Erick Galindo

erick.geee@gmail.com 562-299-7667

Writing Works
New York Times Hispanic Link News Service San Jose Mercury News Pasadena Star-News San Garbiel Valley Tribune

Multimedia
New York Times Hollywood Reporter Pasadena Star-News San Garbiel Valley Tribune Whittier Daily News

Writings
Erick Galindo has covered a variety of topics as a journalist and columnist for award-winning publications that include the Pasadena Star-News, San Jose Mercury News and La Opinion.

problem PUBLISHED JANUARY 09

Writings

New York Times Journalsim Institute - Miami homeless vets death highlights bigger

WWW.NYTIMES-INSTITUTE.COM/MIAMI09

MIAMI Lured by sunshine and balmy seas, Todd Hill came to Miami from his native Oregon three years ago looking for a fresh start. After battling homelessness for 10 years, Hill, 41, a decorated Marine who fought in the first Gulf War, found an apartment and a job as a security guard. But his newfound stability did not last. Eight months after receiving a promotion, he was back on the streets. And on Nov. 26, on the bench he had come to call home, he was beaten severely with a tire iron, and pronounced dead at the hospital. Hill lived his last moments surrounded by junkies sleeping on used garbage bags, in the shadow of the condominiums hed helped build as a homeless laborer. Click on the image above to see more photos and listen to audio clips related to this story. Todd didnt deserve to die like that, said former Marine Samuel Hall, 62, who lived on the streets with Hill. It was just senseless. He was homeless, but he always was willing to help others out. Hill was one of two homeless veterans recently beaten to death here. Ernest Holman, 67, a Vietnam veteran, was killed two weeks after Hill. No arrests have been made in his death. Secrecy Singleton, 29, also homeless, was charged in Hills murder. The killings have heightened concern among the more than 250 homeless veterans in Miami-Dade, representatives for the local Veteran Affairs office said, and prompted a demonstration by dozens of homeless veterans in downtown Miami on New Years Eve. Charles Buford, founder of VetsUnited.org, which is dedicated to feeding and rehabilitating homeless veterans, led the protesters in their demand for more federal money for homeless programs and shelters. There are an estimated 200,000 homeless veterans around the country, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. At least 400 are new veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That number is expected to grow as the economy worsens, the wars in the Middle East continue and more veterans come home struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, advocates for the homeless say.

The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit think tank specializing in government policy, estimates that nearly 300,000 veterans currently suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Post-traumatic stress disorder often increases occurrences of drinking and drug use, as veterans attempt to self-medicate, behavior that can lead to job loss or broken relationships and sometimes homelessness. Thats the one thing that no one is talking about, said Sam Feldman, an Army veteran and vice president of the Miami chapter of Veterans for Peace. After Vietnam, the number of homeless vets went up so high. Now with the economy and the wars, those numbers are going to go up sky high. Its hard out there, Feldman added. Its hard for everyone, but the stress of war multiplies with the stress of everyday life. John Burton, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and is now homeless, said it often takes years for veterans to wind up on the streets. He said the hardest hit veteran is often the one who seems to be making it at first but then falls on hard times. You can have a family and an income and even a place to stay, and then the building you live in gets foreclosed on and you lose everything, Burton said. Its tough, and then you go and drink a beer and then another beer and then maybe smoke a little weed. And there is very little outreach done because the general public does not understand or is far removed from the problem. Hill served as a sniper in the Marine Corps from 1986 to 1991. While he was on duty, his newborn son died. The profound loss he felt led to depression, an illness that scarred Hill for the rest of his life, his friends said. Like many combat veterans, Hill did not like to talk about his mental health problems or his experience during the first Gulf War, said Jim Lineweaver, who worked with Hill as a security guard. Friends described Hill as friendly and good-natured, yet it was clear he was struggling with his illness, Lineweaver added. I tried to get him to go and get assistance, but he was always hesitant at being treated, he said. Instead, Hill started drinking. He went from getting a promotion and being at the top of his game to

the very bottom, Lineweaver said. He fought a battle with alcoholism that negatively affected his performance, and eight months later came a downhill slide. Hill slept on a park bench with a view of the Miami River. Other homeless people slept nearby. During the day, he often sought work at a construction site as a day laborer. Buford, who runs the American Legion Post 29, where veterans and others in need seek help, said the country should do more to assist veterans on the streets. One reason homeless veterans often dont reach out for help is that they dont want to talk to civilians about their problems, he said. Veterans will not talk to non-vets, Buford said. Just the other day someone asked me what a badge I was wearing meant and I just ignored him. He didnt want to hear me say, It means killer! Bufords group helped locate Hills family in Utah after his death. Hill was buried Jan. 7 in the cemetery at Veterans Memorial Park in Riverton, Utah. The American Legion Post 29 is also asking for donations to help bury Holman, since no family has come forward. The government has provided $250, which Buford said is not enough for a proper burial. We want to have the biggest funeral ever for a vet to help draw attention to the plight of the homeless vets, he said. We need everyones help. We need help just to help the homeless. Help may soon be harder to come by at Post 29. Bufords group, which is running short of money, asked if it could defer paying rent on its building at 6445 NE Seventh Ave. But Buford said he was instead handed a rent-increase notice giving him 10 days to reply. If the group is forced to shut its office, it will be unable to continue providing groceries for the 900 households it serves each month. We cant pay, Buford said. We need donations, or else were going to be homeless. As for the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans winding up on the street, homeless advocates worry that this new generation of combat veterans will be ill-prepared to cope with the hardships. For us its over, Feldman said. Were old. Weve survived it, but I feel for the new vets.

