Here's a story that was in the time almost two weeks back about a 1966 grad, Carlos Moreno, who is now an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. Before that, he was a judge in the federal District Court in Los Angeles after spending time on the bench as a judge of the California Superior Court. I mentioned Ruben Brooks a couple of weeks ago, another Lincoln grad from 1967, and the "Summer" class, if you must be picky- but those distinctions really matter to the old school purists- and Ruben was the Student Body Pres, which I believe was similarly a student office held by Justice Moreno; possibly it was "Class President," but either way, it was something to all back then.
So Magistrate Brooks has been presiding for years over cases in San Diego in the Southern District of California, in the U.S. District Court system. Ruben did get a head start as a U.S. employee when we were among the many seniors working at the Terminal Annex Post Office part-time. Yes, "Sub-Postal Assistants." I don't think the union people liked it much, but it served many purposes for us all that final year at Lincoln, financial being the primary one that I recall.
So I reach back into the past for this story that you may have read on that Saturday morning, but I think that the readership of the L.A. Times has fallen off so much that maybe it was missed by most. I have to remind everyone that there are Lincoln success stories, and you usually only hear the bad things that people more easily bring up, and more vigor, as well. So here is that opportunity given back to you to see the story, "Carlos Moreno, California high court justice, is raising his profile," By Maura Dolan, September 26, 2009. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-moreno26-2009sep26,0,2480141,full.story
The story just is a very mild but insightful look into what's going on these days with Justice Moreno. You might recall that he was on the short list for appointment with
the opening arising on the U.S. Supreme Court. In such things there's always more than meets the eye going on. There was more pressure on the Obama administration to appoint a woman and if that woman was also a Latina, well, what do you think? It would be hard to pass over that situation. Here is where Associate Justice Sotomayor came into the picture and after a lot of fuss that resulted in nothing but a little backpedallng and reconsiderations of characterizations and circumstances, the mini-storm passed and she was finally confirmed and is now serving on the U. S. Supreme Court.
Well, there was only one spot open and even to be considered is an achievement, but the story goes through a little more background that maybe might have caused some lawmakers and others some concerns, all from a political perspective, of course.
Read the story, consider the era that he and that we came from and then think about what we can do to make current young people educated enough to be aware of such opportunities AND to become better products of the LAUSD. It may be a mix of instilling motivation and resolving individual obstacles for students that will turn the tide. The LAUSD has been operated by its Board for years to make time in LAUSD schools more of a disservice to many students, though not all, but definitely more than our generation saw.
Even with the conditions that generated the Eastside Walkouts, aka Blowouts, we still were relatively more prepared than are students now. It's all my opinion, but from the time teaching at LHS, starting with experiencing the low level of importance respect that many students show teachers and administrators, it's an uphill battle for all concerned to see that many will be able to head on s successful path without getting some academic equivalent of shoring-up their skills later on.
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