What’s in a name? Nothing if we’re talking film titles.
Tonight, I joined my friend Donna and we saw a Freedom French flick at the college, Un Prophete. A longish movie, very violent, about a young Arab man sent to prison in France. There, he falls in with the Corsican mafia. I thought the movie was pretty good, but like my earlier review of The Lincoln Lawyer, the title of this movie really seemed to have nothing to do with the story. I think we need better headline writers.
Anyway, I was a little sad about the movie tonight because it will be the last Freedom French film shown at MJC for the foreseeable future. This is because the Freedom French program is being eliminated. 🙁 Mme Bucknam, the Freedom French instructor has been there for over 2 decades. She was my instructor when I took classes right out of high school.
I retire early-ish as I am serving as sacristan at a funeral tomorrow morning.
A particularly incendiary topic :(
Yesterday, there were two events occurring on the quad in front of the Student Center. One was a Geology Club fundraiser, the other was a graphic anti-abortion demonstration. You know, the one where they display six foot posters of aborted fetuses.
The college received two emails regarding the fundraiser. The first was sent on Sunday afternoon. It reads as follows:
The weather is finally clearing! While enjoying the sunshine and greenery, enjoy a Geology Club Bronto-Burger on the quad of East Campus on Monday, March 28. We’ll start serving around 10 AM and serve until we run out (usually about 1:30).
Have a Bronto-Burger For Lunch!
The Geology Club using the proceeds to support students wishing to attend geology field studies at Modesto Junior College.
Thank you for your help!
The second email was sent on Monday at 4:45 PM, after the event(s).
On behalf of the Geology Club here at MJC, I want to thank everyone who came out and supported our program by buying a brontoburger. We deep appreciate your support.
We also want to apologize. Because of an e-mail snafu, we did not know that there would be a graphic anti-abortion demonstration on campus today (we thought it would be in April). Had we known, we would not have done our fundraiser at the same time. As it was, we had already purchased all the fresh food materials and arrived on campus to find them setting up. Although we know there are political and moral questions and controversy over abortion and choice, we found their demonstration disturbing and offensive, right down to the parents parading their four-and five-year-old children in front of the graphic posters. We had no association with these people and are sorry to have been anywhere near them.Thank you once again for your understanding and support.
Geology Club Advisor
Ok. I have a couple of reactions. First, I’m perplexed that the advisor thinks that ANYONE could have gotten the idea that the two events were somehow related. It’s a good thing he makes it clear that the Geology Club had no association with “these people”. Glad that got cleared up!
Second, I’m always surprised, vexed, and saddened that people take more offense at depictions of the act than at the act itself. Truly, I find the photos to be very offensive. I would prefer that they did not exist at all! That they can exist is the problem. This is not the first time that I’ve witnessed someone get very upset that people dare to show pictures of what happens 4000 times each day in the United States.
I’m not the first, nor the last, to wade into the abortion debate. I’m sure that most people are firmly in one camp or the other. Whether you, dear reader, are for or against abortion, I would ask one simple thing. Please acknowledge that for those of us who believe that life begins at conception, abortion is indistinguishable from murder. I’m not saying that you or anyone else believes that life begins at conception. I’m saying that I believe that.
Maybe we can agree on one more thing… Don’t we all want to reduce and prevent unwanted pregnancies? Let’s pray/act to see that desire become a reality.
Friday, fish, & fotos
I got pretty much nothing done at work today. I did help one faculty member with a course he wants to revise, but that’s about it. Pretty sad really.
After I got off work at 12:30, I went to Tasty Kitchen, a Chinese place on Burney, to meet Tonja for lunch. We had a nice meal and talked about life and Disneyland. I had the salt and pepper fish. It was pretty good. I was impressed at how clean the restaurant was!
After that, I met with Vangie and Hallie to work on goals for the strategic plan. This was a very productive meeting! I think we are all energized by how well on track we seem to be at the parish these days. For those of us that stuck through the hard times, the reward is sweet!
