Luis Valdez honored at San Jose State
Luis Valdez puts his heart and passion into his craft — and it’s vividly on display on stage. From 1978’s “Zoot Suit” to last year’s “Valley of the Heart,” his works are imbued with drama, history and heritage. You could see it when he launched El Teatro Campesino in 1965. And we saw it again Thursday night as San Jose State University presented him with the Tower Award, the university’s highest honor, at the Inspiration to Innovation gala.
“I learned diversity, I learned multiversity in this university,” Valdez said in an impassioned speech. “I became acculturated at this university.”
The gala was held hours after SJSU President Mary Papazian was inaugurated, and Valdez took the opportunity to congratulate the Cal State system for making her one of five women to be appointed presidents in the system this year. “A university, in the very word, is the many in the one, the one in the many. And there are voices today that want to turn the clock back,” he said. “I think it’s wonderful, astonishing, tremendous that the CSU system is acknowledging women as college and university presidents.”
Valdez closed by thanking the packed audience at the Event Center for honoring him and his alma mater — a term he translates as “soul mother.” The diverse crowd that included his wife, Lupe, and son Kinan, Dr.
Harry Edwards, Carmen and Alcario Castellano, Assemblymen Ash Kalra, Kansen Chu and Evan Low; and Joe Pinto, Cisco’s senior vice president of the technical services group, who was honored with the Community Partner Award.
When it comes to passion, it
will be a challenge to top Valdez. But the next gala isn’t until Oct. 18, 2018 — and while there’s no word yet on the honoree, it’s worth noting that’s just two days after the 50th anniversary of John Carlos and Tommie
Smith’s famed Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics.
SHARING MINETA’S
LEGACY: Mary Ellen and Mike Fox Sr. hosted a brunch at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos last Sunday in support of the Norman Mineta Legacy Project, which is being coordinated by Mineta Transportation Institute Executive Director
Karen Philbrick. Mineta, of course, is one of the most accomplished San Joseans ever in the realm of politics, having been mayor, a 20-year congressman and a cabinet secretary for two U.S. presidents.
The project includes a TV documentary destined for PBS, a web-based educational curriculum designed for high school and college students, and a Mineta Strategic Initiatives endowment to support the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State.
Mineta himself was in Vancouver and unable to attend the brunch, but the crowd included attorney Jim McManis and his wife, Sara Wigh; former state Sen. Becky Morgan; former U.S. Rep. Mike Honda; Palo Alto Councilwoman Liz Kniss; Palo Alto Medical Foundation CEO
Lizz Vilardo; Momentum for Mental Health CEO David Mineta, who is Norm’s son; Chuck and Linda Toeniskoetter; Stephanie and Bart Lally; attorney Richard Alexander; and McKinsey & Co. CEO Emeritus Don Watters.
The documentary, “An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy,” is being co-produced by Emmy award-winning producer/director Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi, who also produced “Stories From Tohoku,” a documentary about survivors
of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The Mineta project will be launched officially this fall at a fundraiser at the Fox home in Saratoga, but you can get more details at MinetaLegacyProject.com. ADEGA CHEFS AT VEGGIELUTION DINNER: You can definitely say that Veggielution’s June 11 fEAST San Jose dinner will be a star-studded event — Michelin-starred, at least. That’s because the Portuguese Picnic menu is being created by chefs Jessica Carreira and
David Costa of Adega, the first restaurant in San Jose to receive the coveted Michelin star.
The fundraiser, which begins at 4:30 p.m. at Emma Prusch Farm Park, includes tours of Veggielution’s community farm, a silent auction and live music. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased at veggielution.org.
MUSICAL TREAT: Classical pianist Katya Grineva, who performed for the 16th time at Carnegie Hall recently, is back in the South Bay for a concert Tuesday at the Saratoga Foothill Club. The special pre-Mother’s Day show will include selections by Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven — and as an added treat, this will also be the first event since the recent renovation of the club, which was designed by Julia Morgan.
And as has been her tradition for the past few years, a portion of the ticket sales will be donated to Cancer CAREpoint. Tickets for the 7 p.m. concert are $55 at the door or can be purchased in advance online for $45 at Eventbrite.com (Search for “Chopin, Champagne and Chocolate”). 49ERS PICK UP KEY PLAYER: The Sharks’ NHL playoff ouster wasn’t the only sports-related loss for San Jose this spring. The 49ers announced they’ve hired San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director Patricia Ernstrom as vice president of special events and executive director of the host committee for the 2019 College Football National Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium.
Enstrom’s been at the helm of San Jose’s sports marketing agency for 10 years, helping to bring high-level events, including Olympic trials, national championships, NCAA basketball regionals and more to SAP Center and other parts of the city. She’s certainly no stranger to managing huge, media-fueled events and had roles in the bidding process for Super Bowl 50, the NHL Stadium Series, the Copa America Centenario and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Charlie Faas, chair of the San Jose Sports Authority board, says that fellow board member Anne
Cribbs — the former Olympian with vast sports management experience in the Bay Area — will be serving as interim executive director while a search is conducted for Ernstrom’s replacement. VISITING BEETHOVEN: Playwright and solo performer
Hershey Felder visited the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State on Wednesday, touring the biggest collection of materials in the United States devoted to the famed composer. The invitation from the American Beethoven Society had a purpose behind it, too: Felder is bringing his show, “Hershey Felder, Beethoven,” to TheatreWorks from June 7 to July 2 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. And if you want to visit the Beethoven Center yourself, it’s open at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Main Library and is exhibiting “Beethoven@Home,” tracing the composers 47 residences in and around Vienna, though July 8.