A Loving and Unimagineable Sight...The JCC!!!

The Barshop Jewish Community Center (JCC) is a charity of the Jewish Foundation of San Antonio and United Way. It is committed to promote a new way of life for its members, which can include children, teenagers, adults, or even senior citizens. It is open to the entire public; you do not have to be Jewish to become a member. The JCC has programs, in which they incorporate five programs: Jewish Identity, Jewish Experience, Jewish Community, Jewish Programming and Jewish Connection. Their ultimate operation is to help individuals increase visions and dreams as citizens, to both our community and nation as a whole. The agency is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals, family agreement, and group endurance through the value systems of the Jewish people.

Located here at the Jewish Community Center, is the Vexler Theatre. This is where much volunteer work is taking place. Volunteering at the JCC can make a massive difference and just by donating your time, effort and ability you can make a difference in a person’s life. Not only can you volunteer at the theatre, but they also recommend volunteering in sports and fitness, senior citizen activities, marketing, arts, early childhood, and special events that take place on a weekly basis or during special holidays. Jenette Weinberg, who is a chief manager, who not only works at the Jewish Community Center, but also contributes her time, states, “This has been the most pleasurable experience in my life and giving a special hand and donating such time to such an enormous cause has really influenced my life”. Not only volunteering, but becoming a member is absolutely open to the public, and all you do is pay a monthly fee. You can either enter as a family, individual, or you could just join so that you can get your daily exercise routine in.

After visiting, I came to believe that one of the most essential features about the JCC are the different programs they offer to children from six months to thirteen years old. The programs offered for all children are incredible. They consist of an early childhood center, which is considered a daycare, an after school center and a kindergarten through eighth grade private school. It also consists of classes and different outdoor sports activities. To let your child in and become a member, all you have to do is pay a monthly fee and so then it is possible to come at any time. For children they offer, tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball field, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, homework center, camps, winter programs, plays and a soccer league. When I visited with my oldest sister, she told me that, “There are so many places out in the city of San Antonio to take your children to, but I believe that the Jewish Community Center is one of the most captivating places. This is primarily because of the series that we are offering to young children are so powerful and go beyond expectations. It teaches additional qualities, more than most public schools in the communities do.”

Since the Holidays, are only a couple of days away, the JCC is offering special winter programs for children, adults, and the elderly to come join in and participate. This is known as the biggest party of not only the entire season, but the year because they offer special party activities, games, treats, goodies and special Christmas characters. Overall, this is for anyone who decides to come out and join or who wants to get into the Christmas spirit and sing along. Some of the programs being offered are, Party Every Day Camp, which is for children from kindergarten to fifth grade. Both the Winter Tennis Party and the Winter Olympics Party, are for second to eighth graders. Also being offered is, a Snow Party, Under the Sea Party and a New Year's Eve Party. The main focus for these different holiday activities is to have fun, learn a new sport everyday, create your own medal, and study about the unusual kinds of Olympics that we have.

Senior citizens, play an important role today in life, because without all of our grandparents, aunts or uncles, we would not be alive. Unfortunately, I found it hard to believe that since children starting at six months can attend the local day care at the JCC, that senior citizens can also get together, they just have to pay a fee. Since all older women and men are not capable of driving, there is a special bus that is offered, owned and operated by the Jewish Community Center. It will come directly to your house and pick you up and take you back to the center. Most senior citizens join just because many feel the need to get a daily exercise routine in, so this is why they offer a bus for the elderly. Also many join just to compete in daily programs or to attend a movie at the theatre that is offered here. There are also programs that are offered for the elderly, which include: crafts, dominos, personal training, an enormous fitness center, aquatics, health classes, chess club, a book club, Yiddish speaking club and game room activities. The fitness center consists of exactly twenty-five different machines which some include: weights, cardio equipment, treadmills, elliptical and a bike. Since most tend to ride the bus, the JCC also offers a lunch at a very small price everyday for the senior citizens. On the day that I had attended, many were having their usual lunch and I had went over a talked to an older lady by the name of Mary Kerr, commented, “Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have the bus come to my house which is only a couple of blocks away and it picks me up and I stay here to play dominos and walk on the treadmill. After that, I then eat lunch here, and then after that, the I slowly hop back on the bus and it takes me back home.” After speaking to her, I was amazed because it really touched my heart how such a program, could actually touch someone’s life.

