Dana Middle School Receives State-of-the-Art Fitness Center Along With Three Other Middle Schools; Former Los Angeles School Board Member Mike Lansing (above) watches teachers train for future lessons to Dana Students (See full story below)

Saralyn Hannon, head of Dana Middle School physical education department wearing yellow, trains other teachers using the gift from former School Board Member Mike Lansing before he departed after serving eight years. Saying she was "floored" by the gift, the instructor plans to open its doors to students by the end of October.

DANA MIDDLE SCHOOL GETS ONE GIANT TREAT TO HELP CURB OBESITY AND GIVE STUDENTS ANOTHER SHOT AT EXERCISE BESIDES RUNNING -- A BRAND NEW FITNESS CENTER
Mike Lansing's gift left four middle schools with a trainer for teachers and $50,000 plus in physical training equipment found usually in private gyms; Some students have never seen this equipment before


Diana L. Chapman

Instead of leaving behind a swath of candy for Halloween, a former Los Angeles Unified School Board Member left an enormous treat for San Pedro middle school students – an intense “Disneyland” style fitness center which will open its doors in late October.
Dana Middle School’s new fitness center allows students to challenge their own skills with built-in monitoring devices on the newest training equipment and opens around Halloween, said Saralyn Hannon, head of physical education department.

The center’s pieces include 15 state-of- the-art spin bikes, three giant elypticals (like a giant looking trike that has pedals for leg thrusts and push poles for arms,) more than 20 stability balls, dozens of three to ten pound weights, scores of medicine balls, floor mats and hordes of resistance bands.
That doesn’t include the 20 bosus pieces, which are used like stepping stools, but are rounded to help promote balance.
Using a spin bike, physical education instructor Jose Morales, jumped off after ten minutes and said happily “what an awesome workout. My legs are wobbling.
“When the kids enter in here, it’s going to be like Disneyland.”
As former school board member Mike Lansing toured the facility recently and said he decided to use his remaining funds as a board member to ensure that middle school children would learn a variety of ways to exercise and open their minds to all sorts of athletics – besides running and team sports.
Funds for similar facilities were also given to Wilmington, Gompers and Markham, both in South Los Angeles. Each school received $50,000 a piece.
“Everything was being done for the high schools and the elementary schools and health is such an issue,” Mike explained. “It just made sense to invest in this. Health and academics are definitely related. If you have an overweight child or an asthmatic child or both, we are getting a twofer here to help them improve their health.”
Physical trainer Eden Paul was hired to purchase the equipment and aide the physical education teachers at all four schools to set it up. In addition, she will train the teachers in equipment usage before they start.
At Dana, it took several months to just set up the room and remove former equipment, the head of the P.E. department said. The amount of time it took to plan out the room has prevented the teachers from opening up the doors yet to students.
Once the teachers are trained and have figured out the best way to have some 60 plus students use the facility, with one teacher on hand, the students will be released to get their own workouts.
Currently, the facility has been opened up after school for teachers and staff to use, Saralyn explained.
“I am just so grateful,” the P.E. instructor revealed. “We can just do so much. It’s really different for the kids. We got the best equipment and the most for our money. I’m just so floored.”
In the past, she related that physical education was typically bypassed financially for academics and that the school is still trying to install a rock wall that it has money set aside for. Under school district policy, the installation has become so difficult with the that the campus still has yet to receive it.
With this packet, there was little concern about installation. It was more about finding the proper room and training the physical education teachers on the new-state-of the-art-equipment.
For Mike, the key for him will be coming back to see the doors unlocked for the students he left this gigantic treat for at all four of the schools.

Flash, who lived at Fort McArthur, in the years of the Cold War finally will get his gravesite restored. Museuem Curator Steven Nelson holding Flash's photo alongside museum staff, Francisco "Cisco" Lacy and Nikola Pilato.

An Honor for Those Big Hounds in the Sky

By Diana L. Chapman

After living in San Pedro for some twenty years now and having a great understanding of the snail pace of Los Angeles, it was a great pleasure for me to walk around the three foot tall, Palos Verdes stone fence that now squares off a military cemetery for dogs.
It might seem a small endeavor, but as it flourishes, it will show how one determined resident, one determined museum director and the residents of this town can paw their way to the top much quicker if they embark on projects on their own rather than depend on the city.
By the end of January, our community should see the complete $28,000 plus refurbishment of the Fort MacArthur sentry cemetery – a graveyard that honored the animals, mostly guard dogs that served us during the Cold War. Most were put down as they were unable to return to the regular post of being a pet after being dutiful and dangerous guard dogs, canines such as Jack, Cheetah and Pancho.
The cemetery refurbishment is a small, but symbolic step toward cleaning up our problematic troubles with Los Angeles ailing parks, which, pointedly might need more help from the community than it ever has.
Mostly, we should just commend the idea of taking on projects locally so we can beautify our town as a whole – and I believe the cemetery for our military animal vets is a great case in point. Yes, we should honor a dog, such as Flash, a German Shepherd, who acted as a sentry for us for years and had to give up his life, because he was no longer needed.
When resident Dorothy Matich decided to take on an endeavor, she showed how one driven person with a purpose can really change the blemishes and scars in this town.
The Fort McArthur cemetery, in fact, had become just that – a giant embarrassment. Visitors were trashing the site with leftover garbage. Vandals stole more than half of the plaques there to honor the animals. Dog walkers allowed their dogs to dismiss their extras on the graves. And it didn’t seem to matter to anyone that this was one of the first such graveyards in U.S. military history, explained Steve Nelson, the museum curator. The fort, which served as a military site from 1914 to 1982, became a historic museum in 1986.
In an effort to preserve what was left of the cemetery, Steve removed the remaining plaques to and was absolutely delighted when Dorothy came along with the suggestion to do fundraisers to beautify the diminished glory of our hounds (and a few cats) that protected us.
“What an accomplishment,” Steve told me as he chortled over the effort carrying a photo of Flash and watching museum staff clean up extra rocks from the site. “This is a real achievement and it’s because of Dorothy and Flo. It’s just been quite a blessing to have someone adopt the project.”
Amen.
I must say we need more Dorothy and Flos around. Dorothy received much help from friend, Florence Kleinjan, in raising $22,000 and working toward more. The newly refurbished graveyard will include a wrought-iron fence to protect it from further vandals, pathways of composite granite and a lush, natural landscape of California buckwheat and red flowering currants. If all goes well, the curator said, a bronze statue of a dog – probably one like Flash, a German Shepherd, will be a central focus of the site which will honor some 34 animals. A similar statue was believed to exist at the site, before it too was absconded.

On Nov. 11 – Veterans Day -- Flo and Dorothy plan to put small American flags on the graves that have so long been forgotten.
By then, the museum hopes to have stolen plaques replaced, but most of the work will not be completed until January.
After hosting tickets to teas and plays, Dorothy seemed to breath a sigh of relief to see the beginnings of her efforts come to life.
“I am just elated,” she said. “I really am. I am just really grateful to everyone who helped.”
So am I. So will the community when they see the new gift we’ve all received due to these efforts. And hopefully, so will, the dogs in the big sky who did so much as mans best friend and deserve this much belated honor.

Elementary Teachers: Take this Ship

A Raffle Just Might Get Free Bus Travel for Students to the Maritime Museum; Parents Tell Your Teachers!

Maritime Museum Director Marifrances Trivelli bemoaned the fact with a friend recently that not as many teachers were bringing their students in for business – a sore disappointment when the museum has so much to offer.

Her friend, a retired teacher, easily hit the sail on the head.
They don’t come, the teacher explained, because buses are so costly – and so hard to get – that they’ll tend to use them for major field trips – meaning those not so nearby.
That’s how the museum in part launched it’s “teacher outreach,” program. An open house will be held for educators from 1st to fifth grades from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Monday Oct. 15, to explain all the school tours the museum offers – but even better: a raffle that will include a oceanic-sized prize.
Three teachers will each receive a bus ride for their students to the museum and back – quite an enticement for teachers always eager for transportation to take their students on field trips.

