Tag: David Magallanes

Bilingual commentary — It Was a Different World: And That’s The Way It Was

by Community Contributor • October 2, 2020 • Comments Off

There once was a time when we Americans didn’t seek shelter in our echo chambers where we soak in the news that corresponds to our world view and ideology. We weren’t a nation of Fox News vs. CNN viewers, scorning each other and inhabiting very different but parallel universes. We didn’t accuse each other of subscribing to conspiracy theories. We didn’t have leaders at the very top rungs of government actively promoting some of the vilest, most unimaginably preposterous and downright quirky fabrications that we hear today, every day, everywhere and all the time.

Bilingual commentary — Our Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

by Community Contributor • September 25, 2020 • Comments Off

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest classical musicians of all time, composed a musical piece entitled (in translation) “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Opus 112.” Beethoven was inspired by the eternally stirring poetry of the renowned philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whom he had met and to whom he dedicated this work.

Bilingual commentary — Minority Students and STEM Education, Part III

by Community Contributor • September 18, 2020 • Comments Off

As promised last week, here are some highlights of the biographies for the racial-minority professors of mathematics at our local university, California State University, Channel Islands, right here in Camarillo. These biographies are available online at the university website. Their role in the community is outsized because of the example they set for the second largest population sector in Ventura County, which is Hispanic/Latino.

Bilingual commentary — Minority Students and STEM Education, Part II

by Community Contributor • September 11, 2020 • Comments Off

Last week I wrote about representatives of minority populations who study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics in school and emerge into our communities as scientists, teachers, engineers and role models. Within our local community, we have a substantial number of college students majoring in STEM fields. Likewise, we are fairly well represented professionally in math education. I may be a bit biased because of my background, but many of us know, or at least intuit, that mathematics is the gateway to all branches of science and the foundation of areas as diverse as music, logic, business, finance and cryptography.

Bilingual commentary — Minority Students and STEM Education

by Community Contributor • September 4, 2020 • Comments Off

There will always be a special place in my heart for those students who pursue a solid math education. I once had—and continue to have—the same fascination as they have with the mysterious beauty of mathematics.

When I started teaching college mathematics several decades ago, Latinos in the field of math education were relatively rare. In the more recent past, there has been a surge of interest in encouraging minority students to pursue classes in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. The technical sphere is where more lucrative careers beckon those who have the education and the wherewithal to survive the rigors of a STEM education.

Bilingual commentary — Looking Into a Foggy Future

by Community Contributor • August 28, 2020 • Comments Off

A couple of weeks ago, as temperatures in other parts of the Southland were starting to climb, we here in coastal Ventura County once again found ourselves blessed. Sometimes we’re a bit too blessed.

We who live on the coast often enjoy a sea breeze as other parts of the region swelter (that’s good for us). Our “marine layer” acts as a sort of preternatural air conditioner that cools and soothes us.

Guest commentary — Visions for America

by Community Contributor • August 21, 2020 • Comments Off

We all need to be prepared for a vicious political season ahead. It’s starting to get serious. Two visions for America are beginning to take shape as they prepare to go toe to toe with one another. This will be an epic battle for the destiny of the United States, culminating in the November presidential election. In like manner, the Civil War and subsequent world wars were also arduous struggles that forced us to reevaluate our values and objectives, our character as a nation.

Guest commentary — Ivanka’s “Find Something New”

by Community Contributor • August 14, 2020 • Comments Off

Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Trump, serves as a co-chair of the National Council for the American Worker. Several weeks ago, I, like many others, waxed skeptical of Ivanka’s suggestion that Americans laid off from their jobs “find something new” as they are displaced from their livelihoods by the tsunami-strength ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. She was roundly criticized for being the let-them-eat-cake embodiment of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution, who was ultimately executed at the guillotine.

Bilingual commentary — Time to Reflect on the American Diet

by Community Contributor • August 7, 2020 • Comments Off

The apparently never-ending coronavirus pandemic has punched a hole in the panorama that was our American diet up to now. Suddenly, beginning earlier this year, meat became scarce. Delicately balanced supply chains were knocked off-balance, partly due to meat production workers “dropping like flies” as the virus surged through factories and warehouses. Meat counters in grocery stores became sparse and the cost of the meat that was available started to rise due to demand for the limited supply. Major grocery outlets started rationing quantities of meat to its customers to avoid the toilet-paper-hoarding fiasco that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic.

Bilingual commentary — Lessons from the Least Terns

by Community Contributor • July 31, 2020 • Comments Off

This past weekend I had the opportunity to wander around the “settling ponds” by the water treatment plant in Ventura. To the casual outsider, this might sound like the last place on earth to go for a stroll, but it’s really a bit of a hidden treasure in our community.

One of the highlights of this location is the quantity and quality of the bird-watching that is available. I’m learning that birds have much to teach us, and the more I learn about them, the more in awe I am of them.

Bilingual commentary — Racism in Oxnard’s Past, Part III

by Community Contributor • July 24, 2020 • Comments Off

Last week we rummaged through Oxnard’s past and found some interesting and unsettling history regarding the former Colonial House restaurant and motel complex in the city’s downtown. The ambiance had been designed to invoke the feeling of the “Old South,” as if people were visiting a Southern plantation, with all that that implied.

Bilingual commentary — Racism in Oxnard’s Past, Part II

by Community Contributor • July 17, 2020 • Comments Off

Last week I wrote about the change in a local school’s name, from that of Richard B. Haydock to that of Dr. Manuel Lopez. The former was a segregationist in Oxnard’s early history; the latter was a beloved unifier and promoter of civil rights in Oxnard’s recent history.

This week I want to bring attention to a former landmark in downtown Oxnard, the Colonial House, a restaurant and motel built by developer Martin V. Smith in the 1940s.

Bilingual commentary — Racism in Oxnard’s Past, Part I

by Community Contributor • July 10, 2020 • Comments Off

Some of us who are “old enough” remember when racism was so prevalent and “accepted” that it seemed to permeate the very air that we breathed. It surrounded us. Just as a fish doesn’t think about breathing underwater, and a bird thinks that flying is “no big deal,” many of us growing up in the 50s and 60s were vaccinated against the guilt that would shame us today.

Bilingual commentary — African Americans and the Reconstruction Era

by Community Contributor • June 25, 2020 • Comments Off

We live in a great country with a history that is both magnificent and, at times, not so magnificent. Until very recently, we were the light of the world, the “shining city upon a hill,” as our country has been called in flights of oratory throughout modern history. Nonetheless, there have been several ugly periods of time in American history that should have us hanging our heads in shame: the massacres of Native Americans in the nineteenth century; the internment of Japanese Americans in the mid-1940s; the persecution and humiliation of Mexican American youth in Los Angeles by military servicemen and white Angelenos during World War II. Few of us are aware of the Reconstruction era, just after the Civil War when the black slaves were given their freedom. In school, many of us were taught that the slaves were freed and we went on to become a great industrial power. And we lived happily ever after. But the truth is otherwise.

Bilingual commentary — “White Privilege” and Latinos

by Community Contributor • June 19, 2020 • Comments Off

Last week I wrote about the obvious impact of white privilege on the African American community. There has been an uptick in dialogue in this country regarding white privilege. Lynching of blacks in different forms continues to this day. Last year the college admissions scandal, in which affluent white parents gamed the system to their children’s advantage, came to light. And then this year, incidents of murderous police aggression against the black community were caught on video and widely circulated on social media. The good behavior of most police officers is completely eclipsed by these outrageous occurrences.

Lost in the conversation is the discussion about the repercussions of white privilege in the Latino/Hispanic, Native American and Asian communities as well as a myriad of others. In this article, I want to focus on the Latino—and specifically Mexican—community, since locally we are very much a majority-minority in some parts of Ventura County.

Bilingual commentary — The Pervasiveness of “White Privilege”

by Community Contributor • June 11, 2020 • Comments Off

At this time, once again, we find ourselves discussing the unfortunate reality of “white privilege” in our unspoken, pernicious societal rules. “White privilege” is that social construct that makes it easier for whites to work within the grand system, to manipulate it in their favor if they choose to do so, to benefit from the blessings of a social order without even trying, simply by virtue of the color of their skin. Whites often are not even conscious of the privileges extended to them at the expense of non-whites. Whites can almost be forgiven for being unaware—indeed, clueless—of the generational suffering of those who do not participate in the grace that flows from the fountain of privilege.

Bilingual commentary — Emerging Into a New World

by Community Contributor • June 4, 2020 • Comments Off

It’s happened throughout history: a catastrophic event occurs, whether that be war, pestilence, a sudden attack or a pandemic, and then the people who are impacted emerge into a very different world. Think of a destroyed Europe immediately after World War II, the people of New York City after 9/11, the survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires that destroyed the city, the surviving dazed and severely injured citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the only atomic bombings in history and the people who had the good fortune of surviving the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917 – 1918.

Bilingual commentary — Don’t Be a Towhee!

by Community Contributor • May 21, 2020 • Comments Off

We are summoned to “fly with the eagles” or “watch like a hawk,” but few of us have ever heard of a “towhee” (pronounced “toe-hee”), although the California variety is prevalent throughout the west coast, from the very northern part of California to the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. We’ll never hear anyone urge us to “be a towhee,” nor to act like one.

Bilingual commentary — Inviting the Enemy

by Community Contributor • May 14, 2020 • Comments Off

As we go about our communities stifled by the coronavirus, we see people who are behaving as if nothing different is happening in the world. No masks, no social distancing, and anyone who doesn’t like it—too bad. They demand a certain degree of “normalcy” in their lives, which under ordinary circumstances would have some psychological benefit.

Bilingual commentary: Reinventing Our Lives

by Community Contributor • May 7, 2020 • Comments Off

We are not alone. One way or another, the coronavirus has upended the life of practically every individual in the world. As a country, we confront this threat and look for ways to assuage the severe damage that it is inflicting on our livelihoods, our lifestyles, our relationships and the global economy. Meanwhile, we are all observing an intense tug-of-war between the forces that agitate for a brisk re-opening of the country and those that caution us about the potentially dreadful consequences of a rapid return to a “normal life.” Achieving an optimal response is one of the most fraught challenges ever experienced by at least the past three generations, so achieving an optimal balance is guaranteed to be painful.

Bilingual commentary: Passing the Time

by Community Contributor • April 30, 2020 • Comments Off

Some fortunate souls are able to work from home during this pandemic, which seems to have no end. If some of the more pessimistic health experts are right, it just may not.

On the other hand, there are many of us who don’t have the luxury of working from home. We may be a service provider whose livelihood was suddenly yanked away. We might be in the retail industry, which in some quarters is struggling to breathe and may not survive an environment that is essentially hostile to its products (think clothing and fashion) or to sales in general (for traditional summer fun, back-to-school, Black Friday and Christmas), which are completely unpredictable at this time.

Bilingual commentary: Are We Being Forced Online?

by Community Contributor • April 23, 2020 • Comments Off

For my two older grandsons, living and playing online is nothing novel, even in the face of this “novel” coronavirus. Several years ago, I saw them playing high-stakes games (in their minds, at least) in cyberspace using their headphones, microphones and X-boxes. Sometimes they would play with their cousins on the other side of town, and sometimes with strangers—somewhere in the world. They are not living in the world in which I grew up, where tournaments of paramount importance for us at the time consisted primarily of physical board games such as checkers, chess, Parcheesi, Scrabble and Monopoly.

Bilingual commentary: A Nudge toward Life Online

by Community Contributor • April 16, 2020 • Comments Off

There seems to be only one thing on our minds right now—everything related to the coronavirus.

As a result of the social and economic upheaval of the past few weeks, one of the biggest changes that many of us are making is learning to adapt to an online environment.

Bilingual commentary: Tough Lesson about ‘Flow’

by Community Contributor • April 9, 2020 • Comments Off

Editor’s note: Amigos805 welcomes local guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805. David Magallanes By David…

Bilingual report: Vulnerable Artists in the Age of Coronavirus

by Community Contributor • April 2, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual report: Opportunities in the Age of Coronavirus

by Community Contributor • March 26, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Will This Virus Accelerate Trends?

by Community Contributor • March 19, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Sailing Toward Our Goals

by Community Contributor • March 12, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Gathering Dark Clouds

by Community Contributor • February 27, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: The Real ID Experience

by Community Contributor • February 13, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Weekly Tradition for Busy Families

by Community Contributor • February 6, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Effortless Excursions into Los Angeles

by Community Contributor • January 30, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: A Pilgrimage to the Library

by Community Contributor • January 23, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: The Latino Philosopher

by Community Contributor • January 16, 2020 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Storage “In the Cloud”

by Community Contributor • December 19, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Purging Paper Files in the Digital Age

by Community Contributor • December 12, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Trusting the Process

by Community Contributor • December 5, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: The Day Kennedy Died

by Community Contributor • November 21, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Reflections on Math Education—Part IV

by Community Contributor • November 7, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Reflections on Math Education—Part III

by Community Contributor • October 31, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Reflections on Math Education—Part II

by Community Contributor • October 24, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Reflections on Math Education—Part I

by Community Contributor • October 17, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Is Organic Food Really Healthy? Part II

by Community Contributor • October 10, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: My Own YouTube Channel—In Spanish

by Community Contributor • September 26, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Your Own Business: Starting a Distributorship—Part II

by Community Contributor • September 12, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Your Own Business: Starting a Distributorship—Part I

by Community Contributor • September 5, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Going Into Business: Franchise vs. Online

by Community Contributor • August 29, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: My Life With Social Media: It’s “Complicated”

by Community Contributor • August 22, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Phrases of the Generations

by Community Contributor • August 15, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: Keeping Our Bodies “In the Garage”

by Community Contributor • August 8, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: No More TV, No More Phones

by Community Contributor • August 1, 2019 • Comments Off

Bilingual commentary: One’s Own Business: Traditional vs. Online

by Community Contributor • June 27, 2019 • Comments Off

By David Magallanes • Guest contributor David Magallanes When aspiring entrepreneurs think of starting their own business, their usual inclination is to consider a brick-and-mortar or service-oriented business, since these have been the traditional models for centuries. Breaking that momentum…

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