Dropping the F-bomb on students

The OC Reg recently reported that gun sales are way up in Orange County. How come? The reporter asked the gun-mongers at The Grant Boys in Costa Mesa and Army-Navy in Orange, and those guys claimed that their customers are afraid. They fear that President Obama will take away their right to bear arms. They fear “civil unrest” when the recession shifts to a depression.

So, naturally, they’re arming themselves.

As you know, there are lots of stupid people in the world, and we’ve got more than our share of ‘em right here in Orange County, which explains a lot. OC is, of course, a seriously red county, and so, during the recent presidential race, lots of OC’s gente estúpida embraced the notion that Mr. Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.A. (There’s an OC preacher who’s suing somebody over that.) Then there’s the notion that Obama is a Muslim, and a socialist, and a terrorist.

I seem to recall that Huey Long once got people riled up against a political opponent when he accused the guy of living in “open celibacy” with his sister. Hell, I’m living that way right now. And I’m sick and tired of it, too.

Most stupid people aren’t literally stupid, of course. Mostly, they’re ignorant and willing to allow demagogues to fill the empty spaces in their heads with a simplistic and attractive worldview, no questions asked. So they’re sheep, not dodo birds, basically.

Stupid People may be simpletons, but they're also complex, ‘cause they’re simultaneously trusting and cynical. They have a child-like faith in their noisy demagogues—who instill in them paranoia and skepticism regarding everything excepting the Official Demagoguery. So they sound as hard-bitten and cynical as Dr. House, even though they’re actually as naïve and trusting as Dr. Cameron.

You can’t reason with these people. They may as well be literally stupid, for all that you can achieve arguing with them. That’s routinely revealed in the comments to this blog. Have you noticed?

Winston Churchill famously opined that "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." The Stupid People demographic is always pretty large, and so it’s easy to see where Winnie was coming from. Some days, I think that democracy is the worst form of government period.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, now does it? People can avoid sheep-like behavior and think competently on their own (this entails a rejection of skepticism)—if you educate ‘em properly. Still, I don’t see how we’re ever gonna make much progress when society is so big and messy. Modifying the thinking and habits of a huge, heterogeneous population is difficult, maybe impossible.

If you’re like me, you are continually stunned by how hard it is to get even the simplest ideas across to our large population. “You can’t get AIDS from a doorknob.” —Remember that one? It took forever getting the doorknob idea across.

Every once in a while, I discuss the state of education in the U.S. with my students. That state is dismal, of course, and the signs and proof of abject dismaltude are everywhere. But when I clue my students in on this (I start by reading from the opening of "A Nation at Risk"), many of them look surprised. Or they think I’m just telling liberal lies.

How can that be? Don’t they read the paper or watch the Daily Show?

I don’t know what’s the matter with me. If anybody should be accustomed to Stupid People behavior, it should be me, ‘cause I’m a teacher, and a teacher is someone who makes a BIG FREAKIN’ POINT of explaining to students what they are required to do, who repeats that info endlessly, and who, at the end of the semester, is invariably overwhelmed by students who explain that they had no idea that they were required to do the writing assignments.


I’m in the thick of that right now. “You had to get 6 points out of 16 in the writing assignments. That's all. Just 6. You got 2. So you’re getting an F. That’s all there is to it.”

I hate having to say that.

At the start of each semester, I explain that, in a few months, I’m gonna be saying those very words to several of the students in the room. They all smile. “Not me, boy,” they think. So I say, “Yeah, some of you are thinking, ‘not me, boy.’ But it’s gonna be you, unless you listen to me now!”

They don’t listen. I say, “No really. I don’t want to give anybody an F, believe me. But look at things from my perspective. I’ve gotta do things to motivate you guys to do the work for the course, and this is one of those things. And if I tell you now that you’ll get an F if you don’t do the assignments, and I don’t actually give those Fs, then nobody will believe me in the future!”

Some students stare back at me like fish.

So I show ‘em a clip from Dr. Strangelove, when the good doctor explains the concept of deterrence and the idea behind the Doomsday Device: it’s “simple to understand... credible and convincing," says Herr Doktor Merkwürdigliebe.

I then explain that, when students fail to do the absolute minimum amount of work, they’ve gotta face consequences. “I can’t not mete out the promised consequences,” I plead.

Near as I can tell, none of this makes much of a difference. At the end of the semester, I’ve gotta drop the big one all over the place.

I’m thinking about escalating. Maybe I should pin notes to students’ shirts, explaining the requirements, the consequences of blowing those requirements off, in that stupid note, which, no doubt, will be read by no one.

