The Sunday Parade in Highland Park- 2008-style.

SUNDAY in Highland Park was a good day for "The Highland Park Christmas Parade," but they didn't have a "Highland Park Christmas Parade" anymore- and that is why I could not find much about anything for 2008 on the web.

Instead, they had a "Northeast Los Angeles Holiday Parade," and that certainly appeared in a lot of places on the web, as I checked it under that name after the parade. I'll get back to that later, but there were lots of entrants, many organizations and many students and schools represented.

Our own Lincoln High School was represented nicely, even if we did not have a band to include in the mix.




(If you see two frames of the same image, don't worry- they are the same; don't ask me why there's two, but one will work for video.)

December 7, 1941 "A Day That Will Live In Infamy"

Today, is Sunday December 7, 2008, A Day of Remembrance- It is almost 9 a.m. local time. In 1941, 67 years ago, at this hour for those in Hawaii, and on this December 7th date on a Sunday morning in Hawaii, two separate flights of Japanese war planes were making a suprise attack on the U.S. Navy ships anchored in Pearl Harbor, killing over 2400 Americans. At the time of the attack, there was a condition of peace existing between the U.S. and Japan.

The Japanese aircraft carriers were prepared to launch a third attack flight but did not want to spend more hours in the area and risk a loss of any of them should the U.S. ships at sea already know the location of the Japanese ships. Forturnately, none of the U.S. aircraft carriers were in the harbor that morning. The Japanese thought their attack would cripple the U.S. fighting ability to enable them to win the war but they could not get to the carriers and that was a crucial failing of their attack.

The U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed Congress on Monday, December 8, 1941, and proclaimed December 7th, 1941 as "a day that will live in infamy." War was declared on Japan and a few days later, Germany declared war on the U.S. and World War II had begun for the U.S., lasting until 1945 when the U.S. and it's allies won over the Axis powers, Japan and Germany. Italy was earlier defeated, and it's leader, Benito Mussolini, killed by the Italian citizens.

This was the easily the most treacherous attack upon the U.S. in the 20th Century, being rivaled by the 9-11-01 Attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.


RESOURCE ITEMS

FDR's SPEECH TO CONGRESS, 12-8-41:
There is a YouTube video of Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to Congress that conveys the gravity of the situation somewhat and marks the official entry of the U.S. into war. There are several video clips of the speech, but this particular choice is a more complete version with a photo collage and some very clear audio that preserves this historical moment, giving you another example of FDR's leadership role as President. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uCGxk-v-Mc

THE ATTACK
The Pearl Harbor Attack is presented in the form of graphics, audio and timelines in a series of very informative presentations by NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ The locations and times are some points that are more readily understood in seeing them here.

It is a day for remembrance and, like so many other important moment is the history of the United States is not just forgotten by many, it is not even learned by many in the context of the nation's position in the world at that troubled time, with Germany's persecution and extermination of Jews and others under Hitler's rule, and the British struggle to resist attacks on their soil by the German Luftwaffe's pilots.

Many of the survivors of WW II have now died, and this is what Tom Brokaw has called "The Greatest Generation." It was said a few years back that WW II vets were dying at the rate of 1,000 a day, from the over 1 million that helped win the war. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357941,00.html Fox news, 5-24-08


If you know of any WW II veterans, or even people who lived through that time in history, you might see if they will talk about their war experience to record that as a verbal history. Once gone, these memories are lost forever unless recorded. The entire country worked for the U.S. victory that brought all races and ethnicities into the picture. In the U.S. we had rationing and extensive recycling to manage our effort. It was a time of universal involvement and sacrifice to allow us to reach the end of the war.

Latinos were involved in this part of history, too, at home and in combat. Their contribution could and should be explored by the rest of us with just a little attention to talking to them as, in many cases, they are are our own relatives- parents, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunts, and so on. Some have experienced unbelievably horrible things, as hapens in all wars, and do not want to remember some events, but others may and will tell us so that the experiences will be remembered by the rest of us from a more personal aspect.

The month of December 1941 was not a typical time of holidays and celebration but the U.S. survived with a more unified spirit than ever before and for a time after WW II, things were peaceful.

Job Openings: "Magnet School Principal" and "Superintendent" (soon)

MORE ON LAUSD happenings:
One news story in today's LA TIMES shows that a magnet school principal used the school credit card for personal use to the tune of over $150,000.00. He was in court Friday and entered a guilty plea on the charge of misappropriation of public funds, and ordered to pay restitution of $178,00.00 to the LAUSD. And he is just ONE who got caught because of the size of loss. Misappropriation of funds by credit card usage is a very significant area of waste and fraud in LAUSD.

Philip Toyotome of Arcadia was a principal at 32nd Street/USC Performing Arts Magnet, a school near USC, according to the story. He has resigned and since been replaced. You can see the story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-principal6-2008dec06,0,3524019.story

Another report on the use of school district credit cards is mentioned in the story, and that showed there was up to $1.8 million dollars misspent each year with the cards ($1,800,000.00).

Tax dollars that are collected is where all this money comes from. Schools also add to these tax dollars occasionally with some money, a small part, being from "gifts."

A $100,000.00 gift was the source of the money given to upgrade the Lincoln High auditorium and provide some training in fine arts, including music, in the name of Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, former LHS principal and founder of the AARP ("American Association of Retired Persons"). The auditorium was re-dedicated as the "Ethel Percy Andrus Theater."

-----------------------------------

A second story today tells us that the LAUSD Board wants Supt. Brewer to step down. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd06-2008dec06,0,6988074.story The Board may just buyout the contract of Brewer. His contract is for $300,000.00 per year. LAUSD is so generous with money paid out but they have this tendency to pay out before they even know whether there's a reason to justify it. The payroll software that fouled up paychecks of employees for a year was one example, put into use when it was not really out of a beta-level of operation.

David Brewer might be a nice guy, but he's more and more looking like another LAUSD waste of money. Here's a column from Steve Lopez in the LA TIMES for tomorrow's column http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez7-2008dec07,0,877150.column If you want to see how the other half lives, check it out. This is the kind of behavior that we see too frequently in politicians and Brewer turns out to be no diferent. Expensive? Ouch.

