I love my little house in Mountain View. Especially when its crammed with about thirty members of my family and our friends avoiding the downpour of rain that fell on Easter. We made the best of it, and instead of a huge confetti egg fight in the yard, my living room was filled with the sound of our laughter and cheers as we watched recorded newsclips of the meeting and vigil. As my aunt proudly exclaimed, "See! We ARE a political family!"

Finally, it's not just me and Chris. Haha.

But the day couldn't end without some type of confetti egg fight. We were just supposed to take one egg and crack it on the head of the person of our choice for the traditional polaroid photo....

Ya right!

All those pent up confetti-egg cracking urges could not be contained and spurts of stealth attacks and confetti egg bombardments occured while the photos were being taken. Chris got one down his pants courtesy of Auntie Rosemary (...the confetti is still littering our bathroom floor from whe he shook it out of his underwear). I got my Auntie Becky, who was not happy about it and put me on cookie probation. God I love her chocolate chip cookies, I hope she's not being serious. After all, she already bruised my arm after I GENTLY cracked an egg on her head. My baby cousin Peyton got baptized earlier in the day. ...but he wasn't officially baptized into our crazy family until his mom cracked an egg in her hand and gently sprinkled the confetti over his head.

Ahhhhh. Gotta love my family.

An e-mail from my Mom to the extended familia:

We made a Difference!

For years, all of us have heard about events that happened in the City of Mountain View that affected our family. From closing of schools to the moving of our house. We always talked about what happened and why but the end result was - those things happened regardless of what people said to try to change that particular event. It always seemed that "our" voices of the minority community were never heard.

Yesterday that changed.

Some of us have been more active than others in trying to get involved in events that affect the community. (I usually like to sit back and watch - but due to the dynamics of being influenced by Nick & Chris - or my old age - I'm changing!)

Anyway, hopefully you all have heard about the politics going on in Mountain View lately regarding the decision to close a school. First it was Slater (until the parents protested) than it was Castro (the school I went to). Understand that Castro is largely a non-english speaking community and we felt this school was targeted because it would beeasier to close due to the assumption that "voices" would not come forward and be heard. Boy, were they wrong.

True, I started paying attention to this issue because of Rosemary but it was because of Oscar stepping up and taking the challenge of being the voice of this "silent" community that I got a little more actively involved. Never did I know how Oscar's charismatic personality could impact so many people! It wasn't a one-person show - it just took one person to be the megaphone for the community. So after a 26 hour vigil that mostly occurred in the rain - our voices were heard - the school board decided to delay implementation until next year and then voted to close Slater (still a sad event). Thru the coordination of the new "Mesa de la Comunidad " - a press releases was generated and every major news station was there recording these events. A few tried to insinuate that the only reason Oscar was there was because of his relationship to RoseMary but he set them straight with the right reasons. Another important factor is that parents and community leaders outside of the Castro community came together for the good of the kids in this district.

So why am I sending this out - I want us to all to remember that in our family history there was a victory. And we, each in our own way, can get the silent voices heard for the people that need a megaphone. I am truly impressed with both RoseMary's perseverence, that her fellow board members make the right decisions, and Oscar for putting himself out for the community with no rewards in return (besides seeing his face TV!).

Funny - one of my fellow protesters (during the 26 hour vigil) and a friend of Rosemary said to me, "RoseMary told me not to worry because 'my family is a part of the community'. I didn't know what she meant - but now I do - it must be great having family nearby because I don't have that support." I thought - yeah IT IS GREAT to have family - something I think we all take for granted sometimes. (As Oscar, Lisa, Marisa, Marco, Elena, David, Angelica, Nick, Chris & Mark all participated!)

That's all - see you at Easter!

WE DID IT!

The community came together and made our voices heard! The Mountain View-Whisman Elementary School District Board of Trustees decided to keep Castro School and Slater School open one more year, and close Slater at the end of next year. The extra year gives the whole community time to adjust and plan the transition.