Each educator attending will receive a packet all about the museum and the tours that are offered. Light refreshments will be served. Museum staff will explain how the maritime museum – a wealth of information when it comes to maritime history locally and throughout the state – meets the state’s education standards, the director said.

For more information, contact Amy Harroff, the museum’s educator, at (310) 548-7618 (ext. 202).

WHEN YOU EMBARK ON A HUGE COURSE IN YOUR LIFE – DON’T FORGET YOUR KIDS

By Diana L. Chapman

The teacher at Dana Middle School approached me in the hallway and pulled me quietly aside. He needed to talk to me about Ryan. He indicated it was extremely important – and whenever a teacher wants to talk to me about my son, I drop everything.

His 6th grade algebra teacher, Sal DiConstanzo, explained that Ryan had not been acting himself the past two weeks. He was snippy, not paying attention, basically languishing in his class – and not caring what happened. He wasn’t even doing his homework or participating! These thoughts immediately shot into my brain; It had to be a bully or a girlfriend who dumped him at school.

I asked Ryan what was going on and he said: “Mom. Look. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not life-threatening or anything.”

Failing to coax anything him out of him, I dropped the conversation.

But thank God for the warning. A few days later, during parent conferences, two teachers practically leaped out of their chairs and begged me to tell them what was going on with Ryan. It was the same story the math teacher had revealed.

This time, I told Ryan: “You have to tell me, your dad or what’s going on,” because by now, I’m just sure we’ll be marching onto the school grounds asking the school to solve the problem.

Ryan finally spit it out -- and I got quite the education.

“I’m scared,” he explained. “I’m scared about our remodel. I don’t know where we are going to live. I don’t know where our animals are going. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

Wham! What a wake-up call for us as parents. We’d been sitting around discussing incessantly about our remodel woes – and we hadn’t even started yet – and yes, we didn’t know where we were going to live, and no, we didn’t have any idea what we were going to do with our animals. And it spelled out the one certain thing: We have to remember our kids listen and they listen intently. Whenever we feel uncomfortable, they feel uncomfortable. When we are afraid, they are afraid. Ryan basically was a carbon-copy of our own feelings – and he most certainly didn’t know where he fit in the maelstrom of plans with architects, engineers and a whirlwind of bodies coming in-and-out of our doors.

And I have to remind you – that was before we even really started. We had unknowingly transferred all our troubles to our son, and worse – it was his teachers who had to tell us so. But perhaps that was better, because it was then I realized what a life line our teachers can be to our kids – if – and only if – we listen and become involved in their education -- however, that may be from writing teachers notes to helping on field trips.

Because of these teachers, we were able to avoid a catastrophe as Ryan’s grades were spiraling down and his attitude had become horrifically scary – and hah, I was just sure it was the fault of the school! And believe me, we had absolutely no idea. We were blindsided and surprised by our own inability during that time to connect with our own child.

Afterward, I discussed the situation with those in the business. When I told one architect the story, he said he was taken aback and would now include children in the planning stages of home design.

Another general contractor in town, Tommy Reavey, president of Thomas Towne Reavy Inc., said he learned quickly to include children the hard way. It happened after he was redesigning a house and had demolished all but two rooms.

When the family came to visit their home, the little girl in the family, about 5-to-7 years old, vanished. The girl's disappearance launched a search and when they finally found her she was -- in “her old bedroom in her old bed in a quasi fetal position,” he wrote me via email. She was sucking on her thumb, a habit she hadn’t done in years, and it shocked everyone.

That’s when he learned that while adults could peer into the future and see a final outcome, obviously children could not.

“It was alarming to all of us and left a lasting impression on me,” Tommy wrote. “Now I warn parents that it can be very disruptive and disturbing to a child to have their home torn a sunder. This can be shocking to adults too, but children can't envision the end result and have no knowledge of how a house is built and remodeled in the first place.

"For them it could be like Katrina was to the people of New Orleans. The child for good reasons will associate the stability of the home with the stability of the family, which is pretty much their whole world at this time in their lives.”

Parents using Tommy’s design team are now coached to prepare their children and to look for any signs they might be disturbed by the events circling around them. “We are there for them and want them to feel safe,” Tommy explained.

For children, our world is their world. How we feel, think and believe will be stamped on them and impact their every day lives.

I love the concept of including children in the "thought process" of designing a home.

From all of this, my husband I learned that life lessons are never over -- and that even though we graduated -- it will sometimes be teachers who are still teaching us.

What Adults Want from Kids & A Series of GREAT Happenings in Town; A Spiritual Festival, An Amazing Teacher’s Retirement and Don’t Forget Bark & Boo



What Adults Want From Kids

For about eight years now, I’ve worked closely with students of all ages. Elementary, junior high and high school. Adults tell me constantly what they need and want from kids.
The list goes something like this:

• Kids should give adults respect.


• Kids should be polite and cordial.


• Kids should listen.

What Kids Want From Adults:

• Adults should give kids respect.


• Adults should be polite and cordial.


• Adults should listen.

• A Tearful Goodbye to a Longtime Educator Who Helped Hundreds of Students Stretching Across the Generations; She Celebrates her Retirement Friday at Bandini Elementary School
  
  A goodbye celebration for Jackie Terry – a longtime educator who led an endless array of tiny tots in education and marched them off on a sound path to kindergarten – will be hosted at Bandini Elementary School Friday.
  Hundreds of children grew through Jackie’s doors where she taught them both academics and social skills while preparing them to sit down in kindergarten classes and learn how to learn in a federally funded program, which included parenting classes.
  She decided to retire at the end of the last school year -- but not in time for employess there to celebrate her years of dedication..
  Jackie's known for teaching two generations of families for more than three decades, coming from a wide section of the Harbor Area. Parents and students alike honor her to this day for what she did for children.
  Her retirement celebration will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 21) in Bandini’s Cafeteria. Meals will cost $8 per person and will include three tacos, rice, beans, chips and a drink. Please RSVP to Gabriel or Julie Martinez at Bandini elementary school (310) 832-4593.
  As my son was one of the lucky kids to go through Jackie’s program, I’ll be there – and I hope I will see you there too! Bring your kids. – Diana Chapman




• 
  Don’t Forget the Light at the Lighthouse Music Festival: A Christian Festival For Families – and Kids -- and Anyone Who Wants to Join


• 
  By Christine Fisch
  This Saturday, September 22nd will be one day your kids will be unable to say, "”I'm bored . There's nothing for us to do.”"
  With the efforts of about fifteen local churches, business owners, volunteers and Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Point Fermin Park will host the third annual Light at the Lighthouse Music Festival. There will literally be entertainment and activities planned for not only adult , but for children at every age level.
  Music is the main focus of the festival which takes place from10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is provided on three separate stages. The main stage being the park's band shell hosts well-polished worship (rock) bands from local churches, four nationally known Christian rock groups and the coveted Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Choir.
  We will also be treated to The Cambodian Children's Choir, a group of orphans on an international tour. The second stage is dedicated to the youth in the park.
  Christian music comes in more forms than you can imagine, most of which you can witness at the second stage. There's rock, rap, punk, gospel and combinations of all of the above. It's a high energy situation which can likely end in a mosh pit configuration (albeit a very well mannered mosh pit.) With names like Church of Rock, Civilian Noise and Munk Funk you can imagine what kind of positive energy these kids are emitting. It is really incredible to watch these pre-teens and teens as they groove to so many different music genres and display a genuine enjoyment and respect for each other.
  The third stage located in the "kids area" is directed towards young children and families. There will be acts by children's choirs and dance groups, puppet shows and even a mime team. In the kids area you will also find a jumper, face painting, crafts, story time, temporary tattoos and games.
  Booths and vendors will include food, crafts and jewelry for sell. Churches and many not-for profit agencies will be there with information on their organization and to answer any questions you may have.
  The event is free.
  It's a day for all of San Pedro families to hang out at one the most beautiful locations in San Pedro while listening to some top-notch musical performances, and perhaps for once avoid the comment "there's nothing for us to do." For more information on the event visit http://www.lightatthelighthouse.org/
  
  BOO & BARK AT White Point Nature Preserve; Let’s Have a Haunting Celebration and BARK Along With the Dogs
  
  Get out those skeleton pens. Bring out your pumpkin calendars! And start marking the date to celebrate at the Bark & Boo Halloween Party at White Point Nature Preserve.
  The party will be held Sunday, Oct.28 from 2 to 5 p.m. and will include such scary screeches as a costume parade, kids’ crafts , game booths and a Halloween raffle. Best of all, there will be prizes for those dogs dressed as the funniest, scariest and “the best look alike” spooky costumes. Entry per dog is $10 . All dogs must be on a leash and judging will begin at 3 p.m.
  Look for more information about this on the blog. Hosted by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, call for more information at (310) 541-7613 or visit www.pvplc.org.
  
