Dance a little, nosh a lot

• April 30, 2023

By Penny E. Schwartz

Correspondent

The aroma of Jewish foods and the lively sounds of klezmer music will fill Clubhouse 1 in Laguna Woods as the Jewish Food Festival returns Sunday, April 30, with a cornucopia of traditional and favorite palate pleasers.

The third edition of this popular fest is back after a three-year pandemic hiatus. It was last held in 2019, with more than 1,200 hungry eaters in attendance. The festival takes place from 5-8 p.m. in the Clubhouse 1 Main Lounge and patio.

Sponsored by the Reform Temple of Laguna Woods, the festival includes the participation of other Village Jewish organizations such as ORT America, Hadassah, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Shalom Club, as well as the Chabad Jewish Center of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Woods and the Laguna Woods Friends of Jewish Federation of Orange County.

“It’s an opportunity for all the Jewish organizations in the Village to cooperate in providing a good three hours of food and fun,” said Lynne Rosenstein, chair of the event.

Diners can nosh on delicatessen delicacies to the upbeat music of the Shtetl Menschen Klezmer Band from Long Beach. Close-up magician Nate Kvetny, a temple member, will also entertain the crowd, with intervals of Israeli dancing led by temple member and dance instructor Rebeca Gilad.

A silent auction will feature around 100 gift cards for restaurants, stores and markets as well as donated artwork and jewelry.

Rosenstein, former president of the Reform Temple, participated in a similar festival in her previous home in Bakersfield.

“It was fun and successful and served as an introduction to the Jewish community in a place where not many Jews lived,” she said. “Here it provides an opportunity for all the Village Jewish groups to do something cooperative and makes for a wonderful feeling of togetherness.”

It also introduces people not familiar with Jewish food to a great variety of it, she said.

The sandwich menu includes brisket on a Kaiser roll and pastrami on rye, both served with coleslaw and dill pickle. Lox with a schmear of cream cheese on a bagel is dressed with tomato, onion and coleslaw. Barbecued kosher-style hot dogs will be accompanied by chips.

The brisket and coleslaw are being purchased from Jolanda’s Cafe & Catering. Kosher Bite Deli is donating the pickles.

Home-baked goods will feature traditional rugelach (rolled pastries filled with fruit), sour cream coffee cake and Mandelbrot (sweet crispy biscuits) made from recipes provided by temple members.

Also for sale will be chicken soup with matzo balls and small challahs (braided breads) made by Chabad, noodle kugel (pudding) from ORT, halvah (a sweet, sesame-based dessert) from the National Council of Jewish Women, and traditional East Coast egg cream drinks from the Shalom Club. Hadassah members will be selling the club’s signature Jewish cookbook.

The festival is open to all Village residents and their guests, and admission is free, with food tickets sold at at the event for $1 each for purchase of items ranging from $1 for a soda to $14 for a sandwich.

Food tickets are also being sold in advance. Get them at the Clubhouse 1 Drop-In Lounge from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. today, Thursday, April 27. They’ll also be available there from 10 a.m. to noon. Friday, April 28. Menus from which to choose will be available.

Parking at Clubhouse 1 during the festival will be at a premium. The Reform Temple has contracted with Age Well for a bus to shuttle attendees from the Clubhouse 4 parking lot to Clubhouse 1 at no cost to riders beginning at 4:45 p.m. The bus will run a continuous loop, with the final run leaving Clubhouse 1 at 7:45 p.m.

The inaugural festival in 2018 drew about 1,000 people, much to the surprise of the organizers, who ran out of food.

“In 2019, we made sure to have enough food for everyone,” Rosenstein said.

The committee is preparing for the numbers that showed up that year. “We are very conscious of not running out of food,” she added.

Around 130 volunteers from the temple will help staff the event, each wearing a distinctive gold T-shirt with the festival logo.

“Some volunteers may have signed up just to get the T-shirt,” Rosenstein said with a laugh.

This festival serves as a major fundraiser for the temple, Rosenstein said, promising it “should be a fun-filled, feel-good event for all.”

For questions, call Rosenstein at 562-773-5107.

RECIPES

Rugelach, from Susan Gaile Bain

DOUGH

½ pound cream cheese (room temperature)

½ pound unsalted butter (room temperature)

Cream together in bowl with beaters until well blended.

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt (use coarse salt)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add these three ingredients and mix in.

2 cups flour

Add flour and mix in until mixture pulls together.

Dump onto a lightly floured board, flour hands and gently make a large ball. Flatten somewhat. Cut in quarters and roll into four balls. Chill dough for about a half hour (will be easier to roll out).

FILLING

1 cup well-chopped walnuts

6 tablespoons brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¾ cup dark raisins (If doing log-shaped dough, raisins will need to be chopped or cut in half.)

While the dough is chilling, mix the walnuts, brown sugar cinnamon and dark raisins together and set aside.

Prepare the jam* and set aside, the cinnamon sugar mixture* and set aside and the egg wash*and set aside.

*Apricot jam: Mix about ¾ cup jam and 1 teaspoon water combined with a fork until smooth enough for spreading.

