A genomic study of Bronze Age mummies of the Uyghur region in western China revealed a genetically isolated but culturally cosmopolitan indigenous people linked to modern indigenous peoples of the Americas and Siberia.
Since the 1990s, hundreds of mummies naturally preserved in the dry climate of western China’s Tarim Basin have been discovered, with their somewhat Western appearance attracting international attention and conjecture.
The mummies, dating from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 200, were buried in boat-like coffins though they were in the desert. They wore felted and woven woolen clothing, herded cattle, sheep and goats and ate wheat, barley and millet, researchers say.
A boat burial is seen in profile at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
While some scholars speculated that they descend from migrating Yamnaya herders from Russia’s Black Sea region, others said they came from the oasis cultures of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), which has a strong genetic relationship to early farmers of the Iranian Plateau. BMAC refers to an early civilization (2000–1500 B.C.) that was centered in modern Turkmenistan and Tajikstan.
Researchers analyzed genomic data from 13 of the earliest Tarim Basin mummies, dated 2100 to 1700 B.C., and five mummies of the nearby Dzungarian Basin, dating 3000 to 2800 B.C., to better understand the populations that settled at the Xiaohe and Gumugou sites around 2000 B.C.
The analysis revealed that the Tarim Basin mummies were not newcomers but direct descendants of people of the preceding Pleistocene age who had mostly disappeared by the end of the last glacial era, about 11,700 years ago, when the current Holocene period began.
Archeologists uncover burials for genetic sampling at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
Dubbed Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), some of their genome survives among indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Americas. The mummies show no interbreeding with any other groups. The researchers determined that the mummies show evidence of being a previously unknown people who were genetically isolated long before settling in the Tarim Basin.
“Archeogeneticists have long searched for Holocene ANE populations in order to better understand the genetic history of Inner Eurasia. We have found one in the most unexpected place,” says Choongwon Jeong, a senior author of the study and a professor of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University.
Mummy of a woman wearing a wool cap, found at Xiaohe cemetery in Tarim Basin of Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (Wenying Li, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
The earliest people of Dzungarian Basin, however, descended from local populations and also from the Afanasievo herders who had strong genetic links to the Early Bronze Age Yamanya people. The ancestry of other pastoralists such as the Chemurchek, who spread northward to the Altai Mountains and Mongolia, was made clearer in the genome study.
The authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, believe their findings will transform the understanding of ancient Eurasians and their migration.
“These findings add to our understanding of the eastward dispersal of Yamnaya ancestry and the scenarios under which admixture occurred when they first met the populations of Inner Asia,” said study co-author Chao Ning of Peking University.
“Despite being genetically isolated, the Bronze Age peoples of the Tarim Basin were remarkably culturally cosmopolitan — they built their cuisine around wheat and dairy from the West Asia, millet from East Asia and medicinal plants like Ephedra from Central Asia,” said co-author Christina Warinner of Harvard University.
Edna Rashid’s story is typical of an aspiring entrepreneur achieving success with the help of Rising Tide Capital.
Rashid found herself a grandmother with 10 children in her care eight years ago, after her oldest daughter Naimah died suddenly of congestive heart failure at age 33. Beyond the heartbreak and sorrow was the realization, Rashid, age 54 at the time, had a family to take care of, including a grandson with special needs.
So, she took early retirement from her long-time job as a management specialist with the city of Newark, New Jersey, and began to brainstorm ideas to support her family. Eventually, Rashid was encouraged to attend a presentation by Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit agency in Jersey City, New Jersey, whose mission is to transform lives and communities through entrepreneurship.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” Rashid told Zenger. “They don’t just teach you about economic capital, but the value of human capital.”
In 2013, Rashid and her son, Qasim, founded NF Insulation, a full-service insulation company based in Newark, N.J., that handles residential, commercial and industrial contractors. A family business headed by a woman of color is the sweet spot for Rising Tide Capital, which for 17 years has helped hundreds of minority-based businesses launch in urban communities.
Founded by Alfa Demmellash and Alex Forrester in 2004 on Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City, Rising Tide Capital has trained more than 3,200 entrepreneurs mainly in the northeast, and is duplicating its model in 10 different states.