Or maybe I should write warning tattoos, in reverse, on their foreheads. "Do the goddam assignments!"

It’s depressing. And, at the end of the semester, the predictable catastrophe surprises and amazes me anew, even though I’ve been here, in this bombardier’s station, dropping these bombs, a hundred times.

Yeah, I’m stupid too.

See Study Cites Toll of AIDS Policy in South Africa (aka 365,000 unnecessary deaths caused by a stupid idea)

P.S.: Gosh, I was driving earlier today and, on the radio, I heard a song from my youth. Somehow, it was devastating. I nearly had a panic attack. I'm not so hard-bitten myself, you know.

THE SEEKERS ~ "I know I'll never find another you"


Dr. Strangelove explains:

You know you're in Orange County when...

Pow! Bam! Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a new gun!:

Business is booming at gun shops around Orange County. “The first two weeks of November have been extraordinary,” says Randy Garell of The Grant Boys in Costa Mesa. “Sales are running about 60 percent over last November.” … “The reason I keep hearing is that people are concerned that their rights will be taken away,” says Tony Alvarez, gun department manager of the Army-Navy Store in Orange. … “We’re selling everything we can get our hands on,” says the Grant Boys’ Garell. “The other day, a husband and wife came in to buy Christmas presents. He bought a gun for her and she bought one for him.” There’s another fear at play, too: Fear that if recession turns to depression, civil unrest may follow…. (OC Register, yesterday.)

Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos

Tiger Ann, pining after her mom, who returns in the morning.

Prowling this morning.

IVC's recent veterans' ceremony

Ditto.

PAC at left, Beefsteak at right, Vet's tents in middle.

My bro and Catherine.

Natalie.

Dorm room waftage

BEYOND SAD. OK, Irvine is a safe city—compared to other U.S. cities. So says the FBI, anyway.

Irvine is the safest city in America when measuring violent crime in cities with populations of more than 100,000, according to FBI statistics....

Irvine in 2006 had four homicides, 17 rapes, 50 robberies and 55 aggravated assaults, [an Irvine police officer] said. In 2005, there were two reported homicides, 17 rapes, 42 robberies and 90 aggravated assaults.... (FBI Says Irvine Is America's Safest City)

(The murder rate in the U.S. is 4.28 persons per 100,000. In Europe, it is much lower. For instance, in Spain, the rate is about one fourth what it is in the U.S. (See.) You'll recall that, a few years ago, trustee Tom Fuentes objected to a Saddleback College "study abroad" program to Spain in part owing to concerns about student safety.)

Linda Park was a freshman at Irvine Valley College in 1995 when she was brutally murdered by two young men in search of loot in her parents' home. (The men were recently convicted of murder and sentenced.)

Today’s OC Register (Justice served for murdered Irvine girl, but memories linger) offers a sad follow-up.

THESE COLLEGE KIDS TODAY. It’s awfully expensive attending college these days. At private colleges, tuition can be ridiculous.

Today’s Reg has a story (Tuition-money pot sales land Chapman student in jail) about one enterprising—er, desperate—young man who coughed up his college coin by selling cannabis:

…According to court testimony, William Paul Laaser, 20, told Orange police officers that he was selling marijuana to "raise money for tuition." The university's tuition for the 2008-09 academic year is about $47,000.

Laaser was arrested Oct. 27 when university public safety officers responded to a complaint of an odor of marijuana coming from Laaser's dorm room.

Sgt. Dan Adams of the Orange Police Department, said about 40 grams of marijuana, a scale, a ledger detailing purchases, numerous plastic baggies and $800 in a locked trunk were found in Laaser's room.

Laaser pleaded guilty Nov. 11 and began serving his jail term Monday. Laaser's driver's license will be revoked for a year, he will have to perform 45 days of community service for Caltrans or do other physical labor and will be on probation for three years, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Well, at least the kid has been mastering some practical skills.

CON-FUSION. Today, physicist Bob Park notes that

It's been almost 20 years since the March 23, 1989 announcement that cold fusion had been discovered by two chemists at the University of Utah [Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons]. By June, cold fusion was an object of ridicule.

A small band of embattled defenders retreated to holding annual conferences of like-minded scientists to which skeptics were not welcome.

The story now seems to be entering a new chapter. Believers have begun showing a willingness to confront skeptics, submitting papers to open meetings of major scientific societies. They no longer use the term "cold fusion," preferring the less contentious "low-energy nuclear reactions" (LENR) to describe their field….

