Recently my Auntie Soo Yin was invited by Franky Ortega, a teacher at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, to give a talk about the history of the Joe Joe Ranch to his classes."Daniel Pearl Magnet High School is a magnet school within the Los Angeles Unified School District in Lake Balboa, Los Angeles, near Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. It is the smallest comprehensive high school in LAUSD ". It is located adjacent to Birmingham high school of which Auntie Soo Yin is an alumnus herself. The site of the Jue Joe Van Nuys ranch is located very close to the school within walking distance.
Here is Auntie Soo Yin's description of her talk.
"It was an honor to bring the Jue Joe story to Franky's students. I spoke to two different history classes of Franky's, the third and fourth periods, and each time the kids were very engaged and asked me good questions. They found our family's transnational story fascinating. The talk addressed birthright citizenship, exclusion laws, emigration and separation of families, culture clash, colorful characters and historical figures that graced the ranch, and the San Fernando Valley's historical ranch culture. They loved your Saugus video!! It made the points that I covered come alive for them because they could see how asparagus farming was actually done! When the video showed women sorting and grading asparagus shoots on a moving conveyor belt in the Packinghouse, one student exclaimed it was just like watching "I Love Lucy," in which Lucy is working in a chocolate factory! Students commented that our family's past legal and social challenges were very relevant to important issues that this country is embroiled in today. Also, they were delighted to learn that Ritchie Valens had lived briefly on the Jue Joe Ranch! When I asked for a show of hands if anyone knew of Ritchie who'd died before their time. All the students raised their hands! They knew every song that he had recorded too. Moreover, the kids were excited to learn that I was an alumnus of Birmingham. They asked me what was it like attending the School back then, and were the teachers good or bad, lol!"
As part of her presentation she showed an edited video I made of the film of the Jue family Saugus farming operation that was created by my late father, Jack Sr. and late Uncle Harry.
Here is her powerpoint presentation.