“We decided to focus on entrepreneurship because of the ways in which it represents pathways for folks who have had a hard time trying to access traditional job opportunities or who have been unable to access higher education opportunities and certainly access financing,” Demmellash told Zenger. “Those were all in play in our mind when we started shaping the mission of Rising Tide Capital.”
Demmellash was born during Ethiopia’s civil war and immigrated to the United States at age 12. Forrester, her husband, is the son of Doug Forrester, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully for governor of New Jersey in 2005. A like-minded friendship turned into marriage, fueling a common interest in multi-generational economics and what can be done to address the root causes of poverty. They looked at ways communities of color have been marginalized and impacted by America’s history of racial discrimination. Eventually, their focus narrowed to expanding entrepreneurship in underserved communities.
“We’ve gone through different situations over the years,” Demmellash said. “But the mission has remained very much the same in its focus, and that’s working with entrepreneurs.”
Alex Forrester (left) and Alfa Demmellash formed Rising Tide Capital in 2004 to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. (Rising Tide Capital)
RTC offers two one-semester curriculums called the Community Business Academy (CBA), an intensive 12-week course on business management skills needed to start, fund and operate a business. The CBA is accredited by Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, and 90 percent of those who have attended are people of color and 70 percent are women, Demmellash said.
“We believe there’s local talent that has been overlooked and underrepresented,” she said. “Supporting those leaders with the know-how to access community, social, and financial capital is the way we’re going to rebuild our communities from within and address some of the root causes for economic disparities.”
Only 200 seats are available each semester at the academy and those accepted receive a full-tuition scholarship and pay for only their materials and a registration fee based on income level. Graduates of the program enter Rising Tide’s Business Acceleration Services program which assists entrepreneurs for up to three years after graduation. To date, 3,220 have graduated from the CBA, and 80 percent of the businesses the graduates established survived the five-year mark.
Hilda Mera, an immigrant from Ecuador, graduated from Rising Tide Capital’s CBA in 2015 after opening an auto repair shop in Newark two years earlier with her husband, Jose Masache. “I always say Rising Tide Capital is the door that opened the rest of the doors for me,” Mera told Zenger. “They don’t just give you the classes and say ‘bye. Whatever you need from counseling to coaching they’re there. All you have to do is make a phone call, and they’ll help you. They don’t really leave you.”
Mera now teaches at Rising Tide Capital with an emphasis on empowering women to become business leaders in their communities. “It’s something I love to do,” she said, “because I love to help entrepreneurs and tell them if I did it, they can do it.”
Hilda Mera, a graduate of Rising Tide Capital’s Community Business Academy, opened S&A Auto Repair Shop in Newark, New Jersey. (S&A Auto Repair)
CBA applicants must have a firm idea for a business or be actively involved in their own business for consideration. “We want to encourage people,” Forrester said. “People are already out there pushing in this direction and our job is to get behind their efforts and support them and surround them with a community of others who are doing the same.”
Students come from all levels of educational, professional and economic backgrounds. “We’re not looking for the highest potential entrepreneurs and getting behind them,” Forrester said. “It’s really a much larger embrace for what entrepreneurship means in the community as a form of people hearing the needs of others around them and finding ways to respond to that.”
COVID-19 forced a transition to online learning, something that will be maintained as an option when the pandemic eases. Technology is helping with duplicating the CBA in cities like Chicago, Illinois; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Wichita, Kansas; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Richmond, Virginia; and Brooklyn, New York. “This isn’t about people having a certain level of education,” Demmellash said. “What’s required is people bring a heart and a commitment.”
Rising Tide Capital, funded primarily by corporate, foundation, and government grants, is looking to expand its headquarters in Jersey City to make a bigger impact on urban cities around the nation. A $1.5 million capital campaign is underway to build a permanent hub, complete with workspace, classroom space, training space and affordable housing. It’s a broad vision that could have an everlasting impact.
“What warms my heart is when we see the children of entrepreneurs at events or their parents’ business, and you see the look in their eyes,” said Demmellash, a daughter of an entrepreneur. “Children of entrepreneurs have a high rate of graduation and a better chance of becoming entrepreneurs. It’s long-term transformative thinking that we’re trying to create.”
