Dr. Juan Francisco Lara, 2011 Community Grand Marshal

Juan Francisco Lara is a second generation Mexican American San Franciscan and a Pasadena resident since 1972. His wife Joanne was a Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and a PUSD Teacher. They have a son, Ankarino, a daughter, Kiela, and three grandchildren Leotei, Kalyxtomar and Eisling. Lara’s career began in 1965. It's been one of teaching, mentoring, scholarship program development, curriculum and teacher professional development, public educational and community service, and the pursuit of access and equity to higher education for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students.

He taught, coached baseball and theatre at De La Salle and taught at Cathedral HS when he was a Christian Brother. He also taught at Compton, East LA and Pasadena CC’s, the UCLA and Claremont Graduate Schools of Education and the UCI School of Social Science.

Lara received a Ph.D. from UCLA, an MAT from Occidental College, and a BA in English from St. Mary’s College. He was a CORO and National Council of La Raza Fellow and a Tomas Rivera Center Scholar.

For 35 years he served the University of California. At UCLA, he held positions of Dean; Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean for the UCLA Graduate School of Education; Assistant Provost, College of Letters and Science; EOP and Academic Advancement Program Director and Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, and he created a Center for Academic Programs that provided academic professional development for K-12 and community college teachers.

He is Assistant Vice Chancellor Emeritus, Enrollment Services at UC Irvine and founding executive director of the UCI Center for Educational Partnerships. He served on the Compton, Santa Ana and Pasadena CC Foundation Boards, and was Chair of the OC United Way Education Impact Council. Locally he has served on the Boards for the Brigden Ranch Neighbors Assn, Five Acres, Journey House, Project Day-Juvenile Diversion Project, the PCC Foundation, Pasadena Scholarship Committee and the City of Pasadena Charter Commission and Resource Allocation Board.

Beyond all this, Dr. Lara is always willing to lend a hand to those who might benefit from his stentorian voice, his academic or administrative knowledge, or a kind gesture that comes from his grand heart. Many have benefitted from his generous gifts of dedication and wisdom.

2011 Community Grand Marshal

So you can easily see he is handsome, perhaps one might even call him debonair, but who is this person and why do you think he was chosen to be our Community Grand Marshal?

Answers tomorrow...

In the meantime here is a quote from him regarding Community Grand Marshal.

"The Community Grand Marshall is a symbol of the Latino contribution to Pasadena. California Native Americans, Mexican people, and later, new immigrants, tilled the soil and built our City. We walk in their footsteps. They planted the trees under whose branches we rest and they decorated our historic buildings. We honor their memory through our achievement in education, business, excellence in Arts and Culture, civic and community leadership and service. We stand upon our ancestor’s shoulders! I proudly honor our past, celebrate our present, and lift our future onto my own shoulders!

“Si Se Puede!”

Art in Our Part of the City - al fin

We now have public art in Northwest Pasadena!

This piece is on the corner of Sunset and Mountain - enjoyed it, had to share it.

Hope you'll go and enjoy it, too.

"Handstand" Daniel Stern 2011

City of Pasadena

Rotating Public Art Exhibition Program

www.cityofpasadena.net/arts

September's here

Spent some time with the students in the Visual Arts and Design Academy at Pasadena High School today. Shared some information about our theme - Epoca de oro - and about our focus on the time 1946-1955. Not quite sure when I'll be at Muir, but I'm waiting for their invitation.

They're going to look over notes that were taken by the teacher Mr. Schultz and will use the facts to brainstorm what they might bring to the parade this year. Project based learning at its best. I can barely wait to see what they'll do this year.

VADA, Latino Heritage parade & jamaica 2009

A Golden Era - our theme for 2011

“A Golden Era”

Our theme came from a Spanish phrase that described the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. From time to time we focus on different Latino communities and experiences. This year our focus is on some of the roots and branches of Mexican heritage.

We did this because in 1946 - 1955 in the United States the vast majority of Latinos had roots in Mexico. This resulted in a shared community history and experience: many children mostly spoke English as their parents mostly spoke Spanish. Those living here had lived through the Great Depression and World War II. They had made many sacrifices for this country; they felt they had earned the right to share in the prosperity that was a part of the American Dream.

The existing bias and discrimination that encouraged segregated schools and discouraged achievement by Latinos was challenged by young men and women who had served in WWII, or who had been educated and lived their lives in the U.S. It is an era of Mendez v. Westminster, Hernandez v. State of Texas, of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, of the American G.I. Forum, and locally the establishment of groups like Uni-Vets .

It is also an era in which they more fully expressed their identity and their cultural roots. Zoot suits, tap shoes, mariachi, soldier, student, Caló, folklorico, and so much more. For some they felt like pochos, a derogatory term used by Mexicanos for those who lived in the U.S. They felt as if they were neither from here nor from there. And others felt, “by my mother I am Mexican, by detiny I am American…I speak two languages, and I have two cultures. I am Mexican American”.

2011 Latino Heritage parade & jamaica Entry Form

Invitation to 2011 Latino Heritage parade & jamaica

Dear Parade Entries,

For some reason or the other we are not able to post more than one page of our entry form. The complete form will be posted before midnight tonight.

We apologize for the inconvenience.