Next opera is:
From: kanti Jocelyn - kantijocelyn at gmail dot com
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"La Fanciulla del West" by Puccini.
Mark your calendars: It is on Wednesday 26th January at 6.30pm.
Kanti

Rape in Punta Banda

From: vincebaja@gmail.com

A few notes about the reward for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the two perpetrators of the crime against the young girl
on December 30th:

1. The car used by the attackers was described as follows:
"The car apparently was a two-door Blazer or Bronco type vehicle,
dark-colored, with brownish windows; it was old and faded-looking, and
had no back seats."

2. We are not collecting any money at this point. When the
criminals are brought to justice, we will contact each and every donor
to honor his/her pledge. Currency, US checks, and PayPal will be the
options you have to make payment.

3. We will not take it upon ourselves to determine to whom and at
what point the reward will be paid. We are only amateurs organizing the
effort; we are in contact with a trusted Mexican-licensed private
investigator who will be asked to navigate through the "system"
on our behalf, pro bono.

4. We are open to your suggestions/ ideas about how to see that
justice is done and, equally importantly, how this and other types of
crime can be reduced or prevented in the future in Punta Banda.

The response to this situation by the community has been nothing short
of incredible.

Don Carlos Opera
It is time for Don Carlos on Wednesday Jan 5th at 6.30pm.  The Opera usually lasts about 4 hours, so we usually get back around 11pm.  I am going and have 2-3 seats for people who are interested in going with me.  Let me know if you are interested. You will need to bring your SENTRI passes and your passport.

The ticket at the Chula Vista AMC theatre is $18 and bring something extra for some food. I leave about 3.30pm to allow time to get through the border and then to get something to eat.

If anyone else wants to drive as well and wants to volunteer space in their car, maybe I can coordinate that.

Kanti:  kantijocelyn at gmail dot com
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A JOKE THAT TURNED INTO A SPANISH LESSON

An email joke was re-sent with additional commentary, since it was ripe with a certain linguistic humor, which in turn sparked a discussion that related to lessons that we are covering in the Rosarito Study Group:

The Joke:

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'

'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender (la computadora) because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.