Hispanic "Artist" corrects misspellings.
Robert not Roberto
LIVERMORE
Return of the artist who couldn't spell
Muralist corrects her errors -- and she's not happy about it
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
The book on the Livermore public library's mosaic spelling fiasco is
officially C-L-O-S-E-D.
The Miami muralist who misspelled Shakespeare, Michelangelo and nine other
famous names on a mosaic outside the library slipped into town to correct
her errors -- at a cost of $6,000 to the city.
And this time, city officials promise they have checked her work before it
gets set in stone.
On Tuesday, Maria Alquilar worked under the blazing sun, using power tools
to reshape and install tiles changing "Eistein" to "Einstein" and "Van
Gough" to "Van Gogh."
But Alquilar -- who last year claimed artistic license and said she wasn't
going to fix the faux pas because people were being too mean about it - -
was in no mood to talk.
Wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat and working under a tent, she wagged her
finger at a television cameraman and threatened to throw a rock at a
Chronicle photographer.
"No pictures of me!" Alquilar yelled, standing behind a barrier that
officials had put up to separate her from the public. "If I'm in it, I'm
going to sue you."
Alquilar had wanted to return quietly to do the edits, after news coverage
of the flub made national headlines last year. City officials paid her
$6,000 plus travel expenses, on top of the $40,000 she received for creating
the 16-foot circular mosaic, made up of 175 historical names and cultural
words.
But after she began removing the offending tiles Sunday, word spread. On
Tuesday, she had a consistent audience for her work, which city officials
expected to be complete by today.
And unlike last time -- when the misspellings were not noticed until the
library's opening, when the piece was already cemented down -- city
officials said they triple-checked the replacement tiles before they were
installed.
"We certainly believe they are spelled correctly," assistant city manager
Jim Piper said.
Livermore officials selected Alquilar in 2000 to create the colorful
installation at the entrance to Livermore's new library, which opened in May
of 2004. Icons representing science, art, literature and history surround a
tree of life in the center.
Piper said that, with the controversy behind it, he hoped the public could
simply enjoy Alquilar's mosaic for what it is -- "a wonderful piece of
artwork," he said.
But one library patron shook her head and laughed when she saw the artist at
work, saying, "That poor lady."
"I feel sorry for her out in the heat," said the woman, a nurse named Betty
who wouldn't give her last name because she has "teacher friends who are
just horrified by the misspellings." She thought the city did not have to
change the mosaic at all.
"It was kind of fun to have something unique," she said. "I thought it was
very nice."
But Jarod Vash, 17, who was borrowing videos with his girlfriend and her
family, said he thought the misspellings were just embarrassing.
"When the story first broke, I thought, 'Oh, Livermore, the town that
misspells stuff,' " Vash said. "The only thing we've got in Livermore is a
library that misspells words."
But he added, "Everybody makes mistakes."
Quipped his girlfriend's 13-year-old brother, Eric Smyth:
"Not this bad."
E-mail Kelly St. John at kst...@sfchronicle.com
WakeU...@adelphia.net
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>But he added, "Everybody makes mistakes."
>
>Quipped his girlfriend's 13-year-old brother, Eric Smyth:
>
>"Not this bad."
Especially not when they're being paid $40,000 to do a competent
job.
"So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter . . . It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others . . .
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government . . . Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests . . .
"Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest."
-- President George Washington
Farewell Address
September 26, 1796
My Name is Legion
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
I bet she was placed in ESL classes after arriving to the US as a
child... see what it produces instead of FORCING the children of
immigrants to learn English.
pomp...@hotmail.com
even know who Shakespeare, van Gogh, Michaelangelo, etc., were. Which
brings the point that these name written on the wall will be so much
greek to the stoned, programmed-to-be-consumers, 'murrican sproglets
that supposedly will be visiting the museum...
My Name is Legion
How do you know what an average American kid gets in way of an
education... your from south of the border where only the middle class
and wealthy kids can get an education. Your sorry ass excuse of a
country called Mexico has an average adult education of 7th grade, and
Mexico's literacy rate is that of the 3rd grade level... I wouldn't be
too proud of those numbers.
The difference is that while American kids know about Shakespeare, van
Gogh and Michaelangelo they just don't care about them... but unlike
the childern of the brown horde they at least know about them.. you
guys don't even give your kids a choice to care about them.
pomp...@hotmail.com
right it doesn't seem any worse than ur typical red state. But I have
given up on "brown man's burden" to try to educate nekulturny like you.
Let others do the King Canute bit.
"It is the Manifest Destiny of the Mexican People to recover the lands
stolen in 1847, keep the best looking gringas, the nicest condos, all
the beachfronts, and the fastest cars and give the rest back to the
Indians." -- His Excellency don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
344
My Name is Legion
>U are obviously quite ignorant about Mexico. But if your numbers are
>right it doesn't seem any worse than ur typical red state. But I have
>given up on "brown man's burden" to try to educate nekulturny like you.
