Local

By Lue Dowdy

Continuing with National Women’s Month, this week I had to feature Queen Danielle Willis. This lady is such an inspiration, not only to me but to so many other women. I love her courage, faith, and determination, and sexiness! I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her bodybuilding transformation via social media. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, she’s beautiful in the inside. Take a look into the journey of Female Bodybuilder, Danielle Willis.

Danielle began her journey to the stage in 2017 with a passion and desire for something more in life. Under the coaching of longtime trainers’ trainer, David Ellis, Danielle started training hard in 2018. In November 2018, she won the Overall in Women’s Physique at the ‘NPC Iron Games Show’, where she qualified for nationals. In 2019, Danielle began her quest for pro by doing two back-to-back national shows. At her first show she placed 3rd in the Women’s Physique at the ‘USAs’ in Las Vegas, full of hope she decided to do the ‘North Americans’ in Pittsburg where she won 1st place and the Overall winning of the entire show in the Women’s Bodybuilding Division.

Danielle states, “Ever since I was in my 20s, I have had a heart to solve problems ailing my communities, and the Bodybuilding industry is no exception. I want to solve the individual problem of inequality in the community, and I feel compelled to fix it because I believe you can’t live properly in your life if you lack soul alignment. My message to women struggling with self-image issues, mental health, and anxiety is to be different and embrace who you are. Once you find your niche you will be celebrated for being just as you were created to be. And I want to help women define their worth through self-love, fitness and community.”

In addition to her love for bodybuilding, Danielle is still very active as a dance instructor now going on 13th years. Currently, she’s working as an instructor at the ‘IE Dance Center’ formerly known as Bowen Hayes-School of the Arts in the beautiful City of Riverside. Danielle has danced for Disney, the American Basketball League, and Baltimore Mariners indoor football team and several other organizations. For more about this beautiful Queen please see below.

Until Next week L’s!

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Danielle Stats:

• From 2010-2014 she was contracted as a dance instructor for the Riverside Arts Council. 
• From 2010-2013, she worked for the Riverside YMCA as the Performing Arts coordinator. 
• In 2012, choreographed a piece for the Mayors Ball, and directed a dance recital for the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn. 
• From 2012-2016 she was on the leadership staff for CrossWord Christian Church’s’ Praise Dance. 
• From 2014-2017 she worked for the VOICE News and Dr. Paulette Brown Hinds as Special Projects Coordinator, where she was deeply involved in community events both local and statewide. Organizing several events notably for the League of Cities African American Caucus, and Cal Earned Income Tax Campaign. She also assisted former Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown on community projects. 
• From 2015-2017 she was an Instructor for Women Wonder Writers Write of Your Life program where I was able to advocate, encourage, and guide the at promise girls that I instructed. 
• From 2015-2016, Danielle was a board member for the Black Chamber of Commerce Inland Empire
• Served as a board member for the NAACP ACTS-O (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) Riverside Chapter. 
• Instructor for the non-profit organization the Young Visionaries, where she mentored young children in need of support and direction.

POMONA, CA—- – Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (CA-35) will work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to host Reach for the Stars, a town hall connecting local students with Pomona native and NASA astronaut, Victor J. Glover, Jr. (Commander, U.S. Navy), as well as NASA astronaut, Dr. Shannon Walker, live from the International Space Station on Thursday, March 18th at 9:35am PT.

Commander Glover is originally from Pomona and graduated from Ontario High School in 1994. He currently serves as pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Dragon named Resilience, which launched November 15, 2020. It is the first post-certification mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft – the second crewed flight for that vehicle – and a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Shannon Walker was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in Space Physics from Rice University. Dr. Walker began her professional career at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1987 as a Robotics Flight Controller for the Space Shuttle Program. In 2010, she served as Flight Engineer for Expedition 24/25, a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station that lasted 163 days. Dr. Walker is currently serving as mission specialist on the on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon.

This event currently has nearly 600 RSVPs, including 277 classrooms registered to join.

Participating school districts include Pomona Unified, Ontario-Montclair, Chaffey Joint Unified, Claremont Unified, Mountain View Unified, Fontana Unified and Rialto Unified.

Ervin became superintendent of the Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) in 2016. Mr. Ervin came to BCSD after having served as Superintendent for the Greenfield Union School District in Monterey County. He has served as a classroom teacher, school principal, and assistant superintendent at various school districts across the state. Ervin is fluent in Spanish and received both his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies and his Master of Science in Education Administration from Alliant International University and his Administrative Credential from California State University, Fullerton. He is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

His start date and salary with SBUSD are to be determined.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Rialto resident Vanessa Mendoza, 26, wanted to study literature, write novels, and possibly even become an English professor, but that all changed after her first cultural anthropology class.

