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| Affiliation | Green |
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| Name | Béa Tomaselli Tiritilli |
| Address |
, California , United States |
| Email | tiritilligreen@sbcglobal.net |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
00, 1963
(61 years)
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| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Modifed | User 13
Aug 16, 2005 11:20pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | 1963: I was born in Baldwin Park, CA, the fifth of six children, to Swiss and Italian immigrants Nelly and Anton Tomaselli.
1964: Our family moved among the orange groves of Santa Ana. One experience that would later shape my political outlook came when walking home from kindergarten and watching—horrified—as the beautiful neighborhood eucalyptus and orange groves I had always taken for granted were bulldozed. Another pivotal phase came when I developed life-threatening health problems as an adolescent; and my parents, who had inadequate health insurance, had to choose between my medical care or paying for the everyday needs of a family of eight.
1984-1986: I served in the California Conservation Corps, where I learned about ecology and earned (in conjunction with Sierra College) an Energy Conservation Technology certificate.
1988: Finished my A.A. degree at Sierra College. While there, I was active in Citizens for Social Responsibility (an antinuclear arms organization).
1989-1992: Attended Humboldt State University, where I earned a double B.A. in journalism and English. During my years at Humboldt I was active in a variety of political organizations, including Forests Forever, Northcoast Environmental Center, the Rainforest Action Network, and the Arcata Greens. I registered Green in 1990 because the party’s ten key values were virtues I respected, and I actively registered additional Greens to help our party become State sanctioned. With my fellow Arcata Greens, I helped gather signatures to qualify an initiative to the State ballot to protect old-growth forests. We also worked toward the election of some of the country’s first Green city council members. To fund my education in a community with a high unemployment rate, I would return to my parents’ home during college breaks, where I worked as a taxi driver. In my free time there, I became active with Orange County’s Santiago Creek Greenway Alliance, where I met Gerald Tiritilli.
1993-present: I relocated to Southern California when I married Gerald. After earning my teaching credential in 1995, I took a job at a high school for at-risk youth in Colton, where I would remain through 2005, teaching Leadership, English, and related courses. I’ve since been involved in our church (St. Joseph’s of Santa Ana) and in various local activist groups: joining the boards of the OC Sierra Club and Santa Ana’s Park Santiago Neighborhood Association; and serving as a mentor for Friends Outside (an affiliate of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society which helps meet the needs of incarcerated people and their family members).
Through the mid-1990’s, I continued to be a registered Green who attended occasional monthly Green meetings; but as our family grew (we took permanent guardianship of an adolescent nephew, and later adopted two toddlers) my political involvement waned. Due to the time constraints of being a working mother, I became an “armchair activist” for a few years, donating to multitudinous causes while minimizing my physical involvement to only "toddler friendly" community activities (such as serving as the OC contact for FRUA, an international-adoption advocacy group). After the 2004 election, however, I could no longer stand being a passive constituent. I felt frustrated on at least two levels: 1) no Greens were running for partisan offices on my ballot; and 2) the outcome of the election—many extremely conservative, pro-war candidates winning sweeping victories—deeply troubled me. In hopes of working toward a peaceful, greener future for our country, I soon became an active Green again, and was elected to the GPOC council last winter. Although being an activist sometimes means taking time away from my family, it comforts me to know I’m working toward a better future for them—and for all.
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