However, the use of LENR has been undone by referring to "excess heat" as the Fleischmann-Pons effect. This only serves as a reminder of the outrageous conduct of the university administration and the incredibly sloppy research on which the claim was based.

This year, there is great excitement over the work of Yoshiaki Arata, a respected professor at Osaka University. In May Arata demonstrated the production of excess heat to an audience of 80, but there have been many such claims over the years and until it is replicated by someone outside the LENR community and a plausible explanation is advanced, it will change few minds.

The Tiger Ann diaries

No news is bad news

We try to keep on top of things here at Dissent the Blog, but sometimes it ain’t easy, cuz, sometimes, there’s not much to keep on top of.

BOARD FRUSTRATION. Near as I can tell, the SOCCCD board of trustees is very frustrated with faculty right now. Evidently, the problem concerns faculty union and Saddleback College Senate leadership. Don’t know much about the union situation, although it’s a sure a bet that it concerns contract negotiations and union Prez Lee Haggerty.

I’m told that the senate is viewed by trustees as pressing for an excessive amount of reassigned time.

Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur to the rescue, I guess. “Please Raghu! Even though you are both a creep and a boob, we rely on you to protect us from faculty!”

As you know, it is at the December meeting (this year, on the 5th) that the board elects its officers for the coming year. Right now, Don Wagner is president of the board, and it seems likely that he will continue for another year.

But know this: Tom Fuentes and Bill Jay are the only trustees who have never served as board president. I doubt that Bill wants the job. If Tom wants it, he’s got the votes.

Yikes!

STUDENT NEWSPAPERS. Once in a while, I check out the local college student newspapers, most of which are lame. The Saddleback College/IVC Lariat, however, is among the better papers. It’s online site is usually pretty lively.

Not right now, though.

On Tuesday, the Lariat posted about “Juicy Campus”: Juicy Campus takes online gossip to the dark side. JC is a predictably offensive student gossip forum that has grown in popularity around the country, although, evidently, it’s not yet grown grape vines through our particular colleges (and parks).

Last Wednesday, OCC’s Coast Report reported on the effects of that school’s budget crisis—“including a seriously scaled back winter intersession, a cut of more than 100 classes in the spring and the possible evisceration of its summer session….” But that’s old news.

Yesterday, the CR’s hot news was the “subsiding” of a rash of vehicle break-ins.

The seldom stinging Fullerton College Hornet reports that there are new cabinets in the Fullerton College faculty lounge. Yup.

On the other hand, it also includes a conversation with NOCCCD Chancellor Ned Doffoney, who, as you’ll recall, was the President of Saddleback College in the mid-90s. (Sitting Down with the Chancellor.) The article traces Doffoney’s career, starting in the Louisiana swamps.

Curiously, his years in the swamps of Saddleback College are left unchronicled! We are told about his move to a Los Angeles trade school in 1982—and then, suddenly, he is sipping coffee with a friend in 1998, and he hears about an opportunity to leave his “gated community” in South OC in favor of them bayous back home. Saddleback College isn’t even mentioned.

(Below, I've attached an old article describing a typically swampy event during Doffoney's last year as SC President.)

CSU Fullerton’s Daily Titan seems to be experiencing a particularly disastrous lull. At it’s website, I clicked on "news" and found a week-old story about a lecture on cyber-bullying (Panel says cyber-bullying is a crime).

The UCI New University’s top story is about a presentation about immigration last week by professor Bean (Langson [Library] Host to Immigration History).

I guess things get a little slow around Thanksgiving.

Hope you have a good one.

June 5, 1997

Saddleback College cans newspaper adviser
Student paper has been critical of district board

Kathleen Dorantes received word May 20, without warning that she would no longer be the adviser to the Saddleback Valley [sic] College newspaper, The Lariat.

She was told the decision came from the office of the college president, Ned Doffoney, and Doffoney had given no reason, Dorantes said last week from her home in Riverside.

Some sources at the Mission Viejo college...say the move was politically motivated. The student paper has been critical of the majority of the college district's board of trustees since the election in the fall.

The faculty member appointed to take Dorantes' place as adviser, Lee Walker, is an outspoken supporter of the board majority.
...
During one of the years she was the adviser, 1996, the paper won one of the top awards in the state for community college newspapers, the General Excellence Award from the California Journalism Association of Community Colleges.
...
Doffoney said in a telephone interview that the decision had been a "contractual" one. He said that any full-time faculty member can bump any part-time faculty member at any time. Doffoney said that Walker had approached him and indicated that he wanted to advise the newspaper.

