welcome to comunidad del valle. today we start the national health week. the public health department of santa clara valley. this is your "comunidad del valle." with damian trujillo. >> we begin with the latino comics expo coming to san jose with me here are katherine reyes, cultural heritage center director in san jose and crystal gonzalez, an artist. show us what you have here. >> this is one of my comic books here in the dark, one of the

comics that you'll get to see at the comics expo. >> how big of a deal is this for the mlk library. >> this is a big deal, this is the fifth comic expo being hosted. it is the first in san jose. it originated in san francisco and there was one in los angeles in long beach actually that was very, very successful. we expect to duplicate the same success in san jose. we think we have a very different community that hasn't been able to be matched in san francisco. >> we do have a clip that you all provide, actually on your website. kind of neat. there's yours crystal. and there's a neat one that comes up next and it's got santo and what not. tell us, crystal, because you're one of the artists here, does this art work that you see from others inspire you or do you think yours inspires them sometimes? >> i think we feed off of each other. it's really great to feel a part of a community when you're an

artist and i think that the latino comics expo is going to be a great sort of step into that for other people to be able to see artists and diverse voices, diverse things as well as kind of getting an ethnic flavor all together and getting to understand what we do. >> why do you think it was needed here? why should -- you mentioned it was -- it's been all over the state but why san jose? >> well, in part, through my efforts to bring the xpoe here to san jose as a librarian at the library and someone who promotes latino pop art, i felt that what the latino comics xpoe offered in san francisco was something that i thought was really important in san jose. i think we offer not just the right space to give the sort of the magnitude of what this expo

is about and what it's doing and highlighting very important artists in the latino community, that it's -- i guess it was just sort of perfect timing. i think the founders were looking for something different. i was looking for something as a coordinator of programs in the library. and that sort of worked out for both of us. and i think we were also very fortunate to have the family foundation help us in that effort. so there's a lot of little things that were in place and we needed to bring it all together. >> in looking at the art work that you provided, it seems like this art work comes with the message. some of them is about being accepting of the those among us that might be different in some ways. >> i think that's really another voice and not just in the graphics but another way to tell our story. and another way to also find

connections with youth, with not just the u.s. experience, but also the influence of the latin american experience and finding that tie between in the art. so it really brings in what san jose is all about. we're not just mexicanos in san jose, we're truly a multinational latin americanist and i think this sort of hits everything in a voice that is sort of nonthreatening and something that is welcoming and fun. something that is very neat to look at. >> we heard of comiccon, what sets this apart? >> well, probably the biggest difference while comic con is mostly commercial, you get d.c., marvel, what you get from this comic will be a lot of independent artists and unique voices and some artists that are

not going to be driven to just super hero art. you're going to get life stories and get cultural backgrounds and get different stories that are going to be based on other things rather than say, for instance, the latest spider-man. >> it's coming up the conference here in san jose. logonto the website for more information. mlk library at the heart of san jose university. >> it is free. >> there you go. it's free. >> we'll be back. stay with us.

we are with the latino comics expo. crystal, tell us what this is and how big of a deal this is for you personally. >> in i'm a self-published artist, latino artist that lives in san francisco. and this is one of the very, you know, perfect venues where you get to be up and personal with an artist who creates basically

the whole work. i'm the drawer, the illustrator, ink it all and publish it all. this type of work will be really good to see at the comic con. >> is it like the books where somebody writes it and you illustrate it? >> no, it's completely self-published, meaning i pencil everything, i ink everything, i market everything. i publish everything. the entire book is in itself a self-contained unit based on a single artd tist doing it all freelance. >> as a journalist, my patience is about that much. you have to have a lot of patience to do the fine detail. >> yes, for instance a single book which can comprise of probably like 48-page book takes about a year or more to create all of the pages within them. i do very me tick house work, probably why. >> what's this about here? >> in the dark is about two

characters named fible and sin, it's kind of a hero's journey and goes through various landscapes in hell where the character is going to be learning about social -- kind of a social commentary story about how we reflect upon various characters and how that reflects upon people. >> you're closing down the entire second floor? >> we're closing the whole second floor. the meeting space there on the second floor. it's going to provide gosh, a great opportunity for people to network with these artists and you see the experience that is there that you don't gain necessarily in classes in though san jose state does have an animation department and program. i think the opportunity to talk one on one with these artists is an absolute sort of treasure.