Sandy Banks, another LA TIMES columnist has something to add about how Brewer is really not showing what your Superintendent should be about when it comes to the students. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks6-2008dec06,0,5614117.column

----------------------------------------------------------

A Concern at a Very Local Level

-----------------------------------------------------------

As an aside, at the November alumni meeting, there was a problem mentioned in the formation of a marching band at Lincoln due to the numbers of students becoming ineligible for the program because they could not keep up a "C" grade average (2.0). An Alumni Association donation for band uniforms was made but it will be a bit longer until any of them will publicly used in performance.

This is all the information that I have and if it is accurate, it is a major disappointment for a couple of reasons.

1. That condition leaves us with no band. I saw Franklin High's band at the Veteran's Day parade and it shows a lot in terms of school pride being demonstrated when they perform, as with any school's band. We don't get that element operating at Lincoln that itself could promote a better level of morale and pride like the school had in those days we might still remember. Pride in a school should be something contagious, but that means it has to start somewhere to enable it to spread. The area of music should be where it could start. Music has the property of being something that touches everyone in many ways.
2. The fact that a "C" level is just barely "average" and that it can't be met is indicative of the academic problems at Lincoln, not just in terms of student performance lagging, but in the overall attitude of students that the need to "work as well as they can" in school is something the students don't seem to adopt as a necessity for success in school life.

I hope to be able to report here soon that there is a change happening.

December, And there's the Highland Park Parade

Well, it looks like there was the long-standing 2008 Highland Park Christmas Parade that was really a hard one to find on the Internet. Lots of old stuff found for the past parades, but the 2008 Parade will be tomorrow, Sunday, at 1 PM, travelling south on Figueroa St., from Avenue 60 to Avenue 50 (or Sycamore Grove Park, nearly the same area).

This parade is much older than the Lincoln Heights parade (happening next week, Sunday at 11 a.m.) and so it has more variety and numbers of entries. I don't know what high schools have as entries but where there are parades, there are bands, drill teams, civic groups, clubs, horses, beauty pageant winners and so on.

Your access is very good from numerous driving directions- AND the Gold Line rail service that runs between Union Station and Pasadena, passes a block behind and along Figueroa St. with a "Highland Park" stop that gets you right there in the main part of the business district.

The weather looks to be very good for tomorrow. Visit if you can.

The Politician and Family Life

Former California State Assembly Speaker of the House, FABIAN NUNEZ, who was termed out of office in last few months has family concerns in news. His son was arrested the other day in Sacramento on murder charges for a killing that happened in San Diego in October.

Well, it wasn't the typical gang member, or the typical drive-by shooting, but something of an attack by Esteban Nunez, and his 3 friends, bringing out some knives and attacking some others after a party. They were all arraigned and entered "not guilty" pleas yesterday in San Diego.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-nunez5-2008dec05,0,3458565.story

So now we have some parenting issues in the news, namely, how did things come to this? There is a lot that is leading to the conclusion that the son was not the clean-cut straight-arrow type, but was into anti-social and criminal conduct. A web page shows some non-flattering images of the defendant in his relaxed state. From Latino Politics blog http://latinopoliticsblog.com/?p=392 you can see what we are talking about.

Although not the hardcore gangster type, he and his friends wear the same tatoos and talk of hurting people casually as part of the routine topics for attention. The reports in the news were that Nunez said that his father would be able to get them to apply a self-defense claim to get off, which would show the the younger Nunez is already aware of what influence a politician has or thinks he has, from a son's view. Not a good picture.

The story is on talk radio and blogs so there's a lot coming out on this but parents of supposedly civilized levels of society still don't escape having children that wind up doing some of the most uncivilized behavior possible.

"Who is to blame for things coming to this?" is really the big question. That's the big question. I don't fault Fabian Nunez completely as others do, although his particular brand of politics is shady and he is a sleezemaster in my opinion. But for a man with numerous resources, financial and otherwise, you would think he would show his boy what is the difference between right and wrong.

Maybe therein lies the problem. Politicians really have their hands full when it comes to determining right from wrong in life since they usually don't pay much attention to that in their decisional making routines. "What pays off best" has a much higher standing in their personal priorities column, all part of their political makeup. Honesty, too, is one of the rarely considered qualities for personal conduct, so how would you expect much to rub off on their children?

Maybe this is not universal, since national political figures don't seem to have as many dramatic instances of anti-social actions. I feel a little bad for Nunez since I was defending the father's position in another blog against simple claims of bad parenting, and I didn't imagine then that the kid was as much of a "dark side" fellow as he is turning out to be with every new report.

I also wrote in that blog posting that the Mayor is "wise" to keep his mouth shut on a personal matter- and then Villaraigosa blows it by saying, "He's a great boy", as reported in that same blog. I thought the mayor was getting to be more thougthful in his choice for comments- maybe at least some tact in his personal friendships, and keeping them personal. But I was dead wrong and Tony is still the same foolish ego-driven deceiver of the public trust that he ever was, using any opportunity to get his name and face in the news. All of my "benefit of the doubt" that I allowed Fabian Nunez and Tony were undeserved, it appears, and maybe there should have been some more attention given by Mom and Dad to Esteban in growing up regarding who his friends were, and what were their activities that engaged their attention.
http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2008/12/04/mayor-villaraigosa-says-that-esteban-nunez-is-a-great-kid-a-good-boy-do-you-agree/#comments

You may have gathered that I am no fan of Villaraigosa, and you would be right. I hope he's a one-termer as mayor and a disasterous one, as well (see LA WEEKLY's "All About Me Mayor" http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-11/news/the-all-about-me-mayor ) but we will cover that later.

