We support reasonable freedom of speech on the Net and everywhere. "I never heard of anything that was so dangerous that it couldn't be talked about." -Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island delegate to Continental Congress, in Sherman Edwards & Peter Stone's Broadway musical 1776
Hi! We're Ron and Roberta Genini. We live in Fresno CA
and have three sons, Thomas (33), Justin (29) and
Nicholas (25); Thomas in 1999 graduated from Heald's with a degree in Computer Technology; he and his wife Arianna (n*e Allen) had our first
grandson, Jordan, in September 1996; number 2, named Brendon, appeared in April 2004. Jordan is now an "A" student in the third grade. Justin manages a local pharmacy and married Kimm Papaleo (24), who is a dental assistant, in April 2001. Nicholas is a college
student with an interest in politics and (like Justin before him)
was active in school drama. Arianna (27) works in an art store.
Ron is 58 and Roberta is 62. Ron was born in Oakland CA and Roberta
was born in Quito, Ecuador, of American parents who had founded
a school there during World War II for the U.S. government. Ron's
parents retired after 40 years with the Defense Department and
his mother moved to Fresno following his dad's death. We've been
married 35 years, having met at the University of San Francisco
while Ron was dating Roberta's roommate.
Ron, having been trained by DeVore Talent and Casting,
was very privileged to have been cast to play the character Drivinitz in Marcelle Maurette's Anastasia, which was presented by Fresno's Good Company's Second Space Theater in April-June 2000. Two pictures of his roles in the play are at the bottom of our pictures page. His agent got him a role in a History Channel program, UFO Hotspots in which he plays Ed Walters, a Floridian who claimed to have seen strange lights and objects in the sky in 1987; it aired on 29 January 2003. He has now started doing commercials locally.
Ron and Roberta were both high school teachers, Ron
in history at Central High (West Campus) and Roberta in Spanish at McLane High.
(Her sister, Bonnie Bowen, retired from teaching Spanish in Los Angeles
Unified. She is the proud author of the Spanish Literature Overview published by the College Board for the A.P. Test. We are very proud of her) Ron has won several professional awards (the latest
being MAPA's "Education is the Key" with certificates
from the Fresno City Council and the California State Assembly
congratulating him for the "Teacher Care" award for
1996 from MAPA); he has also been chosen by Marquis for inclusion
in Who's Who in the World", "Who's Who in
America", "Who's Who in the West", and (twice!) in Who's Who Among America's Teachers
at various times since 1989. Roberta has frequently been a successful
master teacher and most students who train with her for the Spanish
AP exam pass it. In 2000 she created teacher and student ancillary materials for the Web for Thomas Nieman ; subject: Miguel de Unamuno Advanced Placement Spanish Literature(for information, contact Thomas Nieman, 1213 Wilmette Avenue, Suite 200, Wilmette IL 60091). Roberta's honored by induction into
Gamma Delta chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma. She will be the chapter president for 2002-04. She will also be president of the Central Valley Foreign Language Teachers Association in 2002-05. In the Spring of 2004 she was fiven an award for excellence by Fresno Unified and she was a finalist for Assemblymember Sarah Reyes' 6th Annual Teacher of the Year Awards, which carried with it commendations from the Fresno County Office of Education, Board of Supervisors, and the California State Assembly; this award is student-nominated. To cap off these honors she was one of the chosen teachers for Marquis Who's Who Among America'sTeachers for 2004! Ron writes history articles
and books, mainly on topics dealing with pre-1950 Hollywood, California
and the Western U.S.A. Roberta lived
in Ecuador for six years and learned Spanish fluently. She kept
in shape by being a flamenco dancer for many years. Ron retired
in June 2004 after a fantastic send-off by old students, administrators, coworkers and other friends. Now he will pursue more writing, acting or bummery, whichever seems more profitable at the time. Roberta is very active in Right to Life of Central California and
retirement promises her time in pursuing her interest in astronomy.
We like travelling
to Carmel (where we can enjoy and invest in art - especially that of landscape artist June Carey and "magic people" artist Lynn Lupetti), Yosemite (where
we can get "back to nature"), Southern California (to
check out the metropolis) and the Rockies, the Southwest, and the South (usually to
visit wonderful friends and enjoy myriad beauties). In March 1999 we went to New Orleans for a week and had fun in the Quarter, then relaxed visiting friends in Mississippi and Arkansas and in June 2001 we went to Colorado for a week while Roberta took a course at the University of Northern Colorado.
When we want to be informed about national or world events we turn to Fox News, and when we want to be entertained by the TV we turn to HBO's Sopranos or Six Feet Under,both of which are excellent productions. Our favorite comic strip is DILBERT and whose work situation sometimes reminds us of ours.
Morgin has informed us that they are signing over the publishing rights to Tom Bond and Ron.
His latest projects are a book (inspired by the characterizations of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and the topical organization of Helen Thomas' Front Row at the White House) about a crazy school district (is it his? who can say?),
called The Melody Lingers On (Roberta will actively
help) and will talk about the scholars and scoundrels, saints and scum he has worked with (oh there! I've given away the name of the district), and a booklength analysis of the makeup of the 31st Congress which passed the Compromise of 1850. The book about Central will tell all that he remembers - about Superintendents who were international education leaders and those who were weak and cowardly, about Principals who ran the school with practical applications and those who were backstabbers and ignorant pedants, about Boards and Board Members who were inspired leaders and those who were micromanagers, about Teachers and Classified Staff - friends and foes, about Students who became nationally or internationally famous in their fields and those who didn't and all of those who became life-long friends. These are only a few of the many people and events who will be described. Some of the events he's recounting might be considered "hot" and so his attorney is keeping copies of chapters as they are completed. The book on the Compromise will differ from earlier ones by looking at the pressures congressmen were under, their biases, and their economic involvement with the elements of the Compromise. Three other projects - still embryonic - are a script called The Last Voyage of the Queen (a
science-fiction disaster film), a science-fiction time travel
screenplay, and a textbook for California history.
Roberta is also an expert translator
of English-Spanish or vice-versa. She has done this for her high
school's official communiques and for others who need this
service. If interested send e-mail.
If you'd like to see some other interesting links
you can by going here.
*
We'd like to know
what you think
of this homepage, so go to the guestbookSign GuestbookView Guestbook
or write to our email address, rgenini@hotmail.com
Those who visited and signed prior to June 2001 are in another location.