This evening, I had a decision to make. Should I go to a belly dancing party and take photos of the lovely ladies dancing, or do I stay in to play on the computer and watch TV?
I went out and took photos.
Limitless & Liturgical Strategic Planning
So I found a new toy. Thanks to Paul Berger for introducing me to xtranormal.
I did some research on liturgical strategic planning and liturgy committees today. Got some good stuff. I’m thinking of asking Eloisa to join us as she has some organizational communication background. I may be pushing my luck though. I’ll have to think about it some more.
I saw Limitless tonight. It was pretty good. I loved the camera work and editing. There were moments when the camera was zooming down a street or down to street level from a height, and my brain was briefly tricked into feeling the movement. On Thursday nights, Brenden Theatres sells hot dogs and Polish dogs for $2 each. I had planned on getting a Polish Dog, but when I ordered one, it turned out they weren’t ready. So I got a hot dog. It was quite good, but I had been looking forward to that Polish dog. So I got one after the movie. It was yummy.
Let me explain. No wait, there is too much. Let me sum up.
I really didn’t want to get up this morning. I lay in bed for 15 minutes trying to figure out if I felt poorly enough to call in sick. Alas, I felt ok.
I did get a few of the catalogs distributed today. But I only had a couple of boxes of the bound variety so I didn’t get far. We did get in all of the loose-leaf boxes and I’m told we’ll have 16 boxes of bound catalogs within a few days. Apart from that, I got Tuesday’s agenda finished. So I was able to get a couple of things done today.
I skipped my walk today because it was rainy.
After work I went to pick up my new glasses. This make three pairs that I can keep scattered around town for my use.
I was hurrying to get home because I had signed up to do a new three-man instance in LOTRO. I met up with Theo and another player and we gave it a try. Several tries. But without a real healer, we didn’t do too well. 🙁
I think I’ll try to go to bed early tonight.
Catalogs and Council
We received the college catalogs late last week. It seems that this was an incredibly quick turn-around on our order! I went by Receiving to pick up a couple of boxes this morning. I printed out labels and have begun my distribution process. Yay! Something to do for a few days! 🙂
Pastoral Council meeting tonight. It went well. Among other things, we discussed our progress on the Strategic Plan. We’ve decided to break into smaller groups to develop tasks for each of the goals. I am leading up the group working on the liturgy goal. I’ve asked Jim, Oscar, & Deacon Jose to join me. I will also ask Mercedes even though she’s not on the council.
Afterwards, Steve, Fr. Ramon, Vangie, and I went to Perkos.
I am really enjoying the feeling of progress I have right now. It just feels like St. Stans is really getting back on good footing. And this golden age will be more stable than the last one. Bet on that.
Reenforcing a ‘thinking only of myself/my needs’ attitude
Watched a two-hour episode of The Event tonight. It was the first episode of the spring; the series having resumed after the winter hiatus. On the whole, meh. I’m not real excited about this series. But I’m not real excited about any television right now. Which is odd.
Anyway, during this episode a familiar, well-worn trope was used. A man was forced to facilitate a break-in of a government facility or else his family would be killed. He chose to help the bad guys and in the process, many, many people were killed. Call me a cold-hearted bastard, but I really take issue with the lack of moral fibre I see on display. It’s true that I have never been in such a situation, but what right would I have to decide that these people should possibly get killed so that I can save people whom I care more about? Either way, someone is going to get killed. I can choose to actively participate in that or not.
Frankly, I feel the same way about bumping rights at work. I believe it is morally wrong for me to be allowed to decide that it is more important that I get someone’s job than it is for him to keep it. Let me explain. If I have more seniority than my coworker and I have once upon a time worked in a position that has the same title/classification, if my position in my department is downsized, I can lay claim to my coworkers job and they are out of luck. Of course, they can dump on someone else less senior. It all rolls downhill, right? Gah! I have a real problem with this.
