local Jews were blamed for events which they had nothing to do with: “Even in those countries that were, as some of us like to say, ‘nice to the Jews’… there were terrifying demonstrations and expressions of hatred and venom.”

In this fascinating conversation at The Center for Jewish History in March, 2019, two of the great journalists of our time, the recently deceased Lucette Lagnado and Matti Friedman, both of whom composed searching and illuminating books on Sephardim and the Sephardi experience, discuss their careers in journalism, the process of research and writing, and Matti's new book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel.

As Lagnado says to Friedman during the conversation, “what is really wondrous about what you have done...” is to bring attention to “the enormous Arab Jewish [*] population in Israel, which we have tended to see... through very clichéd terms... and we, and I speak as an Egyptian-Jew, were always kind of relegated. And here, in this book you have created an amazing oeuvre about us.”

The same could be said, in broad terms, for Lagnado’s memoirs, The Man in the White Shark­skin Suit: My Family’s Exodus From Old Cairo to the New World and The Arrogant Years: One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn, as well as her reportage.

*By which she means Sephardim, amongst whom are, in her definition, the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa.

This program was presented by The Center for Jewish History with the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, and Jewish Book Council

Jews played an important role in the North African music industry during the first half of the 20th century. They recorded in a number of languages, including Hebrew, as a 1932 Tunisian recording of what would become Israel’s national anthem, HaTikvah, attests. What’s most remarkable, however, “is just how uncontroversial the release of Hatikvah in North Africa was at the beginning of the 20th century.”

The Jewish community of Djerba, Tunisia, is growing in size, an accomplishment community members ascribe to the protection of the government, and God. But the community’s deeply-rooted traditionalism is now facing a new challenge: a push from within for women’s education.


August 11, The American Sephardi Federation and The Sousa Mendes Foundation presented: 
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Jewish Refugees She Saved: The Story of the S. S. Quanza 
The New York première of the documentary film," Nobody Wants Us". 

Synopsis:  In 1940, a ship called the S.S. Quanza left the port of Lisbon carrying several hundred Jewish refugees, most of whom held Sousa Mendes visas to freedom. But events went terribly wrong, and the passengers became trapped on the ship because no country would take them in. Nobody Wants Us tells the gripping true story of how Eleanor Roosevelt herself stepped in to save the passengers on board because of her moral conviction that they were not undesirables (as the US State Department labeled them) but rather were future patriotic Americans. This is an episode in American history that everyone needs to know.

Significance of the story:

According to Michael Dobbs, The Quanza incident is a timely reminder that individuals make a difference. Without visas supplied by the Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, many of the Jewish passengers on board the Quanza might well have been stranded in Nazi-occupied Europe. Without the legal brilliance of a maritime lawyer named Jacob Morewitz, the ship would have been obliged to sail back to Europe. Without the intervention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the passengers would not have been permitted to land. It took three people, from entirely different backgrounds, to save dozens of lives that might otherwise have been lost.

The American Sephardi Federation is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, New York, 10011).  www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 294-8350

 

 


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"Pay for Slay" 


Five years ago, Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.  The Palestinian who masterminded this evil attack now sits in an Israeli jail.

To thank and reward him for the murder of three Israeli boys, the Palestinian Authority (PA) sends him a monthly salary. And since this terrorist has now served five years, the PA just doubled his pay. The longer he serves, the more money he'll make;  In addition, there is a 11% spike in Palestinian "pay-for-slay" payments to terrorists this year!  

This is the chief reason President Trump wiped out American aid to the Palestinians last year: to prevent American tax dollars from helping to fund terror attacks against Israelis, and rewarding  terrorists who have killed or maimed innocent Israelis—including children, women and the elderly.

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

 

Question: What were the first maps ever produced?
The Stone Faces and Human Problems on Easter Island by Jessica Wolf
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Question: What were the first maps ever produced?

There's no definitive answer, though scholars believe there are candidates among several carvings on rocks, tusks and bones that are more than 10,000 years old. Some see maps in the more primitive carvings, others only in more complex ones. The extensive petroglyphs (illustrated above) at and near Bedolina, in the Italian Alps, include the perhaps best-known ancient topographic map; they were carved over an 8,000-year period, ending about 1,000 B.C.

Ask Smithsonian, July/August issue

 


 
 

March of the Denisovans: 
Evidence of Archaic Human Gene Now Detected In the Orient
Alicia McDermott, 11 July, 2019

 



Representative image of a Denisovan. Several studies have recently explored the spread of Denisovan genes. Source: ginettigino /Adobe Stock

The Denisovan story keeps evolving. This group of ancient hominins has been something of a mystery ever since they were first discovered in 2010 as an extinct sister group to the Neanderthals. Bits and pieces of their tale keep coming to light and almost everything is a surprise that makes international headlines. And of course, many people want to know more about the results of the mating of Denisovan and other hominin species. Of particular interest is how Denisovan DNA has lived on in our species.

The latest in Denisovan-related discoveries comes from an analysis of a 160,000-year-old archaic human molar fossil that was discovered decades ago in China. Science Daily reports that the study “offers the first morphological evidence of interbreeding between archaic humans and Homo sapiens in Asia.”

Science Daily explains that the study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , is focused on “a three-rooted lower molar - a rare trait primarily found in modern Asians - that was previously thought to have evolved after H. sapiens dispersed from Africa.”

The three-rooted lower molar anomaly in a recent Asian individual. Left: tooth sockets showing position of accessory root; right: three-rooted lower first molar tooth. ( Christine Lee )

It seems a different evolutionary path is emerging.

"The trait's presence in the fossil suggests both that it is older than previously understood and that some modern Asian groups obtained the trait through interbreeding with a sister group of Neanderthals, the Denisovans," explains Shara Bailey, a professor of anthropology at New York University and the paper's lead author, in a NYU press release .

Denisovans on the Tibetan Plateau

In a previous study, which was published in Nature in May of this year, Bailey and her colleagues concluded that Denisovans were inhabiting the Tibetan Plateau well before Homo sapiens migrated to the region.

That work, along with the new PNAS analysis, focused on a hominin lower mandible found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China in 1980. It was also an important discovery because it is the first time researchers have identified the physical remains of a Denisovan outside the cave that gave them their name, Denisova Cave , in Siberia.

Excavating in the Baishiya Karst Cave. ( Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University )

The Denisovan jaw also has an interesting discovery story: an anonymous monk found the prehistoric hominin jaw fragment and then gifted it to the 6th Gung-Thang Living Buddha, who later gave it to Lanzhou University. The jaw sat in the university collection for 30-plus years before study co-author Dongju Zhang of Lanzhou University decided it was worth a look in 2016.

Heavy carbonate crust was attached to the mandible and U-series dating told researchers that the jaw is at least 160,000-years-old. According to a press release by the Max-Planck Institute, this is the earliest hominin fossil found to date on the Tibetan Plateau and that means that the people living in the area “had already adapted to living in this high-altitude low-oxygen environment long before Homo sapiens even arrived in the region.”

However, as National Geographic notes “While the jaw was found where oxygen levels are low, without the DNA itself, scientists can't be sure the jaw’s owner carried the adaptation to survive in that thin air.”

The Xiahe mandible, only represented by its right half, was found in 1980 in Baishiya Karst Cave. ( Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University )

Denisovans and Archaic Humans in Asia

The same jaw has now been analyzed by NYU anthropologist Susan Antón and Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Their study centered on the molar and was focused on exploring what it can tell us about “the relationship between archaic humans who occupied Asia more than 160,000 years ago and modern Asians,” as the press release states. Bailey says that the results of the study show that:

"In Asia, there have long been claims for continuity between archaic and modern humans because of some shared traits. But many of those traits are primitive or are not unique to Asians. However, the three-rooted lower molar trait is unique to Asian groups. Its presence in a 160,000-year-old archaic human in Asia strongly suggests the trait was transferred to H. sapiens in the region through interbreeding with archaic humans in Asia."

Adding to Our Knowledge of Denisovans Interbreeding with Other Species

There’s been quite a lot of interest in Denisovans mating with other hominin groups lately. Another recent study shows that their genes live on in populations in “the Philippines and New Guinea to China and Tibet” where people “have inherited 3% to 5% of their DNA from Denisovans.”

Proportion of the genome inferred to be Denisovan in ancestry in diverse non-Africans. The color scale is not linear to allow saturation of the high Denisova proportions in Oceania (bright red) and better visualization of the peak of Denisova proportion in South Asia. (Sankararaman et al./Current Biology 2016)

Proportion of the genome inferred to be Denisovan in ancestry in diverse non-Africans. The color scale is not linear to allow saturation of the high Denisova proportions in Oceania (bright red) and better visualization of the peak of Denisova proportion in South Asia. ( Sankararaman et al./Current Biology 2016 )

Even more exciting is that the genes had only entered the human genome as late as 15,000 years ago – suggesting modern humans and Denisovans were mating . And Andrew Collins has stated , “Moreover, that it was from them that these modern human groups inherited roughly 400 genes including an immune gene variant (TNFAIP3) and a gene involved in diet (WDFY2).”

And that’s not all, for some time now researchers have supposed that Denisovans were mating with Neanderthals. Proof for their offspring came in 2018 , when a genetic analysis of a bone fragment found in Denisova cave was shown to have the DNA of a Denisovan mother and Neanderthal father.

Svante Pääbo , Director of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the MPI-EVA and lead author of that study said, “Neanderthals and Denisovans may not have had many opportunities to meet. But when they did, they must have mated frequently -- much more so than we previously thought.”

Top Image: Representative image of a Denisovan. Several studies have recently explored the spread of Denisovan genes. Source: ginettigino /Adobe Stock

By Alicia McDermott

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/denisovan-genes-0012272 



As an anthropologist, Van Tilburg is concerned with equity.

“I’m interested in asking why we keep replicating societies in which people are not equal, because in doing so, we initiate a crisis,” she said. “Inequity is at the heart of our human problems.”

College Magazine © Copyright 2019 UCLA, 7/16/2019



 

   


MEXICO

Hernán Cortés, se Cumplen 500 Años de su llegada a México 
Rafael González-Acuña: Mexican physicist solves problem Newton could not !
Film: Hernán Cortés - Un hombre entre Dios y el diablo
Webste: Sociedad Genealogica y de Historia Familiar de Mexico
Three census collections from the State of Chihuahua, Mexico 

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Hernán Cortés y sus aliados indígenas "convenientemente olvidados" entrando al valle de México

La lectura cura la peor de las enfermedades humanas, 
"la ignorancia".

SE CUMPLEN 500 AÑOS 
DE SU LLEGADA A MÉXICO

A balazos con Hernán Cortés: no hay 
perdón para el 'padre maldito' de México

La mitad de la historia de México sigue siendo tan convulsa que cinco siglos después se zarandea aún por políticos que acallan las voces de los historiadores

 

Foto: Relieve tiroteado de Hernán Cortés en México. (Foto: Javier Brandoli)

 

AUTOR - JAVIER BRANDOLI

En el conocido como Paso de Cortés, entre los imponentes volcanes Popocatépetl e Iztaccíhuatl, hay un relieve de bronce colocado sobre un monolito de piedra. En él se ve a caballo a Hernán Cortés, el conquistador extremeño, junto a un grupo de soldados españoles e indígenas. Rememora el paso en 1519 de sus tropas hacia el Valle de México. La estructura ha sido atacada a balazos. De los disparos de mayor calibre, que han perforado el metal, dos dan en el caballo de Cortés y otros tres pegan en el entorno. Ninguno acierta en su figura. El resto de la estructura, incluido el soporte de piedra, está lleno de marcas de perdigones. Alguno ha impactado en el cuello del propio Cortés.

El pasado puede recibir balazos, botes de pintura roja, o estar escondido en el nicho de una pequeña iglesia. Eso le pasa a México, cuya mitad de su historia, como de su sangre, sigue siendo tan convulsa que cinco siglos después se zarandea aún por políticos que acallan las voces de los historiadores. "Envié una carta al Rey de España y otra al Papa para que se haga un relato de agravios y se pida perdón a los pueblos originarios por las violaciones a lo que ahora se conoce como derechos humanos", reconoció el actual presidente de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, el pasado mes de marzo. La frase eliminó de nuevo de un plumazo la opción de hacer un revisionismo histórico de la figura de Cortés lejos del ámbito político cuando se cumplen 500 años de su llegada a México.

 

El monolito con el relieve de Hernán Cortés tiroteado en México. (Foto: Javier Brandoli)

El malinchismo y el mestizaje. La lengua de los versos de Octavio Paz y las iglesias barrocas. Pedro de Alvarado y Fray Bartolomé de las Casas. La inquisición y las primeras universidades. La cerámica de Talavera y la Virgen de Guadalupe. La Noche Triste y la matanza del Templo Mayor. El fin de los sacrificios aztecas y la quema de los códices mayas... Todas esas luces y sombras tienen una génesis: Hernán Cortés.

El proscrito

El nacido en Medellín, Extremadura, en 1485, es un personaje maldito y proscrito por la historia oficial. Por todos. Por el México post revolucionario, que ha encontrado un enemigo que señalar en los libros de texto para enjuagar todos sus males, y por España, incapaz y miedosa de proponer un relato alternativo para no herir sensibilidades más allá de patrióticos golpes en el pecho parecidos a los que resuenan al otro lado del Atlántico. Del Día de la Raza se ha pasado al Día del Olvido sin nada en el medio. Cortés tiene siempre un velo alrededor que cinco siglos después no se quita.

Su tumba es un perfecto ejemplo de ese cubo de desmemoria que se ha vertido sobre su figura. Un simple nicho, a la izquierda del altar de la pequeña Iglesia del Niño Jesús, cercana a la Plaza del Zócalo de Ciudad de México, guarda sus restos. Una placa roja, algo mayor de un metro, en la que pone Hernán Cortés con su fecha de nacimiento y muerte, es todo el rastro de uno de los personajes más influyentes de la historia.


Modesta placa en la tumba de Hernán Cortés en México



Que esos restos existan es ya una proeza; intentar moverlos una absoluta utopía o temeridad. "Sus huesos pasaron más peripecias después de muerto que en vida", explicaba el escritor mexicano Xavier López Medellín, otro de los grandes investigadores de su figura. "Cortés dejó escrito en su testamento que, si moría en España, su cuerpo fuese enterrado en Nueva España, en la villa de Coyoacán (barrio actual de Ciudad de México fundado por los conquistadores españoles tras reconquistar la capital azteca), en un convento de monjas de la Concepción, de la orden de San Francisco, que mandó construir en su testamento. Nunca se cumplió su voluntad. Que prefiriera ser enterrado en México demuestra su amor por esa tierra", dice Ricardo Coarasa, autor del libro 'Hernán Cortés, los pasos borrados', que en la actualidad está enfrascado en un segundo libro sobre los desconocidos últimos años de la vida del conquistador.