*Cinnamon mixture: 1 teaspoon cinnamon mixed with 3 tablespoons white sugar for sprinkling. (I put this into a jar that sprinkles.)

*Egg wash: Crack egg and put in bowl. Add about half a shell filled with some water. Beat with a fork. (This is used for brushing onto prepared rugelach.)

Once the dough is a little firm, roll into approximately a 9-inch circle on a floured board.

Spread on apricot jam gently so as not to tear dough. (If jam needs more thinning so as not to tear dough, add a little more water.)

Sprinkle nut mixture over top. Gently press into dough.

Sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar mixture on top of that.

Cut a circle of dough gently in half and each half in half.

Then each quarter gets cut into three pie-slice shapes (triangles.)

The fun begins. Roll up from outside edge to middle.  Curve ends a little (kind of like a crescent) and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and chill.

Brush egg wash onto each piece. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned, about 25 minutes, maybe a little more. Rotate cookie sheets if the top is browning faster than the bottom.

Remove from cookie sheets and cool on racks.

*****

Mandelbrot, from Lynne Rosenstein

INGREDIENTS

1 cup oil

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1tablespoon almond extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup toasted slivered almonds

Mixed cinnamon and sugar

PROCEDURE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and almond extract.

Add dry ingredients and mix well at low speed.

Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour or overnight.

With floured hands, shape three logs 2 inches wide on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cool for about 15-20 minutes.

Cut ¾-inch slices and place on side on cookie sheet and bake for an additional 10 minutes on each side.

Watch to make sure they don’t get too brown.

*****

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Use three 8” x 8” square foil pans

Or one tube pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sour cream

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ pound butter = 2 sticks (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups flour

FILLING

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Mix sour cream and baking soda together and set aside.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Add eggs one at a time and sour cream mixture.

Sift flour and add to creamed mixture.

Mix filling together.

Fill each greased pan half with the batter; sprinkle half the filling on top, fill with remaining batter and top with remaining filling.

With a knife cut through batter to swirl.

Bake Tube pan at 350 for 50 minutes or until done.

Bake 8-inch squares at 350 for 30 minutes or until done.

​ Orange County Register 

Stagecoach 2023: Ready to party, yet stay sober? There’s a tent for that

• April 30, 2023

There’s a new lounge at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival right next to an ID-check booth. But unlike most of the other bars at the Indio event, there’s no need to get a wristband before you check it out.

It’s called the 1 Million Strong wellness tent, and it arises out of an initiative with the same name to provide an alcohol-free environment where people can meet up and enjoy music together.

“The idea behind 1 Million Strong is that we can create a better experience, a more inclusive, empowering experience for folks who choose a sober lifestyle and people who are in recovery within the music industry,” said Emilia Huneke-Bergquist, director of events and activations for Stand Together Music, one of the partners behind the initiative. Another is The Phoenix, a nationwide community for people in recovery and their supporters.

“It’s not something that starts with festivals. We want to work with venues, we want to work with industry leaders and artists and songwriters,” she added. “We just want to help build a bigger tent for anyone who’s interested.”

The tent at Stagecoach includes a bar serving two mocktails for $12, Strawberry Sundance and Grapefruit Fresca; couches, poufs and coffee tables on cowhide-patterned carpet; and a 360 photo booth with country music props for fans to pose with.

“Typically if you are in recovery and you go to a festival and say, hey, I need a space, they’re going to consider that an emergency,” she said. “They’re going to take you outside the event. They’re going to take you to an isolated place that maybe has a folding table and some chairs. It’s away from the music. It’s away from the people. What we’re trying to do is say, if you need a space like that, we’re not going to send you away. We’re not going to put you all alone. We’re going to put you in a tent that’s comfy and cozy and full of people, and full of life.”

Huneke-Bergquist said festival promoter Goldenvoice reached out to 1 Million Strong to be at Stagecoach and other festivals, including Just Like Heaven on May 13 and Cruel World on May 20 at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Huneke-Berguist said there’s a large number of people either in recovery or people know someone who is, so there is room for a space like 1 Million Strong, even in the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll culture of the music industry. She also pointed to the popularity of mocktails in the culture at large.

“In music festivals generally, it’s a party vibe. It’s party city. That’s why you come,” she said. “It’s surprising to find a sober space in a venue like that. But the feedback we’ve gotten from fans tells us, tells organizers, that this is the right decision. There is a demographic out there that is really eager for spaces like this.”

 More Stagecoach Country Music Festival news

Stagecoach 2023: See photos of performers and fans from Day 2

Stagecoach 2023: Kane Brown, Bryan Adams and Nelly close out Day 2

Stagecoach 2023: Guy Fieri, Jon Pardi toss barbecued turkey legs to hungry fans 

Stagecoach 2023: Trixie Mattel slays Late Night in Palomino performance 

Stagecoach 2023: See photos of performers and fans from Day 1

Stagecoach 2023: Luke Bryan keeps fans singing, Jon Pardi gets a surprise on stage during Day 1

Stagecoach 2023: Country music fans, performers brave the heat and cut loose during Day 1

Stagecoach 2023: How to livestream the country music festival from home

Stagecoach 2023: Brooks & Dunn return to the desert and they’re ready to party 

Stagecoach 2023: Everything you need to know about the country music fest 

Stagecoach 2023: Guy Fieri’s barbecue, sushi and lots of drinks on the menu 

​ Orange County Register 

Artist of the Year 2023 for dance: Jonah Smith

• April 30, 2023

Jonah Smith did something none of the other student dancers tried in their live presentations for Artist of the Year.

