Tuesday, October 3, 2006

His vision


Wow, what a beautiful day. The air was clear, the sun was bright. Students frolicked.

Not sure what that was about.

After my second class, I grabbed my camera and headed for the library. That's a pretty good looking building, inside and out.

Here's a shot out one of the library's windows:

Nice, eh? If I were a student, I'd be studying right there, much of the time.

YESTERDAY, denizens of the IVC community, including yours truly, came to school only to discover that our beloved Clock Tower had been demolished. The orangey pieces that made up the face were stacked on the ground next to a planter. There were some other parts, too, but I couldn't make 'em out.

Oddly, the contractor had left the iron base of the Tower standing: it jutted skyward. It was hideous. (See photos.) The yellow security tape didn't help.


A classified employee later told me that IVC Prez, Glenn Roquemore, was really pissed when he discovered that the contractor hadn't finished the job by Monday. I guess Glenn was thinking that, if the Clock Tower just disappeared without a trace, nobody would notice it missing. Good plan.

Glenn thinks like that. Such thinking is his vision, I believe.

Dissent would have noticed. Dissent knows that this college has few distinctive motifs. Yellow security tape is one of 'em. They wrap everything in it. Even trees.

Another motif is hearing somebody say, "I'll meet you at the Clock Tower." Or: "I'll meet you at the goddam Clock Tower."


That's a very IVC thing to say.

Last Monday night, the Board asked Glenn about IVC's temp buiildings snafu--some temporary classrooms were not ready for the 1st week of classes, leaving faculty and administrators scrambling for replacement rooms.

But Glenn had a plan. Part of it was the posting of signs at the closed temps. They directed students "to meet your instructor at the Clock Tower," IVC's one and only landmark.

The trustees seemed a little peevish about this snafu, which, no doubt, they learned about in Dissent. They looked at Glenn sans their usual warmth. (Hee hee.) Glenn winced a little. He explained that it was the contractor's fault. The darned guy went off on vacation!

That sounded an awful lot like "my dog ate it."

I'm a little surprised, but people are saddened by the loss of that damned Clock Tower. Yesterday, I saw some of 'em standing around the Clock Tower's parts, in silence. Today, though, they mostly bitched and moaned.

Getting back to yesterday: after a few hours, I noticed that, while I was in class, most of the Clock Tower parts had been hauled off. But not the ugly REMNANT. With the flapping yellow tape. (As of this afternoon, it was still there.)

I went back to my office.

By 4:30 or so, Rebel Girl and I were done for the day, and so we headed toward the parking lot. Without a word, we stopped by the Clock Tower remnant. We stood there. Then Reb said, "What's this?" and she reached down. She picked up two long nondescript metal parts. They were grey or brown and covered with dust.

Eureka! They were the clock's hands! She held them high in triumph!

Only later did I learn that Reb had come to school that day prepared to post some fliers regarding some important student events. She had worked hard on the fliers. They directed students to meet on campus at a particular time and place.

Students were told to "meet at the Clock Tower." Where else?

And so she drove to school with her fliers, and she was feeling good. But when she arrived and then walked, as usual, through the A-quad to her office, fliers in hand, she came upon the empty sky where a big orange clock used to be.

Right about then, Glenn was in his office, looking out his window. (Could be.)

He glanced briefly toward the Clock Tower. He did a double-take.

"Goddammit!"

Another Roquemoreian vision undone.


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9 comments:

Elena said...

my boyfriend lost his cellphone and we decided to meet at the clock tower after class today.
little did we realize that the only unique designating meeting spot our campus had was missing.
we sat in silence for a while and just looked at the spot were the clock tower used to stand.
my boyfriend turns and looks at me and says, "wow that really sucks"
i said, "ya i feel your pain"
he says, "no u don't. you have a cellphone that will still tell you time."

i hear they are planning on building a new one and a bigger one in the quad out front the student services center.
its a shame they couldnt just have them both. i dont see any reason why it had to go.

Anonymous said...

You never know what you got til it's gone...

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe you "can’t see any reason why," p&p. Open your friggin eyes! It was full of rot and goofier than hell looking. So, here's some advice: The next time you flush melancholy, fuhget about it!

Elena said...

i couldnt see any rot. and if there was or there was some other good reason they should have posted something.

Anonymous said...

p&p -

Please note that the college admin prefers to tell people as little as possible - that especially goes for students.

That's why there is NO NEWSPAPER on cmapus.

That way no one knows nothing and few can care until it's over and nothing can be done.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.

Well, if the admin is going to order anything with "rot" torn down, where are we going to hold our classes?

Anonymous said...

Now, in reality, the world have paid too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are.
- Henry Fielding

Anonymous said...

Pres. Glenn Roquemore doesn't have a clue how to lead.

A leader prepares the way for events--anticipates their reception, etc.

But Glenn communicates with no one, near as i can tell. How hard would it have been to explain, in a global email, that the Clock Tower needs to come down (for whatever reason), that it is sad but necessary, and that a new tower will be constructed elsewhere?

The same point applies to almost everything that happens on this campus. A leader knows to bring everyone into what's happening--and especially into his decisions.

But not Glenn. He is visionless. He seems even to lack common sense.

Anonymous said...

oh Glenn has vision, all right - but it's all about him and his.

F--- the rest of us - students too.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...