Campus News Fall 2018 Issue 6

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Global Awareness conference to debate food issues VOLUME 76, ISSUE 6 | ELACCAMPUSNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018 SINGLE COPY FREE - ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS

Undocumented Student Action Week advises students on constitutional rights LUIS CASTILLA Staff Writer The Dream Resource Center held a web conference and film screening for Undocumented Student Week of Action in the Writing Center yesterday. The event was hosted by Brian Barrick, Dream Resource Center student special services specialist and featured a web conference by Immigrants Rising. The theme of the event was “In the Know.” Immigrants Rising is an organization dedicated to helping undocumented citizens with their education, careers and legal situation. The web conference focused on how undocumented youth could use Immigrants Rising’s website, www.immigrantsrising.org, to get information about immigration programs and their status. One program they provide is Immigration Law Intake Service. ILIS is a form of online legal screenings that give undocumented residents a memo with potential remedies and other resources. These resources aim to help with their immigration status and lead them to citizenship. The registration takes between 10 and 30 minutes. The memo takes two to four weeks for the Immigrants Rising legal team to complete. Applicants are encouraged to take this memo to a lawyer for further legal help. ILIS is free, anonymous and confidential. The representatives for Immigrants Rising also explained the Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act. U n d e r F E R PA , students are ensured confidentiality from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigrants Rising also advised students not to give any information or paperwork to ICE, should they be detained. Instead, a card with detailed information about constitutional

Immigrants Rising is an organization dedicated to helping undocumented citizens with their education, career and legal situation.

rights should be given to the ICE agent. Barrick handed these cards out during the presentation to those who attended in person. They can also be found on www. redcardorders.com. After the web conference, a film screening of “America, I Too” was presented. The short film was made by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant

WWW.REDCARDORDERS.COM

Rights of Los Angeles. CHIRLA is a Los Angeles-based organization that helps immigrants with legal issues. The film focused around Manny, an undocumented young man who is arrested for tagging. In reality, he was signing his name on a mural he was hired to paint. He is then detained by ICE after it is revealed that he is an undocumented immigrant. Also detained by ICE is Ahmed, a pizza man from Somalia and Myeong, the Japanese grandmother and sole caretaker of a little girl with autism. Throughout the short film, their situations are somewhat resolved. Manny’s family lawyer is able to keep him from being deported and he gets to go home. Manny helps Ahmed while both are in custody, telling him, “Don’t just take the deportation when you don’t understand the situation.” Ahmed then gets a lawyer to look into his case. She explains that because Ahmed was the victim of a crime, he may be eligible for citizenship. Myeong is allowed to stay in the United States for humanitarian reasons, but must wear an ankle bracelet. The film gave viewers insight into different situations where immigrants are detained by ICE. This way, they too will be prepared for such a situation. The film ends with a message reading, “You have constitutional rights. Be ready to fight for them.” Undocumented Student Action Week will continue with two events each day at the Writing Center in E3-220 on Wednesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. and at 2 p.m..

STEVEN ADAMO Staff Writer Food is the main topic of discussion at the Global Awareness In The 21st Century, a conference organized for students by ELAC faculty and staff. This year’s conference will take place Nov. 16. The keynote speaker for this year’s conference is Sarah Portnoy, associate professor of Spanish at USC. The focus of Portnoy’s research is Hispanic culinary culture in Los Angeles and how it relates to other topics like globalization, identity, immigration, community and political/social issues. “I am particularly interested in food and health/policy issues. I have been researching about issues of diabetes and obesity in the Hispanic community and discussing the issue with experts in the field at USC in order to bring this knowledge to my class,” Portnoy said on the USC website. The conference will feature speakers discussing multiple topics including access to nutritional food and clean water, food insecurity, farmer’s and worker ’s rights, food waste, Global Consumerism and the Fishing Industry, food and etiquette across the globe, dietary lifestyles, and the fetishization of food. Also featured will be the discussion of the effects of Climate Change and how the environment is affected by the production, distribution, consumption, and waste of food. Popular misunderstandings

about substances like Gluten will also be discussed. “We personify an ingredient like gluten, and we say “evil gluten,” but it’s really the Monsantos-- it’s the processing of our food where we have to wage the political battle,” said Norma Vega, professor of modern languages. The conference began in 2015 by Vega and former dean at ELAC, Vi Ly. The idea for the conference began as a way to bring more dialogue into academic topics among faculty. “We knew that with the exception of the Honors Program, our students were not given the opportunity to cultivate an interest in academics outside the classes they take, so we came up with this idea of creating a space in which faculty and students could discuss the most pressing issues of our times,” Vega said. “Those particularly related to the social, political and environmental challenges we currently face.” There will also be performance pieces plus discussions about artists like Andrea Chung who use sugar as a medium to bring attention to political and economical issues. The conference takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A free continental breakfast will be served and participating ELAC clubs will be selling food items for lunch. Visit bit.ly/ELACGlobal2018 to reserve a spot. The event is free to students.

