we have been doing that for 25 years. we have housing on a treasure island that is a no cost police for veterans. -- lease for veterans. in the presidio, 102 units of supportive housing. the city provides rehab funding there. veterans with disabilities. more recently, the city made available a landmark building that has revived substantial rehab funding. in 2012, 75 senior hamas veteran will be able to live out their lives in dignity. i just cannot say enough about the job the city does of

stepping up to the plate. it is not just about platitudes and waving banners, it is about getting the job done. we are great -- we are very grateful. >> randy martina's is the president of the city college. randolph will explain, through the gi bill, how they are now funding the gi bill. it is not about where you are from but where you are going to school. because of the high cost of living, they provide more than just about any other city college in the state. >> thank you. but i am also a marine, [inaudible] thank you, mayor. policy advisers.

thank you for having us here. i served seven years in the marine corps. i am here as the president of veterans alliance. our mission has been to create a home where veterans can come in and have a school that can offer so many things to them. one of the things that we've pushed the last semester was the better the resource center. dr. griffin made that happen along with walter newman. this veteran the resource center has brought a lot of good things to veterans, such as the va right next door, the chance for veterans who do not feel comfortable going to a hospital, they feel comfortable at school, so we matched both of them. we are getting a lot of good turnaround. our mission also is to bring the

veterans together in one home where we can have an easier transition from service to the higher education institutes. also, like the mayor said, we are trying to make sure all veterans coming to see the college are taken care of because it will be multiplying for time to come. the gi bill has been so great, making things happen, where today it can establish the economy -- to focus on the economy, giving veterans a chance to go to school by providing the highest gi bill assistance we have had so far. we had an increase of 1000 veterans since last semester. last semester we had 200 veterans. that is a good initiative. this is allowing more people to

go to school. i am also here because a lot of veterans have problems bringing their issues to the va, problems with learning. but they are so grateful for this city which takes care of them. this is another step forward to make sure that we continue that. i want to thank san francisco for really helping us veterans. thank you. >> thank you all, very much. we are here to answer any question that you may have. >> can you tell us more how 311 works?

my personal experience is, i often get another phone number. >> nancy, you can explain the website that is up. >> i am not a veteran but i believe in providing help to people, so we have designed a comprehensive web site with information in terms of general resources, job and education training, housing, social services, mental health. just a vast array of resources you can find in one place. in most cases, when people call 311, we can provide language assistance and give you the resources available, depending on the need of the veteran. we can provide them a link to the information, service, whether it is sorts to plowshares or anything else. we would provide that information to them. we would not provide the phone

number unless they ask for it, but we would deliver those services, based on their request. >> so it is mostly referring them to the website? >> if they won general resource information, but if there is specific information, then we would respond to that specific question. so we would provide the information it to the person at that time, as well as additional links to any sort of information that they might need. >> that can be a pretty time- consuming process. [inaudible] >> all of our staff is cross train, so they will be ready to help. >> it is one of the initiatives they are having right now, drilling down on this specialty. the backbone of 311 was generic, but we are building these

backbones to have more specific concentration of on certain things. >> so if i called and i said i was a home was a veteran, can you find me a place to live? >> we would not find you a place to live but we would go to the resource which provides homeless assistance. we would provide you the resources to that. >> so again, are you just going to say, we have this program, you should call. will that person actually be the lead person who gets to the housing? >> we would provide the resource to the agency, but again, we would provide you the information of what is required. it is not just saying "colorado here." it is more of a conversation, is

this what your looking for? >> any other questions? >> good morning, consuls generals and your constituency.

the elected officials who may be here and other distiguished guets. sts. may i welcome you here to celebreate the national days of our wonderful countrymen, people from and people who are citizens of the consuls' generals, citizens of el salvador, nicaragua, and mexico. these flags will be outside your abode. this is a colorful and historical day. we are proud of our ethnic diversity. we're very proud of the history that we have with your country that goes back so many years and we are very happy that these will be in front of the city hall. this is the seat of government.

my introduced the custodian of this building. you shone the dome well today. [laughter] and of the government. a mayor who is making history, gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: thank you. thank each and every one of you for being here. it is an honor to have you here, and you have been here many times with the flag raising ceremonies. this is, in particular, very important and appropriate that we ask all of you to be here. we share so much in terms of the respective histories. i am reminded every time i go down the hallway, of this history. the mayors who are here before the city of san francisco.

the city was founded over 200 years ago. that connection in mexico and the relationship with spain, all the challenges that are good and bad. this is more positive with an engaging future. this is something that is indelible in the minds of the people of san francisco. particularly those who served as custodians of this great city. she is right to say that what makes san francisco special and what makes the bay area special, and the state of california so remarkable is the ability to attract people from every conceivable walk of life, regardless of race or ethnicity or sexual orientation. this is a region and a state that prides itself on its diversity. i say this often because this deserves to be repeated often. we did not tolerate our

diversity, we truly celebrate this. it is right to celebrate all of these differences. at the end of the day, those fundamental aspects of our lives are what we all show. what we are doing today is sharing the values of the region and the state. we pride ourselves in being the most diverse state in the most perverse democracy. we have seen this over every conceivable difference. the more that i go out, not just across the state but across the country and around the world, we have the privilege of visiting people for every conceivable walk of life. and i truly believe that people look to us to see that it is possible to live together through all of these differences. they know that there is something special and magical about this city and this region. and that is why we are here.

