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Mexico – “Peace begins with a smile”: amid violence, “Happy Holidays with Jesus” bring joy and hope to Tijuana

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Mexico –

(ANS – Tijuana) – Playing, running, jumping, having fun… but above all offering a space for peace: this is the meaning of the Salesian summer camp in Tijuana, known as “Happy Holidays with Jesus” (VAFEJE).

VAFEJE weeks were held under the banner of the value of Peace and the motto of the Rector Major’s Strenna for 2022: “Do all through love, nothing through constraint.” In total, more than 400 children and adolescents took part, accompanied by various educational and recreational proposals by more than 130 animators.

VAFEJE’s initiative, already significant in itself for the lives of so many children and youth, takes on even more value when considering the context in which it is carried out. A border city located on the U.S. border, Tijuana is currently hit by a gruesome wave of violence – figures show there have already been over 2,000 deaths in the first half of the year – and many innocent people are paying dearly for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even more, of having wanted to help, to offer the last sacraments, as was the case of the two Jesuits killed last June 20 in Cerocahui, for wanting to help a person who had fled from his captors in another northern state of the country, that of Chihuahua.

That is why the Salesians, in the face of the bishops’ invitation to pray for peace, renewed their commitment to build and live peace: “We must be builders of peace with concrete actions, with convincing examples of life, but above all by telling the truth, by bearing witness to truth and justice in all our environments, especially in the youth environments of each of our works in Tijuana,” say the Sons of Don Bosco present in the city.

“Every Salesian playground we have played in these weeks has been a time of encounter, of healthy sharing, a place where problems are solved without using physical and verbal violence,” they continue.

That is why they are committed to reaching out to young people, adolescents, boys and girls, and offering them a safe space, a space where they can build peace together, going to replace a frown with a smile, going to offer a word that encourages, that uplifts, instead of one that wounds and hurts.

For this reason, the Salesians in Tijuana work a lot in the training of animators, so that they are educators who accompany and guide the students through example and different activities; and, without a doubt, they try to live the “Salesian sacrament of presence” firsthand, so that they themselves can be a reference point for the youth.

Significantly, at the close of the summer activities, the Salesians of Tijuana brought together all the communities of the different works active in the city and organized a March for Peace, with the phrase “peace begins with a smile.” Amidst songs, shouts of joy, placards, and the typical Salesian family atmosphere, children, youth, Salesians, and their lay collaborators marched through the streets of Tijuana conveying their feelings and values to the community. Then, they gathered around the Eucharist to continue asking for peace, in the neighborhoods, in the city, between countries, and in the world; and they completed the final day of VAFEJE with the presentation of different artistic and cultural events, a moment of agape and fraternal play among all participants.

“As ‘Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana A.C.,’ part of the Mexican Catholic Church, we cannot remain indifferent to the pain caused by delinquency and organized crime, which is why we want to imbue our spaces with the values that can promote peace and social justice,” concluded the Tijuana Salesians.

{gallery}Messico – MEG – Marcia Pace 2022{/gallery}

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Jill Biden Disguises Herself for April Fool’s Prank on Media, Staff During Flight

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First Lady Jill Biden had a prank in mind for this year’s April Fool’s Day.

During a plane ride on Thursday, “a flight attendant with short black hair — wearing a black pants suit, black face mask and a name badge reading Jasmine — walked through the staff, Secret Service and press cabins passing out Dove ice cream bars,” per the White House pool report.

The “flight attendant” named “Jasmine” then came back to the press section without the wig, “revealing herself to be Dr. Jill Biden.”

Jill Biden had disguised herself as a flight attendant to play an April Fool’s Day prank on the media and staff.

“April Fool’s,” the first lady said, per the pool report.

The pool was “totally fooled,” the report says, and the first lady’s close staffers were also surprised by the disguise.

The pool report added, “The ice cream bars — vanilla with a hard chocolate coating — were delicious.”

First Lady Jill Biden disguised herself as a flight attendant to pull off an April Fools prank, according to a pool report. pic.twitter.com/YhWUgDLIcO

— Kate Sullivan (@KateSullivanDC)

As White House Correspondent for Bloomberg Justin Sink noted on Twitter, this was not the first time Jill Biden has pranked someone. She previously stuffed herself in an overhead compartment for a prank, he noted.

reminds me of when she was second lady jill biden once stuffed herself into an overhead compartment for a prank https://t.co/mcVlv1Zywq pic.twitter.com/u63E3JtCV9

— Justin Sink (@justinsink)

In 2014, President Joe Biden shared that April Fool’s Day is “like a tradition” for his wife’s family.