Venice Room remains open Classic bar and grill keeps original flavors despite ownership change JUAN CALVILLO Staff Writer

CN/STEVEN ADAMO

KEEPING IT CLASSIC—The Venice Room’s old-school neon sign can be seen on Garfield Avenue in Monterey Park, especially at night when lit.

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Despite rumors of closure, The Venice Room in Monterey Park will continue to operate and provide an Italian-style bar and restaurant experience. The Lombardo family, who started the restaurant more than 60 years ago, will no longer be in charge of the restaurant’s dealings. Sam Lombardo, son of Joseph and Mary Lombardo however, wants the public to know the new management at The Venice Room want to keep things going the same way. “The new owners are enthusiastic about keeping The Venice Room the way it has always been. We’ve been here more than 60 years. In that 60 year period of time, we’ve had relatives run the place for us. So, no. It will be open and it will be the same.” said Lombardo. The transition from the Lombardo family over to the group of investors, Da Crunch, Inc, finalized on Oct. 11. The new manager at The Venice Room, Raymond Rivera, wanted to make sure people understood that he and the group were committed to keeping the restaurant the way he remembers it. The Venice Room was not one of Rivera’s usual hangouts.

The Great California ShakeOut

ELAC will participate in the annual earthquake drill on Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. The campus speaker system, phone and text messaging systems will sound to notify students.

He said he stopped in at times with friends, and that he understood the restaurant’s charm and uniqueness. “From those first couple of times, I mean, it was definitely a unique place; some place you would have to come back to every now and then, just for a good ol’ beer and steak,” said Rivera. Rivera wants locals to be assured that although the people running The Venice Room aren’t the Lombardos, the investors placed him there to make sure things stay the same. “There’s been people questioning that The Venice Room is too good to stay the same,” said Rivera. He said that whenever there is a change behind the scenes, people assume that something always changes, be it prices, atmosphere, or even the name itself. But, he said that that is not the plan here. “You know, for the most part, the culture, the crowd, you know the food, everything that’s here to stay we plan on keeping it the same,” said Rivera. Yet some customers have reservations about the new faces at The Venice Room. One such person is East Los Angeles College Vice President, Ruben Arenas. Having just found the restaurant, Arenas was taken aback upon hearing of the impending changes.

G8 building open house

An open house for the new G8 building will be on Thursday from 12:10 p.m. - 1:35 p.m. in the lobby. This includes a tour, a chance to meet the facutly while learning the disciplines and free donuts.

“As a recent patron, I am terrified that the change in ownership will result in higher prices, the disappearance of the cook-yourown-steak experience, or changes to the unique decor,” said Arenas. But others, like Cesar Sanchez, a frequent customer over the years, aren’t too concerned. Having first found The Venice Room 20 years ago after a long day at work, he said that despite the changes in management over the years the restaurant has always remained the same.

“You know for the most part, the culture, the crowd, you know the food. Everything that’s here to stay, we plan on keeping it the same.“ RAYMOND RIVERA

New manager at The Venice Room

Sanchez said that the restaurant is, “a nice place. Like a ‘Cheers’ place. Very homely place. Never seen any problems.” Making sure things stay on course, Rivera came to The Venice Room more than a month ago to brush up on what it would take to

run the local spot. He shadowed Lombardo in his day to day, trying to pick up the way Lombardo ran the restaurant, in an effort to provide a smooth transition. “It’s a different bar and grill than any other place out there. I’ve been to many other bars before, and none like this where you look over your shoulder and it’s like everyone knows each other. Everyone is close, everyone is like family,” said Rivera. Lombardo said that family is the very reason the transition had to occur. Lombardo said that his sons Joe and Justin, and his nephews Daniel and Michael all had worked at the restaurant over the years, but that their lives took them in different directions. Lombardo added that he is now close to his 70th birthday and after working at The Venice Room for 30 years, he decided he really wanted to spend some time with his grandkids. The Lombardo’s have local properties and businesses in the area, making it easy for them to keep tabs on the goings at The Venice Room. “It’s not like we’re leaving the area. We’re just leaving the daily responsibility of The Venice Room, but we’ll always have a watchful eye on it,” said Lombardo.

Voter Registration deadline October 22 There is only one week left to register to vote by mail and beat the Oct. 22 deadline. The deadline to register to vote in person is on Election Day, Nov. 6.


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Campus News Fall 2018 Issue 6 by Editor in Chief Campus News - Issuu