Tag: David Magallanes

Bilingual commentary — Walking on Water, Walking Into Walls

by Community Contributor • June 4, 2021 • Comments Off

People in our lives who can “do no wrong,” such as doctors, teachers, religious leaders—and, yes, even some lawyers and politicians—are said to “walk on water.” This is in reference to the biblical story about the time that the disciples of Jesus were crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was not with them. The water was turbulent, and they feared for their lives. According to the narration, they suddenly saw Jesus walking toward them on the water. One of the disciples, Peter, armed with the faith that moves mountains, got out of the boat and likewise started walking on the water toward Jesus. That is, until his faith wavered, at which point he began sinking like a rock, just as any of the rest of us would.

Bilingual commentary — John Cox’s Bear

by Community Contributor • May 28, 2021 • Comments Off

John Cox, a businessman and political activist, has been a perennial candidate for political office. He has not quite yet achieved his goal. He has run for Congress, a county office in Illinois, and even president of the United States. More recently, he ran for governor of California, but lost to Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in the 2018 election. Now he is one of the current Republican candidates vying for the governorship of California in the effort to recall Mr. Newsom this year. Cox has his eye on being the incumbent in California’s gubernatorial election in 2022.

Bilingual commentary — Is the Pandemic Our New “Sputnik Challenge”?

by Community Contributor • May 21, 2021 • Comments Off

As young as I was in the latter part of the 1950s, I was acutely aware of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. I recall that we were hell-bent on “beating those Communists.” Except that we didn’t. Twice.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union were planning to launch the world’s first satellite. Whoever accomplished this would be recognized as the world’s technological leader. The Soviets beat us to the punch in 1957 when they launched into orbit their Sputnik I satellite. In comparison with modern satellites, it was nothing sophisticated. But its impact on the American psyche was profound.

Bilingual commentary — To College or Not to College?

by Community Contributor • May 14, 2021 • Comments Off

As I was coming of age in the 1960s, the United States economy was galloping along after the end of World War II and still heading for its peak. By then, we had established ourselves as the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, college was the indisputable ticket to the middle class, which at the time was an indicator of affluence. Young people were acquiring college educations to graduate and fuel the engines of prosperity. Single-income families were the norm. Except for the scourge of racial discrimination, it was by some measures almost an idyllic society compared to today’s problem-ridden existence for far too many Americans.

But now, even some wealthier families are questioning the intrinsic, assumed value of a college education.

Bilingual commentary — Native America Was Not “Nothing”

by Community Contributor • May 7, 2021 • Comments Off

Former senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum echoed last week what many of us learned in school about the history of early America: that the original white “settlers” who arrived from distant shores had planted the seeds of American culture. In fact, he said that there was “nothing here” when the colonizers arrived. He flatly declared that “there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

Mr. Santorum’s baseless claims about the absence of Native American influence on our national character is a continuation of white nationalist propaganda that ignores, or at least gravely understates, the vast impact of Native American culture upon ours. To say, as he did, that the first settlers to arrive on our eastern shores “birthed a nation from nothing” is to erase the wisdom and knowledge that was already present and predated the birth of the United States by several millennia.

Bilingual commentary — When Religion Channels Into Politics

by Community Contributor • April 29, 2021 • Comments Off

A Gallup news item from last month describes the precipitous drop in religious affiliation in the United States since the turn of the century—not that long ago. In just over 20 years, the number of those who declare themselves members of a church, mosque, or synagogue has decreased more than 20%. In fact, according to the Gallup poll cited in the report, less than half of Americans claim to belong to a religious organization.

Bilingual commentary — The Scourge of Random Capitalization

by Community Contributor • April 16, 2021 • Comments Off

I grew up with a father, a typesetter by trade, who was obsessed with the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Starting in my school years, informally proofreading everything that was printed on paper was as natural as breathing air. I hardly realized I was doing it. Now, fast-forwarding several decades, I am a recent graduate of an online proofreading course. I have become like my father, obsessed with the rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Lately, I have become acutely aware of several troubling trends in writing among the general public.