PUBLISHED APRIL 07 W W W. R E A LTA L K L A . C O M / A R T I C L E S / SHOW/66-A-CULTURAL-OASIS-STRUGGLESTO-STAY-OPEN/1

Writings

Real Talk LA - Luis Rodrgiuez continues the struggle

We never stopped crossing borders, wrote Luis J. Rodriguez in his 1993 critically acclaimed debut novel and memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. It was a metaphor to fill our lives. The L.A. River, for example, became a new barrier, keeping the Mexicans in their neighborhoods over on the vast east side of the city for years. From always runningfrom cops, rival gangs and his own demons to running a cultural center, youth groups, his own family, newspapers and book signing tours, Rodriguez has made the transition seem easy. I celebrate 14 years of sobriety this year, says the Chicano poet, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 2 and was running with LA street gangs by age 11. I am grateful to have a wonderful wife and partner, Trini Rodriguez. And to have four wonderful children and grand children. But anyone who knows anything about the man will tell you, besides always running, he has always been fighting. The boy who began his battles on the streets of South Central, would go on to fight in a boxing ring, at anti-war rallies and for the Chicano movement. Today the struggle for his raza, the youth and to keep a part of LAs rich Mexican-American heritage alive, continues. His Tia Chuchas Caf Cultural rang in the new year with a notice to move and on February 28 it was forced to close. High-tech laundry machines replaced a bookstore and art house that featured regular live performances and workshops and fed the city of Pacoima with a plethora of cultural education. The laundry company invested millions to get the slot held by Tia Chuchas for the past five years. However, Rodriguez did not let Tia Chuchas out of sight for very long, finding a temporary home at 10258 Foothill Blvd. in Lake View Terrace. We need places like this in every neighborhood, particularly the poor parts of Los Angeles. LA is losing the concept of neighborhood arts. Most arts funding goes to Hollywood and better-off areas like the Westside, he

says. Tia Chuchas didnt come out unscathed in this battle. The center lost its caf, but Rodriguez hopes to raise funding and find a larger permanent space in the next few years. Well still maintain a bookstore, our offices and a performance/workshop space. One of our big fundraisers will be an annual eventTia Chuchas Celebration of Community and Cultureat the Ford Amphitheater. We wont be held back. The celebration, which marks its five-year anniversary, will be held on July 29 and will feature live music, Chicano comedy group Culture Clash, poet John Densmore of the Doors and Rodriguez himself. The celebration is also part of Rodriguezs long-term battle to make progress in the Chicano movement. We have made tremendous strides: bilingual education, more Chicano teachers, a Chicano mayor and various Chicano politicians, among others, he says, but adds that the struggles are long from over. Chicanos are still vastly over-represented in the poverty numbers, among prisoners and drop out rates. And, unfortunately, many of our elected Chicano representatives still need to be more responsive to our concerns. We are the majority in LA, the second largest city in the U.S., yet you wouldnt know by the make up of the power brokers and back-room decision makers. Much has changed; far too much has remained the same. However important todays leaders are in the struggle, Rodriguez sees hope in the future. As older activists, we must help teach and support young people. They are hungry for roots, knowledge and inspiration. Rodriguez, who has his own website (www.luisjrodriguez.com), also feels that the advancements of the 20th century have only served to help the movement by mobilizing youth. New technologies changed how people voice, organize, and protest. For example, 40,000 students walked out of LA schools in March and April of 2006, mostly with the aid of these technologies. He does, however, note that the growing world has created new needs and new hopes in the movement. While we talk about the importance of Chicano leaders like Cesar

Chavez, many of whom were examples for my own political/social participation, today we need many leaders. One of these future leaders may be fellow writer and activist Mario Rocha, who Rodriguez has kind of taken under his wing. I met Mario Rocha through activists I knew in the juvenile hall and prison system. I had heard about this young Chicano who was imprisoned for many years, apparently for a murder he didnt do. He impressed anyone who had anything to do with him with his intelligence, demeanor and talent. I also knew he had read Always Running and was apparently influenced by it. Once he sent me a folder of his poems, and I, too, was impressed. But Rocha would eventually be set free to help his community. I hooked up with him for the first time on the Divine Forces Radio Show with Fidel Rodriguez on KPFK-FM. We were both on the air, talking about writing, mentors, injustice and social change. He came to Tia Chuchas a couple of times since then. While Rochas future freedom isnt guaranteed, Rodriguez feels positive and hopeful that Rocha will help with the modern problems of the Chicano movement. I think there are many Mario Rochas in the so-called justice system. I hope hes finally and fully exonerated. I understand he still has more court appearances. He shouldnt be locked up and forgotten. He should be free, and allowed to contribute to the betterment of our communities. When hes not mentoring youth, preserving Chicano culture or helping the movement, Rodriguez keeps busy writing. I have seven new book projects in the works, including a new novel, another memoir and another childrens book. Theyre all in different stages of development, so its not happening all at once. Im also doing a one-person performance of my long poem Notes of a Bald Cricket at the Ford Amphitheaters Little Theater in June.

