La Jolla Village News, November 22nd, 2012

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VILLAGE NEWS

Scott Appleby & Kerry ApplebyPayne

LA JOLLA

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2012

San Diego Community Newspaper Group

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www.SDNEWS.com Volume 18, Number 8

Art that never

stands still BY KENDRA HARTMANN | VILLAGE NEWS any people spend much of their lives trying to figure out what they want to do with themselves. Statistics are often cited — and just as often disputed — on how many times the average American switches careers in their lifetime (seven seems to be a commonly quoted figure). Jon Vietor is not one of those average statistics. Vietor seems to have always known he wanted to do art. In fact, in the highly uncommon, often mutable path of his life, the one common denominator has overwhelmingly been his artistic creations. The great-grandson of the original patent holder for Jell-O, Vietor grew up splitting his time between San Francisco and La Jolla, with a stint in boarding school in Colorado and some time in Santa Barbara. Starting in 1980, after taking some art classes at Santa Barbara City College, Vietor started creating paintings of Navajo rugs in acrylic, and he never looked back. Four years and more art classes later — these at San Diego City College, Vietor now having settled down in San Diego — his focus shifted to paintings of freeways and abstract still-lifes of decorative desserts. “I learned a lot about perspective and how to use colors during that time,” Vietor said. For the next few decades, his style continued to, and still does, morph and evolve. Vietor began experimenting with different media, even incorporating objects like leaves, twigs and branches into relief paintings. A series of enamel paintings led to a phase during which he painted masonite panels, after which he began melting crayon wax with an iron. All during that time — which brings his art career up to about the 1990s — Vietor was also making a habit of going down to La Jolla Shores beach with a boom box and a canvas. He would listen to music — mostly Brazilian jazz and movie soundtracks — and create wildly colorful abstract representations of the coastline. “People would be coming up to me, talking to me about my art,” he said. “I did that for 10 years down there, and I amassed a huge collection of these beach scenes.”

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SEE ART, Page 8

Paintings from Jon Vietor’s coffee cup exhibit at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

LJHS rallies the troops to Conquer the Cuts BY MARIKO LAMB | VILLAGE NEWS La Jolla High School (LJHS) students, teachers, parents and staff gathered at the corner of Fay Avenue and Nautilus Street early in the morning on Nov. 15 amid chants of “Save our schools” and “Education matters” to help bring awareness to the dire financial distress that continues to face public schools. “We’re here this morning to raise awareness for our need for financial support from within the local community,” said Jeff Macelli, president of The

Foundation of LJHS, Jeff Macelli. “It really is just a grassroots campaign to let the community know about us and our needs and how they can help.” LJHS sophomore Jake Harvey charges forward with The Foundation re-laun- pride to support education funding for his high ched its Conquer the Cuts school. MARIKO LAMB | Village News fundraising campaign to finance much-needed expenses like toward its $150,000, which organizschool supplies, staff positions, athlet- ers hope to reach by Jan. 1. Additionic equipment and repairs to campus ally, an anonymous donor has agreed grounds. So far, the foundation has to match up to $10,000 toward funds been successful in raising $62,000 SEE CONQUER, Page 2

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Activists show their respective positions at a rally in University City on Nov. 18 in response to the recent unrest in Gaza. Photos courtesy of Leetal Elmaleh

Global issue hits home in UC BY MARIKO LAMB | VILLAGE NEWS Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian supporters gathered for a rally at Nobel Athletic Field in University City on Nov. 18 to peacefully raise awareness about their dueling messages in light of the firefight that continues to rage in the Middle East between Israeli forces and Gaza’s Hamas. Parties at the demonstration included representatives from nearly 50 of San Diego’s synagogues, schools and Jewish organizations, who united under the position that Israel has the right to defend its people against rocket attacks by Hamas, while nearly 100 supporters of a Palestinian state rallied behind the message that the barrage of Israeli bombs on Gaza is a massacre of innocent civilians. Michael Sonduck, interim president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, said the torrent of rockets fired into Southern Israel by Hamas — which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States — warrants the right of Israel to defend its people, sparking the launch of Operation Pillar of Defense on Nov. 14. “Since the start of the operation, reportedly more than 1,128 rockets have been fired at Israel, with 37 landing in populated areas. Fortytwo rockets were fired at Israel on Monday. The Iron Dome [missile defense] system has intercepted 324 rockets, including 19 on Monday,” he said. “Three Israelis have been killed since the operation began and hundreds have been wounded.” The rally also showcased the solidarity between the U.S. and Israel — its closest ally in the Middle East — with Rep. Susan Davis attending, informing demonstrators that both

U.S. congressional houses unanimously passed resolutions supporting Israel’s right to defend itself. “We will not destine our children to a life of fear or terror,” she said, adding that U.S. military aid to Israel, which helped fund the Iron Dome missile-defense system, may have saved lives in Israel’s southern region. On the other hand, Palestinian supporters say that U.S. taxpayer money is, in fact, supporting an Israeli attack on innocent civilians in Gaza. “Your taxes and my taxes are paying for Israel’s weaponry, so even when California couldn’t pay its employees and was issuing IOUs, legislators were voting to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid for the next 10 years,” said Zahi Damuni, co-founder of the Palestine Right to Return Coalition. “So while we have San Diegans living on the streets — unemployed and homeless — we are sending money abroad to strengthen Israel against a defenseless population.” Damuni said the public’s opinion is predisposed to accept the Israeli perspective because the Palestinians’ views are rarely taken into account. “There is a heavy emphasis on the Israeli side in all the media. It’s very blatant. Hardly ever do they come talk to us and ask us what we think,” he said. “We won’t be satisfied until every American gets to hear our message. It’s a big undertaking in the U.S. because of the heavy emphasis on the other side, so this is a major challenge for us.” One particular message Damuni hopes to illustrate is the plight of Palestinian refugees and Palestine’s view that Israel broke the cease-fire on Nov. 8 when the Israel Defense Force killed a 12-year-old PalestiniSEE RALLY, Page 6


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