  

See the Stanley Cup at Discovery Science Center Thursday

The world’s most famous sports trophy, the Stanley Cup, will be at Taco Bell Discovery Science Center on Thursday, Sept. 13, from 3 to 5 p.m.

For the price of admission, children and families can take a photo with the Stanley Cup, currently held by the 2007 National Hockey League Champions the Anaheim Ducks.

The special, two-hour event kicks off a partnership between the Science Center and the Anaheim Ducks, which will bring “super-sized” field trips and hockey-themed exhibits to the Southern California. For more information, visit the Science Center’s Web site: http://www.discoverycube.org/

Chill Facts on hockey and the Stanley Cup:
The standard puck weighs between 5 ½ and 6 ounces. Pucks are frozen before a game to make them bounce resistant.
The Stanley Cup is 110 years old, weighs 35 pounds and is just less than three feet tall.
The Anaheim Ducks are the first California team to win the Stanley Cup!

The Colors of a Rainbow, a Few Ants, a Little Kid and a Blue Stone Necklace Curves into One Big Wave of a Family Surfing Tale

One Little Book, One Wave at a Time

“Surf big. Dream big. – Jimmy Daos

By Diana L. Chapman

He wrote it on newspapers. He jotted down ideas on napkins in local diners. He spewed his story out on bits of scrap paper. He wrote it despite he had struggled to learn to read and write. He wrote it despite his wife’s diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. He wrote it despite his limited writing skills.

He wrote it because he always remembered one thing his third grade teacher would say – there’s not one student, she reminded him that could tell a tale like Jimmy. Of all her students, she said, he was the biggest, baddest kahuna of a “storyteller” -- meaning he was the best!

By the time James Daos, 38, was finished, he had a manuscript as thick as a Bible, several children’s stories – and a parade of ants that surf through his stories, each named after family members. With his children’s book, “Ants on the Rainbow…You’ll Never Know,” published and doing many Hang 5s in the sales world, James plans to soon launch his next book lining up an agreement with 260 Ralph’s stores to carry his first and second book. So far, he’s sold 3,000 books to date within the year of publishing; more of his books will be sold Sunday at the Filipino Festival at Point Fermin Park and by early October or November, he hopes to have his second book launched as he dares to ride the publishing curl.

His books can be purchased for $14.99 at his website: www.antsontherainbow.com. This Saturday, James will be book signing at Karen Carpenter Center in Long Beach from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and then in Ventura Sunday Sept. 16 at the Aloha Festival from 10 to 5 p.m. For further information on his book signings which will include one at Borders in RollingHills Estates this month and another in October at Williams Book Store in SanPedro, visit his website.

Currently a manager at Ralph’s Market in Redondo Beach, the San Pedro resident- surfer of Filipino descent, told his four children hundreds and hundreds of stories over the years before they fell asleep. He has three step children, Amoreena, 27, Dom, 26, Mark, 23, and his two daughters, Brooke, 15 and Hannah, 14. Since he decided to publish –he’s been overwhelmed with the scores of calls he’s received from book stores all over wanting him to do book signings – and he was invited to the UCLA Festival of Books.

But none of this – not any of it – would have happened had it not been for his daughter, Hannah, his family, his friends and the overwhelming support he received from customers who came to know him when he was a manager at Hugh’s Market on the Palos Verdes Peninsula – and later in Redondo Beach.

So many folks, he explained, wanted him to do the book that they supported the financial endeavor, sometimes with money and sometimes by just offering him a great network -such as connecting him with the artist, Lonni, who did the book’s illustration. Friends were so adamant that he do the book that they even helped him find printing and publishing companies to assist. To fund the book, he did he did car washes, worked extra hours and was shocked when he received offers of financial help from close friends and family.

As I am one who can never resist a success story and believe that's exactly where James is headed – I asked him how all the help he received from friends “such as the master net worker” who believed so much in his book that she gave him money to publish it—several tears rolled down his face.

“How does it make me feel? I feel overwhelmed,” he said, who explained that he didn’t learn until he reached his 30s that he had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) which likely contributed to his learning disabilities. “I feel so happy that I can (finally) share my gift of creativity and imagination with the world. I feel elated. I am just so grateful for my friends and family everyday and I thank God for them helping me got so far.”

It’s as though his true life tale holds three stories. As a father who took on three step children who he loves as his own when he married, he said, it was his kids who inspired him -- in particular his youngest, Hannah, who surfs along with her older sister, Brooke. Many of his stories sprung from his kid's adventures.

Ants came about with several events that happened with Hannah -- such as when she found a drab gray rock on the beach when she was six and asked her Dad to make it into a necklace and the second when she began singing a little ditty: “Ants on the Rainbow…You’ll Never Know.”

All his kids begged him for nighttime stories and he’d say: “What do you want tonight: a scary story, a Bible story, an animal story?”

“I can tell a story about anything and I’ll use what’s around me to become my characters,” he explained while we were dining at the Omelette & Waffle Shop. “I can tell you a story about these things right now,” he said grabbing a bottle of steak sauce – Mr. King A-1 – the creamer – the Cream Queen – a glass of water – Wally the Water – and whatever else comes to mind. And then he’ll create a story.

That’s what happened when Hannah saw her grandmother sweeping swells of ants off her porch after an afternoon rain. As she swept, a rainbow filled the sky and the ants looked as though they were “on the rainbow,” which got Hannah to start singing “ants of a rainbow.” Her dad asked what it meant. “You’ll never know,” Hannah sang. For rest of the day, she charged around singing “ants on a rainbow…you’ll never know,” which inspired his first book.

Then came the day he took his kids to the beach (they all have nicknames like DC for Double Curl) which is what he named many of the primary surfing ants in his book after –- family members.

Hannah was also responsible for the magical blue stone necklace – which started out as a gray rock she discovered on the beach at Royal Palms. She asked her Dad to turn it into a necklace. He when he was drilling the stone, it broke. Hannah started crying. James promised to fix it, painted it blue, redid the hole and told her it had special powers to fight evil. (In the book, evil comes in the form of Smasher – a killer who leads the nasty Fire Ants.)

Finally, Hannah begged him – and so did his older kids – to tell the Ants on the Rainbow story. He mixed a pot of ingredients together in the mix – the ants, the blue stone and his kids. When he finished the story, his wife raced in the room. “”Write that down,’’” she reveled.

That’s when the entire family agreed to commit writing and publishing the book, which while he’s hopeful to make money, has paid him back in ways he could never have imagined. He recalled one day at book signing, a literary professor who was about 60, came up and criticized his book, dressing it up and down – and telling the author how he could have done it better.

Just then, a little girl about six stepped to his table and yelped: “Mr. Daos, Mr. Daos. I love your book. I love the Ants on the Rainbow!”

James turned to the professor and said: “I didn’t write this book for you. I wrote it for her and kids like her.”

But the best gift he ever received was from a little girl, about 8, who raced up confidently to the author’s table, told him she loved his books about ants and then announced: “You know I’m very special. Do you know why?” Jimmy looked at her and asked: “How so?”

