Montebello E-News  

August 23, 2007

 Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation,
are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
Frederick Douglass,
1818 - 1895, American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer, called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia"  

(Is Douglass pointing out that we like to take an ideal, like Christianity or Communism, and adapt it for our comfort zone?)  

1.     Deep Breath, Deep Thought before Deep Plunge  

2.     Gatekeepers They Are, Sleepers Are We, Part 1

3.     Announcements

4.      Fun Fact

5.     The Flashback Quarterback Says, “Not the Andy Griffith Show”

6.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”  

Deep Breath, Deep Thought before Deep Plunge

The title is another way of saying what we have already read:  the more important a decision, the more time we should take in making it.  

Recently, the news media brought to line that one of Mayor Giuliani’s children was supporting U.S. Senator Barak Obama.  Giuliani and Obama have said that they would be candidates for the Presidency in 2008. 

Why should Giuliani’s daughter’s preference be news?  Could it be that the news media are catering (pandering?) to our desire for a quick decision?  There are so many candidates, and we do want a quick way to pick our favorites, right?

Are we being honest with ourselves by seeking a quick way to make a weighty decision?  More fundamentally, is it a valid criterion to judge a candidate through his or her family’s allegiance to him?  Take a look at this:  

...Social networks and the preferences and decisions made through them [for example, Giuliani’s daughter’s support for Obama] are going to be interpreted by a country deeply divided about many issues as evidence that can be used in making a decision about the candidate’s ability to lead. There is a stupid idea that if a candidate can’t make their kids cooperate with them, they can’t lead the country or a county or even the dog pound.  

In fact, the kids’ opinions are their own and shouldn’t be a faithful reproduction of their candidate parent’s.  It would be downright unnatural if families didn’t evolve their political opinions.  We should leave them to have those opinions without turning it into a national issue, though we won’t as long as social networks treat personal data and preferences as a binary all-or-nothing act of publication. ...

“Social Networks:  Giuliani's Family Network Exposes Inherent Weakness”, Mitch Ratcliff, August 7, 2007  

It is natural, more so in a country like ours which favors and savors individual opinion, for members of a family to have different views.  However, when members of a family are divided because of the candidate parent’s character, I pause, because I do not know that a private Dr. Jekyll can be kept separate from a public Mr. Hyde.  I would like to know whether Giuliani’s daughter differed from him because of his character, which I would find more significant than his stand on issues.  

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1.    Richard Giuliani, former New York mayor who is running for President,

(a)   should not be concerned over his daughter’s support for Barak Obama.

(b)   should be concerned because American’s judge a candidate on his public and personal life.  

2.    It is appropriate to for us to consider a candidate’s personal life

(a)   if a strong argument could be made that his personal life would affect his effectiveness as a decision-maker for us. 

(b)   at no time, as many great leaders have had awkward, if not scandalous, personal episodes.  

  “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” is a Latin phrase variously translated as "Who will guard the guards?", "Who watches the watchmen?", "Who shall watch the watchers themselves?", 
or similar.
 Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis,
known in English as “Juvenal,” was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenal

When we think of “gatekeeper”, do we think of a bouncer at a bar or a guard at a gate?  “Gatekeeper” can mean much more and, for the exploration in this essay, does mean much more.  A gatekeeper is anybody who, because of his action or inaction, decision or indecision, significantly affects the opportunities for education and advancement of a group of people. 

With that in mind, we see that an adult adviser to a youth club is a gatekeeper.  We recognize the usefulness of a gatekeeper to keeping order, arranging lessons, supervising activities.   However, have we considered the disadvantage of having a gatekeeper?  How?  The personal limitations of a gatekeeper affect what youth do and learn.  

Example.  A gatekeeper is inattentive to responsibilities.  He neglects to buy insurance for an outing.  A youth is injured severely.  He and the parent organization are sued.  His group is disbanded, leaving the youth with too much idle time on their hands.  

Example.  A gatekeeper is poorly organized.  She does not give proper directions to a guest speaker, who never arrives to an event, leaving youth with nothing to do but chat for an hour and then go home.  

Example.  A gatekeeper is wedded to his routine.  He has an invariable “lesson plan” for a year’s activities and resists any ideas from the outside which could benefit the youth under his tutelage.  (So as not to create a local firestorm, I refrain from giving examples from personal experience.)  

Example.  A gatekeeper is inept at time management.  With a good heart, she does not hesitate to promise, but is remiss in fulfilling that promise often enough that the youth are disappointed or disheartened, even disconcerted.  Their interest in the group wanes;  some drift away.  

