Commencement video

     I did a quick search on YouTube under “commencement” and “Saddleback College” or “Irvine Valley College.” Here’s what came up: video from this year’s commencement at SC and video from past commencements at IVC:

UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake gives Keynote Speech at Saddleback College Commencement 2013:


Saddleback College 2013 Spring Commencement: Student Speaker Regina Shiroma:


‪"The Wild Duck Chase" author Martin J. Smith commencement speech at Irvine Valley College, 2011

IVC Commencement 2011 Student Speaker

Irvine Valley College Commencement Speech - Dr John Spencer Ellis (2009)

Somehow, this puts me in the mood for some Dusty Springfield:



Love it.

Roquemore's curious email

     President Roquemore just emailed the campus community with this curious message:

Colleagues,
     I am very proud of the Irvine Valley College 2013 Commencement Ceremony. I have received multiple positive comments from students, faculty, district administration, college administration, classified staff, board members, and the community. I would like to recognize and thank our highly talented teams that made this event successful....

     He goes on to list the 19 members of the Commencement Planning Task Force, the 16 members of the Commencement Speaker Task Force, 3 members of the Student Speaker Task Force, the Speech and Debate Faculty and Students, and the 13 Commencement Support Teams.
     Roquemore fails, however, to mention the multiple negative comments about IVC Commencement and his handling of it.
     There was a time when the Commencement Speaker group genuinely sought the input of faculty and other groups. In recent years, Roquemore, as is his habit, put one of his functionaries (DO) in charge of the group, whereupon it commenced discarding hard-won traditions and practices designed to maximize thoughtfulness and to avoid folly and embarrassment. (Remember last year’s cheerfully plagiarizing keynote speaker? Yeah, he was Roquemore’s choice.)
     The committee’s recent efforts at identifying potential speakers involved a preposterous process that threw every conceivable kind of proposal—including pipe dreams of inviting Hillary Clinton and Tom Hanks—into a huge, amorphous pile. When we heard that the group was once again straying from reason and past practice, some of us managed to get placed on the committee, but the key meeting was scheduled during teaching prime time (as always) when several of us (including me) were unavailable. (Phony Roquemorian inclusiveness. We've complained about this many times before, but always to no avail.)

Uncle Tonoose

     And, don’t forget, this committee is charged, not with selecting the speaker, but with sending up a roster of choices from which Roquemore makes the final selection.
     Yeah, Roquemore, the rock guy. The guy who deals with crises by dropping out of airplanes.
     Hence the recent speechifyin' Disney characters.
     When, not so long ago, the process was more thoughtful, we managed to invite such speakers as writer/editor Marty Smith, UCI’s Sharon V. Salinger, MacArthur Fellowship recipient Rueben Martinez, and novelist Maxine Hong Kingston. Now, we get Disney executives and the other usual suspects.
     When, recently, an (untenured) faculty member dared question the wisdom of the new & unproved "amorphous pile" "process," a certain administrator on the committee (KS) brutishly dismissed her concerns, leaving many in attendance horrified.
     Just today, I ran across faculty—beyond the many with whom I have already spoken—who expressed their reservations or objections about one element of IVC commencement: prayer, and, in particular, references to Jesus. One instructor, a faculty leader and a non-Christian, noted that the student speaker’s final remarks (about Jesus) “certainly made [her] pretty uncomfortable.”
     Another recently offered his concerns to the Academic Senate President:

     I just have the perennial concern about the "Jesus" prayers. It just seems really rude to pray at commencement. Has IVC ever had a Rabbi, Imam, Buddhist Monk or Hindu Priest do this religious ritual in the middle of our commencement? Perhaps individual religious clubs could organize their own baccalaureate services on campus to celebrate, in a religious way, their achievement, but to impose this on all of us, including our incredibly diverse student body, year after year, seems the height of cultural insensitivity. We talk a lot about celebrating diversity, but then we "do Jesus" every year at commencement.

     Many faculty (and others) who object to these elements are theists. Identifying this criticism with atheism is, as always, a fallacy.
     Glenn Roquemore only hears who he wants to hear.
     Still, some seek ways to make their objections heard. Toward that end, I should point out that, as things now stand, the decision to include prayer is made by the Commencement Planning Committee (or “task force”), a product of recent litigation against the district of which I was a part.
     According to the settlement of Westphal v. Wagner, reached in May of 2011, invocations would cease at Chancellor opening sessions and at Scholarship awards ceremonies. Further:

The decision on whether to select a speaker to deliver personal remarks in the form of an invocation, moment of silence, or opening and/or closing message, not to exceed two minutes, at important District and college events [e.g., commencement] shall rest within the sole discretion of the event planners, whether they be students, faculty, administrators, classified employees of the District, or a combination thereof. (From the board’s resolution; see at end of this post)