He performed without music.

Like all 15 semifinalists, he had five minutes to show off his talent on the dance floor at Chapman University’s newly opened Sandi Simon Center for Dance.

Meet other Artists of the Year

Film and TV: Magdalena Aparicio, Yorba Linda High School
Theater: Selma Elbalalesy, Aliso Niguel High School
Instrumental music: Lucie Kim, Orange County School of the Arts
Vocal music: Adrianna Tapia, Santa Ana High School
Fine Arts: Alexandra Hernandez, Costa Mesa High School
Media arts: Zachary Cramer, Fountain Valley High School

Smith, 17, chose to specialize in commercial dance. Dancers in all categories had to self-choreograph at least one of their two numbers. Smith created the steps for both his pieces.

He began with a contemporary dance to the spoken word “Interrogation” by Travis Lake. Throughout, an interrogator repeatedly asked the question, “How does it feel to be broken?”

Smith’s second performance — to “Therapy” by Andrew Garfield and Vanessa Hudgens — reflected his background in musical theater. He started as a youngster doing musicals and a year later, at 6, the theater studio suggested he try its new dance program.

Jonah Smith, a senior at Orange County School of the Arts, is the 2023 Artist of the Year in dance. Jonah is shown in the Attallah Piazza fountain at Chapman University in Orange on Sunday, April 16, 2023. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

He’s been a dancer ever since — using movement to work through those times when he himself might have felt as if bottled-up emotions might break him.

In describing his love for dance, Smith wrote: “I found that this new form of communication could better demonstrate what I was trying to say on a personal level, and it has been a joy in my life ever since.”

The joy shone through in his performance to “Therapy.” He had only heard that song for the first time a month earlier and prepared his choreography specifically for the Artist of the Year presentation.

His choreography to “Interrogation” was also a first — Smith had never attempted to dance to a spoken word performance before.

Jonah Smith, a senior at Orange County School of the Arts, is the 2023 Artist of the Year in dance. Jonah is shown in the Attallah Piazza fountain at Chapman University in Orange on Sunday, April 16, 2023. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

He did both dances in a pair of loose, sparkly pants split on the sides of each leg up to the knee. Yes, that attire also caught the judges’ eyes.

No surprise that one of his dreams for the future is to go on tour as a dancer with a musical artist. Rihanna, to be specific.

“The Super Bowl,” Smith told the panel, referring to Rihanna’s halftime show at Super Bowl LVII in February, “changed my life.”

That comment got a chuckle from the six judges, but later as they discussed the Artist of the Year contenders, his words and actions stood out as serious business.

“I felt like I was witnessing a pure artist,” said Heather Gillette, a professor of dance who co-chairs the Santa Ana College dance department.

Judy Scialpi, a dance teacher at Northwood High School, said Smith’s thoughtful remarks “made me want to have an artistic conversation with him.”

Smith will be around for her to follow up on that if she wants — he said he’s “100% committed” to attending Chapman University as a dance major.

So, look for him at the Sandi Simon Center for Dance before he heads out on tour someday.

Dance finalists

Dance is divided into four specialties: commercial dance, concert dance, hip hop, and world/cultural dance. In addition to Artist of the Year, the judges selected finalists in each category.

Alexandria Rose Schachter of Costa Mesa, a senior studying at Newport Harbor High School, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of commercial dance for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Reo Derrick)

Commercial Dance: Alexandria Rose Schachter, 18, senior at Newport Harbor High. She’s earned a scholarship to attend the University of Arizona and auditioned for USC as well. She’d love to go on tour as a dancer and choreograph for the screen and stage. Her dad is a special education P.E. teacher and Schachter grew up understanding the potential for connection through movement: “Dance is such a universal language. Everyone can move their body.”

Courtney Chiu of Westminster, a senior studying at the Orange County School of the Arts, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of concert dance for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Claire Imler)

Concert Dance: Courtney Chiu, 17, senior at Orange County School of the Arts. Chiu’s love for dance started when she was 7 and followed her sister’s footsteps into baby Hulu classes. (Her mother grew up in Hawaii.) She loved the drums, the gourds, the skirts, the flowers in her hair. “I was always so excited. I always remember I dance because I love it.” She plans to study dance and psychology in college, hoping to explore how dance can help people with dementia.

Faith Aguilar of Tustin, a senior studying at the Orange County School of the Arts, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of hip hop for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Ulrika Molin)

Hip-hop: Faith Aguilar, 17, senior at Orange County School of the Arts. Hip hop dance comes naturally to her. After all, her parents met at a 24 Hour Fitness hip hop class. But she likes to challenge herself and grow as a dancer. She wants to earn a degree in fine arts, then pursue a career in commercial dance, choreograph for the stage, and teach. As an artist, Aguilar wrote, “the goal is to remind our fast-paced society to slow down and focus on the real substance within people.”

