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San Diego Community Newspaper Group
“Inside Hana’s Suitcase”
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
5films
to create tomorrow’s leaders Film festival at Country Day aims to help today’s youth become future trailblazers
Scott Appleby & Kerry ApplebyPayne A Family Tradition of Real Estate Success
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www.SDNEWS.com Volume 17, Number 38
Disabled beachgoers can now step closer to the ocean
BY MARIKO LAMB | VILLAGE NEWS
“Sing Your Song”
La Jolla Shores Surfing Association member and paraplegic Amelia Opean, aided by a helper, demonstrates how the new beach wheelchair provides easy access into the ocean for a swim. MARIKO LAMB | Village News
After a few film-loving moms attended the Sundance Film Festival last year, they simply could not get the extraordinary films they saw out of their minds. The independent films, which rarely make it to large commercial theaters, contained powerful messages and riveting stories that most people would never get the chance to see and experience. More importantly, the films would never reach the eyes and ears of the films’ most crucial audience — the young leaders of tomorrow. The San Diego-based moms — Pat Hughes, Kathryn Brinton and Carol Tager — banded together with a determination to bring these vital messages home and share their film-going experience with the youth in their community. The result of this steadfast determination was the birth of Moms With Issues (MWI), a partnership among the three women who made it their mission to employ the art of cinema to encourage teenagers to become the innovative minds and influential leaders of tomorrow. MWI, in conjunction with La Jolla Country Day School (LJCDS), will screen five carefully selected, highly acclaimed independent films on the school’s grounds for MWI’s debut Young Leaders Film Festival — a three-day film festival complete with feature film presentations, expert panel discussions, student participation and short film screenings.
BY MARIKO LAMB | VILLAGE NEWS
SEE FILMS, Page 2
are masterfully “These crafted films with social, political or cultural themes involving courage, conflict, leadership and possibility. “Sing Your Song”
From left, Pat Hughes, Kathryn Brinton and Carol Tager formed Moms With Issues after a trip to the Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy photo
PAT HUGHES MOMS WITH ISSUES
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Bartenders and chefs vie for top-notch recognition BY KENDRA HARTMANN | VILLAGE NEWS
Adam Stemmler vies for a win at a previous Bartender Shakedown. Guests at the event will get the chance to sample the competitors’ tasty creations. Courtesy photos
In an event pitting the best chefs and bartenders from San Diego’s coastal communities against one another, the San Diego Spirits Festival is gearing up for another round of the Chef/Bartender Shakedown. Held this year on the patio of the La Valencia, the culinary competition will be more spectacular than ever, pairing chefs with mixologists and challenging them to create a small plate and a cocktail that complement each other. The payoff, according to La Jollan Liz
Edwards, founder of the Spirits Festival and organizer of the competition, lies in the title. “It’s just a fun event,” she said. “The winner gets a grand prize — a custom-built website — but this is bragging rights more than anything else.” For the competition, the chefs will be challenged to create a dish using at least one of the provided ingredients, including Mt. Cook Salmon, which will be flown in fresh from New Zealand just before the event. The bartenders, likewise, will have to use at least one of the approved alcohols — SEE SHAKEDOWN, Page 12
When the ocean’s call beckons, San Diego’s residents and visitors alike flock to the coastal communities by the hundreds, particularly during the city’s warm summer months. For beachgoers with disabilities, however, a simple venture to the beach can be a daunting and discouraging undertaking. Amelia Opean spearheaded the Now, thanks to fundraising effort to fix a broken beach wheelchair last year. Little the efforts of coundid she know that community cilmembers, comgroups and councilmembers munity groups and Sherri Lightner, Kevin Faulconer advocates for those and Todd Gloria would band with disabilities, together to supply three new wheelchair-bound beach wheelchairs for the city's busiest beaches. beachgoers, too, can MARIKO LAMB | Village News effortlessly answer the ocean’s enticing call. Just in time for summer, community leaders have banded together to supply three new beach wheelchairs at San Diego’s busiest beaches. The wheelchairs, which have oversize, all-terrain wheels and a water-friendly cushioned seat, allow those who are mobility disabled to easily access the ocean, at no cost to the user. La Jolla Shores Surfing Association member Amelia Opean — an avid swimmer and wheelchair-bound paraplegic — spearheaded the fundraising effort to fix La Jolla Shores’ only beach wheelchair last year. “I’ve been swimming down at La Jolla Shores about six years,” she said. “The chair wasn’t working too well last year, so I stepped up to raise some money to get it fixed. Co-workers, friends, families — we all pitched in, and the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association was generous enough to match those funds.” When area councilmembers Sherri Lightner, Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria discovered Opean’s efforts, they, too, decided to donate funds from their own office SEE WHEELCHAIRS, Page 2