Hello and Welcome... to LanguageAMericastmAssociationof the U.S.A., Inc. It's a media-oriented, nonprofit, social organization that evolved, simply and creatively, from the "LAMA" acronym. Its key educational mission is one of producing benefitial public services, with emphasis on LOUIE LlAMA's(R) belief that, Drug Prevention Beats Drug Addiction for kids growing up in America. Please check out his PSA on youTube. ---- TheI.R.S. approved Language Americas Association in 1967, and reaffirmed it in 2007. ---- Lama Media is the 0utreach reporter for the website's pages, and the custodian of all copyrights for reportings, articles, and crea- tions in/or outside of the website, including books. THE LLAMA FAMILY IN AMERICA(R) arrived, creatively, in 1967, the same year that Language Americas was founded in Washington, DC. Please visit the family's initial web site at: http://www.louiellama.com, and meet the family: Dr. Paul"Papa" Llama, Maria "Mama" Llama, Son Louie Llama, Sister Lamita, and Baby Billy. Just scroll to join this unique family visiting the National Mall. Thank you Donald E. Black,BS-MA Founder/Chair/Author/Producer Copyright (c) 2011 Lama Media. All Rights Reserved.
H I S T O R Y Language AMericas Association (LAMA) was founded in 1967 by a group of high-minded, caring and very happy graduates of The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), with the support from other universities within the Washington, D.C., area. It was unique in many respects as a media-oriented association.The participants were part-timers as well as unpaid volunteers.That aspect of its uniqueness did not last long.Those dedicated grads -- with earned MAs in their mits soon departed: to work on doctrates, or to take full time jobs to earn a living and start a family. Who can blame them?
Language Americas, as a media-oriented association, was special, unique, AS AN ALL VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION. It flourished over the years.with caring and dedicated volunteers. Its survival was assured with out-of-pocket donations, pro bono services -- but no paid staff or perks. The media association's multifold missions were:
1. To encourage public interest in foreign language study, which was at a low point with the general public. We arranged with our associate, SuperAmerican Books,TM to publish works in different foreign languages, e.g., Spanish, French, and Portuguese, and some Japanese. And hoped it would be a step forward.
2.To publish a multilingual quarterly titled, The Inter-American Scene, dealing with U.S.-- Latin American Affairs. It was a tough job -- writing and acquiring political, economic, and social articles, and having them translated into several foreign languages. Many of the translations weree made on a pro bono basis. And doing whatever each quarter to raise dollars to publish The InterAmerican Scene. Not recommended for the faint of heart.
3.To evolve...and publish, starting about 1982, LAMA's Multilingual Sports and Travel Calendars. This evolution was made possible by creating a trio of fun-loving cartoonish, intellectual properties starring: Lama the Llama, Don Diego Valdera, and Sacha. These brand name characters were displayed in the calendars in enjoyable sports and trazvel scenarios. Development was first rate, but our marketing sucked.
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The Llama Family in America
In fundamental ways, the Association placed emphasis on boosting the self-esteem of children to read -- in Englsih or in Spanish -- and to motivate them to stay drug-and smoke-free. The read-in activities were carried out at schools and at book fairs, starring Louie Llama, in costume, using his own reader. The bilingual reader was published in 1997 by SuperAmerican Books and titled, Louie Llama, the Beanstalk, and the Magic Ring. Copies were submitted to and approved by the California Department of Education in 1998 as a supplemental reader.
Language Americas/SuperAmerican Books, however, did not market the reader to the many school districts in California to earn dollars, as they should have.They focused, instead, on Louie Llama's anti-drug program for school kids. It's timely, still, to market his bilingual reader to California school districts, among others... Click LOUIE LLAMA for a visit.
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The SuperAmericans (R)
This, unlikely, but lovabletrio of characters: Lama the Llama, Don Diego Valdera, and Sacha, soon found themselves published, in 1992, in a Sci-Fi, reality-based story by SuperAmerican Books. It was titled, Something Beautiful Came To Earth:The Angel-Bird Legend, and the author, Donald E. Olliff Black
The setting was Colombia, S.A. In the story, three strangers meet, become friends, and find themselves fighting to save the Spiritual existence of the Guardian of all Goodness in the Universe, from a demon -- Supreme Evil, who vowed to destroy Her.
From a hidden lair deep in the Northern Andes of Colombia, S.A., the (immaculate) Guardian of all Goodness summoned Her battered heroes, then healed their bleeding and broken bones. She had plans for them -- as they had proven their worth. Now...appearing ...so beautiful, even ephemeral -- naked in a soft light -- whispered...to the threesome, "I designate you to be, The SuperAmericans."Goodness, then, bestowed universal powers on Her heroes to provide protection against Supreme Evil.'sfuture attacks. Please click The SuperAmeicans for a visit.
Another fun part of this powerful story: The U.S. had assigned a nmber of agents from the DEA, FBI, and CIA to Colombia, S.A. Their mission: to conduct a surveillance operation of a major drug cartel. The surveillance
was successful until a trio of weird characters, unwirttingly, interfered with the work at the cartel's drug lab. Washington, on learning that there's a problem, ordered its agents to capture characters. Meanwhile, the drug cartel had already sent an enforcement team to find and kill them. It seems that these weird characters -- The SuperAmericans -- had been seen by some of the workers at the lab, and they were quite superstitious, scared, they ran away. This loss of workers caused a major disruption in cocaine production.
This is a fun story. It's got more twists than you can imagine The SuperAmericans have U.S. agents looking for them. An enforcement team has orders to kill them. And the universal guy, Supreme Evil, has vowed revenge. The chase is on.. .. ======
