Author: Hipolito

MLK Jr. DAY 2020 – A BEACON OF LIGHT AND HOPE

By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. This year will be full of conflict and pain, full of fear and injustice, full of naiveté and hate, unless we again start paying attention to the person whose life we look to for guidance and example of courage and love, Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King Jr. did not do what he did so that we could just remember his actions, but so that we would also mimic his works...

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“A Worm in the Heart”: Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020 – A Filmmaker Review

By Maria Alanis, Contributing Writer/Filmmaker Living a mere 81.5 miles from one of the nation’s most LGBTQ+ friendly cities, San Francisco, I’ve grown up watching the rainbow flag wave, men kissing other men and women holding other women. There were times when homophobia still spoke louder than tolerance, but it was concentrated in the more rural areas, where the communities existed in bubbles. I rarely heard those voices; my thinking scarcely tainted with the fear of love. So I looked at the world, and knew with certainty that they were the minority. At least, this was my understanding of...

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2020 LA County Supervisor’s Race: We Know They Care, We Need to Know They Can.

By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher Homelessness is a difficult issue to address because there are no easy solutions and there are many complex situations that need to be considered and addressed. As you drive through Los Angeles, you see the difficulties many people are dealing with because they have fallen through the cracks of the neoliberal political decisions made in the past decades. As the liberal progressives take over the political establishments of California and the populace votes in favor of bills like A.B. 1197, which streamlines housing construction in the city of Los Angeles, the challenge is more...

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Access to Arts Programs Impacts Students’ Future in the Creative Industries.

By Christian Quintero, Ed.D., Contributing Writer In 2011, Hipolito “Polo” Muñoz met with the Principal of the Los Angeles School of Global Studies (LASGS) to talk about an elective filmmaking course to pilot at the school. I was an eleventh-grade teacher that year and saw how the students in the class appreciated the learning and recognized an avenue for students to develop their creativity and visual storytelling skills. In 2012, I was hired as principal for LASGS and continued the school’s partnership with Polo and Jessica Just, recognizing the need for the applied learning environment created in the filmmaking...

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Teacher, What is the Most Important Commandment in the Law?

By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher Christmas Day 2019 is here, and as a human family we are failing. We are still very reluctant to accept the humanity in all others and the reason for the season has been invoked, as one major rationale all should accept the inhumanity. Acceptance of angry and twisted minds have convinced their more grounded Christian practitioners that their fear and hate is more divine than the need for us to take care of children and adults who keep dying at the hands of human cruelty. As I look at the peaceful street of my...

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