At the end of her first year at San Bernardino Valley College, Mendoza began experiencing vertigo spells and migraines. They became chronic, and for almost a year, she was unable to attend classes on campus. During this time, Mendoza says she “began to question and think about the social circumstances that made it difficult for me to obtain a proper diagnosis and treatment.”

Mendoza signed up for an online cultural anthropology course, and upon its conclusion, “felt that I had finally found a lens through which I could understand myself and my experiences related to culture and health.” When she was well enough to return to campus, she enrolled in more anthropology classes, and Professor Melissa King introduced her to other branches of study.

“Through her classes and mentorship, I came across something called medical anthropology, which further confirmed that this was the major I wished to pursue,” Mendoza said. “This branch of anthropology deals with the social, cultural, political, and historical complexities of health and illness. The way medicine and healing are practiced vary tremendously around the world; anthropologists can learn about these complexities through ethnography. In a lot of ways, I felt that I had fatefully ended up where I belonged. Anthropology is the study of what it means to be human, and as a human with a lot of questions, this major seemed like a perfect fit for me.”

Mendoza grew up in Rialto and graduated from high school in 2012. She wanted to attend UCLA, but as an undocumented and first-generation college student, it was difficult to navigate the application process and secure enough financial aid. Mendoza applied to SBVC to stay close to home and save money, and through the Dream Act, was able to receive aid.

At SBVC, she found support from all of her professors, especially King. She was “a crucial part of my academic journey,” Mendoza said, providing everything from book recommendations to career advice. Mendoza graduated from SBVC in 2018 and transferred to UC Berkeley and has found that all of the anthropology classes she took at SBVC “served as a really strong foundation for the upper-division courses that I am now taking.”

Mendoza plans on attending graduate school and is interested in the “critical study of climate change as it relates to health outcomes in vulnerable communities,” with the hopes of one day becoming a professor. She encourages anyone who is thinking about studying anthropology at SBVC to talk to the professors about transfer and graduation requirements and current students about their interests and struggles.

“The staff and students in the anthropology department have always been extremely helpful and friendly,” she said. “They will provide the guidance you need as you embark on your journey as an anthropology major.”

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Deputy David Livi is hosting a free online workshop discussing some of the careers available in the Sheriff’s Department and how to get started on the law enforcement pathway. The session, planned for 9 a.m. March 18, will offer an overview of divisions such as the coroner’s department, aviation, narcotics, and more. It is being presented in partnership with Alliance for Education’s SBConnect Series. Learn more or REGISTER by visiting, www.westsidestorynewspaper.com.

By Destinee Porter

Communication and comprehension is key! It is how your business can and will survive. If you can’t communicate in a way that people can understand, it can be frustrating. However, there are professional out there to assist in this area.

Dr. Yashima White AziLove is master communicator, Brandologist, and a marketplace mentor. She started her career as a journalist, turned marketing communication executive, in insurance, healthcare, and financial services, and entertainment industry space, before launching her firm, Magnate Consulting, LLC, which is a communications boutique serving global companies, celebrities, and people of influence with communications, brand and leadership solutions.

Her dichotomy, the other side of her, is that she the founder of an organization called, TRIP Network, which is specifically for women of faith, who feel just as called to the marketplace business in their careers, as they are to their ministry lives. So, they walk the dichotomy between their ministry and business, it is a great network of women that is growing as a global network. They are on 3 different continents now.

“I am really excited about the growth and expansion of that endeavor,” Dr. AziLove states.

By Lou Yeboah

Thus says the Lord God: ‘A disaster, a singular disaster; behold, it has come! An end has come, the end has come; it has dawned for you; behold, it has come! Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land; the time has come, a day of trouble is near, and not of rejoicing in the mountains. Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, and spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord who strikes” [Ezekiel 7:2–9].

Nevertheless, speaking of that woeful time of trouble, I will not make a complete end of you [Jeremiah 30:11]. I will not utterly destroy you, but I will punish you severely—to shake you to the root of your very being in order to wake you up. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days are shortened by Me, no flesh would be saved [alive]; but for the elect’s sake [for the sake of God’s repentant, obedient people] those days will be shortened.” [Matthew 24:21–22].

Listen, when Noah prophesied that a great destruction was coming, he was mocked by his generation. Throughout biblical history, watchmen walked the streets warning of coming judgments, prophesying to God’s people, but often the people shut their ears and gave themselves over to pleasures, to food and wine, to buying, selling and building. But, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts… to whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?

Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it….But, I set a watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But you said, you will not hearken” [Jeremiah 6:9–10, 17; Jeremiah 7:27-28]. Therefore,  I indeed will deal with you in anger. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though you cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to you. [Ezekiel 8:18].

 “Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem! Raise the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again. Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes. They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses. Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make — like the rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle. Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror. The attackers march like warriors and scale city walls like soldiers. Straight forward they march, never breaking rank. They never jostle each other; each moves in exactly the right position. They break through defenses without missing a step. They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows.  The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?” [Joel 2:1-11].

Yet even now, declares the Lord, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?” [Joel 2:12-17].

I can almost hear the tears in Joel’s voice as he pleads… “Repent and return to God. Repent and plead for God’s mercy. Change the direction you are going. Stop walking away from God and start walking toward God. Turn to God with your whole heart. Change your mind, reconsider your actions, and orient yourself entirely toward God.  For NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation. [Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2]. REPENT! REPENT! REPENT!

Thank you to Col. Frank Guevara and his team at San Bernardino County’s Department of Veterans Affairs for their tremendous work over the past years. In 2020, the County’s VA department assisted our veterans in receiving over $67 million in new cash benefits. This amount is more than any county in the state, and $20 million more than what San Bernardino County veterans received in 2019! For more information on how to receive benefits for your service, call (909) 382-3290, visit http://hs.sbcounty.gov/va/Pages/default.aspx or e-mail Inquiry@va.sbcounty.gov

“My general philosophy is, have I been? No? Okay, then — let’s go,” Dr. Jeremiah Gilbert said with a laugh. An avid traveler, the San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC) mathematics professor has carried a wide-angle lens through more than 80 countries. He enjoys chronicling the places around him — both at home and abroad. This year, a compilation of his circular photographs was published in the local anthology San Bernardino, Singing, and his book of travel tales was published, titled Can’t Get There From Here: Fifty Tales of Travel.

Many people with his level of interest in other cultures and societies might have chosen to live abroad temporarily or permanently, but not Gilbert. He currently resides in Loma Linda and teaches today in the same town in which he was born — San Bernardino, Calif.

A graduate of Colton High School at the age of 15, Gilbert’s academic journey kept him bound to the Valley as he was too young to move away from home for university. He enrolled at SBVC before transferring on to California State University, San Bernardino where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. He later earned a Master of Arts in Mathematics from University of California, Riverside and a Ph.D. in Education from Capella University.

He returned to SBVC professionally as a part-time instructor, where he taught classes year-round. In 2005, he became a full-time instructor. With the perk of having summers off, he booked his first trip abroad. In 2006, he celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday on the Great Wall of China on his way to Tibet.

When he first began traveling, Gilbert used an all-purpose lens on his camera, a 28–30 mm. Eventually, he became more comfortable with shooting and noticed something. “As I was going along, I realized I didn’t zoom in a lot, but there were many times I wished I could pull back more,” Gilbert explained.

As curious as they come, Gilbert invested in wide-angle lenses — the wider, the better. Eventually, he picked up an 8 mm circular fisheye lens, the widest angle possible, which literally captures a circular photograph. The style is uncommon and used mostly for medical purposes, but it posed an interesting challenge to him. He learned how to stand without capturing both his feet and stomach. He learned the best conditions to shoot in — “Never a sunny day,” he advised. He learned that the best subjects to shoot were things that were already circular or straight lines.

While he took the lens abroad a few times, he found that the best place to shoot was SBVC’s campus, especially the newer modern architecture that features clean, straight lines.

“With modern architecture, you can bend the lines in interesting ways and create really cool effects,” Gilbert said. “It posed an interesting challenge for me because I both had to learn how to shoot, but also how to edit. Did you know you can crop a circle?”

Gilbert submitted 14 of these circular photographs to the local anthology, San Bernardino, Singing, and all were accepted. The result is a world traveler’s wide-angle perspective on his hometown’s crown jewel.

Gilbert’s website, jeremiahgilbert.com, has always featured photography from abroad. During a trip to London in 2019, he began working on a section of short stories as well — travel tales, he called them. He wanted to share the mishaps and funny occurrences that can only happen during international travel.

He captured the memory of having to be smuggled across a checkpoint in Bolivia due to miscommunication. “We left our passports behind, knowing we weren’t going out of the country,” he explained. “No one told us we would need passports to go through checkpoints.”

He penned the story of his 40th birthday in Paris — a lovely celebration until a pickpocket swiped his money and identification. With the robbery occurring on July 3 and the U.S. Embassy closed on July 4, Gilbert barely had time to acquire a passport before his flight left Paris on July 5.