Montebello is one of many communities in which this occurs.  The occurrence is so frequent, so pervasive, that one has to ask, “When, if at all, does a gatekeeper go beyond the norm and enable youth to realize their potential?”  

FOR FAMILIES.  Disneyland trip.  For ages five through twelve.  Tuesday, August 28.  Leave from the Hensel Community Center, 236 South Taylor Avenue, at 9 a.m. and return there at 7 p.m.  $30 per child;  our city covers the rest.  For more information, contact Marisela Barreno at 323.887.4577.  

FOR EVERYONE.  Honoring one of our own.  On Friday, September 21, at 6:00 p.m. at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, 901 Via San Clemente, Montebello Soroptimist will have the privilege and honor of hosting a wonderful gala in celebration of Elaine Kirchner’s 90^th birthday.  To read about Elaine and what the Montebello Soroptimists are doing, go to “A Local Legacy” at www.mymontebello.com/best_tc_all .  

FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS, PARENTS.  $100,000 in tuition and prizes.    Game Show Network presents the second annual National Vocabulary Championship in association with The Princeton Review.  Program awards over $100,000 in tuition and prizing and is open to high school students grades nine through twelve, ages thirteen to nineteen.

The competition was created to empower students of all backgrounds to improve their verbal aptitude in anticipation of future academic excellence and success in life.   Students can compete in one of two ways, either at live events in their city or online during the month of November.  For details on how to enter and program specifics, go to www.winwithwords.com.  

If you know students taking the SAT or ACT or if they want to prepare for the competition, have them log on to WinWithWords.com to download ten free study modules and other test prep materials and resources from The Princeton Review.  

If you would like to become a national coach and help students prepare for the competition in your area or if you would like fliers to spread the word about the competition, please contact Jamie Ebright at (212) 564-0509 or Jamie.Ebright@cegny.com.  

Youth Service America is a partner.  

The United States Flag is also known as “Stars and Stripes”, “Old Glory”, and the “Star-Spangled Banner”.  

From http://www.fun-facts.com/item/71610 .

In the essay series “To Laugh, to Lament, Perchance to Dream”, extreme diversity was seen as both useful, by holding in check extreme idealism in the other direction, and dysfunctional, by keeping people from realizing their potential.  The conclusion was reached that diversity was natural and should be accommodated, but should be balanced by the right of communities to be homogeneous.  

Below is a noteworthy example of extreme diversity:  how Maricopa County, Arizona, treats illegal immigrants.  Should this extreme diversity be permitted as an expression of a homogenous community or banned because it could be established that the treatment of immigrants is clearly inhumane? 

Illegal Immigration Crackdown Yields 13 Arrests on First Night

eastvalleytribune.com, July 22, 2007  

MARICOPA COUNTY, Arizona -- On the first night of a“crackdown” on illegal immigrants, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office arrested and jailed 13 people on suspicion of smuggling themselves [emphasis mine] or others into Arizona.  

Deputies stopped two carloads of people on suspicion of traffic violations Friday night on or near U.S. 60 near Wickenburg, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.  

He said deputies pulled over a 2000 Chevrolet van at about 9 p.m. for a lights violation and found eight passengers inside. Deputies arrested one smuggler and six of his customers, who had each paid between $1,000 and $1,800 to be transported to the United States from Mexico. …  

PHOENIX  —  Latino leaders and faith-based organizations in the U.S. state of Arizona want a local sheriff to disconnect the hotline he created for people to report information about illegal immigrants, saying it raises the chance of racial profiling.  

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday, however, that he would not disconnect the hotline, and stressed that deputies would investigate people only if authorities had probable cause, according to a report in The Arizona Republic newspaper.  

The hotline has received about 300 calls since it was launched Friday, including tips about family and friends, employment, day laborers, drop houses and crank calls.  

Arpaio said officials were analyzing the tips and had not yet acted on any calls.  

"There's nothing unconstitutional about putting up a hotline," Arpaio said, pointing out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have similar hotlines.  

The hotline is part of an expanded immigration enforcement plan Arpaio unveiled last week that also includes sheriff's deputies cross-trained to enforce immigration law.  

Some Latino advocacy groups will launch a hotline of their own to take tips from people who believe they have been unfairly reported to Arpaio's hotline, said activist Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor. 

Meanwhile, some faith-based organizations are circulating a letter among church leaders and members that decries Arpaio's hotline.

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter.