Grateful: feast in honor of what was lost

~
Late Tuesday morning Rebel Girl will fulfill parental duties and report to her son's local elementary school for the Thanksgiving pageant and feast. She has already prepared a cornucopia stuffed with vegetables, fresh and marinated. It is organically festive.

The son has been reporting on preparations for days now. The kinders (as they're called) will wear "Indian headresses" fashioned from construction paper. They will stand in a line and sing. Days ago it was reported that the kinders would sing two songs. Then, her son reported that the teacher had "cancelled" one of the songs. He was disappointed because the remaining song was all about eating turkey and, well, Rebel Girl's family is pretty much vegetarian.

Mother and father counseled the son that singing about turkey eating is not the same as eating a turkey and there would be times when, being in the minority, he should probably get used to the majority's turkey eating ways. Just sing, Rebel Girl said, you like to sing. Not about turkey, the son insisted. He has a way of insisting, even at five, that is a powerful thing. Did you talk to the teacher about it, Rebel Girl queried. I certainly did, was the reply.

Then, on Monday, a development. The teacher "cancelled" the turkey song and replaced it with another. Why did the teacher cancel it? Rebel Girl asked. Her son reported that the teacher announced that, since she had learned that two students didn't eat turkey for Thanksgiving, she decided to change the class song.

What's the new song about? Rebel Girl asked. Being grateful, her son replied.

So, well, there you have it.

And now, be grateful for this, a poem, by Jane Kenyon:

Happiness

There's just no accounting for happiness,
or the way it turns up like a prodigal
who comes back to the dust at your feet
having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive?
You make a feast in honor of what
was lost, and take from its place the finest
garment, which you saved for an occasion
you could not imagine, and you weep night and day
to know that you were not abandoned,
that happiness saved its most extreme form
for you alone.

No, happiness is the uncle you never
knew about, who flies a single-engine plane
onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes
into town, and inquires at every door
until he finds you asleep midafternoon.
as you so often are during the unmerciful
hours of your despair.

It comes to the monk in his cell.
It comes to the woman sweeping the street
with a birch broom, to the child
whose mother has passed out from drink.
It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing
a sock, to the pusher, to the basket maker,
and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots
in the night.

It even comes to the boulder
in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,
to rain falling on the open sea,
to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.

~
Rebel Girl's household is grateful for much this year. And happy for it as well. Hope you are too~~~

College Presidential Politics

THIS MORNING, Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur emailed members of the district community, noting that “Saddleback College President, Dr. Richard McCullough, has announced his retirement effective June 30, 2008.” He then refers to McCullough’s “distinguished career and service.”

He does not mention that he, Raghu, is the reason for McCullough’s departure.

Mathur adds that he has “instructed our District Human Resources Department to prepare to conduct a national search for the presidency of Saddleback College.”

Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed reports that

Faculty leaders at Texas A&M University at College Station are concerned that the university’s board has announced plans to consider candidates for president who were not among three finalists suggested by a search committee. The Bryan-College Station Eagle printed an exchange of letters between board and faculty leaders on the dispute. In his letter, Bill Jones, chair of the regents, said that the board alone had control over the search and that regents were prepared to accept “unfortunate consequences” related to their decision.

Gosh, that reminds me of an article I read ten years ago. Here it is:

Irvine World News, September 11, 1997
Trustee calls for outside intervention : College district 'incapable of responsible self-government' BY PEGGY GOETZ

Decrying the process, "or lack thereof" by which Raghu Mathur was selected as the new president of Irvine Valley College Monday, community college Trustee David Lang of Irvine said Tuesday he is seeking the intervention of statewide community college Chancellor Thomas Nussbaum in the affairs of the South Orange County Community College District.

"The process allowed for no meaningful input by campus shared governance groups or the community. The choice was not supported by the administration and was subjected to no level of institutional approval," asserted Lang, who was on the short end of a 4-3 vote by college trustees to appoint Mathur.

Lang said he is asking for outside intervention because the south county college board and the district seem "incapable of responsible self-government."

Lang said he also sent a letter to Orange County District Attorney Michael Capizzi asking him to investigate alleged violations of California's open meeting law and other actions by the board majority-Steven Frogue, Dorothy Fortune, Teddi Lorch and John Williams.

He would not elaborate on "other actions" and he did not make the letter public.

Lang said Tuesday he thinks the board and district leaders lack the ability to repair the serious lack of confidence and trust in the institution that has been created.

Irvine Valley faculty members said Tuesday they fear retaliation—harassment or even dismissal—by the board and Mathur for their lack of support during the selection of a replacement for Dan Larios, who left Irvine Valley College last spring to head Fresno City College in his hometown.

Lang said he can understand their fears.

But in an interview following Monday night's meeting of the college board, Trustee John Williams of Mission Viejo said he fully supports the process that was used by the board and the appointment of Mathur to the position.

He said Mathur was "the top candidate for the job all the way through the hiring process."

Of the process used for selection, Williams said the (majority of the) board had decided "to take control of the hiring process because the choice had become highly politicized." He said he wanted to be sure all candidates had "equal consideration and fair evaluation.

He said the board interviewed 18 candidates for the position. Initially, there were about 30 candidates for the Irvine Valley job, but many asked to be removed from consideration.

Williams said board members scored each interview in terms of "knowledge, skill and ability."

"He was just the best person for the job," Williams said of Mathur.

He added that at some point the board did consider the controversy created by Mathur's appointment as interim president, but had decided he was the most qualified on the basis of his interview and background.

He said the faculty and administrators who aren't happy with the board's decision all had a chance to exercise their rights.

They have a president now and they owe it to the students to support him. They have a job to do and they better do it," Williams said.

Trustee Joan Hueter of Tustin said Wednesday that she is saddened by recent actions of the board.

"I have worked with boards before that could disagree and still get along and move forward. This (board) is just unbelievable," Hueter said.

She said their is great concern now about a possible "brain drain" from the district because working conditions have grown so difficult.

"I'm afraid the best people are going to leave," she said.

She added that she isn't certain the present board members will ever be able to function effectively together.

Naturally, the hiring process that yielded "Chancellor Mathur" was similarly troubled. More on that later.