alfred zuniga

I was born of Mexican American parents in San Diego in 1934. I was baptized by a Jesuit priest as “Alfredo Ignacio Zuniga. The Jesuit connection. After graduation from Saint Augustine High School in 1952 I entered the Jesuit seminary in Los Gatos and began living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area where I live today. During my Jesuit years I had only one Mexican American companion, Bishop Sevilla. St Ignatius High School was located next to Stanyan Street in San Francisco. As a young Jesuit scholastic in 1963, I taught World History at St Ignatius High School and was intrigued that a famous song should be about a street next to a school where I was a teacher . In 1967, I returned to teach as a newly ordained Jesuit priest . After 1968, during which: 1: Walter Cronkite said that the Government had lied: The war in Vietnam could not be won; 2: Johnson would not run for a second term; 3: Martin Luther King was assassinated; Robert Kennedy was assassinated and other events, within the Catholic Church as well as in society, after all of these events I asked for a leave of absence, effective January 1, 1969. In August of 1969, through a strange sequence of events, on August 13, I was invited for an interview on August 14th for a new position as a Counselor/Professor at Contra Costa College. The person selected would be a Special Program Counselor and would develop an Associate of Arts Degree in Mexican American Studies and would teach the first two courses in January, 1970. I was selected on August 15 and began teaching in January of 1970. 1970 was a continuation of the sixties, with Nixon as president, Vietnam exploding etc. My courses were extremely successful; the program was one of the earliest Associate of Arts Degree programs in California. I retired in December of 2017, after 48 and 1/2 years of having the privilege of serving my Raza Community . Now, it will be seven years since I retired; I am now well into my 91st year of life. I vividly remember my 17 years as a Jesuit, my years at St Ignatius High School and “Stanyan Street .” And are there issues in today’s world, this November 16th, 2024? I plan on continuing to live, although I now have some physical limitations due to injuries and surgeries. I recently discovered the health benefits of a carnivore diet and hopefully the benefits of such a diet will help me to live longer and in a healthier lifestyle. I am very grateful for all the persons, especially my family, that I have met during my 91 years of living, and all the events which I experienced, from my family for 18 years, my Jesuit life for 17 years, my 48 and 1/2 years of having the privilege of serving my Raza Community, and now my retirement years, 7 so far, and counting. YEA to LIFE. Alfred Zuniga (11/16/2024