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Jennifer Torres
Jennifer Torres writes about diversity - of all kinds - in San Joaquin County. She's from Southern California and now lives in town with her husband and baby girl. Read FullCategories
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Author Archives: Jennifer Torres
Jennifer Torres
Making it
Charles Gaines opened his barbeque restaurant, Gaines Grill, in 2002, and earlier this year, moved it to its current location on Washington Street.
According to information released yesterday by the Census Bureau, businesses such as Gaines’s represent big economic potential – they have grown in number in recent years, and also are taking in more money.
But [...]
Posted in Uncategorized 0 Comments
A primary fight you might not know about
San Joaquin County District Attorney Jim Willett faces no opposition on today’s ballot. But he is opposed by friends and family members of Joey Pinasco, whom I last wrote about in September.
California Highway Patrol officers shot and killed the 21-year-old Pinasco on Aug. 24, 2008, after a brief car chase, at the end of which [...]
Posted in Uncategorized 0 Comments
Good citizenship
Yesterday, Dolores Huerta, the Stockton-raised civil rights activist, was in town to talk to eighth graders on the occasion of their promotion from elementary school.
Mostly, she offered words of advice and encouragement: Stay in school. Don’t get married or have babies too soon. Start saving for college. Don’t let others – be they teachers, peers [...]
Posted in history, immigration Tagged children, education, immigration, latinos, women, youth 0 Comments
Video from Dolores Huerta’s speech
Farm worker advocate and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta spoke to students May 27 at Huerta Elementary School’s graduation ceremony in Stockton.
Where you’re from/where you stand
Awhile ago I wrote that I was surprised by a Pew analysis concluding that 1 In 4 U.S. newborns is Latino, only to learn, after some quick checking around, that fully 45 percent of San Joaquin County babies (including mine, incidentally) are Latino.
Over on the other end of the age spectrum, only 18.8 percent [...]
Posted in demographics, immigration 0 Comments
Back
I don’t know how many times I have looked up the statistics. Probably dozens. For stories about how many local families depend on two incomes. (More than half). And others about limited options when it comes to child care for infants. (There are about 24,600 children younger than 2 in the county and local, licensed [...]
Posted in children and families, working 0 Comments
More kids have unemployed parents
The U.S. Census Bureau today released a report on family living arrangements that found growing unemployment among families with children.
Among married-couple families, 6 percent of husbands were unemployed in 2009 (vs. 3 percent in 2007), while 4 percent of wives were unemployed (vs. 2 percent)
Among families where parents aren’t married, 16 percent of fathers and [...]
Estimates vary widely
I received several reader responses critical of those recent stories on Brayan Soto and his family. All of them, in some way, alluded to the costs of illegal immigration:
“Will you ever write an article about how much these illegal’s cost this country; how they are criminals, yes true criminals, and a major drain on the [...]
A life in Stockton
Brayan Soto was 11 years old when he was pulled out of school to become the primary caretaker of his mother, who had suffered a stroke, and his two younger brothers. For two years, he spent his days diapering and dressing and cooking and cleaning while other kids his age were going to sixth – [...]
Posted in children and families, immigration, poverty, social services Tagged children, education, health, immigration, latinos, poverty, youth 0 Comments
Fight to survive