In conclusion, I now believe that the Jewish Community Center, is one of the most inspiring and educational places to go and visit here in the city of San Antonio. This is primarily because of the wide variety of opportunities that they are offering for people of all ages. It is always open to the public, anyone is capable of coming or joining and it can give you a full body workout. It is also a foundation that anyone in the country can donate money to, for example, in memory of making a donation in someone's memory. Therefore it is a very loving and cherish able organization. I do believe, that if anyone has the chance, they should go out and experience or visit the JCC to see what it is all about.

An Inspiration: Juan Tejeda

On the 28th of November, Juan Tejeda a music instructor and director of PAC’s Conjunto Program came to visit our Humanities class. He was the most inspiring and entertaining speaker that I believe our class has had throughout the entire semester. The main reason for this was because he brought in a variety of different instruments that he plays and demonstrated them to the class by playing a piece of music. He spoke greatly about the languages and told each of us that there are three different languages that we have lived under and should be appreciative for it. It is also important to know your own personal history and culture and be proud of it because we should live at peace with our neighbors and grow, and shall not be at war.

Music is also being expressed in different forms that are coming together and overall, we have created a culture between the United States and Mexican borders. Juan says that the United States has influenced our country by Jazz and rock-n-roll music and words are what counts. He said that he is a pan American Chicano and when he was only nine years old, he learned how to play the accordion and also learned how to play a Polka song. This has created a distinctive style for him, and he also loves the blues and country. Juan played a flute called a quena that was made out of red wood and also sang a song that was for his personal culture identity, for history. Corrido music was the earliest music that was created on the border and was called “A Pistol on His Hand” and the Orquesta Tejano was created here in the state of Texas. In the year 1985, he produced an opera and Conjunto started out on ranches and farms in the early centuries and from Mexico there were corridos.

After listening to him speak and play his musical instruments, I feel like if I ever have the chance to go and see him in public, I would definitely go. This is because I have never had the experience to sit and watch someone play these instruments and a couple of them I have actually never heard of. Overall, his visitation was worth it and I believe that I have learned something from it, along with all of the different forms of music that I never would have thought of.
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An Unusal Radio Station! Who Would Think....

As I was tuning into the radio station KEDA Radio 1530 AM, I found it to be a very curious station, in which I came to believe that many of my family members and friends would not listen to this type of music. The main reason for this is because we all tend to tune into both older and newer country, along with rap music because this is what we have grown up listening to. Both Conjunto and Spanish music is a language that we have a tendency not to listen to, because we are not capable of understanding or speaking the languages. As I was listening to the station 1530, I found the mood to be very joyful, thrilled and pleasurable because I noticed that different people on the station were talking, and suddenly their voices were slowly becoming higher and higher and a lot of people in the background were laughing about the conditions they were talking about. Also, as I was tuning into this station, they were not playing much music at all, and it sounded more like a talk show that was on the radio, rather than on the TV. The reason for this was because one man was talking to a young lady and she was telling him different stories about her life, which I wasn’t capable of understanding. But after her response, the audience would start clapping, screaming, and yelling and you could obviously tell that she was talking about something positive.

However, as I was listening to the station 1530 AM, I noticed some words that I could completely understand because rather than speaking them in Spanish, they were speaking in English. For example, Dallas Cowboys, McAllen Medical Center, Houston Texas, Hector’s Oil Company, Rio Grande City and Alpine Texas. After catching these words that they were speaking in English, I was completely amazed because when tuning into a Spanish station, you wouldn’t think that the main speaker would be speaking in English, but then I suddenly realized that there are Spanish words that have to be spoken in English. After listening and listening to this station, the speakers had started playing music, which some pieces I didn’t find to be very enjoyable, but overall other sections of music were actually very fascinating because of the musical instruments that the singer and the bands were using. Some of the songs seemed to be very slow and depressing which came to my mind as being compared to some country songs that I listen to. Other songs had a very quick pace and people were screaming and yelling as they were singing which had reminded me of rap music, because of much of the excitement that was taking place. I also realized that they were playing commercials and playing advertisements as well, along with calling people on the radio and talking to them and asking questions. The reason that I find this to be interesting is because when I tune into stations such as 97.3 FM, they do the same thing as well, along with calling people and letting them win free things, such as money and gift cards.

After tuning into the radio station KEDA Radio 1530 AM, I thought to myself, why in the world am I listening to Spanish, but after realizing all of the different cultures that are out in the world, I need to be more appreciative and considerate. Overall, I suppose that music is all expressed in different forms and cultures but they are all slowly coming together as a whole. It is also important to understand the different cultures, religions, history and language because we can exchange and grow upon one another so that we are capable of living at peace with each and every individual. In general, I think that every now and then, I might want to jam out to other stations, so therefore I might experience this radio station again and see what kinds of music they are going to be playing that day.
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Music..Who Could Live Without?