With many small businesses struggling through the pandemic and unemployed workers looking to start their own business, RTC is seeing a need and meeting it. “It’s so critically important, particularly for people of color, to know there’s a space for them to start and grow their business over the long-term,” Demmellash said. “They are agents of change in the kind of long-term economic transformation we’re seeking.”
Canelo Alvarez rose two weight classes in November 2019 to challenge then-WBO 175-pound titleholder Sergey Kovalev, vowing to become a four-division champion.
The Mexican superstar did so sensationally, knocking the “Crusher” literally to his knees, senseless, out cold and sagging against ring ropes that held him up. It was a bitter end to a match for a highly unpopular fighter.
“It was nice to see Canelo do us all a favor and hit Kovalev so hard that he banished him from the stratosphere of being a world-class fighter at the elite level,” said boxing analyst Ray Flores of Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Triller.
“That was a vicious and apropos clock cleaning of Kovalev, who, in my opinion, is a bad guy based on his track record. At some point, someone may test Canelo, but on that night, it was like, ‘This guy is done being an elite fighter’ because Canelo’s blowing everybody out of the water.”
It has been nearly two years since Kovalev was pummeled by Alvarez, who is predicting an early knockout of undefeated Caleb Plant during their unification bout on Nov. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Alvarez, 31, is determined to become the first undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico by adding Plant’s IBF crown to his WBA/WBC/WBO versions.
“I’m sticking with my prediction of a knockout before round eight,” said Alvarez, also a winner of titles at 154, 160 and 175 pounds. “The first couple of rounds will be difficult, but as the fight progresses, I am going to be able to get him out of there.”
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), whose bout against Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be his fourth fight in 11 months, is hoping to vanquish an undefeated rival for the eighth time in his career at the MGM Grand. Plant, 29, will battle Alvarez, 31, on Showtime Pay Per View (9 p.m. ET).
“This is the most important fight in Canelo’s career. As a prizefighter there is nothing bigger than unifying a division,” said Alvarez’s manager and trainer, Eddy Reynoso.
“That’s why we’re training so hard. Our focus is to make sure we show everyone that Mexican boxing is No. 1. If we’re able to get this victory and unify the division, we will really be making a big mark in the sport.”
Alvarez is 14-0-1 (8 KOs) since a majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013, a bout that dethroned the then-23-year-old as WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo” (Cinnamon for his red hair) is rocketing toward the legendary status of countrymen such as three-division champions Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera, four-division title winners Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales and long-reigning Salvador Sanchez and Ruben Olivares.
“Canelo’s speed and power against Kovalev was impressive, further showing his progression since the fight with Mayweather. I rank him top five behind Chavez, Olivares and Salvador Sanchez, maybe right there with Marquez, Barrera, Morales and Carlos Zarate,” said Showtime boxing commentator Raul Marquez, a former junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo has matured, developing into a much better fighter. He’s stocky, strong, has a big back, legs, and that’s where his natural power comes from. His balance allows him to leverage his punches, maximize his power, particularly on his body shots, by transferring his weight back and forth from one side to the other.”
That cerebral prowess and two-fisted punching power teams with an impressive resume, which makes Alvarez the sport’s best pound-for-pound boxer, according to Flores.
“Canelo is precise, economical and we’re starting to see more wrinkles in his game as he grows exponentially in the footwork, head movement, feints and the way he parries shots,” Flores said. “Oh, and by the way, he hits like a Mack truck, which makes him the most complete fighter we’ve seen in a long time. Canelo’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and it’s not even close.”
At a pre-bout press conference last month, Alvarez and Plant wound up trading blows during their staredown. Goaded by a push from Alvarez, Plant swung and missed. Alvarez landed on Plant. A brief scuffle ensued before the men were separated, with Plant being cut over one of his eyes.
“I’ve never been involved in anything like what happened at the first press conference between me and Caleb,” Alvarez said. “I delivered the message I had to at our press conference. I don’t have to say anything else to Plant. I’m just going to prepare to face him in the ring on Nov. 6.”
Alvarez earned his first crown in March 2011 by unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton, dominating nearly every minute for the WBC’s vacant 154-pound title and improving to 36-0-1 (26 KOs).
