Backstreet to the American Dream profiles American entrepreneurs and Mexican immigrants in the food truck industry. Indeed, these are very different operations in the same city: Ryan Harkins rose to fame after Grill ‘Em All’s first-season win on The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network in 2010, and Doña Guillermina Vella Rio owns the mariscos (seafood) truck, El Pescadito, that has parked at the same swap meet near South Los Angeles since 1982.

Ryan Harkins and crew celebrate Grill Em All’s first anniversary on December 16, 2010. (Photo by Corey Takahashi)

Born in 1954, this grandmother, with salt-and-pepper hair, still cries when she thinks about illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 1977 to get a job and support her baby boy back home in Nayarit.

Doña Guille has been parking her lonchera, El Pescadito, in the same blue-collar L.A. neighborhood since 1982. (Photo by Patricia Nazario)

The historic centerpiece of this bilingual film is a stunning four-minute animation tracing the evolution of street food from Ancient Mexico to South L.A. Scored with handmade instruments and narrated in English, Spanish, and the Indigenous Náhuatl language, this groundbreaking sequence has won two Best Animated Short awards.

This vérité-style feature, told from the trenches, channels the spirit of civil rights-era documentaries while reimagining the American Dream through a Latino lens. Amid deepening division and intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, the story zeroes in on the singular act that unites us all: breaking bread across class and culture. Centered on food trucks, where people from all walks of life share meals, this cross-cultural odyssey captures the growing divide between wage earners and the wealthy, survival and spectacle, hardship and hustle. Through food, the film ignites empathy and sparks dialogue among audiences who might not otherwise contemplate the human cost of inequality.

Timely and unflinching, this powerful slice of contemporary Americana delivers an urgent call to action: recognize the humanity of those who keep America running, and the fragility of democracy in the struggle for labor rights, dignity, and equal opportunity. This cinematic exposé has screened at 14 film festivals, including Dances With Films, Newport Beach, Sonoma, San Antonio, GuadaLAjara, Workers Unite–NYC, and Ethnografilm Paris; 17 universities and cultural centers across the U.S., and has won 16 awards. More at @BackstreetFilm.com.

In collaboration with illustrator Jules Rivera, the four-minute animated open traces street food through time, and back to Doña Guille’s food truck in South L.A.

NRATV profiles slain LAPD SWAT officer Randal Simmons as, “…a loyal husband, devoted father and friend to many.”

Police say Edwin Rivera called 911 around 9 p.m. to say he had shot his father and two brothers. Half past midnight, SWAT offers entered the house, because they believed the 20-year-old was holding more hostages. Rivera was armed and waiting. In a bloody gunbattle, Rivera shot SWAT officer James Veenstra in the face and jaw, and killed Simmons with a bullet to the neck. Shortly after 1 a.m., Simmons died at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. The 11-hour standoff ended when an LAPD sniper shot Rivera in the head.

Simmons, 51, nicknamed “The Deacon” was an ordained minister. He’s the first SWAT officer killed in the line of duty in the history of the elite Special Weapons and Tactics team since it began in 1967, and some ten thousand people attended his funeral at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South L.A. That summer, the Los Angeles Police Protective league spent $100,000 on 20 commemorative billboards that went up around the city to honor Simmons’ legacy with the LAPD.

Lisa Simmons poses on Aug. 22, 2012 with her book about her late husband Randal Simmons, and many of the tributes to the LAPD SWAT officer who was killed in the line of duty on February 7, 2008. Brad Graverson/L.A. Police Protective League

Four years after his death, Simmons’ widow, Lisa Simmons wrote about her husband’s story in the book, “41D — Man of Valor,” named for Simmons’ police radio name. The moniker is the same for the production company of the film about the hero’s life.

The project website credits two major firearm companies as sponsors: Ruger and America’s longest-standing company, Smith & Wesson. The National Rifle Association bankrolls the website and uses it to broadcast original programming, including series, profiles and daily shows that discuss topical issues.

Salon magazine calls NARTV’s coverage an alternative to the mainstream media. Critics say major firearms are underwriting the streaming content, which amounts to provocative videos that cast liberals and the media as enemies of the state.

A website for Simmons’ book, “41D — Man of Valor,” posted a blog about tackling the movie industry saying, “I feel really good about it. A Great director attached to ‘The Project-41D Man of Valor.”  But, no connection to the NRA was mentioned.

Hear my live reports from that morning:
First Live shot from Hospital
Second Live shot from Hospital
Third Live shot from Hospital
Fourth Live shot from Hospital
Fifth Live shot from Hospital

Gary Jacobson is passionate about helping deaf and hard of hearing people prepare their taxes. But instead of spending money on advertising, the 60-year-old accountant sets up a daylong clinic at a Starbucks in Norwalk.

“Nothing saved,” Jacobson says to a client. “Not that much difference – $945.”

He’s unpacked his laptop, mouse, and a portable printer the size of a stapler at a window table toward the back of the coffee shop. Jacobson was born hearing-impaired. As a child, he learned how to read lips and speak. Tax preparation is his full-time job now.

“Gary is honest,” says Renee Thomas. “Not only that, he explains why they’re not getting a refund, or why they’re paying, in American Sign language.”

Which is their language, says Thomas. She was a toddler when she lost her hearing. She also learned how to speak and read lips during childhood. She says she and her husband Matthew are part of a tight-knit deaf community in the Southland and she knows plenty of people that hearing tax-preparers have ripped off.

“Same thing when ladies take their car for repair at car shop and then the man knows that the women know nothing about it. ‘Oh, that was a lot of work. It’s going to be $300. OK, OK, fine.’ Same idea with taxes,” said Thomas.

Thomas says she and her husband have relied exclusively on Gary Jacobson since she discovered him 10 years ago. This year, she made video phone calls and sent dozens of text messages to tell people where Gary Jacobson was setting up and what he charges compared to other tax preparers.

“I say, ‘Why don’t you try the deaf taxman?’” says Thomas. “And they say, ‘What? That’s all? Only $35. Last year, I paid $300 at…’”

Those referrals are paying off. Jacobson says his client list is approaching 1,300 and most of them can hear.

“There were too many people out there that did not know what to do,” says Jacobson. “They needed someone to explain things to them why and how things are done.”

Jacobson says this is the third time he’s made the trek from his San Fernando Valley office to this Starbucks. It’s close and he says the setting offers a comfortable place for his deaf clients to socialize and kill time while they wait their turn. He makes similar arrangements with his hearing clientele.

The Award Presenters were:
Judy Woodruff, anchor of “PBS NewsHour,” and IWMF founding member served as the Courage Chair.

Angie Harmon, actress/activist, formerly of Law and Order.

Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief , The Huffington Post.

IWMF was established in 1990. Here are some pictures from the event I attended:

The Mistress of Ceremonies introduces award recipient

Russian Journalist in Moscow

And though many professors are still experimenting and learning how these tools can be used, below are the 10 ways journalism schools are currently teaching students to use social media. Please share in the comments others that you have found to be important and effective as well.

Read article: http://mashable.com/2009/06/19/teaching-social-media/

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