Walker could not be reached for comment.
...
When asked about reasons for the change or reasons that the college president, rather than an immediate supervisor, would make a decision about a faculty teaching assignment, Doffoney said, "I think this conversation has gone about as far as it can," and indicated he did not want to comment further.

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner:"my shining loaf of quietness"

It's Thanksgiving. Rebel Girl's son has donned his "Indian vest" made of brown paper grocery bags (his read "Lucky" on the inside) and his headress of bright construction paper feathers and paraded with his peers in front of parents to sing a song about an unhappy turkey.

Rebel Girl and family will have three Thanksgivings: one on the day in West Covina (lots of Alvarezes); one on the next day (just her and her fellas); and then another on the weekend when Special Needs Mama and her family visit for an overnight in the yurt. They plan to eat, to hike, to make music perhaps.

So - she's been baking. This year's theme is bread. She likes the faithfulness of the yeast and how the house smells like real people live it in. She likes to think that her son will remember this smell and her, that she's making a memory, a good one.

Today's poem is one she's shared before, written by Peter Everwine:

Night

In the lamplight falling
on the white tablecloth
my plate,
my shining loaf of quietness.

I sit down.
Through the open door
all the absent who I love enter
and we eat.

~~~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ashamed beyond words

SALARIES. All of a sudden, everybody’s talking about how much academics, especially academic administrators, get paid. On Saturday, the OC Reg (UC salaries: How much university employees earn) declared that

There were more than 250,000 people employed by the University of California system in 2007. Of those, 3,018 earned a gross pay of $200,000 or more.

Wow, I guess. Meanwhile, we’ve been hearing a lot lately about college and university presidents refusing raises, what with the hard economic times and all. On Saturday, the New York Times joined in the fun (Presidents of Colleges Give Back Some Pay). Big bucks, baby.

Garsh, I wonder if the world knows that the Chancellor of the SOCCCD, the worthless and execrable Raghu P. Mathur, makes about $300,000?

Do you suppose he plans to give some of it back?

That seems unlikely. It turns out that UCI’s Chancellor, Michael Drake, makes $387,000 (plus the use of a fancy schmancy house at the university). Raghu occasionally hobnobs with the Drakester.

My guess is that Tom Fuentes will arrange for another raise for Mr. Goo.

DOUBLE DIPPING AGAIN. Inside Higher Ed reports this morning that

The University of California plans to review the pay arrangements of hundreds of double dippers — retirees who are collecting their pensions while also having been rehired into jobs, in some cases at salaries that are higher than they received before retiring, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The paper reviewed a university database and reported that it found “widespread violations” of guidelines that limit retired workers to no more than one year of post-retirement employment and generally only for part-time work. At least 440 people were identified as violating the one-year limit and 181 were found to be working full time.

BOB JONES SAYS SORRY. IHR also reports that “Bob Jones University has issued a formal apology for its past racist policies, such as refusing to admit black students until 1971 and banning interracial dating until 2000.” Oh good. Back in 2000, Bush spoke there.

YOUNG REPUBLICANS. Then there’s this:

John Fike has resigned as faculty adviser to the Young Conservatives chapter at Texas A&M University at College Station after student members put up posters attacking four professors at the university who had signed a petition defending William Ayers, the one-time Weather Underground leader who is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, The Bryan/College Station Eagle reported. Fike said he was “ashamed beyond words” at the attack on colleagues. The posters suggest that the A&M professors who signed the petition back his Weather Underground views. The petition actually defends his work as an education professor and criticizes the way Republicans attacked him during the presidential campaign. Student leaders of the Young Conservatives responded to Fike’s resignations by questioning whether he really is conservative, and one alleged that he had an Obama sign outside his house.

Did you know that Raghu used to advise the Young Republicans here at IVC? Yeah. Plus he's the president of the Indo-American Republican Club of California.

I bet it has no members, though.

"My quest for success" is why

About 45 minutes into Monday night’s board meeting, two student government leaders—Kalin and Travis—presented Saddleback College’s Associated Student Government (SCASG’s) proposed budget for 2008-9. It's about a million bucks. (To see the presentation, go here.)

As they waited to speak, Kalin and Travis looked pretty damned cute. Absurdly so. And they came with a crew of enthusiastic supporters, all of them wearing red shirts. No apathy there!

Alas, as you know, several trustees were unhappy with ASG's proposed budget. To the trustees, the budget did not seem to give much of value back to students. The board wanted to see a super-sized value meal, and all they were getting was a mush-ball of stale french fries.