Most importantly ( to me , at least) is that the awful plan to close Castro School was thrown out the window. Thank god.

I can't even begin to express how proud I am of the Mountain View segment of my family and how involved we were over the past month, and especially over the last 48 hours. The CBS news blurb in the previous post was/is just the beginning of the media coverage.

Just watch the news tomorrow morning if you're in the Bay Area. You'll likely see my Aunt RoseMary (A recently elected School Board Trustee) and my cousin's husband Oscar being interviewed. You'll see me, Marisa, Angelica, David, my mom, Chris, Marco, and Elena all holding signs at the 26 hour vigil that started at 4pm on Monday (Marisa and I were there from 4pm to 9pm, 4am to 11am, and 3:30pm to 6pm!) We were on CBS, ABC, NBC, KRON, KCBS Radio, Telemundo, Univision, and who knows what the papers will show, even the New York Times was snapping a lot of photos!

But the media blitz is all really second fiddle to the meeting, and the School Board Trustees and my Aunt Rosemary, who all really pulled through for Mountain View. It feels amazing to have been a part of this, and even more amazing to be a part of this with my family...who I'm so proud of and love so dearly. I think this will day will always be one of the best days of my life.

Craziness. Beautiful, wonderful, craziness!

Vigil Staged to Protest South Bay School Closure
Mar 22, 2005 10:12 am US/Pacific
(CBS 5)

Opponents to an expected closure in the Mountain View-Whistman School District staged an all night vigil that began on Monday evening.

Parents and students took shifts in front of Graham Middle School in Mountain View to protest a school board vote that was expected to call for the elimination of a local elementary campus. The district’s superintendent had previously announced that either Castro or Slater Elementary will need to shut down in order to balance a growing budget deficit.

Early Tuesday, students pitched tents and waved signs to draw attention to the their cause. Vigil organizer Oscar Garcia says he hopes the event will make the school board reconsider the closures. He says he wants officials to work with the community to better serve the area’s diverse population.

Opposition to the closures has grown steadily leading up to the final vote. Last month, a school meeting ended early after hundreds of concerned citizens started a heated debate. The vigil was expected to last until 6pm on Tuesday, when the Mountain View School Board was set to reconvene at the middle school to decide the fate of the two campuses.

By Anna Duckworth

WATCH THE VIDEO (I'm in it!) :
http://www2.cbs5.com/localnews/local_story_081141438.html

Hey Sabrina-

Took Inda!

It's been a while since I could wake up in the morning, and not feel the need to:

a) finish up a paper/project I didn't get done the previous night
b)contact a person to interview for a project/or interview them
c)worry about what the latest news is on Castro School
d)worry about what the latest news is on Mountain View preservation
e) rush to class

My life of course, would be boring and some what unfulfilling without these things.

But...even though I'll be spending a lot of Spring Break doing field work/research, god it'll be nice to just have a few mornings to lie in bed as long as I please.

...I'm pretty happy with the way I handled myself in a tough situation yesterday. But you know...in an argument or debate, you always play things back in your head and think about what you would have said if you had the time to think about it.

Here's what I would have said to the guy who right off the bat said to me "Our admits keep getting younger and more precocious" and then while in SF started to rail on me for not being up to his standards of "real world" experience and intellect:

"Look man, if your going to approach me from such a negative and biased perspective, to make me feel so unwelcome at a "welcome event" that you organized, than hey, you're not worth it. There are reasons why I have been accepted to Cal, twice. If you want to talk about who I am and where I've been and what my "real-world" experiences are, I'm more than happy to do that. But not if your going to confront me like this."

That's what I would have said. I came close to saying that, in a very simplified form by telling this guy that I didn't want to have to read him my personal statement. But his response was "read it" so there I was walking down the streets of San Francisco trying to explain why they had admitted me into their program. Screw that.