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Hispanic Link - Hispanic Groups Plunge Into Network Neutrality Debate

PUBLISHED JANUARY 2010 http://centerformediajustice.org/2010/01/18/hispanic-groupsplunge-into-network-neutrality-debate/

Washington, D.C. High-stakes political maneuvering is dragging Hispanic advocacy groups here deeper into battle over the future of the Internet. As the Federal Communications Commission moves ahead with plans to create a set of rules designed to block online monopolies from forming, supportive consumer protection organizations are pressing ethnic advocacy and civil rights groups, including the Urban League, One Economy and National Council of La Raza, to speak out in support ofnetwork neutrality. Some, such as the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership, are following the lead of telecommunication giants Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. Others are avoiding taking a position opposing the trio. Still others, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and non-white media groups, are lining up with consumer protection groups and Web giant Google. On one point all agree: much is at stake for communities of color. Groups favoring network neutrality are led by the Center for Media Justice. Without it, they fear unequal access and eventual extra costs to poor and non-white communities. Its supporters came from throughout the country in December to try to sway traditional civil rights organizations to back their position. Meeting with several such groups and federal legislators, CMJ encountered minimal opposition to its arguments. This was new information to us, that there were civil rights organizations that believed that network neutrality was an essential policy in protecting the rights and power of people of color online, CMJ executive director Malkia Cyril told Hispanic Link. None outright opposed the idea, she said. Cyril, who spearheaded a series of meetings Dec. 8-10, added that one groups representative called it absurd for any civil rights organization to be opposed to net neutrality. They are taking a measured approach to the issue, Cyril said. To them, the issue is whether this should be on par with broadband adoption and other issues. Cyril noted that the groups invited to the meetings were singled out because of their close partnerships with telecommunications companies and the fact that they had not yet taken a firm stance. Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, told Hispanic Link that a lack of information is at the root of any rift between consumer protection and civil rights groups. Many people of color do not have access to traditional outlets to share their work and have turned to the Internet for that purpose, he elaborated. Cyril added, The leaders of the groups thanked us for

meeting with them face-to-face and not letting one of the telecommunications companies mediate. So far all the information they have been getting has been coming from the telecom companies. Organizations that have deep relationships in communities of color on the ground in regions and states are much more likely to take a pronet neutrality stance because they understand the real impact. LULAC executive director Brent Wilkes argues just the opposite is true. He told Hispanic Link that the average member of the Latino community is more concerned with hackers and viruses. LULACs only opposition to net neutrality is to the nondiscrimination clause, which would prevent Internet service providers from favoring content or access. Wilkes noted that LULACs concern is with any adverse effect that legislation could have on broadband adoption. What we dont want net neutrality to do is drive up price. We know that our communities are price-sensitive, he said, adding that forcing ISPs to provide the same access to other companies content would be unfair since ISPs have invested into building the infrastructure. The only option these companies could redeem the costs of laying the pipe would be to charge more for the data itself. Wilkes denied allegations that LULACs close relationship to AT&T had any influence on the matter. AT&T has donated more than a million dollars to help LULAC gain broadband access to underdeveloped communities and other philanthropic endeavors. Obviously we have to raise money from a variety of sources, but we never shy away from standing up for what we believe is right, he said. That whole argument is really unfair, especially when it only seems to be levied against minority advocacy groups. In this, Nogales agreed with Wilkes. To say that these organizations are doing this for the money is way off, Nogales said. LULAC and these groups do a lot of great things and they have their reasons for opposing net neutrality. Nogales and Cyril agreed that broadband prices would not go up under net neutrality. Our numbers point to the opposite, Nogales said. Cyril said it would be illegal to pass the cost on to consumers, adding she believes that the FCC will pass net neutrality and remains open to working with LULAC and others. There are those all across the country committed to partnering with national civil rights groups in order to promote open networks because we know thats what empowers communities that can vote, that can advocate for themselves online, she concluded.