He worked on these travel tales a little bit at a time, he said. Then in February 2020 while his wife was visiting family in Beijing, news of the novel coronavirus broke. Gilbert’s instinct told him to book a backup flight for her. He was glad he did when her March flight was canceled with no promise of a reschedule until May — but then the backup flight was canceled. With a resolve to not see his wife stranded abroad, Gilbert reunited his family just in the knick of time.

“I’m not sure we would have been able to get her after we did,” he admitted. The original essay, “Can’t Get There From Here“ chronicles his family’s reunion and closes what is now the book by the same title.

With his wife safely home, Gilbert made the most of the historic global pandemic by writing 50 travel tales and publishing them in September 2020. His book Can’t Get There From Here: Fifty Tales of Travel is available on Amazon.com.

Thus far, Gilbert has seen 85 countries. (His wife’s one rule is that she has to stay one country ahead of him; she sits at 86.) But for him, there is really no place like Southern California.

“I’m one of those rare native southern Californians,” he laughs. “I know this area backward and forward. I love the diversity of it, how multicultural it is, and also how much access we have to different landscapes.”

With LAX nearby, he knows that any destination he can imagine is just a flight or two away, and during times like these when he can’t travel? “We have the mountains, desert and beach all within a two-hour drive.”

“It’s everything I need when I’m not traveling.”

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- The San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra is preparing for the second concert in their hybrid 92nd season. “Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi & Grieg” will premier digitally Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. on the Symphony’s new SBSOtv platform accessible from their website, www.sanbernardinosymphony.org.

The performance will include selections prominently featuring two very special instruments: the Maestro’s recently returned bassoon and an historic 1929 Wurlitzer organ.

Shared Maestro Parnther, “Tchaikovsky and Grieg penned two of the most compelling and deeply expressive works for string orchestra; Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C Major and Grieg’s Holberg Suite, respectively. We will perform excerpts from both of these incredible works.”

Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto in D minor, one of the Maestro’s personal favorites, will also be performed, but with a creative twist. Specifically, Maestro Parnther will be tackling dual roles as both soloist and conductor on this dazzling work for solo bassoon and orchestra. As mentioned, the bassoon the Maestro will be playing is the very same instrument that was recently returned to him after it was stolen just two days before the March 2020 concert was cancelled due to Covid restrictions.

“For my bassoon to be taken two days before my Mozart concerto performance last year… and gifted back in a time for the replacement Vivaldi concerto a year later… there is a sign in all of this,” said Parnther.

As repairs are still underway to the Symphony’s local performance venue, San Bernardino’s historic California Theatre, the concert will be recorded at Bandrika Studios in Tarzana which is owned and operated by composer Nathan Barr.

Pictured at left, this world class studio is constructed around the 1928 Barr/Fox Wurlitzer Theater Organ, which lived on the famed Newman Scoring Stage at Fox Studios from 1928 to 1998. It can be heard in dozens of classic film scores including The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Witches of Eastwick, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Said Parnther, “With 1,366 pipes and a plethora of real percussion instruments, this organ truly must be heard to be believed.“

Years after the organ was removed from Fox in 1998, Barr purchased it from Ken Crome of The Crome Organ Company in Reno, Nevada, and thus began a four year restoration by Crome’s team. Since Bandrika’s opening in May 2018, the Barr/Fox Wurlitzer has re-entered the world of film music, and can be heard extensively in Barr’s score for Amblin/Universal’s The House With a Clock In Its Walls and also in Danny Elfman’s score for Universal’s hit adaptation of The Grinch (2018).

The Symphony will feature this magnificent instrument on two works in this program, including the Albinoni Adagio, and a solo work that will use every feature on the instrument.

“This concert is not to be missed,” said Symphony Board of Directors President Dean McVay. “We were incredibly gratified with the audience response to our February digital concert, and we believe this one will also please the discriminating musical palates of our patrons.”

A Hybrid Season… and Ticketing Options

The Symphony’s online concerts are presented in high resolution digital format and made easily accessible online through our website’s new SBSOtv platform using the password provided to each purchasing patron.

Following the March concert, a third digital offering, “Mozart and Beethoven,” will premier on May 1, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Two live concerts – slated for October 23, 2021 and December 11, 2021, will follow. The live concerts are scheduled to be held at the historic California Theatre of the Performing Arts in downtown San Bernardino.

Single household tickets for the digital concerts are $65, and single assigned-seating tickets for the live concerts ($30-$100) may be purchased online at www.sanbernardinosymphony.org or by calling the box office at (909) 381-5388. Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.