Democratic Debate-- October, 2015

DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

ROUND 1

The night of October 13th belonged to Mrs. Clinton!  

All five hopefuls entered the ring to take advantage of their first encounter.  For the Democrats, a Presidential debate is essentially a sparring match between four men and one woman, five corners in this RING: Clinton, Chafee, O'Malley, Sanders and Webb.  Missing from this "quintet" was the diversity for which the Democratic Party is known for; Hmmm!

Like wrestlers in a "Lucha Libre" style fight, the contest was essentially between two people; I don't want to undermine the viewers' intelligence by stating the obvious.  The protagonists knew going into the ring who was going to win, take a fall or run around the ring when uncertain about how to approach his opponent.   One of the contestants came short of knelling down and submitting with a smile, while the other three watched.  Occasionally, the referee would interfere only to give the contestant a bit more time to catch his breath and rethink how he was going to respond to his opponent.  

It became obvious that the tools that were presented for all contestants to use were wasted as one of the luchadores/a (wrestlers) decided to dictate what was important from the start of the match; but, what difference does it make?  After that, there was no recovery for the four wise men who are aspiring to be our Chief-Executive-Officer.

One has to ponder on the multiple times that each of the contestants expressed how civil they were all behaving; no broken bones, blood, body slams and much less a head-butt.  No surprise for those who sat watching while savoring their snacks.  The post match verbal exchange by those who with passion and great expectations follow this kind of cyclical entertainment generated passive interpretation of a match where the winner was announced even before the ring became active with this quintet of LUCHADORES!

Oh well that's ENTERTAINMENT! See you at the next match!

Tex-Mex Miguel  Not from the Left and not from the Right…but from ISSUES THAT COUNT!

NOTA……EL CHISTE  es de que la Sra. Clinton tiene un contrario muy serio!  Que va!

QUE CIRCO!

A Letter to the Editor from my Archives

FROM my Archives

Letter to the Editor

“Filing deadline for city positions is Aug. 24^th.

“From the outside looking in”…another view!

First of all, one should applaud the Opinion of 7.28,2010 !

The observation made by the Editor that soon the city will be made up 0f 60% Hispanic residents seems to leave out the obvious.  One can guess that the majority of Hispanics are not registered and/or qualified to vote; add to this equation that not ALL citizens vote, a normal factor regarding voters regardless of background; and the future looks bleak for Hispanics in elected positions.  This was well demonstrated a few years ago when the county was redistricted to help achieve a better balance and candidates with Spanish surnames did not win.  People who have been appointed to the School Board have also failed to retain their seat and/or have not demonstrated the competence to attract “votes” when they most count.  Those in power have also not cultivated the idea of creating a diverse base.  The themes and observations made by the Editor seem to match the themes and observations made by this author over the last two decades.  This only underscores the need for some unconventional leadership development in Woodburn’s principal institutions; some regard this as looking outside the box.

SCHOOL SYSTEM a woman was recently appointed to a vacant board seat; something the board did not do when there were two positions opened not long ago; and not a “beep” from the community.  The board also failed to appoint someone from the school’s Site Councils.    It was sad and embarrassing that the local residents did not say much about the lack of reaction by the Hispanic Community.  It seems that “passivity” … “non-engagement”… and uninformed residents define the Hispanic Community.   

CITY GOVERNMENT Similarly to the school system, those in power need to review their business model and explore ways of expanding the base.  All one has to do is look at the employee profile and anyone understands the need for CHANGE.  One should not be surprised that political positions go uncontested. 

Bottom line, the diversity in the city and school district will continue to be used as leverage to get $$$$ and the leadership will not change much.  No budget or grant application misses the opportunity of using diversity to get the DOLLARS, but few ideas or programs are implemented to expand the leadership base. 

NUMBNESS can better describe the political landscape in the Woodburn area.  The Woodburn Independent Editor has made an observation/challenge that invites involvement and I applaud the directness and clarity.  The local newspaper also has a role in this, as it represents part of the city’s voice!  So, when can we expect to receive the news in “Espanol?” 

IF YOU CARE TO MAKE A COMMENT USE THE CONTACT PAGE…Thank you.

History annals found in common places do not have sufficient information written from a - personal perspective or the use of the first person singular.  In other words witness to the events or themes that are found in our website.  We invite dialogue that can help bridge more understanding of the Tex-Mex impact on Oregon. 

Thank you for visiting!

conAMISTAD

soyMIGUEL

'Woodburn School District Board - Racist' causes ire--Story by John Baker

A SUDDEN SURPRISE…I kept this article to remind me of how other people see the 97071 COMMUNITY-WOODBURN, OR. The copyright does not belong to me.