Los siguientes siglos, aún bajo dominio español, sus restos fueron cambiados varias veces de sitio por diversas razones. La Independencia complicó las cosas y en 1823, tras conocerse un plan para quemar sus huesos, ya colocados en la Iglesia del Hospital del Niño Jesús desde 1794, se hizo una farsa para hacer creer que habían sido mandados a Italia a los descendientes de Cortés tras desmontarse su mausoleo. La verdad es que se escondieron en secreto, sólo la Embajada de España y los descendientes de Cortés fueron informados, en la misma Iglesia, tras un muro, del que salieron en 1946 cuando unos investigadores descubrieron la artimaña y se abrió la pared. Otra vez Cortés aparecía en México y otra vez alguien decidió que había que ocultarlo de nuevo. Se metió en la misma pared, ahora tras una placa, en la que descansa hoy en un casi absoluto anonimato.

 


Exhumación de los restos de Cortés

"Los españoles han sido profundamente injustos con Hernán Cortés". La frase no es de un acérrimo nacionalista español, es del ex gobernador y senador mexicano Julián Gascón en marzo de 2015. Gascón, presidente del patronato del Hospital del Niño Jesús, el hospital más viejo del continente americano que fundara el propio Cortés, es una especie de guardián de los huesos del español. Desde su patronato consiguió mantener algo su memoria y hasta colocar el único busto que el extremeño tiene en la capital, en el claustro del hospital que él fundara, y cuya inauguración fue un rapapolvo para el entonces presidente mexicano, López Portillo, al que los periódicos acusaron de traidor por develar la figura.

En noviembre de 2018, el propio Gascón, admitía que "la sociedad mexicana no está preparada para dignificar su tumba. Pizarro tiene una tumba en la catedral de Lima y era un asesino, y Hernán Cortés que entró en Tenochtitlán sin pegar un tiro de arcabuz no la tiene. Cortés era un hombre de letras".

Un absurdo politizado

Nadie, ni el Gobierno español, ni ninguna institución pública, han querido cambiar eso. De hecho, los propios diplomáticos españoles con los que hablamos por primera vez en 2015 no sabían la existencia de esa tumba. La calle de Hernán Cortés en México es inexistente y en España, su tierra, casi lo mismo. En Madrid, la capital, la calle Hernán Cortés es una mínima vía en el barrio de Chueca. Nada más. ¿Imaginan que hubieran hecho en Inglaterra, Francia o Estados Unidos?

La discusión académica de su obra es casi tan maniquea en España como en México. Cortés parece sólo un emblema del nacionalismo español, politizado a la derecha, envuelto en mensajes absurdos donde se sublima el evangelizar o culturizar sin aceptar que se cometieron también graves abusos y errores. Cortés no es de derechas ni de izquierdas, es historia, sin más. Como Abderramán, Napoleón o Julio César. En España tampoco se ha conseguido pasar de la diatriba de Conquista o Descubrimiento sin entender que fue ambas cosas a la vez dependiendo del lado del océano en que se estaba. "Cortés cometió errores graves y tuvo grandes aciertos", resume Gascón.

Cortés no es de derechas ni de izquierdas, es historia, sin más. Como Abderramán, Napoleón o Julio César

“México tiene una esquizofrenia de identidad que debe resolver. Hace falta un debate sereno del pasado”, me decía Álvaro Matute, prestigioso miembro de la Real Academia Mexicana de la Historia, meses antes de fallecer en 2017. “No hay una calle de Hernán Cortés ni puede haberla. México en el siglo XIX genera un rechazo permanente del colonialismo. Todo lo extranjero era invasor y por tanto enemigo de la patria”, concluía un intelectual que la historia la estudiaba, no la amoldaba a sus opiniones.

El rastro de Cortés está por todo México. En Coyoacán está su casa (aunque es un error histórico situar ese edificio como su hacienda). La casa de la Malinche, su intérprete y amante indígena con la que tuvo un hijo, está unas cuadras más allá. Ella, quizá mejor que el propio Cortés, resume a la perfección la esquizofrenia de la que hablaba el profesor Matute. Durante siglos ha sido considerada una traidora. De hecho, el término malinchismo en México se aplica a los traidores o a las personas que aman más lo extranjero que lo mexicano.


Placa exterior encuentro Cortés y Moctezuma. (Foto: Javier Brandoli)

La Malinche fue entregada en tributo a los españoles en 1519 por un cacique de Potonchán, en Tabasco, tras una escaramuza ganada por los españoles en Centla. Ella no era mexica, y como la gran mayoría de pueblos mesoamericanos, su gente estaba sometida por el duro poder de Tenochtitlán que exigía fuertes pagos de impuestos y tomaba constantemente prisioneros para realizar sus sacrificios. México entonces no existía como identidad, existía una zona geográfica en la que diversas culturas se aliaban, comerciaban o guerreaban por el control del territorio. Los mexicas, que vienen del sur de EE.UU, fueron los últimos en llegar (fundaron Tenochtitlán en torno a 1325). Para la Malinche y para su pueblo, tan extranjero era un azteca como un español, aunque con el primero tuviera más similitudes. "Ella se unió a Cortés y tuvieron un hijo, Martín. Cortés consiguió que el Papa lo reconociera. Un ejemplo más del odio que Cortés sentía por los indígenas", apunta irónicamente Coarasa.

Para la Malinche y para su pueblo, tan extranjero era un azteca como un español, aunque con el primero tuviera más similitudes

Parece que ella falleció por culpa de alguna de las enfermedades que trajeron los españoles a América, como la gran parte de los indígenas, arrasados por una invisible guerra bacteriológica. Lo cierto es que La Malinche es de alguna forma la madre de esa nueva "raza" mestiza nacida en el continente americano, pero la historia oficial post independentista no tuvo compasión con su figura y es considerada una traidora. ¿A quién traicionó? "Sin la ayuda de doña Marina (nombre que recibió tras ser bautizada) no hubiéramos entendido los idiomas de la Nueva España ", escribió el cronista Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

En este entorno, no parece que los cinco siglos pasados vayan a ser suficientes para poder tener ese debate sereno que saque a Cortés del ostracismo y lo coloque en un lugar en la historia. "Muchos le han querido ver únicamente como un villano. Sin embargo, creo que eso tiene que ver con una simplificación que se suele hacer desde la política. Los historiadores, por otro lado, debemos tratar de buscar la verdad siempre, con paciencia, comprobando las fuentes y revisando los acontecimientos con rigor. Y en el caso de Cortés tenemos la suerte de que existen sobrados estudios que han ido recopilándose a lo largo de muchísimas generaciones. No debemos erigirnos en jueces del pasado. La historia no es un tribunal", decía hace unos días uno de los historiadores mexicanos más afamados, Enrique Krauze. Cortés lleva 500 años esperando que se acabe su juicio y se juzgue su obra, con sus luces y con sus sombras. Parece que deberá esperar algunos años más. Found by C. Campos Y Escalante


Fuente:
https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2019-07-20/hernan-cortes-conquista-mexico-malinche
_2133931/?fbclid=IwAR3_k430gGxXh7nzUFpOu-6jq50ZaX_i_Nmr-eJWiQxCP5bntaODZg6gDIs

https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2019-05-10/hernan-cortes-mexico-desmembrados-canibalizados-acolhuas_1993826/

Quinientos años después tristemente la ignorancia de la clase política sigue reinando...

Sent by Carl Camp campce@gmail.com 

 


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Rafael González-Acuña: Mexican physicist solves problem Newton could not!

Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem
by Eduardo Machuca, July 5, 2019

When you look through your viewfinder and things seem a little bit blurry or lacking definition, it’s probably because you are using an “el cheapo” lens. So you read reviews and buy a much more expensive lens, and what do you do next?

You don’t go out to learn about composition and lighting to make better pictures. No. If you are a conscious and professional photographer, you start pixel-peeping to rationalize your expensive purchase. And what do you find then?

The problem is still there. Right there, in the corners. They’re soft. The center is OK, but the corners are still soft. So you read more reviews and buy a better lens. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But it’s not the manufacturer’s fault, nor yours for not having enough money to buy a perfect lens. Blame Greek mathematician Diocles, who formulated the problem over two thousand years ago in his book Burning Mirrors.

The Problem

You see, lenses are made from spherical surfaces. The problem arises when light rays outside the center of the lens or hitting at an angle can’t be focused at the desired distance in a point because of differences in refraction.

Which makes the center of the image sharper than the corners. Which leads to countless YouTube reviews on lenses. And countless hours of watch time. And makes advertisers and YouTubers happy.

In his 1690 book, Treatise on Light, astronomer Christiaan Huygens points out that both Isaac Newton (the greatest scientist of all time) and Gottfried Leibniz (the last universal genius) tried to solve the problem, but couldn’t:

As has in fact occurred to two prominent Geometricians, Messieurs Newton and Leibnitz, with respect to the problem of the figure of glasses for collecting rays when one of the surfaces is given.

It is appropriate to mention that Newton invented a telescope that solved the chromatic aberration, but not the spherical aberration.

In a 1949 article published in the Royal Society Proceedings, Wasserman and Wolf formulated the problem—how to design a lens without spherical aberration—in an analytical way, and it has since been known as the Wasserman-Wolf problem.

They “proposed to use two aspheric adjacent surfaces to correct spherical and coma aberrations, with a solution consisting of two first-order simultaneous differential equations, which are solved numerically according to Malacara-Hernández et al.”

In other words, the solution was an approximation solved with numerical analysis (brute-force with computers), not a definitive one. Moreover, the solution involved aspherical elements, which are harder to manufacture in a precise way and are thus more costly.

To this day, when you see that your lens has aspherical elements to correct for optical aberrations and give you sharper images wide open, you can thank Wasserman-Wolf.

However, the importance of solving this problem goes well beyond giving you a sharper picture of your feet for your nine Instagram followers. It would help make better and cheaper to manufacture optical systems in all areas, be it telescopes, microscopes, and everything in between.

As you can imagine, everyone had been trying.

The Solution

Fast forward to 2018 when Héctor A. Chaparro-Romo, a doctoral student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who had been trying to solve this problem for 3 years, invited Rafael G. González-Acuña, a doctoral student from Tec de Monterrey, to help him solve the problem.

At first, González-Acuña did not want to devote resources to what he knew to be a millenary, impossible to solve problem. But upon the insistence of Héctor Chaparro-Romo, he decided to accept the challenge.

After months of working on solving the problem, Rafael González-Acuña recalls, “I remember one morning I was making myself a slice of bread with Nutella, when suddenly, I said out loud: Mothers! It is there!”

(Note: Mothers, from the Spanish word “Madres,” means, of course, many moms. But in this context it is equivalent to the expression “Holy sh*t!” in English, or, to a lesser extent, “Eureka!” in Greek.)

He then ran to his computer and started programming the idea. When he executed the solution and saw that it worked, he says he jumped all over the place. It is unclear whether he finished eating the bread with Nutella.

Afterwards, the duo ran a simulation and calculated the efficacy with 500 rays, and the resulting average satisfaction for all examples was 99.9999999999%. Which, of course, is great news for gear reviewers on YouTube, as they will still be able to argue about the 0.0000000001% of sharpness difference among lens brands.

Their findings were published in the article General Formula for Bi-Aspheric Singlet Lens Design Free of Spherical Aberration, in the journal Applied Optics.

The image below shows the algebraic formula. “In this equation we describe how the shape of the second aspherical surface of the given lens should be given a first surface, which is provided by the user, as well as the object-image distance,” explains González-Acuña. “The second surface is such that it corrects all the aberration generated by the first surface, and the spherical aberration is eliminated.”

 

The formula solves the Wasserman-Wolf problem, formulated analytically in 1949, but known to scientists for about two thousand years.

The Levi-Civita Problem

As part of this research, Rafael G. González-Acuña, Alejandro Chaparro-Romo and Julio Gutiérrez-Vega also published the article “General Formula to Design Freeform Singlet Free of Spherical Aberration and Astigmatism“ in Applied Optics, where they give an analytical solution to the Levi-Civita problem formulated in 1900.

The Levi-Civita problem, which has existed without a solution for over a century, was also considered a mythical problem by the specialized community.

It is important to note that both solutions—the Wasserman-Wolf problem and the Levi-Cita problem—are analytical, with symbolic math. This means that the solution to a problem, no matter how you change the input variables, is unique and not an approximation.

So… can we expect cheaper and better lenses?

Better? Yes. Truly sharper from corner to corner.

Cheaper? probably not. Even though lenses will be cheaper to manufacture, remember that once somebody stamps the “made for photographers” sticker on a product, it is priced many times higher because of the “added value” to your artistry.

Regardless, I can only wish Rafael González-Acuña, Alejandro Chaparro-Romo and Julio Gutiérrez-Vega a long and healthy life. Given enough time, maybe they can also solve the “One Memory Card Slot Problem” of the Nikon Z7. To be fair, that one’s been around for less than a year.

(via Tec de Monterrey)

https://petapixel.com/2019/07/05/goodbye-aberration-physicist-solves-2000-year-old-optical-problem/

the author: Eduardo Machuca is Yet-Another-Photographer that taught for eight years at both the bachelor’s and master’s degree level in advertising photography. He lives, and has always lived, in Mexico, and loves traveling around the hood and taking care of his alebrijes, with the help of an alux.

Sent by Carl Camp campce@gmail 
La lectura cura la peor de las enfermedades humanas, "la ignorancia".




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Hernán Cortés - Un hombre entre Dios y el diablo: El Hombre y el Mito - a 500  años de su epopeya 

Spanish language historical film on Hernán Cortés,  earliest explorations of Mexico and contact with the numerous indigeous groups. Beautiuflly done.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qjsN1xFlU

http://genealogia.org.mx/online/ 

 

Genealogia-Mexico@googlegroups.com

 



 

©2019 Hispanic Heritage Project | 3611 Foxley Drive, Escondido, CA

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We are excited this month to share three more census collections from the State of Chihuahua, Mexico: the 1779 Census of Valle de San Bartolomé, the 1785 Census of Villa de Chihuahua, and the 1779 Census of Santa Cruz de Rosales. We thank Sylvia Fernandez-Magdaleno and Frank Dominguez both avid researchers who have shared this information with us.

Please note that Valle de Bartolomé was its colonial name but is now known as Allende or Valle de Allende as natives lovingly and more aesthetically call it.

FROM CARLOS
For you Sonora researchers who do not have a copy of Diccionario de historia, geografía, y biografía, sonorenses by Francisco R. Amada, I have a couple available for $90.00 each. This is a rare book and is available on Abe Books for $150.00, $219.00 and $635.00.

Additionally I have Retoños de España en la Nueva Galicia for Jalisco researchers.

Contact me at cmyturralde@gmail.com if you would like to make a purchase.

DATA
Nos complace este mes compartir tres más colecciones de censos del estado de Chihuahua, México: el Censo de 1779 de Valle de San Bartolomé, el Censo de 1785 de la Villa de Chihuahua, y el Censo de 1779 de Santa Cruz de Rosales. Estamos muy agradecidos a Sylvia Fernandez-Magdaleno y Frank Dominguez ambos que son ávidos investigadores.

Tenga en cuenta que el Valle de Bartolomé fue su nombre colonial pero se conoce ahora como Allende o Valle de Allende como los pobladores lo llaman cariñosamente.

FROM CARLOS
Para los que están investigando en Sonora que no tienen una copia del Diccionario de historia geografía, y biografía, sonorenses by Francisco R. Amada, tengo un par disponible por $90.00 cada uno. Este es un libro muy raro y está disponible en Abe Books por $150.00, $219.00, y $635.00.

