Opinion
Helping immigrants and refugees get settled, educated, employed and acclimated to American culture is spiritual work in action.
Ideally, bars, taverns, and pubs can occupy both physical and emotional territory. For me, like many, Upland’s Blackwatch Pub — which will celebrate its 40th anniversary Saturday — is such a place.
Wait. Is it okay for me to be doing this? Is it okay for me to be out here on this nice, crisp fall day? Am I supposed to be this far from home, on my own, in my wheelchair? Am I supposed to be going home from the colleges by myself, going along with all the students walking and skateboarding by, instead of getting a ride back?
“Hello, my name is Jenny, and I am from Claremont, California.” Prior to attending the annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference, this short introduction sufficed in making a stranger understand partially who I am, a driven high school girl who’s eager to dive deeper into her academic passions and get involved in her community. However, when I boarded the plane with five fellow students and 15 faculty members and flew off to San Antonio, Texas, I unknowingly embarked on a transformative journey that would allow me to, for the first time, examine each facet of my identity with a compassionate and grateful lens.
So long, 2022. You sure were a year of bracing contrasts. As I’ve written repeatedly this year, life is both exhilaratingly beautiful and heartbreakingly sad, and 2022 provided those extreme backstops and everything in between. Covid took so many. We also lost friends to cancer, accidents, heart attacks, and suicide. There’s the yin. Babies were born, folks fell in love, and even in the face of hateful rhetoric and regressive, discriminatory legislationenacted or proposed across much of our country, I believe we inched closer to becoming more welcoming to the marginalized and underrepresented. Yang for the win.
By December 10 on one Llanusa thread alone I’d hidden a half dozen. By December 12, it was about a dozen. The reason? Some commenters were comparing shirtless men and some ill-advised looseness with monitoring alcohol with “pedophilia,” and “grooming,” a particularly abhorrent and relatively new homophobic trope. Some Facebook users said Llanusa should register as a sex offender. Another said he should be castrated. Really?
This past Saturday I sang a song at a wedding, attended a memorial for an old friend, then finished the day off with a birthday party for my youngest daughter, who turned 17. If I’d thrown in a birth and a graduation, I would have covered nearly all of life’s major milestones. It was an epic day full of big feelings.
Recently I visited the medical center near where I live to have my right hand, knee, and foot examined. My aim was to have X-rays ordered and get referrals there rather than traveling to Fontana via Metrolink to see my primary doctor. I waited in the reception area with other gray-haired people. Then a nurse called my name and led me into the office. “Put your backpack over there,” she said, pointing to a table. It was my first time in this office, so I took a quick peek around as I walked to the table. “I said, put your backpack there,” the nurse then ordered, sounding like a drill sergeant, adding, “And go faster. There’s not a lot of time. Now come here and sit down.”
At the Q and A following the November 19 Laemmle Claremont 5 screening of “Only in Theaters,” the surprisingly moving documentary about the Laemmle family’s long history in the film industry, third generation CEO Greg Laemmle told a near capacity crowd the Village theater’s fate was unknown.
Often referred to as the oldest form of hate, antisemitism has been around for 2,000-plus years.
I sat down to write a (hopefully) humorous column about how I have come to loathe the manufactured pomp and grueling parental labor of the holiday season.
I understand why people bristle at the idea of entitlement. As a white male, I have been advantaged.
People sometimes look at the tattoo on my left shoulder that says, “Love hurts,” and say, “No it doesn’t.” I always reply, “Good for you.” Love is the very best stuff, to be sure. It can heal, soothe, and make us feel safe. But it can come at a steep cost. Neil Young was right: only love can break your heart.
The powers that Google and Facebook have over economic and political power in society — especially over the news industry — has caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, DC. After a close election and many worries over the quality of public debate, many ask if social media have played a role in the misinformation that erodes our free press and plagues our democracy.
Sometimes it’s important to stop and take a breath when assessing how a company is meeting its goals and challenges. That’s especially true for a nonprofit trying to make a difference in Claremont. On the surface for the Claremont COURIER, the good news is many things are also staying the same. The print edition continues to be delivered on Friday, the website is updated almost every day to stay on top of breaking news, our popular email newsletter is sent Thursday nights, each month we have a special edition inserted in the newspaper, and we continue our presence on social media, focusing on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (although we will evaluate if Twitter is still worthwhile as Elon Musk sinks the platform).
From a number standpoint, it’s easy to see the massive improvement for the COURIER when comparing revenue and expenses for 2021 to 2022. It’s important to keep in mind that in 2021, we were still dealing with issues from the pandemic. Although we developed a donation push back then, all the change going to nonprofit was still relatively new for our supporters.