There was a story that I remember from elementary school about a new chick that was placed in the coop. He learned the first day that all the other chicks would painfully peck the less senior chicks. So #1 would peck #2, #2 would peck #3, and so on down the line until it got to our hero. Well, this chick thought that wasn’t right and resolved not to continue the practice. And sure enough, when newer chicks were introduced and all the older chicks would do their pecking thing, our hero wouldn’t pass it on. And eventually, when our hero was the most senior chick, nobody pecked anybody.
I must really have taken that particular lesson to heart, because I think this pecking bumping order thing sucks. Calling it a right doesn’t make it right. I will not do it.
RE: Board meeting postmortem
Late last night, one of my colleagues sent out an email to the entire college. This gentleman frequently has points of view and opinions that go against the groupthink at MJC. Sometimes I agree with what he has to say, other times I do not. Sometimes I cringe at the way he says it, other times not so much. But he’s always good for provoking discussions/rants/arguments/conversation. This email was about last Wednesday’s board meeting. His point was that despite how upset at the Board everyone wants to be, none of those who stood up to speak at the meeting offered a viable alternative to the President’s plan. Having no alternatives from which to choose, the Board voted yes on the only option they had before them. He paraphrases the parade of speeches thusly:
“You need to save program X, because it is REALLY important”.
“…(OK, how much will that cost and where is the money coming from?)…”
“Did I mention it’s REALLY IMPORTANT?”
“Thank you, your time is up…”
“NONONONONONO, REEEEEEALLY IMPORTANT”
“Thank you…”
“GRRRRRRR!”
“Thank you…”
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! GRRR! (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!)”
Oversimplified, sure. But it does sort of encapsulate most of what was presented. You can read the entire email here.
So, what I find frustrating are the responses that I’ve heard to his email.
- From a friend and coworker – “He’s an idiot.” Based on past experience, she thinks anybody with whom she doesn’t agree is an idiot. She does go on to say that if anyone is guilty of what he charges, it is he himself; he should have come to all of this realization several weeks earlier.
He does use the first person when he assigns blame. Why does my friend think that he is excluding himself? - Faculty member #1 – (derisively) Too bad he didn’t come to this realization weeks earlier.
Hindsight=20/20. Yeah, it would also be nice if there were a new $100 bill under my pillow when I woke up every morning. But is the OP wrong? - Faculty member #2 – (skipping past the point entirely) The Academic Senate doesn’t have the resources to do the study that the OP refers to in his email.
- Faculty member #3 – “Not so. We didn’t argue that way at all. We wanted to address a point that didn’t even need to be voted upon that night.”
- Faculty member #4 – “We didn’t have enough time to present and nobody wants to listen anyhow.”
That last point might be entirely germane, actually. But I think it’s also true that nobody wants to listen to my emailing colleague. We don’t tolerate a lot of deviation from the hive mind around here.
With freedom and ease, combating ignorance, dust, and disease
Ok, finally getting back to thoughts on Archbishop Tutu’s speech.
After the speech, I went over to a reception in the Student Center. We had been told in a variety of ways that the Archbishop would not be present at the reception. Fine. Sadly, the reception was very dull and boring. There was some food but I did not partake. After being there 30-40 minutes, I took off.
I found out later that night that there was a ‘real’, exclusive reception for the college’s special people that the Archbishop did attend. Classism is alive and well at Modesto Junior College. On the one hand, we have the elites. They get shrimp, and a meet and greet with the Archbishop, and a full helping of the sense of superiority that goes with it. On the other hand, we have the commoners. They get fruit.
Fairness is very important to me. I realize that the idea of fairness really forms my attitudes and opinions of things. It does not seem fair that some people get invited to the First Class party and others are relegated to Steerage. As much as I might like some of the people who attended the exclusive reception, their attendance there causes me to lose respect for them.
In the days following the speech, I’ve heard many people express how great it was. Frankly, I was rather unimpressed. It reminded me A LOT of what I hear in 35-40% of the homilies on Sundays. It may be good stuff, but it’s nothing new. Note to all the gushing admirers of the speech, if you went to church once in a while, you might not be so impressed with what a clergyman has to say.
Anything else I might have wanted to say about all of this has been forgotten.
