The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 20

MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1995 LOS ANGELES TIMES Southern California Gallery ncr It's a young artist's dream a painting translated to a full-size billboard. For the second year, the Friends of the Junior Arts Center at Los Angeles' Barnsdall Art Park, Fox television station KTTV and Patrick Media Inc. are fulfilling the dream. Winners are Julia Lim, 7, and her sister Cathy Lim, 9, of Los Angeles, Jerry Lee, 13, of Alhambra and Luis Pefia, 14, of Oxnard. The contest is titled, "Imagine a Great City: What I Love About L.

Two winning entries are at right. The billboards start appearing in a few weeks. JULIA LIM, 7, and CATHY LIM, 9 (picture above) (picture, front page) The sisters attend Los Angeles' Third Street School. "My sister likes tall buildings and that it's busy," says Cathy. "I like blue and flowers and the beach." A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES 3 B4 Hri'fii 3 a -pa 1 oof -5- oc1 3 ail r- 25 i Platform Mexican Crisis or Russian Strife, Southern California Feels It Empire Strikes Back" The Peso Crash: 'Not a Happy Year' people because up till now they have lived in peace with all other nationalities and with the Russians.

Since they have lived so close to each other it is very difficult for them to part now. IRINA PETROVA Originally from Lithuania I'm living in Los Angeles now and I like it very much here. I'm not interested at all in what is going on in the Soviet Union though I do realize that things are bad there. The thing is that all my family's here and I have nobody back there. A person is happy where he is happy.

I think they have to decide all their problems in Russia by themselves and America should not interfere. ARTERN MARDIROSSIAN Owner, Terek Russian Bookstore Los Angeles Chechnya: 'It's Like "The The Russian army sent at least 13,000 troops and hundreds of tanks into the small, oil-rich Muslim republic of Chechnya on Dec, 11 in an attempt to crush its 3-year-old independence bid. The strife threatens to topple the government of Boris Yeltsin. The events are pressing for many of the more than 100,000 residents of Los Angeles County who trace their heritage to Russia or one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. JAMES BLAIR talked to some of them with the help of translator LUDMILA GENN.

YEVGENY YURKOVETSKY From Odessa, Ukraine; in the U.S. five years reaction to events in Chechnya is that of outrage. I am disgusted by what Russian trooDs are doincr Wo This is like "The Empire Strikes Back" because although we think the old Soviet Union disappeared, it did not. It's shameful to be Russian, in a sense, at this moment. I think Russia has a very long road in front of her if she wants to become a real democracy.

Probably it won't happen not in this century, not in the next century. It's a sad thing to realize. As far as prospects for (Russian President Boris N.J Yeltsin's government, at some point I felt that he tried to become much tougher and he's actually becoming another dictator. Maybe that is something that inevitably happens to any Russian leader. The same thing happened to Gorbachev the people before him were dictators to begin with.

EUGENE LEVIN Editor in chief, Russian Radio KMNB, Los Angeles; president, Assn. of Soviet Jewish Immigrants This problem could have been solved a long time ago using political means, not military. During his New Year's talk on Russian TV, Yeltsin explained that Russian troops occupied Chechnya because it's Russian terri tory and it was done because of Chechen criminal activities. I don't believe that's true. To my understanding, this crisis is more related to oil.

I found out what Yeltsin wrote to Soviet troops dispatched to Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1991. At that time he was in opposition to then-Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. He wrote that Moscow sent those troops to crush democracy and the soldiers should not believe what they were told by the Kremlin and that they had to make their own decisions. Now he is doing the same as Gorbachev and former Soviet leader Leonid I.

Brezhnev. It was strange to find out that many here in the community supported Yeltsin's action. They consider it fine to crush this struggle for independence. I asked them what they would think if -TV A The Mexican peso has dropped 35 in value against the dollar since Dec. 19, when that nation's government began devaluing its currency in response to falling foreign reserves and a mounting trade deficit.

Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo has announced a new economic plan calling for deep sacrifices that will likely affect many in Southern California. LORENZA MUNOZ talked to economic experts and to Mexican citizens living in Southern California about their perceptions of what the crisis means. JEFFRY FRIEDEN Professor of political science, UCLA; specializes in Latin American issues The most obvious effect is that it raises the value of the dollar in Mexico. Dollars will buy more and pesos will buy less. Anybody in Mexico who buys imported goods will find them more expensive.

The devaluation is likely to lead HELENE WEBB Los Angeles Times to higher rates of inflation and as imported goods become more expensive, the cost increases will probably be passed on. With the pacto the recent government-initiated agreement with business and labor leaders to limit wage and price hikes, Zedillo was trying to keep the effect of the devaluation on inflation to a minimum. But if wages are controlled and prices are going up, then consumers lose the citizens of the Crimean peninsula decided to join Russia. Should the Ukrainian government bomb Crimean cities of Yalta or Sebastopol? They didn't answer. They consider that different.

It's very strange. VLADIMIR KATZ From Kiev, Ukraine; nine months in the United States jl hat is going on there is a disaster. If I fwere living in Russia right now, I wouldn't be able to know for sure what is going on in Chechnya. Russia presents all the information from the point of view of its interests and, of course, they're interested in the oil in Chechnya. The government will lose its authority as they lost their authority during events in Afghanistan.

I'm pretty sure the government's going to be changed. Only then will we be able to know the truth as happened with Afghanistan We didn't know anything and we learned the truth only when new people came to power. Politicians who are in power always tell us that what they are doing is right and correct and only later on, when they are not in power, do we learn the truth. LIANA BABAYAN From the Republic of Georgia; in U.S. four years Georgia a neighbor republic of Chechnya was famous for its hospitality.

People who were living side by side had never been Interested in what nationality and what ethnicity they were. Now they are fighting each other. There is hunger. They do not have electricity or gas. Georgians have always lived with Chechnya in friendship.

I do not know who needs this war. Absolutely innocent people are being killed there. The general public does not want these wars and it's the general public who always experience the most hardships during war. I'd like to wish peace to everyone so that at the beginning of the 21st Century all wars would be behind us and no one would experience such problems as the shortages of water and power and no one would be afraid to be of some nationality or ethnicity. The question of ethnicity is the most terrible question all over the world.

AVTES GURUNINIAN Armenian I think the Chechyans should listen to what the Russian government is saying because Russia has proved to be very good for everybody. It's very hard to say if the independence movement is in the best interests of the Chechyan "1 I thought I was home free and virtually stopped studying. My grade point average dropped from 3.2 to 1.8 in a matter of months, but, hey, I was already accepted. What could they do to me now? I was determined to enjoy my last few weeks of high school I was gonna have fun. And I did, for a little while.

But then it all came crashing down. It started when my best friend received a letter from the college he wanted to attend, stating that his acceptance would be retracted unless his grades improved. He was really shaken up. Then my American Literature teacher told me after class one day that I was failing her class, and if I didn't get my act together I might not graduate! It was like a nightmare: There I was facing the end of my college years before they had even begun. All the hard work I'd done for 3V4 years was about to go down the drain, just because I'd spent the last few months of my senior year slacking off.

Fortunately, my best friend and I both took immediate action. He wrote a letter to in real terms. For Mexicans in the United States earnT ing in dollars, the money they send home will be worth more to their families. If they go back to visit, then their money will also be worth more. The devaluation is associated with great deal of uncertainty, like the crises hr-1982 and 1987.

It is likely to have a1 recessionary effect. If that happens then unemployment will go up. arid the economy will stagnate. On the other hand, Mexican goods will be more competitive in Mexico and in foreign markets. i MANUEL PASTOR Professor of economics Occidental College The prediction is for a 14 increase in prices and a 10 increase in wages.

But I think the 14 prognosis is probably unrealistic and it will actually be more. There is already a 50 increase in the price of imported products and some of that win get passed along in consumer price increases. It's not a happy year for Mexico. I think it will be one of the most difficult years Mexico has had because the expectations were so high. ERNESTO RIVERA Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, moved to L.A.

14 years ago PI rices have doubled in Mexico. Automatically the cost of ev erything rises with the dollar. It's as if we were paying the cost at dollar prices, but we only have pesos. I don't think too many people will immigrate here because of the devaluation. Mexico has gone through this before and they have overcome the crisis.