As board president Don "Blunt Boy" Wagner put it, “[Your budget] gives some money to forensics, and it gives some money to the surfing team meals, and it gives some money to the ‘ride the wave’ early bird orientation…—[but, dagnabit] that’s not where the rubber meets the road for students!”

The kids in the room were plainly horrified. They gaped. They were instructed to go back to the drawing board. They marched out of the building in single file, like Republicans, little red states.


But even apart from the "mush-ball" problem, I’ve gotta say that, for me, the students’ presentation was weird. So odd were Kalin and Travis’ bearing and their odd celebrity among their twenty or so red-shirted supporters, that, for once, the adults in the room were transfixed.

And amused? And charmed? And horrified? All of the above, I think.

Speaking for myself, there was something positively creepy going on. It had something to do with these self-important leaders’ relationships to their student supporters. Well, judge for yourself. (You really should see it.)

ASG President Kalin K: …I am so pleased to be with you this evening to present our budget …I came to Saddleback College expecting to make the most of my experience by getting involved…I feel very well grounded in the fact that I will be a leader, prepared to serve my fellow citizens no matter what career path I choose. My Saddleback College experience solidified this foundation and gives me the confidence to pursue my life goals. As members of ASG, we devote our time to serving our fellow students. I therefore benefit from this program in a variety of ways as both a student and as a student leader ... I know that the single greatest motivation for all of us has always been serving our peers by supporting student success… Thank you for you time and your consideration. [Student applause.]

ASG Treasurer Travis F: ...I first want to thank my contingent of supporters here… [They applaud.] It is truly you guys who make ASG tick, and without your participation and efforts, we wouldn’t be anywhere… That being said, my name is Travis... …First, I really want to emphasize that we do administer a very substantial budget…at times this can be an incredibly difficult and daunting process—yet, for all its difficulties, it is still immensely rewarding. I know that, as I pursue my career and my goals that I will be able to draw upon this experience and really use it in my quest for success.

The overarching goal of student government is student development. … We feel that it is our responsibility to really encourage our students’ intellectual ambitions and I think this budget reflects that. …We funded $965,000 of requests….

…[Sighs heavily.] And lastly I would just like to emphasize the amount of time and effort that went into formulation of this budget. Every decision was hashed out in great detail and great collaboration, and throughout this process we knew acutely what was at stake and that is the welfare of the students at Saddleback College, and as leaders, it is our responsibility to treat any matter and every matter with integrity, accountability, and transparency, and this budgetary process was no different. …At the beginning of the year, …President Todd Burnett came to one of our senate meetings and spoke about how we might go about leaving a legacy here at Saddleback College and we discussed this a few times in the past month and for me personally I don’t think that our legacy will be left[?] by how many students—or the growth and development of leaders within student government. That is important, but it is secondary. It is not about us, and it never has been [Um, who thought it was?]; rather, our legacy will be left by how efficiently we allow our students to succeed here at Saddleback College and pursue their ambitions and achieve what they need to achieve in order to have a successful life, and if we can have even one student find his or her true calling, or overcome some obstacle that has previously prevented their success, then I think that we have already left an impressive legacy and one we can all take a tremendous amount of pride in…. [Students applaud enthusiastically.]

I don't want to be too hard on these kids. I mean, it's only student government. And like Travis says, if only one kid--just one--gets a little encouragement, isn't spending that million bucks well worth it?

REESE WITHERSPOON EXPLAINS:

Tammy Metzler's speech:

A lovely morning in the canyon, with sis and brat and fog

As usual, Tiger Ann seeks to control the situation.

Annie calls Tiger Ann her "daughter." I have my doubts.

Looking down Live Oak Canyon, toward Trabuco Canyon.

Some kinda flower or something, I dunno. Anything that pokes, I call it "cactus."

Tiger Ann looking spooky. Cats do that. Right now, she's tear-assing around my house as I listen to Acker Bilk's "Stranger On the Shore." Perfect!

A bougainvillea, I suppose. Another cactus.

Tiger Ann tolerates my antics. She does, however, keep me at arm's length.

I loved these songs during the ante-Liverpudlian era (i.e., pre-Beatles):

"Stranger On the Shore," Mr. Acker Bilk (1962):

"Midnight in Moscow," Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen (1962):

and my personal fave (from this era and ilk):

