See the Movie "McFarland USA"

Joan and I saw the Disney film "McFarland USA" today. I highly recommend it. It's a feel good film of the kind Disney has always excelled at, the story of underdogs succeeding in the face of heavy obstacles. But it's also more. It's based on the true and almost unbelievable real-life case of Davids beating Goliaths, and it also offers a marvelously authentic look into a culture we have come to know since moving to the San Jaoquin Valley sixteen years ago.

McFarland was a poverty-stricken hamlet of less than 7,000 people in 1987 when Jim White showed up to teach high school science. Over 90% Latino, most of the residents scratched out a living picking crops in the fields. White saw kids who literally had to run miles from sunrise fieldwork to school and then back again after the last bell. He got the idea of starting a cross country (long-distance running) team and became its coach with no prior experience. Due to the kids' incredible toughness and White's facility for relating to Mexican-American culture, he went on to lead tiny McFarland to nine California state cross country championships in 14 years. The effort had remarkable effects beyond athletics; none of the seven members who formed the initial team had a single relative who had gone beyond ninth grade. All seven went to college, some even to the college where I teach. The tradition persists, too: our College of the Sequoias cross country team remains one of the state's best.

Beyond that, I hope a lot of people will see it to get a better picture of the Latino culture we have come to know and love here in our area. As you might expect, the showing we viewed was packed here in Visalia, but there are many who are unaware of some of the truths of Latino culture and continue to spread pejorative stereotypes. It would help the rest of American society to see the phenomenal work ethic, strong family ties and deep love of these admirable Americans, people who share a combination of pride and humility which is difficult to describe. I saw much about my own students reflected in this film, and I hope you get a chance to see it too.