South El Monte, CA:
Project Amiga is holding its Midsummer Night Concert & Awards Reception,
Thursday, July 23 at Luminarias Restaurant (3500 Ramona Blvd.) in Monterey
Park, CA. The event, which begins
at 5:30 p.m., includes dinner, silent auction and entertainment featuring
special guest comedian Rudy Moreno.
Highlight
of the evening will be the awards presentation to several individuals in
recognition of their outstanding work in the community that benefits
low-income, at-risk youth, adults and their families.
Honorees
include Dr. Monte Perez, Moreno Valley College Campus President (Education
Award); Jorge Corralejo, Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles Founder
(Corporate Advocacy Award); Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers of America
co-founder (Community Inspiration Award) and Rosina Valencia, La Mascota Bakery
Co-owner (Business Award).
Comedian
Rudy Moreno, a Los Angeles native, grew up in the Lincoln Heights area on the
eastside. Early in his career, Moreno was asked by producer Jeff Valdez to
appear
on TVs Comedy Compadres and since then has appeared on over 35 TV shows, including Everybody Loves Raymond and the highly acclaimed mini-series KingPin
for which he received rave reviews. The multi-talented performer, who was named
1998-99 Latino Comedian of the Year, has recorded his comedy CD No Looking Back
on the Uproar Label. He is
currently producing and performing comedy shows around the country.
Revenue
from the event will enable Project Amiga to expand current programs and
resources received through government programs, private and public foundations
and the private sector.
Specifically, proceeds will benefit Project Amiga’s Youth/Adult Reliance
& Job Connection Program and Gang Reduction Program, bringing economic
opportunities to low-income, at risk youth, adults and their families.
Project Amiga is a nonprofit 501(c) 3; community-based
organization founded in 1989 whose mission is empowerment through education and training. For over 18 years,
Project Amiga has successfully provided bilingual (English/Spanish) services to
more than 8,000 male and female youth and adult residents annually throughout
the City and County of Los Angeles communities. Project Amiga's emphasis is keeping youth in school and
Corporate America working by providing families with the education, training
and support services they need to find employment and retain employment to
achieve a better quality of life.
For more information or to purchase tickets, advertisements
and sponsorships please contact Project Amiga at (626) 401-1395 or visit its website
at www.projectamiga.org.
TUCSON,
AZ: Just got back from our annual
trek to Tucson and Las Vegas. I was
accompanied by my sister and three of my grandchildren, the youngest, six (his
first trip), his sister, 11 and my other grandson who turned 18 this year.
Going
to Tucson is a true adventure for the kiddies. They love visiting their aunt Cathy who takes them on
adventures. When she takes them to
the grocery store, they don’t travel by car or walk on the sidewalks…they take
a shortcut, traipsing along the riverbed behind the shopping mall, turning over
rocks with long sticks and watching the lizards scamper up the ravine or under
the tumbleweeds. Sometimes they bounce along in her big white truck as she
drives to the scrap yard to sell stuff she’s picked up here and there. Some
mornings they’ll get up at dawn and accompany her to her gardening jobs where
they help her dig, rake and trim trees for which she compensates them with a
few dollars that they have fun spending at the 99 Cent store.
There
are some pretty interesting places to visit in Tucson that has been home to
some famous people who have either been born there or at one time, lived there.
Among them, astronaut Frank Borman, author Ray Bradbury, playwright Erskine
Caldwell, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, musician John Denver, actress
Barbara Eden, the father of Chicano music Lalo Guerrero, actors Greg Kinnear
and Lee Marvin, singer Linda Ronstadt, comedian-actor Garry Shandling, and
actor Harrison Ford.
In Las Vegas we enjoyed the Disney presentation of
The Lion King at the Mandalay Bay.
Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring the music and lyrics by Elton
John and Tim Rice, this Broadway award-winning musical is a spectacular
must-see for all ages.
Already
seen by more than 45 million people worldwide, this breathtaking, magical experience
features unique costuming and life-size puppets that are as human as the humans
controlling them. My six-year-old
grandson found it so fascinating, he insisted on getting the CD which he played
all the way back to L. A.
HUNTINGTON
BEACH, CA: My daughter has a friend named Sunshine, who has a sister named
Happy, who has a brother named Sky and I have a sister with a terrible memory
who keeps calling her, Sunset to which Sunshine suggested that perhaps it would
be easier to remember her middle name: Rainbow.
These
days, giving children unusual names is nothing new. Parents will often make up names to ensure
that their child will not have a common name. When he got married, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
combined his then wife’s last name with his for their surname.
Based
on Social Security card application data for the past 100 years, people pretty
much gave their children fairly common names. During this period, the most common name for girls was
Emily, which ranked number one for 12 years. Mary held the number one spot from 1953 to 1961 and from
1902 to 1946. Ruth dominated fifth place from 1910 to 1922. Linda scored in all five rankings
during that period, dominating first place from 1947 to 1952.
In
1909, the top five names for girls: Mary (#1), Helen (#2), Margaret (#3), Ruth
(#4) and Dorothy (#5). In 2008, Emma was ranked number one, Isabella, number
two, Emily, number three, Madison, number four and Ava, number five. In the
same year, names for boys included John (#1), William (#2), James (#3), George
(#4) and Robert (#5).
The
top five names for boys in 2008: Jacob (#1), Michael (#2) Ethan (#3), Joshua
(#4) and Daniel (#5). Other
favorites included Christopher, jumping from number two from 1997 to 1994 to
number 5 from 1998 to 2001.
Matthew ranked number two from 1981 to 1994 dropping down to number four
between 2002 and 2005. Richard ranked number five from 1930 to 1947; Robert,
number five from 1959 to 1971.
Although
the name Jacob occupied first place in the 2000s, the popularity of names changed. The following include ranking from a list of 1,000 most popular names compiled
from Social Security data.
For
males: Jose (#30), Gabriel (#31),
Juan (#56), Luis (#57), Lucas (#63), Carlos (#68) Jesus (#71), Diego (76),
Xavier (#82), Dominic (#91), Antonio (#92), Miguel (#94) Brayden (#95),
Alejandro (#97), Jesse (#99), Tristan (#100), Jorge (#121), Oscar (#122),
Eduardo (#129), Edward (#130), Dakota (#137), Ricardo (144), Javier (#163),
Giovanni (#174), Johnathan (#182), Malachi (#190), Sergio (192), Marco (#194),
Leonardo (#198). Derik came in at 1000.
For
females: Emily (#1), Madison (#2), Emma (#3), Olivia (#5), Sarah (#12), Alyssa
(#13), Jessica (#44), Mackenzie (#45), Faith (#52), Gabrielle (#57), Zoe (#58),
Trinity (#59), Mary (61), Sara (69), Angelina (#74), Sofia (#77), Maya (#79),
Brooklyn (#98), Marissa (#99), Jacqueline (#100), Gabriela (#115), Christina (#118),
Kennedy (#122), Angel (#130), Cheyenne (#136), Alicia (#140), Jasmin (#195). Anahi
came in at 1000.
Naming
children after cities has also become a popular practice. Among the top baby
names for 2008: Females: Alexandria (VA), 189; Aurora (Illinois), 288. Males: Boston (Mass.), 563; Chandler (AZ),
457; Memphis (Tenn.), 688 and Houston (TX), 880.
So,
what does all this signify? Nothing
just thought it was interesting.
If you disagree, blame it on Sunshine.
NEXT
POST: Sooner than later. Stay tuned.