People come to this country because they have families here, not because the peso is worth less. LALA SIMS Born in Mexico City, moved to Los Angeles 11 years ago I travel a lot to Mexico. The devaluation will affect me because I have money invested in Mexico, and now I have less. Also if they don't control inflation, a hotel that normally costs you $80 a night will cost $150, so the higher value of the dollar is not even felt. I HECTOR GARCIA Born in Michoacan, Mexico, moved to Los Angeles 13 years ago I send money to Mexico, so my dollars will be worth more and that's good.

But things will get more expensive and that cancels out the dollar value. The money I send won't be enough for anything. My mother in Mexico is telling me that things are already much more expensive. incident to the other parents, one of the other fathers roared with laughter when he heard Ernesto's exact words. This man, from Puerto Rico, then explained that in Spanish, molestar also means "to disturb." All that Ernesto was trying to tell Fred about his daughter was that "She's no 'Even though a word in another language may be similar to one in English, it may have a completely different trouble." There was no hint of sexual abuse.

Rule: Even though a word in another language may be similar to one in English, it may have a completely different meaning. Norine Dresser is a folklorist and author of "I Felt Like 1 Was From Another Planet," (Addison Wesley). Tell her your experiences co Voices. 1 Multicultural Manners What's In a Word? Everything Youth Opinion Eek! The Plague of 'Insufferable Senior-itis' I think this is their internal question. They will have to settle their arguments in a peaceful way.

I was very sorry people were being killed. Everybody is very unhappy about what is going on. I have customers who have relatives there. The economic situation is getting worse. Prices are going up.

Of course it's going to be negative in terms of President Yeltsin. What else can I say? his college admissions officer, promising to bring his grades up. We both took on extra credit assignments and started studying hard to pass final exams. We both got out of our jams, but we did it the hard way: lots of extra work at the very time we should have been enjoying our last days of high school. Not to mention the dreaded wrath of the parental units: Both of us were grounded for weeks.

And those were weeks full of parties and fun that I wish I could have back. Now that I'm 25, it's easy to look back and see how stupid I was. But at the time, it just didn't seem possible that I could come that close to utter disaster. I guess back then I couldn't see that far ahead to know how much college would mean to me. But those next four years were the best of my life.

Jeremy Leff graduated from Claremont High School in 1987 and from UC Santa Cruz in 1991. He is now secretary of Upward Bound, a program at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont that helps low-income students get to college By NORINE DRESSER Each workday morning, several moms on the block drop off their toddlers with their Colombian baby-sitter, who takes excellent care of the One afternoon, the sitter's 13-year-old son, Ernesto, accompanies her as she walks the children back to their homes. When they arrive at Isa's house, her father, Fred, greets them. It is the first time he has met Ernesto. In halting English Ernesto says, "Your daughter is very beautiful." Fred thanks him.

Ernesto replies, "No molesta." A strange look crosses Fred's face. Then when he sees his daughter kiss Ernesto good-bye, Fred becomes enraged. What went With heightened consciousness about sexual abuse, Fred had jumped to the conclusion that Ernesto's statement meant "I didn't molest her." Although Fred's wife challenged her husband's Spanish-language skills, he insisted that he understood Spanish very well. However, when his wife later related the By JEREMY LEFF It isn't long after the winter break that the dreaded plague can strike, without warning and' without mercy. Once students have it, it's nearly impossible to recover.

Maybe you know some of its victims. Or maybe you are one. That's right, I'm talking about the insufferable ailment known only as "high school senior-itis." I know. I'm a survivor. In my case, it began right after the holidays.

My classes suddenly seemed boring and unimportant. I'd already made lots of A's and plenty of B's and all my college applications were in the mail. I felt I'd done all the hard work and now I could relax. I started coasting in most of my classes, even ditched a few. It hit fever pitch the day I got a big-envelope in the mail that carried a big certificate with big letters that said: "Congratulations! You have been accepted to UC Santa Cruz," my top choice.

My girlfriend got accepted to the same school. Other friends enjoyed equally good news from the schools of their choice..