Guest Column

Orange County Citizen of the Year awards banquet on Sat. July 23 at the Coast Anaheim Hotel, 1855 Harbor Blvd. Anaheim  6:00 - 10:00 PM  no host cocktails 6:00- 7:00 and entertainment. $60 per person.

Citizen of the Year honorees are: Judge Frederick Aguirre; Yolanda Alvarez; Richard Chavez; Sen. Joe Dunn; Rosie Espinoza; Zeke Hernandez; Silvia Ichar; Nellie Kaniski; Terry Lowe; Hon. Eileen Moore; Shirley Moretti; Dennis Murry; Honorable Curt Pringle; Pearl Raya; Gloria Reyes; Orleda Roa.

Please call Iola Gallardo at 714-558-3261 or Charlotte DeVaul at 714-284-0380 if you wish to make reservations. Deadline is July 20th.

This is our first year for this event. During one of our executive board meetings, we were talking about a certain individual who gives 7/40 of his time on his job. The conversation continued with the names of other folks who volunteer so much time to the community, their jobs, etc. I then called a meeting together and the vice president (Ruben Barron) and I brought up the possibility of having an event such as this to honor folks who deserve to be named Citizen of the Year. All our members submitted names. It was difficult to make a final selection as all nominees are "outstanding citizens" -= we decided to select both men and women, not limit to Anaheim but to OC, and not only Hispanics but deserving citizens who make Orange County a pleasure to reside in.  

Since there are a number of honorees, it's difficult for me to select just a few, please let me know if you want me to send you all the honorees and a line or two about each one of them.

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July 14, 2005

'14' counts the ways of the border

By Katherine Karlin

Entertainment SectionCorrespondent

Los Angeles Daily News

"14," Staged by the East L.A. Rep, is a series of monologues based on interviews conducted by playwright Jose Casas in the wake of a borderland tragedy. In May 2001, 14 Mexican immigrants died in the parched Arizona desert. For Casas, the event is a jumping-off point to investigate the complexities of relationships between Mexicans, Chicanos and Anglos who live and work in Arizona.

This kind of theater was made popular by Anna Deavere Smith, whose "Twilight: Los Angeles 1992" similarly peered into the lives of a cross-section of Angelenos after the Rodney King riots. Like Smith, Casas avoids pat answers, preferring to raise difficult questions by presenting a collection of flawed, striving, living human beings. In Casas' Arizona there are no good guys and bad guys, and those who refuse to accommodate the gray areas are destined to be disappointed. Even the rancher, who insists he's not a vigilante because he "won't shoot at one during the day. Night's a different story," comes across not as a monster but as a flesh-and-blood man.

Similarly, a chic Latina magazine editor is dismayed by how out of touch with her readership she has become; an actor changes his name so that he won't be typecast in drug dealer roles; a powerful Latino politician stumps against bilingual education. Two pieces are performed entirely and unapologetically in Spanish.

And in the play's most powerful monologue, a young Mexicana woman relates how her family was torn apart by her husband's decision to join the border patrol. "The borderline was his workplace," she explains. The line might serve as Casas' own credo as he toils in this terrain of split loyalties, fractured identities, violent clashes and transcendent gestures of kindness.

Unfortunately, in the performance under review, one of the cast members was stricken with laryngitis, and the play was truncated to "11." But the remaining young ensemble: Brenda Banda, Juan E. Carrillo and Seph Wise soldiered on under Jesus A. Reyes' simple and elegant staging.

L.A. Daily News Rating:

Where: La Casa Del Mexicano Theater, 2900 Calle Pedro Infante, Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight, 2 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday; through July 31.

Tickets: $12. (323) 788-3880; www.eastlarep.com.  In a nutshell: Jose Casas poses the tough questions in this provocative play. 

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Racial Justice and Journalism Fellowships
http://www.justicejournalism.org/Fellowships/racialjustice2005.htm
Ten Justice and Journalism Fellowships will be awarded to journalists committed to reporting and writing in-depth stories about justice issues related to race and ethnicity. Fellowship activities will include a three-day symposium at Harvard University, sponsored by USC Annenberg.s Institute for Justice and Journalism and Harvard.s Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

Fellows will be expected to complete in-depth, exemplary stories that can be turned into learning tools for journalists, journalism educators and students. They will meet with Harvard professors and other experts in Boston and Cambridge during the week of September 19-24, then meet again for four days in March 2006 to review fellowship projects with editors, news directors and fellowship colleagues.

In addition to covering expenses for the Fellows and their editors or news directors to participate in fellowship activities, each fellow will receive a stipend of $2,500 upon completion of the fellowship project.
HOW TO APPLY
http://www.justicejournalism.org/Fellowships/racialjustice2005.htm
. Fellowship Guidelines
. Application (Adobe PDF, MS Word fillable form)
Application deadline: August 8, 2005
If you have any questions about the program or application, please contact us at ijj@usc.edu  or (213) 437-4410
We appreciate your interest in the Racial Justice and Journalism Fellowships.

 (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed by HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)