Diego Luna, a Mexican actor and director of the new film, “Cesar Chavez,” speaks about his support for DREAMers and says how they are part of American history. (Alejandro Alba/SHFWire)

New program to give more than 2,000 college scholarships to DREAMers

WASHINGTON – A new program will allow thousands of young immigrants to go to college without having to worry about money. Donald Graham introduced TheDream.US, a new scholarship fund, at a press conference Tuesday. It will give full-ride scholarships to more than 2,000 DREAMers over the next decade. “It will be terrible for them and for our country if we don’t help them,” Graham said. “There is no telling what many of them will achieve in their lives.”

Young people described as DREAMers are those brought to the United States when they were  children.

Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer for the Service Employees International Union, says Fast for Families will visit more than 100 key congressional districts where the group will invite people to join him and others in the fast. (Alejandro Alba/SHFWire)

Fast for Families tour of U.S. promotes immigration reform

WASHINGTON – Four activists for immigration reform are taking their cause on the road. They will board a bus Tuesday and urge people in 100 communities around the country to fast with them until Congress passes immigration reform. “We are going to be asking the American people to join us in fasting,” Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer for the Service Employees International Union, said. “Judging from what happened in December, I think we are going to have tens of thousands of people joining us.”

The Fast for Families campaign began November when immigration activists sat outside the Capitol and fasted for 22 days. Medina is one of two people who will fast on the bus tour who also fasted at the Capitol.

Alicia Keys says reading the script for “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete” was heart wrenching. She was a co-producer of the film that tells the story of two boys growing up in the Bronx. (Alejandro Alba / SHFWire)

First lady, Alicia Keys screen movie at White House as part of education push

WASHINGTON – Michelle Obama brought a backup to a film screening at the White House Wednesday as part of her campaign to encourage children to go to college. Singer and songwriter Alicia Keys co-produced the film, “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” which a group of teachers and other educators watched and discussed. Keys and a teacher led a discussion of the film, and Obama talked to the crowd about her reaction to the film. “The minute I got through watching this movie, I said, ‘I’m going to screen it at the White House,’” Michelle Obama said. “This is the movie that should begin the conversation that is already happening on what it is we have to do to invest in kids in this community.”

The film tells the story of two grade-school boys who are living with the day-to-day struggles of fending for themselves in the Bronx.

Lisa Elliott, assistant professor at EPCC, and Bobby Gutierrez, senior lecturer at UTEP, present student work at the third annual Student Film Festival. (Alejandro Alba/Borderzine.com)

Film festival gives students a greater audience for their work

EL PASO – Film students from the University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College yanked their movies out of their computers and projected them for everyone to view at the third annual Student Film Festival. “The biggest tragedy in filmmaking is for a film to stay in a hard drive. This is what you want, a venue where people can see your work,” said Robert Gutierrez, digital media production professor at UTEP. Gutierrez said the collaboration between the two schools worked as a pipeline so that EPCC students can see what to expect when they transfer to UTEP. “I think the students, before, used to produce for just their friends, but now they know that other people are watching, so that raises their quality of their work,” Gutierrez said.

George Hinojosa practices Parkour because he believes it is useful in everyday life. (Alejandro Alba/Borderzine.com)

Parkour teaches students courage, self-awareness, and how to roll with the jumps

EL PASO – Everything began back at Anthony High School. George Hinojosa along with his two best friends began practicing Parkour along the school hallways and jumping over cafeteria tables gracefully. Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment. A year later, Hinojosa now finds himself taking on more challenging barriers and obstacles, such as the break along the staircase in front of the Psychology Building at the UTEP campus. Hinojosa said he took on the practice of Parkour to feel some sort of superiority, soaring through crowds and jumping from buildings that are 10 feet high.

A member of the 915 Anarchy group paints graffiti at the downtown branch of Bank of America. (Alejandro Alba/Borderzine.com)

Young anarchists defy the law to promote social and political change

EL PASO – Early one morning in late April, a dark figure walks up to the windows of the Bank of America building on Mesa Street in downtown El Paso across from San Jacinto Plaza. From under his jacket, he pulls out a can of black paint and sprays a symbol on the windows along with the word “die.”

The young protestor – covered from head to toe to hide his identity – painted a large letter “A” with a circle around it on the window of the bank.  The “A” is a symbol that has become widely known throughout the world as the calling card of a social movement called anarchism. Anarchist groups have sprung up throughout the country as a branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement. What sets these anarchist groups apart from the Occupy movement are the tactics of protest they use to get their message across. Their method is known as “black bloc,” which involves vandalism, marches and riots while members dress in black to promote solidarity.