NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.     

CSUSB professor comments on Southern California schools rethinking Thanksgiving lessons
The Sun/Southern California News Group
Nov. 22, 2021

Across Southern California, educators say the traditional image of pilgrims and Indians and the conventional myth that “all was well” needs to change. Not telling students the truth about how large communities of Native Americans perished due to failed pacts, war and disease amounts to erasure of history and facts, they said.

Thanksgiving pageants are “problematic” and should have been on their way out a long time ago, said James Fenelon, director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies at Cal State San Bernardino, who added that he doesn’t buy the excuse that it’s a difficult issue to discuss.

“If you can talk about the Revolutionary War, you can talk about the Wampanoag,” he said. “Isn’t that equity? If we talk about friendship pacts, we should also talk about those pacts breaking down.”

These inaccurate presentations have a significant impact on Native children, Fenelon said.

“You’re signaling to these kids that they are less than,” he said. “If they talk about their heritage, they are shut down. This contributes to all kinds of traumatic behavior. Sooner of later, you’re going to have to tell the other side of the story.”

Read the complete article at “Southern California schools rethinking Thanksgiving lessons.”

CSUSB lecturer interviewed about kimchi for Korea Kimchi Day in California
KABC
Nov. 22, 2021

Nov. 22 is officially Korea Kimchi Day in the state of California. The day is also a national holiday in Korea. The date is significant since there are 11 main ingredients in the fermented dish and 22 health benefits including probiotics.

"Kimchi is a fermented food, it's fermented vegetables with all different kinds of spices," said Bomi Hwang, a lecturer at Cal State San Bernardino.

"It's a staple food," said Hwang.

To celebrate, the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles and the Korean Good Global Association are hosting a kimchi festival.

"For the community, this is a very special day," said Hwang.

See the segment at “Los Angeles celebrates Korea Kimchi Day.”

CSUSB geology professor helps train volunteer guides at Whitewater Preserve
Palm Springs Life
October 2021

The work of Codi Lazar, CSUSB associate professor of geological sciences, at the Whitewater Preserve, a non-profit nature conservancy near Palm Springs, was mentioned in a feature on the preserve by Yasuko Smith. Lazar, who was featured in one of the photos in an online gallery, has been collaborating with the conservancy to train its volunteer guides, like Smith, on the geology of the preserve.

Read the complete article at “Discovering the Whitewater Preserve.”

CSUSB professor continues series on the pursuit of convenience’s impact on quality of life
Psychology Today
Nov. 22, 2021

Anthony Silard, associate professor of public administration, wrote the third installment of an eight-part series, this week focusing on how “Our Lives Have Become Conveniently Lonely.”

He wrote, in part, that the convenience that comes with our mobile devices has created “a world filled with ‘digital nomands’” and a lack of connection. “Sure, you can join a phone conference while waiting in the doctor’s office for your teenager to finish her appointment or while you’re on a beach in the Caribbean—but so can everyone else. As a result, your sense of friendship and community is likely to diminish along with your physical colocation.”

Read the complete article at “Our Lives Have Become Conveniently Lonely.”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”