Alvarez made six title defenses before falling to Mayweather, capped by a unanimous decision unification victory over southpaw Austin Trout in April 2013. The victory added Trout’s WBA crown to Alvarez’s WBC title. Alvarez earned his second crown in as many divisions via unanimous decision that dethroned Puerto Rican four-division title winner Miguel Cotto (November 2015) as WBC middleweight champion.
“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico,” said WBA/WBC/WBO 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez. (Esther Lin/Showtime)
Alvarez earned his third crown in as many divisions in December 2018, his four-knockdown, third-round TKO of WBA “regular” 168-pound champion Rocky Fielding coming against a fighter who entered at 27-1, 15 KOs).
“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico. This is one of the most important fights of my life,” Alvarez said. “I’m taking it very seriously, and a win means a lot to me. I just want to go out and make my own history. In the end, I want to be considered one of the best along with the legends who came before me.”
Another major triumph was Alvarez’s majority decision unification victory over then-undefeated WBA/WBC titleholder Gennady Golovkin (September 2018) in a rematch of their draw in September 2017.
“Canelo” also owns unanimous decisions over three-division champion and two-time Oscar De La Hoya-conqueror “Sugar” Shane Mosley (May 2012), former champion Chavez (May 2017), ex-titleholders Daniel Jacobs (May 2019) and Callum Smith (December 2020), and a split-decision over left-handed Cuban two-division champion Erislandy Lara (July 2014).
Alvarez’s knockouts of former champions include a sixth-round stoppage of Carlos Baldomir (September 2010), a one-knockdown, fifth-round TKO of Kermit Cintron (November 2011), a 10th-round TKO of Alfredo Angulo (March 2014), a sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan (May 2016) and a three-knockdown, ninth-round KO of Liam Smith (September 2016).
The Smith siblings were unbeaten before falling to Alvarez, Liam, 33, at 23-0-1 (13 KOs), and Callum, 31, at 27-0 (19 KOs).
Alvarez last fought in May, winning by eighth-round stoppage of southpaw Billy Joe Saunders, who entered at 30-0 (14 KOs). Alvarez added Saunders’ WBO title to the WBA and WBC belts he already owned.
“It’s unreal when you look at his resume and consider the guys that he’s beaten, which is unreal,” said Flores, also mentioning a third-round TKO of left-handed title challenger James Kirkland in May 2015.
“I never thought that anyone could mean what Chavez has meant to Mexican fight fans, but Canelo is so young and has a desire to really claim his legacy, being so adamant about being undisputed.”
INLAND EMPIRE—As part of the statewide tours, Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) and Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) hosted the Assembly Housing Working Group in the Inland Empire this week. The group — comprised of legislators from throughout California— spent the day meeting with local elected officials, housing experts and other stakeholders to tour affordable housing in the Inland Empire and to discuss the unique challenges and solutions being used by local governments, not-for-profit organizations and developers.
“The Inland Empire is one of the largest metropolitan regions in the United States and it is important that my colleagues in the State Legislature hear from our community on their housing needs and their challenges and see how unique our region is. I wanted them to see the solutions being deployed to tackle the issue of homelessness and affordable housing,” said Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Reyes. “This housing tour and discussion is just the beginning in what I hope will be a series of discussions to identify solutions and fund the models we know are working and being deployed by our community.”
The day included a panel and roundtable discussion hosted by Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) and Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) and moderated by Maria Razo, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of San Bernardino County. Participants in the panel included Lorraine Kindred, Vice President of Public Affairs, National CORE; Kim Carter, Founder, Time for Change Foundation; David Kersh, Executive Director, Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee and Tim Johnson, Chief Operating Officer, Quality Management Group/LaBarge Industries. Sites toured in San Bernardino County: Phoenix Square, Pacific Village, Arrowhead Grove, Bloomington Grove & Lillian Court.
The State Assemblymembers completed their day touring Las Coronas Affordable Communities in Riverside County, followed by a panel discussion. The participants included Michael Walsh, Deputy Director, Riverside County Affordable Housing and Community Services; Michelle Davis, Housing Authority Manager, City of Riverside; Karen Roper, Manager of Homeless Solutions, City of Corona and Vice Chair, Riverside County Continuum of Care; Gabriel Maldonado, Executive Director and CEO, TruEvolution Inc. and Damien O’Farrell, Chief Executive Officer, Parkview Legacy Foundation and Steering Committee Member, Inland SoCal Housing Collective.