-Miguel

'Woodburn School District Board - Racist' causes ire
Story by: John Baker	Date Published to Web: 3/22/2006
I didn't start out to be a relic hunter, it just ended up that way. By the time you read this, I will be less than 24 hours from returning to work after a two-week hiatus. Vacation time, that splendid opportunity to travel, antique, work over the yard or simply plop a butt in a couch and watch TV, was mine to enjoy. I chose butt-in-couch mode most of the time. I'm good at it, man. I also discovered something. I discovered that you don't always have to dig in the ground to uncover a fossil. Sometimes they pop up in the strangest places. The Independent staff attended a National Writers Workshop over the weekend at Portland State University. Well over 400 journalists from all over the west, and even across the country, converged on Smith Memorial Student Union Saturday and Sunday. We talked about journalism, more journalism and journalistic things. Here's an interesting note: as a twice-weekly, having our own food columnist (Marguerite Garcia) was thought of as a boon by a group in one breakout session. The Independent, it seems, is incredibly lucky to have her. I've always thought so, too. But I digress. We're here to talk about fossils and the messages -- good or bad -- they give us. During the first session of the conference, Hometown editor Michelle Te and I were in the Multicultural Center at PSU when we noticed a colorful mural on the wall -- of Jesus Christ, I'm assuming. While wondering why the mural seemed to depict Jesus with women's breasts, I noticed a few large words situated on a white field just to the right of the depiction. I made out the word "Woodburn," then a little lower I made out "RACIST." I was stunned. Well, what it said in total was "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST," and upon closer inspection it had apparently stemmed from the naming fiasco that went on during the building of Heritage and Valor schools. Michelle noted a letter to the editor dated for July of 1997 that ran in the WI. The brownish newspaper clip and stark words just kind of held me still for a moment as my mind struggled to get around what I was seeing. A 1997 letter and the five words next to it had evidently been on a wall at Portland State since 1997. No matter that the schools were named, that nearly 10 years had passed, that much of what Woodburn was has been replaced by what Woodburn is becoming. "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST," just seemed silly. Then it seemed damaging. I realized it had been there for countless students to see, countless minds to reflect on, and countless opinions to be formed. Talk about the damage being done. Out of all the rooms in that building, in all the places this conference could be held, we stumbled on a nearly decade-old example of politicized garbage about this town. Nearly 10 years! It was an unfair and unfounded statement, one that has been repeatedly refuted by a school district that routinely pours more money into Latino and other minority programs than just about any school district in this state; a school district that, though slow to respond to the burgeoning minority population that was coming 10-15 years ago, has become a champion in terms of innovative programs for minorities, and has essentially changed the way the high school will work in the future. Why? Because of test scores from those same students. Small schools is a direct result of low test scores among a wide swath of Woodburn's high school student population, and the threat of action from the Oregon Department of Education because of those scores. There's nothing racist about that. The scores tell the story and Woodburn High School is responding -- as they continually do. "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST?" I think not. Woodburn has fought so many negatives the last 10-15 years, battled through rumor and innuendo, fear and trepidation, and negative reputations that it had, in some ways, brought on itself. But that was then, this was now. Things have changed -- for the better. On the campus of Portland State University, in their Multicultural Center, I had unearthed a dinosaur without trowel, pick or hand-broom. It was a relic of a long-gone past, an antique of a misguided mission, a lie, a fraud, and a phony. And it really pissed me off. After all, I was on vacation.

"It ain't over till it's over"

Yogi had it right:   "It ain't over till it's over"

His Spirit has joined the Eternals…and HIS NAME AND contributions to sports, humanity and our America Experience and his personally own Yogi-isms that were part of his persona will continue to march in the various halls of SPORTS especially Baseball.

Few people in the world are recognized by their first name; in the case of Yogi I am sure that his first name also represent his SIGNATURE!

Many baby boomers grew up watching the New York Yankees in our black TV if we were lucky to have had a TV.  In St. Paul, Oregon.. during the baseball season Migrants had already arrived to the area to work in the fields until October.  Entertainment for the youth of this special era was to walk form camp and hit the big town.  On the way there, I used to pick up bottle s/cans and by the time I arrived in town I would convert my finds into cash.  A bottle of pop, candy bar or corn nuts which I loved- were enough to take to the Ruiz's house which was located by the Rodeo Grounds.  They were a family who had a bit more than the rest of us.

A color TV was a luxury in most homes and Julian was a hard worker had labor contracts and could afford  many luxuries that we could not even dream about much less have them in our own camp.

Yogi-isms…Yogi-- "It is over"….

Thanks to my friend Google…These are some of my favorites

1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”

3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”

4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”

5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”

7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

9. “It gets late early out here.”

10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”

11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

12. “Pair up in threes.”

13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”

14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

Yogi was a philosopher without even trying.  Simplicity was his passion.  He knew how to play the game in and out of the green diamond.  NO!..It ain't over for YOGI…as he will be REMEMBERED-SEMPER!

THANK YOU!  MUCHAS GRACIAS!  conAMISTAD soymiguel de Oregon!