Bilingual commentary — Tragicomedy in the Pandemic Era

by Community Contributor • April 9, 2021 • Comments Off

This past week I had an appointment with a friend, a shop owner I’ve known for several years. Like so many other shop owners this past year, her business has been closed more than it’s been open. Our encounter felt a bit eerie as we took those first tentative steps up from the depths of the Great Pandemic Lockdown.

Bilingual commentary — Are We Hoarding, Collecting, or Being Prudent?

by Community Contributor • April 2, 2021 • Comments Off

As I was setting up some equipment for a video I wanted to make, I realized that I had lost a small mounting screw that I needed. I started looking for it all over the house until it dawned on me that this search could take hours, if not days. I could have spent precious time wandering around hardware stores searching for a replacement. In any case, without that piece, I was “dead in the water,” not able to proceed with my project.

Bilingual Commentary — No More Boys’ and Girls’ Toys

by Community Contributor • March 26, 2021 • Comments Off

Parents of young children need not panic. “No more boys’ and girls’ toys” does not imply the prospect of a world without toys.

What it does mean is that a California Assembly bill, AB 2826(19R), is proposing that large retail department stores have toy departments that are gender-neutral; i.e., no more division between the boys’ and girls’ toy sections.

Bilingual commentary — White Supremacy in…Mathematics?

by Community Contributor • March 19, 2021 • Comments Off

Last week I saw an article in Yahoo News condemning a more liberal approach to teaching mathematics in Oregon, that bastion of liberal thinking (rivaling that of neighboring California!). Don’t get me wrong. I’m a political moderate with strong leftist leanings. But the way “liberal mathematics” was described in the article left me gobsmacked—not to mention incredulous. The article’s characterization of modern mathematics education was outrageous. But then I considered the news source and understood why the facts were being distorted.

The state of Oregon was encouraging teachers to receive training in “ethnomathematics.” This branch of mathematics, which never appeared in my college catalog back in the 1970s when I was a student, explores relationships between mathematics and culture. Fair enough. Understanding how Native Americans and the ancient Chinese, for example, viewed and used mathematics can be fascinating and enlightening.

Bilingual commentary — Career Education at Our Community Colleges

by Community Contributor • March 12, 2021 • Comments Off

Some of us Ventura County residents may be in high school or recently graduated, trying to find a path forward as we wrestle with a daunting number of higher education and career choices. Some of us may be middle-aged and “drifting,” or restless in our current careers.

Then there are those of us who are retired and looking for something new to challenge us. Perhaps we have a new interest—and the time to pursue it. Retirees may even be seeking a career that is either an extension of their life’s work, or possibly something quite different from what they had done for decades.

Bilingual commentary — Work in the Post-Pandemic Age

by Community Contributor • March 5, 2021 • Comments Off

In a matter of weeks or months, if all goes well, the world will begin to transition into a new era: the Post-Pandemic Age. When we emerge and behold the new world order, a different work landscape will present itself—for better and for worse.

Bilingual commentary — Sifting Through Parents’ Papers

by Community Contributor • February 26, 2021 • Comments Off

Upon the death of a parent, we children find ourselves scrambling about, muddling through the logistics: finding a mortuary, arranging religious and/or memorial services, choosing a cemetery and possibly meeting with family and friends for that last goodbye at the burial grounds. Of course, much of this can be pre-arranged.

Bilingual commentary — Relationships in the Age of Covid

by Community Contributor • February 19, 2021 • Comments Off

“Ok, fine, but I go wherever I want and don’t worry about anything. In fact, I don’t believe what the scientists say about the coronavirus.”

This was more or less the response I got from a family relative who wanted me to go into Los Angeles, the global epicenter of COVID-19 at the time, to meet with her. She had arrived from out of town. We hadn’t seen each other in years. This would have been our big chance to reconnect, but I couldn’t bring myself to contravene the health guidelines that the health authorities have been pounding into our heads for the past year—guidelines, by the way, that have made perfect sense to me.

