Mimi Pollack

Making a difference in the world seems to be the motto Rebecca Weinrib and Stephanie Nisan live by, especially in the world of homeless dogs. Together, they founded The Animal Pad in 2010, a rescue organization for dogs, with their own unique vision.

Weinrib, 30, and Nisan, 31, have started a forward thinking rescue organization that not only focuses on rescuing and fostering dogs, but also one that provides a better connection to the public through training and education to help reduce the number of homeless dogs in the future. They want to reach all ages, but especially their peers and motivate them to join the cause.

It hasn’t been easy, but their plan covers several aspects, such as education, reaching out to encourage people to adopt a dog rather than pay a breeder, spaying and neutering, and helping people find the right dog for their needs. For example, the professor, a sweet, low key and calm mutt, likes to sit on people’s laps and may go to a center for seniors who will love him. They have also arranged for classroom visits at several local schools as educating future dog owners is important.

Next, they are in the process of developing the Pet Spy Collar attachment which will attach to any collar/harness and will include a camera, 2 way radio, training functionality, and health monitoring, all of which can be controlled by an app they will be creating in conjunction with the attachment.

The app will also have a feature to share directly to social media. This attachment grew out of a need that they saw for owners to have a better connection to their dogs. It is still in the developmental stage, but they hope to have it launched within the next two months.

They also plan events, such as the upcoming 5K Walk/Run fundraiser at Road Runner Sports on September 20th. Registration is still open, and all the proceeds go directly to TAP. The link is https://roadrunnersports.fundly.com/tap5k

Finally, they work with various high kill shelters in Southern California, animal control organizations, and dogs from Mexico. They are constantly on the go, picking up dogs, finding fosters, screening potential applicants, recruiting others to become fosters, fundraising, and reaching out to the public. They have a great need for additional fosters as the more that help out, the more dogs they can rescue.

Weinrib and Nisan also have careers. Weinrib is a lawyer and the legal counsel for her family’s business. Her father invented the EDDY pump. Nisan is a successful realtor. Both juggle their personal and professional lives as well as running their organization with endless energy.

That endless energy also comes in play when it comes to their Jewish faith.
Weinrib and Nisan, along with Weinrib’s brother, Ben started the FIDFYLSD or Friends of the Israeli Defense Force Young Leadership of San Diego. They are on the board and help to run this section of FIDF. FIDF is an international, non- profit organization which supports the Israeli Defense Forces.

For the San Diego chapter, they head up the Young Leadership division which focuses on getting more participants/supporters in the younger community. They hold events for fundraising and educational purposes and all proceeds go to support IDF soldiers. Nisan is married to an Israeli.

These very busy women also started, “Pop Up Shabbats”. They saw a need to have a shabbat dinner for those who may want to celebrate, but don’t want to go the traditional route and go to a Synagogue, etc. The goal is to create an evening where Jews come together (who may not do so otherwise) and enjoy Shabbat dinner together with a short, not very religious, service while enjoying the company of others in the community. These dinners are led by Rabbi Ian Adler.

As I was interviewing these long time friends, they reminded me of an old, married couple who finished each other’s sentences, but at the same time had youthful and altruistic aspirations mixed in with social media savvy. Their families must be proud and the rescued dogs grateful for their constant dedication. As they joked, “We are always hustling. Every birthday or celebration is a fundraiser!”

www.theanimalpad.org

San Diego’s own home grown Doggie Street Festival will take place on Saturday, August 22^nd from 9:00 to 4:00 at the NTC Park at Liberty Station. This will be a free family and dog friendly celebration of our companion animals and an adopt-a-thon.

For children, there will be a Kids Stage with invited guests to “shout out” or encourage pet adoption. The organizers of Doggie Street Festival hope to capture the imagination of young people and involve them as advocates, so they will choose adoption as their first option when looking for a four legged friend.

Another highlight at this event will be the presentation of our local Hero Awards. This year KUSI-TV broadcast meteorologist Dave Scott and San Diego VCA Hospital Manager Vilen Vlasov will be honored.

