Dissent 45
February 29, 2000
DISSENT’S Fashion/Lifestyle; The Red Emma Interview: Two Girls Sittin’ Around Talkin’
by Red Emma [and Rebel Girl]
Lifestyle reporter Red Emma had a few moments to catch up with newly
elected CTA State Council Representative for region HE-5 Lisa Alvarez. Alvarez
is a shy Professor of English who generally shuns the style spotlight. Though
she’s been active in both Frogue recall efforts and has written editorials
appearing in the Los Angeles Times,
she prefers to work behind the scenes and get nasty e-mails from silly faculty
members.
Alvarez has served as Academic Senate
Recorder and faculty advisor to MEChA. She helped organize the largest teach-in
held at IVC (against Prop 187) and, famously, refused flowers delivered to her
by the mercurial Steve “Jorg Haider” Frogue.
Recently asked by administration to
remove anti-Mathur posters from her office door, Alvarez offered that she
shared the space with a colleague and thought she might need to ask him first.
This clever ruse confused her Dean, who wrote a memo to himself.
Currently, Alvarez, like many faculty, is undergoing a rather extended
evaluation process. Although she was observed last semester, Alvarez’s
evaluation has, at press date, failed to clear the crowded desk of so-called
college President Raghu, who is busy, sources tell us, accounting for
overlooked Certificates of Appreciation (he passes them out like candy) and
brushing up on his CPR skills.
Urged to run for the State Council
position against incumbent (and past-F.A. President) Sherry Miller-White by
F.A. reformers, Alvarez hesitated at first, but then took the plunge. She
recently discussed her campaign with this Dissent
reporter over lunch. We dined at the IVC Food Services court. I had the portobello tamales smothered in a
tequila cream sauce, accompanied by guacamole made tableside. Alvarez enjoyed a
simple fusilli pasta with feta cheese and a spinach salad. Flouting F.A.
tradition, she paid for the meal herself.
We spoke candidly about SOCCCD
politics, her goals as new state rep, and district lifestyle and fashion
trends.
RE: Well, let’s get started. So,
Comrade Miss Thang, congratulations
on your election victory. How does it feel?
Alvarez: Please don’t call me that.
But, thank you.
RE: Sorry, girlfriend.
Alvarez: I’m not your girlfriend.
Can we please just talk about the position? I’ve got class to teach in five
minutes.
RE: Fine. Let’s talk hard ball. How
do you account for your recent election victory?
Alvarez: Well, honestly, it’s just
because I ran against Sherry Miller-White and everything she stands for and
people recognized her name and voted for the other person—who happened to be
me.
RE: What was your principal campaign
strategy?
Alvarez: I wasn’t Sherry.
RE: And what about your election
materials? What did you focus on, what particular issues?
Alvarez: Really, I didn’t have any.
If I had, it would’ve been that I wasn’t Sherry.
RE: So, going into the race as a
relative unknown, what would you say were your assets?
Alvarez: Principally, that I wasn’t
Sherry.
RE: When you talked to potential
F.A. voters, what issues did you emphasize?
Alvarez: Well, mostly, that I wasn’t
Sherry. But they already knew that.
RE: I see. Well, I want to review the
comments you made after learning from CTA of your election this week. Reports
indicate that you thanked members who voted for you and you credited your
victory to the fact that you…
Alvarez: —Yeah, that I wasn’t
Sherry.
RE: Hmmm. Pretty sly tactics, Professor
Alvarez. How do you think this strategy worked on members who were on the
fence, the sort of swing F.A. voters who recognized Miller-White’s high-profile
stand in favor of the Board Majority, her tacit support of Frogue and
gay-bashing and the religious right candidates Wagner and Padberg, and her
protection of the allegedly criminal actions of the PAC—but who still liked the
way she dresses?
Alvarez: I don’t understand your
question and I think how she dresses is irrelevant.
RE: Me, too—and soooo gauche—but this was a big race, and so I thought it was
important to talk about image. Do you think name recognition played a role in
this campaign?
Alvarez: I wish you’d stop calling
it a campaign. I just sent my name in on the form because somebody had to. But, to answer your question, yes, I do. People
recognized Sherry’s name. They didn’t
recognize mine. So they voted for me. Now can I go teach class?
RE: Sure. You’re attending your
first CCA Council meeting this weekend, where you’ll presumably be acknowledged
as the new rep.
Alvarez: That’s right.
RE: What will you be wearing?
Alvarez: I’m leaving now, Red. I’ve
got to go teach. Good-bye.
And thus ended my brief Q & A with Alvarez who, wearing sporty blue jeans, a snappy vest (“Goodwill” she tells me), and a bold, edgy “Recall Frogue” fashion T-shirt (appropriate for any occasion), scurried off to teach her writing class. You go, girl!
Alvarez (yelling from hallway): And don’t call me a girl! --RE
Andrew Tonkovich
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