The movie, “Songs of the Homeland”, is concerning music that has reflected the spirit of the people, in which the area they had lived in. Music is an expansion that was created and it represents and expresses several generations of style. There are different techniques of music, such as western, Tejano, blues, rock-n-roll, Spanish, Conjunto and also includes a wide variety of numerous jams. Much of the rock-n-roll had taken on talent shows and sock hops, while the Conjunto music has traveled from town to town all over the world. Most Conjunto musicians rely on their fans and families and some individuals call it a “dance hall life”. Conjunto music has become part of the working class experience and much of it also included beer drinking songs, heartbroken songs and love songs. Some say that Spanish music was music that many had to listen to and had no choice because there was nothing else to listen to at the time. Many Mexicans bands wanted to look and sound more American because the songs were in Spanish, but it was music to an American audience. The majority played at weddings, baptisms and traditional holidays, but in general most still sing songs that are from generations and generations ago. In Texas, it is known as a universe of exchange, with a mix of musical traditions, such as the accordion, which is music-based and is the central instrument in music.

Isidro Lopez, a famous musician symbolizes the working class of all Tejanos. Orchestras in south Texas were increasing, making it more flourishing to the working class. There was also an enormous amount of segregation and discrimination against the Tejanos, but it could not be let into restaurants or the movie theaters. Even though, this was the case, Tejanos began to sing more to the poor and inside of restaurants. There were schools for Anglos, blacks and Hispanics, but they were noticeably all separated because of the problems that were held. Mexican Americans had the opportunity of finding new things in cites, and the middle class continued to grow in the early 1950’s.

After watching the DVD, "Songs of the Homeland", I found life for the Conjunto people to be extremely entertaining, pleasurable and gratifying and this was all because of the wide variety of music that was available. My opinion of Conjunto music is that it sounds exactly like Hispanic music because of the fact that the language seems to be identical. The reason for this is because I have grown up listening to country music my entire life, because my family was born and raised in Texas. Overall, I have found the origins of Conjunto music to be enjoyable and extremely fact reveling.
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Artwork...Who Could Imagine!

The San Antonio Museum of Art first opened its doors to the public in the year 1981. Families, college and high school students, children, teachers, volunteers, or anyone visiting San Antonio, has the chance to go and view the works of art because it is opened to the community. It has several different forms of art, which include Asian and Latin art, sculptures, art that has a background meaning to it or is from an illustration, photography, Greek, Latin, and European monuments, and Chinese ceramics. When visiting, I found many of the paintings and sculptures, to be either black and white, extremely colorful, or being displayed with light colors. Most of the works of art, were quiet, affectionate, had a touch of friendliness, active, and relaxed, but overall I found a couple exhibits to be very remarkable, because of their prehistoric age. Some of the collections were also sketches from books that had been written, old art, outdoor sculptures, American art, and the works by various artists of both current and artists from the earlier period who have already passed away.

The European Art seemed to catch my attention very quick because it looked as if it were a family full of young women who were sitting down and praising each other for the great possessions they had in their lives. This piece of artwork was done by Elizabeth Huth Coates and is known to have been a 19th century painting which has made millions and millions of dollars. These relatives are being gathered around in a circle, and the most striking point was that, three of them are not wearing much clothing, but the other three young women are covered in clothing that is exceedingly colorful. This photograph is painted in such a way that it looks so real because it looks like families in today’s world, who sit around and associate with one another for all the great effects that are taking place in their days. My overall feelings toward this picture were those of love, passion and appreciation.

The exhibition, The Colors of Wrath, was also pleasurable because it shows the image of a monkey and what it enjoys doing, along with other animals too. This painting was completed by Walton Ford, who obviously likes to express his emotions and his beliefs about various animals in history. I found it very striking that a young man would take the time out of his life and paint a picture of a monkey sitting on a cement stand picking fruit from a tree, with all kinds of bushes and a cemetery in the background. But overall, it shows cheerful thoughts in which I find it to be unusual, strange, curious, and questioning. The reason that I find this to be questioning is because he seems that he is writing about a situation that was never true or has never taken place, such as a fake exhibit.