that's the other gift to having the expo here and open to children and to, you know, grandparents and to their parents. it is work like crystal's and other important ground breaking artists like the brothers hernandez who are sort of marketing -- in the marketwise successful and to be able to have that ability to talk to them and hear them and see their work is something that you don't need to look at the newspaper or buy a book for that. >> what kind of feedback do you get? >> i get a lot of good feedback. i'm happy to hear that. granted sometimes the work when we're -- when you're independent, you don't have -- you know, sometimes you get a voice where it's like, what is is this about. and they are more engaged and what's nice about that, i can actually tell them, the history

and background, loung it has taken me to work. like this comic in particular has been almost eight years in the making. so it's -- it has a lot to do with philosophy and like i said social commentary. and it's about people and it's about the lifestyle that we live in now, social contemporary now. >> your background is what? >> i studied at the university of nevada and got bachelors in illustrating cartooning there and college of arts where i have a fine arts master in cartooning and painting. and that kind of that social commentary that came from the fine arts world was what stirred my need to tell a bigger story that i couldn't tell in the paintings. so the comic book and paintings kind of coincide together. that's kind of what happens here. because of the philosophy background that i have, a lot of that story kind of ends up in there. it's a really humorous book and there's a lot of goofy things in

there but at the same time there's a good story being told. >> it's more than just art work and few words here and there. this is deep thoughts that are being expressed. >> exactly. >> the expo is coming to san jose state university, mlk library. any final thoughts? >> well, i think this is an exciting expo and i hope families come to this event. we have incredible artists like crystal, individuals that you can talk to and hang out with for a little bit. and gosh, this is one in a lifetime in san jose, it's going to be the largest -- >> also be panels and live drawing for children. >> hands on opportunity with artists, i think crystal will do the workshop and we'll be having the brothers hernandez being interviewed and doing the presentations. so a lot of things. >> log onto the website for more information. >> thank you so much and good luck. >> thank you. >> up next, the binational

health week in santa clara county. stay with us.

it's binational health week and with me on the show is dr. sara cody, the public health officer for santa clara county. represents four different counties, not just santa clara. >> exactly. >> you saw the comic super heroes and i recognized that santo -- >> it was really -- nobody knows now. he was in -- i don't know, more than 20 years ago. so now, ask my daughters or my son, i'm sure they know exactly who he is. >> more important -- more serious note if you will, public health. dr. codety, where would you say we are when it comes to

immigrant population and the health that they are in this the four counties we're addressing here? >> well, we are a nation of immigrants as you know and santa clara county is one of the most diverse counties in the entire country. so it's a privilege to live here and very exciting. and the latino community actually is growing in the u.s. and in santa clara county. i don't remember when the year -- when it's estimated to happen, but latinos will be the majority in our county and in many communities. >> what i hear a lot is that in mexico, we eat healthy foods and what not, when we come to this country and that's when the cheese burgers and french fries and chicken nuggets are on the table. how big of a problem is that? >> it's a big problem for us. healthy problem. and it's important this national health week.

one of the worst jobs that we do in mexican consulate is about the food. healthy food. people know that maybe doing exercises or something is getting better. but what about the food? the food is important and we show people how to cook and how to eat really healthy food because really the problem with the overweight is diabetes, just a big problem for latino. latino increased rate that suffer from diabetes or heart attack. so that's why we work in this together with the by national health week. >> you brought stats i see. go ahead and give us your spill, tell us what we should know about the condition we're in. >> i think your point is well

taken, that the diet in the country of origin may be much healthier than when people move to our community. rates of overweight and obesity are quite high among latinos living in santa clara county as well as rates of diabetes are also high. these are both a concern but these are things that we can do something about. and i think that binational health week and three weeks of mobilization and outreach and screening is so, so so important because just to have everyone from government organizations to community based organizations mobilizing the community so people know that change can be made. and so the health screenings and information for access to care, many, many things happening in the first three weeks of october. >> this partnership with the

mexican consulate started a long time ago. was it a no brainer to go that route? >> we've had the partnership for bynational health week here. this is our tenth year. >> tenth year. >> 14th year for the tradition fl binational health week. this is our tenth year of partnership. >> exactly. we have partnership with santa clara and also with the other three counties, santa cruz. >> monterey -- so we work with four counties but obviously we are here in santa clara and we have really good relationship and different events we share together. >> people work two or three or four jobs sometimes, sometimes there's little time to cook, he is sfeshlly healthy food. so a trip to the fast food place might be the easy way for families. how difficult is it to get out of the cycle?