“The greater Riverside metropolitan area has the highest percentage of cost-burdened renters in the entire State, 30% of whom must spend at least half of their income on rent. Riverside County is currently at a deficit of 51,000 affordable homes for low-income renters, and the gap keeps growing every year, ” said Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona). “I was proud to join Assembly Majority Leader Gomez Reyes in welcoming our legislative colleagues on the Assembly Housing Working Group to the 60th District for the Inland Empire Regional Roundtable, highlighting the needs of our region. Coming together is the only way that we will find solutions to our housing crisis.”
“I was thankful to have been invited to this Assembly housing forum. It was refreshing to see private and public partnerships working together showing successful outcomes here in the Inland Empire. We have monumental challenges ahead as we address our housing crisis. This kind of engagement reminds us we must focus on fixes that are honest and real,” Assembly Member Tom Lackey, 36th Assembly District.
The Assembly Housing Working Group Inland Empire tour was attended by Assembly Members from across the state, including , Eloise Gómez Reyes (San Bernardino), Sabrina Cervantes (Riverside), Freddie Rodriguez (D-Ontario), Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), Tim Grayson (D-Concord), Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), Marc Levine (D-Marin County), Chris Ward (D-San Diego), Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), Laura Friedman (Glendale) as well as staff from the offices of Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), Assembly Housing Committee Chair David Chiu (D-San Francisco), The Assembly Working Group, led by Assembly Members Grayson and Rivas, have conducted a statewide series of regional roundtables and site visits—including the Bay Area, Central Coast, Central Valley, and Southern California—to inform policy ideas that the working group may want to pursue in 2022.
Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes represents Assembly District 47 which includes the cities of Fontana, Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, San Bernardino and the unincorporated areas of Muscoy and Bloomington.
RIALTO, CA—- On the evening of October 12, 2021, Mayor Deborah Robertson, City of Rialto made a presentation during the City of Rialto public meeting a proclamation to Eta Nu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in celebration of their 60th anniversary. Mayor Robertson along with the City Council declared October 28, 2021 “Eta Nu Omega Chapter Day!”
Members of Eta Nu Omega Chapter Birthday Committee where present to receive the proclamation, including co-chairs Erika Bennett and Linda Gaines-Brooks. Ruth Rembert, vice president accepted the proclamation on behalf of the chapter along with a beautiful birthday cake for the chapter and a gift to give to Rialto resident, Gwendolyn Heard Nelson who was among members responsible for the chartering of Eta Nu Omega chapter in the City of Rialto.
Barbara Allen is driven by her own pain to help ease it in others.
Through tragedy and adversity, Allen became an advocate for the healing of victims of substance abuse. The process has gien her solace and peace.
“I call Barbara Allen the czar of recovery,” said Beth Harbinson, a friend and associate. “Barbara’s philanthropy, activism, leadership and work ethic have enabled her to make meaningful contributions toward the improvement of services for those suffering from these diseases.”
The eldest of 10 siblings, Allen lost two younger brothers — one was shot and killed by a person on crystal methamphetamine, she said. Another overdosed on meth.
The deaths of her daughter at birth, and brothers “created a powerful resolve in me not to let any other loved ones die,“ said Allen, who lives with her husband, Tom, in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Allen’s son, James Lee Stallings, died from an overdose of heroin and alcohol in 2003. He was 35. When her son died, she said, “it shattered my heart.”
A stone beneath Barbara Allen’s office window is a memorial to her son, James Lee Stallings, who died in 2003 at age 35 of a heroin and alcohol overdose. Allen is the executive director of James’ Place, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for individuals seeking residence in recovery houses. (Courtesy Barbara Allen)
Allen treats her own heartache by helping others as executive director of James’ Place, a nonprofit established in her son’s name. She works to provide scholarships for individuals needing help to move into recovery houses and invests countless hours in advocacy.