Any how, things went fine for the rest of the afternoon and the other grad students I met were cool. Unfortunately what happened at the onset of the event left a bitter taste in my mouth and I really needed some people to vent to.

So... much love to all my friends (and my parents) who have just been this amazing network of support and encouragement. I can't tell you how much you all mean to me. I know its cliche, but I wouldn't be where am today without you all. Thanks.

May 23rd is going to be, I'm sure, one of the most difficult and emotional days of my life. That's saying a lot.

I don't know how I'm going to deal with graduating, saying goodbye to everyone, and all the while stressing out over going to Portugal the next morning.

Gar. Hopefully by then I'll have a place set up here when I come back, that at least some of you will still be around, and after the craziness of my first trip to Europe, I'll have some time to adjust to Berkeley, Part II.

I just hope that my grad school career here, isn't some pale shadow of my undergrad years because you're all gone. But hey, I guess that's up to me.

...and before I start cramming for that econ midterm, let me just say thank you to Candice for getting us all to come down to the Bear's Layer last Friday night. (and thanks to Steph for giving me the normal Friday lunch guilt trip about going home every weekend).

That was a lot of fun. I'm glad I stayed for Friday night and went down to the bar with the gang despite my cold. The fact that Erik, Kat, and Lauren have all devoted an entry of their infrequently updated blogs to it just goes to show that its something we should try to do more often!

Woo:
My prof really liked my term project progress report on Stevens Creek Trail!
BUSSA's grad-undergrad mixer went well
My cold is getting a little better...i think
Lauren made us cookies tonight
I got the city of MV to put a long overdue plaque at the site of old MV High.

Ugh:
Econ midterm on thursday
Big preservation midterm project due monday
ArchHistory midterm on tuesday
I still have a cold
I have research and interviews to do up the wazoo
Between MVPA and Castro School, there's plenty of non-school work to be done too

All in all, it felt like things balanced out today though. I'm a lot less stressed than I was on monday. And after tuesday, it will be much smoother sailing. At least till April.

Well....this entry is gonna be long. So get ready.

The past few days have been quite a trip.

Wednesday afternoon, I went to the DCRP office just to pick up a reading assignment for my preservation class. I noticed my urban design professor in the office with Kaye Bock, the DCRP's student affairs officer and admissions coordinator as I left the office...

...and just as I passed the office I heard Kaye say, "oh there's Nick now" and she called me name. I turned around and walked into the office, greeted Professor MacDonald as she walked out, and said hi to Kaye, thinking that either a) something was wrong with my graduate school application, or b) something to do with BUSSA.

Instead, as you all probably heard already......Kaye told me that the DCRP had its first admissions meeting, and that I have been accepted into the Masters of City Planning program. Not only that....but she expressed how impressed everyone was with my application...that they know I'll soon be hearing from the other schools...and that they want me to come to Cal so much, that they're in the process of obtaining a diversity fellowship to pay for my first year.

......!

Let's just say I walked around the rest of the day with this downright goofy smile on my face.

I was riding high up till Thursday morning, when I read the San Jose Mercury News...

On Wednesday night, the President of the Mountain View-Whisman School Board, Ellen Wheeler, submitted a surprise proposal to close Mariano Castro Elementary School. Castro is the elementary school in my part of Mountain View, its population is over 80% Latino. Many of its students are English Language learners.

My cousins husband and his brother went there. My mom went there. I did not. Castro has serious academic issues that need to be addressed. But the school is a extremely important place for my neighborhood and its Latino community.

When it was determined that the MV-Whisman School District needed to close a school, everyone was kind of worried that Castro would be targeted. Things always seem to go down that way for the Latino community.

I was surprised and relieved that the School Closure Task Force overwhelming recommended the closure of Slater School. Castro came in a distant second.

But the school board, which my aunt was elected to last November, received a lot of pressure from Slater parents to keep their school open. It seemed that the board was having a good discussion, looking at ways to ease the closure of Slater and also help close the achievement gap of Castro students.