Adicionalmente, tengo Retoños de España en la Nueva Galicia para los investigadores de Jalisco.

Pongase en contacto conmigo en cmyturralde@gmail.com si le gustaría realizar una compra.


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Las mentiras de Cholula- Leyenda Negra

LEYENDA NEGRALas mentiras sobre Cholula: 
la falsa matanza a sangre fría de los conquistadores españoles

Según ha extendido la Leyenda Negra, el 18 de octubre de 1519 Hernán Cortés 
acabó sin razón alguna con miles de nativos. La realidad, sin embargo, es mucho más compleja 

 

A estas alturas del cuento, decir que la leyenda negra se ha cebado con los conquistadores españoles no descubre nada nuevo. El mito de la sangría que perpetraron en el Nuevo Mundo ha sido exacerbado hasta la saciedad por los enemigos de la Monarquía Hispánica. ¿Qué mejor forma de fomentar el odio contra una nación que airear una y otra vez sus supuestos trapos sucios? De entre toda la caterva de falsas crueldades extendidas por historiadores de cartón piedra, existe una que ha quedado grabada a fuego en las Américas: la matanza de Cholula. Una presunta masacre de miles de nativos que habría sido perpetrada el 18 de octubre de 1519 por los hombres de Hernán Cortés. La realidad que se esconde tras ella es, sin embargo, más gris de lo que parece y de lo que explicó el presidente mexicano Andrés Manuel López Obrador hace algunos meses.

Para empezar, los cronistas de la época dejaron escrito que los habitantes de Cholula habían organizado un complejo plan para dar muerte a los conquistadores españoles tras atraerles hasta sus dominios. Así pues, y tal y como desveló el propio Cortés en su Segunda Relación a Carlos V, no habría tenido más remedio que asestar primero el golpe cuando se enteró de la traición para evitar la aniquilación de su contingente. Todo ello a pesar de que, como bien confirman historiadores como el francés Christian Duverger, el hispano buscaba atraer a los habitantes de la ciudad a su causa. Por otro lado, y a pesar de que las cifras de muertos esgrimidas por los divulgadores contrarios a España son siempre las más altas, existen tantas como expertos que han investigado los hechos.

Nuevo destino

El origen de este suceso se encuentra en el año 1519. Por entonces, Cortés se hallaba en Tlaxcala, una ciudad gigantesca que el propio conquistador definió como «mucho más grande que Granada» en su Segunda Relación. La situación era halagüeña para los peninsulares, pues contaban con la ayuda de cientos de miles de tlaxcaltecas y acababan de confirmar la alianza con la vecina Uexotzinco. En esa tesitura, sabedor de que empezaba a contar con un ejército potente de nativos, el extremeño recibió la visita de una embajada enviada por Moctezuma que le invitaba a viajar hasta Cholula, una imponente urbe leal al Emperador. Según le informaron, allí recibiría instrucciones del mandamás.

Así lo dejó claro en su Segunda Relación:

«Después de haber estado en esta ciudad veinte días y más, me dijeron aquellos señores mensajeros de Mutezuma que siempre estuvieron conmigo que me fuese a una ciudad que está seis leguas désta de Tascaltecal que se dice Churultecal, porque los naturales de ellos eran amigos de Mutezuma su señor, y que allí sabríamos la voluntad del dicho Mutezuma si era que yo fuese a su tierra; y que algunos de ellos irían a hablar con él y a decirle lo que yo les había dicho, y me volverían con la respuesta aunque sabían que allí estaban algunos mensajeros suyos para me hablar. Yo les dije que me iría y que me partiría para un día cierto que les señalé».

Hernán Cortés

En principio, Cortés no consideró Cholula una amenaza. Al fin y al cabo, por entonces mantenía buenas relaciones con Tlaxcala. Por ello, decidió satisfacer al monarca y viajar hasta la urbe. Aunque es innegable que en su mente había dos objetivos claros: ganar popularidad entre las tribus locales y conseguir adeptos para su ejército. Según explica el propio Duverger en «Hernán Cortés, más allá de la leyenda», el conquistador salió de la ciudad el 11 de octubre «acompañado por cien mil guerreros indígenas». No obstante, lo que no se suele contar es que el extremeño había recibido poco antes la visita de varios emisarios locales que le aconsejaron no acudir a su nuevo destino. ¿La razón? Sencilla: los líderes de la ciudad habían preparado una trampa para acabar con él y sus soldados.

«Y sabido por los de esta provincia de Tascaltecal lo que aquellos habían concertado conmigo y cómo yo había aceptado de me ir con ellos a aquella ciudad, vinieron a mí con mucha pena los señores y me dijeron que en ninguna manera fuese porque me tenían ordenada cierta traición para me matar en aquella ciudad a mí y a los de mi compañía, y que para ello había enviado Mutezuma de su tierra -porque alguna parte de ella confina con esta ciudad cincuenta mil hombres, y que los tenía en guarnición a dos leguas de la dicha ciudad, según señalaron; y que tenía cerrado el camino real por donde solían ir, y hecho otro nuevo de muchos hoyos y palos agudos hincados y encubiertos para que los caballos cayesen y se mancasen; y que tenían muchas de las calles tapiadas y por las azoteas de las casas muchas piedras para que después que entrásemos en la ciudad tomamos seguramente y aprovecharse de nosotros a su voluntad».

Llegada a Cholula

Una jornada después, los pocos españoles que acompañaban a Cortés arribaron hasta Cholula. Fueron recibidos entre sonidos de caracolas por los sacerdotes de la ciudad, quienes se habían engalanado con sus mejores trajes. Sus hombres (apenas unos centenares) fueron instalados en el interior de la urbe, pero no ocurrió lo mismo con los 100.000 tlaxcaltecas que le acompañaban. Estos fueron obligados a mantenerse fuera de los muros de la ciudad. Aquel fue el primer comportamiento extraño de otros tantos. «Los emisarios de Moctezuma, que no dejan a los españoles ni un segundo, se vuelven día a día más enigmáticos. Ninguna cita con el soberano azteca se fija todavía. Pronto, por instrucciones del tlatoani mexicano, les cortan los víveres a los españoles. El ambiente se vuelve extraño, malsano y opaco», añade el experto.

En la Segunda Relación, Cortés dejó claro que la situación le pareció extraña desde el principio:

«Otro día de mañana salieron de la ciudad a me recibir al camino con muchas trompetas y atabales y muchas personas de las que ellos tienen por religiosas en sus mezquitas vestidas de las vestiduras que usan y cantando a su manera como lo hacen en las dichas mezquitas. Y con esta solemnidad nos llevaron hasta entrar en la ciudad y nos metieron en un aposento muy bueno adonde toda la gente de mi compañía se aposentó a mi placer [...]. Y en el camino topamos muchas señales de las que los naturales de esta provincia nos habían dicho, porque hallamos el camino real cerrado y hecho otro, y algunos hoyos aunque no muchos, y algunas calles de la ciudad tapiadas y muchas piedras en todas las azoteas. Y con esto nos hicieron estar más sobre aviso y a mayor recaudo».

Cortés, junto a MoctezumaCortés, junto a Moctezuma

Según las crónicas, Cortés corroboró sus temores más oscuros gracias a La Malinche, la interprete nativa que se hallaba entre sus hombres. Ella le reveló que todo era parte de una conspiración: al parecer, los gobernantes de Cholula habían planeado disfrazar a sus combatientes de porteadores para, poco antes de la partida de las tropas, acabar con los españoles. De nuevo, así lo confirma en la carta enviada a Carlos V, donde especifica que su «lengua» (como denominaba a sus traductores) le desveló los crueles planes de los nativos. En sus palabras, todo aquel al que interrogó le ratificó que el plan existía.

«Y estando algo perplejo en esto, a la lengua que yo tengo, que es una india de esta tierra que hube en Putunchan, que es el río grane de que ya en la primera relación a Vuestra Majestad hice memoria, le dijo otra natural de esta ciudad cómo muy cerquita de allí estaba mucha gente de Mutezuma junta, y que los de la ciudad tenían fuera sus mujeres e hijos y toda su ropa y que habían de dar sobre nosotros para nos matar a todos, y si ella se quería salvar que se fuese con ella, que la guarecería. […] Y yo tomé uno de los naturales de la dicha ciudad que por allí andaba y le aparté secretamente, que nadie lo vio, y le interrogué y confirmó con lo que la india y los naturales de Tascaltecal me habían dicho».

Evitar el desastre

No quedaba más que prepararse para evitar el desastre. A la mañana siguiente (el 18 de octubre) Cortés reunió a los dignatarios del Emperador y a los señores de Cholula en los alrededores de la casa en la que se hospedaba y les informó de que sabía que todo era una trampa. Acto seguido, ordenó a sus soldados que acabaran con esta treintena de desgraciados, aunque dejó vivos a los emisarios para que informaran a Moctezuma de que el extremeño no tenía un pelo de tonto.

A partir de entonces se desató la batalla. O, al menos, así lo afirma el autor francés: «Españoles armados abren las puertas de la ciudad a los tlaxcaltecas que la cercan. La confusión es general; los españoles libran cinco horas de combate. Cortés hace quemar los edificios públicos y los templos que servían de refugio a los arqueros cholultecas». Tras la contienda (en la que fueron respetadas las mujeres y los niños) el extremeño contó 3.000 bajas, mientras que el cronista López de Gómara, el doble. En todo caso, ambos coinciden en que los caídos fueron guerreros preparados para acabar con la partida de peninsulares. Al final, y siempre en palabras del historiador, los dignatarios locales se rindieron y admitieron que habían sido obligados a preparar esta treta.

La MalincheLa Malinche

A su vez, el experto confirma que Cortés quería evitar el enfrentamiento: «No hay alegría alguna en el triunfo español; el propósito de Cortés no era verter la sangre de los indios. Contrariado, hará levantar una cruz en la cúspide de la gran pirámide y trabajará en la reconciliación con Tlaxcala y Cholula, que se habían enfrentado a causa de su presencia». El conquistador también les exigió detener los sacrificios rituales y el canibalismo. A partir de este punto se puede especular sobre qué versión es la más acertada, la que afirma que fue una masacre o la que explica que fue en defensa propia. En todo caso, conviene conocer los pormenores del acontecimiento para entender que existe una escala de grises en la historia.

Así la narró Cortés

En su Segunda Relación, Cortés narró de forma pormenorizada al monarca lo que había ocurrido aquella jornada. En sus palabras, «las señales que veía» hicieron que acordara «prevenir antes que ser prevenido». Es decir, actuar antes de que masacrasen a sus hombres. «Hice llamar a algunos de los señores de la ciudad diciendo que les quería hablar y metilos en una sala, y en tanto, hice que la gente de los nuestros estuviese apercibida», añadía. Sabedor de que todo podía acabar en desastre, dio una sencilla orden a sus hombres: que se preparasen para atacar si escuchaban un disparo de arcabuz. O, como él mismo explicó, «que en soltando una escopeta diesen en mucha cantidad de indios que había junto al aposento y muchos dentro de él».

Así se hizo. Cuando el extremeño corroboró lo que sucedía, dio orden de atacar. «Después que tuve los señores dentro en aquella sala dejélos atando y cabalgué e hice soltar la escopeta, y dímosles tal mano que en dos horas murieron más de tres mil hombres». Con todo, Cortés incidió repetidas veces en que los nativos que quedaban eran guerreros preparados para acabar con ellos. «Porque Vuestra Merced vea cuán apercibidos estaban, antes que yo saliese de nuestro aposento tenían todas las calles tomadas y toda la gente a punto, aunque como los tomamos de sobresalto fueron buenos de desbaratar, mayormente que les faltaban los caudillos, porque los tenía ya presos, e hice poner fuego a algunas torres y casas fuertes donde se defendían y nos ofendían», añadió.

Por descontado, en la Segunda Relación el conquistador también dejó claro que, aquella jornada, sus hombres eran una minoría y que la mayor parte de las fuerzas se correspondían con nativos que habían decidido acompañarles. Guerreros ávidos de venganza contra Cholula. «Así anduve por la ciudad peleando, dejando a buen recaudo el aposento, que era muy fuerte, bien cinco horas hasta que eché toda la gente fuera de la ciudad por muchas partes de ella, porque me ayudaban bien cinco mil indios de Tascaltecal y otros cuatrocientos de Cempoal», desveló.

Source: https://www.abc.es/historia/abci-mentiras-sobre-cholula-falsa-matanza-sangre-fria-conquistadores-espanoles-20190
7190113_noticia.html?fbclid=IwAR1b_YGXpmQvekRtb6sKm6A7EqNG1Fr_6HSlKZNLVPpisvyOY0LJ5l-ezMU#ns
_campaign=rrss-inducido&ns_mchannel=abc-es&ns_source=fb&ns_linkname=noticia-foto&ns_fee=0

Found by: C. Campos Escalante campce@gmail.com 

 

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

The People of the Windward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Curacao, 1620-1860 David Dobson

 

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The Windward Islands form part of the Lesser Antilles and comprise Guadaloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Carriacou, Dominica, and Grenada.  Since the 17th century these islands attracted immigrants from Spain, the British Isles, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, as well as slaves forcibly brought from North African to work the plantations,  In due course some of the descendants of these various populations groups chose to move to North America or to Europe.  The work identifies over 2,000 inhabitants of these islands between the years 1620-1860.  For each of them Mr. Dobson gives a name, occupation, a date and the source, and sometimes the name(s) of family members, additional dates (marriage, death, etc.) ships traveled upon, and other details.

188 pages, #8006 $18.95
www.genealogical.com

 

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

To folks in this Guatemalan town, success stories start with a trek to the U.S. by Patrick J. McDonnell
Latin American Countries Say Capitalism Doesn't Work in their Societies by Christian P. Milord.  
Argentina and Juan Peron, Election and first term (1946-1952)

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To folks in this Guatemalan town, success stories start with a trek to the U.S.

Los Angeles Times, Sunday Jul 21, 2019
by Patrick J. McDonnell, Mexico City Bureau Chief


TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN, Guatemala —

This mist-shrouded mountain town in northwest Guatemala exudes a bustling air of good fortune, even prosperity, that may seem at odds with the landscape of subsistence cornfields and vegetable plots.

Concrete and stucco houses of three and even four stories tower over traditional dwellings crafted from adobe bricks and wooden planks.

The source of the housing boom isn’t income from crop sales or occasional tourism. Rather, Todos Santos runs on savings sent home from the United States.

“The United States helped me more than the Guatemala government ever did,” said Efrain Carrillo, 40, outside the three-story house he built with three years of savings from working in the north as a laborer a decade ago. “I was deported, but I am grateful to the United States.”

The house features a ground-floor grocery store to provide income, while Carrillo and his wife live upstairs and their two teenage children live with relatives in the United States.

Fluttering from a balcony is the Guatemalan flag, and next to it another common sight here: the Stars and Stripes.  The proliferation of U.S. flags is a testament to the importance of illegal migration here — and the difficulty of curtailing it.

For the moment, Mexican authorities, under pressure from the Trump administration, are cracking down on U.S.-bound migration from Central America, deploying Mexican National Guard troops along roads leading from the country’s southern frontier and stepping up deportations.