“Because I have M.S.,” she revealed and Jimmy could feel the bites of tears in the back of his eyes. Her Dad, who looked gruff, wore a bandanna and was covered in tattoos, stood behind his little girl and when his daughter moved away he turned to Jimmy and said with tears in his eyes: “It’s not about making money. It’s about what you’ve done for my daughter. She loves your book. I’ll tell you now; you have already done your job on Earth.”


Proceeds of Jame’s book will go to the MS Society.

YOUNG RESEARCHER ESTABLISHES THE ROAD FOR OTHER KIDS;
An 11-year-old at the time, San Pedro student sets the pace for new and younger researchers to come aboard at Cabrillo Aquarium's Aquatic Nursery

By Diana L. Chapman

As the first and youngest researcher in the Aquatic Nursery, Christian Stehlik began to panic when he came back daily to check on his baby, purple-striped jelly fish.

The research the 11-year-old boy outlined was to determine what baby jelly fish ate and thrived on. Instead – even though they were only about the size of a pin head – he found through his observations that when he counted his babies, they were vanishing one by one – and sometimes by the dozens.

“I just freaked out,” said Christian of his early beginnings as the youngest researcher at the Cabrillo Aquarium’s Aquatic Nursery. “I thought maybe I was counting them wrong, feeding them wrong.”

Concerned that the research using – moon jellies, brine and rotifer (a small plankton organism) – might be causing the destruction of the jelly fish, Christian immediately contacted the staff with his concerns. The staff was so impressed – and listened to what he had to say – that they focused on the “why” and discovered the aeration pumps were too strong and the currents were actually destroying the babies.

While the aquarium has always had ongoing research with older teenagers, it wasn’t until the new director, Kirsten Darrow, of the recently opened Aquatic Nursery, embraced younger children as potential researchers. Children who volunteered from 11 up, learned the laboratory rules and showed a sense of understanding and maturity when it came to the animals in the nursery, became potential candidates for the job. All work included rules that the babies must be cared for well – and that there was no stress to the critters, the director said. No dissections or stress related experiments were accepted, she explained.

On top of that, in order to qualify, young researchers had to write up a proposal which included the hypothesis, the time line, the methods and the materials that were necessary to undergo any experiments.

“This room is really intended for young growing baby animals and young scientist,” Kirsten explained to me as she carried her own baby, Forest, around with her in a pack throughout the nursery where all types of marine babies can be discovered from jelly fish to star fish. “That was what this room was made for.”

And Christian was the first to navigate the system, first with his study into purple striped jelly fish, and second into his study of “flat fish” – where he proposed the aquarium explore whether flat-fish, such as the horny-head turbot, California Halibut and English Soul – could cope with anything other than their natural environment when it came to their camouflage systems.

He outlined a study that would put the fish in tanks with brilliant pink sands in the bottom, or black pebbles – and contrast that with how they behaved compared to a tank filled with natural, colored sands from the beach. The fish often act like chameleons, changing colors so they can match their environment and protect themselves.

Christian said not only did the fish react poorly toward the variety of colors in their tanks, it appeared that some of them became outright hostile toward the unknown entities – striking out at the pink and the black bottoms or what biologists call “sub straights,” –the materials that make up the bottom of the tank.

“Whenever I tried to put them in the hot pink, I guess they saw it was white and they would change to a grayish color,” Christian said. “They just couldn’t adapt. They didn’t do to well with the black pebbles. They’d try to squirm in, but they couldn’t really use it to protect themselves.”

Since Christian paved the way for many other young researchers – having to take a hiatus once he was diagnosed with a rare illness, neuroblastoma, a cancer that typically starts in the stomach and often attaches itself to the spinal cord – a cadre of about 20 young researchers have joined the exploratory ranks of the nursery, the director said.

About three have had the exceptional abilities to be "natural observers" and shown the keen enough interest and dedication to perhaps make it in the future as marine biologist. Christian was one of those and opened the doors for others with his research.

"I've been interested in the ocean since I was five," Christian explained to me as he donned once again his white laboratory coat and began to explore the tanks with his sister, Rhea, 11. The research "just built up my confidence."

He believes more youngsters should be involved in the exploration of experimentation, "because it just makes people more responsible," for the fish, for wildlife in general and an understanding how precious life is.

Museum officials said you couldn't miss Christian's abilities toward research.

“One of the things we noticed about Christian was his observation skills,” said Andres Carillo, a laboratory assistant for the nursery. “He’s a natural observer and his thought process is much more scientific. It was just easier for him to link what was going on in all his projects.

“Before, we were always hesitant to take young researchers. We looked for kids 16-years or older. He’s just a natural.”

All this is good news for Christian, who has been going under long bouts of chemotherapy, living in and out of hospitals and doctors telling him he can’t go to the movies, be in large crowds of any type or be indoors with scores of other people. At his junior high graduation, he had to sit in a room virtually alone and watch the ceremonies via television.

So it was a breath of fresh air that the doctors allowed him to go visit his aquarium family where not only does he feel right at home, but the air circulation is of such good quality he can actually visit. He’s too tired to do research at this stage, but it thrills him, his father, Pete, his sister, and the rest of his family that he is able to return to the lab where he spent hours examining tiny critters.

When he returned, he comfortably slipped on his white lab coat just like the old days and got back to work doing what he’s so natural at – observing and paving the way for future scientists.

Help this San Pedro Kid help this San Pedro Mutt become a STAR

Dear Everyone in San Pedro,
My son Jon, 13, has asked me to ask you to vote online so his favorite dog, "AARP" will win this contest. AARP lives about 7 doors away from us and is one of Jon's new best friends. The contest deadline is August 18. You can vote once a day from the same computer.
1. Go to http://www.petco.com/
2. Click on Petco Stars The Search for America's Most Talented Pet, Learn More>
3. Vote for: "AARP" He is the first one listed (in the top hat and black tie).
You'll be asked for your first and last name and e-mail address for your vote to be registered. If you have the time and inclination, you can even watch AARP's talents there or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ATAYJPzDgY
Vote early; vote often.
Many thanks, Kathy Popoff

(Our Unconcerned Underdog, Boo, above)

The Underdog Movie: Was it brilliant, resiliant, heartrending, inspirational? Honestly no...but

By Diana L. Chapman

I liked it anyway.

Underdog was fun-loving, family-oriented, even enjoyable at times movie and for those enamored with canines -- particularly beagles -- it will give you a good chuckle or two.

In particular, it's deliciously snappy for parents looking for a fairly clean-shaven movie in a world dominated by U.S. culture where everything has to be snazzy --from commercials on down--and sprinkled with sexual innuendos, rough language and endless shootouts, an innocent world getting erased quickly day-by-day, moment-by-moment by just by turning on the good 'ol tube.

So despite the critics wham-bams that the movie is literally for the dogs, I'd ask you to think again, hang up the leash for abit and relax. Admittedly, it's roughly the same plot as the same old very bad, simple cartoon. Featuring the voice of comedian Jason Lee in the title role, the Underdog opens with a mad scientist, Simon Bar Sinister (played by Peter Dinklage) wanting to rule the world who accidentally energizes a test lab beagle with super powers such as talking in English (with a bit of Chihuahua-speak splashed in among other doggie languages), and the extraordinary abilities of Superman, including the ability to fly like a rocket and talk in ryhme.

Created as a Superman cartoon spoof in 1964 -- followed by a nine-year-run -- the "Look in the sky. It's a plane! It's a bird. No, it's a frog," would blast into televisions across America as an animated crowd of onlookers stared up at the flying Underdog, a far-from-perfect super hero, who often crash-landed in prat

For whatever reason, no matter how silly, I loved this show as a kid and obviously so did thousands of other American youngsters. It didn't seem to matter much that the punchy little beagle -- who had a reporter girlfriend, a spaniel named Polly Purebred, had the flattest, worst animation of nearly all time.

The truth was, thousands of youths loved this simple, bark-bark concept of a pet dog fighting the big, bad -- real bad -- criminal. 'Twas the saintly, but silly good canine verses the very, beastly human villain.

So sometimes, you have to dismiss what the critics say, because it's not the critics who would be interested (unless they are ages 12 on down) and some parents are just thrilled to get a lot of giggles out of the movie -- no matter how stupid -- which we did.

