Column #3: "Trashing neighborhood murals is affront to Latino community"

The column describes how recently two murals in predominately Mexican neighborhoods have been defaced, one depicting famous Latino leaders and the other Jeff Abbey Maldonado Jr., an inspiring hip-hop artist.  These crimes are seen as insults to the Chicago Latino community and its culture and traditions. This crime of vandalism has been condemned for its violence and disrespect, and murals have been or are to be restored.

Escalona fervently condemns this vandalism as it disrespects the Latino culture.  Escalona states that, "Defacing a public mural is a crime and an offense to all residents of metropolitan Chicago who treasure freedom of expression and value the art of the diverse communities."  He reaches out to all residents of Chicago, appealing to their logic that freedom of expression is a right that should be protected.  He makes it obvious that this defacing is offensive and should be prevented from occurring again.  It's a violation of the Latino community's rights.  Escalona urges the residents to all protect these rights saying, "A mural is a public work of art that belongs to all of us, and we all need to protect it."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/escalona/8175000-452/trashing-neighborhood-murals-is-affront-to-latino-community.html

Column #2: "Yo-Yo Ma makes music for all"

This column discusses Yo-Yo Ma along with three other professional performers performing at Telpochcalli Elementary in Chicago as part of the "Arts Strike" initiative.  The goal of this initiative is to share the arts, whether it's dance, music, or poetry, with student, educators, and communities. The author, Alejandro Escalona, supports these initiatives and encourages more performances at schools and communities in order to expose the arts to younger audiences.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/escalona/8048011-452/yo-yo-ma-makes-music-for-all.html

Column #1: "Pretrial skirmishes give Chicago closer look at drug cartels"

Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebl, a Mexican drug cartel, has been arrested and faces federal charges for trafficking tons of narcotics to Chicago and other cities. Zambada-Niebl is a narco junior, a son of a drugpin who has taken over his father's business.  The narco juniors are known to be extremely wealthy and live lavishly, their stylish appearances sharply contrasting with the traditional scary, scarred face we imagine drug cartels to have. It's going to be difficult to deal with the spoiled Zambada-Niebl, who is very influential yet also targeted as well.  The Mexican cartels run an international business and it's going to be a lot of work for the feds to go up against them.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/escalona/7925888-452/pretrial-skirmishes-give-chicago-closer-look-at-drug-cartels.html