“What I worry about when I wake up on April Fool’s Day is, ‘What in the hell is Jill gonna do this time?’” he said at the time.

Joe Biden also touched on Jill Biden’s overhead compartment moment.

He said, “Like for example, one April Fool’s Day … we get in Air Force Two, we’re flying and I’m saying, ‘Where the hell is Jill?’ And I open up the baggage compartment on top, above, you know? And she jumps out of the compartment. This is the Second Lady of the United States of America jumping out of the overhead baggage compartment.”

Fifty years ago, I started playing this little-known sport with a funny name. Now, it’s all the rage.

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I’ve been a little stunned—and delighted—by the sudden popularity of one of my favorite pastimes, a game with a funny name and strange terminology, such as, “dink,” “kitchen,” and “skinny singles.”

Largely confined to the Pacific Northwest for decades, it has now emerged as America’s fastest-growing sport.

I’m talking about pickleball.

It’s best described as a mash up of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. And if you haven’t heard of it, I expect you soon will.

I’ve been a “Pickler,” as people obsessed with the game like me are known, for more than 50 years.

And if you and your family are bored and looking for something to do this summer, I encourage you to become one too.

Boredom was what got this sport started in 1965.

Three dads living on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, came home one summer evening to find their children complaining that there was nothing for them to do. So, they found a net, a Wiffle ball, some ping-pong paddles, and created a game on an old badminton court that the entire family could play together.

It was a hit.

Over the next year, the three friends worked together to develop a set of rules, formalize the court layout, and introduce a larger plywood paddle that was good for striking the ball. And they decided to call it pickleball. (The name’s origins remain a matter of debate. Some believe it was named after a dog. Others say it’s a reference to a “pickle boat,” a thrown together boat made from the leftover rowers in crew races. I don’t know. I prefer to just play the game and stay out of the fray.)

Meanwhile, word slowly spread in Seattle of this odd new pastime.

My dad was friends with the game’s inventors, Joel Pritchard, a state legislator and later Washington’s lieutenant governor, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell. He learned about their creation and by the late 1960s, he got inspired to build a pickleball court at our house. I’ve been playing ever since.

“I doubt there were more than a thousand people in the Seattle area who had ever seen the sport when my family picked it up.”

At the time, the pickleball community was very small. I doubt there were more than a thousand people in the Seattle area who had ever seen the sport when my family picked it up. And I don’t think anyone expected it would ever become a national phenomenon.

Today, there are more than 4.8 million players nationwide, a growth of nearly 40 percent over the last two years. And I expect it will only get bigger. (I knew things had gotten serious for pickleball when I opened up The Economist and found a story about the game’s newfound fame.)

I don’t know exactly what’s driven this recent surge in interest in pickleball, but I think the fact that it’s so easy to play is one big reason. People like to say a lot of sports—even hard ones like golf—are “easy to play,” but in the case of pickleball, it’s true. Everyone from the super young to the super old can take part. It takes minutes to learn the basics, games are short, and all you need is a net, paddle, and ball to get started. It doesn’t take much skill to hit the ball, either, because it doesn’t move as fast as a tennis ball. The best thing about pickleball, however, is that it’s just super fun.

I look forward to playing a pickleball game with friends and family at least once a week and more often during the summer. I’m also a lifelong tennis player, and for me, the games complement one another. Pickleball has helped me become a better tennis player and tennis has done the same for my pickleball game.

Still, I’ve spent a lot of time explaining and defending pickleball to newcomers, especially tennis players. Many people are confused by the unfamiliar court and a little skeptical of the strange terminology. There’s an area of the court within 7 feet on either side of the net called “the kitchen” or non-volley zone. And a key to being a top player is to master something called the “dink shot,” a soft shot that arcs over the net and lands within the opposing team’s kitchen. While playing doubles is most popular, singles games, including a version played crosscourt, called “skinny singles,” is another option.

Despite its silly terms and funny name, pickleball is actually quite a sophisticated game. I enjoy watching YouTube videos where I can learn about tactics and strategies from the best players. It’s amazing to see pros like Ben Johns play the game. Given all the rage about pickleball, I expect someday soon it may end up as an exhibition sport at the Olympics.

Nearly everyone in my family plays and we’ve had great fun in matches against one another over the years. We’ve all played so much that we can sometimes get very competitive. If we ever lose a game to visiting players, we’re always a little surprised and vow to take the next match more seriously.

Win or lose, I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer day than as a Pickler.

If you decide to give pickleball a try, I hope it brings you as much joy as it has my family and me.