For now, we all know or even have personal examples of ourselves, family and friends whose kids have a problem with life, drugs, the law, people or all of it. It is a tough question of who is to blame or what should have been done to come up with a better result. Think about it. I would like to hear what opinions are, even if they are different from mine. r.g. at lhs90031@earthlink.net

December's Here: One Less Meeting, One More Parade

A few days into December and here are some things to consider from a Lincoln High view -

The December meeting of the Lincoln High Alumni Association was cancelled for the holidays by a membership vote on a motion at the last meeting (November). Hope to see you at the next meeting scheduled for January. Current membership dues are being accepted by mail, so check the Alumni Association link in the sidebar "Links to Visit" for that information or any other questions you may have on that topic.


The Lincoln Heights 2008 Christmas Parade will be coming to you this year on Sunday, December 14th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. According to the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council's 2008 Parade announcement. The parade route proceeds mainly on North Broadway, coming from the DMV office at Lincoln Park Avenue and Mission- and then heads "West" on North Broadway to Ave. 24- (which is so typical of L.A., heading "West" on a street that is called "North Broadway," changing to "South Broadway" when it gets to downtown at First St. or Temple).

Mr. Mark Shapiro, Lincoln High's veteran and absolutely veritable teacher, is the stated parade announcer who will be working his vocal magic again, with that same affable style he's demonstrated for years as the announcer at Lincoln's home football games. You can find him and hear his mellifluous tones emanating from the Griffin Avenue and North Broadway judging area.

I expect this parade to be a notably impressive presentation if I have read the Neighborhood Council's page correctly, where it says that they have been working on this since "January 2007." My reaction is "It better be something remarkable after putting in 2 years of work." But that could be a typo getting into their copy. I know so well that it can happen with the printed word. "Just when you think you're finished, oops." (see examples throughout this blog for proof.) The other clue to the typo angle is the the date mystery in the closing statement, "December 9 will indeed be a festive day in Lincoln Heights."

Here are a couple of photos from the 2008 Northeast Veteran's Day Parade in November that I thought I would add now.

Lincoln High Cheerleaders in Eagle Rock (above), with some well-deserved recognition to fellow classmate, Joe Galindo, LHS, Cl. of S'67 and Senior Lead Officer, LAPD, Northeast Div. (ret.) (right).

More on "Ask A Mexican," video style.

Here is video of "Ask a Mexican" Part 1- just in case you didn't feel like reading any of the material in his columns. This one gives you a sample of Gustavo Arrellano's commentary to compare against your own personal experience. It's just a sample, after all.

If you check closely, there are more clips to see at the bottom of the YouTube page, should you so desire. But not to worry, I might use them here, too, but in later entries.

LHS Professional Development Day Tuesday- "Do You Know Where Your Child Is?"

Today, Tuesday and the next two Tuesdays this month are shortened days at Lincoln High for students who will get out at 1:34 p.m., following a shortened instructional schedule for a "Professional Development Day." The teachers will stay to 3:04 p.m. with their designated activity.

So any parents of a child at LHS be "in the know" and adjust your parental supervision radar to expect an early arrival home. If your son or daughter tells you that they were staying at the library, you might want to check that to see if it was the LHS school library, an undeniably beautiful place, but with so much potential use to spare. The L.A. Public Library in Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Cypress Park, or El Sereno might be the library of choice here, open from Noon until 8:00 p.m. today.

What is "Professional Development" anyway? Good question. It might be many things to different people, but let me give a try to describing it. Conceptually, it's to make the current teachers better ones by providing instruction or activity to advance education or performance of the teacher. Sometimes it's just to get everybody on the same page, from a District standpoint. There could be new directives from the Beaudry headquarters that have to be explicitly pronounced so that a teacher can't say they didn't know. This could be something like reinforcing- or for some schools- introducing the policies against school bullying, harassment or other aspects of school life where teachers have been known to "drop the ball." Sometimes it covers health issues of various types or the teacher's career requirements that must be met, of which there always are more.

Another area that the "Professional Development" day includes is the planning within the particular school for anything, curriculum materials and approaches taken for teaching, departmental choices in what choices the LAUSD allows to be made. It's also an opportunity for training "on-site" without having teachers take school time off to go to training sessions, thus creating a vacuum that a substitute teacher is paid to fill, at the expense of interrupting any classroom routine or momentum. It also avoids having to do after-hours training for teachers to squeeze in. The "Professional Development Day" training could be considered as a consolidation of assorted trade-offs in the operation of a school program.

Effectively, the "Professional Development Day" is where 1-1/2 hours is open to fix, fill-in, enlighten, entertain, propagandize, mystify, demean or otherwise hold a captive audience of teachers on-site for things that have any arguable level of quality or utility. In my experience, some things of relative importance will wallow in a state of neglect, while there particular areas, "pet projects," if you will, that are given the spotlight.

But the opinions of this area are mine, and they do change with the specific focus of the contents for each of these days, since some items are good ideas but many just never really get to be applied, and others matters have the LAUSD quality of "dubious value" stamped all over them. And meanwhile, even though this might look at first glance to be a teacher's break from the students, they really aren't. Teachers still have to get back to make up any teaching such shortened days might have infringed upon. But that is just my view. Some teachers look at this as part of the scheduled day that's taken into account in lesson plans and pacing, and not as a loss of classroom time, or the "instructional minutes," that seem to be less and less over time.

Again, from the parent’s standpoint, your child or children will be home early- or let's just say, they will be "out" early. Where they will be is a separate matter. And from my observations at LHS, the school library is such a good resource that is so under-utilized, first due to "hours of operation" that did not extend much past 3 p.m., AND, second, because there is just a pervasive condition of inadequate English language skills, starting with reading itself. Most of LAUSD is pretty clearly in denial on this, not addressing the problem squarely.

Undeniably there are many students that do well and many excel. These are not the majority and these are not the students I discuss here. They will survive anyway, and that is why they also will excel. It's only the changes as to the degree of higher performance that their teachers will affect.