This public service adopt-a-thon and companion animal celebration will provide  a great shopping experience as there will be lot’s of deals and free samples as well as more than 100 specialty vendors, showcasing the latest in a variety of pet services and offerings. Finally, there will be food, auction prizes, and music for everyone to enjoy.

The festival is the love child of Jude Pauline Artenstein, a San Diego based independent filmmaker and wife of producer/director Isaac Artenstein.  She founded the festival seven years ago as a civic tribute to her golden retriever, Scout. While recuperating from a serious accident that left her unable to walk for months, Scout was her constant and devoted companion who stayed by her side the whole time.

Once her health improved, she felt inspired to do something and create an adoption event that would bring together the rescue community and provide a platform to increase adoption and education on spaying and neutering as well as a festive celebration for all.

Sadly, Scout passed away from cancer and is no longer by Artenstein’s side. However, this festival is a way to not only honor him, but also acknowledge all our four legged friends as they accompany us on life’s journey.

7^th Annual Doggie Street Festival on Saturday, August 22^nd from 9:00 to 4:00

Liberty Station

2455 Cushing Road

San Diego, CA  92106

www.doggiestreetfestival.org

How about some spicy Cuban salsa and a Night at the Tropicana? On Thursday, August 13th, Sacha’s Supper Club will present an old time 1950’s Cuban salsa show at the Lafayette Hotel. Havana After Dark/A Night at the Tropicana is sponsored by Charco Build and Design.

Renowned singer and San Diego native, Sacha Boutros will headline this international event which includes a salsa dancing show highlighted by Luxembourg born dance instructor, Marilyn Klisser. The show will also feature Cuban born singer, Yorly Quintero. Sacha, herself, sings in ten languages, including Hebrew and Yiddish.

Sacha  will be performing with a live band, including Kevin Esposito on trombone, Steve Ebner on trumpet, Ian Tordella on sax and flute, Charlie Chavez on percussion, Carlos Vasquez on drums, and Ignacio Arango on bass.

The Mississippi Room at the retro Lafayette Hotel is the perfect place for this monthly event. Sacha and Sacha’s Supper Club want to bring back the feeling of a bygone era and old time glamour. For this event, she will be singing Cuban favorites, such as Beny More’s, “Como Fue”.

Sacha will be selling her CD’s there. Since August is her birthday month, she plans on donating part of the proceeds to El Hospital Infantil de las Californias in Tijuana.

The show is almost sold out, so get your tickets fast.

Doors open at 6:00 and the show begins at 7:00.

For more information go to www.sachassupperclub.com

Dancing flamenco and giving back to others have been part of Sonya [Sonny] Burton’s life since she was a child. These two passions will come together for one evening at The Abbey restaurant in Hillcrest. Sonny’s school, Flamenco with Roots Performing Arts, with the help of Hornblower Cruises and Events, will host a fundraiser for Doctors without Borders on Friday, July 31st at 6:00 pm.

Sonny was born in Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Her Jewish grandparents arrived in Spain as immigrants from Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria. At home, they spoke Ladino, an ancient Spanish. However, outside of the home, being Jewish was kept quiet.

Sonny’s mother was a single mom in a very conservative society, so feeling like she didn’t belong has been a big part of Sonny’s life. As Jews, they were viewed as outsiders in this southern Spanish town, and thus, dancing flamenco was a way to integrate into the society.

Sonny’s beloved late mother passed her love of dancing on to her child. She also instilled in her the importance of helping others, knowing alienation herself.

Sonny’s mother married an American Military man, and when Sonny was ten years old, they moved first to Rhode Island and later to San Diego. Feeling lonely, dancing brought her solace in this new land where she learned to speak perfect English while maintaining her thick Castilian accent in Spanish.

While still in high school, her mother converted her garage to a dance studio and Sonny began to give classes. In 1983, Flamenco with Roots Performing Arts was born. She has been giving private classes, working with after school programs, and various boys and girls clubs ever since. She has worked at Otay Mesa and Montgomery Elementary schools. Currently, she is working with Roosevelt Middle and McKinley Elementary schools.