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Pasadena Star-News - Rose Gudiel wins battle to keep home

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2011 http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_19141174

BASSETT - In stark contrast to last months gatherings at 13930 Proctor Ave., Rose Gudiel and more than 30 supporters Tuesday morning joyfully sang and cheered the news that she will keep her home. On Saturday Gudiel made her first payment in two years on her home after winning a prolonged fight with Pasadena bank OneWest, and Fannie Mae to reverse a foreclosure and eviction. Tuesday, she said she will continue to fight with other distressed homeowners. Im so happy and relieved, but this isnt over for the thousands of people out there on the brink of losing their homes, said Gudiel, whose defiance of a court order to leave her home gained her national recognition. We were fighting against a big giant and people said we could not win this, but we proved them all wrong, an elated Gudiel said. What Ive learned over the past month is that, when you take a stand and fight against some of the most rich and powerful people in our country, you can win. Faced with what many felt was an unfair foreclosure and eviction, Gudiel gained fame when she embarked on a years-long campaign to get her home back through a loan modification. That battle included two years of paperwork, a day in court and several months of public protest, including a brief takeover in August of OneWest headquarters in Pasadena by a group of 50 Gudiel supporters. It all culminated last month in Pasadena, when Gudiel was arrested with her 63-year-old mother, Rosa, and several others on suspicion of unlawful assembly inside Fannie Maes regional headquarters. They were cited and released hours later. After that incident, Gudiel quickly drew comparisons to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who famously refused to move to the back of the bus for white passengers. Hours after being released from Pasadena police custody, Gudiel received notice that the eviction had been called off and that the banks were willing to negotiate. After a week of negotiation, on Friday Gudiel announced she had reached a deal to keep her home. Gudiel will now go on a three-month trial to prove she can continue making payments before the deal is finalized. She noted that it is an affordable remodification and that bank negotiators were very pleasant and very flexible. As part of the agreement, Gudiel said Tuesday she could

not disclose any of the new loan terms. But she noted that the agreement does not preclude her from continuing to fight alongside other distressed homeowners. I am so happy that my family and I will be able to continue living in and making payments on the home that weve worked so hard for, she said. But this fight is not just about me. Through this process I learned that this is the time for homeowners to fight to keep their homes. She also said this is the time for banks to stop railroading hardworking homeowners. These banks are not evaluating us correctly for loan modifications and not using all the tools at their disposal to stop foreclosures, Gudiel noted. Instead they are throwing (people) out on the street while they get rich. According to Peggy Mears, spokeswoman for Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Gudiels victory - along with the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to cities around the world - is proof that Americans are mobilizing against corporate greed. We stood strong and we stood together, she said. And we did what we knew we could do - keep the Gudiels in their home. Peter Kuhns, who directs the Los Angeles office of the homeowners rights group, said ACCE has helped save nearly 20 homes in the past few months. We are continually working on saving more homes, he said. But what we really want is to change the law. ACCE recently failed to get support from Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento to introduce a bill that would make it illegal for banks to simultaneously put homes through the foreclosure and remodification process. Kuhns encouraged homeowners who are ready to fight back to call ACCE at 877-633-9251 or go to www. homedefendersleague.org Gudiel, who is also an ACCE member, noted that fighting back is really about personal commitment. We will stand along side of you, but you must be ready to do whatever it takes, she said. Its about everyone individually to start fighting back.

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San Gabriel Valley Tribune - San Gabriel Mission celebrates 240 years

PUBLISHED AUGUST 11 www.sgvtribune.com/ci_18800949

SAN GABRIEL - Richard Gilbert walked in to Mission San Gabriel Archangel on a hot Wednesday afternoon and he felt the touch of God. I feel more connected to God here than at any church, the visiting Chicago resident said. Im not sure what it is. You just feel closer to God in a mission. Maybe its all the history. The settlement is indeed full of history, said Chuck Lyons, a spokesman for the mission. Its a diary chronicling the birth, growth and turmoil of California, the Los Angeles basin and the San Gabriel Valley. The mission will mark its 240th anniversary over the Labor Day weekend with La Fiesta de San Gabriel. The celebration will begin with a bell-ringing ceremony at 6p.m. Friday and runs through next Sunday on the mission grounds at 428 S. Mission Drive in San Gabriel. Some people look at the Fiesta as just some other carnival, Lyons said. But its much more than that. Its a celebration of the rich tradition of San Gabriel and the rest of the Valley - historical, cultural and religious. Archeological studies show that at least 8,000 years ago the native Tongva tribe settled the San Gabriel Valley and populated most of the L.A. basin. The Tongva influence extended to parts of Orange County as well as the islands of Santa Catalina, San Nicholas, San Clemente and Santa Barbara. The Tongva have been here a long time, Lyons noted. They are the original people of the Los Angeles area. By all accounts the mission got its start in September 1771. A group of missionaries led by Franciscian Father Pedro Cambon were walking along the Rio Hondo near where the present day San Gabriel Boulevard intersects Lincoln Avenue. And there the Old World and New World collided. Imagine walking up the river when you get the feeling something is watching you, Lyons said. All of a sudden, 200 Indians appear with the arrows and you think youre going to die. One of the padres laid a painting of Our Lady of Sorrows on the ground. The Tongva were so moved by its beauty that they immediately made peace with the missionaries. The priests were able to use friendly gestures and eventually shared a meal with the Tongva. Today, Our Lady of Sorrows remains an important part of the missions history. The 300-year-old painting still hangs in the missions sanctuary, representing the peace that led to a historic feast. The Feast of the Birth of Mary marked the founding of the mission Sept. 8, 1771, at its original site.