Then suddenly....on Wednesday night, school board President Ellen Wheeler submitted a plan to close Castro School. Apparently splitting up the Latino population is the best solution for everyone.....because it makes things easier on all the other schools......

As soon as I read that in the Merc....I started writing. By Thursday night this was sent to the school board:

Dear Board of Trustees,

Close Castro School?

I'm stunned. Wasn't it only last week that I heard President Wheeler quite passionately remind Trustee Roquero that the decision to close Slater had already been made after months of deliberation by the School Closure Task Force? The mere mention of Huff School elicited that response.

And here we are a week later, and I read this morning in the San Jose Mercury News that three of you have suddenly decided that closing Castro School might be a good idea. Up until this point, I have admired your resolve to look at the issues and solve the district's larger problems through this school closure. However, you've gone off mark with your latest proposal.

Regardless of your intentions, closing Castro School under these circumstances would be an act of institutionalized racism.

Things would be quite different if the School Closure Task Force recommended closing Castro after months of analysis. But that is not the case. Instead, we have before us a scenario where the school board, faced with pressure from Slater parents, has decided to throw out the task forces' recommendations and instead target the most ethnically diverse, poorest, and most vulnerable segment of our community. Do you realize how terrible this makes the Board of Trustees look? Do you realize how poorly this reflects the larger Mountain View community?

Shame on you.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a recently arrived immigrant mother. Take a walk down California Street. These people live very tough lives. Many of them will not have the time and resources to enter into this debate through e-mail and meetings like the Slater parents have. What you've done is unjust. You've placed this community in a corner. I hope their reaction far exceeds anyone's' expectations. That in the month you've given them to organize and present their case, they will succeed.

But it should have never come to this, a sick game where each school has to take turns publicly fighting you until you find the path of least resistance. You need to make your decisions based on what is best for the children and families of this district. Closing Castro School is not the solution. Instead, it will create a whole new series of problems.

Castro School is a pillar in the Latino community and the surrounding neighborhood. People rely on having that school nearby to walk their children there. It is a safe haven, a community center. Its presence is a stabilizing factor in the lives of these children and their families. The benefits of having a school in the heart of that neighborhood are immeasurable. The district needs to have a presence in the community that needs it the most. No matter how you spin it, closing Castro School is, in essence, an act of abandonment.

It makes little sense to close a school in a neighborhood with the highest density of residents and school children in the city, while areas with declining enrollment are left largely unaffected.

Closing Castro school is a cowardly way to deal with the issues its students face. You are foolish to think that you will solve the problems of Castro by getting rid of it. Like the old saying goes, doing so would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Instead of seriously looking at how to best serve the Castro School community you will split it up, make it less visible, less influential, and less statistically noticeable. That is completely unfair to those students.

I've studied and written about Mountain View history for most of my life. Time after time, the most vulnerable and fragile communities, the ones who were least likely to sue and speak up for their rights, have become the target of school closures and redevelopment efforts.

Do not repeat that terrible pattern. Do not close Castro School.

-------------------------------

So....yeah, maybe a little over-the-top. "shame on you." hehe. But my emotions were high. I used my e-mail as a rallying cry, and sent it to everyone else in Mountain View who I thought might care....including my cousin Lisa and her husband Oscar, a Castro-->Los Altos High--> Cal grad.

I then started talking with Oscar, Lisa, and Oscar's brother and his wife via e-mail. I proposed that we hold a meeting to get together with Mountain View's Latino political leaders to make sure that the Castro community's voice was heard by the school board as the proposal to close Castro was discussed. They all fully agreed and we started planning.

We met on Friday night. We met on Saturday night. And on Sunday morning, at my grandparent's house, basically every living Latino civic leader in Mountain View joined us. That sounds slightly more impressive than it was, because unfortunately, despite its large Latino population, the number of Latino political leaders in Mountain View has been disproportionately small.