Anyone who has a canine friend, can really understand when the Underdog (known in his non-super-hero life as just a little imp of a creature named Shoeshine) believes he could perhaps now with super powers hypnotize his new owner, Cad(Patrick Warburton ) a kid whose mother has died and whose father, Dan Unger, (Jim Belushi) a former cop, is now raising his son alone.

Naturally, a great divide exists between the father and son, which is why the symbolic rift needs the nursing from "little 'ol me, Underdog." Now that he believes he has hypnotic powers, Underdog mouths to Cad: "Give the dog your food. Give the dog your food. Give your dog your food."

That's the way most dogs look at you when you're eating. Unfortunately for Shoeshine, aka Underdog, it's the one thing apparently Shoeshine/Underdog cannot accomplish -- a hypnotic stance that gets absolutely no chomps from Cad.

The Underdog speaks in rhyme and in his flying sequences across the sky -- the cartoon ditty, used in the movie as well, soared through American livingrooms.

"When criminals in this world appear,
And break the laws that they should fear,
And frighten all who see or hear,
The cry goes up both far and near for
Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!
Speed of lightning! Roar of Thunder!
Fighting all who rob and plunder!
Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! "

Don't take it too barking seriously. It's meant to be fun -- and your young children will think so too.

Yap. Yap. The Underdog is a movie with a lot of bark, but not a lot of bite. But my snap back to that would be: So, what's so wrong with that?

Rated PG, and hopefully still playing at a theater, somewhere near you.

IT'S SUMMER...DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHERE YOUR KIDS ARE???????? REALLY? Hah-hah-ha-hah-ha!
(Left to right: Carlos, Cole, Ryan, the ever-endearing, Woody Woodpecker, Alfonso dude and Jake)

Here's the question:

I often wonder during the summer months, where my son and his friends are off too. They're at that pre-teen stages -- 12 and 13 -- where you want to give them a bit of freedom, but how far do you take it?

I told my son that he could head off to his good buddy's, Alfonso's house, where all the kids seem to love go. But I gave him the list of could "nots" -- especially the one about not hanging at the old fort wedged in a hillside around the corner from our house. I've heard some disconcerting rumors about kids doing nasty things there like stuffing couches into sewer lines, bringing in crews to fix that peculiar problem for more than a week. But one day in my travels, I spotted Ryan and Alfonso there and I told Ryan he'd be grounded for an eternity if he ever went again. Why? Because I had such a fort to hang out when I was a kid -- and the doings there were simply -- scary -- to say it as briefly as possible. I won't get into particulars, but as much as you want too, you cannot always trust your kid.

Freedom, as they say, is not free. You have to earn it. That's what I told Ryan when I let him go over to the cool-dude Alfonso 's house -- again -- to be with the other "cool dudes." So I have to say, it did make my day this summer when I rounded the bend near the Corner Store and found Ryan and friends walking around the neighborhood. There was a nice gaggle of them -- being boys not knowing what to do with themselves -- they were headed off to the Corner Store for a few treats, a place where it's most safe for kids to hang out.

The best part wasn't just that they weren't at that the fort, it was a very cocky and fun, Alfonso, who with complete-and-utter confidence daringly flashed brightly in this burnt-Woody Woodpecker hat.

It was so peculiar and eye-catching that even, Peggy, the new Corner Store owner, stopped her car to look and couldn't quit laughing.

As the classic-red-feathered-bird-friendly cartoon imp would say: "Hah-hah-ha-hah ha! Hah-hah-ha-hah-ha!" And hopefully, the joke is not on us!

BACK AT IT AGAIN! Tasty Treats and Tasty Times with those Aussie Gals! As Always, Kids Are Welcome...

Susan McKenna (left) and Marisa Guiffre (right) have started all over again downtown San Pedro after owning the popular, community-oriented Corner Store for seven years. Susan decided to open Nosh Cafe (which opened in July -- sort of officially -- and sort of having hours Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. 'ish). Susan is the owner and Marisa has agreed to help at this fun-loving, healthy place where quiches, fruit and veggies abound with such sweet deliciousness you don't even know the food is good for you (always a good thing when it comes to kids). Located at 617 S. Centre Street, take the chance to stop by and taste a luscious latte, eat a piece of banana bread or take a bite out of scrumptious bread pudding. And that's just the beginning....Call (310)514-1121 for more information.

COMMUNITY FUNDRAISERS TO FIX UP OUR TOWN: HELP THE DOGS & HELP MR. CLEAN SAN PEDRO

------------------------------------------

HELP "MR. CLEAN SAN PEDRO" CLEAN SAN PEDRO

Mr. Clean San Pedro continues to wipe down San Pedro to make it sparkle -- and now his entire team need our support.

This can be done by simply attending his second annual "Hot Pedro Nites" over a three day period which will host a Doo-Wop Concert, a classic car cruise and a reunion bash running from Aug. 16 to Aug. 18.

All proceeds will go to supporting Steve Kleinjan's efforts through the non-profit group he began -- Clean San Pedro --where a team of volunteers and himself clean up parts of the town every month one piece at a time. He also hired an employee to routinely clean the streets of San Pedro who putters around town in a little yellow-and-white Clean San Pedro golf cart.

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.hotpedronites.com/ or calling (323)780-0232.

----DON'T FORGET THE DOGS WHO DIED FOR US...

One of my favorite gals in town, Dorothy Matich, is at it again to restore the vandalized canine cemetery at Ft. MacArthur where guard dogs who served during the Cold War are buried. A tea will be held to earn proceeds for the project.

Vandals ripped up cemetery markers, trashed the grave sites and knocked down parts of fencing. Over the years, the cemetery has taken so many hits, visitors can no longer tell its a graveyard and picnic in the area.

Attempting to save this "historic treasure," as Dorothy calls it, a tea will be held Thursday, Aug. 23, at 12:30 p.m. at MaGriffe, 3624 S. Gaffey at a cost of $25. For more information, please call (310) 831-2803.

All proceeds will be used to rebuild the cemetery through the Ft. MacArthur Museum where dogs like Baron, Cheetah and Pancho are buried. The refurbishment is expected to cost around $25,000.

DON'T YOU WISH YOUR KID WAS THIS WELL BEHAVED????????

Meet Buddy-Love, a 3-year-old Pug who can be seen dining about San Pedro when his owner takes him out for breakfast. He puts his napkin on. He doesn't bark. He doesn't eat until he's told too. He's never rude. In fact, he's polite and mannerly.

Buddy- Love's owner, Shaune Ann Feuz, took this photo as scores of people walked by and stared at this canine's remarkable self-control -- to wait until he's told: "You can now have your bacon."

--Diana

DECIDING ON A PATH :
ONE THAT COULD HEAD HIM TO IRAQ;
THE OTHER THAT COULD TAKE THE POET TO COLLEGE
THAT'S WHAT HE WAS DECIDING THREE DAYS BEFORE HIS GRADUATION

(photo: Steve Ybarra to the left, College Bound Director Yesenia Aguilar and tutor/writing teacher Joseph Elizondo)

By Diana L Chapman

It was a warm day at Bogdanovich Park. My son’s team – the Pirates – were playing against a Wilmington team. The game was tight and went into extra innings. The weather was hot – but not too hot – and that’s when I struck up a conversation with the young man sitting next to me.

Sometimes, you just know things happen for a reason. And that day, at that particular moment, in that particular second, I knew I met this young boy -- lip piercing and all -- for a reason. And I think, so did he.

As his story unfolded, I knew it even more so. Steven Ybarra, 18, was moments away from graduating from San Pedro High School and talked about going to Harbor College. He had come ot the game to watch several of his close buddies from his neighborhood play. Having known each other practically all their lives, they had built a strong web of friendship, fashioning themselves like strong threads in a tapestry into a tightly woven support structure.

That's why Steve had come -- to show support for his friends

But now Steve needed a job. He had won two scholarships in poetry, one for $2,500, but wasn’t sure what to do with his life. Harbor College was a possibility, he mused, but he had decided that next week he'd go to the local recruiting office and join the military.