Professor Irwin Corey

     (Of course, this hasn’t prevented Saddleback College President Tod Burnett from exploiting an alleged looplhole in the agreement [see Saddleback Prez imposes prayer at commencement].)
     Next year, some of us should make damned sure that we make our way onto the relevant committee, namely, the “Commencement Planning Task Force.” According to Roquemore’s email, that task force presently comprises the following folks: Gillian Ashton, Sandra Malagon, James Bettencourt, Shanna Moorhouse, Will Crawford III, Diane Oaks, Christina Dickinson, Nikki Puliyanda, John Edwards, Patric Taylor, Linda Fontanilla, Candice Yacono, Will Glen, Andrew Yirak, Ruben Guzman, David Young, Helen Locke, Mark Zandonella, and Angela O. Mahaney.
     —Naturally, this crew only includes people who directly or indirectly answer to Roquemore.
     I'm shocked, shocked!
     You'd better know the facts. Here is the "resolution" (brought in accordance with the settlement of "Westphal v. Wagner"), approved by the board at its April 2011 meeting (click on graphics to enlarge them; skim down to the "therefore"):

The RESOLUTION:

Presidential Malaise

Recent Commencement Schweinerei:

• "Too Political" - Disney hacks (and corrupt OC Sheriffs) aren’t political, evidently, but Arellano is
• Plagiarism is a form of theft, Glenn - we got ‘im dead to rights
• That's some leadership, that leadership à la Roquemore - the curious manner in which Commencement Speaker Rhodes was selected

What up, Rocky? (Concerns or kudos)

     Just maybe Roquemore and Co. sought to meet to discuss their scholarshipian, early collegiate, and associated snafus far away from Inquiring Minds. If so, that ploy has been utterly undone by the Academic Senate Prez, who just emailed everybody about “Commencement, scholarship, early college, and various other awards ceremonies and celebrations….”
     She announced that

There will be a meeting to "debrief" and discuss these events, in particular some issues involving the scholarship presentations and that event, and how to [try to] improve the process and minimize errors in future. If you are interested in attending this meeting it will be in

A123 (the President's Conference Room)
Thursday, Jun 6,  2-3 pm

I plan to attend, so if anyone has concerns or kudos but does not plan to attend, please pass them on to me, and I will be sure to enunciate them for you.

     So, those of you who have something to say, either plan to show up to this "debriefing" or write it down and send it to Kathy ASAP (asenate@ivc.edu).
     And don’t forget, Linden, about the two-hour premiere of “The Killing” Sunday night!

The grading continues:

I want to believe (but am disappointed every time)

Rat on Mars? Nope. Rock on Mars.

Grading final exams

It isn't.

Back to grading.

It sure is painful.

Teen Driver Who Died with 4 Others on Jamboree Road Had No Valid License

The "Me" President

     Today, IVC President Roquemore sent the “Campus Community” an email, thanking everyone “for a successful 28th IVC Commencement!”
     That’s nice.
     The email includes this graphic:

     Gosh, Glenn. I get why you’ve got a pic of the students. And the two speakers.
     But a picture of yourself?
     The faculty confer the degrees, dude. Not you.

A moment of silence of the lambs

A scary OC artifact

     A year ago, Rebel Girl posted about George Wallace’s right-wing politics ("I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”) and support he received, back in the day, from Orange Countians (George Wallace Comes to Orange County).

From the Wallace-Lemay campaign flier, "Where Wallace Stands" (1967)

Wallace headquarters, Orange

     The Reb reported that one of Wallace’s right-hand men, Bob Walters, was still among us here in the OC, and he had come out from under a rock to support Villa Park’s execrable Deborah Pauly, mailing supportive campaign literature with Wallace's mug on it.
     Remember Pauly? She's one of those knuckle-draggers who assumes that, if you're Muslim, you're a terrorist. She's spectacularly ignorant.

Lemay

     I forgot to mention that, when in Orange on Sunday, I scored a cool old Wallace/Lemay bumper sticker. That’s it above.
     No doubt it’s from the campaign of 1967-8. I found it in one of those antique/junk shops in downtown Orange, a town where the likes of Wallace got lots of support. I remember it well.
     Evidently, Bob Walters still lives in Orange.
     I didn't run into him or nothin'.

     Many will remember Curtis Lemay as a notorious Cold Warrior, but some will recall his equally disturbing role in the dreadfull fire-bombings of Japan toward the end of World War II.
     I highly recommend viewing Errol Morris' excellent film The Fog of War (essentially, an interview of Robert McNamara). Here's an excerpt that concentrates on McNamara's work with Lemay during the war:



President Roquemore's Cake
by: RoyBauer

 

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Some Sunday pics

     I'm only writing this because the alternative is grading final exams. You know how that is.

Click on graphic to enlarge

     I visited downtown Orange today. Noticed these two restaurants on Chapman Ave., not far from the train tracks. I think that's a "Wahoo's" to the left. I popped into the place at the right; seemed nice.
     I looked it up: the place at right is "Linx artisan sausage." I found their Facebook page, which includes the following pic:

     Well, I'm a vegetarian, so I think I'll stick with Wahoo's—or, better yet, Rutabegorz, just down the street.

264 N. Glassell

     Still, I love it when they take these old downtown places and turn them into restaurants. My favorite downtown Orange restaurant is Gabbi's. As seen from the street, it's nondescript, even unmarked. (Find it on the south end of the Orange Plaza area, near Muff's Antiques.) But inside: Ganz prima!