The effort appears to be yielding results, with apprehensions in June along the U.S. Southwest border down 28% compared with May.

But in the long term, such campaigns may do little to stop the exodus from places like Todos Santos.

Gang violence and political persecution — two of the most common reasons that Central Americans give when they claim asylum at the U.S. border — are not major problems here. The migration is driven by economics.

It has become deeply ingrained in the culture and a rite of passage for many young men and increasingly for women and children. Seemingly every family here has a close relative in el norte, from California to Florida, Oregon to Virginia.

“What would we do without the United States?” asked Julian Jeronimo, a 49-year-old teacher who spent four years in the San Francisco Bay area — working in restaurants and a fertilizer supply store while sharing an apartment with a half-dozen other migrants — before returning in 2004 to build a home. “We understand that the United States wants to control immigration. Of course, Trump is worried about criminals coming into the country, about terrorists. But people from Todos Santos go north to work.”

Estranged from Guatemala’s central government, the town seems closer emotionally to Oakland — a popular destination — than to Guatemala City. There is deep respect, even reverence, for the United States.

In recent years, Jeronimo has watched as parents have systematically taken their children north, diminishing enrollment in his rural school.

“This year we lost six children who left for the United States,” he said, adding that others plan to leave once they complete elementary school.

“They see that their brother has a new house or new car and they say, ‘I want that too.’ That is a very difficult mentality to change.”

In the United States, migrants from Todos Santos have traditionally been menial laborers — toiling in agriculture, landscaping, restaurants, and in meat- and poultry-processing plants.

But back home, they are something else: Pillars of the community, success stories to be emulated, trend-setters who finance lavish homes, sometimes with gated entrances, driveways and even lawns, mimicking suburbia USA in a grandiose style known as remittance architecture.

“There’s not a lot for people to do in Todos Santos to make a living,” said Jennifer L. Burrell, an anthropologist at the State University of New York in Albany who has studied the town for more than two decades. “So if you have aspirations, if you want to send your children to school, to educate them, to buy land and so forth — the only way you can accomplish that is by migration.”

The sprawling municipality of 33,000 people, nestled in the cool embrace of the Cuchumatanes mountain range, 8,000 feet above sea level, qualifies as a “transnational village,” Burrell says.

Residents marvel at the U.S.-reared sons and daughters of expatriates who return for visits.

“They are all grown up and they tell us they are still going to school, to the university!” said Fortunato Pablo Mendoza, a 67-year-old retired teacher. “Imagine that! Here there was nothing to do after finishing primary school but working in the fields.”

In Todos Santos, even tombs in the cemetery bear U.S. flags.

Many Guatemalan migrants hail from rural outposts like Todos Santos, where most residents are of indigenous heritage and speak Mam, a Mayan tongue, while still donning traditional dress — embroidered skirts and blouses for women, striped pants and shirts and straw sombreros for men.

Officially, nearly 90% of Todos Santos residents live in poverty, but those statistics don’t take into full account the substantial income from remittances. Last year, Guatemalans abroad, mostly in the United States, sent home $9.5 billion, or 12% of the country’s gross domestic product.

People here expressed contempt for the Guatemalan government, which is notoriously corrupt and, according to the World Bank, spends less on health, education and other social services that most other Latin American countries.

Migration is the social safety net: Older migrants return as younger ones head north.

“I love my town, its people, its language, its culture,” said Gilberto Calmo, 54, one of many who have returned. “But the young people see all the beautiful construction of new homes in Todos Santos. And they become emotional and want the same thing.”

Like many, Calmo fled for Mexico in the early 1980s to escape the worst violence of Guatemala’s three-decade civil war, which officially ended in 1996. The Guatemalan military employed a scorched-earth strategy in many indigenous towns, which it viewed as allies of leftist guerrillas.

Calmo returned to Todos Santos two years later, but soon joined an exodus of highland residents who no longer felt welcome or safe. They began emigrating north at a time when the Tijuana-San Diego border was largely open and hundreds, sometimes thousands, were pouring through on an almost daily basis.

When Calmo arrived in Los Angeles in 1988, he said, he spent the first few days living under a freeway bridge. “Then I met some Guatemalans who had been in the north many years,” he recounted. “They helped me, put me up in their apartment, and I began to work in a Korean factory in Los Angeles.”

After three years sewing pants in the sweatshop, he had saved enough to return home to his wife and children and buy a new home and some coffee fields.

The coffee investment had mixed results, as prices have plummeted in recent years, another factor spurring Guatemalan migration.

Now three of Calmo’s six children reside in the United States, and are helping the family here.

In the last few years, increasing numbers of families have also been making the move north.

Word has spread throughout Central America that migrants can avoid long-term detention in the United States by arriving at the border with minor children and seeking asylum.

“It’s much easier to get into the United States with a child,” said Claudia Perez, a mother of eight whose husband and 9-year-old daughter crossed into Mexico in April, traveled overland through the country, and then surrendered to U.S. border authorities.

They eventually made it to Virginia and moved in with a relative to wait for their political asylum case to be heard. The grounds for their claim were unclear.

Perez’s eldest, 18-year-old Santos, from a previous union, had already been living in the United States for three years, sending back money to continue construction on a two-story house with faux Doric columns that looms over the family’s meager parcels of corn and beans.

Dina Calmo and her husband, Luis Ramos, both 17, said they too were considering leaving for the United States with their 6-month-old son, Dairon. A cousin and her child had recently made it there in a week.

But the well-known perils of the voyage have deterred Calmo and Ramos for now.

“There are a lot of people from Todos Santos who have left for the north and never been heard from again,” she said. “Who knows what happened to them?”

Before Mass at the town’s colonial-era Roman Catholic church, townsfolk offered donations on behalf of loved ones in the United States, submitting hand-written pleas that their relatives abroad stay healthy, keep on sending money — and attain legal papers in their adopted nation.

“I pray every day that my children get legalized,” said Faustino Matias Pablo, 50, a onetime Florida resident, explaining that three of his children were living illegally in the United States. “I hope President Trump helps them.”

Father Edgar Tarax , who presided over the Mass, later expressed skepticism that Mexico’s current enforcement efforts — which have prompted some residents to put emigration plans on hold — could slow the movement north in the long term.

“How can emigration be stopped when it serves a fundamental human need to survive?” the priest asked in the church courtyard as worshipers nodded in approval. “Our people go north and work day and night, to send money back to build homes, to buy land, to help their families. That is the life of Todos Santos.”

Special correspondents Liliana Nieto del Rio and Claudia Palacios in Todos Santos and Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-migrants-todossantos-20190711-story.html 

Sent by Alvaro Huerta, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cal Poly Pomona
alvarohuerta6@gmail.com who writes:  P.S. It saddens me that millions of people around the world are forced to migrate from their rural communities/towns/cities in order to survive/thrive! 

Editor Mimi:  Why do they have to leave?  Why isn't their country growing their economy?  What is needed for the people to stay in their own countries.   I know my familia would have preferred that.

My grandfather and family fled from Mexico in the early 1920s. They had property and education.  Grandpa Chapa was Superintendent of Schools in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon.  

When I was about seven or eight, I was standing next to him Grandpa in Los Angeles when he received a letter from the President of Mexico asking him to return, and take a government position.  By that time his older daughters had married, started families and wanted to stay in the United States.

Plus Grandpa was troubled with the social, educational, and religious changes, plus the complications of World War II.  Germans in the U.S. and Germany were attempting to make an alliance with political figures in Mexico.  They never returned to live in Mexico, only to visit.


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Latin American Countries Say Capitalism Doesn't Work in their Societies.  
~ Christian P. Milord 
California State University, Fullerton

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Central and South American countries claim that capitalism doesn't work in their societies. Well, of course it won't work as long as their governments revert to the failed policies of centralized economics. Free enterprise isn't something that one at tempts for a period of time, then discards ,for another fashion. It must be promoted over a long period of time to effectively transform a state.

In order for free markets to function, governments must protect individual liberties and property rights through the rule of law. Elections must be truly open, and an expanding middle class ought to be encouraged. Unfortunately, in many Latin nations, there is a wide gulf between the wealthy and the majority of impoverished folks. 

 

There isn't a large enough middle class to act as a buffer between these extremes. . Next, these authoritarian leaders ignore the fact that "populist" socialism is part of the problem, and not the solution  to development gaps and fewer opportunities. Socialism has been an abysmal failure wherever it's been imposed, because it stifles competition, creativity and innovative productivity.

Some stuck-in-reverse Latin American leaders don't encourage greater freedom and prosperity, because it would threaten their grip on power. They can control the poor with anti-American slogans and  but they fear a growing, vibrant middle class that would challenge their archaic worldview. That's why they decry genuine democracy and free-market capitalism.                          


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Argentina and Juan Peron
Election and first term (1946-1952)

Perón leveraged his popular support into victory in the February 24, 1946 presidential elections.

=================================== ===================================
Once in office, Perón pursued social policies aimed at empowering the working class. He greatly expanded the number of unionized workers and supported the increasingly powerful General Confederation of Labor (CGT), created in 1930. He called his movement the "third way," or justicialismo, a supposed path between capitalism and communism. Later populist/nationalist leaders in Latin America would adopt many elements of Peronism. Perón also pushed hard to industrialize the country. In 1947 he announced the first five-year plan to boost newly nationalized industries. His ideology would be dubbed Peronism and became a central influence in Argentine political parties.

 

However, among middle and upper class Argentines, Perón's pro-labor policies were considered far too socialistic. Negative feelings among the upper classes also abounded toward the industrial workers from rural areas. Perón also made enemies internationally because of his willingness to shelter fleeing Nazi war criminals, like Erich Priebke who arrived in Argentina in 1947, Josef Mengele who arrived in 1949 and Adolf Eichmann in 1950. Eichmann was eventually captured by Israeli agents in Argentina, indicted by an Israeli court on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, convicted and hanged. His last words were "long live Argentina."

 

 

PAN-PACIFIC RIM

A 500 años de la fundación de la primera ciudad del continente americano
Quinquecentenario de Hernando Cortés

 
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MA 500 años de la fundación de la primera ciudad del continente americano


CIUDAD DE PANAMÁ, El País por Paco Nadal 
 

Así es hoy la primera ciudad que los españoles fundaron en el Pacífico

El 15 de agosto se cumplirán 500 años de la fundación de Ciudad de Panamá. Y los panameños ya están celebrándolo. La sorpresa para el viajero es encontrarse con un casco antiguo de sabor colonial tan bello como desconocido. Lo cuento en este vídeo.

El 15 de agosto de 1519, apenas 27 años después del primer viaje de Colón, el español Pedro Arias Dávila fundaba en la costa del Pacífico del istmo de Centroamérica el primer asentamiento estable europeo en esa parte del continente. Le llamó Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá y el primer censo dio un total de 100 parroquianos. Hoy, 500 años después, Ciudad de Panamá tiene casi un millón de habitantes y lleva semanas festejando la efemérides que la convirtió, como ellos mismos dicen, en “la llave de dos mundos o en la garganta de la riqueza de dos mundos”.



La Sorpresa para el viajero novato –así al menos me ocurrió a mí la primera vez que fui a Panamá- es que más allá de esa imagen de ciudad moderna llena de rascacielos y de despachos financieros que nos llega, existe una ciudad colonial bellísima que puede rivalizar con las otras tres grandes ciudades coloniales de América: La Habana, San Juan de Puerto Rico y Cartagena de Indias. Es cierto que quedan muchísimos edificios aún en ruinas o abandonados. Está en marcha un ambicioso programa de restauración e imagino que en pocos años esa parte colonial de Ciudad de Panamá recuperará el esplendor que tuvo hace siglos.  

Este es el vídeo que grabé sobre el casco antiguo de Panamá. Refleja muy bien cómo es y cómo vive hoy, 500 años después, la primera fundación europea en la costa del Pacífico americano.

En la web CiudadPanama500 tienes toda la información de los actos y festejos que se vienen sucediendo desde hace semanas en torno a ese centenario y que tendrán su colofón el 15 de agosto de 2019.

 

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante (campce@gmail.com)

Source: https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/07/03/paco_nadal/1562143464_190448.html?id_externo_rsoc=FB_CC&fbclid=
IwAR11iZ7-ZS9J96c6s76OSIX2hIfVti_Le8GRtjL36HbHYrzofS7lMGnbgcc


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Quinquecentenario de Hernando Cortés


H. Cortés proyecto la conquista del Océano Pacífico

Found by C. Campos y Escalante
campce@gmail.com
 


 PHILIPPINES

How to be a True Filipino’ (The Challenge of our Generation)

May 28, 2019 - Atty. Jojo Liangco

 

 
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‘How to be a True Filipino’ (The Challenge of our Generation)

May 28, 2019 - Atty. Jojo Liangco

 

The election results from the recently held electoral exercise in the Philippines, particularly in the senate race, made me wonder why our fellow Filipinos gave their nod and voted into office all of the senatorial candidates supported by President Rodrigo Duterte. None from the opposition Otso Diretso and no oppositionist candidate for senator were able break into the Magic 12.

I live and work far away from the Philippines. My quick rationalization after learning the outcome of the senatorial race is that I am no longer grounded when it comes to the issues and concerns affecting the Filipino people. Perhaps I missed the pulse of the people and that I no longer know what they feel and how they view the things happening around them. I told myself that this was the reason why all the senatorial candidates supported by Duterte won.

The questions that I asked myself after I saw the early returns in the senatorial level race were very simple. The bar that I set was not very high in the first place.

What did the voters see that made them decide and vote for these candidates who are in the Magic 12? How could I miss what they saw from these politicians? What was erroneous about my analysis and social assessment?

I asked these questions because I still wonder about the so-called magic or luck that paved the way for Imee Marcos, the daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos who were politically ousted during the People Power Revolution in 1986, to land a spot in the senate. Remember, even before this past election, she was accused of corruption and lying about obtaining her college degree from Princeton University. The Princeton community have already spoken and stated that Imee Marcos did not graduate from their institution. Her law degree and her being a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law was also questioned and held in doubt by many up to this time.

Lito Lapid also won handily without really campaigning. He was a “nowhere man” during his earlier stint in the senate.

Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada who were also accused of corruption and plunder ran as senators but failed to make it. But the dancing Bong Revilla magically danced his way to the Magic 12 of the senate race.

Revilla was another “nowhere man” as a senator, just like fellow actor Lito Lapid. What exactly was in the mind of the more than 14 million voters who voted for Revilla?

I do not subscribe and definitely do not agree to the tag that many Filipino voters are “bobotantes” or ignorant voters. I also do not subscribe to the general statement that the Filipino people are not “educated voters” and that they do not know the consequences of their votes.

What I believe in and what I urge our people to do is to go back to the simple lines that taught many Filipino children about the value and importance of love of country and patriotism. I believe that it is time to go back and recite the “Panatang Makabayan” once more and this is not just for Filipinos who are in school (the adults and out-of-school Filipinos must do it too).

The Panatang Makabayan’s aim as I recall is to instill the love of country and to remind Filipinos about being responsible citizens— “Paglilingkuran ko ang aking bayan nang walang pagiimbot at ng buong katapatan” (I will serve my country unselfishly and faithfully).

