A Merry Christmas for Everyone by Joseph Marquez
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The Franklin Press Volume III Edition 3 Winter Break 2017 “Once A Panther, Always A Panther” A Merry Christmas For Everyone By Joseph Marquez If someone were to ask “What does Christmas look like to you?”, what comes to mind? A pine tree full of A charity offering free holiday assistance if eligible based on income and other factors. This program also presents? A warm fireplace? A feast fit for kings? And queens? All of these clichés make us long for that offers holiday meals. “Dream Christmas.” But unfortunately, for some people, that is all it ever will be - a dream. Catholic Charities – Los Angeles Inc., 1531 James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015; Families living in poverty evidently don’t share the same privileges as others do and their reality is much (213) 251-3400 darker. For some, presents are scarce or even non-existent because money has gone toward necessities such Offers emergency services to low income and working families including food vouchers, free groceries, and as paying bills, rent, or anything simply to survive. They don’t buy Christmas trees or presents and they’ll be also holiday baskets at lucky if there’s any holiday dinner at all. both Thanksgiving and Speaking from experience, a person’s spirit grows hollow when it does not feel like Christmas on December Christmas. 25th. Growing up, my family had to take advantage of social welfare programs through churches, youth Hathaway Children’s centers, or recreational centers to catch a glimmer of our dream. Their help and support gave us all hope and Services, 840 N Avenue 66, helped us find a way to a more stable life. Los Angeles, CA 90042; Unfortunately, families living in poverty may not know such services exist. But they do. And they’re ready (323) 257-9600 to help. These programs and services seek to help those less fortunate families by providing a warm meal, Provides over 500 children shelter, or even presents. They help struggling families by spreading joy and unity through giving to solidify with gifts and special the spirit of Christmas within families. It is important to understand that although these programs may be holiday activities during the plentiful, they too are also in need of help, both financial and voluntary, to continue giving. holiday season. Yes, November and December are the The Salvation Army, (323) months when the holidays can bring out 759-7681; (323) 263-7577; the best in people. It’s cliche but it is im- (213) 387-7278 portant to keep in mind that being a caring There are various centers person means helping out year round. located around the Los The poor are still poor after the holidays. Angeles area that provide As Aristotle once said, “We are what we families with food and repeatedly do.” Therefore kindness ought groceries. Courtesy: Google Images to be a habit, not an act. The world is sus- LA County DPSS ceptible to change, kindness should not. (Department of The homeless receive Christmas presents through If you want to volunteer or contribute Public Social Services), during the holidays, below is a list of or- 2615 South Grand Avenue, non-profit organizations. ganizations here in LA that will be happy 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA to have you now or throughout the year: 90007-2608 Hollenbeck Youth Center ,2015 E 1st St., Part of the Adopt-a-Family program. Partners up with charities to collect toys and games for children around Los Angeles, CA 90033; (323) 881-6565 the county during the holidays. A community center that offer young Toys for Tots Foundation – U.S Marine Corps (562) 536-2253; (626) 398-0295 Courtesy: Google Images children a present of their choice. The program operates from several sites around Los Angeles County. Here are some numbers for more infor- First United Methodist Church of mation. Hot meals are provided to families in need. Compton, 1025 S Long Beach Blvd., Grace Resource Center, 45134 N. Sierra Hwy., Lancaster, CA 93534; (661) 940-5272 Compton, CA 90221; With over 30 churches in Los Angeles County and Antelope Valley Region the center relies heavily on volun- (310) 639-0775 teers who support and contributes to their holiday programs. They provide gifts, toys, diapers, and other aid. The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrants Rights Debate An Interview With Author Walter Nicholls By Kimberly Koh In his new book, author Walter Nicholls documents the lives of four There are many hard parts. The first hard part was doing the reaching out to them, engaging in conversations is pretty difficult. ‘Dreamers’ that, according to Stanford University Press, “provides research. When you’re doing a news story for example in your line Generally speaking it’s very difficult but it’s also very rewarding the first investigation of the youth movement that has transformed of work, there are many things that might be interesting about a because you get to go into people’s lives and hear their stories and the national immigration debate.” The eponymously-named federal subject. It’s hard to find. What is the core issue? The first important it’s very nice. bill, the Dream Act, is still a “dream,” not yet law. The act would issue is to say, “Okay this is an interesting subject, but what’s the Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? provide young undocumented immigrants American citizen- I learned a lot from writing this book. One of the things I learned ship in a streamlined three-step process. On May 17, 2010, four the most, that was the most important I think, was the importance students protested in Arizona Senator McCain’s Washington office of people fighting for their own rights. People organizing them- to pressure Congress to pass the act that year. Of the four, three selves even though they have very very little because most of these risked deportation. Nicholls includes interviews, news stories, kids come from low income families. None of them have papers. and encounters with those four activists. The book shares their They’re really on the margins but in spite of all that, if you work strategies and how these activists continue to fight for Dream Act together and you work hard, you can do a lot. What was really passage. I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Nicholls when he impressive about this story is the fact that these kids are facing visited Franklin this past October. enormous barriers. Tons of people are anti-immigrant in this coun- What inspired you to start writing about the Dreamers? try. There’s lots of stigma they’re facing for having undocumented I was doing a lot of research on immigrant rights politics in Los status. They didn’t have very much money. Many high school Angeles before for a long time so I’d been studying how different students, college students, they didn’t have much. But in spite of immigrant rights groups have been fighting for different types of that, they worked together, they worked hard, and they were able to rights but also legal status for many immigrants in Los Angeles. push for the rights of the Dreamers. So as a part of that, I met some people who were working with the What is a message in your book that you hope readers will grasp? Dreamers, who were working with undocumented youth. Then The big message I think is people can make change. Right now as they invited me to meetings and I was able to observe what was times are getting really hard with this particular president, I think going on and it was very inspiring. What was inspiring was that what I want for people to see in this book is that in spite of all the these youth were organizing for themselves, they didn’t have other difficulties people are facing, there’s still possibilities for creating people organizing them. When I saw them, when I went to a couple positive social change in spite of the fact that the odds are against of meetings I was like “Wow, this is it, this is what I want to study.” you. So again, I think the big issue I want people to take from this What characteristics did you use to choose the individual’s experi- book right now is that working together, mobilizing together, things ence for your book? can change in a very important way. The second thing I want That’s a good question. It’s interesting because when you do a lot of people to take from this book is the idea that people should have interviews with people there are always different stories that come status. I think this is absolutely important and it’s something that’s about. The way I chose certain stories over others was because cer- frightening that we haven’t done so far. In a place like California, tain students and certain youth were able to say things in ways that a place like Los Angeles, we have 12% of the population that’s were really sort of powerful and it really captured what I wanted undocumented which means that each of these people who are to say myself. When you’re writing the book, you look at all the undocumented have friends and family who are directly affected by interviews, all the interview material and you want to sort of create this. This is what I want people to take from this book, to provide a story that reflects all the individual cases.