life
CITY
HEIGHTS
AZALEA PARK•FAIRMOUNT VILLAGE•HOLLYWOOD PARK•SWAN CANYON•CHEROKEE POINT•RIDGEVIEW•CHOLLAS CREEK
October 2014 • FREE •
LA VIDA
Volume 4 • Issue 5
CORRIDOR•FAIRMOUNT PARK•COLINA PARK•CASTLE•FOX CANYON•ISLENAIR•BAYRIDGE•TERALTA EAST•TERALTA WEST
An
American
story By David Ogul
M
aria Riedel had a plan. Ever since she emigrated from Tijuana a decade ago, the San Diego resident was determined to become part of the American fabric. Riedel found a home and a job. She improved her English. She took classes to learn new skills. And last month, she became an American citizen along with 24 others during a naturalization ceremony that for the first time ever was held in the melting pot of City Heights. “It is very important to become a citizen,” Riedel said after the Sept. 17 event before some 250 people in the lobby of San Diego Continuing Education’s Mid-City Campus in the heart of City Heights. “I came here to have a better life, better opportunities. Step by
Historia Americana Una
step, I did what I had to. And this was a very important step. Today, I am an American.” The naturalization ceremony was held on Constitution Day - an annual event to remember the signing of the U.S. Constitution - at the Mid-City Campus as part of San Diego Continuing Education’s ongoing centennial celebration. Citizenship classes were among the first offered when Continuing Education was founded in 1914, and they have been offered since. Continuing Education is part of the San Diego Community College District, and a number of the district’s educators and officials attended the event that featured 2014 Boston Marathon champion and Eritrean refugee Meb Keflezighi as the keynote speaker. “Congratulations all 25 of you. I
was in your shoes on July 2, 1998, when I got my citizenship,” said Keflezighi, who lives in San Diego and was attending UCLA at the time. “I wanted to compete in the Olympics and I wanted to bring home a medal for the United States.” He did, winning a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece. He also won the New York Marathon in 2009. But it was his performance at the 2012 Summer Games in London that Keflezighi said had special meaning on this day. Keflezighi was struggling midway through the race and more than 20 runners were ahead of him. Hopes for a medal were fading fast. “I was hurting pretty bad. I
[ AMERICAN, P2]
WEAVING into the
community A Karen woman teaches a refugee youth the traditional weaving technique of the Karen people. Una mujer karen enseña a jóvenes refugiadas la técnica de tejido tradicional de los karen.
M
aría Riedel tenía un plan. Desde que emigró de Tijuana hace una década, la residente de San Diego decidió que sería parte de Estados Unidos. Riedel encontró un hogar y un empleo. Mejoró su inglés. Tomó clases para aprender nuevas destrezas. El mes pasado, se convirtió en ciudadana estadounidense junto con 24 otras personas durante una ceremonia de naturalización que por primera vez se llevó a cabo en el crisol de City Heights. “Es muy importante ser ciudadano”, dijo Riedel después del evento del 17 de septiembre frente a unas 250 personas en el lobby del Campus de Educación Continua de San Diego en Mid-City, ubicado en el corazón de City Heights. “Llegué aquí en busca de una vida mejor, mejores oportunidades. Paso a paso, hice lo que tenía que hacer. Este es un paso muy importante. Hoy, soy estadounidense. La ceremonia de naturalización se llevó a cabo el Día de la Constitución—día en el que conmemora
[ AMERICANA, P2] By Megan Burks
government for 65 years, which resulted in violence in Moo’s Karen village in the southeastern corner April Moo, 22, came with her of the country, which also is called family to San Diego from a refugee Myanmar. Her parents crossed the camp in Thailand six years ago. They border into Thailand in 1983, and she was born in a refugee camp, settled into a City Heights where she stayed until apartment furnished by Para traddución she was 15. the International Res“Living in vea página 10 cue Committee. camp, it’s so hard “I remember we because you just Spanish translation were so excited belive your life like cause, OK, the buildon page 10 the bird in the cage,” ing, and all the utensils Moo said. in the kitchen, the bed, the In San Diego, Moo felt her wings couch, those are like brand new to us,” Moo said. “I had never seen spread. She became the first in the local Karen community to graduate them except in a movie.” Moo is a Karen, an ethnic minor- from high school and pursue a colity from Burma. Karen rebels and lege degree. But she said that bird-inother ethnic groups have fought for greater autonomy from the Burmese Speak City Heights
[ WEAVING, P10]