Wildfires are not a new phenomenon. For millennia, fires have been an integral part of a healthy ecosystem, though a problem has arisen in the last couple hundred years. People and the structures we build have become abundant, that in turn, has given rise to aggressive fire suppression efforts to keep people and buildings safe.
The simultaneous, yet conflicting, demoralization and romanticism of the Native Peoples of the Americas throughout modern American history is a fascinating and sad phenomenon. They were often portrayed as savages, attacking the pioneers heading west to claim their virgin land under Manifest Destiny. Yet, many amateur genealogists lay claim to Native American inheritance.
Whether you are a Reedleyite or a resident of one of the surrounding towns, you know how great it is to have a community college right in our backyard. Since 1926 Reedley College has provided higher education for residents of the South Valley and beyond. Like so many of you, Reedley College is an integral part of my family’s educational history. Four generations of Mulligans are alumni; my grandmother in the early ‘40s, my parents, me, and several of my kids, all got our post-secondary start as a Tiger.
Reedley College has a newly appointed full-time, permanent, head football coach. Rob Hartenfels, while only recently chosen for the permanent position, has been at the helm of the Tiger’s football program for the last year. He also put in some time on staff as an assistant with the prior head coach. Additionally, Coach Hartenfels has an extensive experience in college coaching despite his relatively young age.
About eight years ago, while finishing up a ministry training in Mozambique (yes, the Mozambique in Africa), Alana Woodin felt called to live and work in Orange Cove (yes, our Orange Cove). The fact that Orange Cove was where she felt called to work and live is really no more surprising than if she had been called to go to Reedley, Selma, or Wichita, Kansas. Once one learns a little about Woodin, when one understands her core values, and when one hears about her life experiences, it is not so surprising that Orange Cove and its youth not only called but likely screamed out to her as the next stop on her journey of faith and life.
On the heels of a 2022 Division 1/Central Section boys soccer championship, Reedley High School opened up their doors to the public and media to show off an array of additions and improvements to athletic facilities. While many districts reeled from and scrambled to keep up with the myriad of problems that a pandemic caused over the last two years, Kings Canyon Unified kept its cool, addressed the needs of all students throughout a very stressful period, and decided to capitalize on the opportunities that some aspects of pandemic life presented.
In doing the research for my article last month about tamales, I was quite surprised that some form of tamale has been cooked and eaten for about ten-thousand years. On the flip side, it is interesting sometimes how new some traditions can be; for example, the use of the color blue for boys and pink for girls is less than one-hundred years old. We humans are quite good at carrying on traditions, even if they evolve over the years. As the new year rang in – Is it really 2022? – I wondered about the tradition of making resolutions for the new year.
I would imagine that not many family traditions can be traced back ten thousand years. The Gates family, like many families who trace their roots to Mexico, can do just that. Lesley Olvera Gates, her husband Tony, their two daughters Maddy and Morgan, and their extended family, continue a tradition of Christmas Eve tamale making and eating that Lesley remembers as an integral part of her earliest childhood memories—and it literally has ancient beginnings.
Here in southeastern Fresno County and a sliver of Tulare County, there exists a school with a geographic reach larger than most. This school has no mascot, no marching band, and no football team. It doesn’t have its own cafeteria or bus fleet. Its student body has never elected homecoming royalty. What it does have is over 7,000 students, enrolled in over 340 high school classes, taught by almost 100 teachers whose primary credentialing criteria is years of experience in their respective industries. For fifty years, the Valley Regional Occupational Program (ROP) has provided career technical education opportunities for tens of thousands of high school students in our area.
On a regular afternoon in the bustling capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Cathy Luque was walking with her young one-year-old son. They were approached by a man, a known local drug dealer, on a motorbike who buzzed right up to them and offered her some chilling advice, “You better make sure to take good care of the kid.” After that, it didn’t take long for 1st Lieutenant Captain Select Jaime Luque and his wife Cathy to decide they needed to make a drastic change.
