Immigration dilemma and the crushed DREAM

Written by Nicole Narea
Wednesday, 19 January 2011 23:00

It was on one of those bone-chilling New England winter mornings that I sank into a desk to take my first SAT. The nervous shivers oscillated up and down my spine. We’d begun the formality of “bubbling” in our personal information when I reached the box labeled “Ethnicity.” To many, my blue eyes and blonde hair deny me the right to identify myself as such, but the privilege of dual heritage, American and Chilean, makes it irrefutable: I am a Hispanic-American. When my pencil touched the paper, I remembered the many reasons that I am proud to fill in that bubble. One of them is a senior at Georgetown University whom I met last year.

I was attending a conference about the State of Latinos in the U.S. in one of Georgetown University’s ornate lecture halls where a panel of experts gathered to discuss immigration reform and the future of the 47.8 million Hispanics living in the country as projected by the U.S. Census. One individual stood out amongst the rest, not a Washington D.C. luminary, but a nervous 20-year-old in a suit that was too big for him. His name was Juan. He interrupted the lecture to share his story.

Timing is everything

Written by Joe Pisani
Wednesday, 19 January 2011 23:00

When my daughter came out of the mall, she looked like a different woman, a few decades behind the times and not the same hipster who went into the mall. I almost didn’t recognize her because she was wearing oversized black-rimmed eyeglasses that you’d expect on the president of the Chess Club or the winner of the National Spelling Bee.

“When did you get those glasses?” I asked. “Just now. They’re fake.”

She looked like the kids commonly referred to as “eggheads” in the olden days — the kids who were uncool and unpopular and buried in books and carried their tuna sandwiches to school in Flintstones lunch boxes. She had my genes.

“Get with it, Dad,” she muttered, “haven’t you ever heard of ‘nerd chic’? It’s the latest craze.”

Jan. 20 through Jan. 27

Written by Ken Borsuk
Wednesday, 19 January 2011 10:54

Thursday, Jan. 20

9:30 a.m. — PTA Council Wellness, Mazza Room

10 — Board of Selectmen, Meeting Room

5 p.m. — Parking Ticket Hearings, Mazza Room

5:30 — Reprsentative Town Meeting (RTM) Labor Contracts Committee, Cone Room

6 — Board of Health, Milbrook Club

7 — Board of Education, Western Middle School

Friday, Jan. 21

10 a.m. — PTA Council, Gisborne Room

Monday, Jan. 24

6:30 p.m. — Board of Estimate and Taxation, Meeting Room

7:30 — Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, Cone Room

Tuesday, Jan. 25

6:45 p.m. — Board of Social Services, Hayton Room

7 — Planning and Zoning Commission, Meeting Room

Wednesday, Jan. 26

9 a.m. — Retirement Ceremony, Cone Room

10 — Time for Lyme, Gisborne Room

6:30 p.m. — Board of Parks and Recreation, Dorothy Hamill Rink

7 — Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals, Cone Room

8 — Republican Town Committee, Meeting Room

Thursday, Jan. 27

7:30 a.m. — Retirement Board, Gisborne Room

4 p.m. — United Way, Meeting Room

5 — Parking ticket hearings, Mazza Room

All meetings take place at Town Hall unless otherwise noted.

American Leader

Written by Victoria Baker
Thursday, 13 January 2011 12:15

"A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends," said George Washington. They are wise words indeed. I couldn't agree more. It was with this kind of calm intelligence that Washington took on the role as First President of the United States. His Presidency was fraught with new beginnings but then again, the role of President has never been an easy one.