I arrived at the college this morning, and what did I see? Friggin' balloons!
Was it International Balloon Day already?
Nope. A big red banner--plus a lurid Carl's Junior Greasemobile and the uncollegiate sounds of grab-ass—made clear that it was SENIOR DAY once again at little Irvine Valley College.
That meant: busloads of noisy and balloon-loving kids from local High Schools. At one point, I ran into Helen Locke, Director of Student Affairs, who organizes these special events. She beamed and informed me that "shitloads" of High Schoolers had showed up! Yes, entire shitloads of 'em!
Well, no, she didn't say "shitloads." But she did say that 600 had showed up. She was as pleased as punch.
~~Goddam kids were everywhere, messin' stuff up~~Naturally, Senior Day means noise and horseplay, and that drove the timid local fauna to the periphery.
At about 11:00 a.m., the Reb noticed a rabbit a-trembling outside our window:
We tried to say hello, but the rabbit was too pissed for conversation.
Do you remember the CEC portables fiasco at the start of the Fall semester? Seems like a million years ago, doesn't it? Well, that particular fiasco went like this: the Facilities & Maintenance guy (Wayne W) had fallen asleep again, and, as a result, some contractors had failed to finish some crucial work on the new portables. The upshot: during the first day of class, students showed up to rooms that they could not enter. You don't want students standing around like that. Not good.
Naturally, faculty weren't warned, and nobody freaks out like faculty freak out. And so the whole thing became a collosal & noisy FUBAR, the kind that happens a lot at IVC.
That's right. I've got a theory about that. You see, Irvine Valley College is part of the South Orange County Community College District, the offices of which are at majestic Saddleback College—the other half of the two-college district—which is 15 miles to the south (in Mission Viejo). That means that our Board of Trustees, who meet once a month, regularly see Saddleback College, the bigger college. Month after month, that's all they see: friggin' Saddleback College—plus their fancy & expensive new digs, which happen to be smack dab in the middle of the Jumbo college. Except for the two that live or work there, the trustees never get up to Irvine.
In a way, I can understand that. To get to IVC from South County, you've gotta drive north, up toward the nasty & aging end of the county, the end full of buses and taggers and tracts of ugly & cheap ($600K) old homes. Who wants any of that? Everything's shiny and new in South County, like the breasts & Hummers on Real Housewives.
So, naturally, after a while, our trustees—who, truth be told, aren't very bright anyway—just forget that little IVC even exists. And so the place is neglected, like some outhouse way out on the back forty.
That's my theory.
Well, today, right about when that rabbit showed up, Reb started telling me about the classrooms in the new CEC portables. She explained that she had just visited an instructor in CEC 2, and she had noticed a big friggin' hole in the ceiling.
"Holes already? In the new portables?"
"Yeah, it's horrible," she said.
So I hotfooted it over there and took these snaps:
I couldn't take a picture of the smell, of course, but, trust me, it was funky in there.
On my way back, I ran into the Chair of English, who was talking with one of the writing instructors, and since they were having such a great time carping about ceiling holes and room stink, I took a snap:
Later, I heard some music over by the library, and that led me to the music room. I encountered a student of mine who was at the piano. He played me some classical. That sounded great. Then he explained that he really likes boogie-woogie, which he proceeded to play. Very cool. I said that I was big fan of the Kansas City piano style of the late 30s. The kid's eyes lit up. We talked music.
After my 12:30 class, I headed for the parking lot, but I was drawn again to the hoopla over by the Student Services Center. SENIOR DAY was winding down. Helen and her colleagues were carrying things away. Carl's Junior was hosing out its Greasemobile.
I encountered three students who insisted that I take their picture:
Took a snap of these twigs, too:
I've got a bad cold, and so my judgment isn't so good. Something tells me that I shouldn't be taking snaps of twigs.
That I've got no judgment is funny, I guess, cuz I'm on the search committee for the new Dean at ATEP, and we're meeting again tomorrow. Yesterday, we interviewed 7 candidates, and I really faded after about the 4th. I nearly slept during the last two. I have no idea how I scored 'em or even if I scored 'em.
It's fun working with the search committee. Good people, all, I think. They all believe in what they're doing, and they're doing a good job, near as I can tell. And why not?
God bless Bob and his crew! LONG LIVE ATEP!
~~At one point, the balloons, once festive, took on a dark & portentous aspect~~
