THE FUTURE
CAN BE OURS

W. JOHN WILLIAMSON

DEMOCRAT

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 6

480-607-9726

Dear Friend,

DON’T MISS the new George Lopez movie SPARE PARTS about the robotics team
at Phoenix Union’s CARL HAYDEN HIGH SCHOOL, where I teach.

The movie will start showing at a theater new you this Friday, January 16th.

We got to see a premiere showing at our school last Tuesday, January 6th.
It’s about the team’s 2004 unexpected victory over MIT in an underwater
robot competition that took place at the University of California at Santa
Barbara.

I liked the way personal drama was developed in the film so we could see
the human side of the story. The four boys in real life were undocumented
immigrants. At one point, I.C.E. is pursuing Oscar Vasquez, one of the
boys, as he is trying to get ready for the robotics competition. The film
also showed how the father of Lorenzo was concerned about his son’s safety
and well-being as an undocumented young person. That was a new angle on
the immigration problem that I hadn’t been that aware of before.

What makes the film exciting to me is that I started working as an English
teacher at CARL HAYDEN in 2003. I hold the highest class Amateur Radio
license–the Extra Class–and I offered my services to be an assistant
sponsor of the Carl Hayden Amateur Radio Club. Dr. Allen Cameron, one of
the teachers upon whom Fredi Cameron, played by George Lopez in the movie,
is based, was the sponsor of the club.

Dr. Cameron welcomed me enthusiastically to CARL HAYDEN, and I attended
the Amateur Radio Club meetings.

If you like technological drama, you’ll love the scenes of the underwater
robotics competition. The details of the contest are painstakingly
portrayed. For example, the film depicts how the last task for the robot
to do–while it’s underwater, of course–is to fill a balloon with water,
then bring it to the surface and present it to the judges.

If you like family drama, you’ll appreciate the efforts of the actors as
they portray the tension between Lorenzo and his dad, who, for a long
time, does not appreciate his son’s technical ingenuity in putting a robot
together and making it run effectively.

George Lopez is great as himself: He, as their teacher and sponsor,
listens and allows the boys to develop their dreams, ideas, and strategies
for victory. His expressive, compassionate facial expressions sometimes
tell more than words can articulate. His relationship with his female
colleague, played by Marisa Tomei, has humor and tenderness.

Be sure to go see SPARE PARTS, the new George Lopez movie, based on the
true story of the robotics team of CARL HAYDEN HIGH SCHOOL, where I work
as an English teacher. You’ll be amused, I’m sure, at the plot turn when
the boys try to find a way to reduce the excess moisture in the chassis of
the underwater robot, Stinky.

Don’t miss this film. It starts Friday, January 16th, at a theater near you.
It’s about the CARL HAYDEN robotics team’s improbable victory over MIT in
the underwater robot competition–a victory as much of a long shot as the
odds that I, a Democrat, would beat David Schweikert, the incumbent
Republican, in the next election.

Think about it. And enjoy the movie!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
John

W. John Williamson

Scottsdale, Arizona