Sonny also followed in her mother’s footsteps becoming a single mom at the ages of 18 and 19. She has two children, Erik and Soraya. She and her partner of 23 years, Daniel Lichterman, later adopted Erik’s two children, and raised them. She is also a proud grandmother to Soraya’s five children.

Despite being a mother at an early age and working to take care of her children, Sonny continued to take dance classes at Southwestern College, and danced with several dance troupes, studying under Johanna Wiekel.

However, teaching classes became her path. She gives private classes at her home, and she is happiest when surrounded by students. These classes are free because as she says, “I don’t want anyone to miss out because they can’t pay, and I want all my students to feel equal. If I charged some students and not others, I’d have to give special attention to the paying students. This way, I can give special attention to them all.”

It is this same altruistic life view that led her to get involved with Doctors without Borders. At one of her schools, she had a student, Leticia, whose parents were deported. Worried about her fate, Sonny and her mother went to check on the girl who was living with her neighbors. Later on, that same girl returned to Mexico and became a doctor. Soon after, she got involved with Doctors without Borders. She never lost contact with Sonny or her mom and they decided to get involved, too, by hosting benefits in San Diego for the organization.

The first benefit was selling cookies in 2007. This evolved little by little into something bigger and the first fundraiser was given in 2010. Sonny does all the work herself, and it has been a daunting task. Some years they barely break even, but she is confident that this year, as the word gets out, more people will want to take part in contributing to this worthy cause.

Doctors without Borders is a worldwide organization that goes where the need is the greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care.

The fundraiser will be held at the Historical Abbey at 2825 5th Ave in Hillcrest. Tickets are $45. There will be a Mediterranean dinner, along with a flamenco show and a performance by renowned guitarist, David de Alva.

Sonny Burton will be in her element there, sharing her love of flamenco, displaying her students’ talents, and helping out doctors doing good work.

www.flamencowithroots.com
sonnyspain@ymail.com

As an ESL teacher at Grossmont College, the majority of students in my classes are Iraqi and Iraqi Chaldean. Thus, I had a particular interest in the documentary, “Chaldean Voices”, which I saw Friday evening at “Documentaries on the Prado” at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. Chaldeans are Christian Iraqis. Most have fled their war-torn home and with the exception of Detroit, Michigan, the largest number of Chaldeans now live in El Cajon, California, and surrounding neighborhoods.

For those who have never heard of the Chaldeans, the film does a good job of introducing them, telling a little of their background, how they came to be in El Cajon and The United States, and the horrors many of them lived through before getting here.

My only complaint is that with its title, I expected the film to cover more of the population, and tell more stories. Instead, it focuses on the lives of several students at Diego Valley, a Learn4Life charter school in El Cajon.

It also focuses on the school and the innovative “one on one” teaching provided there. One important point is how the teachers strive to teach Chaldean and other immigrant students about being civically engaged. This leads to the process they went through to get the El Cajon City Council to enact September as Chaldean American month, starting in 2015.

I felt particularly interested in two of the students who were interviewed. One of them went to school and worked so many hours that he got by on just two or three hours of sleep. For me, this was a familiar story that many of my college students go through. It just shows the determination they have. The other student I found interesting was a very bright young woman who spoke of finding her way in this new land and trust issues after having been through so much.

The filmmakers, Peter Alkatib and Miguel-Angel Soria, made their film with heart and soul. Both of them possess an innate sweetness. Peter is full of youthful enthusiasm and a bit of naiveté. Miguel-Angel, a graduate of USD, also has that sweetness and enthusiasm, but his is also tempered by his many years of activism. Miguel-Angel was once a member and artistic director of the Taco Shop Poets. He also was the program director for the New Americans Museum, which celebrates immigrants who have arrived in the United States since WWII. Thus, it was important for him to have this minority voice heard and encourage empowerment to his students at Diego Valley, where he is also a teacher.

Even though I thought the film could have been more expansive in its range of voices, I liked the core of the film which showed that these young Chaldeans, like so many immigrant youth, struggle when they first arrive in the country as they navigate a new language and culture. It was heartening to see the majority of them receive their high school diplomas at the end of the film and to know that they are optimistic about their future in their new country.