What I look at are the ones that DON'T have an ability to read up to grade level, and the ones who will someday get to the point where they just stop coming to school and become one of the many "Dropouts." Theses are the under-achievers and the ones that many teachers would prefer be put in someone else's class. The "problem students" or "trouble-makers" would not be the first or early picks if teachers could choose their students like two captains would choose up their softball teams on the playground. But then you don't want to make your job tougher by stacking the deck, or in this case, the classroom, with any problems if you can avoid it. It's human nature, or something of a self-preservation instinct that influences that attitude, I believe, leaving the "problem students" more firmly cast in that negative image they carry throughout the school career.

They are the "at risk" students, and the risk here is losing them altogether in the educational system. Many will be re-directed to or just accelerated on a path that includes low or no real job opportunities, criminal activity, dysfunctional family life and on and on. This is a consequence that happens from not getting even that level of education that LAUSD offers now. Of course it's a two-way street, and each student bears some responsibility for the results, but there are ways to guide and retain students in the system that improve the conditions instead of making "dropping out" the eventual outcome.

That eventuality is something that LAUSD cannot explain, but their highly touted, or should I say, highly self-touted, "A-G" curriculum that replaced all, or nearly all, of the on-campus vocational opportunities has something to do with it. The P.E. requirement reduction to 2 years out of the 4 years of high school also hurts both the students' performance and their health. Also affected by this minimal P.E. requirement but maybe not so obviously, is the school sports programs of today. The ones that still survive suffer from lack of involvement that the 4-year P.E. requirement created. Many students of old thought of going out for a sport instead of just taking the regular P.E. class that they would have to take anyway. There was more money, too, for handling sports programs, but the interest today is not as widespread as before, but the students who participate do so as intently as did any of their predecessors of days gone by. Everything that keeps a student in school and involved is something that should be viewed as a "positive" factor and should be enhanced, not reduced.

Until that realization happens, too many of your 9th graders entering Lincoln won't make the 4 years trip to their Graduation Day, regardless of how loudly LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia proclaims, "We will have a 100% graduation rate." Keep beating that drum, Ms. Garcia, and the only thing that you will do is lose your hearing, your vision apparently is already affected. There has not been ever an LAUSD 100% graduation rate, to my knowledge. Even during the Vietnam War era, when student deferments- based on being enrolled in school- were clung to tenaciously as a way to avoid being drafted, we still had a dropout problem.

First, maybe we should try for a 100% literacy rate- wouldn't that be something? And THAT change might lead to better graduation rates for LAUSD. Politicians are so full of themselves, and this is one instance of that, a truism, as far as I see it.

That all will be left as topics for another day here, just another regular development day on the blog, you might say.

What Questions Do You Have About "Mexicans"?

Getting back to normal after a long holiday break now, and it might be a tough day. Here's more for you, the reader, to enjoy (maybe). Besides, you need something to take your mind off the fact that Christmas will be here too, too fast to let you be as ready as you want to be.

If you are a more observant reader of items appearing on this blog, you will see that I have been making some additions as we go along on this blogospheric path. I think knowledge of your culture is something good, as well as knowing of the culture of others, but sometimes it can be downright boring if done haphazardly, So, to handle both things, I have added a link in the sidebar, "Who Would Have Thought It," that takes you to "Ask A Mexican." Keep reading.

Over the past couple of years, I have read Gustavo Arrellano's column and have heard him on the radio talking about Mexicans. "What's so special about that?" you might ask, "People are always talking about Mexicans?" Not much special, at first, but it's the type of information and views about that ethnic group so near and dear to so many of us, and to others, or maybe just "so near,' you know, "the Mexicans." You might even be one yourself. "Who Me?" you ask now. Well, were you born here in the U.S.? Born down south? How about your parents, grandparents? Neither, but you are married to one, (or would be if he asked) or Maybe Prop. 8's involved here to keep you single for now? It's all "close enough" for most purposes. Just consider that it is, so now we can move on.

To get right down to the point, Arrellano's column is called, "Ask a Mexican," and he gives answers to the questions that may have lingered in your mind yourself but really didn't think much to find out more. To some he might be considered "threatening," as representing "them," that growing "minority group." To others, he might be viewed as spreading racist views in looking for the simple all-purpose answers to some complex questions about people (Mexicans). Read a little of his columns and you will get the idea.

I think he's got some interesting opinions with some actual information to base them on and most of the time it's either humorous or just plain funny, as well. And one other thing- he doesn't lump all Latinos as "Mexicans," which, no doubt most of you "Mexicans" know what I mean. "A Mexican hit my car," or "The Mexicans like those kinds of jobs," are convenient things to say when the truth is that it could be other Latinos, Salvadorenos, Guatemalans, even Cubans, and so on. "Mexicans" just carries the right "punch" and nothing else sounds right for that phrasing.

Nothing really substitutes for the word "Mexicans" when you're throwing out those epithets and accusations; try making the substitutions yourself. You may be technically accurate in such re-phrasing in identifying the ethnic group but it somehow does not roll off the tongue so smoothly and does not pack that crisp verbal impact that you get with "Mexicans."

O.K., enough "diversity" talk for now on this page. Read more, go to "Ask A Mexican's" columns in the "Who Would Have Thought It" sidebar links and consider that you didn't even have to study much to learn some things about culture. L.A. WEEKLY carries his column now, as does the original paper, the O.C. WEEKLY. And remember, just in case you are not clear on this session's discussion, this topic is within the "lighter side of life" things included in this blog.

Shopping Moves For A Movin' Shopper

Has the Christmas shopping got you down? Do you wonder what you might do in long lines that would pass the time less painfully? Are people telling you that you need to execrcise more these days?

But more importantly, does the store music hit the spot for you?- You might be in Super-A, hearing the familiar oldies while waiting for the line to move and just need to express yourself.

This tune, "Goin' to A 'go-go" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, might lighten things up for you- It did for this shopper who was not shy at all. (But sometimes shy could be a good thing. You can decide.)

Having a Happy Thanksgiving (celebration) in Claremont

Thanksgiving for kindergartners in Claremont

Do you remember these holiday times in elementary school where the origins of the holiday were often presented in class activities and performances as plays? Well, doing things like that might get up a little controversy, maybe a lot of controversy. In days of old, or older days for some, or maybe, not too old days for others of you, WE did those things and we learned, in the old hands-on learining style that gets us into the subject so that we can understand it better..

