DEI

Do you enjoy sharing interesting information about different people and cultures? Please volunteer to help us with communications for next year! Email us here or visit our Acalanes DEI website. Other committee positions are open too!

Thursday, June 2, 6:00pm. Save the Date for the third Angelversary of Miles Hall‘s death. Please help us turn Pain into Purpose with a Miles For Miles: Walk For Justice and Rally. Meet at Remembrance Park between Lilac Dr and Newell in Walnut Creek at 6pm and walk together to Civic Park (1.3 miles) for a special event to honor Miles at 7:15pm. Park at Las Lomas High School.

In honor of Jewish Heritage Month we spotlight Ralph Kuznitzki, a 15-year-old Jewish refugee living in the US during World War II. He was housed at the Ft. Ontario refugee camp near Oswego, NY, where he was able to attend local schools. Kuznitzki wrote this composition, The Flower and I for a high school English assignment.

Notice something different at this year’s Met Gala? The historically exclusive fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY has come under fire recently, with fashion experts agreeing that exclusivity is outdated. “Because of the industry’s interest in selling aspirational, unattainable fantasy, it may never be able to change until cultural standards of beauty steer away from thin and white…” writes USA Today.

Do you love reading this section of the newsletter every week? Are you curious about different people and cultures? Please consider volunteering for one of our communications spots for next year. For more information, email us here or visit our Acalanes DEI website. Other committee positions are open too!

According to the National Coalition on Mental Health andAging, about 80% of older Americans are in good mental health. However, experts agree that social isolation among our older population can affect their physical health. For information on the topic including intervention, watch this video or find more information on their website.
 
You’ve heard of activist Cesar Chavez, but do you know about Filipino American hero Larry Itliong? It was actually Itliong who reached out to Chavez about creating a union joining Filipino and Mexican farmworkers, who would later go on strike and change California’s labor history forever.
 
Anxiety is treatable. This is the takeaway in the movie Angst, produced by IndieFlix and its non-profit arm the IndieFlix Foundation. “People see anxiety as a personal failing rather than a medical condition.” The film features gold medalist Michael Phelps who suffered from anxiety and depression as a young person. “I just didn’t like who I was,” he told a boy in the documentary.

Do you look forward to reading this section of the newsletter every week? Are you curious about people and cultures different from yours? Then help yourself and your students by volunteering to fill in one of our communications spots for next year. For more information, email us here or visit our Acalanes DEI website. Other committee positions are open too!

Wednesday, May 11 from 6:30 to 8:00pm via Zoom – Social Emotional Wellness and Mental Health for Asian American Tweens/Teens, hosted by Moraga School District, Campolindo Parent DNI and JM DEI Committee. Click to Register.

Saturday, May 14 at 7:30pm at the Lafayette Library – Gold Coast Chamber Players’ Cultural Crossroads: Black and Indigenous influences on Dvořák in America Pre-concert interview at 7:00pm. Tickets online: $15-45. Their short “About Us” video features our very own (soon-to-be-retired) Stanley music teacher extraordinaire Bob Athayde.

And speaking of music… Ever hear an amazing song and you can’t get it out of your head? Filipino American musician Toro y Moi’s just-released music video “The Loop” is one of those songs. In this fun San Francisco video he rides on various modes of transportation including in a jeepney, those little yellow GoCars, even skateboards.

Colorado State University tight end Trey McBride is expected to be selected in the NFL draft this week, making him the first NFL player with same–sex parents. His parents, Kate and Jen, said they focused on building character and instilling confidence in their five boys. “More important than [Trey] playing in the NFL or anything is he’s a good human. He’s a good kid. That’s most important,” Kate said.

Why about gender with youth? Friday, May 6 at 6pm, join us for a movie and conversation to support and to learn how to be better allies to our LGBTQ+ youth. Sign upor get more info.

Know any young writers? The Young Writers of Color Festival is upon us! The YWCF encourages artists to explore projects about joy, happiness and resilience responding to their current moment. Nata

And speaking of the arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet is part of a rising generation of gendernonconforming ballet dancers. Apprentice dancer Ashton Edwards is breaking barriers, questioning traditional ballet’s rigid gender roles.

