Generation

It may be rare, but sometimes landing a great part doesn't depend on who you know. Just ask Christopher Johnstone. Johnstone has performed in operatic works like "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Rape of Lucretia," as well as being a soloist for the Boston Pops and other orchestral performances. Despite having a background much heavier in operatic and classical vocal performance than musical theater, the baritone ended up with a part in the touring production of the renowned revival of "South Pacific" following a routine open call in New York City.

Inside Todd Eversgerd’s seventh-grade world history class at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, the meeker, softer spoken students occasionally use microphones to express their ideas. Other times, Eversgerd does all the talking — through a wireless microphone he hangs around his neck. And if that’s not high tech enough, there’s also the “surround sound” system for the super cool presentations — like the recent one given by Claudia Moise on the history of the Aztecs and their human sacrifices to their gods.

NEWPORT BEACH — The very nature of the game calls for push to come to shove in a football season. For Corona del Mar High, the failure to push back appears to have rendered the Sea Kings unworthy of CIF Southern Section playoff contention. CdM, ranked in the Southern Division top 10 all season, and sitting at No. 7 heading into Friday’s Pacific Coast League home game against unranked University at Newport Harbor High, will likely not be among the 16 teams in the division to extend their campaign into the postseason.

Whereas Jamshed Dastur (“Time to honor what we fought for,” Mailbag, Sept. 23) castigates demonstrators at town hall meetings and “tea parties,” Jeanne Broadway (“God bless all our patriots who help us,” Mailbag, Sept. 24) lionizes them: “They are members of the Greatest Generation, young people aware of the impending loss of freedoms.” The impender-in-chief, of course, is President Obama and his political agenda. Socialism writ large.

In local fish lore, this tale’s a whopper. All of 10 years old, Christian Cernich of Corona del Mar managed to catch a California halibut Saturday, a 52-pounder about as large as himself. His haul was one pound shy of the biggest recorded rod-and-line catch of that type of fish, according to the International Game Fish Assn. Christian is a fourth-generation local fisherman, his father Eric Cernich said, and a sixth-generation Orange County resident. “What was really funny is that he had asked my dad specifically to go out and go fishing for halibut,” Eric Cernich said.

The opening day of St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa in 1959 was a blustery affair. “On the first day of school, we had the Santa Ana winds,” said Irish-born Sister Annunciata, who began teaching at the school when it opened. She described the winds as a “whirlwind” that left everything brown. Since then, the school has developed into a thriving, faith-centered community that is now serving its third generation of students. The school celebrated its Golden Jubilee this week with Masses and other special events.

Riding in pink and purple convertible toy Cadillac Escalade covered in American flags, 7-year-old Alyssa Miro led the Newport’s 37th annual Independence Day Parade and Celebration at Mariners Park on Saturday. Riding bicycles and scooters bedecked with red, white and blue streamers and tinsel and riding in flag-laden wagons, children and parents marched down the street during the parade on Saturday morning, followed by a carnival in Mariners Park. Proceeds from the event will go to fund educational programs at Mariners Elementary School.

In 1968, Bonnie Langseth watched with pride as her daughter Tonya Collier — then a 2-year-old with big blue eyes, curly brown hair and a blue sailor dress — was crowned the cutest baby in Costa Mesa by a panel of judges at the annual Fish Fry carnival. Then in 1987, Tonya’s daughter, Tara, won an honorable mention in the same contest. Now, 41 years and two generations after the first triumph, Tara’s infant daughter and Bonnie’s great granddaughter Sophia will attempt to capture the same prize her grandmother took home all those years ago while her distinguished family members sit on the sideline Sunday afternoon.