I have made 2 recent appearances in the local media recently
1) In the October edition of the Hawaii Hispanic News, there is a section called "Adonde Estamos? Where are We?" In it, those of Latino ancestry get to show their face and tell the readers who they are.
http://www.hawaiihispanicnews.org/index.html is the Hawaii Hispanic News website, though my info was only in the print version!
I was solicited to post some info by the editor Marie Villa!
This is what I orginally sent
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Hi, I am Pablo Wegesend, a 27 year old lifelong resident of Honolulu . My father is from Oaxaca , Mexico . He is of Zapotec and Spanish ancestry. My mother is born & raised in Honolulu , and she is of Puerto Rican, Spanish, Portuguese and German ancestry.
I attended Lilioukalani Elementary (preschool-kindergarten), Lanakila Elementary (grades 1-5), Kawananakoa Middle, McKinley High, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa!
I grew up in Kalihi, and currently live in Mo'ili'ili.
I am currently a substitute teacher for schools in both the public and private sector!
My interests include bike riding, supporting U H sports, collecting articles from the Internet, exercising at the Nuuanu YMCA, and listening to various styles of music.
--
What's with the orange words? That's all that was printed in Hawaii Hispanic News!
The editors edited a lot of stuff out! I've mentioned that I've got Puerto Rican, Portuguese and German to the editors, they took it out! It now makes me look like "this guy only emphasizes his Mexican side"
I understand editors have to make decisions based on available space, but it leaves out stuff I told them! :(
It reminds me of those who've been interviewed on TV for hours, but only 5 minutes of what they said was televised!
Well, at least they spelled my German last name right! :)
2) I also had a guest appearance in a recent Honolulu Star Bulletin story.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20081009_Isle_tourism_chief_resigns.html
I was quoted in saying the following!
Rex Johnson being the head of the Hawaii tourism agency is like Michael Vick in charge of the Humane Society. It's like Amy Winehouse in charge of DARE," said Honolulu-resident Pablo Wegesend, who has been an advocate for Hispanic rights.
I did say that, but I did NOT say it to anyone at the Honolulu Star Bulletin. It was something I sent in an email to a member of the Hawaii Tourism Authority board, after someone sent an email out to encourage people to send emails to Kelvin Bloom (a member of the board in charge of the Hawaii Tourism Authority) on the Rex Johnson controversy!
That email was supposed to just sent to a member of the board. I did NOT expect it to be mentioned in a newspaper.
But now that it's on the paper, I stand by everything I said. I'm just surprised it appeared on the Star Bulletin, since I didn't contact anyone on the Star Bulletin on this issue!
#2 - an "advocate of Hispanic rights"? Wow! I'm not a member of any organization, but I guess all my blogs and articles (which focuses on many issues, NOT just those relating to Latino issues) paid off!
Well, I guess the last few days reinforced a few lessons!
1) you can tell someone in the media a lot, and they'll only show a tiny portion of what you told them (as was the case of Hawaii Hispanic News)
2) anything sent in e-mail can be published in a well-known media outlet, even if you never sent it to a media outlet! ( as was the case with the Star Bulletin story)
Anyways, I guess that's the price of being an opinionated person :)