Congratulations go to Alyssa Nakken! A coach for the San Francisco Giants, she made history last week becoming the first woman to take an on-field role in a Major League Baseball game.

The city of Oakland is helping to fund a $28 million grass-roots effort to help residents of East Oakland mitigate climate problems. With the help of Planting Justice, a nonprofit focusing on economic justice, local residents have started by planting fruit trees in the Sobrante Park neighborhood.

This month, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Deaf West Theater opened a “radical” and “extraordinary” new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio at Walt Disney Concert Hall conceived for both hearing and deaf opera goers.

Facts corner: A study published recently in the journal Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences offers new genomic evidence that the Muwekma Ohlone tribe’s presence in the Bay Area dates back 2,000 years or more.

Does your family celebrate Easter, Orthodox Easter, or Passover? Turns out these holidays have much in common. In fact, Easter’s roots canbe traced to Judaism by its original Greek name, Pascha.

Michael W. Twitty, food historian and author says he likes to bring his full identity as a Black Jew to the symbolic food of the seder meal during Passover. He will make his haroseth to symbolize the Egyptians’ enslavement of Israelites as well as sweet potato, signifying hope and renewal.
 
If you missed Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney Matt Cagle’s acclaimed documentary film Coded Bias last month, you can watch it here for free! The film follows an MIT researcher’s push for the first-ever legislation against bias in algorithms after she reveals how facial recognition software does not see dark-skinned faces accurately.

Did you know there is a moon sighting committee that determines the start of the holy month of Ramadan? This Muslim holy month begins in April when the moon is spotted, which can sometimes be tricky because it’s hard to see and only lasts about 20 minutes! Ramadan is a time for praying, reflecting, and fasting. At the end of the daily fast Muslims share meals with family and friends.

Ask your kids: what do DJ Khaled, Shaquille O’Neal, and Dave Chappelle have in common? Aside from being famous for their music, basketball, and comedy, they are just a small number of Americans who practice the Muslim faith. Curious about who else does?

Facts corner: According to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion people live with some form of disability around the world. This includes about 10% of Americans who have an invisible disability including vision and hearing loss, or learning differences. Sadly mostpeople with unseen chronic medical conditions experience stigma and discrimination as a result of their disability.

Madeleine Albright, who died on Wednesday, was the first woman to become US Secretary of State. She paved the way for the next two women to serve in that role, Condoleezza Rice, the first Black woman to serve, and Hillary Clinton. Albright’s family fled to the US as refugees in 1949 to escape the political strife in Europe from (then) Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). “Becoming a U.S. citizen is the most important thing that ever happened to me,” she said at the U.N. Refugee Summit in 2016. She was described by her peers as a “trailblazer,” receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

And the Oscar goes to…Here’s a bit of trivia if you watched the 93rd Academy Awards. The very first Oscar to go to an African–American went to actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian Hattie McDaniel. She earned the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind in 1939.

Facts corner: The popularity of women’s soccer has grown exponentially since the U.S. won the first Women’s World Cup in 1991, but it wasn’t until 1996 that the U.S. women’s national soccer team was allowed to compete at the summer Olympics in Atlanta. That was the first year women’s soccer was introduced as an Olympic sport, bringing home a historic win against China for the team’s first gold medal while a record-breaking 76,000 fans watched.

Enjoy free movie streaming with your CCC library card! Open a free account on Kanopy and watch from your device. This month focuses on Women’s History of course, showcasing titles like Amazing Grace, a documentary about Aretha Franklin, and classic mystery drama Winter’sBone.

Facts corner: This month marks the Bread andPeace March of 1917, when Russian women took to the streets to protest WWI, food shortages, and czarist rule. Joined by some of their male counterparts, strikers quickly numbered in the hundreds of thousands, prompting the czar to step down less than a week later. Since 1975, the United Nations has celebrated March 8 as International Women’s Day.

According to the UN, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be the largest humanitarian crisis since WWII. The unfolding story of the women and girls caught in the crisis is devastating, and it’s worth noting that like in most crises, women and girls are hit particularly hard.