Saturday, May 23, 2009

Perfect grass


I haven’t much time—I'm heading to “Best Friends” in Utah today, an operation with whom several friends are affiliated.

I thought yesterday’s Commencement at IVC went very well: the new location was good (though not good for shutterbugs), the weather was good, the speakers were good, and turnout was good. Obviously, everybody had a great time. Evidently, lots of other folks think so too. (For pictures, see IVC's Commencement.)


Trustee John Williams was supposed to do the “invocation”—a bit of a political issue, that—but he was a no-show. Maybe that had something to do with what the OC grand jury had to say about him a couple of weeks ago. Dunno.

IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore gave a brief speech filled with interesting factoids and a story about a grizzly bear, a Harvard student, and an IVC student. The story was a bit of a head-scratcher for me, but he sure was cheerful telling it. (I heard someone cheer for the bear.)


Chancellor Raghu Mathur, as expected, offered a series of quotations. I will resist the temptation to be snarky, though I will say that he offered seven of them, which entitles one lucky person in the pool to a fast $225.

Sharon Salinger, the keynote speaker, wasn’t really a “keynote” speaker at all—nobody picked up on her themes (maybe the students did)—but she was very good nonetheless. She spoke of current events, betrayals of values, under-funding for education, etc.—things that aren’t often mentioned at IVC or Saddleback College or SOCCCD gatherings, owing to the prevailing boarditudinal Neanderthalitude.


I noticed that, after her address, Tom Fuentes, Trustee Cave Man #1, sat next to Salinger for a while, no doubt attempting to refute her theses. She must’ve been mightily amused.

I’m told that there was a weird echo produced by the nearby Beefsteak Building, but I figure that’s a plus.


Afterword, some of us went down to Tia Juana’s Bar, which is inside an old soybean packing plant. Very cool. Trustee Don Wagner and Glenn came along, and they seemed to have a great time. I was on the other end of the table, talking with a historian about P-38s and B-17s.

The Reb and I couldn’t help but notice that, somehow, overnight, the infamous Humanities and Languages “botanical garden” had been transformed into a lovely park-like spot, with perfect grass. Check out the before and after pics below:


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...