Nevertheless, it was a momentous occasion. My grandparents' generation of Mexican-Americans was the last to truly mobilize and become a political force in the Mountain View community. They formed the Mexican-American Coalition, and succeeded in getting one of their own members, Joe Perez, elected as Mountain View's first Latino councilman and mayor.

The next generation, kind of dropped the ball. As a former member of the Mexican-American Coalition, Delia Ibarra, told us on Sunday, "I've been waiting 30 years for the next generation to come up! It's about time!"

So with Oscar and Lisa leading the meeting, Mesa de la Comunidad (MC) was formed. The 17 of us had an excellent discussion, and quite a productive meeting.

After we finished the meeting, basically the whole Mountain View part of my extended family went to the Spanish masses at Saint Joseph's and Saint Anthansius were Oscar gave a speech to each congregation urging them to get involved. Both masses were packed to standing room only. Oscar's speech went over quite well, even earning appluase at Saint Joseph's. We all passed out flyers at the end. Four generations of a Mountain View Latino family, from my grandpa Simon all the way down to his great grandchildren, Angelica and David.

I'm so proud of my family and what we did this weekend. I don't know where this will go. I don't know if we'll succeed in our goal to keep Castro School open. But I think we've planted the seeds of change.

This could be the start of something really good...

Aint that a cool postcard? Just plain and simple "UC".....no Berkeley.

On a slightly related note, looks like I'll try to work on the Blue and Gold yearbook.

Woah...

I can't believe I'm already in the fourth week of this semester. Gah. Three Term Projects/Paper Proposals due in one week. Really, that's not fair. It's making my head spin. Giving me that "running on a treadmill" feeling. But hey, what can I say. I'm excited about each of the proposals. The work load and amount of research is somewhat terrifying though. How the hell all this work amounts to only 13 units is beyond me.

Being in two grad classes (especially the one going to Portugal) was intimidating at first (hence the previous post). But I've settled in, I've gotten to know the students and the profs, and I'm doing just fine. The Blue and Gray Cafe however, will always be a pipe dream of mine. Maybe after an early retirement....haha.

On the non-academic side of things, I've been happily busy. BUSSA had our first meeting last Thursday, my first meeting as "senior" coordinator. I'd say that it went great. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun to coordinate the club. I really enjoy it. I'm also becoming a lot more comfortable with being a visible rather than a behind-the-scenes leader. I actually spoke in front of ED100 to announce the meeting, on my own free will. Finally! Haha.

So with the club....research projects....family stuff....restarting MVPA....etc...I'm strill trying to fit in quality time with you people before we all graduate and disperse. At least I have Fridays relatively free, and Friday lunches have returned. It's going to be tough this semester, a big balancing act. On one hand, there's so much I want to do before its all over. On the other hand, I don't want to do so much that I don't enjoy any of it.

Despite all that...I'm seriously considering joining the staff of the Blue and Gold annual yearbook. I always regretted not being more involved in the creation of my high school senior year book. I don't want to feel that way again at Cal. I have a friend that's an editor who's encouraged me to stop by at their meeting tomorrow. I really think I might. I don't know where I'll find the time to work on the yearbook, but it's something I at least want to try.

OH! I won 100 dollars at Chris' Superbowl Birthday Party. Yay! Since I can't buy myself more time, I'm thinking of buying a new Cal hat instead.

I sent my final graduate school application today. Just three schools. University of British Columbia, University of Washington, and good ole' Cal.

I'm glad the applications are done with, but now the waiting begins. Meanwhile, I keep second-guessing myself. It's going to take a lot of money for two more years of school. I hope its really worth it, and that jumping right in after graduating was a good decision for me. I hope I'm ready for this. (But really, I've never felt ready for anything) I hope that with Urban Design, I finally found the piece of the big City Planning pie that fits me. I think I did...