Over in Claremont, there were these two elementary schools, Condit and Mountain View, that had a decades-old tradition of having kindergarten students dress up as Pilgrims and Indians, all coming together for the Thanksgiving feast. The students would alternate by years, with one school taking the role of Indians and the other being the Pilgrims. The students walked over from one school to the other for the festivities.

This got one of the parents, Michelle Raheja, to object with a claim that this whole process was demeaning to American Indians and was racist. The parent an English professor at UC Riverside and objected to this. The school board met last week and heard from both sides on this, deciding to allow the festivities but no costumes for the kids. This all is too much political correctness that happens to dampen lots of things from the way we had seen in the past. Do you see Cinco de Mayo celebrations cut out the costumes because they are not “authentic” representations or racist? I haven’t heard that.

The history of Thanksgiving is of peace and sharing, and the idea that this is about genocide, racism and false events is simply bogus. The conflicts between the settlers and American Indians were not same as what the Thanksgiving celebration was all about. All things were not hostile and should not be assumed to have been so. The real haters in my view are the purveyors of dissension and hate who seek to "uncover" as politically incorrect whatever they decide impinges on their view of society, past and present.

Learning about the history that make up our culture comes to kids in representations for the sake of simplicity; something age-appropriate, and those more detailed history books come later. But some people use the events to raise their personal agenda issues, loudly objecting in their protest to whatever falls within their view. This is one of those cases.


The parents decided to go ahead with the childrens' festivities and have the kids wear Pilgrim and Indian costumes they made, and the officials did not interfere. People protested that to some degree, but it was pretty peaceful. After all, these are kindergarten kids enjoying the holiday with a completely positive feeling, not one of the holidays based on a sad event. A lot of people look to things to find whatever they disagree with and call it racism or something that it is not. The personal agendas of a few in this case almost took away an enjoyable experience.

The parents decided to keep their kids home from school today to send their message to the Board. The district gets money based on an ADA, Average Daily Attendance, and it is affected by absences. Parents were of the opinion that the Board might consider money being more important than words as the parents’ response to the decision of the Board. I normally object to students missing school as a form of protest, but for kindergarten, the day is a short one and a pre-holiday early day off for a young kid is not pivotal to gaining an education, where it might be productive for older students. I will say one thing that this certainly shows, and that is parent-involvement.

You can read more on this with a Google “Claremont, thanksgiving, kindergarten” or such to search to find the several stories, with details on more of the objections and the responses. Objectors even tried to make comparison of the event to Jews having a celebration with Nazis, so you can see the extremes to which the opinions ranaged.

For one source of an historical perspective See Nathaniel Filbrick, “Mayflower,” (Description: http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com/mayflower/index.html ) for a view of the details of the time.

This book, like so many other books, is at the L.A. Public Library [Call No. 974.4 P545] so you don’t have to buy to read for two weeks at a time; the borrower cards are issued free with some lightweight proof of being a city resident.) The web site is a wealth of information and searches as well as requests for books to be sent to your local branch for pick up is a helpful service provided online.

Dodgers have ups and down, but Vin Scully is always a hit.

Vin Scully was honored last Friday by the Pacific Pioneers Broadcasters. Scully has been bringing the word picture of the DODGERS games to the listeners in Los Angeles, mainly on radio, but on t.v., too, ever since 1958, when they came here from Brooklyn, N.Y. He also has done excellent jobs announcing NFL Football and PGA Golf, too.

There's a feature item in today's laradio.com website, with Don Barrett, site creator, covering that lucheon event. He presents a lot of information that the average listener may not even have heard about before. Several other notable figures in sports, radio and news were there to give comments about the honoree, Vin Scully, and Vinny also has some good stories to tell. Check this out at www.laradio.com that is offered free for the month of NOVEMBER (see the "link" in the left sidebar here).

There are only a few more days left and then it goes back to being the subscription website. The website contains 11 years of archives of the past columns that you can check through meanwhile, and, subscribe for a relatively low price yearly price and monthly, if you feel that' better. If you compare the plans offered to a lot of other things, it's not a bad deal. Today's stories are the kinds of things you won't find elsewhere, and it's a fresh edition Monday through Friday at 7 a.m.

A "Heads up" on a couple of things

There are a few items for your information here, especially useful to know if you are a parent home on Wednesday, or getting home early that day and thought you might get a some extra rest before Thanksgiving Day. Be advised. This is the customary "minimum day" that means your child or children at Lincoln High will be getting out of school at 12:24 p.m.

If you happen to have very ambitious children who have that wonderlust spirit, this news might help you to manage a little closer attention to those parental responsibilities. For some students, getting an early start on vacation just gets them home sooner to help or just lounge around. For others, more free time could just be more uninvolved or undirected time for them to find a way that makes their day more interesting. Sometimes they are invovled in productive things, and sometimes the choice is more things that may include bad decisions of assorted types. Just something to think about while you still have an influence and before time passes you by on these situations.

But for teachers, the short school day allows an early out that helps those who did not already manage to use any other reason to head out sooner for the holiday travel. Even teachers for just going home, as usual , the short day is welcome. They might get a break in their daily trip since there are more teachers who have longer commutes than did the teachers of my Lincoln years, and there are a few more cars on the freeway now, too, if you have noticed.

Second "heads up" announcement- more time allowed here, though, is that Representative Linda Sanchez, the sister of Representative Loretta Sanchez, announced last week that she is pregnant- and, "No," she is not married. The 39-year-old elected official is not married yet, but said that she is "unofficially engaged." Usually, that phrase means "no ring, no date." The due date for her baby is May 21, 2009. Well, it looks like unplanned pregnancies don't just happen to high school teens. Latina teens have a rate twice the national average, and teaching in high school would demonstrate that this doesn't help teens get the most of their educational opportunities.