"Washington Square," The Village Stompers (1963):

This is what Annie and I looked like, back then, more or less:

What men don't know

IVC TAMPONGATE:

On her “College Life” Blog this morning, the OC Register’s Marla Jo Fisher notes Rebel Girl’s recent post about the sudden unavailability of feminine hygiene products in Irvine Valley College restrooms: Feminine products disappear from college restrooms.

Writes Marla: “This is an interesting development considering the majority of college students nationwide are now women. ¶ By the way, for men who don’t frequent women’s restrooms, many if not most women’s restrooms have vending dispensers for feminine products. At our office, they cost 10 cents. According to Rebel Girl, the dispensers at IVC cost a quarter.”

More TURKEYGATE

An MSNBC forum presents this alleged Sarah Palin response to an alleged PETA call for an apology re the grisly Turkey video:

"Look, if God didn't want a turkey to be put head first into a galvanized turkey restraint and kill cone, than he would not have invented turkeys. Those PETA people are so misguided. They need to sit down and really read the Bible. Why do you think God put all this gosh darn oil under Alaska? He wanted us to use it, not let it just lay in the ground doing nothing. This reminds me of the whole Niemen Marcus thingy. I never planned for all those clothes to be kept by my family. You know there are hundred of thousands of children in our country that go hungry, and don't ya think it would make their little lives a little brighter if they got some nice donated clothes from Niemen Marcus?"

A put-on, I guess. Even Sarah ain't this dumb.

To see David Shuster's recent (MSNBC) report on Turkeygate, go here.

Pictured: Tiger Ann, cat, this morning. (Oddly, she is unsympathetic to the plight of turkeys.)

SADDLEBACK COLLEGE RETRO-FASHIONGATE:

Fashion students showcase vintage wear at Saddleback College: Goal is to sow interest in fashion and design program at the school

OC-HARVEY-MILK-GATE:

Recently, in the OC Weekly:

UC IRVINE PROFESSOR AND THE "SHAM OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT SEMINARS" (11/21)

SADDLEBACK HIGH SCHOOL COVERING UP SEX CRIMES BY TEACHER'S AIDES? (11/21)

HARVEY MILK: THE MAN, THE MOVIE, AND ORANGE COUNTY (11/21)

Scene from the movie:

ANNE KRONENBERG: Not great. State Senator John Briggs is Anita Bryant's go-to guy in California for sure. He's filed his petition for a statewide referendum to fire all gay teachers and anyone who supports them.

[A pall falls over the room. This is worse than expected.]

HARVEY MILK: How many signatures will he need to qualify for the ballot?

CLEVE JONES: Whatever. He can get them in two Sundays at church in Orange f*cking County.

SUPER OBAMA GIRL-GATE!

In the Kitchen with Rebel Girl: by popular demand:

Golden Celebration Pie of Winter Vegetables (mightily adapted from Lynne Rosseto Kasper's The Splendid Table) (Pie pictured left is not my pie but someone else's.)

"All the orphans of the vegetable world turn into stars in this party pie. Rutabaga, celeriac, parsnip, Brussels sprouts and turnips could each or all go into the pan, just remember to balance earthy tastes with sweet and rich ones like onion, potato, yam, or carrot."

Make your own mix – what I've listed below is simply a suggestion. Cut harder vegetables into smaller pieces. Avoid the urge to add broccoli (it crumbles) or zucchini (too watery). Peppers are a nice addition, chopped into tiny pieces. Peas are fine – a handful of frozen work (toss them in at the end – don’t roast) but fresh is best but are we going to get fresh peas in November? Alas. Try corn – but again, don't roast – add it as you assemble. Anyway, the goal with the veggies is to simply assemble a thoughtful array – so you decide. You could keep it simple: potatoes, onions, garlic carrots and mushrooms. Please note that this is a roasted vegetable pot pie – not a creamy one. Have fun.

Roast the vegetables a day or two ahead if you wish. As you roast, your big piles of veggies will shrink. Warm them before baking with the crust. Make the crust a day or two ahead if you wish. (It only covers the top, considerably reducing the challenge of this "pie.")The pie is good hot from the oven, or just warm.

The Vegetables:
3 medium yellow or white onions, cut into six-10 chunks each depending on size
10 cloves garlic, halved or quartered depending on size
4-6 small unpeeled red-skin potatoes, halved
1 medium rutabaga or large turnip or parsnip or celeraic, peeled and cut into chunky but bite-size pieces (don't be afraid of these vegetables!)
1 pound Brussels sprouts, halved (optional but delicious, really)
Mushrooms, quartered or sliced (one "box") (optional)
1-2 yams cut into chunky bite-size pieces (optional)
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunky but bite-size pieces
(As you can tell, you can just assemble your favorite veggies and roast away. Use what you like.)

4 branches fresh thyme and/or rosemary
20 fresh sage leaves (if possible)
20 fresh basil leaves (if possible)
2-4 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
4-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Set one oven rack high up and a second toward the bottom of the oven. Preheat oven to 450°. In a large bowl, toss together the vegetables (minus garlic), herbs, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil (enough to lightly coat them) with salt and pepper.