The Chaldean Festival will take place in the Prescott Promenade Park in El Cajon, CA on Sept. 19-20, 2015 as part of Chaldean American Month in September.

Chaldean Voices will air on KPBS on Sept. 1, 2015 at 11pm and Sept. 6, 2015 at 2:30pm.
Website: Chaldeanvoices.com

As a fourth generation Californian with a keen sense of curiosity and adventure, Ken Kramer was a natural as the host and producer of, “Ken Kramer’s About San Diego”, a local, long time half show that explored the places and people of San Diego until his retirement earlier this year.

Kramer, 66, was born in Pasadena and studied at Pasadena City College where he first got the broadcasting bug. He later transferred to SDSU, and graduated in 1974 with a BS in Radio and Television.

It was at SDSU where he began working as a student assistant at the small campus radio station, KEBS [today KPBS}. At that time, it was a classical music station and Kramer worked as an announcer. He later added some news segments. This transitioned into a job as the director of news and information programming in 1971.

Inspired by television personality Ralph Story’s show, “People and Places of Los Angeles” [1964-1970], he thought about doing something similar here in San Diego. Like Story, he wanted to explore the human condition and discover people and places in the San Diego area that most people didn’t know about.

In 1972, he did just that, making his first half hour radio show, “About San Diego”. Six years later, in 1979, he hosted and produced the first TV airing of “About San Diego” with a group of volunteers for KPBS. The show was about homeless children south of Broadway and a young, female boxer.

Slowly “About San Diego” became a fixture in San Diego and was broadcast as a morning and afternoon drive time radio segment on KSDO (KOGO) radio 7 days a week from 1984 to 1996, reaching more than 200,000 listeners a week.
Although his heart was with KPBS and public television, he left to join NBC 7 San Diego in 1995 to do individual “About San Diego” segments on their news shows where he also was a news reporter, and worked in the field.
Those NBC segments became a half-hour program from 2006 to 2009. In 2010, he worked out a deal with both KPBS and NBC 7 to bring over stories and do a cross promotion of the show.

Although not Jewish himself, he had frequent interactions with the Jewish community. On a regular basis, he partnered in the field with video journalist Rand Levin, who today is administrator and a former president of Beth Jacob Congregation.

Eventually, he left NBC and just worked for KPBS where the show was a half hour prime-time program before he retired in 2015. To this day, Kramer maintains cordial professional relations with both KPBS and NBC 7.
His last “About San Diego” will air this Thursday at 8:00 on KPBS and the whole show will be dedicated to the Centennial of the Panama California Exhibit at Balboa Park, and looking back at the 100 years since then. He may continue to do occasional shows in retirement.

It will be a bittersweet ending for many of his loyal fans [including me] who over the years have enjoyed watching his show, and going on adventures with him. The show also struck a chord with the public and his peers.
“About San Diego” was honored with numerous Emmy and Golden Mike Awards. My favorite was when The County Board of Supervisors proclaimed “Ken Kramer Day” in 2008, and described the show as “…more valuable to San Diego history than any two or three of our local museums combined”.

When asked how he went about finding stories for his shows, he said that his natural curiosity, suggestions from people, and help from local libraries always provided material. He developed his special style of writing while doing the shows where he engaged you in his storytelling of describing a place without revealing what or where it was until the end.

Kramer told many stories, but one of interest was about Louis Rose, the first Jewish settler in San Diego, and the restored Robinson Rose House in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Rose also founded Roseville in Point Loma. In 2005, there was a ceremony for Henrietta Rose, Louis Rose’s daughter, to dedicate her tombstone at Mt. Hope Cemetery. It had previously been unmarked.

Don Harrison, editor of San Diego Jewish World, wrote a book on the life of Louis Rose and Kramer wrote the foreword for him. Harrison’s research was featured on at least two of Kramer’s shows.

Ken Kramer is a modest man who feels blessed to have been able to discover new places, and meet many interesting people. He confided that he will miss doing his shows, but also looks forward to retirement. He enjoys traveling and pursuing his hobbies. He is a ham radio operator and fluent in Morse code. Although his landmark show will be missed by many, he will be remembered fondly by the public who wish him well.