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Last Friday I spent on the boat show in Fort Lauderdale
It is amazing what money and people’s desires can do in our world. Enormous yachts, huge sailships. That was great! By the way – that was the largest boat show in the world – that’s way we spent the whole day loafing around, talking with people, watching yachtsmen and their families relaxing))) We even got a tour on one yacht to the ocean.
I interviewed one guy, who is selling yachts all over the world. Of course asked him about the Russian customers. He said, that they got a lot of clients from Russia
Evangelina Hernandez
Denver, Co.- While the Colorado Rockies lost their chance at the World Series, the Tigers gave Lindavista the end home run that gave them the victory. That was great Jorgito. In the same day, luck smiled not equal to the two teams. The Colorado Rockies, but were already in the bag the championship of the National League, nothing like being champions of the World Series. But the swept their opponents in their field and took the victory. For Lindavista Tigers. They returned home with the satisfaction of having won.
The only thing in common between the two teams is the love and faith of their fans. On the streets of Denver last Sunday, followers of the Rockies said: "Hope dies at last" and therefore supported his team even after they lost. The streets of this city were dressed in purple from the start of the World Series and that color remains. Two days after the defeat, still says people in banks, stores and restaurants: "Next year we are going to achieve." And hope that the consolation.
But fans Lindavista The Tigers kept the taste of triumph and joy to remember the effort of the players to win.
Versión en español: Denver, Co.- Mientras los Rockies de Colorado perdían su oportunidad en la Serie Mundial, Los Tigres de Lindavista daban el batazo final que les dio el triunfo. Ese fue del gran Jorgito.
En el mismo día, la suerte no les sonrió igual a los dos equipos. Los Rockies de Colorado, aunque ya tenían en la bolsa el campeonato de la Liga Nacional, nada como ser campeones de la Serie Mundial. Pero sus adversarios los barrieron en su campo y se llevaron la presea. Para Los Tigres de Lindavista. Ellos regresaron a casa con la satisfacción de haber ganado.
Lo único en común entre los dos equipos es el cariño y la fe de sus fans.
En las calles de Denver el pasado domingo, los seguidores de Los Rockies dijeron: “La esperanza muere al ultimo” y por eso apoyaron a su equipo aún después de que perdieron. Las calles de esta ciudad se vistieron de morado desde que empezó la Serie Mundial y ese color permanece. Dos días después de la derrota, todavía la gente comenta en los bancos, tiendas y restaurantes: “El próximo año lo vamos a lograr”. Y esa esperanza los consuela.
Pero los fans de Los Tigres de Lindavista mantienen el sabor del triunfo y la alegría al recordar el esfuerzo de los jugadores para ganar.
Evangelina Hernandez
This text is written in Spanish and translated into English by a translator. Thank you for your understanding.
En esta ciudad dos compañeros, el reportero Fernando Quintero y la columnista Tina Griego han sido víctimas de ataques por medio mensajes de correo electrónico y llamadas telefónicas, por el tema sobre el que escriben: la inmigración proveniente de Latino América.
Cada vez que se publica una nota de ellos al respecto reciben respuesta de sus lectores, “siempre en contra”, comenta Fernando Quintero.
“Sólo tratamos de poner el rostro de la gente, sus historias, la idea no es victimizar a la comunidad Latina sino presentar lo que les está ocurriendo, pero la gente nos acusa de promover la migración ilegal y aseguran que esa gente no tiene derechos”.
El eje central de los mensajes es señalar que los latinoamericanos pertenecen a una raza inferior con respecto de la anglosajona, pero algunos que son muy radicales proponen que todos –los latinos en general- sean colocados, junto con sus hijos, frente a un pelotón de fusilamiento para que desaparezcan para siempre.
Tina con 20 años de experiencia y Fernando con 10, continúan su labor informativa apesar de los ataques verbales porque para ellos es una labor muy importante dar a conocer la realidad de los latinoamericanos en Estados Unidos.
Para ellos este fenómeno “es muy fuerte en el estado de Colorado debido a que migración no es un asunto viejo como en las zonas fronterizas, “es más bien algo que se ha venido incrementado en las últimas décadas”.
The photo seen here was taken at the scene of a fatal industrial accident that I went to with a reporter and a photographer at highway 118. The highway is being expanded and the man who was killed was a 31-year-old construction worker who somehow slipped and fell onto a spinning auger and was flung off hitting his head. He died on the spot. The scene was tragic, but I was able to observe how the Star staff handle such situations. They were respectful and empathetic and people were willing to talk to them because of that approach, though the police were a little hostile at first.
It took me longer that usual to write this as I just did not know how to begin.