2. Spread the vegetables on two large, shallow roasting pans. Roast about an hour, turning several times during cooking for even browning. Switch pans' positions and add garlic to pan halfway through cooking. Vegetables are done when they are browned and easily pierced with a knife. Cool them down, wrap and refrigerate until ready to do the pie.

The Crust:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
Generous 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg, beaten
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
(I always like to make a bit more)

For Assembling:
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
2 egg yolks, beaten in a small bowl

1. Combine dry ingredients in a food processor or large bowl. Cut in butter with rapid pulse in processor, or rub between your fingertips until butter is the size of peas. Add the first egg and 2 tablespoons of water. Pulse just until dough gathers into clumps, or toss with a fork until moistened. If dry, work in another 1/2 to 1 tablespoon water. Turn dough out on a floured board and let rest a few minutes.

2. Select a baking dish large enough to hold the roasted vegetables. I use my mother-in-law's mid-size Pyrex, a veteran of many Lutheran church potlucks. Choose one that your vegetables will fill to the rim or thereabouts. Measure the dish then roll out the dough so it is no more than 1/8-inch thick and at least 5 inches larger than the dish. Put it on a foil-covered cookie sheet, cover and refrigerate (30 minutes to 24 hours)

3. About 50 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 400°. Butter the inside and rim of the baking dish. Warm the vegetables in the oven. Pour the broth or water into the baking dish then pile in the vegetables.

4. Turn the chilled dough over onto the vegetables, gently peeling back its foil. Fold up and crimp the overhang of pastry to make a raised border atop the rim of the baking dish (extra pastry could be cut into decorative pieces (stars! leaves!) and applied to the crust with beaten egg). Brush crust with beaten egg, cut a few vent holes, and bake 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Serve hot or warm.

To the Supremes

Prop. 8 gay marriage ban goes to Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 on Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision.…. (LA Times)

WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO?

Great Expectations

~
Rebel Girl dedicated a few minutes of her day to investigating a breaking story: the disappearance of feminine hygiene products from the restrooms.

She discovered that many of the now empty dispensers sported a helpful notice that directed women in need to the nurse's office in the Student Services Center. Of course, the helpful Health and Wellness Center is located some distance from many of these facilities and, most importantly, has limited hours while the phsyical needs to students, staff, faculty and visitors do not. This is perhaps especially pertinent for students who take classes in the evening.

In some facilities, the entire dispenser has been removed from the wall, leaving an unsightly depression and no helpful signage.


But, over in the new Beefsteak Building, Rebel Girl was happy to find that the facilities possessed shiny dispensers, recessed into the walls.

She was hopeful.

However, when she tried to purchase the product, her quarter remained stuck in the slot and the dial refused to turn, leaving Rebel Girl to believe that while the shiny dispenser was there, it too was unstocked, incapable of providing what was promised.

A brief inquiry suggests that the new policy has been in place for a few months.

Rebel Girl expects that this discussion might be uncomfortable for some readers but no more uncomfortable than for the occasional evening student who has arrived at the college with certain expectations about the minimum services provided.

Turkeys

From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

● [THEIR STUDENTS MUST BE SUPER SMART.] The Brown Daily Herald has noticed some interesting data about grades at Brown University. Last year, for the first time, a majority of all grades given to undergraduates were A’s. In 2007-8, 50.6 percent of grades were A’s. A decade earlier, the percentage was 42.5 percent.

● [SEW?] The British design world is aghast at the quality of fashion and design graduates from universities and art colleges, The Guardian reported. The key problem: They can’t sew.

Animal Rights Video Shows Turkey Abuse in W.Va.:

● A video released by an animal rights group on Tuesday claims to show horrific abuse of turkeys at West Virginia farms operated by major global poultry grower Aviagen Inc.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the video, which includes workers stomping on turkeys' heads and twisting their necks to kill them, was shot by an undercover investigator who worked on the companies' farms for more than two months…. (New York Times)

The November board meeting

The board announced that, during its closed session, it appointed Randy Peebles to Provost of the Advanced Technology and Education Park (ATEP). Oddly, the vote was 5-2, with Trustees Jay and Milchiker voting no.