Going through the motions
Like many (most) people, I find that once I find an avenue for my pontification, the need to get it out on subsequent occasions is much diminished. My intention with this post was to write about my thoughts and impressions from the Board of Trustees meeting last night. But I’ve already had my rant about it, both last night and this morning, on Ustream. Nevertheless, I shall try to put it all down here so as to provide a more complete record of what has transpired to bring about The Sundering of MJC. (I’m trying out some epic sounding titles for what’s happening around here. Let me know what sounds best.)
The district’s Board of Trustees met last night in the MJC Auditorium. They agreed last week to move this meeting from Columbia College to MJC to accommodate the hoards that wanted the opportunity to appear in person to plead their cases about which program (in most cases, their own) should be spared from the cuts. All week, emails have been flying and plans have been forming about how to best defend each group’s area of interest. Security was on hand along with police to make sure that the situation didn’t get too out of hand and news crews from Sacramento were present to capture the drama. By 5:30, the room was full of a mixture of staff, faculty, students, and community members.
I hadn’t planned to attend this meeting. I had no particular cause to advance and didn’t imagine that my presence would count for anything. Also, I suspected that the meeting would be long and frustrating. But my friend Yolanda contacted me the day before and suggested that I attend and that we could go for coffee or a drink afterwards. Ok, I had nothing much else to do so I agreed to meet up with her. Well, spoiler alert! I wasn’t able to find her before the proceedings commenced. I did see her a bit later, but she was seated and I was more than ready to go. Anyway, back to the meeting.
At 5:30, things were called to order and after some preliminary business, people with a comment for the Board were invited to line up on either side of the room to take turns addressing the Trustees. A three-minute time limit per person was established and the speakers began. The second person to speak was my buddy Rob, an Art instructor.
The fourth person to speak was a woman who brought her two children to the microphone with her. She introduced herself and had her son do the same. Of course, being a little boy of 3 meant that he took about 30 seconds (of the 3 minutes allowed) to say who he was. The mother spoke passionately about the Wawona Child Development Center. When she was told by Board chairperson that her time was up, the woman shot back that she was entitled to twice as much time because both she and her son were students. Never mind that everyone had been told that transferring of time was not allowed. Never mind that there was a process by which speakers alternated microphones. No, this woman was entitled! Well, the chairperson cut her off apologizing that more time couldn’t be given, but that there were many, many people who were waiting their turn to speak. The woman needed to get in one final dig. She asked her son if he had anything further to say as this mean, mean woman was taking away his right to speak. Lord, help us. This was all that I needed to see how the night was going to go.
I stuck around through two more speakers before heading home.
Fast forward, 3 hours later. I saw a posting on facebook from my buddy, James; something to the effect that he was witnessing the dismantling of MJC. This sounded very intriguing and I was surprised that the meeting was still going! I quickly moved to tune into the web broadcast. I connected and saw a man in a military (Army?) uniform yelling and screaming, shouting profanities at the Board. My first reaction was that I was about to witness a riot. The chairperson told him his time was up and he shouted back that HE would decide when his time was up! Other young men, apparently looking for trouble, had joined him up front and when security came up to escort the soldier off, these other guys interposed themselves. Police soon joined them and the man and his guards were escorted away. Personally, I feel that, by his behavior, this guy dishonored the uniform he wore. He was obnoxious and rude. All of my coworkers (that I’ve spoken to) agree that he made it very hard, if not impossible, to take him seriously. However, some of the people I know through facebook consider this guy a hero! Incroyable! People are celebrating bad behavior. Very sad. Anyway, watching this for two minutes was all I could take; I switched off.
Ultimately, after everyone said all that they wanted to say (4½ hours!), the Board voted. They were unanimous in support of the proposal put forth by President. They took turns reading prepared statements defending their votes. Prepared statements?? If they knew which way they’d vote, why go through the pretense of listening to all the people who’d come to speak? I wish that they could have conveyed the impression that all this testimony counted for something! As it is, it appears not. 🙁