It was just the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish missions in California, then a much larger region known as Alta California. But constant flooding was a problem in the area known to the natives as Shevaanga, Lyons noted. Every winter, floods would affect farming and buildings. In 1776, a large flash flood destroyed many crops and much of the mission. According to Lyons, the padres heard of a better location, where flooding was not a problem. The mission was rebuilt five miles north - closer to the mountains - in San Gabriel, in the native village of Sibangna. Many of the Tongva, which were renamed Gabrielino by the Spanish because of their association with the mission, were converted to Catholicism. The mission grew to be known as the Pride of the Missions, Lyons said. It supplied many of the other missions and settlements with the necessities of life from its lands, which stretched from the ocean to the mountains and east to the Banning area of Riverside County. The mission was designed by Father Antonio Cruzado and named after the archangel Gabriel, the patron saint of earthquakes. Cruzado was originally from Cordova, Spain and built much of the mission with a Moorish influence, Lyons pointed out. Its bell tower and outside stairway are different from the other missions, as is its construction from stone, brick and mortar instead of adobe. The mission also featured large wooden doors made from California redwoods, which are on display near the missions museum. I believe we have more historical artifacts than any other mission, Lyons said. Many are in need of restoration, but they are priceless, like family heirlooms of the San Gabriel Valleys history. For hundreds of years the mission has been a part of that history. It was the site of the regions first hospital and the birth site of the last Spanish governor of Alta California, Pio Pico. A large stone cross stands in the center of the Campo Santo cemetery, L.A. Countys first consecrated cemetery. Californias first ever vineyard was at the mission. In 1834, when Gov. Pico confiscated San Gabriel from the priests, the mission had more than 163,000 vines in four vineyards. The mission was also a significant place for the birth of the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was from the San Gabriel Mission that 11 families left on Sept. 4, 1781 to found El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles. In 1776, the mission hosted Colonel Juan Bautista De Anza and more than 200 colonists and soldiers from the now Mexican state of Sonora. The

group feasted and rested at the mission before leaving for San Francisco. Beyond the paintings, artifacts, replicas and monuments at the mission, the settlement serves as a reminder of the regions diversity, noted Whittier resident Barbara Stone during a visit to the mission with her husband, Harry, and their three grandchildren. Its important to our history that we remember that this country wasnt founded by some monolithic society, said Stone, a retired professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton. From the beginning, we came from a diverse culture. Lyons said that some of the diversity led to a clashing of cultures between the natives and the new settlers. There was some mistreatment, Lyons said. The mission period began an embattled relationship between the tribe and the Europeans, said Anthony Morales Sr., otherwise known as Chief Red Blood of the Gabrielino/ Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. The Spanish and these padres came and founded these 21 missions to Christianize the Indians, he said. Unfortunately, our people paid the price. We got the trouble that came with it. According to Lyons, there were about 2,000 Gabrielinos when the mission was founded. They were nearly wiped out by mistreatment, murder and disease. Our people learned a lot from the padres about agriculture and farming, trade and how to work with hides, Morales said. And we learned a lot about their culture. But with that, came enslavement and they killed us and took advantage of our women. According to Morales, the tribes relationship with the mission is still strong because it is about paying our respects to our ancestors. Six thousand Tongva are buried on the mission grounds. The tribe still participates each year in the annual celebrations, which include storytelling, dance, Mass and carnival games. This year the tribe will get the honor of blessing the direction before the Sept. 3 Mass, Lyons said. We go and we pray for our people, Morales said. And we try and keep our traditions and history alive. This town has a lot of history. Our people have a lot of history; unless we keep it alive, our ancestors died in vain.

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San Jose Mercury News - Jobless find refuge in home-based boon

PUBLISHED JANUARY 11 www.mercurynews.com/ci_ 17043244

Onofre Gonzalez was living paycheck to paycheck as a construction worker before he was laid off two years ago. I was really stressed out, not sure of how I was going to support my family or pay my mortgage, he recalled. Luckily for Gonzalez, his wife and three kids, he went from almost losing his Whittier home to making it the base of his own business. Gonzalez started Splice of Life Now, a home-based business that provides marketing tools for start-ups. In doing so, he joined the millions of home-based businesses that have sprung from the layoffs and firings of the Great Recession. With the national unemployment rate at 9.4 percent and Californias rate at 12.4 percent, there is no better time to take charge of your financial situation, noted Derek Romo, general manager of the Work at Home Business Expo. According to research firm International Data Corp., more than 2 million Americans have launched their own home-based business since 2008. Since the height of the dot com boon in 1999 (9.48 million), the number almost doubled to 18.4 million home-based businesses in 2009. The home-based industry is expected to grow by 350,000 businesses every year for the next few years - a trend that is most prevalent in tech-savvy Southern California. Technology has made it possible for home-based businesses to thrive without having to constantly put money into mass infrastructure, Romo noted. Paul Little, president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, echoed Romos assessments and noted that the San Gabriel Valley has seen an uptick in home-based ownership. I think there are probably several reasons for that, including the relatively low start-up costs, little or no initial overhead and a lower risk of losses, he said. West Covina Chamber President Drexel Smith also has seen the trend growing in the Valley. A growing percentage of business licenses in West Covina are for home-based businesses, he said. He also pointed out that the industrys growth is not only in numbers but economic importance. Home-based businesses now represent a significant