After viewing these pieces of artwork and visiting the San Antonio Museum of Art, I found it to be a very educational, instructive, and enlightening place because it instructs you about exhibits and why they were fulfilled. It also has family afternoons, internships, programs for adults, concerts, lectures, tours to the public, and receptions that take place every day. I have personally never visited this museum, but in general I ware being takenill take more time out of my life to go and visit new places like this because it seems to inform me about the works. I also truly believe that there were a great amount of advantages in the museum because every single piece of art work has a purpose to it and teaches you why people actually do the things that they do.

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An Eye Catching Moment

On Friday, the 9th of November, Joan Fabian, who is a visual and graphic artist, came and spoke to our Humanities class about her works. She truly believes that art is trying to make you think differently, and each and every person, deep down has their own opinions that are unusual. Art is obviously very important to her and she says that each person is unique, meaning that no other person can be like another, so therefore no one has their experience and it won’t ever come again. She enjoys meditating, which is a time when you are cleansing the mind, having a moment with God, and it allows her to gain acceptance with images that suddenly come to her mind. Shapes are used as a means to her vocabulary, and she is interested in what they convey to both her and the viewer. Many titles, convey her humor, reaction, and overall, how she feels when she is totally through with a picture, from beginning to end. She feels that when you are building something up, it’s more like a relationship and she has to feel good about the picture and feel very confident because millions and millions of people throughout the world can look at her art work. When staring at fabrics, she can picture thousands and thousands of different images and can totally look at things differently from other people and see new things. She totally believes that artists are political and more aware, and she said she always has to share and read between the lines. Also, in education, you approach new people with new ideas.

Joan, also told a very interesting story about a young man, where his dad had taken him to the Dallas Museum of Art, so that he could learn how to appreciate. Seven years ago, she had visited Pakistan and she had said that absolutely everything is different over there. For example, here we drink iced tea; instead, in Pakistan they always drink hot tea. While staying there, she had to be driven around by a driver, because the traffic along with the animals being in the road ways was extremely bad. She was in Pakistan for a total of six months, and while she was there, her husband came and stayed with her for one month, just so he knew what she was going through and how different the world was. She then came back in 2000 and it’s inspired her and now she looks at things completely different.

Her story was a complete attention getter, because of the fact that you don't find many people very often that are willing to get up and leave their family and friends just to go and visit a different country. I found her speech to be very eye catching, because I have never had the chance to sit in class and listen to an individual talk about having the chance to go and teach in another in Pakistan for six months. Another reason was because her pictures were very fascinating, along with the way she expressed her feelings about art in general.

Historic Building/Home... What a Thriller!!

Falls City is a very small community which has a population of only 591 people and this is the reason why not many people know about this small society. When passing through on 181, all you see are two small gas stations, along with the local bank. But if you actually make an attempt to drive down some of the side streets, you will find a ton of small houses with people sitting outside on their front porches and children or parents either riding their bikes or running or walking up and down the streets. In Falls City, there are very few places that are considered to be historical and there is only a small amount of artistic landmarks, because almost everything in the community, are houses that are newly built, or old buildings that are extremely ugly looking and need to be torn down.

However, there is one building, in particular in Falls City that I consider to be historical, modern, and an attraction to not only the community, but visitors who are passing through. This is because it’s very appealing and it seems to stand out, rather than just looking at the usual houses that are seen in communities, such as Falls City. This grown-up building/home is located right in the center of town, which has two stories, and has circled arches in the front, which I consider to be very elegant and appealing. The reason for this is because you do not tend to see this very often, especially in older buildings. This was once a home that an elderly man had lived in, but after losing his wife and having all of his children grow up, he had decided to sell it. This historical home/building, now serves as the Justice of the Peace for the community.

The white color on the outside is very boring looking, but as you are passing by, you tend to realize the red roof that stands out, and cannot be missed. There is a very large courtyard that is filled with green grasses and on the left hand side of the home, there is an enormous amount of colored flowers that have been known to have been here for decades. Directly in front, there are large green oak trees, that seem to cover the entire building, but if you make the block around it, it is more noticeable and can be seen clearly.

After viewing this home, and having the opportunity to have lived in such a small society for the last nineteen years of my life, I am likely to find land, homes, or personal belongings that are noticeable and find myself to be more appreciative. However, when I travel to San Antonio, or any of the surrounding areas, I tend to pay more attention to older communities, historical buildings, and the way that buildings, homes, or stores are being put together. I find this to be very attractive because we should tend to appreciate historical places, because they are not always going to be here. The main reason is because after so many years they will began to fall apart and as an ending we will have to tear them down.

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