Raaga Mahesh of Irvine, a junior studying with private instructor Viji Prakash, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of world/cultural dance for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of John Merrell)

World/Cultural Dance: Raaga Mahesh, 16, junior at Irvine High. Her mother and her aunt were both practiced in Bharatanatym, the classical South Indian style of dancing. Inspired by them, Mahesh says she began her own study of Bharatanatym “before I could even walk” and learned the foundation of the art form on visits to India in classes her aunt taught. She considers herself fortunate to have grown up in a family that knows the importance of art in one’s life.

​ Orange County Register 

Artist of the Year 2023 for film and TV: Magdalena Aparicio

• April 30, 2023

Magdalena Aparicio changed her mind several times about what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Elementary school: author. Middle school: painter. High school: photographer.

Meet other Artists of the Year

Dance: Jonah Smith, Orange County School of the Arts
Theater: Selma Elbalalesy, Aliso Niguel High School
Instrumental music: Lucie Kim, Orange County School of the Arts
Vocal music: Adrianna Tapia, Santa Ana High School
Fine Arts: Alexandra Hernandez, Costa Mesa High School
Media arts: Zachary Cramer, Fountain Valley High School

But in her junior year at Yorba Linda High, she took a video production class that most kids at her school sign up for as freshmen. She’s now determined to be a filmmaker — combining all three of her previously imagined careers.

Her teacher and the panel who judged the film submissions of 15 would-be Artists of the Year for Film and TV seem sure she’s got a good shot at her dream.

Look how far she’s come in such a short amount of time.

Last year, Aparicio wrote and directed the film that won Best Music Video at the Orange County Film Festival. Before signing up for the school video production class, she said she had “not even an ounce” of film experience.

This year, for a high school competition that gave students all of 24 hours to create a music video, Aparicio repeated her dual role with the same stellar results — her class won Best Music Video.

Magdalena Aparicio, a senior at Yorba Linda High School, is the 2023 Artist of the Year in film and TV. Magdalena is shown at the Argyros Global Citizens Plaza at Chapman University in Orange on Sunday, April 16, 2023. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In his advanced video productions class, teacher Richard Cadra said, “She is very skilled with all of the equipment and software, and she also has wonderfully creative ideas for short films and always comes through with her deadlines.”

Aparicio is a young woman from a family of immigrants, a large household in which she grew up around a dozen family members.

She is anything but traditional and wants to flip the script on film stereotypes.

Consider her award-winning music video from last year, “Portrait of Adolescence: Entre los Dos.” The main character is a teenage girl who is queer, but not one with the all-too-common tragic ending Aparicio said is depicted in films.

“My main character finds pain and insecurity in self discovery, but pushes past it to see that she deserves love,” Aparicio wrote. “I make films for those who don’t really get the spotlight in film and TV. Queer and Hispanic people like me.”

She chose a Spanish-language song as the music for the video so her family could better understand it. Her parents attended the film festival where it debuted. Their reaction was along the lines of “Huh, so that’s what she’s been doing.”

Aparicio, who turns 18 in May, hopes to someday have the kind of signature style that will be recognizable, like that of one of her favorite filmmakers, John Hughes.

“I want somebody to say, ‘That’s a Magdalena Aparicio film.’”

Film and TV finalists

Film and TV is divided into five specialties: cinematography, film directing, promo/commercial making, TV/broadcast journalism, and visual effects and editing. (Due to the small number of nominees in promo/commercial making and TV/broadcast journalism, those specialties were combined this year.) In addition to Artist of the Year, the judges selected finalists in each category.

Winston Verdult of Santa Ana, a senior studying at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of cinematography for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Suzanne Verdult)

Cinematography: Winston Verdult, 18, senior at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. In February, Verdult won the YoungArts Gold Medal Award, which came with a $10,000 prize. He’s had to work with limited resources and time, shooting the film he submitted, “When the Clock Strikes,” in one-day, with no crew and the challenge of working around all the reflection from glass items in an antique store. He pulled it off. “You got creative in the space where you were filming,” said Victor Payan, co-founder of the OC Film Fiesta multicultural film festival.

Charlotte Quintanar of San Clemente, a senior studying at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of film directing for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Renee)

Film directing: Charlotte Quintanar, 17, senior at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. She was a finalist last year. She is still creating student-oriented explanatory videos that NASA uses on its website to instruct young minds. Last year she made a documentary on bees, “just a summer project” that she shot in Orange County and in England. “I was running around like a maniac, chasing bees around with a camera.” The judges expect to see her work on PBS someday.

Hunaina Hirji of Yorba Linda, a junior studying at Yorba Linda High School, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of promo/commercial making for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Ameerah Hirji)

Promo/Commercial Making, and TV/Broadcast Journalism: Hunaina Hirji, 16, junior at Yorba Linda High. She produced a PSA about mental health and anxiety, a subject made personal to her through the struggles of family members and friends. She also made a video message on school finals that had a more lighthearted horror film feel to it. Hirji likes to tell her stories through sound design. If she can’t find the sound she wants, she creates her own. “Once I got into it,” she said, “I couldn’t stop.”

