The Hsu’s Views

Things are shaping up for our “Under 40″ meeting next week. We will have a couple of guest speakers. The idea was to bring a few civic leaders from San Diego to visit so we might interview and learn from and about them.

Scott Peters is the San Diego City Council President. He represents District One which include La Jolla and a swath of North Inland. We’re asking him about his hopes for the city, what is going well, and what are the impossible problems. I’m also interested in his thoughts on how the Church might be a blessing to the city.

We’ll also have a couple of presentations from amongst ourselves. Mishe Harvey is the Mentoring Director for the Miles Ahead Mentoring Alliance (MAMA). She will be accompanied by Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney, who joined Miles McPherson to begin this effort to recruit mentors from the faith community to come alongside the neediest youth in our city. Leslie Devaney, former Deputy City Attorney will also be joining us for the presentation.

The other group we will hear from is Floresta. Sarah Check will help us understand how their group addresses environmental degradation and the accompaning poverty in many parts of the world. Their organization presents a very holistic approach and includes micro-credit, community development and discipleship.

Our topic of discussion will be “Kingdom.” We’ll try to flesh out our understanding of how multifaceted the gospel is, and how it can transform lives, communities and our beloved San Diego.

Had a great tour of St. Vincent De Paul’s Villages here in San Diego. My friend Jenny Ho was kind to give us a guided tour of the many buildings that constitute the work of Father Joe here in San Diego. It was truly amazing to see the comprehensive level of services that are provided here. I’m thankful for the blessing that they are to the city of San Diego.

This is a self proclaimed “partisan book, dedicated to the San Diego Left, past and present, and it is meant to sting.” (P. 4) (You have been warned ) Recommended to me by Jason Evans, I thought I’d look at it to learn from a perspective that I’ve not learned to look from in the past. The authors intend to give us a view other than rosey picture postcard image that we normally have of our city. Instead, they want to stimulate exploration of “San Diego’s controversial past, especially the neglected histories of labor and communities of color.”

Seems like it would be useful to see what the ills the “Left” are concerned with. Perhaps as we apply gospel thinking to these concerns we might inform ourselves and even find common concerns.

From the inside dust jacket:

This alternative civic history deconstructs the mythology of “America’s finest city,” exposing its true undergirdings of militarism, racism, and economic inequality. Acclaimed urban theorist Mike Davis documents the secret history of the domineering elites who have turned a weak city government into a powerful machine for private wealth. Jim Miller tells the story from the other side: chronicling the history of protest in San Diego from the Wobblies to today’s “Globalphobics.” Kelly Mayhew, meanwhile, presents the voices of paradise’s forgotten working people and new immigrants.

I’ve been doing some research on the history of San Diego and ran across this timeline by the San Diego Historical Society. It is a nice overview with great historic photographs. There is also a wealth of links to books and various museums that can give the city exegete something to work on.