I blanched. My face didn't hide my emotional concern for a second. My forehead wrinkled up (all I could think of was Iraq and all the beautiful soldiers who had gone and were killed and injured there to protect us). Witnessing my expressions, Steve immediately leaped into a defensive diatribe as to why he should join; The military offers recruits 330 different careers to train in and he could select from anyone of them; the chances of going to Iraq were slim, he added.

He did not, however, say the magic words I was looking for: "I want to join."

In the past, I've been always telling kids I meet, "Go to college. Go to college. Go to college." It didn't dawn on me what a burden I was placing on them if they didn't have parents or some advocate to help guide them. To a kid, the lack of understanding --the how-to- get-there-holes -yawn before them like large crevices they don't know how to jump.

Until now, I hadn't realized how much I was blowing off wasted breath -- because I had no idea where to tell youths who needed help to go -- how to pick schools, apply for applications and the myriad of other requirements -- except for their already overwhelmed high school counselors working withhundreds of other students.

But now, I knew exactly where to send a kid like Steve before he made a momentous decision to join the military and discovered that wasn't the place for him. Explore your options, I said, and get down to the College Bound Program at the Boys and Girls Club. For me, it was a moment of realization -- what an incredible gift this program was to this community– one that didn’t exist until about five years ago.

Having steadily increased its numbers of students going off to university from a handful its first year – to now over "40" this year, college bound prepares students on taking SATs, filling out applications, writing essays and how to seek scholarships and financial aide. I used this myself when I was ready to tear my hair out helping my girlfriend's son apply through the college application process. What was taking me hours to do, took the program director a few seconds.

Currently, two hundred and fifty students are enrolled and are studying their realm of possibilities in higher education. They can begin as early as 7th grade.

A loud crack bolted through the air. The baseball suddenly snapped way past leftfield; players on the other team scrambled in vain to snatch it as the Pirate's pitcher, the other Steven who my friend had come to watch, scored another homerun. How many had he hit now? He had to be the best ballplayer I'd ever seen in any of the leagues -- as a pitcher easily sweeping out three players in a row time and time again. Not only was this youth a great pitcher, he was smooth and resilient under pressure, bringing us nearly as many outs with his fast pitch.

What about him, I pointed at the ballplayer friend. Will he go to college? Steve, the poet, didn’t know whether his friend, Steve, the ballplayer, had much of future either, because his grades were less than hot. The poet was bemoaning the fact that it was unlikely the tenth grader could even make his high school team with his grades -- and so was I, his coach and my husband.

Once I was sure the poet Steve wasn't exactly sold on the military, I called Yesenia Aguilar, the college bound director then and there and asked her if I could send the two Steve's down on Monday after school. Send them down, she responded, but I could tell over the phone she was calculating the possibilities of finding a school for the poet in such a short period of time. She'll be waiting for you, I explained to Steve when I got off the phone, and she'll do anything to help a kid. Take your friend, Steve with you. He nodded and the game was over.

We lost 6-5. And I wondered as we left if the poet Steve would lose too. I took a deep breath. The question was, would he do it? I'd have to wait and see and the soonest I'd know anything was Monday.

Steve showed up on the dot that Monday; his friend didn't.
By Tuesday, he’d placed everything Yesenia asked him for – transcripts and other paper work – on her desk. He had fulfilled all the requirements he needed, Yesenia said, but one class – chemistry! I could tell she was running around now looking not only for a college for Steve, but a summer chemistry class. Didn’t anybody tell him he needed it, she fumed to herself.

That same week, on Wednesday, I went to the College Bound Graduation Banquet to watch the graduating seniors get recognized and the Boys and Girls Club give out $1,000 scholarships to those students who had received acceptances and were headed off to achieving a higher education in the fall. One student, Justin Johnson, had received four acceptances (three to UC schools)and received a special $4,000 scholarship from the Palos Verdes Penisnsula Rotary Club.

At the banquet, Mike Lansing, the executive director of the Los Angeles Harbor clubs, urged all students to be accountable for themselves – and to do what was right for them – not their teachers, their parents or friends who may be telling them they didn’t need college.

Break the mold, he said.

And that’s when I spotted Steve – sitting in the crowd -- looking so happy. Yesenia called him up to the podium and said he qualified for the club’s scholarship: “We are still looking for a college for Steve. But he is going to one.”

Later she told me: "He's been great. He's followed through on everything. He was just confused, and now he knows he wants to be an architect. He's awesome."

On occasion, when I go to the club to teach writing, I see Steve -- and it makes me happy. It makes me happy because I know had it not been for my parents, I would never have made it to or through college, which allowed me to have a great journalism career.

Bravo. Steve. Bravo for breaking the mold. Bravo because you went for help and explored your options as my Dad would say. I pray Steve gets his baseball friend to go to the Boys and Girls Club too where they understand that -- sometimes -- there are many , many valuable kids like Steve out there -- just sitting and waiting for a bit of guidance.

INTRODUCING LOCAL HEROES: THE FOLKS THAT ARE AROUND JUST PROVIDING EVERYDAY HELP TO KIDS

We have so many heroes in this world. But some of the more important heroes, the people that are the glue that make the walls stick together, the people who work consistently day-to-day on a volunteer basis, the people who actually in reality make things work -- are the most ignored heroes in our lives. They are the ones who are there -- always -- in your classrooms, in the police department, at the hospital, at the museum...They are there always -- not just when the fire storms hit.

Here's my first group of heroes -- a set of Barton Hill Elementary School teachers --who retired from their teaching positions at the school, but agreed to return to bring art to the kids in their classrooms under the auspices of the non-profit group, Art To Grow On. ATGO teaches thousands of children art throughout the Los Angeles Harbor using volunteers like the women above. Most of the volunteers for this program are mothers with children in school where they teach.

But the five women above (except for the one to the right corner above are all retired teachers who returned to their former school so the program wouldn't end. Not enough parents volunteered to continue the art classes.

These former teachers, who-would-not-be-named, are the first set of heroes I selected to post -- because they deserve it (even if they hate the photo!)

Do you know a local hero that works with kids? Email me at hartchap@cox.net

ART CORNER FOR KIDS -------------
MORE FROM 7th GRADER MAYA PAVIC WITH HER OWN BIO OF WHO HELPED HER...
YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Dear Diana,

Hello I am Maja Pavic. I am a thirteen year old girl who attends Richard Henry Dana Middle School. Dana Middle School is a nice school and the teachers I have had for the past two years were wonderful and the teachers I have had in seventh grade are great. My English teacher for sixth grade was very nice and she is always willing to help people that need help. Her name is Mrs. Evano and Mrs. Evano would always help me with my work and she would help me in things that I did not understand. My English teacher for seventh grade is Mrs. Bradford. Mrs. Bradford is a very helpful teacher and she is a wonderful person. She also takes the time to explain homework and class work as well. Mrs. Evano influenced me to always be organized and always be ready for school and to be prepared for tests and quiz's. Mrs. Bradford influenced me to do well in life and to have all of your homework ready, have your school supplies and to follow school rules and to be a good student. And then there is my seventh grade History teacher, Mrs. Crow. Mrs. Crow is a wonderful teacher as well; she is a understanding teacher and she can help you in many ways. If you tell her something she will understand. She is a caring and kind teacher. She always cares about the students and how we do in school, and she cares about our grades. She influenced me by showing me that you can have fun and learn at the same time. She showed me that you can do your best; you just have to try you hardest to get to the goal you want. And the rest of my teachers were also helpful to me.
My goal in life is to finish High School and move onto college. In college , I will take classes to be a veterinarian when I grow up, and I will work as a veterinarian on work days and on weekends I will work as an artist, which means I will have two jobs. I will have two jobs because I cannot choose between the two jobs. And after college I will stay with my parents for a couple of days until I find a house and then I will buy furniture and I will buy a ferret, which is a weasel. I will try to be as successful in life as possible. I will buy my parents a house near to my house so we will be closer to each other. I will help my parents as much as I can with anything they need help with. And I will always be there to help my family members and that is what my goal is in life.