element of our economy, smith noted. In 1985, the first year the government began keeping records on home-based employment, 2.2 million persons worked exclusively at home. Today the Small Business Administration estimates that 53 percent of all U.S. small businesses are home-based. Nearly half of those supply 50 percent or more of household income. Joan DeSouza supplies her entire income from her home-based business PartyLite. Out of her home in Pasadena, DeSouza runs a multilevel marketing businesses that sells candles and gourmet food. DeSouza was a customer service manager at the Los Angeles Times before she took a voluntary buyout. She was rehired as a consultant when she discovered PartyLite. I started doing it part-time as something fun to do, then I realized it was something I could make a lot of money at while making my own hours. According to the Home-based Business Institute, most home-based business owners are successful in passing the initial hump that can bankrupt small business owners. Nearly 70 percent of home-based shops will last over a three-year period, compared to 29 percent of other business ventures, the institute estimates. This can be attributed to the vast experience possessed by most of the owners, Little noted. A fair number of the people who lost their jobs during this recession were middle-aged professionals who have career skills they worked years to develop, he said. According to Gonzalez, another reason most homebased start-ups last is because of the special relationship owners have with their business. This is it for a lot of us, he said. You go from working a lot of hours and missing your family in a job that isnt even secure, to making the same or more in a lot less hours. You dont want to let go of that.

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Pasadena Star-News - Extreme couponing takes over SGV

PUBLISHED JANUARY 11 http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_18585280

For Allison Young, clipping coupons started innocently enough - a few choice deals here and there - but now it has become a full-blown war on high costs. The best way to maximize (savings) is to go as soon as the ad is valid, the La Puente resident said. You want to have more than one of the highest dollar coupons, ideally at a store that will stack or double. Young is part of a craze known as extreme couponing, where ordinary shoppers take savings to the next level. The goal of an extreme couponer is to save as much money as possible while accumulating the most groceries. The extreme part comes in the amount of commitment a shopper is willing to put into clipping, noted Beatriz Pila, a Whittier native who now lives in Rancho Santa Margarita. I carry around two three-inch binders full of coupons wherever I go, said Pila who travels all over Los Angeles and Orange counties looking for deals. I have four newspapers delivered to my house every Sunday and two to my moms house in Whittier. I take the extra paper, plus any coupons she doesnt want from the first paper. Fueled by the poor economy, the trend has led to backto-back record-breaking years in 2009 and 2010 for coupon distribution in the consumer packaged goods market, according to NCH Marketing. In 2010 coupon distribution reached 332 billion - the largest single-year distribution quantity ever recorded in the U.S. While the coupons are part of a marketing campaign by grocers and other retailers, Young, who works as an accountant in Baldwin Park, thinks shoppers are getting the best part of the deal. And she said the savings make all the exhaustive bargain searching worth while. I didnt intend to be an extreme couponer when I first started to clip, she noted. I also couldnt believe it was legal to pay such low prices. Grocer margins are already low and then the coupons are deducted. According to NCH, consumers have saved $2 billion with coupons through the first half of 2011. Thats up 5.3 percent from the first half of 2010. As a new home owner ... Im always looking to save every last penny, said Patrick Chen, a Covina native who recently bought a new home in Fontana.

The huge savings were enough to make Pila an extreme shopper after just one trip to the market. I was able to save 97 percent off my grocery bill and I was hooked, Pila recalled Wednesday afternoon. She had just returned from a successful trip to Walgreens, where she bought two bags of licorice, two packs of rubber bands and two Irish Spring deodorants. I paid $7.20, she said. I saved $17.04 with my coupons and sale items and I got back $8 register rewards to use for my next purchase. So I made an 80 cent profit on this shopping trip. But saving is only half of the fun. Extreme couponing is about developing a strategy. Part of the fun is the constantly changing policies- Target just modified theirs, but until then I was getting their Morning Star Burgers almost free, Young said. The best coupons are on products new to market, she added. Between in-store promotional pricing and a coupon there are a lot of things - mostly smelly house cleaning products - you can try almost free, Young noted. And bring a smile. You wont be alone on the quest around the store to the sale items with coupons. Some plans for savings are fairly simple, like Chengs plan to find ways to stack and combine coupons. Using store price match policy to your advantage is also another good resource, he said. Other extreme couponers are willing to go through much more to get what they need. I track all of my purchases on a spreadsheet that tells me the date of my purchase, the store, amount I paid, amount I saved and if I got any extra dollars off coupons for future shopping trips, Pila said. Even with all the savings out there for consumers, there are fewer coupons for perishable goods, which would help many people in need, Young pointed out. The ugly truth: There are infrequently coupons for fresh fruit, she said. I find that people on tight budgets could really use some spinach more than room spray, but we live in a imperfect, though spring fresh scented, world.