The Gabster

     Three blocks to the south: Kathie and I lived in this house, built in 1903, about twenty years ago. It sits between downtown and Hart Park. It's lookin' pretty good.
     Some old man stopped by one day and said the house was once a house of "ill repute."
     Guess so.

     This is the place across the street, built in the 1880s, as I recall. The lady who lived there was sick all the time. Kathie was invited inside once. She said it's pretty funky inside, I think.
     The place is haunted.

     The old post office on Chapman and Lemon. It was one of those old post offices slated for decommissioning—or whatever it's called when they cut it loose. But they backed off of that plan.

     While I was in town, I dropped into one of my antique haunts and scored this cool old Pyrex bowl for 8 or 9 bucks. I love old glass.

     (Recently, I also bought a pair of seriously cool "cat" bookends. They're not antiques, but they're nice anyway. Here's one of 'em.)

     Came across this ersatz shrine (we noted it previously) to that poor girl who was murdered a week or two ago. It's along Santiago Boulevard, near Modjeska Canyon. What's with the flags? I guess she was a vet.

     Just a couple of trees I noticed along the road up in Modjeska Canyon. I love eucalyptus trees. As I recall, they were imported from Australia to serve as windbreaks for the orange groves and such.
     I recall, as a kid (c. 1963), walking along rows of 'em, breaking apart the leaves, enjoying that lemony smell. (Those were a different variety, I think.)

    This is "the tree" along the road, recently yammered about by Rebel Girl. It is indeed a fine tree. In a fine canyon.

     Mark dropped me a line, sending this pic of the two of us at Friday's Commencement.
     Mark's pretty quiet these days, but we've got him on one or two important committees, where he does good work.

Irvine Valley College: Commencement Pics

There was a loud boom and then the sky caught fire, raining colorful strips of metal upon the blue people below

Steve with one of his students and her family

(Click on graphic to enlarge)
See also IVC commencement on FACEBOOK, which sports such cool photos as this one:

Live Oak Terraces

Back to DtB photos:

Lots of smiles

Teacher of the Year, Diana Hurlbut

The student speaker (right) was colorful and, well, grateful to Jesus.
(I believe that's Linda Fontanilla, VP of Student Services, at left)

This little girl adopted me for some reason. Cute kid.

At one point, she insisted that she and I take turns taking pictures

Unfortunately, the little girl's mom (at left) exhibited no interest in adopting me

Davit K prowled around like a Secret Service agent

I do well with kids and animals

The back of the PAC

Virginia, Lisa, Brittany: the women of H&L are formidable

This is the guest speaker, Mary Niven, I believe. According to the Lariat, she's "Vice President of Disney California Adventure Park and Guest Services at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif."
Pretty typical of the non-academic speakers President Roquemore seems to prefer

Always with the balloons

The so-called "Live Oak Terraces" seem to work well as a venue for commencement. These people found 'em and feel the need to point at 'em. "This must be them," they're saying.

American Dyspeptic

People like to dress up. Nice

I'm still puzzled by this armpit maneuver

Don't know what this is about. About somethin' though

     The student speaker was entertaining, though he ended his spiel with a reference to the Lord, not the first of the day. Pres. Roquemore seems to prefer lots of references to the Deity. Many faculty take a dim view of this and of him.

A friend of mine

As we all know, blue is better than red

Hippies with flowers, I guess. Flower People

A proud little girl

Speakers' perspective (sans studentry)

These flowers were only two or three hundred feet to the southwest of the Oak Terraces. Check out the crops beyond. One might assume that we're running a farm college, or a farm 'n' posy college

This hawk (?) had something in his beak, dunno what. He and his pals circled above. Good thing he didn't drop that rat on somebody's head.

Just to the southwest: crops on campus. There's a nice vegetable stand on Jeffrey, near the PAC. I bet everybody likes that.

The Performing Arts Center from the front

Boom!

These kids never stop running

Free water

Darryl and pals

"WTF?", she said, in my imagination

Reserved seating for bigwigetry, I guess

Lots of happy families

The quiet before the storm (4 p.m.)
Sierra saw this pic and said, "Nice landscaping"

Yes, Commencement Bingo, a very popular game at IVC
The contents of IVC Commencements are very predictable, I'm afraid, especially now that the President has weakened faculty involvement and oversight. The process of choosing the guest speaker is absurd. Grist for the bingo mill

Dean of Humanities & Languages (and I-don't-know-what-else), the Chief of Police

Tryin' out her IVC sunglasses. They're wondrously kitchy

Trustee Tim Jemal, Academic Senate Prez Kathy Schmeidler

This was Jemal's first commencement with us, I think. He seemed pretty happy about it

My old pal Mark

More posies

There was quite a turnout, lots of color. Great weather

Howard Dachschlager got some kind of prize for leaving us, I guess, which makes sense. When his name was called, he was nowhere to be found. Natch.

Another kid, runnin'

Karima, Virginia, Glenn, Craig

Re prayer at commencement:

Who does Tod Burnett think he is? Saddleback Prez imposes prayer at commencement