> Let others do the King Canute bit.
http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/UNESCO-UIE/literacyexchange/mexico/mexicolinks.htm
Or just go to UNNESCO and look at the numbers. Of course you can
always just believe the numbers from your own country (Mexico)... but
sadly even the UN wouldn't except them since your country didn't
include anyone that wasn't in school or had graduated the 10 grade...
but of course once agin you blow off facts when shown the Mexico is a
third world country.
H. Reader
<pomp...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1123792048.6...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Had she enjoyed the full benefits of 'murrican edikation she would not
> even know who Shakespeare, van Gogh, Michaelangelo, etc., were.
Nonsense.
> Which
> brings the point that these name written on the wall will be so much
> greek to the stoned, programmed-to-be-consumers, 'murrican sproglets
> that supposedly will be visiting the museum...
It's a library, genius.
pomp...@hotmail.com
pomp...@hotmail.com
does not change the fact that the 'murrican sproglets would hardly know
who Shakespeare et al are. And even more sad, as you pointed out, they
would hardly care that they do not know! O tempora! O mores! The
neocons are crafting a brave new world where 'murrican youths will be
so dumbed down that they will only be good enough to be cannon fodder.
My Name is Legion
Listen Mario Quijano you are the one that is mistaken, the US
graduates a high per capita of high school grads then Mexico... and
yet you sit there and pound your chest in and roar that it doesn't
matter... funny which country has the higher GDP? How about which
country has more college grads? or which country produces more noble
laureate winner?
The sad part is that you went to a private school in Mexico and if you
had gone to the regular schools that 99% of the rest of the country
has to rely on you would be a functional illiterate. Another strange
thing is that if Mexico is SOOOOOO great why did you come to the US
for your college/university degree? or why are you here in the US
working?
Please go through each one of my points and refute them or explain to
me why I must be wrong.
My Name is Legion
Just tracked down pomp...@hotmail.com his name is Mario Quijano and
I found a link to a company that he used to work for
http://www.strategosinc.com/mario_quijano.htm
but his information has been deleted so it looks like he was fired or
left that company.
I also found a phone number (956) 345-4951 (McAllen, Tx) and another
webpage that was working in 2003 but sadly it is dead so was teh enial
address listed.. bounced back. He seems to be a software consultant...
but I think he has returned to Mexico since work visa's do not allow
you to be a self employed consultant... either that or he is here
illegally and hiding out in Texas.
Opps found another phone number (956 380-8736) for him and again it
looks like he is doing consulting in the electronics field... I wonder
what would happen if the INS was notified that a Mexican national is
working in the US on an invalid visa or on a student visa to boot. He
seems to be hiding out in Pharr or McAllen, Tx
Sandy Myers
youth are being dumbed down in our schools because of the over crowded
condtions due to all the illegal alien Mexicans in them that are
requiring all the teacher's attention because they don't speak English!
Add in all the PC taught history nowadays about America and throw in a
lot of flattering lies about Mexican history and culture instead and
yeah are youth are really being dumbed down! Thanks for caring,
asshole!
My Name is Legion
wrote:
When schools are required to spend money on ESL classes and teacher to
staff them it takes away funds that could be spent on more teachers to
reduce class size... the funny thing is even as we spend more money to
try to teach the children of illegal immigrant from Mexico they
continue to drop out of school at record rates... up to 50% in some of
the LA Schools.
H. Reader
<pomp...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1123797373.4...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Whatever. U would not be found in either.
You've shown yourself to be sure of a lot of things that
are pure nonsense.
dsha...@hotmail.com
My Name is Legion wrote:
>I bet she was placed in ESL classes after arriving to the US as a
>child... see what it produces instead of FORCING the children of
>immigrants to learn English.
When I was in 8th grade, there was a kid who had just immigrated with
his parents from El Salvador and couldn't speak a word of English. Next
semester, he was fluent, and by high school, he had no accent and was
in honors English. Had he had the benefit of ESL classes, no doubt he
would have been as fluent as the dumb bunny "muralist" in this article.
Deborah
Lets Roll
"My Name is Legion" <Leg...@notrealaol.com> wrote in message
news:9b2of1percjmkor1m...@4ax.com...
Well, we gotta level those playing fields, and it all starts in the schools.
Mexicans could not compete if we maintained an even adequate public school
system. We've known all along what the neocons meant about the New World
Order and leveling the playing fields, and it didn't mean bringing other
countries up to our level. It has ALWAYS meant taking the US down to their
level.
I wouldn't let my kid step within a 100 yards of an American public school.
Period. They are not educational institutions any more, and haven't been
for a good 20 years, ever since the invasion got into full swing. They are
social engineering centers. Nothing more and nothing less. They fully
intend for the attendees to graduate stoopid and sympathetic to every
perversion ever known to mankind.