“If you have to label me, I’m a recovering codependent parent,” said Allen. “I knew about 12-step meetings, but I didn’t know squat when I came into advocacy. After a couple of years of grief, I started researching. I came across an article about the war on drugs. I felt as if that opened the door to some freedom and put fresh air in my face.”
Numerous recovery house managers and regional program coordinators as Allen for information about how recovery houses work and how to access funding or scholarships for those in recovery.
“Barbara Allen helped with a scholarship for two guys who moved into my sober living house,” said Dean Branham, who runs the six-man Concrete Recovery facility in Catonsville, Maryland. “She did a great interview with both of them and has kept in touch … making sure the two gentlemen are doing well.
“She spoke with them for significant lengths of time, which I appreciated. She’s been a great resource for me to talk through some inconsistencies within the recovery world, helping me navigate some of the daily obstacles we face helping people in recovery deal with fatal and progressive illnesses,” he said.
Allen’s altruism has spread to a number of services nationwide, including Compassionate Friends, dedicated to addressing family bereavement.
In addition, serves at the Howard County’s Domestic Violence Center and named Howard County Woman Of The Year in 2020. She also works with the Harford County-based Addictions Connections Resource Center and the Baltimore County-based Daniel Torsch Foundation for families and those struggling with substance abuse, addiction and mental health.
“Barbara has worked tirelessly in Howard County and in the state of Maryland to improve the lives of people suffering from substance use disorder,” said Harbinson, founder of the nonprofit SOBAR, which provides healthy nonalcoholic beverages at public social events.
“I’ve had the honor of working with Barbara on the Opioid Crisis Community Council for the last two years. Barbara’s leadership in that capacity has enabled a group of providers, community advocates and lay people to work toward solutions related to the crisis we face in the county and across the nation.”
Allen advocates for ways to help people who may be intimidated by or unaware of how to approach the problem.
“The average person denied by their insurance provider for mental health or substance use care often doesn’t have the education to understand the problem, the resilience to keep nagging. They don’t feel entitled to keep nagging, and they can be intimidated when they’re asking for help,” said Allen, whose efforts extend to organizations in Virginia and West Virginia.
“Part of the work I do with Lt Gov. [Boyd Rutherford] is answering questions like: Where are the logjams? Where are the problems? What are they? And one of the major issues is the pay rate for providers. People can make a lot more money working anywhere else than by working in state correctional facilities or in behavioral health.
“My work in substance use disorder advocacy is very broad,” she said. “Pick a topic or a cause, and I’m working on it.”
YUCAIPA., CA— After more than a year and a half of being closed to the public, the doors are open again at Crafton Hills College’s (CHC) Learning Resource Center (LRC) Art Gallery, with a new exhibit celebrating the talent of the College’s faculty.
Six faculty members – including Art Department Chair Renée Azenaro and staffer Michael Bedoya – each selected works representing different mediums and interpretations to display inside the space now through Oct. 19.
The show, which opened Sept. 31, celebrates the important connection art has on CHC and the surrounding communities, Azenaro said.
“Honestly, art itself is the ‘connective tissue’ for all of humanity and society,” she said. “It’s about bringing the community together. It’s the nexus and the connection to get new ideas.”
The show also signals a bit of normalcy to the Art Department and the Roadrunner campus following the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the department took things online with a virtual faculty art show but being back in the gallery space allows for guests to take their time to absorb each piece and reflect on what they see.
“Art is so important because it fulfills parts of our life,” said Azenaro. “We are happy to be back in the space and put up physical work.”
There was not a limit imposed on how many pieces each artist could submit, nor a timeline. For example, Bedoya has three works on display, including a piece he created in the 1990s.
The painting, he explained, was originally sold to relatives, but when his uncle died, Bedoya noticed the painting was no longer on display at his uncle’s home.
“Three of my pieces are on the back wall (of the gallery), and the one furthest to the left is the one my aunt was on the verge of throwing away, which I think is funny,” Bedoya continued with a chuckle. “Exhibitions aren’t about new work necessarily, but ‘your work.’”
The Art Faculty Exhibition is open to the entire Roadrunner community and the public from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Admission is free. Chairs and seating areas will be set up inside the space to allow for visitors to “look in front of works just like at a museum and enjoy the art,” Azenaro said.