What has not been elaborated and explained fully to us Filipinos in the original version of the Panata is the last line which I consider to be very meaningful and important in building a nation— Sisikapin kong maging isang tunay na Pilipino sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa” (I will be a true Filipino in thought, word, and deed).

How to be a true Filipino. This indeed is the challenge of our generation.

Jojo Liangco is an attorney with the Law Offices of Amancio M. Liangco Jr. in San Francisco, California. His practice is in the areas of immigration, family law, personal injury, civil litigation, business law, bankruptcy, DUI cases, criminal defense and traffic court cases. Please send your comments to Jojo Liangco, c/o Law Offices of Amancio “Jojo” Liangco, 605 Market Street, Suite 605, San Francisco, CA 94105 or you can call him (415) 974-5336. You can also visit Jojo Liangco’s website at www.liangcolaw.com.

Author Atty. Jojo LiangcoPosted on May 28, 2019

https://philippinenews.com/how-to-be-a-true-filipino-the-challenge-of-our-generation/


SPAIN

New Bernardo de Galvez Statue at the Washington, D.C. Spanish Embassy. 
What the USA owes to Spain ! 

Cabe estar más orgulloso de ser español que británico 
EL desconocido marino español que derrotó al pirata inglés Hawkins 

=================================== ===================================

Good morning Mimi,  

Thought you’d enjoy this article from the Washington Post yesterday!

Hope you are well! 
Fondly,
Mary Anthony Startz, Regent

Lady Washington Chapter, NSDAR 
State Vice Chair Spanish Task Force National Vice Chair Lineage Research – Spanish Task Force

Member of America 250! 
Membership Task Force
malstartz@outlook.com
www.dar.org

Photo Lft to Rt: Mary Anthony Startz, 
Molly Fernandez de Mesa  and Marion Startz Reeb


tps://elhistoricon.blogspot.com/2018/04/la-leyenda-del-banquete-de-las-castanas.html?m=1&fbclid
=IwAR0VAAcYj5E5uSV3GwpkQiTGwKn_3puDHzkPjX4hr8-W4hbGphWgbhF-vYQ
 


 
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What the USA owes to Spain ! / Lo que EEU le debe a Espana -!
"Sin Bernardo de Gálvez, Washington no habría ganado la guerra"
por Francisco Reyero, Periodista 

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Francisco Reyero 
Retrato por Antonio Pizarro 
Source:  M. MARQUÉS PERALES 27 Marzo, 2019 Comentario

Francisco Reyero ha terminado su cuarto libro, que aborda a personajes relacionados con Estados Unidos o del propio país. El último es Bernardo de Gálvez, nacido en Macharaviaya (Málaga) en 1746.Y Bernardo de Gálvez entró en Washington está editado por Los papeles del Sitio, y patrocinado por la Fundación Unicaja.

-¿Quién fue Bernardo de Gálvez?   -Es el único ciudadano honorario español de los Estados Unidos. Lo es desde 2014 y está a la altura de Lafayette o de Churchill. Durante dos siglos estuvo olvidado.

-¿Cómo se redescubre?  -Se debe a una peripecia de investigadores malagueños y a un compromiso civil. Era el gobernador de la Luisiana en 1777, cuando se desata la Guerra de Independencia. Si Gálvez no hubiese sido gobernador, George Washington no habría ganado la Guerra de la Independencia. Literalmente es así.

-¿Tanto?  -España y Francia tenían intereses comunes contra el imperio británico y decidieron actuar contra el inglés. La Armada británica era muy poderosa y el Imperio iba creciendo en detrimento del español. Decidieron ayudarlos, en el caso de España, primero de un modo receloso. Bernardo de Gálvez, incluso contra la opinión de los españoles, se decide a apoyar a los americanos, les envía mantas, blinda el Misisipi, les da respaldo militar, entra en varias plazas estratégicas. Y gracias a esta investigación, los americanos también descubrieron que tenían a un personaje de una naturaleza bárbara. Gálvez, en estos momentos, se convierte en un símbolo para la imagen de España -lo que a nosotros nos viene bien-, para las empresas que están instaladas en Estados Unidos.

-No era tampoco conocido allí, a pesar, por ejemplo, de que una ciudad se llama Galveston.

-No ha sido conocido. Cuando en Los Angeles Times comenzaron a ver lo que ocurría con el cuadro, publicó un reportaje titulado  ¿Nunca ha escuchado hablar de Bernardo de Gálvez? Exactamente.

-¿De qué cuadro nos está hablando?  -Hay un investigador malagueño, Manuel Olmedo, que descubrió en 2010 el compromiso de 1783 de colgar un retrato de Gálvez en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos. Vio que el compromiso estaba firmado, pero que no se había cumplido. Al parecer, se pintó el cuadro, pero no se sabe qué ocurrió con la pintura. Olmedo comenzó a moverse, pero, claro, nadie le hizo caso. Pero en 2013 una información llegó a oídos de Teresa Valcarce, que era una española casada con un americano que trabaja a dos manzanas del Capitolio. Y ella, que es una mujer torrencial, cruzó las calles y fue al Capitolio, comprobó que el cuadro no estaba y emprendió una batalla contra los lobistas, con los senadores, hasta que al final consiguió que se colgase el cuadro de Gálvez en el Senado. Y acto seguido, lo hicieron ciudadano honorario de los Estados Unidos.

-Cuadro, que supongo no es el original.

-El cuadro se lo encargaron en Málaga a un pintor, Carlos Monserrate.

-¿El libro forma parte de esa recuperación de personajes históricos españoles tan en boga?

-El libro explica cómo se produce el redescubrimiento de un héroe olvidado. Ni los diplomáticos ni los políticos estaban interesados, sólo unas personas de la sociedad civil que terminan implicando a Obama, a Mariano Rajoy y al Rey.

-Casi se ha hecho un español en Estados Unidos, ya lleva cuatro libros sobre norteamericanos. ¿Vuelve a Estados Unidos?

-Sí, este libro se presenta el 2 de abril en la Embajada de España en Washington y el 5 de abril en Pensacola. Después viene San Antonio, Houston y Austin. Hay una asociación, la Orden de Granaderos y Damas de Gálvez, que es la que lo va organizando. Lo que trato de hacer con estos libros es poner en contacto dos mundos que parecen que son antagónicos. Este es el cuarto; antes están el de Sinatra, el de Trump, el de Clint Eastwood. Piense en Sinatra, es un personaje que está encumbrado como icono americano y se mueve en la España franquista, donde tiene que soportar unos cuernos furibundos por parte de Ava Gadner. O en Clint Eastwood, que es un don nadie cuando llega a España y se enfrenta a esos paisajes desolados de Almería, de Burgos, de Madrid.

-¿Y el periodismo?  -Sí, sigo con RNE, sigo con la tele con Canal Sur y estoy colaborando en algunos medios.

Entre Sevilla y Estados Unidos.

Francisco Reyero (Sevilla, 1971) lleva trabajando para radio, prensa y televisión durante los últimos 22 años. Habitual en programas de debate en radio y televisión (Herrera en la Onda, Más de uno con Carlos Alsina, Espejo Público con Susanna Griso....), en los últimos tiempos ha publicado Sinatra:Nunca volveré a ese maldito país, Trump: El león del circo y Eastwood, desde que mi nombre me defiende. De este último, se ha editado recientemente una versión adaptada para el mercado norteamericano presentada en Washington y Nueva York.


Reading books cures the most dreaded of human diseases "Ignorance"

CulturaHistoria

Sin Bernardo de Gálvez, Washington no habría ganado la guerra
Por Antonio Moreno Ruiz
4 julio, 2019

«…Hay un investigador malagueño, Manuel Olmedo, que descubrió en 2010 el compromiso de 1783 de colgar un retrato de Gálvez en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos. Vio que el compromiso estaba firmado, pero que no se había cumplido. Al parecer, se pintó el cuadro, pero no se sabe qué ocurrió con la pintura. Olmedo comenzó a moverse, pero, claro, nadie le hizo caso. Pero en 2013 una información llegó a oídos de Teresa Valcarce, que era una española casada con un americano que trabaja a dos manzanas del Capitolio…»

-Más información en el enlace: 
https://www.diariodesevilla.es/entrevistas/Entrevista-Francisco-Reyero-Periodista_0_1339966570.html

https://espanolesdecuba.info/sin-bernardo-de-galvez-washington-no-habria
-ganado-la-guerra/?fbclid=IwAR3VaagRkHcxwkW9bQvfU9vEH7gi0RhPHy0mJXxptz22qqxWjQfLUWfW46Q

Sent by Carl Campos campce@gmail.com

 


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Robert Goodwin, Historiador británico dice de España
“Cabe estar más orgulloso de ser español que británico” 

 

Robert Goodwin no oculta su amor por España. El historiador británico afincado en Londres ha escrito sobre el imperio español y el Siglo de Oro en su obra: España, centro del mundo, 1519-1682 (La esfera de los libros). Es un relato perfecto para aquellos que quieren iniciarse en la historia de la España imperial.

Extractamos una entrevista que le realiza “El Español”.

En el libro usted ofrece una imagen bastante positiva de la España imperial.

Es una imagen de España como el centro de un mundo creado por los españoles en el siglo XVI. Mi intención no ha sido ofrecer ni una imagen positiva ni negativa, sino una imagen de la España de la época. Y eso abarca tanto la Inquisición como el Siglo de Oro. Claro, comparándola con la imagen clásica de la leyenda negra, es una imagen positiva. Pero eso es porque la leyenda negra es, precisamente, una leyenda negra.

¿Usted cree que los españoles seguimos viviendo bajo la sombra de la leyenda negra?

Hasta cierto punto sí, pero sobre todo por vuestra culpa. En general todos los pueblos tienen una tendencia a menospreciar a los vecinos, y los términos en los que ese menosprecio se expresa siempre tiene sus dejes históricos. Pero no creo que los británicos, los alemanes o los franceses expresen más prejuicios sobre los españoles que los españoles sobre esos pueblos.

¿Entonces la leyenda negra viene de nosotros mismos?

Eso me fascina del español. Una historia magnífica, una historia imperial, siempre tiene lo bueno y lo malo. Pero con una historia así de impresionante hay muchísimos motivos para estar orgulloso de ser español. Vamos, hay muchos más motivos para estar orgulloso de ser español que de ser británico, o incluso francés. El español de hoy en día tiene muchas razones para sentirse orgulloso de su gente, de su pueblo, y de todos los españoles. El mundo político ya es otro asunto.

En ‘España centro del mundo’ usted alaba principalmente a Cervantes, y dice que la revolución literaria que tuvo lugar en la ficción inglesa durante el siglo XVIII sería inimaginable sin ‘El Quijote’.

Con El Quijote Cervantes pinta una imagen de la España de entonces, a través de dos personajes muy atractivos. Sobre todo atractivos por la relación que tienen entre ellos. Lo fundamental de El Quijote es la relación entre Quijote y Sancho. Además, es una relación que cambia continuamente. En ese sentido son mucho más reales que los personajes de Shakespeare. El resto del mundo literario no consiguió ese tipo de relación entre dos personajes hasta el siglo XVIII. Además casi todos habían leído El Quijote, con lo cual seguían este modelo. Esa relación que tienen los dos personajes, de viaje por la España de entonces, transmite una imagen muy viva de cómo eran las ventas, las ciudades…

Esta pregunta es difícil para un británico, pero allá va: ¿Shakespeare o Cervantes?

Cervantes, sin lugar a duda. Para mí no es una pregunta difícil.

https://somatemps.me/2016/12/11/cabe-estar-mas-orgulloso-de-ser-espanol-que-britanico
-robert-goodwin-historiador/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR2T68kT0SFLj
FeCodjcInCGMw2032aGS69Bz7SbR-Gv9I56pk5gezQ6P4U

Robert Goodwin es un hispanista británico nacido en Londres, donde recibió su educación hasta doctorarse con una tesis sobre la España del Siglo de Oro, cursando varias asignaturas en las universidades de Granada y Sevilla. Actualmente se dedica a escribir a tiempo completo, vive en su ciudad natal y visita a menudo España; se siente casi más en casa en Sevilla que en Reino Unido.

Su primer libro importante, Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: the Story of the First African-American Explorer of the American South, se publicó en 2008 en inglés. España. Centro del mundo 1519-1682 es su primera obra traducida al español.

https://academiaplay.es/robert-goodwin-leyenda-negra-espanola/

ebook: The Epic Story of Spanish North America 1498-1898

https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=576EDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=robert+
goodwin&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfwsSfhbvjAhVumK0KHSCdA4gQ6AEILDAA#v=
onepage&q=robert%20goodwin&f=false

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante

 


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Image: Israel Viana Madrid 

 
Beltrán de Castro 
EL desconocido marino español que derrotó al pirata inglés Hawkins 

 

Hawkins, el «depredador» pirata inglés al que humilló y aplastó un desconocido marino español

Con tan solo 22 años, Beltrán de Castro fue enviado a la caza del sobrino de Francis Drake, que había zarpado hacia América a finales del siglo XVI, con el permiso de Isabel I, para saquear las costas de españolas y a su población

El heroico episodio protagonizado por este jovencísimo y desconocido marino de origen gallego, Beltrán de Castro y de Las Cuevas, contra uno de los piratas más temidos de finales del siglo XVI, Richard Hawkins, tuvo lugar en medio de la guerra que, desde 1588, enfrentaba a España e Inglaterra por el dominio del viejo continente. En concreto, desde que produjo el ataque de la Armada Invencible por parte de Felipe II para destronar a Isabel I e invadir las islas británicas. Murieron 11.000 hombres y, un año después, durante la revancha de la Contraarmada, otros 15.000 más.

En medio de las más cruentas batallas entre las dos potencias más grandes del mundo, los piratas de antaño encontraron la justificación perfecta para iniciar todo tipo de ofensivas por sorpresa contra los dominios españoles en todos los mares. Ahora rebautizados como «corsarios» y con patente de corso de la Reina de Inglaterra para que pudieran saquear a gusto las costas y robar a la población. Figuras que seguían los pasos del temido Francis Drake, como Thomas Cavendish, que regresó a las andanzas con seis barcos. Y después, Walter Raleigh, íntimo de Isabel I; Martin Frobisher, veterano de la Contraarmada; George Clifford de Cumberland, terror de las naves portuguesas, y John Hawkins, primo de Drake y comerciante de esclavos.

Cuando este último regresó a Inglaterra con varias de sus naves maltrechas por el temporal, decidió que era el momento de retirarse y cedérselas a su hijo, Richard Hawkins. En total, tres barcos: la Dainty, un galeón de unas 500 toneladas armado con 30 cañones que había sido bautizado por la misma Reina; el Fantasy, un patache de dos velas muy ligero y destinado a la vigilancia, y una nao de pertrechos de un centenar de toneles y ocho cañones. Toda una pequeña flota con la que este corsario de 32 años se lanzó contra las colonias españolas en América confiado de su superioridad. Era un buen momento para salir a saquear, pero el inglés claramente menospreció la capacidad de su enemigo para defender las remotas costas del Pacífico. Así lo cuenta el escritor e historiador Víctor San Juan en su último libro, « Veintidós derrotas navales de los británicos», que acaba de reeditar Renacimiento, en el que recoge este episodio y otros de la supuestamente todopoderosa Royal Navy.