that is why i am here. and i am grateful that you are here. i am grateful for the extraordinary contribution of the people from mexico and central america. i think that this is interesting and appropriate to notice that san francisco county has the distinction as it relates to the latino community that is unique among the 58 counties. we have more latino representatives. -- >> this is not the case with the other counties. we have these in el salvador and nicaragua, as well as mexico. not everybody understands this and we are celebrating this remarkable collection. the city of san francisco took

the lead as the city of refuge after the civil wars in the 1980's. we established, firmly, the foundation that marks so much of what makes this city a special place. it is mocked by those who do not understand and who did not want to understand, and this is trivialized by political campaigns and this should not be diminished by sound bites and in political campaigns. we stand up to that. and we did not play into this. we do not believe in dividing people. we do not believe in diminishing others in the broader scope of the world. we are also celebrating that today. i am honored that you are here and i am grateful. i am happy that you took the time to celebrate with us.

we have, in this spirit, a formal proclamation. you do not have enough wall space for the proclamations that you have received. but this is my honor to recognize, you have to share this today. garcia understands this because there are only 365 days a year. he must have given out 10 days every day. and i am trying to separate this. in the spirit of brown, let me give out heritage day, guatemalan heritage day, and mexican heritage day. and the crop one -- the crop was -- nicaraguan day.

this is the day we celebrate our histories in this remarkable bicentennial. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. we have more to celebreate this historical and colorful day. we thank you for all you do. have a wonderful celebration. >> did you have to hurry? [laughter] >> gentlemen. we are talking about el salvador. >> thank you very much. iwould like to thank gavin newsom and the mayor's office

for inviting us here. the consul general would like to continue our very good relationship working together in the bay area. i'll have a couple of words for the community. [speaking spanish]

[applause] >> i already -- i don't need to translate it. >> guatemala? [applause] >> first of all, i want to mention that i am not the ambassador, because he has been detained for the work that we do for the temporary protection status with the people of guatemala. i want to thank the city for this wonderful work that they have done for the immigrants, and we celebrate this 15th of

september with our sister countries, and also with mexico. and again, we would like to thank the city of san francisco. thank you. [speaking spanish] >> mexico. >> thank you very much. we're very proud to be here today, on the celebration of the bicentennial.

and the continuation of the mexican revolution. these are very important days for mexico and mexicans. and in northern california, this is a special meaning. we have contributed to build this great state. and i think that one more important element is an extremely complex relationship that makes it so happy, is the by cultural family that we support. for that reason, this is a special occasion for me to be here. and to celebrate with all the friends of mexico. we will continue working with the elected officials with a different representative because we believe that we are part of this the first community. and we can continue contributing

with hard work, for the future and the next generation. and i held that the next 100 years -- we will be celebrating the same. thank you very much. [applause] >> we should have won with each consul general. we should have an individual picture. >> and where is the camera?

>> you got here for the picture. [speaking spanish] >> thank you very much.

>> ok. let's have everybody together. >> so quiet. [laughter] ♪ >> vivas. [applause]

>> welcome to "culture wire." today we're headed to smpling f. camera works, a premiere venue for artists working in photographer, video, and digital media. the latest exhibition lists clearness as a set of political alliances and possibilities that it is behind the sphere of dominant gay and lesbian culture. the curator fills us in on the

process of creating this thoughtful exhibition. and what she would like you to take away from it. >> i co-cureated with danny, a chicago-based writer and curator. the conceptual framework is what it means to be clear and radical for our generation. clearness as a set of political alliances and possibilities, not necessarily related to institutions of gender and swam formativity. danny and i wanted the show to feel funky and to have a really tangible quality to it. so part of that was incorporated handmade objects and installations and beautifully printed photographs and videos. there is also a lot of

opportunities to participate and to take postcards or to get the photo taken or sit within a tent made out of afghan blankets to watch videos. the exhibition is organized in three distinct galleries. in gallery one, which is the gallery designated to clear activism, there is an installation by the oakland-based collaboration and it's called "unleashed power." it's all focused on one protest that happened in chicago in 1991 with the activist organization act up, which was protesting the inadequate health care for people living in aids, and specifically it focuses on an act of police violence that occurred at that protest. the thing that is really interesting for me about that piece is that it brings us back 20 years to what clear activism

looked like at the height of the aids crisis. gallery two features work that is related to intentionally communities that exist both within cities, also in rural spaces, and transient communities as well. the return features a no madic clear tribe, the people who join this tribe are often in various states of transition themselves, whether it's leaving behind previous gender assignments or corporate jobs or a life within cities. a lot of the work featured in the exhibition and a lot of the installations are handmade objects. there is a lot of do-it-yourself aesthetic and that handmade do-it-yourself feeling is something that mimics the idea and the reality of the alternative world making that we're trying to represent

here as far as the self-sufficient community goes. gallery three features work that relates to the ideas of self-determinenism, alternative world making and utopia. visits can still participate in this -- visitors can still participate in this project. during the opening, we invite visitors to come in and try on these costumes, pose in front of the backdrop. he was really inspired by comic books that he read as growing up and thinks of this space as a post-apocalyptic monster portrait gallery where people can remain genderless once they put on the costumes. we think it's important that this be happening in san

francisco, which is considered an ekpe center of the queer actual cure. the majority of the queer cultural events happen in june which has been designated as the pride month. which to me translates as the period of time in which people can be in clear arts and culture. in september, it's hashingening back to that and proving that this is something that is scon significantly happening all the time. what danny and i hope visitors take away from this exhibition is to observe the diversity within the designation of queer in terms of race, in terms of gender presentation and intergenerational perspective of what it means to be queer as well as what it means to exist and be active and work in