Tyler Hom of Irvine, a senior studying at Beckman High School, was selected as the finalist in the specialty of visual effects and editing for Artist of the Year in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Meena Senapathi)

Visual Effects and Editing: Tyler Hom, 18, senior at Beckman High. He showed the judges a documentary on the making of a musical that his school puts on every few years to involve all its arts students. After three months, Hom ended up with 13 hours of footage to condense into a six-minute film. “Not an easy task,” he said. Hom, who is headed for Boston University, likes to focus on realism. “It’s real people. It’s real stories. I don’t think there’s a better story than a true story.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County vet who volunteered in Ukraine, survived rocket attack: ‘I would do it again’

• April 30, 2023

In the dark, there was a staccato beat of sound — a thundering, unplaceable boom. Then there was the pain, sudden and unyielding.

Giovanni Roman was hit.

It was just before midnight on a frigid February evening in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine when the 29-year-old Marine veteran from Garden Grove was struck by an enemy Russian rocket while inside a Humvee on the frontlines.

Blood soaked through his vest. Pain electrified him. The impact shattered part of Roman’s skull, claimed his right eye, and jettisoned shrapnel into his arm and hand. But somehow, Roman stayed awake. He remembers it all.

“I’ve always believed as a man you should be willing to die for something,” Roman said. “I have no problem dying helping someone out and helping the defenseless — and that is exactly what was going on there.”

The hours leading up to the attack were as normal as they could be in the embattled country, where Roman volunteered twice as a medic and soldier.

On a second trip that began in December, Roman was volunteering with the International Legion of Ukraine — stationed in the oblast, or region, annexed by Russia in September. As the only medic in his unit, Roman said he would sometimes insert IVs while staving off enemy fire.

Hours before the attack, Roman had booted up DoorDash to send his girlfriend Valentine’s Day flowers and made a call to his mother. But those were some of his only communications back to Orange County from Donetsk, where his unit spent each night sleeping in muddy foxholes with nary a bathroom or proper meal. Temperatures frequently dipped below zero. Often, Russian drones could be heard buzzing overhead.

As also alleged by Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy, Roman said white phosphorous — a weapon outlawed by the Geneva Convention — would fall from the skies, threatening to burn through flesh. The acrid smell of it still lingers on some of his gear today, he said.

Before the war began, Roman had never been to Europe, nor had he seen combat with the Marine Corps, which he joined in 2014, not long after graduating high school. He was in third grade when 9/11 happened; from then on, he’d wanted to be a soldier.

In the Marines, Roman served as an infantryman and achieved the rank of sergeant. He won a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, among other awards, before he was honorably discharged in 2020, according to military records.

A photo of Giovanni Roman, a Marine Corps veteran from Orange County, on the frontlines with the Ukrainian army in the war against Russia. He was badly injured when the vehicle he was traveling in was hit by a rocket, smashing his face and resulting in his losing an eye. He is now back at home in Orange County and recovering from his injuries. (Courtesy Giovanni Roman)

Although Roman was in the early stages of becoming a Navy corpsman last February, leaving his burgeoning Naval career and a day job as an ER technician felt necessary. Russia’s invasion, he said, seemed as consequential a moment as the early days of World War II.

A flicker on the TV screen during a night shift at the hospital was enough to convince him.

“It didn’t feel right that I’m over here comfortable with my hospital scrubs, clean and living a good life, knowing there are civilians getting bombed,” Roman said.

Those close to him weren’t surprised. Roman has long been drawn to public service, his friend Scott Caceres said, recalling their first meeting seven years ago while working as EMTs.

Early in their friendship, Roman convinced Caceres to join him in the Marine Corps. They were stationed together in Japan; Caceres refers to Roman as a “brother.”

While Caceres knew there would be no stopping Roman from volunteering in Ukraine, he described a “mix of emotions” about his friend’s choice.

“I felt proud of Gio for serving the victims of the Russians’ assault, but also worried about his safety,” said Caceres, a Santa Ana police officer. “I tried my best to support him.”

For Roman, going to Ukraine didn’t seem complicated — as a trained soldier, he figured there was a way he could help. In a matter of days, his plan was in motion.

“(The invasion) happened on a Thursday, I bought my ticket Sunday night, and I flew out Wednesday,” Roman said.

Gear and medical supplies in tow, he began an odyssey that took him from John Wayne Airport to Switzerland, then Poland, and finally on to Ukraine via car.

As refugees poured out from the Ukrainian-Polish border, Roman drove toward the conflict with someone he’d met on Reddit. In a video shot by Roman, hordes of people, mainly women and children, are seen surrounding their vehicle.

Soon, they were at a crowded base camp near the western city of Lviv. Roman declined to sign a contract with the Ukrainian government, which asked for a three-year commitment. He offered instead to help where he could.

Amid the hubbub, he found a colonel ready to give orders — before asking a question:

“Are you here to kill people?”

