Category: Cultural

Bilingual report: ‘March for Justice and People’s Assembly!’ set for Sept. 11 in Oxnard

OXNARD — Todo Poder Al Pueblo this weekend announced that community members are urged meet in La Colonia neighborhood of Oxnard before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11 to begin their march to Oxnard City Hall. “We will gather at Camino…

Bilingual report: Extend your summer

By Stacey Wittig / Vagabonding Chica – Travel writer When the long-anticipated Cars Land opened this past June at Disney California Adventure Park, avid fans waited six to seven hours to experience new, exciting rides at the 12-acre theme land.…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County needs support to receive $250,000 grant from Chase Community Giving

  Area residents can make a huge impact by voting on Facebook CAMARILLO – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County, a non-profit organization working to provide quality mentoring to children facing adversity is competing with charities nationwide for grants…

Last chance to advertise in our Amigos805 special Hispanic Heritage Month print edition

Time is running out to advertise in our Amigos805 special Hispanic Heritage Month print edition. The edition will include an update on all activities and events celebrating this special time of year for the Latino community, including upcoming Fiestas Patrias…

Foundation for SBCC receives $10,000 grant from Wells Fargo for Plaza Comunitaria and Wells Fargo Annual Vocational Scholarship students

SANTA BARBARA — The Foundation for Santa Barbara City College recently received a $10,000 grant from Wells Fargo to assist two vocational students through the Wells Fargo Annual Vocational Scholarship and to support the education of Latino emigrants through the…

Bilingual report: Fiestas Patrias Gala Dinner-Dance to be held Sept. 1 in Ventura

The Comité Cultural Mexicano  (Mexican Cultural Committee) and La “M” 103.7 FM Radio Station will present the 15th Annual “Fiestas Patrias” (Mexican Independence Day Celebration) “Gala Dinner-Dance” to elect and crown the queen of the “Fiestas Patrias” 2012-2013 from 5:30 p.m. to…

‘Social Resurrection: Ceramics by Richard Flores’ opens Sept. 1 at Museum of Ventura County

Ritual Vessels of the Maya Brought Into the Present Day VENTURA — The Maya culture of yesterday enlightens us today in Richard Flores’ exhibition of contemporary ceramic vessels at the Museum of Ventura County. Social Resurrection: Ceramics by Richard Flores…

Bilingual commentary: Is it worth it to go to college?

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor In the newspaper from today, Sunday (I continue to be one of those dinosaurs that still reads the newspaper), a political cartoon with a disturbing message by cartoonist Steve Breen caught my eye. I…

“Tools for School” initiative provides backpacks and supplies to 300 Santa Barbara area children

SANTA BARBARA — The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara hosted the “Tools for School” kick-off event on Aug. 18 at the Presidio Springs Community Room. The event served as a resource for Housing Authority residents and the…

UCSB ranks among the nation’s top 25 colleges, universities in degrees awarded to Latinos in STEM fields

SANTA BARBARA — In the third in a series of reports linking college completion with U.S. workforce needs, the nonprofit organization Excelencia in Education has included UC Santa Barbara on its lists of the top 25 colleges and universities in…

MICOP seeks volunteers at Harrington Elementary School in Oxnard on Aug. 24 to fill backpacks

Volunteers are needed at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24 to help pack about 500 backpacks with school supplies, to be distributed at the monthly Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project community meeting from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24 at Harrington Elementary School,…

Bilingual commentary: My Path to Digital Citizenship

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor Just as with obtaining national citizenship, to achieve digital citizenship, an “outsider” — a digital immigrant — like  me needs to be willing to accept a long, hard, difficult  journey replete with frustrations. A large…

2013 Rebozo Festival Awards applications now available

OXNARD — Organization/institutions are encouraged to participate in the “Nomination for Appropriations” 2013 Rebozo Festival Awards, the organization reported in a media release. The awards are presented annually by Las Madrinas del Rebozo Festival of Ventura County. The next event…

Bilingual report: Deferred Action Information for Dreamers Forum to be held Aug. 23 in Oxnard

The Deferred Action Information Forum for Dreamers will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23 at Pacifica High School, Pacifica Art Center, 600 E. Gonzales Road, Oxnard. Consulting lawyers from the Legal Affairs Department of the Consulate of…

Bilingual report: Inaugural ‘Oxnard Show ‘N Shine Car Show’ to be held on Aug. 26

Alfarero Christian Community presents the inaugural “Oxnard Show ‘N Shine Car Show,” from 10 am. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 in the Alfarero Christian Community parking area, 375 So. “K” St., Oxnard. The event is a benefit fundraiser for…

Final performance for ‘Divorciadas, Evangélicas, y Vegetarianas’ set for Aug. 26 in Carpinteria

The final performance for Teatro de las Américas’ “Divorciadas, Evangélicas, y Vegetarianas” (“Divorcees, Evangelicas , and Vegetarians”) will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 at the Plaza Playhouse Teatre, 4916 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria. Written by Gustavo Ott, the play is performed in…

United Way of Santa Barbara County receives Summer Learning Award

The United Way of Santa Barbara County has received a prestigious 2012 National Excellence in Summer Learning Award for its Fun in the Sun program, the organization reported this week in a media release. The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA)…

805 region students participate in Just Communities’ ‘Community Leadership Institute’

Students from Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez Valley, Carpinteria, and Fillmore/Piru schools recently participated in Community Leadership Institute, an eight-day residential summer program in Ojai that trains youth from the Central Coast to be leaders in issues of diversity…