Rep. Sanchez is an adult, and the topic is covered very well by Patt Morrison's column in the L.A. Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison20-2008nov20,0,2576813.column . As a role model, this one fall far short of what we would like in our elected officials (with so many being major dissappointments for other reasons).

Teen pregnancy has always been a problem, and over the years it has become worse for Latinas, while the rate has dropped for African-Americans. What changes because of teen pregnancy, anyway, or, what is the big deal? Well check a number of angles on this topic at the home page for "The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy," at http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/reports.aspx

Friday, November 22, 1963- Dallas, Texas

"Three shots were fired today at President's Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas."

YouTube audio, First Kennedy Assassination Bulletin- ABC Radio, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHz0k3kkFw ) (1:07 min.)

Today, Saturday, November 22, 2008, marks the 45th anniversary of the day that President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas. Like other things in our past, a lot becomes ignored over time and the significance becomes lost, with our young people becoming more and more ignorant of things and events that we, as witnesses to those events, would not forget. This is one of those significant dates, one that brought an end to a special life and robbed all of us of so much that he envisioned for our future.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uw2yruChK8 YouTube video on the breaking news of JFK's assassination events (from breaking the story to the rest of announcements as they progressed.) (7:20 min/sec.)

Reflections- from personal recollections of the time.

For many people like me, the whole story of this assassination of the President was something we experienced, minute by minute, something that was as stunning and incomprehensible at the time as nothing else we had experienced. For many of you younger readers who weren't born yet, you might compare what happened here with another tragic event that you should vividly remember. It was as maybe, in many ways, the kind of feeling that we had as we experienced the events of the 9-11 attack and the feelings that this tragedy left us with, lasting in various ways to now. But it still was different. It was one man, not 3,000 people killed, yet the impact was enormous.

I was still in Nightingale Jr. High and it was right before lunch time that we heard the news of the shooting and they told us that the President was taken to the hospital. The news came back almost two hours later and the announcement was made that President Kennedy died.

I did not see the television reports or hear the radio news directly until I got home and then all the stations had stopped regular programming for four days, going with continuous coverage that supplied more and more details on this unimaginable turn of events. For me, as the news gradually sunk in, I felt sadness for our loss and then, thinking of his family, for their loss.

That continuous coverage included Sunday's morning's fatal shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, by Jack Ruby, as Oswald was being moved with detectives at his side. We were still at home getting ready for church when that happened. Jack Ruby's bullets, apparently fired to avenge the President's murder, selfishly robbed us of the opportunity to learn anything more from Oswald about the assassination.

The funeral for JFK was held on Monday after the casket bearing the President was kept in the Capitol rotunda for 24 hours while mourners filed past it to pay their respects.

Thinking back to those events still is sad for me after all these years. At that time, we were typical jr. high kids and reacted with denial and even joking around before the death was announced, since the gravity of the situation was nothing like anything ever presented to us before. And I remember we mostly all liked Kennedy a lot, so different from now. Not even President-elect Obama, as popular as he is, had that amount of admiration. So, for us being concerned with regular things of youth, you really don't want to believe that something serious could be happening as it was in this case. We found out later that the report was not a mistake when they told us he was shot and he was dead.

P.E. class was after lunch and I don't remember much detail except that the teacher said we probably would be back in school Monday. That teacher was Mr. Hodson, who said in his usual loud voice, but in an oddly quiet way, "President Kennedy would have wanted us to stay in class" or something like that. Of course, he couldn't know anything of the sort, but we just listened. He was probably trying to keep things at a low key level since the teachers must have been stunned by the news, too. Of course they were, they were adults. We were 13 and 14 years old, most of us, so what experience did we have to apply here to judge anything?

The Assassination.

President Kennedy arrived in Dallas at 9:40am Pacific Standard Time (9:40 am PST, and 11:40 am CST) and was shot while riding in a motorcade from the airport to the Dallas Trade Mart where he was to give a luncheon speech at the Dallas Trade Mart. He was 46 years old. He was the youngest person ever elected as President of the United States at 43 years of age. Only Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42, was younger when he took office after President William McKinley's assassination in 1901.

President Kennedy was riding in the Presidential limosine with the bubble top taken off, accompanied by his wife, Jackie, and the Governor of Texas, John Connelly and the Governor's wife. Governor Connelly also was shot but would recover from the wounds.

The motorcade went immediately to Parkland Hospital with the wounded President and Governor. And about an hour later, on t.v., you could see Walter Cronkite make the announcement that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was dead.

President Kennedy's official time of death was 2 pm CST (11am PST) and was announced in the news about 40 minutes later, right after the information was released..

CBS news announcement of death of JFK, Walter Cronkite reporting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CjWbemTNcw&feature=related (00:26 sec.)

The Funeral.

The funeral was held on Monday, November 25, 1963. That Monday was also the third birthday of John F. Kennedy, Jr. I remember watching the procession that went slowly from the Capitol to the Cathedral with a riderless horse ahead of the casket. I also remember when watching this on t.v. that my grandmother mentioned, in Spanish, that it was like President Roosevelt's funeral. I say here, "in Spanish," since that was all she and my grandfather spoke. We never considered why ONLY Spanish; there weren't classes everywhere like now, and many free, to learn English, but they still managed in all their years.

That recollection later reminded me of how much we lose in those memories from our own families. We don't do something as simple as write down or video record or audio tape little "interviews" on subjects to preserve things as our parents and grandparents remembered them, and a lot of it all before our time. We take much for granted until we have lost both the person and the opportunities of the moment.

I have included a link to another website that contains photos and details of the funeral that carry, in images and words, the message of loss for those days. (You can see other details and photos concerning the assassination in separate pages on this same website.) http://www.fiftiesweb.com/kennedy/kennedy-assassination-25.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More about the history of the 35th President of the United States,

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

There is a lot of material that tells us about President Kennedy, his family, the times and the assassination, that give different opinions covering many of these subjects. There was even a movie, "JFK," directed by Oliver Stone, that has been used in some schools to present its views, often taken as fact, on the assassination. The film fuels the position that there was conspiracy to kill President Kennedy and that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, did not act alone in the shooting.