Writings
PUBLISHED MAY 06

8.5 Magazine - OK Go dances into mainstream

From dancing in and out of part-time jobs to dancing in front of millions to bring in the new year, the OK Go have come along way. As OKs bass man Tim Nordwind puts it, (It was) 11:30 at night and we got to play three songs while dancing on a roof in Time Square to bring in the new year. That has been the biggest highlight so far. Nordwind admits that it hasnt been long enough since the band members have quit their day jobs. I worked in a theater and although the pay was shitty, it was real cool. If I had to take off for about three months to tour or something they were totally cool about it. He also says that his band mates, Damian Kulash (vocals, guitar), Dan Konopka (drums) and Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards), who had descent jobs also recently quit amidst the success of the past year. We are relishing it, says Nordwind. The band is coming off of the release of its latest single Do What You Want from the Oh No LP and has amassed a massive cult following, topping the UK charts. Nordwind admits that the bands second album has put some distance between OKs intentionally overproduced debut OK Go. The first record was synthetic sounding, with a lot of sugar. This new album is raw and has more of a live energy, he adds. We tried to make a record that really captured what we do live. Weve gotten where we are because we are a really good live band. Kulash agrees saying, on the bands Web site, We wanted to make an album that sounds like our band, and not a heady, self-conscious studio project. Everyone tells us rock and roll is a shadow of itself - a sad old milk cow smiling at the farmer every morning. We still see a bucking bull smashing around the stable. Although the band has made its bones on tour Nordwind finds that the experience recording is just as exciting. The grass is always greener on the other side. When we are on tour after the first four weeks, I really feel like being in one place. But after a month in the studio I kind of just

want to go out and get some immediate feedback. Instantaneity may be behind the bands comprehensive Web site, www.okgo.net, which features everything from a blog to podcast. It does everything, but pick up the paper, says Nordwind jokingly. Damian and I travel around the country recording the interesting things people say. The whole thing is part of our master plan to brain wash fans and it works. The bassist says that fans have sent in numerous eccentricities including models of the band made out of peppermints. He also says that the Web has been a great tool in interaction with the fans and attributes some of the bands success to ogko.net. However, most of it he attributes to the family-like comradery that he and his mates share. We fight, we shout, we break up and get back together again. We have all the ingredients of a family. He also feels that success can lead to failure if the wrong people get a hold on you. Its easy to get caught up in the corporation. Its easy to fall into the trap. Thats why you have to define the rules yourself. Like us, we never let down. We ran into problems with the label and thats why the first album was done a certain way, but this time we took of to Sweden to record, a thousand miles away from our label. Although he also admits that it is a bit harder coming into the business, he advises unsigned bands to find flexible jobs and to never let up. There are several ingredients to success: humor, enjoyment, self promotion, creative thinking, but you just have to go out, be flexible and define success for yourself.

New Media
Erick Galindo has reported on everything from plantain bandits in Puerto Rico to finance and politics in Washington D.C. to the economic woes of musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans to the collapse of housing market in Los Angeles. And Ive done it with audio, video, photo, blogs and social media.

Videos
Homeless Vets In Miami
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/ bcpid6217805001/bctid6859117001

On location in Florida, we set out to do a short piece on the growing homeless veteran population in Miami Dade County. The piece highlights the gritty streets through the eyes of three homeless veterans.

Occupy the Rose Parade

http://youtu.be/CNcmWyDLYsE

Dec. 29, PASADENA: Occupy the Rose Parade plans to descend upon the annual showcase of flowered floats and bands with a undetermined number of protesters.

Videos
Who Will Fight Your War?
http://youtu.be/dTCTSSatSHA

This was an editorial video that took the angel of children speaking out against the war in Iraq. Most of it was shot during the annual Iraq war march that ended in front of the CNN building on Sunset Blvd.

LAX Protest
http://youtu.be/MbwJ_T4vRF4

Residents countersued the city in December in their dispute over the residents attempts to start a wine bar at this home. Jeff and Taryn Hildreth obtained a CUP more than a decade ago, but the city says he let it expire, then began building without permits. Now hes had to fight to keep a receiver from taking over.

Interactive
The Wind Storm
multimedia package
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/specialreports

Special coverage of a Dec. 2011 wind strom that devestated the Pasadena area included a constant stream of news updates, videos, phots and an interactive map created by user generated content.