Roman said he wasn’t — and still insists that he went to help, not to get a thrill out of the violence.

“The colonel goes, ‘Well, Russians are bombing the hospital. And they’re bombing schools. So if you want a chance to live, I recommend going to fight with the Ukraine special forces.’ And I was like, ‘Done,’” Roman said. “And I’ll never forget, he shook my hand and he goes, ‘Happy hunting, my friend.’”

Soon, Roman and a motley bunch of international volunteers — one American, several Brits, a Spaniard, and a few Mexican men — began their work in a rural village, doing tasks ad hoc to prevent Kyiv, the capital, from falling. Near-constant bombings punctuated their days; sometimes, artillery fire would come every 10 to 20 seconds. In three days, Roman said he saw an entire forest leveled.

“It was so unorganized. They were taking (volunteers) and just throwing them in the front because we’re trying to buffer the attacks with the Russians,” Roman said. “I didn’t eat for maybe seven days. I couldn’t go to the bathroom … We got these Ukrainian rations, but they were frozen because it was so cold.”

On the frontlines, Roman saw horrors. He declines to get into specifics about what he did and witnessed, but alleges that serious crimes — from rape and torture to extrajudicial executions — were committed by Russian forces.

Although they were never used, Roman kept extra magazines in his breast pocket, planning to take his life and destroy his cell phone if he were ever captured. He feared what the Russian forces would do to an American, much less a former U.S. soldier.

Though the war was far from over, as April approached, Roman’s month of paid time off was up. He’d funded his Ukraine volunteering out-of-pocket and needed to work again. For the second time, he crossed the Atlantic.

Back in Orange County, the normalcy he once knew turned surreal. With but a few plane rides, Roman was out of the battlefield and back into what he called the “Orange County bubble.” Inside, it seemed no one could relate to what he’d seen. But life carried on. Unlike a military deployment, there are no official periods of post-combat rest for volunteer soldiers.

“I literally flew back and it was right back to work the next day. Patients are coming in because they’re drunk … meanwhile, I just got flipped by an artillery round. I was dragging dudes, putting on tourniquets while they were screaming,” Roman said. “It’s hard because I come back here and people are talking about other things, (like) what the Kardashians are doing.”

It became challenging to work while he knew civilians, Ukrainian soldiers, and fellow volunteers remained in a warzone. So in December, he took a leave of absence and returned to Ukraine.

Ten months of war had given Ukraine some time to improve its volunteer coordination, Roman said. But even with the better organization, a sense of foreboding brewed inside him.

Giovanni Roman, a Marine veteran, after he was injured while volunteering in Ukraine. He survived a rocket attack but lost his right eye. (GoFundMe)

He told Caceres that he thought his luck might run out sometime soon.

Then it did.

It was morning in California when Caceres learned what happened.

“I felt a strong desire to go to Ukraine to help my friend,” Caceres said. “(But) I had responsibilities to my daughter and wife that I couldn’t ignore, and I didn’t have the resources or training necessary to carry out a rescue mission.”

Alone in a hospital bed more than 6,000 miles away, Roman said he didn’t dwell on the attack.

“I don’t regret going,” he said. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

While Roman is proud nobody he treated medically died, several others he knew have been killed. Some are among the signatories on the Ukrainian-American hybrid flag that now sits on the cerulean wall behind his bed. Most of the messages are written in Ukrainian. Roman and the Ukrainian soldiers had no lingua franca other than a few words — the “You best” scrawled in the middle of the flag among them.

The flag was a gift from his colleagues-turned-friends, Roman said — the same ones who called him “Doc” and made sure the bloodstained gear that now sits on his bedroom floor got back to him.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, he surveyed the gear: a torn-up glove from the hand hit by shrapnel, a vest emblazoned with American and Ukrainian flag patches, and a helmet reading “Medic.” Next to Roman sat a pile of patches, most of them mementos from his unit, others from Russian uniforms.

These are the only items that made it back with Roman, who returned home in March. Still bloodied and bandaged, he took a commercial flight home after weeks in a Ukrainian hospital that was bombed while he was still a patient. Upon arrival, his mother shuttled him to the emergency room.

Now, even in the ostensible security of Orange County, Roman worries about his and his family’s safety. He has received death threats from pro-Russian social media accounts, he said.

They began after Roman’s social media appeared on a Russian Telegram channel calling out “Nazi activity” in Ukraine — a debunked notion that has its origins in Kremlin propaganda. It was only a matter of time before his face and name were out there, Roman said, adding that other volunteers, including those in his unit, have faced similar doxxing.

An X-ray of Giovanni Roman, a Marine Corps veteran from Orange County, who was severely injured when the vehicle he was traveling in was hit by a rocket, smashing his face and resulting in his losing an eye while fighting on the frontlines with the Ukrainian army in the war against Russia. Roman is now back at home in Orange County and recovering from his injuries. (Courtesy Giovanni Roman)

The online threats are just one of many new elements in Roman’s post-Ukraine life.