Cuarta generación de graduados en la Plaza Bicentenario del Centro Comunitario del Colegio de Santa Barbara

El Consulado de México informa a la comunidad en general que el pasado 10 de agosto se llevó a cabo la cuarta ceremonia de graduación y entrega de Reconocimientos a 51 estudiantes de la “Plaza Comunitaria Bicentenario” del Centro Comunitario…

Pre-K photographers focus on portraits in SBMA’s ‘Art in Motion’ program

This summer, 25 pre-school students from Storyteller Children’s Center worked with Tina Villadolid, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art teaching artist, creating photographic portraits inspired by the current exhibition, Portrayal/Betrayal, through the Museum’s Art in Motion (AIM) program, the museum reported this…

Bilingual commentary: Digital Natives and Immigrants

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor I am an immigrant. This world in which I find myself seems so strange sometimes. It’s nothing like the land from which I hail, where I grew up, and where I used to feel so…

Cabrillo’s ASPIRA Program to hold fundraiser on Aug. 14 in Oxnard

A fundraiser to support Cabrillo Economic Development Corp.’s ASPIRA Program will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14 at Sugarbeets Restaurant and Bar, 455 So. A St., Oxnard. Ticket sales benefit CEDC’s ASPIRA Program, which encourages local youth to develop personal finance…

Commentary: Oxnard College deserves equal representation

By Frank P. Barajas / Guest contributor For my study of the Chicano Movement in Ventura County, I learned that before Oxnard College’s opening in 1975, Vietnam veterans and newly minted high school graduates from the Oxnard Plain rode buses…

More than 800 Santa Barbara fiesta attendees trained in hands-only CPR

SANTA BARBARA — As fiesta crowds recently celebrated Santa Barbara’s rich culture and heritage, dance performances and food during “Old Spanish Days,” more than 800 took the time to stop by the Hands Helping Hearts booth to learn Hands-Only CPR. A total…

Andrea Vargas-Mendoza is the featured artist during August at Gallery 28 in Oxnard

Andrea Vargas-Mendoza is the featured artist during August at Gallery 28, 1901 So. Victoria Ave., Suite 109, beside Channel Islands Harbor. This show titled, “Along the Water,” features her most recent California landscape paintings done a la “plein air” which means done in…

Big Brothers Big Sisters receives $20,000 Monsanto Fund grant

CAMARILLO – Studies have shown youth in Big Brothers Big Sisters programs show improvements in academic, behavioral and socio-emotional outcomes. 83 percent of children involved in the program agree that having a Big Brother or Big Sister mentor instilled in…

Concert on Aug. 10 in Hollywood to celebrate contributions of Fermin Herrera, others

NORTHRIGE — Hundreds of people are expected to gather at Los Angeles’ Ford Theatres on Aug. 10 to celebrate the contributions of Mexican-American and Chicano performing artists to California’s richly diverse culture. Among those being singled out for his tireless…

Bilingual commentary: A powerful weapon in our hands

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor If we were to commit the idiocy of handing a gun to a child, we shouldn’t be surprised if said child, in all innocence, were to hurt (or something worse, which we don’t even want…

Future Leaders of America holding Youth Leadership Conference

VENTURA — High school students from Ventura and Santa Barbara County will be attending Future Leaders of America’s week long annual “Youth Leadership Conferenc starting Monday, Aug. 6 at the University of California Santa Barbara, the organization reported in a media…

Bilingual report: CSU Channel Islands celebrates 10th anniversary

By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805 Students returning to classes this month will find a number of changes awaiting them at California State University, Channel Islands. Instead of the long leisurely drive through farmland from Lewis Road, the students will…

Bilingual commentary: Keeping calm … But how?

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor During my time in London last month, I came across one of those useful phrases to which one can go whenever necessary — a phrase that has the power to make our life enormously easier and…

Bilingual travel story: Off the Beaten Path – Discovering Tubac

By Stacey Wittig / Vagabonding Chica – Travel Writer Tubac, Arizona was established by the King of Spain as a presidio in 1752, thirty years before the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio. Tubac, the first European settlement in Arizona, is known for outfitting…

Arts program set for July 31 at Café on A in Oxnard

The public is invited to a meet and greet program featuring William Strickland, founder and director of the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, from  4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 31 at Café on A, 438 So. A…

Clinicas del Camino Real to celebrate National Health Center Week

VENTURA COUNTY — Clinicas del Camino Real Inc. will host events in honor of National Health Center Week (NHCW), the Ventura-based organization reported in a media release. Clinicas invites the Ventura Community to join them for a health fair from…

Bilingual letter to the editor: The importance of the Latino vote

Our community understands the need for jobs. We need a representative from Ventura County that understands our economic challenges. Farms contribute over $2 billion dollars to our local economy sustaining over 31,000 jobs in our community. Under this current administration Latinos…

Guest column: Business leverage and the networking nomad

By Shawn McCarthy / Guest Contributor Leverage is the essence of why leading sales professionals and small business owners invest their valuable time in business networking activities. J. Paul Getty once said, “I’d rather have one percent of the effort of…

Bilingual report: Community organizations call for Friday, Saturday protests to demand support for CA Trust Act from Das Williams

Open letter addressed issued to Das Williams following support for notorious  DHS-ICE “Secure Communities” program OXNARD — Oxnard-based Todo Poder al Pueblo Collective has called for a protest to be held in front of Assemblyman Das Williams’ office at the…