Ocho meses de viaje

Las operaciones británicas en aguas del Pacífico en aquellos últimos años del siglo XVI fueron consideradas por la Corona Española como asaltos salvajes e injustificables. Felipe II decidió que cualquier navegante no español que surcara este océano debería de ser tratado como un pirata y, como consecuencia, aplicarle todo el peso de la ley. Estos significaba básicamente ejecuciones sumarias sin más preámbulos ni formalidades.

En esa situación se encontraba la diplomacia internacional cuando la expedición de Hawkins zarpó del puerto de Plymouth el 24 de mayo de 1593. Tardó cuatro meses en llegar a las costas de Sudamérica, a pesar de que no pudo detenerse en las Islas Canarias debido a los temporales. La Dainty tardó ocho meses en llegar al nuevo continente y cruzar el estrecho de Magallanes, en una travesía en la que perdió dos de sus barcos de apoyo. Y luego inició el ascenso por las costas de Chile hasta que se detuvo en la bahía de Valparaíso, donde descansaron y se prepararon para la rapiña.

Las primera víctimas fueron cuatro barcos mercantes por cuyo rescate Hawkins obtuvo 25.000 ducados. Y secuestró después por la fuerza a un avezado piloto español que más tarde sería clave en su derrota: Alonso Pérez Bueno. Era muy difícil creerse lo que Richard Hawkins sostuvo años después en un escrito muy detallado: que él iba a las costas españolas como geógrafo, y no como pirata, para realizar sus pertinentes investigaciones. En aquellos años, las naves inglesas estaban asociadas al saqueo, como así contaron muchas de las víctimas de sus tropelías.

Beltrán de Castro

Cuando al virrey de Perú, García Hurtado de Mendoza, le llegaron noticias de los ataques de Hawkins, puso inmediatamente en marcha el plan que se había previsto cuatro años antes con los saqueos de los otros corsarios ingleses en las costas del Pacífico: preparar cinco galeones de 500 toneladas, con entre 25 y 30 cañones cada uno, y cinco buques de apoyo más, para salir en busca de los piratas. Una embarcación ágil, rápida y con gran capacidad ofensiva que puso al mando de Beltrán de Castro y de Las Cuevas, una desconocido marino español de 22 años y buena familia.

La primera noticia que se tiene de su carrera militar lo sitúa al servicio de Felipe II en la jornada de anexión de Portugal, en 1580. Allí ejerció el cargo de capitán y destacó en algunas acciones bélicas antes de ser destinado a las Indias y hacerse cargo de la caza del temido Richard Hawkins. Con esa misión partió de El Callao el 24 de mayo de 1594, mientras el virrey trataba de avisar al istmo de Panamá y virreinato de Nueva España de la presencia del «depredador» inglés, así como a todo el litoral español.

Poco después, el 3 de junio de 1594 llegaba a Lima el mensaje de que la nave de Hawkins había sido avistada cerca de Arica, ciudad al norte de Chile, en dirección a las costas de Perú. El virrey mandó rápidamente un esquife para avisar a Beltrán. La noticia le llegó al joven marino dos días después, mientras el piloto español secuestrado condujo a la Dainty hasta El Callao, sede en aquellos momentos de la recién nacida Armada del Mar del Sur, sin que el corsario inglés se percatara del engaño.

La tormenta

En la madrugada del 5 de junio la nave inglesa fue avistada por Beltrán. Hawkins tuvo suerte de que, de repente, se desatara una tormenta que desmanteló las arboladuras de dos de sus principales galeones. El pirata pudo huir delante de sus narices. Aún así, asustado por la amenaza de que se les acercara más, tiraron por la borda todo el botín que habían hecho en las jornadas anteriores para ganar velocidad y llegar pronto a la isla de Lobos y Huanchaco.

Alonso Pérez fue abandonado en estas tierras sin represalia alguna y Richard Hawkins continuó su marcha más confiado de que había logrado perder de vista a Beltrán de Castro. Pero no fue así. El español lo persiguió incansablemente durante una jornada interminable con las costas a la vista para no ponerse en peligro. Hawkins, que en ese momento se encontraba en desventaja, se defendió dignamente. Sin embargo, las ganas acumuladas por sus adversarios, ante la visión de las tropelías que habían causa en territorio español, y las ansias por echarle el guante fueron mayores.

El 30 de junio, harto de huir y tras soñar que el español le había atrapado, el inglés decidió lanzar un ataque por sorpresa y a la desesperada que fue rechazado de nuevo. La tripulación de 120 marinos que sobrevivía a las embestidas de los españoles se encontraba herida y con sus naves anegadas por el fuego al que les había sometido Beltrán de Castro. La cubierta se encontraba cubierta de serrín para evitar patinazos con la sangre que se había derramado. Todos en la Dainty comprendieron que sus saqueos y rapiñas se habían acabado. Y aunque intentaron de nuevo una escapatoria, no hubo manera.

Cuerpo a cuerpo

El 2 de julio los alcanzó de nuevo, lanzando una salva de cañonazos e invitando a Hawkins a rendirse. Este se negó y, tras dejar el barco pirata desarbolado y sin posibilidad de maniobrar, pudieron ponerse a su lado y se lanzaron al abordaje para luchar cuerpo a cuerpo. Superados, el Dainty izó finalmente la bandera blanca y se rindió. Más de 30 piratas yacían muertos sobre la cubierta y otros tantos heridos. El corsario inglés estaba también herido con dos balazos que ponían punto final a su carrera criminal.

El joven Beltrán de Castro supo llevar la situación y no se dejó llevar por la ira. Apresó al capitán pirata y a los 90 supervivientes, repararon las vías de agua que tenía el Dainty y lo pusieron a remolque. Como los barcos no estaban en buen estado y el prisionero era muy valioso como para perderlo, decidió poner rumbo a Panamá, que era la ciudad importante más cercana y no regresaron a Lima hasta el 14 de septiembre. El virrey, a pesar de ser de madrugada, ordenó el repique de las campanas y la celebración de una misa especial en la iglesia de San Agustín para dar gracias.

Richard Hawkins fue paseado por las calles de la capital peruana para que la población a la que había pretendido robar, matar y violar se desahogara a gusto con él. Después fue arrestado por la Inquisición y enviado a un calabozo. La falta de luz y el odio de los carceleros que pretendían quemarlo vivo por hereje le volvieron prácticamente loco. Al final fue enviado a España y encarcelado de nuevo durante siete años en prisiones de Sevilla y Madrid, hasta que, en 1602, fue enviado a Inglaterra. Allí fue nombrado caballero, pero nunca más se le ocurrió embarcar en una nave ni echarse al mar.

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante (campce@gmail.com)

Source: https://www.abc.es/historia/abci-hawkins-depredador-pirata-ingles-humillo-y-aplasto
-desconocido-marino-espanol-201907090139_noticia.html?fbclid=IwAR3bQe420BLqWoTNl0E
c95JdwSVwuAEVTZy1M6vcxDN0T8CRqpz5AMTWfr8




INTERNATIONAL

Refugee Risks Life to Convert Muslims To Christianity In Sweden 
Guía para visitar la bella basílica de San Marcos de Venecia por Cristina Blanco 
Historia de Samarcanda en el actual Uzbekistán,  Samarcanda, la joya de Oriente Por  Félix Casanova
El joven Julio César, los primeros años de un líder 
Una navaja multiusos romana de hace 1800 años
Indian Christian Woman Maliciously Murdered for Leaving Hinduism

 
Top Hamas Leader Wants to Kill Every Jew on Planet Earth
Woman Travels to Ilhan Omar’s Home Country To Show Its Positive Side
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Refugee Risks Life to Convert Muslims To Christianity In Sweden

 

The stories of Muslim women who have escaped the war-torn Middle East and ISIS caliphate can only be likened to Hollywood’s most graphic horror films. After enduring second-class status, surviving domestic abuse and escaping Iran only to suffer in a Turkish prison, Annahita Parsan has staked her claim in Sweden, converted to Christianity and now shepherds other to Jesus.

The mother of two had virtually no personal or religious freedom under Iran’s hard-line Muslim regime. But now in Sweden, she has embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ and emerged as a prominent person of faith. Her spiritual, emotional and geographic journey read like the trials of Job.

She risked her very life by making the pilgrimage away from religious and gender oppression to the European country. Many would be grateful for a new life in a free society and live out their days quietly. Not so with Parsan. She continues to put her self in harm’s way by reaching out to disenfranchised Muslims and leading them to the peaceful and loving teachings of Jesus.

She has even published a memoir called “Stranger No More: A Muslim Refugee Story of Harrowing Escape, Miraculous Rescue and the Quiet Call of Jesus.”

“My life is completely different since coming to Jesus,” the 47-year-old reportedly said.

Raised in the Isfahan region of Iran, she was married off at 16 years old. She brought her first child into the world soon after Ayatollah Khomeini seized power following Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. At 18, her husband was tragically killed and the authoritarian Islamic state forced her to hand her young son over to her deceased husband’s father under Iranian law. She stood her ground, regaining custody and later remarrying in hopes of a loving relationship.

“After two years, I decided to marry again. His situation was like mine. His wife had died,” Parsan said. “But soon, he began beating my son very badly. I was pregnant again, and it was impossible for me to divorce.”

As the Iran-Iraq war broke out, her violent husband forced her and her two children to trek across the mountains into Turkey during winter. As illegal immigrants, Turkish authorities imprisoned the entire family. After being released into Istanbul, it took nine months to garner enough money to travel to Denmark. In Scandinavia, the roots of Parsan’s spiritual rebirth took hold.

“In about the first or second month there, a woman came to the door to speak about God. But it was not in my interest,” Parsan recalled. “I was so angry. I was so unhappy. But she came back the next day with a small Bible, so this time I asked Jesus to help me.”

She hid the Bible from her husband.

Unfortunately, after a brutal assault by her spouse during Christmas, she tried to commit suicide. As she miraculously recovered from the sleeping pill overdose, her spiritual awakening became complete.

“I was too scared to go home, and the police came to the hospital to talk to me. Many people were helping me find a safe place to live, and I knew it was Jesus,” she reportedly said. “And soon, the police called to tell me that they had uncovered a plot in which my abusive husband had planned to kidnap the children back to Iran. After that, we moved to Sweden, and the policeman told me that I have an angel on my shoulder.”

Two years later, she was baptized and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She recalls experiencing a sense of calm, a piece of mind she had never enjoyed before. In 2006, she escaped a terrifying car wreck and recognized God had spared her for a higher calling. After years of intensive Bible study, she became an ordained minister in 2012 and began bringing Muslims into the Christian faith.

Once a second-class female in a hard-line Muslim nation, married off, beaten and imprisoned, Parsan leads a pair of Swedish congregations. To her credit, she has helped more than 1,500 souls take Jesus Christ into their hearts. Many are Farsi-speaking Middle East refugees who must keep their conversion and baptism secret for fear of violence or death from radical Islamists. And, Parsan lives with their same dangers every day because of her ministry.

“I have other threats from my own distant family members,” she reportedly said. “I hope people out there who have lost their faith, will maybe hear my story and be inspired to come back.”

https://1776christian.com/refugee-risks-life-to-convert-muslims-to-christianity-in-sweden/ 

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Guía para visitar 
la bella basílica de San Marcos de Venecia

Cristina Blanco · 8 febrero, 2018

Basílica de San Marcos – Lukasz Janyst

La construcción de la basílica se planteó en el año 828 para albergar unas supuestas reliquias del evangelista San Marcos. Sin embargo, un incendio acontecido en el año 975 acabó con la iglesia, y ya en el siglo XI comenzó su reconstrucción.

En concreto, en el año 1063 los obreros y arquitectos de Constantinopla se acercaron hasta Venecia para reconstruirla, siguiendo el estilo bizantino. Diez años más tarde el edificio estaba terminado. Sin embargo, durante los siglos XV y XVII sufrió algunas modificaciones.

Finalmente, en 1807 se convirtió en la catedral de la ciudad. Gracias a una ley de la República de Venecia que obligaba a los mercaderes a hacer regalos a la basílica, cuenta con unos 4000 m² de impecables mosaicos.

“Mira dos veces para ver lo justo. No mires más que una vez para ver lo bello.” 

-Henry F. Amiel-

 

Guía de visita de la basílica de San Marcos

Ahora que conocemos la historia de la basílica, es hora de organizarlo todo para tenerlo a punto para nuestra visita. ¡Sigue nuestra lista de imprescindibles para disfrutarla lo mejor posible!

1. Cómo llegar hasta la basílica de San Marcos de Venecia

 

 

Plaza de San Marcos – Boris Stroujko

La basílica de San Marcos se encuentra en la plaza del mismo nombre y muy cerca del Palacio Ducal. La mejor forma de llegar hasta allí es hacerlo caminando, ya que se encuentra en el centro de la ciudad.

Desde la estación de tren el trayecto es de media hora caminando, en el que disfrutarás de unas vistas de ensueño. También puedes hacerlo en vaporetto, el medio de transporte público de Venecia por excelencia: una embarcación que va recorriendo los canales de la ciudad. Cogiendo el vaporetto de la ruta 1, llegas directamente a la plaza de San Marcos.

2. Horarios y entradas

 

 

Pórtico de entrada – Por

Los horarios de visita varían en función de la temporada del año. Entre los meses de noviembre y marzo, el horario es de lunes a sábado de 9:45 a 17:00 h. Y los domingos y festivos de 2 a 4 de la tarde. Entre marzo y octubre, época de temporada alta, los horarios son semejantes. De lunes a sábado se mantiene el mismo horario, y los domingos y festivos una hora más, hasta las 5 de la tarde.

La entrada a la basílica de San Marcos de Venecia es gratuita, salvo que se quiera visitar el museo, la Pala de Oro o el tesoro de San Marcos, que tienen un coste de 5, 2 y 3 euros, respectivamente.

3. Qué visitar en el interior de la basílica

 

Interior de la basílica – damian entwistle / Flickr.com



Como la entrada es gratuita, es frecuente tener que esperar largas colas para entrar. Pero antes, te aconsejamos admirar el aspecto de la basílica desde fuera. Y una vez dentro, párate a admirar los mosaicos, la estatua de San Marcos y las cúpulas de Alejandría y la Ascensión (que podrás ver durante la visita al museo).

No obstante, una de las partes más destacadas son los caballos de San Marcos. Son cuatro esculturas de caballos que se encuentran en la parte superior del pórtico central. Se desconoce su origen, pero se sabe que son de la época clásica (romana o griega). Se encontraban en el hipódromo de Constantinopla y fueron parte del botín de una de las cruzadas.

Lo mismo ocurre con el tesoro de San Marcos, el cual se obtuvo tras el saqueo de Constantinopla durante el final del periodo bizantino. Por último, la Pala de Oro, es un retablo de piedras preciosas de época medieval.

4. Normas de acceso



Interior de la basílica – Wilfried Schnetzler  Flickr.com

Al tratarse de un lugar de culto, hay algunas normas que hay que cumplir si se quiere visitar la basílica. No se puede entrar con mochila, pero se puede dejar de forma gratuita en unas taquillas que hay en el lateral izquierdo de la basílica, en la calle San Basso.