Most of the time, Roman is working on recovering — gaining back his strength after losing thirty pounds and a recent surgery that removed seven pieces of additional shrapnel from his right hand. Last week, he went to the gym for the first time in months. He’s focusing on his girlfriend and lives on a placid, palm tree-lined street near family. On Instagram, he’s keeping a diary of his progress, for those here and in Ukraine.

Sometimes, he gets frustrated when people don’t seem to care about a war that doesn’t touch them directly. Roman keeps it in, though, because as he puts it, he does not want to come across as the “stereotype of an angry veteran.” Still, he can’t shake the knowledge that people “just like us” have lost their homeland for no good reason — that even now, the war continues.

Roman has a Go Fund Me page but is still trying to figure out how to cover his medical costs. The pain lingers, and probably will for a long time. There are fragments of shrapnel, he said, that will remain in him forever.

In a few weeks, he turns 30. He doesn’t yet know what his career will look like moving forward, and what the new shape of his life will be.

With his dream of becoming a firefighter seemingly dashed, some days he considers going to nursing school.

And on others, for a brief moment, he thinks about going back to Ukraine.

​ Orange County Register 

Biden mortgage lending policy punishing people with higher credit scores is ridiculous

• April 30, 2023

A new Biden administration rule requiring lower mortgage fees for riskier borrowers, paid for by higher fees for less risky borrowers, has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, the “safety and soundness” regulator of mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, directed the two government-sponsored enterprises to make changes to the upfront fees they charge borrowers beginning May 1. FHFA director Sandra Thompson said fees will be eliminated for “certain groups core to the Enterprises’ mission, such as first-time homeowners with lower incomes,” while other borrowers buying homes or refinancing loans will pay more.

In a statement released Tuesday, Thompson complained about “misconceptions” and insisted that “higher-credit-score borrowers are not being charged more so that lower-credit-score borrowers can pay less.” She said fees are being eliminated “for borrowers with lower incomes, not lower credit scores.”

However, Thompson neglected to mention that last October, the FHFA changed the way it calculates credit scores, replacing the traditional FICO credit score model it had used for decades with FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0. Thompson called the new models “more inclusive” and said they would provide the market with “an improved understanding of risk.”

Not everybody thinks it’s an improvement. House Financial Services Chair Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, and Housing and Insurance subcommittee chair Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, sent a scathing letter to Thompson on Tuesday warning that legislation may follow unless the administration calls off the new pricing rules.

“These changes cannot be justified from a risk management perspective, and amount to a tax on all creditworthy GSE homebuyers to subsidize borrowers with riskier loans,” the lawmakers wrote. They added that there is “no doubt that lenders will pass on the new LLPA (loan-level price adjustment) costs to borrowers, which will result in higher mortgage rates and reduced access to credit.”

On the other side of the Capitol, 18 Republican senators sent a similar letter to Thompson, demanding details of how the policy decision was reached. The senators wrote that it “establishes a perverse incentive that punishes hardworking Americans for their fiscal prudence.”

The FHFA’s loan-level price adjustment varies according to the type of loan, type of property, loan-to-value ratio, debt-to-income ratio and credit score. The agency chose to make cash-out refinance loans and mortgages for second homes more expensive. Thompson said these higher fees will support the “targeted” elimination of fees to borrowers with lower incomes.

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The pricing redesign has many critics. The Mortgage Bankers Association told the FHFA that the debt-to-income component is “unworkable and should be replaced,” but the agency would only agree to delay that component until Aug. 1.

Thompson said the first objective of the new policy is to support borrowers who are “limited by income or wealth.” But if large numbers of buyers are coaxed into home loans they can’t afford, waves of foreclosures can result, especially when interest rates are rising. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still in conservatorship following their rapid expansion that led, in 2008, to a nearly $200 billion taxpayer bailout.

This time the Biden administration wants to subsidize higher-risk borrowers by openly raising costs for all other borrowers, as if it’s the government’s job to force some customers to pay more so others can pay less.

It’s not. The sooner they figure that out, the better.

​ Orange County Register 

10 things to know about older workers and the labor shortage

• April 30, 2023

This week’s column addresses older workers, who are often perceived as an undervalued segment of the labor force. This lack of recognition was recently upended by a Wall Street Journal headline: “Bosses Want Hard Workers – So They are Hiring Older People.”

This sounds like a new discovery. It is not.

Let’s go back to 1970. In that year, Harold L. Sheppard wrote a book, “Towards an Industrial Gerontology,” considered a new field of social research. It focused on the employment and retirement problems of middle-aged and older workers. Although published over 50 years ago, the book’s Table of Contents reads like it’s 2023 with chapter titles such as “Retraining and Job Redesign,” “Older Workers in Pursuit of New Careers,” “On Age Discrimination” and “The Second Career.” 

So why is the older worker finally coming into vogue?

A significant labor force shortage may be part of the answer. Compared to 2020, 3 million fewer Americans are in the labor force. Yet currently there are more than 10.4 million job openings with about 1.2 million adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s who make up half of the long-term unemployed. 

