Thursday, December 10, 2009

Holiday celebration at Irvine Valley College




This woman seemed to have some serious Christmas spirit.
She set an example for all of us!




They set it up inside the Performing Arts Center. I wonder who cleans the windows?
Here's Santa checkin' out one of his helpers.
On my way over to the PAC, a student told me, "You just missed it; the cops just arrested Santa."
"Yeah?" I said. Then I saw a police car zooming around to the back of the PAC. I guess Santa was getting a special sleigh ride.



The gathering as seen from atop the stairwell. It was still early: eventually every seat was taken.
No, really. It appeared to be a big hit. I even spotted Raghu.



That dang Santa has all the luck.



I think they were telling me to stop taking pictures, for Chrissake. "Siddown and have some chow, Camera Boy!"
Diane was saying something snarky fer sher. (You can see that.) But I just pointed to my ears and walked off before they started throwing food.



Top administrators were slingin' the turkey, or whatever it was.
Nice gesture, but they were in a lonely, empty room off to the side.
You can see Glenn trying to make contact with a distant human being.



Gwen said hello to the cute kid while Santa and Glenn (I think) did that Pink Floyd burning man trick.
It was very dramatic and popular, a new tradition, I'm sure.



There's Santa again, trollin' for babes. Some people were giving me the stink-eye.
I coulda used some sleep.



Sorry, Glenn, about the grimy hand. I've gotta start packin' handkerchiefs.
Dan seemed pleased about the whole business.



Glenn, Santa, Dave. A power trio, shooting out positive vibes.



Spotted this reindeer. As you know, both sexes sport large branching antlers. Don't wanna piss off a reindeer, nope. I'm Canadian, you know. Helped my dad shoot a moose once. Now I'm a vegetarian.







Dave and his reindeer.




Santa and mini-Santa









The last Pink Floyd album I bought. My bro Ray and I would put this song on the stereo and listen without comment, in silence. (Ray knew when to say nothing.) It seemed to be the background of our lives for a little while. Afterward, the band never seemed interesting to me anymore. Too successful for their own good, I think. But the memory remains. —RB

96 Tears in the Closet


Here’s a tiny SOCCCD “Land o’ Neanderthals” tale:

A few months ago, I caught wind of some kind of 21st Century “Legion of Decency” investigation, requested by a trustee, concerning films (or a film) produced by Saddleback College’s Communication Arts program, which (I have since learned) prides itself on its “hands on” instruction. I waited for something to materialize, but nothing ever seemed to pop up. Dang!

Well, one thing happened, I guess. Several months ago, Trustee Nancy Padberg requested a report on Saddleback’s communication arts/film program. She didn’t explain what she was looking for, as I recall.

Well, I just looked, and the report was in fact provided at the Nov. 17 board meeting. It was listed on the agenda as item 7.1. I checked the super-agenda (a fat pdf file available online) and I went to the page for 7.1. Here’s what I found:

Gosh, no wonder nothing popped up. What kind of “openness” is that? Have you ever tried to get passed the sentries to room 334? They shoulda just put this report inside a black box inside another black box inside a bucket of ATEP ground water!

So I asked around, and somebody told me that the Communication Arts program (or a student in the program) produced some sort of film about a lesbian who had “come out.” The film had received an award at a film festival somewhere.

I did some looking, and I came across a 26-minute (10 minute?) documentary called “88 Years in the Closet,” evidently made by Saddleback College student Peter Shafron. Back in ’07 or ’08, it was submitted to numerous film festivals and was accepted as an entry in many of them, including the International Film Festival on Aging in San Francisco, Toronto’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and the Big Bear International Film Festival, where it won an award.

Here’s the trailer:



Since then (I gather), Shafron and Jane Lehmann-Shafron co-founded a “boutique documentary” business. (See Your Story Here video biographies.) Jane, too, has taken courses (in voice acting, she says) at Saddleback College.

Evidently, the Shafrons’ company has produced other documentaries, including one concerning a Jewish woman in Nazi Germany:



According to the blurb at YouTube, the film concerns Inge Papich:
Inge Papich just wanted to fit in. Growing up in Berlin in the 1930s, she learned the Hitler salute, sang the Nationalist songs and dreamed of joining the Hitler youth. The only problem was, Inge was a Mischling – a kind of Jewish half breed under the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Is it possible that this little documentary about an 88-year-old woman on a freakin' cruise caused the fuss about Saddleback's Communication Arts program? Gosh, I don't see how.

Well, the November board meeting was several weeks ago. As near as I can tell, there’ve been no further developments.

These documentaries do seem interesting, though, don’t they?

What does it all mean?

SEE ALSO:
• Fame follows an O.C. senior who came out of the closet (OC Reg, 3/14/08)
• Film about 88-year-old lesbian honored (OC Reg, 9/15/08)
• 96 Tears (Pumpkin Times, 1966)

Mid-Morning Mini Matinee: Greendale Community College Celebrates the Season

"There won't always be a dean around!!"


A little preview of tonight's show.

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...