Y como ocurre en otros lugares de culto, es necesario entrar con ropa adecuada. No está permitido entrar con tirantes ni con ningún tipo de prenda sin mangas. Tampoco se pueden llevar pantalones cortos o sandalias. Por tanto, se recomienda llevar una chaqueta, aunque dejan capas a la entrada para cubrirse el cuerpo.

Por lo demás, no está permitido el uso de cámaras, ni para fotografías ni para vídeo. Del mismo modo, está prohido hablar en voz alta durante la visita ni molestar al resto de visitantes.

La visita a la basílica de San Marcos de Venecia hará que te enamores de la ciudad, junto al resto de monumentos y sus maravillosos canales. Venecia es uno de los lugares más bonitos y especiales de Italia, y está deseando que lo descubras. 

Found by: campce@gmail.com

https://miviaje.com/guia-basilica-de-san-marcos-de-venecia/

 


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Historia de Samarcanda en el actual Uzbekistán

Samarcanda, la joya de Oriente 
Por  Félix Casanova

 

Una hermosa leyenda, aunque un poco triste, explica la razón por la cual la ciudad de Samarcanda se llama así. La historia trata de dos amantes, un chico y una chica de la misma edad. Ella se llamaba Kant (“azúcar”) y era una princesa que conoció al joven Samar, del cual se enamoró.

Cuando el poderoso padre de Kant supo que Samar venía de familia pobre, rechazó la posibilidad de su matrimonio. En lugar de esto, el padre de Kant mató al niño. Cuando supo que su amante estaba muerto, Samar se suicidó saltando de la torre más alta.

Abrumados por la tristeza de esta historia, las gentes le dieron a la ciudad un nuevo nombre en homenaje a los jóvenes. El nombre dado fue Samarkanda, y la leyenda de este amor aún pervive.

 

Sólo el mero hecho de escuchar su nombre evoca en nuestra imaginación caravanas de camellos repletos de joyas, seda, pólvora o especias. Si bien hay mucho que ver en la Samarcanda actual, debió ser una ciudad fastuosa según cuentan las crónicas. La admiración de Alejandro Magno a su llegada a la ciudad no deja lugar a dudas:

“Todo lo que había oído sobre Samarcanda es verdad, excepto que es más hermosa de lo que había imaginado”

La ciudad desde un principio creció a un ritmo muy rápido, convirtiéndose en una gran urbe. Para cuando la invasión de Alejandro Magno comenzó, ya era una ciudad bien desarrollada con una gran población; la artesanía, la cultura y el comercio estaban a un alto nivel. Esta floreciente ciudad cayó en ruinas en el 328 aC durante el levantamiento contra el macedonio, y esa no fue la última prueba de fuego en la historia de Samarcanda.

Samarcanda en los días de la Ruta de la Seda

Afortunadamente, la buena ubicación geográfica no solo fue una maldición, sino también un regalo para Samarcanda. La ciudad se volvió muy importante y acogió tanto a los primeros chinos como a parte del imperio persa (aqueménida), y muy pronto se convirtió en encrucijada vital y centro del comercio mundial. En el siglo XVI, las rutas marítimas conectaron Asia y Europa, por lo que bajó la importancia de la Gran Ruta de la Seda. Pero en la historia del mundo, Samarcanda seguirá siendo el corazón de aquella ruta para la eternidad. 

Samarcanda Ruta Seda

El siglo VIII es un momento muy importante en la historia de la ciudad. Fue conquistada por los árabes que llevaron el Islam (que pronto se convirtió en religión principal). Hubo una epoca de diferentes invasiones nómadas, cuando los selyúcidas y otros intentaron hacerse con el poder. Pero solo con la invasión de los mongoles Samarcanda supo lo que era el verdadero terror.

Para la historia de Samarcanda, la invasión de Gengis Kan fue una terrible experiencia. Sus hordas destruyeron en 1220 el tan importante sistema de irrigación, un pilar muy importante de la ciudad. Fue una terrible masacre que acabó con miles de vidas y un gran paso atrás para Samarcanda, aunque la ciudad pronto se regeneró.

Pero el verdadero auge de Samarcanda fue en los tiempos en que Tamerlán llegó al poder y la convirtió en la capital de su Imperio, que era realmente enorme y llegaba hasta el Bósforo. Durante sus campañas (1372-1402) Tamerlán reclutó a los mejores artesanos y arquitectos y los envió a Samarcanda para hacer de aquel lugar un sitio fastuoso: hermosos edificios como la mezquita de Bibi-Khanym o el gran mausoleo de Gur-e Amir, que se convirtió en su tumba y de todos los miembros de su dinastía, incluido Ulugh Beg, que fue uno de los nietos más destacados de Tamerlán. La contribución que hizo a la vida cultural y científica de Samarcanda no tiene precio. Ordenó construir el Observatorio, que era el más perfecto de aquellos días y, al igual que su abuelo, llevó muchos científicos a la ciudad.

Los siglos XIV y XV fueron los tiempos de la gran reconstrucción de Samarcanda, la llamada “Edad de Oro” de esta magnífica ciudad. Nuevas calles pavimentadas de piedra se extendían a lo largo de la ciudad, se construyeron nuevos conjuntos de arquitectura y sus bellos jardines le otorgaban un aura celestial.

Viajar y visitar la moderna Samarcanda

De 1929 a 1930, Samarcanda fue la capital de la República Soviética de Uzbekistán. Hoy se encuentra en la lista de las ciudades más antiguas del mundo, y también es la segunda gran ciudad del país uzbeko, centro de cultura e impresionante arquitectura, catalogada por la UNESCO como patrimonio de la humanidad. Un lugar del que enamorarse y que sin duda merece la pena visitar. Hoy en día viajar a Uzbekistán es asequible y nos podemos plantar allí en cuestión de horas.

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante 
campce@gmail.com
 

https://hdnh.es/samarcanda-joya-de-oriente/?fbclid=IwAR0o9EBZrZUqv6st-xMESmO8sLOhX0xRMCKdq-
1Rdi_sxb1P194XHeeZQlM

 


El joven Julio César, 
los primeros años de un líder

Nacido en el seno de una familia patricia venida a menos, Julio César vivió los conflictos que sacudieron la República durante la guerra civil entre Mario y Sila

El futuro gran hombre de Roma

Julio César inició su carrera política en Roma con apenas 16 años. En la imagen un joven César, idealizado por Andrea del Sarto en 1520. Actualmente este dibujo se encuentra en el Museo Metropolitan de Nueva York.

Al cumplir 16 años, Cayo Julio César fue protagonista de una ceremonia que revestía en la sociedad romana una especial solemnidad: la del acceso a la edad adulta. En ella el chico, el puer, se desprendía de la bulla o colgante hueco para contener amuletos que llevaba colgada al cuello desde su nacimiento, abandonaba la vestimenta infantil –la túnica corta y la llamada «toga pretexta», caracterizada por una banda de color púrpura– y se le investía la túnica de los adultos, la tunica recta, y la «toga viril», totalmente blanca. Luego, al frente de una gran procesión formada por los esclavos, libertos y clientes del padre, así como por sus amigos y parientes, salía desde su domicilio hasta el foro, donde era inscrito en la lista de ciudadanos para después celebrar un banquete. El caso de César, sin embargo, fue distinto en un punto: su padre había fallecido ese mismo año, de modo inopinado, una mañana mientras se calzaba las botas, quizá de un ataque al corazón. Ello convirtió al adolescente Cayo en cabeza de familia, en paterfamilias de uno de los linajes más antiguos y prestigiosos de Roma, aunque algo venido a menos: los Julios.

Hay muy poca información sobre los primeros quince años de vida de Julio César. Curiosamente, Suetonio sólo nos habla de su temprana afición a la literatura; se decía que, siendo poco más que un niño, escribió un elogio de Hércules y una tragedia sobre Edipo, trabajos escolares, se supone, pero que anunciaban al futuro autor de la Guerra de las Galias y la Guerra civil. Ello sugiere que César recibió, como era obligado en los vástagos de las familias aristocráticas, una esmerada educación en las letras tanto latinas como griegas, primero en la casa familiar, a cargo de su madre, Aurelia, y luego con preceptores griegos y romanos. Igualmente, César debió de iniciarse muy temprano en el arte de la retórica. Sus familiares estaban relacionados con los mejores oradores romanos del momento, y él mismo debió de asistir, llevado por su padre, a las sesiones del foro protagonizadas por grandes abogados. De esta forma, siendo muy joven sería ya un orador muy valorado en el Foro Romano, hasta el punto de que el propio Cicerón no le escatimó elogios. Es probable que, además, asistiera a alguna escuela de retórica, como la de Marco Antonio Grifón.

César también se sometió a un intenso entrenamiento físico con vistas a su futura carrera militar. Seguramente acudía al Campo de Marte, el campamento de Roma donde los jóvenes aristócratas aprendían a correr, a nadar en el río y a manejar las armas, en especial la espada y la jabalina. Cayo era un joven más bien delgado y no especialmente robusto, pero gracias a estos ejercicios adquirió una resistencia física que le sería muy útil en sus futuras campañas. También aprendió a montar a caballo hasta convertirse en un hábil jinete. Según Varrón, montaba a pelo más que con silla, y según Plutarco era capaz de guiar su montura con los brazos atados a la espalda, ayudándose sólo de las rodillas.

 


Una navaja multiusos romana de hace 1800 años
 The Roman Army knife 1800 years ago


Una navaja multiusos romana de hace 1800 años

Es una creencia extendida que fueron los suizos quienes inventaron la navaja multiusos. Pero nada más lejos de la realidad. La prueba es una pieza romana que se expone en el Museo Fitzwilliam de Cambridge (Reino Unido), y que además se puede ver online en su web oficial, que además es la más visitada.

El diseño incluye una cuchara, tenedor, espátula, punzón y limpiador de uñas, y está realizada en plata. Por ello se cree que tuvo que ser un objeto de lujo en la Antigüedad, probablemente posesión de una persona acaudalada que viajase frecuentemente. Por ejemplo un mando del ejército o un historiador.

La hoja del cuchillo está completamente oxidada, pero los otros utensilios tienen las bisagras en buen estado. No es una pieza habitual. Si que se han encontrado pequeños cuchillos y cucharas de bronce de época romana, diseñados para ser llevados o transportados, pero un artilugio con tantos elementos combinados es inusual.

Aparte de este de Cambridge solo existen unas pocas piezas más similares, una en una colección privada de Suiza, y otras halladas en una tumba de Bulgaria y en el norte de Italia.

image.      

El uso que debió tener hace 2000 años está claro para algunos de los elementos, pero en lo que respecta a otros solo cabe especulación. Probablemente se utilizaba para abrir nueces o extaer la carne del interior de cangrejos, caracoles y otros crustáceos.

En cuanto a la época en que se fabricó, los expertos la datan entre el año 201 y el 300 d.C. Por cierto que se pueden comprar reproducciones online a un precio de unos 60 euros.

Fuente: The Fitzwilliam Museum.

Found by: C. Campos y Escalante 
campce@gmail.com
 

 


Indian Christian Woman Maliciously Murdered for Leaving Hinduism

 

After bathing, on the afternoon of March 21, 2018, Chadarajupalli Subbaravamma headed to the terrace of her home in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in order to pray and read her Bible.

During her daily devotional, Subbaravamma, reportedly past the age of 60, was brutally bludgeoned to death. According to Open Doors, an organization that monitors religious freedom around the globe, Subbaravamma’s killer confessed he murdered the devoted wife and mother “because he was angry she had left Hindu gods and had adopted Christian faith.”

Approximately 60 minutes after Subbaravamma went to sit on her terrace, neighbors revealed they spotted a young adult male entering her home. Mere minutes later, Subbaravamma’s spouse, 70-year-old Jayaramaia, stated he heard his neighbors yelling, “he is killing her. He is killing her.”

According to the World Watch Monitor, Jayaramaia said the intruder ran up the stairs too quickly for the elderly man to catch him. The couple’s son, Subba Rao stated, “By the time we all went to the terrace, she was lying with her blouse by her side and the Bible thrown away.” The grief stricken son went on to add, “she was knelt in prayer and fell with her face down. The blows were so heavy that her head is broken apart. Nobody should wish such painful death to their bitter enemies even.”

The chaos during the murder attracted a large crowd outside the home. The concerned gathering blocked the only entrance to the house. Seeing no opportunity for escape, the murderer allegedly locked himself inside of a bathroom. Soon after, the police arrived on the scene and apprehended the killer.

Subbaravamma reportedly converted to Christianity 10 years ago. Before this time, her family was employed in a Hindu temple close to their home, where they made statues of different Hindu gods.

Subbaravamma’s entire family eventually became Christians. They traded their work at the Hindu temple for hard labor. Concerning his parishioner, the pastor at the church Subbaravamma attended, Mohan Rao, said “on any Sunday, she would be the first one to make it to the church. She was a strong believer.”

Subbaravamma’s son told the World Watch Monitor, “But the police told us, ‘That fellow is mad’. I am not educated; my family survives only on [the produce from] our one-acre agriculture field. They asked me to ‘shut up’, and ‘don’t make a scene’.”

Regarding the police, Subbaravamma’s son also revealed, “they told me if we inform any Christian leaders, they will take up protests and will not let us perform the last rites for at least ten days. They told me, ‘that fellow is mental, and there can’t be any complaint against him’.”

While the police report filed on the day of the murder at the local police station in Martur recorded the assailant as an “unknown person,” locals identified him as Ramu, a 20-year-old sculptor.

The murderer was reportedly hired by the high priest at a nearby Hindu temple. The temple is located in the hills. Its patrons must pass by Subbaravamma’s home before arriving at their place of worship. The Christian family’s house can also be seen from the temple. According to locals interviewed by the World Watch Monitor, this reality vexed the high priest.

Regarding the arrested assailant, police Superintendent Satya Yesu Babu confided to the World Watch Monitor, “The accused suffers from some psychological disorder. He would roam around the houses in the locality daily, and on the day of the offence he entered the room where the old lady was present, assuming her to be a young woman. He tried to catch hold of her, but she resisted.”

Despite the alleged confession from the killer, he went on to add, “This case has no religious angle. The accused is a psychological pervert and he was desiring only sex. When she revolted, he started beating her.”

Subbaravamma’s neighbors have voiced outrage with the police’s insistence that the murder wasn’t committed due to religious reasons. A villager informed the World Watch Monitor, “Are we so foolish that we can’t recognize if a person is insane? We will stand up for Subbaravamma. As many as 50 of us are ready to testify in the court if needed.”

In a country where 90.9 percent of the residents practice Hinduism, Christians are regularly persecuted. Since the Hindu Nationalist Party won the general election in 2014, crimes committed against Christians have increased. Pray for those in India and all over the world who are daily facing persecution for their Christian faith.

~ 1776 Christian

 

 



Top Hamas Leader Wants to Kill Every Jew on Planet Earth
July 19, 2019

Last week, a top Hamas leader called for his Palestinian brethren around the world to commence hostility against “every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing.” Senior Hamas leader Fathi Hammad made the disturbing remarks during a rally at the Israel-Gaza border.