OC Treasurer Chriss Street dropped by to announce Chancellor Mathur’s appointment to the Treasurer’s Oversight Committee, which has five members. For some reason, Street did not use the speaker’s podium; he sat about where Gary Poertner usually sits.


During public comments, Saddleback College Academic Senate President Bob Cosgrove noted the ongoing problem of inadequate support for faculty working on SLOs and other accreditation-related tasks. Evidently, many local districts provide much more LHE than does SOCCCD. (The agenda item concerning reassigned time and stipends had been pulled. I’m told that the committee responsible for reviewing board policies is developing a new policy regarding RT and stipends that would conflict with Mathur’s likely lowball recommendation.)


Karla Westphal was on hand to object to the board’s evident intention to hire a law firm to defend its practice of giving prayerful invocations. (Item 6.3) She declared that spending taxpayer money to pursue trustees’ personal agendas is “irresponsible.”

A student who attended last Spring’s notorious Scholarship event--in which board President Don Wagner made some singularly unpopular remarks--explained that she was deeply offended by Wagner’s conduct. She believes that the board should replace prayer with a moment of silence.

There were about 25 Saddleback College students in attendance—all wearing red shirts—and they applauded vigorously.

During board reports, trustee Tom Fuentes noted that Chancellor Raghu Mathur will be hosting “ethics training” soon. Most of the room was weirded out by that one.

Mathur opined that the victory of all four trustee incumbents is an indication that the district is “well run.” He thanked Tom Fuentes for his efforts to rename the board room the “Ronald Reagan Room.”

Item 6.1—presentation of the Saddleback College 2008-9 Associated Students Budget—was moved to the front. The students were excited. Their leaders obviously take the whole thing pretty seriously. The 25 kids applauded at every opportunity, so proud were they of themselves and their leaders.

Trustees were unimpressed by the students’ budget. Student trustee Hannah Lee noted how little money in the budget was dedicated to student scholarships. How come IVC’s much smaller budget funds many more scholarships?


Board President Don Wagner said that he did not see that the budget gives much to the students. He noted it provides money for forensics, surfing, and whatnot, but “that’s not where the rubber meets the road for the students.”

Chancellor Mathur, with wet finger still in air, piled on. He noted that the students had budgeted $12K for the scholarship ceremony where a mere $35K in scholarships would be doled out. 

That didn’t sound good.

Trustee Fuentes noted that the students were engaging in “deficit spending.” He was unimpressed that the students had decided to spend all of their large beginning balance ($208,000). I think he favored returning it to the students.

In the end, students were urged to go back to the drawing board. They all got up and wandered back to the malt shop.


Chancellor Mathur offered a grim report on budget matters. At the state level, it’s a “mess,” he said. He noted (as we did here in Dissent) that our own county is considering layoffs. There is, he said, “some envy” of the three community college districts (including ours) that receive “basic aid,” and, as a consequence, our basic aid funding is now under “threat.” Further, county residents are beginning to ask for reassessments of their homes, and this will “impact” the money available to us (via basic aid, which comes from local property taxes). There’s talk, he said, of community college fee increases, etc. Tuition will likely go up to $26, then to $30.

It appears that $332.2 million will be carved out of the state’s community college budget. (It looks very bad for the faculty contract.)

There’s talk of a sales tax increase.

“Well, that’s cheery. Thank you,” said board president Wagner.

Fuentes noted that a new tax on serving drinks will likely be instituted. He observed that, when the “fellas” in Sacramento talk about taxing their drinking, we’ve got real trouble.


Trustee Fuentes carped about the high cost of the proposed study abroad program to Peru ($3,500, including travel, for one week). Trustees decided to get some answers to their questions before approving the trip.

Item 5.9 was supposed to be a report on trustee travel expenses—plus identification of trustees requesting such expenses. Exhibit A for this item listed three locations, without identifying the requesting trustees. Padberg again wanted to know who requested these travel expenses. Williams acknowledged that he asked for the $2,200 to travel to Orlando in January.

Williams has a brother in Orlando. He often goes there, on the district's dime.

Check out our graphics, which provide further details re travel expenses (especially Williams’)--and cellphone expenses. (Click on graphics to make them larger.)

Item 6.3 proposed hiring a lawyer regarding trustee invocations. Lang said it would be “wasteful spending.” Trustees should replace the prayers with a “thought for the day” or moment of “silent reflection,” he said.


Padberg seemed to say that the prayers can continue and there is no need to hire an expensive lawyer. Trustee Bill Jay said that prayers are just swell. The vote was 3/3, with Fuentes abstaining (a conflict of interest). Wagner declared that abstentions count as a “yes.”

That was about it.