Bilingual commentary — What Is Personalized Nutrition?

by Community Contributor • February 5, 2021 • Comments Off

Why Personalized Nutrition Is Important

By necessity, the standard nutritional support recommendations tend to be generic; there’s nothing “personalized” in your nutrition plans, given your uniqueness even within a particular demographic. It’s true: there’s only one you. You may have a friend of about the same age, the same body type. Maybe you exercise about the same and eat about the same kinds of foods. But you have your own routines, stressors and family history that set you apart and play a role in how healthy you are and how you feel.

Bilingual commentary — Surviving the Belly of the Beast

by Community Contributor • January 29, 2021 • Comments Off

Amanda Gorman, our country’s first Youth Poet Laureate, stood proudly, if not nervously, before the country and the world during President Biden’s inauguration as she delivered her poem, aptly entitled “The Hill We Climb.” It was a formidable image, reminiscent of watching Barack Obama delivering his inaugural address to the nation as our first African American president.

Bilingual commentary — The Power of Oratory

by Community Contributor • January 22, 2021 • Comments Off

The past few days in our country have been exhausting, frightening, sickening, traumatic, dispiriting. The attack on the Capitol, with threats of even more violence in the coming weeks and months, starkly demonstrated the power of words.

An impeached and diminished president stands accused of incitement to riot. He may well believe that his words were “appropriate,” but then he believes many things that are not true. Even several of his supporters in Congress have admitted that his words carried the weight that crushed any remaining sense of stability we might have had.

Bilingual commentary — Eating Chocolate With a Clear Conscience

by Community Contributor • January 14, 2021 • Comments Off

Many of us consider ourselves to be “healthy eaters,” possibly to the dismay of others around us who chide us for our discipline and call us “fanatical.” We’re conscious of our health and proud of our food choices.

Even so, we might well have one or two little “weaknesses” that food companies like to exploit, not unlike the coronavirus seeking to exploit any weakness it detects in our behavior and circumstances. Our alimentary lapses may occur with others, or in secret. In their extreme form, these deviations from our better judgment might be more accurately classified as eating disorders. But generally, our occasional missteps do us no harm and can be attributed to us “being human.”

Bilingual commentary — The Promise and the Challenge of 2021

by Community Contributor • January 8, 2021 • Comments Off

We’ve just bid adieu to The Terrible Year. Yes, 2020 was the year that many of us simply want to forget and make believe it never happened. But it did happen. And we are not going to snap back to normal in the very near future, at least, just because a vaccine on a white horse is about to ride into town. Maybe we’re “done” with the pandemic and believe that we should “take our chances” because we’re so tired of the lockdowns and restrictions that robbed us of life as we knew it.

Bilingual commentary — Cultural Influences in a Country’s Music—Part 2

by Community Contributor • December 18, 2020 • Comments Off

When Latinos in this country think of indigenous music originating in Mexico, our thoughts and hearts turn wistfully to the Aztec dancers we see performing at our cultural festivals, political protests and religious celebrations. The music consists of unfiltered rhythms from the sacred beating heart of Aztec ritual that celebrated life and death as both sides of the same mystical coin. Copal incense wafts past us, reminding us of the frankincense and myrrh that is cast into the air along with our prayers at Catholic rites such as the exposition of the Eucharist and funerals.

Bilingual commentary — Cultural Influences in a Country’s Music—Part 1

by Community Contributor • December 10, 2020 • Comments Off

Classical music composers throughout history have taken cues from their own cultural roots. They wove the fabric of their ancient and folk heritages into their music to produce masterful works that resonate with listeners. The composers were influenced by music that stirred their spirits by dint of its power. These compositions are melded together by forces that we dare not try to understand. As we listen to them, we discern the echoes of something that accompanied our ancestors as they danced, prayed, or celebrated. Our DNA is imprinted onto the soul of these classic works.

Bilingual commentary — Not Since the Civil War

by Community Contributor • December 1, 2020 • Comments Off

For the past half-dozen years or so, there have been two warring governments in Libya. The resulting disorganization and chaos had led to a power vacuum that terrorists were only too happy to fill.

