A shining example

by reenee, Santa Maria

Have you ever noticed how the worst of the worst always makes the front page, especially when it involves the salacious? When it's good deeds, or amazing accomplishments, the story is relegated to a lesser part of the newspaper. This is no less true for the marginally acceptable Santa Maria Times.

Today's front page featured story was about the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department needing more officers. Section B, page 3, had a headline that read, Lauded local woman laid to rest. This woman was Dorothy Jackson, an educator for 40 years, the last 10 as the Principal of Clarence Ruth School, in Lompoc, California. She was the first black woman to hold that position, and by all accounts did her job admirably. Some will argue that this story was where it needed to be due to the other obituaries on the same page. Well, sorry, this is not a valid argument. The day before there was a front page story on the less accomplished former mayor of Santa Maria, George Hobbs. Yes, he was the longest serving councilman and mayor, but he was also the man who said that this town had a "Mexican problem." The story was all about how there were two hundred people paying their last respects. This man's passing apparently elevated him to sainthood. Pretty much the same thing happened when the 40th president died.

Getting back to Dorothy Jackson. She was a force to be reckoned with, a proud, honorable and strong woman. According to this sadly abbreviated story, Ms. Jackson was a confidante of superintendents and mayors who fought tenaciously for programs to assist fieldworkers and single mothers.

That was the portrait painted by speakers from the diverse strands of Jackson's life as they gathered Saturday morning to share recollections of a woman too strong to be denied, yet who never forgot from whence she came.

A crowd of 300 composed of family, her Beta Sigma Pi sorority, staff and clients from the Dorothy Jackson Family Resource Center, members of her church, and scores of colleagues from the Lompoc Unified School District filled First Presbyterian Church.

Rubbing shoulders with the prominent were dozens of people associated with Jackson's proudest creation, the family resource center that bears her name.

After Jackson retired in 1995 she served as chairman of the school district's School Attendance Review Board (SARB) which monitors school attendance. “Stories are legion of her challenging parents,” Steve Straight said afterward. Bradley added that it seemed “dishes clattered” in those meetings.

But Jackson is also widely credited for changing SARB's approach away from a strictly punitive one. “It became more parent friendly,” said Cindy Callaham, a member of the SARB board with Jackson. “Truancy is just the symptom. She was Mother Teresa, Dr. Phil and Santa Claus all in one.”

As news of her death spread, heartfelt testimonies jammed the center's phone lines. They came from people spanning the American tapestry of ethnicity and income and their descriptions were as revealing as the books Jackson so prized.

Her direct style was evidenced with the following:

“What are you doing here? Get your butt into college.”

Those were the sledgehammer words Dorothy Jackson wielded on one of her former students when she saw him working in a fast-food outlet. Today the anonymous young man is studying for the bar exam to become an attorney.

This is what teachers should attempt to become. This is the behavior, attitude and support that people in power should present to others. This is what the chunkheads in Washington, who are in a position to do the most good, will never understand. This woman was light years ahead of them with integrity and character, and those bozos will never know it.

Habla American, amigo!

by reenee, Santa Maria

¡ Noticias importantes !

Here's an item that will cheer up the people that are getting the drizzles over whether or not English will be lost forever in the communities where those pesky Spanish speaking people congregate. This was one of the front page stories in the Santa Maria Times on Thursday, September 14th, but when I looked for it on their extremely limited and not at all attractive "Online Gateway to the Santa Maria Valley" it was not to be found. I wonder why. Perhaps I'm not as computer savvy as I think? Anyways, no matter, I found the story at the Monterey County Herald.
Are you ready for this? A few generations after families move to the United States from Latin American countries, fluency in Spanish dies out and English becomes the dominant language, according to a new paper published by sociology professors from New Jersey and California.

This study effectively deflates the argument that so many alarmists raise about a bilingualism. For example the one that stresses that the size of Latino immigration to the United States could create a bilingual society and a fundamental change in American culture.

The paper -- authored by Douglas Massey at Princeton University and Ruben Rumbaut and Frank Bean at the University of California-Irvine -- found Spanish giving way to English among Southern California's heavily Latino population. The study suggests that Mexican immigrants arriving in Southern California today can expect only five out of every 100 of their great-grandchildren to speak fluent Spanish. Among Mexican-Americans with two U.S.-born parents but three or more foreign-born grandparents, only 17 percent spoke fluent Spanish. Among those with only one or two foreign-born grandparents, Spanish fluency dropped to 7 percent. Only 5 percent of Mexican-Americans with U.S.-born parents and U.S.-born grandparents spoke Spanish fluently. Among the third generation of Mexican-Americans, 96 percent prefer to speak English in their homes.

I really do not think that reports like this are going to make an impact on the "English only folks." I never did understand the resistance to learn another language. Wouldn't knowing how to speak Spanish in an area like this make you a more viable candidate for employment? Many other countries require their schools to teach other languages, why don't we?

Immigrants

by reenee, Santa Maria

Get ready boys and girls, the next 66 days until the November 7th election will bring out the best and worst in people as always. One of this year's hot button topics is of course, immigration. Even Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona, has announced that she's heading to Mexico during her re-election bid. It's the issue.

Both sides have valid arguments. To be fair, it also has to be said that both sides have idiotic arguments.

Let's start with this one: "We need to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants that are already here."

Yeah, good luck with that one.

How about this one? "Let's grant amnesty to all of them and allow them to become citizens."

That one isn't going to fly either.

It's obvious that something has to be done. It's also obvious that the nitwits in power aren't going to do anything. Perhaps the borders can be made more secure, but how would that help this country if Mexico is not doing anything to help their citizens? There are people living there without things that we take for granted. You know, simple things like running water inside of the house or a toilet, or perhaps electricity.