Let’s try to understand the problem. We’ve had the pandemic and the Great Resignation. Now we have the “quiet quitters” who typically complete minimum work requirements to keep their jobs. Some folks no longer want to work because they aren’t paid enough, don’t see opportunities to advance and feel they are not respected. And many want to work only on their terms. Add to that, workers 65 and older generally value hard work more than their younger counterparts, according to research studies. Note, there always are exceptions.

Older adults may face several obstacles in securing employment such as mismatched skills, technology challenges, long commutes, the value of youth over age and more. However, there may be a more subtle underlying reason: Ageism

 What do we know about older workers? Take the following quiz to check myths vs facts. 

1. Older workers tend to stay in their jobs for a shorter amount of time, compared to younger workers.

False. Older workers generally stay in their job longer than younger workers. In 2022, the median tenure for men ages 55-64 was almost 10 years compared to almost three years for those 25-34. 

2. Older workers are consistently more productive than younger workers.

True. A study found that among 65 to 80-year-olds, their performance was more stable and less variable from day to day compared to the younger group. 

3. Older workers take more sick leave compared to younger workers. 

False. Older workers generally take fewer sick days than younger workers. However, their length of sick time may be longer. 

4. Age is one part of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) as a category for inclusion. 

False. DEI efforts most often do not include age as a consideration. Yet over 80% of people ages 50-80 experience ageism every day. 

5. Older workers tend to have lower health care costs. 

True. They tend to have lower healthcare costs since most do not have children as dependents on their plans. Additionally, those age 65 and older are eligible for Medicare which also can reduce employers’ health care costs. 

6. Older workers consistently cost more. 

False. Older workers often cost less than younger coworkers because there is less need for costly recruitment and training.

7. Older workers have more workplace accidents than younger workers.

False. In fact, they have fewer accidents. However, the causes are different. Older workers often have accidents related to speed and reaction time while younger often have accidents due to lack of experience and often judgment. 

8. Beginning at age 55, workers are legally protected from age discrimination in the workplace. 

False. The legal protection for workers begins at age 40. It is illegal for employers to fire or refuse to hire someone on the basis of their age for those aged 40 and older, according to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. 

9 Mandatory retirement is allowed in some cases. 

True. These are called BFOQs, or bona fide occupational qualifications. They usually pertain to jobs that involve public safety such as police, firefighters and airline pilots. 

10. Older workers are less productive than younger workers.

False. At best, they are equal or slightly ahead of younger workers. According to the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, “On balance, older employees’ productivity and reliability is higher than that of their younger colleagues.” 

The current workforce shortages and the availability of qualified older workers may change some age-biased stereotyped thinking. For now, ageism may be taking a “second seat.” Hopefully, this relatively new recognition will endure. 

Stay well everyone and note: “Kindness is free; sprinkle it everywhere.” ~unknown

Helen Dennis is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging and the new retirement with academic, corporate and nonprofit experience. Contact Helen with your questions and comments at [email protected]. Visit Helen at HelenMdennis.com and follow her on facebook.com/SuccessfulAgingCommunity

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​ Orange County Register 

Sacramento legislators prefer grandstanding over serious governing

• April 30, 2023

We’re deep into the legislative session and it’s prime time to look at what lawmakers are hatching.

Perhaps the biggest debate this session has centered on fentanyl — the synthetic painkiller that is many times more potent than heroin and has led to more than 5,700 overdose deaths in California last year. Lawmakers have proposed a package of measures that mostly are about grandstanding — and epitomize the “throw everything at the wall” legislating common during other Drug War panics.

The fentanyl problem is real. Yet the state already has a “master plan” that ramps up funding. Police agencies and DAs already have plenty of powers to arrest and prosecute dealers. The proposals would create a task force, call for new warnings to drug dealers and enhance prison sentences. Fortunately, the Assembly Public Safety Committee has resisted these efforts.

Meanwhile, California lawmakers continue to move forward noxious bills to expand rent control and to bring back eminent-domain-abusing redevelopment agencies. Those proposals present a direct threat to Californians’ property rights.

What would a legislative session be without a major tax-increase proposal? Senate Democrats have introduced a plan to close the budget deficit by raising taxes on large corporations “to pay for tax cuts for small businesses, renters, low-income Californians and union members” and boosting social spending, as the Sacramento Bee reported.

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Even when the state enjoyed a $97.5-billion budget surplus, Democrats pushed for tax and fee increases. Large numbers of businesses and wealthy Californians already are moving elsewhere. Gov. Gavin Newsom — as he considers a presidential run — already threw cold water on this tax proposal. At least the governor got one thing right.

No legislative session would be complete without some lawmaker offering a silly bill that seems designed to become a late-night TV punchline. This session’s winner is the “Skittles bill” that would ban the use of red dye No. 3 used in some candies. Unbelievably, it passed out of committee.

On a more serious note, Assembly member Phil Ting proposed a measure to limit police use of creepy — and inaccurate — facial-recognition systems. However, the ACLU argues that the bill will actually expand their use. Until this year, California had outlawed the government’s use of such technology. We agree that law enforcement can’t be trusted with it.

Californians should wonder why the Legislature fails to address California’s most-pressing problems — as it focuses on expanding government power.

​ Orange County Register