1. Writing Samples from “The Daily Orange”
Aury Naranjo
1. http://dailyorange.com/2012/10/syracsuse­running­festival­offers­opportunities­for­at
hletes­of­all­ages/
Syracuse running festival offers opportunities for athletes of all ages
October 1st, 2012
It was a perfect morning to run. A cool breeze filled the air and “Chariots of Fire” blasted
from the speakers over the sound of cheers coming from friends and family.
“Go make some history,” said Dave Oja, founder and director of the Festival of Races in
Syracuse, as he whistled the start of each race.
And when Hugh Campbell stepped over the finish line during the Men’s 5K, he did just that.
Campbell, 88, from Wilmington, Del., set a world record for the 85 to 89 age group with a
record of 26:45.
“I got a bug in my bonnet and I decided I’d try to run,” said Campbell, who has only been
running for a year­and­a­half. “I had problems getting started, but I got better and better, and
here I am.”
Oja founded the race in 1993, the Sunday before Columbus Day weekend, and has put it
together every year since as a way to help the community. Races included the Men’s 5K,
Women’s 5K, the 3K Fun & Fitness Run and the Community Walk.
Participants varied from 4­year­old girls to 88­year­old grandfathers. 406 men and 388
women participated in the male and female 5K races.
Campbell had a few reasons why he thought he ran as well as he did.
“I’m in practice and in shape. I take no medicine. I’m pretty healthy for an old fart like me,”
he said.

2. This year, Syracuse Festival of Races also hosted the 2012 USA Masters 5K Championship,
attracting runners from all parts of the country, ranging from Boulder, Colo., to Oxford, Ala.,
and even some from Canada.
“Where all the people from the world could be running the fastest 5K road race, it’s
happening in Syracuse, New York,” Oja said.
Nancy Auster, 86, from Canton, N.Y., is another of this year’s record breakers, as she
finished her 20th 5K race in the Syracuse Festival of Races. In the last 30 years, she’s gone
on to compete in more than 400 races and triathlons. Auster is considered an inspiration and a
legend in the running community.
“Running makes me feel good,” Auster said, surrounded by her friends and family.
She originally chose to participate in the Syracuse Festival of Races because it was one of the
few women’s only races.
On top of that, Marie­Louise Michelsohn broke the national record of fastest woman ever by
a 70­year­old woman in a 5K race with a record of 23:40.
Other runners, however, didn’t feel as accomplished as these record­breakers.
J.J. Seymour, 67, a runner from New Jersey, felt disappointed with his time, saying he
could’ve done better.
“It’s like anything else in life,” Seymour said. “Some days you’re on and some days you’re
off. Today just wasn’t an on day for me.”
Seymour believes in that to be competitive in anything, not only in sports but in life, you
have to set high standards for yourself. If you don’t, you’d just be pulling yourself through
the motions.
His friend, Larry Price, 64, added, “We always say we want to run better. No matter what you
run, you want to run better.”
To others, running is also about reuniting with old friends.

3. Murphee Hayes, 38, a local runner for 20­plus years, said she hadn’t been with her team in a
while.
For most participants, running has become far more about the health and social benefits. It’s
become a lifestyle. Most veterans admitted they’d continue running for as long as they could.
Said Hayes: “This event brought a lot of our friendships that we found running back together.
It’s good to see everybody all in one place.”
2. http://www.dailyorange.comblogs.dailyorange.com/2013/04/bilingual­library­to­open
­in­latino­cultural­center­la­casita/
Bilingual library to open in Near Westside Latino cultural center La Casita
April 23, 2013
La Casita Cultural Center’s bilingual library is more than just books and shelves — it’s a way
to connect different generations and cultures.
After years of planning and months of construction, the new library, located in the center at
109 Otisco St., will open its doors to the public April 26. The founders had always envisioned
a bilingual library to be a part of La Casita, which has connected members of the Near
Westside community to their Latin American heritage for almost three years.
Tere Paniagua, executive director of cultural engagement for the Hispanic community at
Syracuse University, described herself as being the “motor” of the operation, as she put the
groundwork into gear.
“It was not until this spring that it really became a priority to move forward with this project
and to see it finalized,” Paniagua said.
Students in the Society of Multicultural Architects and designers in the School of
Architecture, along with their adviser Francisco Sanin, designed the bilingual library. Once
the design was approved in January of this year, construction began in February, she said.

4. “[The] space is designed to house well over a thousand volumes,” Paniagua said. “What
we’re beginning to see now is that we have room for much more than a thousand books. ”
Currently, the library has between 500­600 books, CDs and DVDs for children, young adults
and adults. Its collection includes titles about visual and performing arts, the humanities,
education, literacy, contemporary youth culture and children’s books, Paniagua said​.
When researching what types of books to purchase, Inmaculada Lara­Bonilla, co­founder and
director of programming for La Casita, said she wanted to complement the Mundy Branch
Library, located on the far west side of Syracuse, and the Seymour Dual Language Academy.
“The difference with La Casita’s bilingual library and other libraries in the Near Westside is
that it is meant to be inter­generational,” Lara­Bonilla said.
Silvio Torres­Saillant, co­founder of La Casita and professor in the English and textual
studies department at SU, said he found there was no library that welcomed various
generations within families on the Near Westside.
“Especially in immigrant families, quite often you have a language divide among different
segments of the family — between the grandparents and the children — that are speaking two
different languages or at least not sharing one language,” Torres­Saillant said.
He said he hopes the bilingual library will take these linguistic divides into account.
In addition, La Casita’s library is the only library on the Near Westside that focuses on the
Latino heritage.
“Sometimes, people don’t know about their own heritage,” Lara­Bonilla said. “They won’t
value that heritage. One of La Casita’s missions is to make the Latino heritage visible.”
The bilingual library could also be important for undergraduate and graduate students at SU
interested in Latin American culture, she said. By linking the visual arts, performing arts and
educational programs through library resources, these programs can have a depth they
wouldn’t have had otherwise.

5. “Our library is embedded within a cultural center, and many of our titles will be intimately
connected with programming,” Lara­Bonilla said. “We want to make sure the books are not
simply sitting there, but that they are used, alive.”