At the event, Hammad proclaimed, “Our patience has run out. We are on the verge of exploding. If this siege is not undone, we will explode in the face of our enemies, with God’s permission and glory. The explosion is not only going to be in Gaza, but also in the [West] Bank and abroad, if God wills.”

The top Hamas leader went on to say, “But our brothers are still preparing. They are trying to prepare. They are warming up. A long time has passed with them warming up. All of you 7 million Palestinians abroad, enough of the warming up. You have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing, if God permits. Enough of the warming up.”

Hammad’s violent remarks occurred after Israeli soldiers fatally shot a 28-year-old Hamas member. Reportedly, the incident happened as a result of the person being “misidentified.” According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel apologized for the shooting.

So, how did Hammad’s radical Islamic militant group respond to his hate-filled comments? Surprisingly, the notorious organization the European Union and the United States deems a terrorist group, condemned Hammad’s remarks with an official statement on July 15, 2019. The Washington Examiner reported that another Hamas official also maintained that Hammad’s comments were “personal statements that do not represent Hamas.”

After the rebuke from Hamas, Hammad allegedly tried to walk back his aggressive comments. The senior Hamas leader issued a statement on the organization’s website. In it, Hammad insisted that he supports “Hamas’s consistent, adopted policy of limiting its resistance to the Zionist occupation that usurps Palestine’s land and defiles its holy sites.” He also stated, “Our resistance to this usurping entity will continue in all its forms whether that is armed or popular peaceful struggle.”

As Hammad attempted to make an about-face, Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman posted a tweet with a link to a video of the top Hamas leader. In the tweet, Gendelman said, “Watch: Senior Hamas leader Fathi Hammad says Hamas has built a new factory for making suicide vests that will be given to Palestinian girls (and boys) in order to storm the Israeli border and blow up Israeli families. Now you know why we protect the border with Gaza from Hamas.”

Amidst the continuing struggle along the Israeli-Gaza border, U.S. Attorney General William Barr spoke at a Department of Justice summit against anti-Semitism on July 15. During his speech, Barr stated that the U.S. government wouldn’t “tolerate” anti-Semitic incidents against Jews. He also likened anti-Semitism to a “cancer” on the country’s society. Beginning his comments, Barr said that he is “deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes and political violence that we have seen over the past decade. And this trend has included a marked increase in reported instances of anti-Semitic hate crimes.”

Continuing, the Attorney General stated, “The most ancient and stubborn form of racism throughout Western history has been anti-Semitism. Hostility or prejudice against the Jewish people has manifested itself in the organized violence of pogroms, expulsions, and massacres. Within living memory, these genocidal acts reached the unimaginable scale and evil of the Holocaust.”

“I think of the various forms of anti-Semitism as very much like different kinds of cancer,” Barr added. “A healthy body with a strong immune system can have success in preventing cancer from emerging or spreading. But if the immune system weakens, cancer can emerge. Some might be localized, but others can rapidly metastasize and become systemic. Just like a physical body, a body politic must have an immune system that resists anti-Semitism and other forms of racial hatred.”

 



Woman Travels to Ilhan Omar’s Home Country To Show Its Positive Side, 
Ends Up Murdered by Terrorists 
By Joe Saunders, July 18, 2019 

 

The Asasey Hotel in Kismayo, Somalia, shows the severe damage from Friday's terrorist attack that killed 26.Stringer / AFP / Getty ImagesThe Asesey Hotel shows severe damage from Friday's terrorist attack that killed 26. Among the dead was a Canadian-Somalian journalist who'd returned to her home country to tell posititive stories about it rarely seen in the West. (Stringer / AFP / Getty Images)

Hodan Nalayeh, a Somalian-born woman whose family left the troubled nation 35 years ago for a life in the West, returned to Somalia as a journalist last year to produce videos of “positive stories” about the country.

That sojourn came to an end Friday, The Washington Post reported, when Islamic terrorists attacked a hotel in Kismayo, along the Indian Ocean, killing 26, including Nalayeh.

It’s a grim story, if not entirely surprising. Somalia has lacked a functioning government for decades and has been riven by battling warlords and the al-Shabab Islamic militants who carried out Friday’s attack.

Somalia is a country President Donald Trump seemed to refer to in his notorious Twitter posts on Sunday that invited American lawmakers – including Minnesota’s Omar — to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”

Trump wasn’t speaking literally, of course. He knows that Omar would never trade her life in the West for the squalor and violence of Somalia.

Nalayeh, who became a Canadian citizen after her family emigrated from Somalia, did return — not to deliver peace to the lawless land, but to try to show the world its positive side. As The Post put it, Nalayeh was “sharing a side of Somalia rarely depicted in the West.”

Unfortunately, she became on Friday part of the story of the side of Somalia the West does see – a world of violence where Islamist terrorists feel no compunction about slaughtering the innocent to make a political point. That was the Somalia that Omar’s family fled in the early 1990s.

Are there good people who live in Somalia? Of course.  But the reality is that there are places that have been made hell on earth thanks to tyranny, lawlessness, and terrorism. Somalia is one of them.  That fact alone is the reason America is the home to refugees from around the world – including Ilhan Omar’s family – who were attracted by its strength, its stability and the opportunity it offers to every man and woman willing to work to succeed.

Hodan Nalayeh committed herself to telling “positive” stories about the country where she was born – and it cost her her life.

https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/woman-travels-ilhan-omars-home-country-show-positive-side-ends-
murdered-terrorists/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=rightalerts&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=ttp
 

 

Somos Primos  "We are Cousins"  September 2019
http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2019/spsep19/spsep19.htm

Dear Family, Friends, and Primos:  
We have all seen monumental changes in our world, creative, amazing, visionary inventions to make life better. It is exciting and fun to see the next electronic gadget, driverless cars, house robots that clean our floors better than us, purchased packages dropped on our doorstep; but probably nothing has affected us to the extent of walking on the moon.  It changed how we look at ourselves. 

Just as revealing the fallacy of  a "flat earth" changed the civilized world, 1500 years ago, the moon landing 50 years ago changed mankind.  The new perspective of viewing the earth from space and its inhabitants,  profoundly affected many thinkers and leaders in the civilized world, to an acute aware of our responsibilities as inhabitants of this small planet.   

We are connected and the well-being of each of us, and our earth, depends on a willing coordination and cooperation with each other, not only between nations, but within each country.  All things must be done in order.  The US has the brilliance in manpower.  Now if our leadership can respect our historic foundation, and our Christian based constitution and laws, we will be able to continue to be a light to the world.  

Hispanic Heritage Month, is September 15 to October 15, If you are planning a program for Hispanic Heritage Month, let me recommend this resource:  American Patriots of Latino Heritage,  a video  produced by the Orange County Department of  Education under the direction of the Hon. Fredrick Aguirre, President of  Latino Advocates  for Education.  It is a video of perfect length (25 minutes) and content for the classroom, or a club event, from ball players, to ballet, from war heroes to boxers: https://aplh.webs.com/ 

Please pray for our leaders to be wise and keep our nation strong.
Mimi

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNITED STATES
50th anniversary of the Moon Landing
First Meal on the Moon Was Communion. It Would Have Caused Riots in Present-Day US
List of Hispanic Astronauts
Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America 
Suit: Boston Bans Christian Flag but Approves 284 Other Ones
St. Louis Park, MN,  Bans Pledge of Allegiance, 5-0 vote
Immigrant Student Loses Miss World Title For Refusing To Try On A Hijab
Seattle School District “Endorsing Islam,” Asks Teachers to Bless Students in Arabic
What is the BDS movement and House Resolution 496?
Who is Ilhan Omar? . . a member of the Congressional Muslin Click, self-named, the Squad
LIST of Government Accomplishments by Current Administration in Health Care

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life behind bars in a U.S.
Amid Opioid Crisis at Home, US spend tens of  millions of dollars to treat drug addition in Afghanistan 
Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants
The asylum seekers will be forced to apply in the first country 
Thoughts on the Electoral College
Coming Attractions: The 1950 U.S. Census 
Overlooked No More: Ralph Lazo, Who Voluntarily Lived in an Internment Camp 
Unleashed and Unchecked, Fake News Media Propaganda Will Destroy America 
The War Over America's Past, Commentary by Victor Davis Hanson


SPANISH PRESENCE in the AMERICAS ROOTS
The Spaniard who helped win the Revolutionary War has a new statue in Washington, D.C.  
La memoria recuperada de Bernardo de Gálvez - Virrey de Nueva España y héroe de la independencia de USA


HERITAGE PROJECTS
Mimi's 21st Chapter:  Space Chase Brought Social Changes

HISTORIC TIDBITS
The Epic Story of Spanish North America 1498-1898 - ebook
La historia épica de la Norte América Española  -  Libro eléctronico de Robert Goodwin en inglés  

HISPANIC LEADERS
Raul Ruiz, Journalist Activist for the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles by Gustavo Arellano

LATINO PATRIOTS
Latino Advocates for Education

SURNAMES
Farias - Faria - Farrias
Fernandez - Fernan - Fernando - Ferrandez 
Flores 

DNA
History Rescued: DNA and Border Facts 
No Support to claim Palestinians are descendents of Canaanites 
Netanyahu: New Philistine DNA Study Affirms That Israel Is Jewish Land by Michael Foust 

QuickSheet: Citing Genetic Sources for History Research Evidence! Style Elizabeth Shown Mills

FAMILY HISTORY
Six Steps to Your Family History

RELIGION
September 22, 2019 . . . Bless Israel Sunday
Jesus, Land, Gun Control, and the Coming Prince  by Jack Kinsella

EDUCATION
Lily T. García, New Dean of the School of Dental Medicine University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Eunice Santos, New Dean, School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Student’s Religious Freedom Violated When Forced to Write the Islamic Conversion Creed
Freedom of Expression: A Remnant of the Past by Gilberto Quezada  
Killing Free Speech’ Documentary Exposes Far-Left Propaganda in Schools 
Virtual pre-K for Needy is a Rural issue by Nellie Bowles
Identify: The Power of Affirmation in the Education of 100 Chicana PhDs by Albert V. Vela, PhD

CULTURE
50 Playwrights Project
La luna sale llena/The moon rises full
The Traditions of Writing Calaveras 

100 Books Every Child Should Read Before Kindergarten

HEALTH
Suicide Warning: Our Teenagers Are Killing Themselves And No One Seems to Be Talking About It
The Christian Answer to America’s Suicide Epidemic 

How Doctors Use Poetry by Danny W. Linggonegoro

BOOKS AND PRINT MEDIA
Sept. 28, 2019:  North San Diego Festival 
Part One: The Joy of Reading --- A Literary Odyssey by J.Gilberto Quezada 

FILMS, TV, RADIO, INTERNET
Sin Raiz Documentary
Latino Media Awards Honorees Announced!
Lifetime Achievement Honoree: Gregory Nava
Tiger by the Tail

ORANGE COUNTY, CA
Sept 14: “Genetic Genealogy – How to Use DNA to Find Your Elusive Ancestors” by Dale Alsop 
Exhibition, Sept 14-Oct 5:  Learn How California Led the Way for National School Desegregation
Westminster Through the Years
May 16, 1936: Union-Mexican Farm Workers of Garden Grove & Unions of Mexican Farm Workers 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY
September 7, 2019:  Honoring the souls of the departed members of the Mexican Diaspora of 1913-1930
Sustainable La Grand Challenge. UCLA
Health of Homeless, UCLA 
June 3, 2013 The CSRC was honored to host a 20th anniversary

CALIFORNIA
June 29, 2019:  234th Anniversary, Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores
Waterford Upstart Virtual pre-K for needy - is rural issue By Nellie Bowles
 San Diego Old Town 250th Historical event

NORTHWESTERN, US
Juan Dolores Romero of  Roy, New Mexico by  Anne Oldfield 
Becoming a Professional Genealogist


SOUTHWESTERN, US
Litchfield Elementary School District cements Belen Soto’s legacy by Connor Dziawura
How the American West was won ! - It is not how you think
The Butterfield Overland Mail by Mary A. Helmich

TEXAS
Los Tequileros featured in Duval County presentation
Installation of a historical marker at the Bravo Park
This Week in Duval County History, July 15-21 Murder Trail of Lawmen Results in Deadlock Jury
This Week in Duva County History, July 22-29 
Church fair, beggers and prostitutes in the News

MIDDLE AMERICA
Natchitoches Colonials, a Source Book: Censuses, Military Rolls & Tax Lists, 1722-1803
Atlanta Police Arrest Single Mother,  Then Change her Life for the Better

AFRICAN-AMERICAN
John James running for office in Michigan
Nelson Mandela Capture Site
Black Truths Matter
Father of Kamala Harris Says Her Ancestors Owned Slaves by Cassandra Fairbanks
Data on African-Americans soldiers serving the military


INDIGENOUS
Native faces of América, from Alaska to Patagonia 
Spaniards found East Texas mission
Lamar expresses good will to Chief Colita


SEPHARDIC
Our Culinary Mexican Heritage Rooted in Spanish Jewish Culture by  Susan Barocas
Book: “There Were Once Jews Here” by Lucette Lagnado
Film," Nobody Wants Us"
"Pay for Slay" 


ARCHAEOLOGY

Question: What were the first maps ever produced?
The Stone Faces and Human Problems on Easter Island by Jessica Wolf

MEXICO
Hernán Cortés, se Cumplen 500 Años de su llegada a México 
Rafael González-Acuña: Mexican physicist solves problem Newton could not !
Film: Hernán Cortés - Un hombre entre Dios y el diablo
Webste: Sociedad Genealogica y de Historia Familiar de Mexico
The Making of Modern Mexico, by Frank R. Brandenburg
Three census collections from the State of Chihuahua, Mexico 

CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
To folks in this Guatemalan town, success stories start with a trek to the U.S. by Patrick J. McDonnell
Latin American Countries Say Capitalism Doesn't Work in their Societies by Christian P. Milord.  
Argentina and Juan Peron, Election and first term (1946-1952)

PAN-PACIFIC RIM 
A 500 años de la fundación de la primera ciudad del continente americano
Quinquecentenario de Hernando Cortés

PHILIPPINES
How to be a True Filipino by Atty. Jojo Liangco

SPAIN
New Bernardo de Galvez Statue at the Washington, D.C. Spanish Embassy. 
What the USA owes to Spain ! 

Cabe estar más orgulloso de ser español que británico 
EL desconocido marino español que derrotó al pirata inglés Hawkins 


INTERNATIONAL
Refugee Risks Life to Convert Muslims To Christianity In Sweden 
Guía para visitar la bella basílica de San Marcos de Venecia por Cristina Blanco 
Historia de Samarcanda en el actual Uzbekistán,  Samarcanda, la joya de Oriente Por  Félix Casanova
El joven Julio César,  los primeros años de un líder 
Una navaja multiusos romana de hace 1800 años
Indian Christian Woman Maliciously Murdered for Leaving Hinduism

 
Top Hamas Leader Wants to Kill Every Jew on Planet Earth
Woman Travels to Ilhan Omar’s Home Country To Show Its Positive Side