Safe Schools: A Special Report

Intaractive microsite
http://www.sgvtribune.com/safeschools

An interactive microsite that keeps track of teacher misconduct at schools in the San Gabriel Valley. It includes reader responses and reporting, a Twitter widget, a stream of stories and a timeline of public request forms and the responses by school officials.

Interactive
Special Report: Cold Cases
Interactive microsite
cases/ http://www.whittierdailynews.com/cold-

This interactive package about unsolved murders in LA County includes a story stream, a featured case section and a slideshow. It also allows readers to give tips, react and even plot general crimes in our Neighborhood Watch interactive map. Special: San Marino Murder Mystery

Interacitve microsite

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/mystery

This interactive site chronicles the ongoing coverage of one of the regions most notrious crimes. It incluides histrocial data, Twitter widgets, a story stream, video playlist and photo media center.

Interactive
The Hollywood Reporter
interactive content
http://www.thr.com

For The Hollywood Reporter, creating interactive content was not only a daily task but an hourly task. Besides photos, editing, headlines and packaging, there was also building daily newsletters.

interactive package
http://www.nytimes-institute.com/miami09/2009/01/10/ photo-gallery-and-podcast-vets-on-the-street/

The New York Times

This interactive piece on life on the streets of Miami Dade for United States veterans was one of the scariest and most fun projects to work on in the entire internship for The NY Times. It took several days and dangerous nights in one of the poorest counties in the country.

Photo

Obamacare
n the midst of the health care debate President Obama invited the media to the White House on July 22 to pitch his plan to the public on primetime television. The president stressed some moral, but mainly financial reasons that the country was in need of reform. Forty-six million people are currently uninsured.

The president stumps for health reform on primetime

Photo

PROTEST en la capital
Estado Unido: Rep. Luis Gutirrez (D-Ill.) on the bottom right corner outlines the immigration bill he plans to introduce to Congress on Oct. 13 during a mass rally hosted by Reform Immigration FOR America. Thousands gathered on the west lawn of the Capitol calling for President Obama to deliver on his promise to reform immigration laws. They carried U.S. flags and those of their home state. A few waved flags from their country of origin. The immigrant advocate bussed more than 700 people to D.C. from throughout the United States. Congregations from Texas, California, The rally was well organized. It featured a childrens choir from Maryland, pictured in the bottom-right corner. The children sang the National Anthem and various U.S. folk songs such as Woody Guthries This Land Is My Land.

Photo

Post-Katrina NOLA
n the years after Huricane Katrina, the city has begun to recover with its musicians hardest hit by the loss of property, venues and tourist dollars.

BIG EASY

Photo Photo

n the midst of the health care debate President Obama invited the media to the White House on July 22 to pitch his plan to the public on primetime television. The president stressed some moral, but mainly financial reasons that the country was in need of reform. Forty-six million people are currently uninsured. STANDING UP: A plantain farmer in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico decides to stand up to a gang of bandits that have plagued his farm. After the governments failure to curb the criminals recent crime spree, Javier Gonzales and his workers began protecting their farm with force.

Plantain Bandits

The president stumps for health reform on primetime

Photo

fter President Obama nominated the first-ever Latina to the Supreme Court, her confirmation was nearly guaranteed, but that didnt stop anti-abortion advocates like the one on the bottom right from coming to the capital for Sonia Sotomayors week-long confirmation hearings and protest her appointment. Nor did it stop her supporters from holding rallies all around Capitol Hill. In the end the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm opening the vote to the entire Senate which overwhelmingly approved her confirmation as the first Hispanic judge to serve on the highest court in the country.

Justice Sotomayor
One week of hearings is a moment in all of history

The New York Times

Social Media
http://www.nytimes-institute.com/miami09/2009/01/04/workshop-iii-interviewtechniques/

I was selected as one of only 20 student journalists by The New York Times to intern and its prestigious Journalism Institute and for my first assignment I had to blog. The Institute is fully converged to new media so this was no surprise to me.

Live chat community outreach

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_20326189

We reached out to the community for a live chat on the Kendrec McDade case, a former Azusa High School football player who was killed in an officerinvolved shooting in Pasadena.

Social Media
Fabula Dico stories from the Capital
http://fabuladico.wordpress.com/

Blogging the ins and outs of politics in Washington , D.C., especially as they pertained to minority groups. Highlights include live blogging the Sonia Sotamayor confirmation hearings.

Streaming Video

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sgvn-roseparade-2012-coverage

We took to Ustream to offer some unique perspectives of the 2012 Rose Parade. This inlcuded live streaiming some of the untelevised events and live coverage of the Occupy protests.

Social Media
Facebook SGVTribune
http://www.facebook.com/sgvtribune

The Facebook page for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune takes full advantage of Facebook plugins to host contests, videos and engage users. The timeline feature also provides an opportunity to showcase some of the papers history.

Twitter

http://twitter.com/passtarnews

Since taking over management of Interactive for SGVN, The Star-News Twitter account has grown by more than 200 percent, as has @SGVTribune, due largely to an increase in content, live tweeting and reader engagement.