Most of us don't think about these conveniences since we have a decent roof over our heads, instead of cardboard or tar paper. The people that you see among us have already been through the most brutal of journeys just to labor in our agricultural fields. They are not here to make people angry, they are here to fill a need that no one else will. There are extended families living in less than desirable conditions in order to survive. Cultural differences aside, they all are not the sloppy and dirty and lacking in manners that so many say they are. Whether we like to admit it or not, the sloppy and dirty and lacking in manners type are in every ethinicity and socio-economic group on this planet.

The immigration issues that people are arguing over are not new. While working for the Jackson County Education District in Medford, Oregon, in the 80s, I met many, many immigrant families. They were hard working decent people who were there to harvest the fruit that you see beautifully packaged by Harry & David. I found family after family living in small shacks with smudge pots as heaters. Forget running water. If they were lucky, there was a sprinkler nearby.

I'd like to believe that the conditions for these workers have improved.

Now, the immigration proponents feel that marching in the streets again is going to make a difference to the lawmakers. Perhaps a few in Congress will try to appeal to this side, what with it being an election year, but in the end, nothing will be done, again. It's a complex issue and there are too many dodo birds in Congress, that we put there by the way, protecting their own special interests to tackle something this huge. Look at what happened when Alan Simpson, the former Senator from Wyoming tried to do something in the 80s. The only thing that really took off with any success back then was the hugely profitable industry that sprang up to make forged passports and forged green cards.

Meanwhile, immigrants from Mexico and further south will continue their attempt to enter this country at greater and greater peril to themselves. Let's face it, immigration has been an ongoing problem in this country since Leif Erickson and Christopher Columbus came ashore.

News, noteworthy and otherwise

by reenee, Santa Maria

What is the media's fascination with the JonBenet Ramsey murder case? How about our fascination? Was it that she was a six-year old beauty queen? Was it the public's perception of her parents without having any substantial facts about them? Was it that she was from a wealthy white family? As horrendous as this murder was, there have been other murders just as horrific if not worse.

Other parts of the country do not have a monopoly on crimes against children. Here in the Santa Maria area we have our own brand of psychotics running around loose. One homegrown pathetic loser killed his pregnant girlfriend and her small child. Yet another loser beat, tortured and almost killed her newborn baby trying to get her boyfriend's attention. More recently, we have the Grover Beach grandmother convicted of murdering her former son-in-law. These heinous crimes happen all over the world and in increasing numbers. But, I digress.

The Ramsey murder occurred almost ten years ago. When it happened, the Boulder, Colorado Keystone Cops, who obviously could not find their collective butts with both hands felt that their best suspects were the Ramseys themselves. This child's mother had to live with a cloud of suspicion over her head until the day she died this past June. Naturally, the media, forever looking for news to discredit the rich and famous, jumped on the bandwagon and ran with it. It was a disgusting feeding frenzy that continues today.

Every single day since he was arrested, John Mark Karr has been in the news. It's usually the same information, rehashed with perhaps one new "bombshell" added. Today's new addition was "the suspect sought treatment at a sex change clinic." In addition to the usual titillation over this little piece of information that in reality is none of our business, people will now demonize those that have sought this treatment.

Just to add to the circus that continues to surround this case, this guy was escorted out of Thailand by an investigator from the Boulder, Colorado District Attorney's office, a security officer wearing a Homeland Security t-shirt and a few others. So we wouldn't have to wonder needlessly about the minute details, we were told that Karr arrived in a white van, was not handcuffed, and enjoyed a glass of champagne before the airplane took off. The investigator however, had orange juice. Aren't you glad you know that? I know I am, I was breathlessly waiting for this information, although I am somewhat disappointed that we still don't know whether he wears boxers or briefs. I'm hoping that once they land, the media will fill in all of the missing gaps with as much useless information as they can, because, well, inquiring minds want to know.

This is not going to end any time soon, evidenced by the fact that when you type John Mark Karr into the Google search engine, you get no less than 3,880,000 results. So, settle down, get some popcorn and let all of this flow over you. At that point it's up to you whether you pay attention to it or not.

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices

by reenee, Santa Maria

I'm still so aghast at how people behave towards those in wheelchairs that I posted this here and on my own blog. I can usually tolerate ill-mannered boorish behavior by chalking it up to the fact that they are more than likely peasants, unrefined and unaware of niceties like simple common courtesy.

As I mentioned yesterday on my blog, I went to the Old Spanish Days Fiesta to specifically attend the Mariachi Festival. I went with two friends and Mom. Although she won't admit it, Mom is a little bit slower at walking than the rest of us, so knowing that the huddled masses would be teeming, we decided that putting her in a wheelchair was our best option, and hers, due to her bad knees. Not only that, our parking space would be greatly improved, thus aiding the rest of us with our own physical deficits. Okay, mine. Hey, one has to use all of their advantages when among the unwashed. Anyways, getting into the Santa Barbara Bowl was not a problem, we arrived early enough to make it easy. Getting out was another thing. People were stampeding to the exits, as if their lives depended upon it. One woman almost beaned Mom with her cane as I tried to navigate through these peasants. One of the security guards had to scream at them to allow us though the gate. Once we'd made it down the elevator it was another trauma for Mom. As I was hollering for people to get out of the way, a young man saw my predicament and offered to help me. When I agreed, he took hold of the arm of the wheelchair and began to push his way though the crowd propelling us through as he hollered, "Make way! Wheelchair coming through!" Let me tell you, the crowd parted for him. I think it was not only due to him pushing through, but also because of his friend who was at least 6'4" and built like a refrigerator and hollering, "La Señora!" These two young men saved us, otherwise we might still be there.
Perhaps if these rude people were to put in some time in a wheelchair, they'd understand. However, I'm not going to hold my breath.