And no, i'm not talking "futbol" (soccer) but good old American gladiatorial football. Elvira is the first girl in SF's Thurgood Marshall Academic High School's history to be a member of the varsity football team. Her coach assigned her as a kicker, but she's intent on making it as a lineman. Er, linewoman? ;-) Go Elvi!

Anyway, Elvira was a student in my 1998 Internet Classroom and in the 1999 Advanced Internet Classroom. Check out her wepage (URL below) of touching poems and a personal essay on gangs (she lives in the SF's Bayview/Hunters Point district, notorious for its gangs), that she did as a 9th grader at ATDP in my class. Over the years, I've gotten to know Elvira, her older sister Christina (who is working with us at ATDP's Elementary Division this summer) and Elvi's boyfriend Jose Manzano... and they've become a wonderful part of the extended ATDP family.

http://www-atdp.berkeley.edu/Studentpages/eflores/LaRaza.html

This pic was taken today, when Elvi and her friend Zuleika (who's taking a Cultural Ethnography course here at ATDP this summer) came to visit today. Elvi on the other hand isn't taking any classes with us this summer, as she's doing an internship in a Youth Leadership Program in The City. She and Z stayed for a while, then went down to Telegraph to get some neat henna designs swirled on their arms and ankles. Nice.

{ net.casting }
^