The movie portrays several convincing "facts" that have not been established and remain only as opinion. Some parts of the moview are inserted as part of the story but did not happen, a criticism of other movies by Stone, with subjects including Nixon, and the Doors band. There are many people who use that movie to form their opinion as to conspiracy.

I found a good website http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkennedyJ.htm that you can scroll through to see a very readable history of President Kennedy and his related events, with links to other reference sources.

One thing that stood out as a distinguishing feature of President Kennedy was his sharp wit. He seemed to be able to respond with agility of thought and word in most situations, adding his own taste of humor in a spontaneous way that you do not see anymore.

There are some of the more polished areas of his speeches that brought us many well-remembered quotes, as well as others quotes that may not appear as familiar. A collection of John F. Kennedy Quotes can be found at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html

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

A list of "coincidences" is compiled for these two major American figures in history

It brings out a lot of coincidental things about President John F. Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln, another president who was assassinated almost 100 years earlier- and for whom our school was named.

And sadly, Lincoln High students have generally little knowledge of our namesake, Abraham Lincoln, one of the most important of the Presidents of our country. Even more sadly, that condition is allowed to continue by the institution that should be promoting more education and using the numerous "teachable moments" presented so frequently. Bringing back more education can bring back the some of the pride that's gradually been lost at Lincoln.

-----------------------------------------------

"Now For Some Strange Facts About Abraham Lincoln's & John F. Kennedy's Assassinations"

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
*
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
*
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
*
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
*
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
*
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
*
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908
*
Both assassins were known by their three names.

*

John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
*
Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
*
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
*
Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater.

LHS Tigers Reach The Last Football Game For 2008

The Lincoln Tigers look they have played the last game this year for this season's roster of players. In a last matchup for 2008, last night's scoring contest resulted in Huntington Park High coming away with the 42-28 win over LHS. Congratulations are in order for this year's varsity players, the coaches and staff, who dedicated themselves in producing a "team," first of all, and giving us all a season of good football.


Thursday's City Championship first-round playoffs and Invitationals scores (partilal list):

CITY CHAMPIONSHIP

Narbonne 28, Washington 9
Birmingham 27, Garfield 15
Los Angeles Jordan 21, Fremont 12
Crenshaw 42, Wilmington Banning 6
Taft 16, Locke 8
San Fernando 27, Dorsey 19
Venice 25, Carson 20
San Pedro 34, Sylmar 3


INVITATIONAL

Arleta 42, South East 7
Huntington Park 42, Lincoln 28
Los Angeles Wilson 52, Santee 50
Fairfax 21, Reseda 17
Franklin 48, Canoga Park 3
West Adams 31, Cleveland 21
El Camino Real 35, Los Angeles Marshall 28 (OT)
Los Angeles Roosevelt 35, Jefferson 16

Gas Is Under $2.00 a gallon. Thanksgiving Travel Back On?

Yes, the price of gas has fallen to less than $2.00 a gallon for regualr unleaded gas in the Los Angeles area after some really expensive summer months. I don't know if this is going to go any lower, but for the time, it's a brief and welcome relief to the wallet, especially for those of you who thought your only concern with commuting long distances was going to be the traffic.

Thanksgiving is coming in a week. That happens to be a super heavy travel period in this country. Lots of people had cut down on their driving and unnecessary travel because the gas was taking a big chunk of money out of the budget. The lowered price of gas frees up the choices to do some travelling for the holidays and just takes off the pressure coming from one part of these tough economic times.

Some people might be able to dust off the old Winnebago for a last trip while we still have some good weather without having to take out a loan to pay for gas now. I really can't see that the gas price is going down much lower, but then who would have thought it was going to be this low a few months ago? We were glad when it went down 50 cents a gallon, and a dollar less was just too much of a surprise. But then again, I remember when it was 29 to 35 cents a gallon ALL the time, and that was a long time ago in the age of "muscle cars" that were plentiful in the 60's.

You can be sure the oil industry will continue to focus on making maximum profits come in, and low prices at the pump don't mix well with that idea. Meanwhile, let's enjoy the price drop before it starts to head the other way.

What's with seeing new SUV's on the street with those paper labels in the license plate holder that tells you it is a NEW sale? Maximizing mileage is hard enough with a car you ALREADY have without LOOKING for a thirsty, large-sized vehicle. Well, the deal on the selling price must been an irrisistable one for those cars, I suppose, but you have to still feed them regularly.

If you are so fortunate that you have enough money coming in so that the price of gas is no obstacle for you, then good for you. But for the rest of us, this is a good time to make your trips and just be happy it's not still sky-high. The downside of cheaper gas is more traffic. Too bad that this is the natural response. Public transit ridership has dropped with people going back on the road in their own cars because of gas prices dropping. Well, you can't have everything.

Check the sidebar "links to visit" for the Cheapest Gas Prices website that change daily. Costco is usually the lowest with the least hassle when it comes to any lines, but you must be a member, too. It's not a bad choice. Are you getting the best deal?

.

Guess What? Another Football Home Game Tonight

The "City Invitational Tournament," otherwise known to many as the “playoffs,” is in progress, and Lincoln High School will be playing Huntington Park High. This game will be AT Lincoln TONIGHT at 7pm. I mentioned in the last posting that LHS didn’t do badly this year and there you have it.

That last home game on Friday against Wilson was the last “season” home game, but not the “last” one this year. Technicalities, technicalities. Come on down if you want to see the Tigers, who are apparently rated as the underdogs in this game, go for the upset victory.

L.A. Times’ “Varsity Blog” reporter, Eric Sondheimer, makes the predictions on the games and here’s the one for this game:

“Huntington Park at Lincoln. The Eastern League was one of the strongest in the
City Section, and that strong competition will help Huntington Park win.”