>> it's not easy. we work every single day. these binational health week is important because with these -- everybody works together. but every single day we work in the mexican consulate trying to do this, how to avoid this kind of food. for example, how to refer to different consulting for getting more information about healthy food and health in general it's not easy. it's really hard work but we have to do it. we have to do it every day. and we have health window, this consulate and mexican consulate, we have really operation where we specialize in these problems. they work with the community come to the consulate just for getting documents or just for

making a test blood pressure test or cholesterol or any other just to prevent -- >> makes a big difference. the binational health week is right around the corner. log onto the website for more information on how to help or if you know somebody who needs to get screened. there's the web address. we'll talk more about this when we continue. stay with us. some people think vegetables are boring.

but with green giant's delicious seasonings and blends, we just may change their minds. ho ho ho green giant! you say avocado old el paso says... zesty chicken and avocado tacos in our stand 'n stuff tortillas . (record scratch) you say stand n' stuff tortillas old el paso says... start somewhere fresh we're talking about the binational health week and you wanted to scare us straight if you will. you have stats in general for us. >> right, just to share a couple of statistics about the latino community in santa clara county regarding diabetes. so our data show that as of 2009, 11% of latino adults living in santa clara county had diabetes. to better understand this, i

think you need -- we need to look at rates of overweight and obesity and in our county, again in 2009, almost 7 in 10 latino adults were overweight or obese. while that is a -- a sobering statistic, but again as we were discussing earlier, there are things that we can do. and i think that it starts from anything from the environment access to places to exercise and play, thinking about communities, thinking about parks, all the way to community organizations that might reacquaint families with recipes from generations before that might be healthier than the food they are eating now. >> exercise and eating right. >> yeah. >> of those people who come into your -- and the adults for that

matter, what percentage do you think it's the first time they are getting blood pressure checked or first time they are getting these types of screenings. would you say for many it is probably the first time? >> it's about 50, 60%, because when they came to united states, they don't do any other thing, it's not easy for them to take these blood tests or any other test and that's why we invite people who are there, they don't -- they don't think to have a test, we invite hem them to get the test. >> how vital are these screenings as an adult annually? you're told all the time you have to get them annually? >> that's right. while of course ideally everyone would have a medical home and regular provider that they saw regularly, i think it's also important to have a large mobilization and make these screenings available to the

community. one is they can get the information and maybe it will spur them to take some action that they need to to protect their health. and the other it's just a general awareness. i will also add that among the activities in the three weeks of binational health week is outreach to get people enrolled in access to care which is really important. >> well, we were mentioning off camera it's actually multinational health weeks because there's three weeks involved. >> in different countries. >> different countries. for example, it's not -- start with mexico and united states. but now it's guatemala, honduras, ecuador and peru and brazil. it's not binational, it's multinational. but it's important first of all to say that the national health week you're going to start in october 1st. and goes through october 21st. and it is important because it

is the largest mobilization in americas -- >> this is your biggest event of the year, right? >> exactly. it is the most important is how to prevent those diseases, how to promote health and we willth. in the latino population, with united states and canada. >> any final thoughts, dr. cody? >> i hope that everyone has a chance to participate and to be screened for whatever they need. if not, just to get out and have fun. there's a zumbathon. >> october 10th, right. >> for final -- for finishing, three events we're going to have in the consulate is october 9th, women's health resources event. october 10th is a presentation about medical and health resources for the community.

and zumbathon and october 17th we are going to have a mobile unit with free hiv tests. so it's important that people -- >> all at the consulate. >> yes. we have more and more activities but we're going to share all together. >> that's right. >> you have activities county wide. >> sponsored by many many different organizations, this is a huge collaborative effort and all of the activities you can see on our website in the theme health and movement for this year. >> get your cam padres living across the street the street and get the screening done. it could be a lifesaving procedure. there's the web address, logon and find out more about binational health week. thank you for the work you are doing. >> thank you. >> now here's what's happening in your comunidad.

that's a long list. now to those celebrating a special day. ♪ >> here's our address for next week. drop us an e-mail or follow me on twitter. my handle atnews damian. and support your bilingual weeklies all across the area. thank you for sharing a part of your sunday with us on "comunidad del valle."

♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing really good around ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of living off the taste of the air ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ finally, i have a manly chocolatey snack ♪ ♪ and fiber so my wife won't give me any more flack ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪

- welcome to lazytown it's the start of a brand new day things are upside-down here in lazytown adventure's just a moment away - the purple panther, part 2. - oh, wow. - is that what i look like? - well, uncle milford, he's a bit heavier than you. - umm-hmm. - of course-- that statue's made entirely out of bronze. - yeah, bronze. - oh, yes. - your attention please, the display room for the priceless crystal, which i brought to this museum, is now open to the public. - step a little closer.