But when my future really starts to stress me out, as it has lately, I always fall back on an alternate vision of my future, of a much simpler life. One where I'm not a white collar professional traveling up and down the state designing new neighborhoods with a Masters Degree in my pocket. One where I don't have some grandiose vision of making the Bay Area a better place and helping to save the world through sustainable transit oriented developments, downtown revitalization, and other jargony cityplanese terms. One where I'd be able to stick to my humble middle-class roots.

I've had this in my mind since high school...

I'd own a cafe on Castro Street in Downtown Mountain View. It's name would be the Blue and Gray Cafe, in honor of old Mtn. View High. It'd serve typical American food, ya' know...burgers, hotdogs, milkshakes. A hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Omelets and sandwiches would be named after various local landmarks and celebrities. On the walls I could display my ever growing collection of historic Mountain View memorabilia, with of course, a big ole' blue and gold Cal pennant above the counter. (and when big game week comes around, you know the place would be decked out appropriately!)

It'd be the type of place where you'd feel at home in cozy booths. Where people from Old Mountain View would always run into each other and say hello. I'd greet people as they walked in by name, when business was slow I would chat with the regulars about the goings on around town. MVPA would meet there once a month too. We could clear the place out at night for lectures on local history. And high school kids would always be welcomed, especially SFHS kids in need of a milkshake after watching the Lancers beat the Bells in the annual football rivalry game. Hmm, maybe I'd even do some window paintings of various mascots facing off for all the big local rivalry games, to help boost some spirit and create a better sense of place. (look, "sense of place" even in this dream cityplanese jargon seeps in)

I'd be the owner of the cafe, and in my spare time, I'd stay politically active locally. Maybe even run for City Council or something. Maybe I could get Chris (who will eventually get a Masters in Business, haha) to run the financial side of things. (I hate dealing with money). Our mom and dad will be involved too, a nice family operation. My dad could finally open his brainchild; a "Mark's Stupid Gifts" shelf would take up one corner of the restaurant.

We wouldn't be making piles of money, just enough to have an enjoyable life. Hopefully we'd still have my grandparents' property to live on. At least till I've saved up enough to get my own place, maybe a condo downtown. And we'd all be happy there in Mountain View. Close to our family and old friends. Just enjoying things day by day, and saving the world one milkshake at a time....


Is it bad that I'm only 22, and I'm already dreaming up the visions of someone in the throws of their mid-life crisis? Haha.

Wow, writing that made me sad.

arghness.

I think that for the first time, someone, right off the bat, IDed me as Portuguese. As we were walking out of class, he commented about our chances of getting in, and then said, "Let me guess, you're Portuguese right."

Never heard that before! Of course, it was in a class that was about Urban Streams in Mediterranean climates with a special emphasis on Lisbon....so he must've drew a connection between my appearance and the course content....but still, I was impressed. I barely know what a Portuguese person looks like.

As for the difficulty of enrolling, the class is listed as grad course, but open to advanced undergrads. I suppose I count as an advanced undergrad. One of the best parts about the course (and the part I am most interested in) is a chance to go to Lisbon with the class in early June. The trip is partially funded by grants too!

Unfortunately, there are only 12 spots, and there were over 20 people (mostly grad students I am assuming) trying to get one of those 12. I don't know how much of a chance I have to get in. Ah well. It's worth a shot.

As for my other two classes, 170B and Econ3, what can I say. No surprises there. I'll just have to trog through them in order to graduate/graduate with my minor.

But tomorrow....tomorrow I go to my Historic Preservation class. It's cross listed as a City Planning graduate class. This, I am very much looking forward to.

...and the end of an unforgettable four years begins.

All Right! Who's ready for some winter pics of the Yosemite trip?
Click on the images for a larger version.

First stop, Pizza Factory in Mariposa. Who proudly sported a Cal penant...as well as the penant of some...other..schools. Their motto was, "We Toss Em...They're Awesome!"

Allison, Lezlie, and Kay.