THE UNDERDOG FOR KIDS:WHY DID YOU CALL IT THAT????????????????

By Diana L. Chapman

This is an odd story. If you don't like the fact that people sometimes derive their values from cartoons and comic books, quit reading now.

I'm often asked: Why did you call your blog The Underdog for Kids? It's one of the most frequently asked questions in my peculiar journalism career, which has taken twists from writing for daily newspapers to writing for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series to blogging (where I least suspected I'd end up).

I have one person -- no, actually two -- to blame for the Underdog name.

The first would be my admirable neighbor, Judi Pierry, who routinely puts up with my 13-year-old son practically moving into her house with her two sons, Joey, 18, and Jimmy, 16, who embraced him from the moment he moved into the neighborhood. Their older sister, Jessica, just grinned and beared it, to have one more boy in the family. She was probably quite relieved to take off to San Francisco State University. Because the Pierry household is much cooler than my own -- a pool table, a widescreen TV, rooms equipped with computers and games -- and a mom who realizes the beauty of enticing her kids to stay home rather than go elsewhere so she knows where they are: The kids like it there.

With Ryan's frequent visits, she teased us as "the childless couple." About a year ago, just before the weekly More San Pedro newspaper changed hands, Judi asked me over for lunch with her girlfriend, Chris. She plopped a glass in front of me and said: "Diana, this is perfect for you. You're always protecting the underdog and acting just like the Underdog cartoon."

On the glass was the cartoon of the blue-caped, red-shirted, skinny armed, slightly muscled Underdog, and that was when lightning struck. I had watched this cartoon religiously as a child -- and any show such as Little Opal -- where a dog was always helping others get out of horrific plights when no one else would bother -- a theme as a child, I just couldn't understand. I was like: "Where are the heroes?" -- the same question a famous charter principal talked about later while he was practically starved as a child in New York ghettos. Where are the adults? Where are the heroes, he asked himself.

It hit me, at that moment, that Judi had unearthed an inner secret I didn't know about myself. What shocked me even more was that not even my husband or other friends had figured it out, either. I don't think I'd even thought of it before. I love to protect the underdog. It was my calling, my inner being -- and children were my first and foremost ones to care for -- especially children no one else cared about.

When I came home and told my husband that night, he gaped at me with the same reaction I had: disbelief. How could we have not figured this out much sooner? It hit us both hard. How can awoman who has only known me a few years figure this out before we did? We've been married 19 years. It was because she read my column religiously and noted a major theme in all my writing: Who protects kids when their parents don't care? Who protects kids when their parents don't know what's going on? And who protects kids whose parents might be interested some of the time but not often enough to help them grow into an amazing adult? The answer? No one.

Worse, why do adults firmly believe that kids who grow up in a ghetto, or just -- heck -- bad parts of San Pedro, Wilmington or anywhere else, should do A-OK and learn important values like politeness, honesty and respect when their lives are enveloped with troubles we could never understand -- gang members forcing them to do things they don't want to do, drugs permeating their neighborhoods, parents on drugs or alcohol, family member who are molesters, families who believe moving ahead is working at a Taco Bell for the rest of your life or babysitting your kid sister's baby, or having parents who believe in cons or forgers as a way of life. And we say: "You have the choice. You know what to do. You know the right thing."

Do they? I can't imagine how. Soon after my shock of learning something about myself when a friend placed the Underdog glass in front of me, I found myself with another friend, Marie Montgomery. Marie, a former Daily Breeze reporter like me, is now a public relations specialist for the Auto Club. We've both been living through the heartache of watching newspapers becoming dinosaurs with all the instant technology that floats about in a matter of seconds. DVDs here today, gone tomorrow. As for CDs, records are out to lunch. CDs? What are those? Now it's I-Pods. What are record albums, my 13-year-old asks about boxes stored away in the garage? Sometimes I wonder if he's ever seen that black, smooth pizza plate with perfect grooves. Newspapers? I want to cry because they're still one of the best educators of all time -- for very little money -- but they're almost as ancient, dead, salty and musty as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Marie, quite the hip gal even as we are showing our age these days, asked me: With all these changes -- and a newspaper job is likely to be here today and gone tomorrow -- have you considered blogging? She too was somewhat amazed that -- despite having known me for more than a decade -- it was my neighbor who saw my true core: a fighter for the underdog.

Marie promptly announced: "Start a blog. You can name it 'the Underdog!'" Crazy. I looked at her. But the Underdog for what? I demanded. "Kids!" she exclaimed. "You love kids. You fight for kids!" How right she is.

I started the http://www.theunderdogforkids.blogspot.com/ with some pretty sage advice from my friends, who seem to know me better than I know myself. Shortly after, the Breeze was sold, my job was cut in half and, since it paid next to nothing anyway, I figured why not work for myself? If you're not getting paid much, you might as well enjoy it -- and write what you truly want to write -- how to rescue kids that need rescuing. I call it advocacy journalism -- and despite layers of bureaucractic journalism ethics that don't recognize advocacy -- I can't help myself. It's just the way I am and will always be.

Shortly afterward, I saw a movie preview of the upcoming "Underdog" movie that was being resurrected and would be released Aug. 3. I'll be the first underdog there -- and somehow, I don't believe it will hurt a doggone bit if you take your kids, too.

Dear Readers: This is a great story actually written by a teacher! That's what this blog is for. We want teachers, parents, administrators and just your average citizen to write stories in regards to important opinions, beliefs and issues regarding children. But this is for children too. Kids can write their own stories. This is the first teacher to post on my blog and I am extremely appreciative of her effort. And, I also agree with her. Need I say more? -- Diana

WHY WE SHOULD BE CONCERNED THAT LOS ANGELES UNIFIED'S ADOPTION OF OPEN COURT reading IS THE END ALL, BE ALL....BECAUSE IT ISN'T EVEN CLOSE...

By Cathy Scott Skubik
Summer time is good for laying around and reading a good book, or two or three. In June, I sent my second grade students off with a list of some good books to look for in the library and I crossed my fingers that they will follow through. I also hope their parents will help them in this endeavor. For it is parental behavior that makes the biggest impact upon a growing reader. If you want to raise a reader, you have to be one. You have to value books, visit the library and bookstores, and you have to READ everyday, in front of your kids, even being a little selfish with your reading time.
I matched the list to what I knew each child needed as a reader. I kept it simple, but underneath the simplicity was a great deal of purpose; my belief in my critical role as a reading teacher/coach/cheerleader. This summer list follows a year of intense instruction that was personalized for them, that taught them what readers do, and gave them time to read whole chapter books and beautiful picture books. We engaged in amazing discussions of what we read, what we learned, what we believed in. We wrote our stories together, we learned about words together, we wrote informational text together. We had a great year of literacy.
Because, of course, raising a reader is also the work of our schools. Good teachers everywhere know that to be an effective teacher of reading, you too must be a reader. A reader who eats books for lunch- talks about books with friends and colleagues- studies reading behaviors and strategies. Teaching reading (and writing) is an art form. It is not brain surgery. But it is a complex process that involves skill and pedagogy, some gut-level understanding and instinct, and lots and lots of practice and study. Unfortunately, because it is such a complex practice, a few years ago our leaders decided to mandate a scripted, uniform program. It is known as Open Court. It has many good components, but it is a textbook program, a one-size fits all approach, and it is not enough. My friends who teach in Open Court schools know that in order to raise readers, they need to supplement the program with literature and actual books and magazines. In some schools, this is discouraged, and strict adherence to the program is monitored by what some of my friends call the Open Court Police. Yikes.
I rejected the textbook approach to reading almost immediately upon starting my career. I knew in my gut that in order for children to become a reader, they needed to hold a book in their hand and curl up with it. They needed to experience the entire book- not just an excerpt printed in an anthology. They needed to read multiple titles by the same author, and follow a character through a series. And, they needed to read (gasp) nonfiction! Open up an OC book, you won’t find much nonfiction, and what you will find is not what represents the large body of informational texts that we read and study in our everyday life.
So why are we told as parents that all is well in our literacy program? You know the answer; test scores! Just last week, Mike Lansing shared the general opinion of most (but not all!) administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District, “...Since 1999, our instructional efforts prioritized elementary schools and specifically the Open Court reading program. We have been most successful in this endeavor, and the data speaks for itself - we have far outpaced the rest of the state over this time in elementary school student achievement.”
Do we leave it at that? Is that the best we can do? Are the results of a few days of testing- a multiple choice test- enough to tell us the whole story? What about a child's love of a specific book that they read and reread- a book they love with all of their heart? What about asking to be taken to the library-or the bookstore? What about a child's ability to quote their favorite passage? Talk about their favorite author? A child's choice to pick up a book instead of plop in front of a TV?
What about the way they write, and tell their own stories with words that flow and sing? Why don't we talk about that? (Don’t get me started on the so-called writing component of the OC program- that is another discussion entirely.)
I think there is a lot more we need to be asking about (and demanding of) our literacy programs. A test score will give you some basic information about basic literacy. And that is a success story in many of our schools. But it is so limiting, and reading and writing are not. They open us up to different worlds, they allow us to discover and confirm who we are and what we believe in. Good instruction in these areas must match the limitlessness of being a literate person.
Enjoy your summer reading, and let your children see you doing it!
Cathy Scott Skubik teaches at Park Western/ Harbor Magnet in San Pedro.
She has taught for 22 years, and she still loves it.
Her school is NOT an Open Court school.