Venezuela’s presidential elections in 2018 resulted in two presidents claiming victory. The United States was quick to condemn the strongman who refused to concede, despite a vote count that was deeply flawed. …Could these scenarios presage our fate here in the United States, where only months ago we’d said, “Oh, that could never happen here”?

Bilingual commentary — A Loaded Question: “What Do You Do?”

by Community Contributor • November 20, 2020 • Comments Off

So there you are standing by yourself at a party, or at a dance, and you wander over to someone you’d like to get to know. Maybe you’re just curious about the person, or you find him or her attractive. Or perhaps you’ve been attending those webinars or listened to podcasts that instruct you in the art of determining whether someone is or isn’t a prospect for your business.

Maybe you’re an introvert and you feel clumsy in social milieus. But you just read a book with a title similar to, “How to Make Friends,” and you want to practice your new skills, as unpolished as they might be. So you approach someone. Now the hard part: what do you say? After all, “small talk” is a social minefield. One misstep could blow up a chance to make a good first impression.

Bilingual commentary — How to Become an Expert

by Community Contributor • November 13, 2020 • Comments Off

We often hear about having to hire, refer to, or consult an “expert.” But what exactly is an “expert”?

Technically, an expert is someone with either substantial knowledge or skill in a particular endeavor. A data analyst might be consulted for his expertise in statistical studies, whereas a professional musician might be hired for her adroit skill with a particular musical instrument that she has practiced playing throughout her entire life.

Bilingual commentary — Terms of Endearment in Spanish

by Community Contributor • November 6, 2020 • Comments Off

What if a man is overheard calling his sister “skinny”? Or, worse yet, suppose a wife is seen in public calling her husband “fatty.” Can you imagine the firestorm if a father were to be caught calling his daughter “my little dark girl,” or if a light-skinned woman were to refer to herself as a “little black girl”?

A Twitter flare-up, the likes of which hell hath never known, is exactly what happened when the song “Lonely,” in which Jennifer Lopez, describing herself as a “negrita from the Bronx,” was released a little over a month ago.

Bilingual commentary — The Ongoing Struggle for Dignity

by Community Contributor • October 30, 2020 • Comments Off

In 1945, my father returned home from World War II after taking part in the Normandy Invasion, fighting the Nazis in France and Germany, and surviving the Battle of the Bulge against the German army. Having entered the U.S. Army as a Mexican kid from the streets of Los Angeles, he came out on the other side of the war as an American citizen, battle-hardened and fully expecting to live the American Dream.

Bilingual commentary — The Invasion of Olvera Street

by Community Contributor • October 23, 2020 • Comments Off

Olvera Street in Los Angeles is where history, culture, multicultural livelihoods, and now a pandemic all intersect. This street is the cornerstone of the very character and identity of Los Angeles. But now this iconic testament to Mexican culture in one of the nation’s oldest metropolises just south of us here in Ventura County is suddenly having incredulous visions of its demise.

Bilingual commentary — Powerful Images of Romantic Mexico

by Community Contributor • October 16, 2020 • Comments Off

I have many of my mother’s paintings in my home. She was an artist specializing in portraiture and images depicting religion and Mexican culture (which are hard to separate): the Virgin of Guadalupe, biblical scenes, vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) on the “rancho,” heroic Mexican legendary figures.

My mother never went to art school. In fact, one highly-regarded art school in Los Angeles refused her application for admission when she graduated from high school because they regarded her as “too advanced” for their level of instruction. As a girl and later a teenager, she had learned by watching her father, professional Mexican artist Candelario Rivas, as he painted masterfully in his home studio.

Bilingual commentary — The Lingering Crisis of Hispanic Identity

by Community Contributor • October 9, 2020 • Comments Off

A “crisis” most often refers to intense difficulty or danger that is temporary. A “mid-life crisis” will eventually burn itself out. A “crisis of conscience” will work itself out over time. A “political crisis” will normally resolve itself, ideally without the loss of life or cherished institutions.

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.

Page 6 of 14

« 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 14 »