APRA HARBOR, GUAM (Oct. 02, 2021) Engineman 1st Class Anthony Munz, from San Bernardino, Calif., secures damage control equipment aboard the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS 6). Jackson, part of Destroyer Squadron Seven, is on a rotational deployment, is operating in the U.S. 7th fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force in support of free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Andrew Langholf/released)
OAKLAND, CA — Today, at a press conference highlighting California’s support for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation that will greatly expand opportunities for outdoor dining across the Golden State. Authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills), Assembly Bill (AB) 61 will empower local jurisdictions and the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) to provide much-needed regulatory flexibility to neighborhood restaurants struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Neighborhood restaurants are the backbone of communities across California, but too many are barely hanging on by a thread,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel. “Outdoor dining has been a critical lifeline that has helped these establishments keep their doors open during these challenging times. AB 61 provides important flexibility so that restaurants can safely expand outdoor dining and continue to serve the communities they call home. I applaud Governor Newsom for his thoughtful leadership in protecting both public health and small businesses as we continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
AB 61 provides restaurants with regulatory flexibility on a number of key issues, including enabling more outdoor food preparation and service, allowing restaurants to better use their own spaces for increased outdoor dining capacity, and extending existing ABC orders allowing for alcohol service on outdoor premises. AB 61 also includes an urgency clause, meaning the measure goes into effect immediately.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged small businesses across the state—particularly in the restaurant industry. While the National Restaurant Association reports [1] modest employment growth in the last 2 months, with California leading the nation in job gains, employment remains below pre-pandemic levels and nearly 4 in 5 restaurants are understaffed. As of August 2021 [2], California also had 234,800 fewer eating and drinking establishments than it did in August 2019.
“The changes we made to support outdoor dining during the pandemic saved countless jobs and businesses, and Angelenos have been clear that they want to see these improvements stay in place for good,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I am proud to support Assemblymember Gabriel’s legislation that will enable us to make outdoor dining a permanent feature in Los Angeles and across the state.”
“The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. With indoor dining rooms still closed in most places, outdoor dining has become an important lifeline for restaurants,” stated Madelyn Alfano, Immediate Past Chair of the California Restaurant Association Board of Directors and owner of Maria’s Italian Kitchen, a neighborhood Italian restaurant with several locations in the San Fernando Valley. “AB 61 will help to address issues restaurants face as we have created outdoor spaces to continue to serve our customers. Nothing is more important to me than the safety of our customers and the ability to continue to provide delicious meals for my community.
The events of the last days is bringing a trap [allurements, baits, enticements] to you the people of this world. You have no idea it’s a baited snare designed to take you down, says the Lord. It will look like calm, but the real danger lies in what you can’t see. It is the unseen enemy lurking in the barren brush that blends in with the crowd, who represents the grave danger. Make no mistake, this is a war. Be not deceived, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. “Escape for your life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” – [Genesis 19:17].
Unfortunately, those who miscalculate the times, believing there’s plenty of time to come to Jesus Christ, and put it off, “shall not escape.” For, when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ [1 Thessalonians 5:3-6;9]. Get under God’s umbrella so that you will be counted as one who escaped. I tell you; judgment is so near I can almost hear its footsteps outside. Some will escape. Some will not. You can choose. But I know, like one crying “WOLF” there will be many who hear my warning to seek God while they still can, whose ears are dull of hearing from being told so many times. But it is still my responsibility to warn you from the Lord not to delay seeking Him.
For as He approached and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “If you knew this day what it [would bring] but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” [Luke 19:41-44].
Foolish people without heart, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. The end is at hand. Time is running out. [Romans 13:11] It will not be long before this present age as you know it will end, it is later than you think. And that’s why Satan has marked you for destruction. Your enemy has turned up the heat. He is stalking you like a lion, hiding in the grass, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. Dare not be ignorant of his methods and strategies of warfare against you. You see, the devil knows this war is his last chance, because only a short time remains before I [Christ] returns. He knoweth that he hath but a brief time.” And he will stop at nothing to destroy you. He’s going to use all of his weapons against you – all subtleties, deceits, and devices. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: [1 Peter 5:8-9].
Wake up. Watch and Pray! It will not be long before this present age as you know it will end, it is later than we think.
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