‘Voice’ of the Sockers has a lot to talk about

DEL MAR — Craig Elsten’s voice is just one in the crowd at the Del Mar Arena, but there’s a little extra power behind his when he goes behind the microphone for his third season as play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Sockers.

“What got me interested in the (radio) field was play-by-play,” Elsten said. “It was growing up in Long Beach and listening to Chick Hearn, listening to Vin Scully, listening to Bob Miller on the radio, hearing how they called the game, the excitement of it (and) seeing how that happened.

A night of cards for a good cause

RANCHO SANTA FE — It was a night a night full of calls, bluffs and tells during the inaugural Rancho Santa Fe Community Center Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club Saturday night.
(more…)

Nonprofit restores smiles, more to burn victims

ENCINITAS — Lesia Cartelli is putting smiles back on the faces of beautiful girls scarred as the result of accidents.
Cartelli is the founder of Angel Faces, a local nonprofit based in Encinitas that hosts a weeklong retreat each summer where girls are embraced physically and emotionally.

The retreat is run exclusively by women, mostly volunteers, including two retired fire captains who provide yoga instruction, lifeguard services and art therapy; one active duty fire captain helps to handle management of the facilities.

Other volunteers include therapists, nurses specializing in burns and reconstructive surgery, and corrective cosmetic professionals who provide makeup instruction.

“The girls learn in a private setting,” Cartelli said. “Sometimes it’s about calming down the redness in their skin, penciling in lips and creating eyebrows to match.”

The retreat includes yoga each day and therapeutic touch. Girls also use role playing to learn how to cope with bullying and teasing.

“They come in angry and assume that anyone who asks a question (about their injury) is coming from a bad place,” Executive Director Jennifer Tokatyan said. “We teach them how to handle an unwanted question using love and compassion, not anger.”

Adriana Ramirez, 15, has participated in the retreat twice. At 18 months, she received severe burns when an electric fryer fell on her after she tripped and grabbed an electric cord to try and regain her balance.

The injury left her self-conscious, causing her to hide her face with sunglasses and hats, and blaming herself.

“If someone stared at me I’d immediately look away,” she said. “The hardest part was when they asked what happened. I would either ignore them or have a bad attitude.”