See the full posting, with his many other predictions on the matchups, including the reader comments at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2008/11/football-city-i.html . [I see the reader comment by the name of “Sylvia Miller” is in there, too, and she takes another swing at Eagle Rock High in her comments. As in most of her other reader comments and blog postings that she has made in the newspapers when ERHS comes up, she’s using her favorite put-down, “Ego Rock” when mentioning the Eagles. I guess there’s some strong personal history behind the reason for that. I haven’t seen what that reason is myself before in her criticisms that causes her to always bring this into the picture, like here. I bring this up since it’s not really relevant when you consider that ERHS isn’t even in this tournament.]

A current visit to the LHS Official "home page" shows the page view of “This Week @ Lincoln” that is more accurately described as “Last Week @ Lincoln.” The short school week for the Thanksgiving holiday is NEXT week, after all. A quick check of the site did not show that there was a game tonight. If you want to help out to get some more people into the stands to cheer on the home team, send this item along by e-mail by clicking the little envelope icon that shows up after the last paragraph here, add some addresses, and you have helped spread the word.

One of the reasons that this blog and the predecessor website came into being was because of the information vacuum on most things involving Lincoln. There was very little way for any alumni to know what was happening in regard to Lincoln High until AFTER the “upcoming events” turned into “Past Events.” This game almost became one of those events had I not received the thoughtful emailing this morning from another LHS alum.

What About Friday's Football Results?

So what about the Friday friendly Season Closer against Wilson High? Oh, THAT game? Well, it was close but we still had the second-highest score for all teams involved in that game.

And the "East L.A. Classic" was held last night at a full ELA College Stadium, with Garfield High coming away from the game with bragging rights over Roosevelt High for the next year until they meet again.

NORTHERN LEAGUE
Franklin 51, Eagle Rock 24
Los Angeles Marshall 49, Belmont 24
Los Angeles Wilson 28, Lincoln 20

EASTERN LEAGUE
Garfield 26, Los Angeles Roosevelt 7
Huntington Park 24, Bell 8
Los Angeles Jordan 63, South Gate 7

Opinion Time
All in all, it was not a bad season for Lincoln, and definitely without all the drama that played out at Eagle Rock High over the whole year, leading up to the cowardly attack on Coach Lopez and the forfeit to Belmont last week.

ERHS Principal, Mr. Velasco, is marching that school from mountain heights, straight into the ocean after he was handed a campus with generally high morale and academic performance. The football program decision was just another milestone along that trek.

I thought the idea was to have a principal try to move your school forward, not backwards, but all that is just my opinion. LAUSD honchos checked off this situation and said A-OK. The "review" included a personally conducted community meeting to air out gripes regarding "nepotism" claims regarding husband-teacher-coach, Mr. Lord and administrator-wife, Mrs. Lord, by Ray Cortines, "Senior Deputy Superintendent." I was there to hear all this. Talk about conflicting views of the same subject, this was a markedly divided audience. The purpose of the meeting turned out to be more stroking than anything else. At the time, it looked like something might actually be done to correct the problems. Ha.

The principal was never really directly involved in any public process and confidentiality limitations were usually relied upon for his absence throughout. So, LAUSD did the usual thing in a critical situation, nothing, as it reviewed the decisions and all stood unchanged, as well as keeping the catalyst, the principal, at Eagle Rock.

To be clear, Coach Lopez was just caught in the middle of a disastrous scenario not of his making, and he's been trying to make the best of the bad situation he inherited. To me, the former coach, Mr. Chou initially looked like more the good guy before the season started, but did he have any responsibility to get the players in line and act maturely, or were the players to figure that out alone or not at all?

It was a season to remember, but for the wrong reasons.

The "Who's Who" of Lincoln Alumni at 95th Anniversary Gala Reunion

Lincoln High's 95th Anniversary Gala event was held on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. A very satisfied and diverse group of LHS alumni and their guests enjoyed the evening as celebrants, dining, dancing, mingling and just having a plain old good time.

The L.A.-based veteran band and Eastside original, "Tierra," provided the live entertainment, featuring Lincoln High alumni band members, Steve Salas, vocals and percussion, and two of my 1967 classmates, "Tierra" leader Rudy Salas, guitar and vocals, and Bobby Navarrete, sax, flute and vocals. (www.tierramusic.com )

Just in case you couldn't make it, OR, if you DID attend and you want to know where you can see all those photos that were taken, here's the the answer:

Just email Mike Ibarra to request the connecting link to the 95th Gala web photo album that he has produced for that event, at mikethedadibarra@sbcglobal.net - besides "the dad," he's also the de facto Official Alumni Association Photographer, and always does a commendable job, as you will see.

Lots of bands & singers "of note," for benefit concert Saturday

"The Latin Summit, a benefit concert and toy drive" will be held at the Quiet Canon in Montebello (Pomona Fwy., Garfield exit, go south to entrance), on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at 7 p.m. (doors open 6 p.m.)

If you like live music and even some dancing, and you want to see many different bands, some older ones that have made a name for themselves, and some emerging talent, this is the place to be. There is a the added benefit of helping to give toys to make the holidays happier for more kids, and the Alumni Association can be another happy group by your choice here.

A part of each ticket obtained from our alum, Virgi Candales, will go to benefit the LHS Alumni Association's fundraising.

The scheduled performers for this lively evening are:

"The Intruders,"
"Rose Royce"
"Sly, Slick & Wicked"
"AAlon"
"Mr. D and Homies"
"Rudy and Steve Salas"
"Rocky Padilla and Cory Silva"
with special guests, Lil' Gee, Gutta Dub, Lil' Chuko.

Do you like cars, especially customs and classics?
Numerous car clubs will be displaying their cars there, as well.
The cost: $25.00 AND 1 toy to see all these entertainers and help out some kids.

HERE'S THE REQUEST-
It's a good deal, but don't just buy your ticket ANYWHERE you can- make it better. Each ticket obtained through Virgi will be helping the Alumni Association, and the price will still be the same.
Be sure to get your tickets through Virgi Candales- contact her at virgicandel@aol.com
and lend a helping hand.

Support your LHS Alumni Association in it's fund raising efforts, and you will have all that entertainment, too. Do act now- it's next Saturday, after all.