Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.
It’s Wednesday, May 12. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.
Arguably the most pressing challenge of this past pandemic year has been for those who set healthcare policy, hand-in-hand with those who carry out programs associated with those policies, to fully inform the public of safe practices, vaccination offerings and resources that are available to them.
In Orange County, where the Latino population has been hit especially hard over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, outreach efforts have become critical.
My colleague Lilly Nguyen looked into a local program, a group of bilingual workers who are going door-to-door to connect lower-income families, many of them Latino, with services such as mental health or rental assistance, food resources and, more recently, to share information on COVID-19 and how to get the vaccines if they’re interested.
Artist Jaana Baker talks about motherhood and Filipino American identity in her first solo show
By Vera CastanedaStaff Writer
After giving birth to her daughter, artist Jaana Baker felt an urgency to paint.
She had dropped out of Cal State Fullerton’s art program years prior and decided to return. Becoming a mother made Baker reevaluate her upbringing, identity and her voice.
“I always wanted to have my voice be heard, but I just didn’t know how to do it,” Baker said via Zoom from her home studio in La Mirada. “I became much more of an open and emotional person. Before I had my daughter, I was kind of hardened and I was internalizing a lot of things. For some reason after having her, I felt a lot more open to make work about myself and my experiences.”