But I then decided the best way to describe my visit to the Holocaust Museum in Houston was to start at the end - the impact it had on me.
The permanent exhibit at the Morgan Family Center depicts the horror that Holocaust victims were subjected to 
during the Second World War (WW2).
The cruelty that those in power could inflict on another human being was simply unbelievable! What the Nazis did to the Jews during WW2 was just insane. No matter what the reason, there is no excuse for such barbaric acts.
The film footage, artefacts, photographs and documents at the museum transport you back in time - to when Hitler and the Nazis went on the path of the 'Final Solution'.
Among the museum's jewels is the outdoor exhibit of a 1942 rail car - the type that was used to ferry millions of Jews to their deaths.
I was told that based on the fact that this particular rail car had a step 
welded onto it and a domed roof could mean it was actually used to ferry Jews to concentration camps!
The museum also has two films - Voices and Voices II - in which survivors tell of their Holocaust experiences -including the extermination of their loved ones.
These are the voices of horror and terror but we who hear them must not let them remain narrations of despair.
Actually this paragraph on the home page of the museum (http://www.hmh.org/) could not have summed it better.
It reads: "A living testimonial to those who died. A place to honour those who survived, and a source of education for present and future generations".
The Holocaust must indeed serve as a reminder to mankind to steer clear of the path of cruelty and destruction.
JOSEPH RAJ
Yesterday, I was fortunate to be able to visit the Ventura Historical Museum, which had just launched its display on Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). The festival is of Mexican origin and it involves people honoring their dead by placing altars with their photos, the foods they had loved and other mementos. Skulls and marigolds featured in many of the displays, some of which were done in sugar by school children. There were also huge elaborate displays done by noted artists, several collectors' items as well as smaller more intimate displays.
As part of the ceremony to launch the exhibit, a Mexican cultural group performed several dances in the museum's forecourt (see photo above) and then a Mariachi band took over to entertain visitors. When we left, the museum was filled to capacity. Many of the visitors took their children as there were several activities outside, including face painting and making sugar skulls which taught them about the significance of the event. Dia de los Muertos is observed on November 1 and 2.
Jeanne and Joseph Samuels have been running the Jewish Herald-Voice in Houston for more than 35 years now and the fire to keep on going still burns strongly in their hearts.
Jeanne, who is a sprightly 84-year-old great grandmother, and Joe, who is eight years her senior, bought the Jewish community weekly newspaper in 1973.
Lately, the couple's daughter Vicki and her son, Michael C. Duke, have begun to play a bigger role in the running of the newspaper.
Jeanne and Joe, however, are not taking things easy although they 
have been working without drawing a salary for the past few years.
While she interviewed me for a news article, Joe was busy on the line with someone who was running for political office.
"We (the newspaper) are barely breaking even. Joe's military pension and our social security benefits are enough to pay our bills," Jeanne told me when I was at the Jewish Herald-Voice on Wednesday (Oct 24) as part of my Daniel Pearl Fellowship programme.
The Jewish Herald-Voice, which sells at US$1, 
has a circulation of about 6,000 but is read by about 65% of the 45,000-odd Jewish community in Houston.
Jeanne said the newspaper was open to "all faces of the Jewish community in Houston" - be they orthodox, ultra or otherwise.
When asked what was the biggest challenge facing the community in the United States, she confided that anti-Semitism was on the rise in universities throughout the country.
This is mainly due to the negative perception of Israel among foreign students, especially those from the Middle East.
As for the challenges facing her newspaper, which will turn 100 next year (it was first set up in 1908), she said it was to make it relevant to the younger Jewish community as most of its readers were the older generation.
I came away from my day at the Jewish Herald-Voice highly impressed by its operation, which I felt was built on the family values of love and respect for everyone.
Jeanne actually told me that some of the newspaper's employees have been working there for almost 30 years.
But what left a bigger impression on me was the love and respect that Jeanne and Joe have for each other. They have been married for 64 years now and it seems that their feelings for other keeps growing stronger with each passing day.
It was just a wonderful thing being with these two wonderful people, who met while in college.
While the lady of the manor said the "Herald-Voice binds the Jewish community together", I feel the love that Jeanne and Joe have for each other has rubbed off on the newspaper.
I do believe this is the reason why the thousands of words in the Jewish Herald-Voice have worked their magic to bring a message of love, wich has indeed brought together the Jewish community in Houston.
Pixs from top:
Jeanne and Joseph built these paste-up tables on their own, when they bought the Jewish Herald-Voice;
The wall at Jeanne's cubicle if filled with family photographs;
The happy couple
JOSEPH RAJ
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