Dear Underdog Readers:

I wanted to share this story written by Tim Marquez, the father of Paige, a 4-year-old who died of a brain tumor two years ago. He sent me this to share the journey of grief that has taken him and his family to the next level – helping other children and other families who've found themselves locked in a similar nightmare. As I’ve written about Paige over the last couple of years, first as a columnist for More San Pedro, then on my blog, I couldn’t help but feel that impish, elfin girl was with me – dancing around in my head with a perky spirit. After listening to her parents describe her as the family peacemaker, the child who begged her parents not to cry while she was dying and who wanted them to help others, I asked Tim if he would share their efforts with the readers. He gave me permission to post this story below and give you the following information about their upcoming fundraiser – and even more importantly – sharing his struggle with the loss of his child. If you can find it in your heart to attend their second fundraiser, Saturday July 28, at the San Pedro Elks Lodge, you too will be helping to prevent the deaths of sparkling children like Paige.-- Diana

(In the photo above, Paige's sister, Blake (left) holds candle at the Cancer Relay honoring Paige)

UPON OUR GRIEVING JOURNEY; WHY WE ARE RELENTLESSLY FUNDRAISING TO RESEARCH PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMORS SINCE AT LEAST FOUR SAN PEDRO CHILDREN HAVE DIED FROM THEM IN THE PAST TWO YEARS
By Tim Marquez

Dear Diana:

The following paragraph contains information that I have not shared with anyone outside of my immediate family. I am sharing it with you because I am hoping to give you a feel for what we have gone through and continue to go through. I am hoping that you will take that feeling and express it in your next blog. I want your readers to feel motivated to do something about pediatric brain tumors now because you never know who will be next.

Since Paigey died in July 2005, I have known of three other kids in San Pedro who have died from brain and spinal cord tumors. I imagine there are more that I am not aware of. I cannot sit by the wayside in my sadness and accept that Paigey's death was in vain. One day while I was holding Paigey's hand in the hospital I started to cry. She couldn't talk because of the ventilator tube that went into her lungs, so she shook my hand to get my attention. When I looked up at her she gave me a stern look and shook her head left-to-right, "NO". She did not want me or Cheryl to cry. She was a courageous little girl through it all. She was a bright, funny, independent spirit. I believe she was telling us to be strong and courageous like she was. Despite all the pokes, surgeries, treatments, doctors, nurses, and discomfort that she went through, she did not cry. On July 27, 2005, Paige was baptized and responded to all of the priests requests. About two hours later Paige was no longer willing to cooperate with the doctors and nurses. She began kicking both legs high in the air and hitting her hospital bed. She pulled at all of her IV's, blood-gas tubes, ventilator tube, and brain shunt. Even though her body was weak from lying in the hospital bed for nearly 1-1/2 months, she was strong enough to kick and pull. It was then that Cheryl and I knew Paige had had enough. She was done fighting the killer in her head and spine.

The doctors gave us a choice of continuing treatment or removing her from the ventilator; it was the 42nd consecutive worst day of my life. We decided to stop our baby's suffering and let her go. All the tubes and equipment were removed from her except for the IV that was providing sedatives to her dying body. We laid next to her on her bed over the next 60 hours or so talking to her and telling her how good she is and that we love her. She died in her sleep at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, July 30, 2005. After she died we bathed her and we were able to hold her in our arms again. I hadn't been able to hold her since June 16, 2005, when she went into the hospital. I was warned in a dream that this day would be coming. At the end of February, 2005 before we knew Paige was sick, I had a dream that woke me up at 4:30 am. In my dream I was holding one of my three kids in my arms at the hospital and they had died. I could not see their face so I did not know which one it was. I rushed downstairs to check on them and all three were sound asleep in their bed. I was happy that it was only a dream. But now, five months later, it was reality. Cheryl and I took turns holding her for about 45 minutes to an hour. The nurse came in and told us it was time for the hospital staff to take her to the hospital morgue. We asked how they would transport her from the Pediatric ICU to the morgue and she said they would put her in a body bag, then a plastic case. We had the nurse wrap her in her blankey so that her body would not be touching the plastic bag or case. We stayed at the hospital until the mortuary had arrived to take her back to San Pedro and we went home with her.
Approximately 3,000 children are diagnosed each year with brain tumors and there is very little funding available for research and most of the children die before they reach adulthood. There also is not very much public awareness of brain tumors. Scientists and doctors do not know what causes brain tumors nor do they know exactly how to treat them. The surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that is applied is used mostly because there is nothing else available. The treatment also has long term effects on the children's body. While its true that radiation and chemotherapy kills cancer cells, it also kills the healthy cells that surround the cancer. Bones and tissue that are within the treatment area stop growing which means while the rest of the child's body is growing, their spine, skull, and other bones are not growing. For these children and families who survive their initial bout with cancer, funding is needed to provide them with long term care and quality of life. The bottom-line is that more funding is needed for research for a cure and to aid families and children who are afflicted with brain and spinal cord tumors.

If I could give my life so that no other children would have to suffer and die like this I would, but I know that is not possible. For this reason I will spend as much of my time as possible raising money to find a cure, which is why we created Paigey's foundation. She would want her foundation to succeed and I know that in order to do so we need everyone's support.

Thanks for listening to my story and request for help. I appreciate what you have done for us.

Tim Marquez Paigey's Dad Paige L. Marquez Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation P (310) 892-3503 F (310) 774-3956 tmarquez@pacbell.net

What? The 2nd Annual Paige L. Marquez Foundation for the Paige L. Marquez Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
When? Saturday, July 28, 2007/ Cocktails and Silent Auction begin at 5:30 p.m.
Where? San Pedro Elks Lodge, 1748 Cumbre Drive, San Pedro, California
Costs? $70 per person
Included: Live band, dinner, live and silent auction
How you can help?

Here is how you can help besides attending the dinner: Forward the invitation to your friends and family who might be interested; Ask business owners requesting that they donate an item for our silent or live auction. If you know of any business owners who would be interested in donating something for our auction let me know at the above number and I'll contact them.

We are also in need of corporate/business sponsors who would be willing to donate money to offset as much of the cost of the dinner and band as possible. If we sell the maximum capacity of the Lodge the dinner would cost about $11,000.00 ($35.00 per person X 315 people), plus another $1,500.00 to cover the band, d-jay flowers, and supplies. Are you aware of any business owners who are philanthropic and willing to donate to a great cause? In return we would announce their business name during the dinner as being one of our sponsors and they would be listed in our program that will be given out the night of the dinner. If they donate $1,000.00 or more we will give them 2 tickets to the dinner.