This 'n That

El Modena, 1959

     It's summer! Are you having fun yet?
     Rebel Girl is having something. She wouldn't necessarily call it fun, but she will concede that it is, indeed, summer.

Some highlights:

In the new A400, students will be translucent, evidently

A-400: The end is near!
     For those of you off campus, the A-400 building has been ringed with a fence, port-a-potties have been installed and destruction is imminent. So they say.

Darryl Cox Sighting

Cox

     It is the season of Open Houses at elementary schools everywhere and Rebel Girl was surprised to bump into Darryl Cox at one of those celebratory evenings. Her son and his granddaughter attend the same school – who knew? She is pleased to report that Darryl is continuing to do what his does best, serving the needs of returning veteran students – this time at UC Irvine. They spoke as he sat on a low brick wall in the courtyard of the school, a California Distinguished School. He was dressed all in black, invoking a lean version of Johnny Cash.
     To see what Darryl is up to across town, check this out:

http://www.veteran.uci.edu/

     Rebel Girl took the time to tell Darryl just how much the IVC vets missed him—as that has been her experience. He, in turn, reported how pleased he was to continue working with the IVC vets who had transferred to UCI.
     Finally she was able to make Darryl smile by telling him the story of the recent effort of the hiring committee charged with replacing him. The committee forwarded three candidates to the college president only to have all of three turn down the position.
     See, Rebel Girl told him, people are now saying you are "irreplaceable."
     She must report though, that his smile was tinged with sadness—as it would be.

Morley

Scholarship Process and Ceremony Redux
     On Tuesday morning a couple dozen people met in BSTIC 101. A couple dozen donuts and muffins were served. Starbucks coffee (decaf and regular) was poured. Index cards handed out. Discussion ensued. Mini-teams were formed. Some feelings were hurt. Large index cards were pressed onto a wrinkly purple cloth taped to a white board – where they stayed, magically, as if glued! Some people were heartened by the meeting, others not so much. Another meeting will be scheduled. Come one, come all.
     (Last year’s “debriefing”: Today's scholarship program debriefing: "It's the first I've heard about it!")

Summer Schedule

The Reb

     Rebel Girl is department co-chair for the first time in a few years. Last time she was chair (back then an impossible solo job) she broke out in a rash, a terrible rash that made her cry. This time it's better – duties are shared. She has a rash, but it is small and intermittent. There is reassigned time which makes it almost manageable. But still, there is no compensation given for the summer. By her count, she has been on campus almost daily ever since the semester ended, either physically or virtually via her home office, taking care of one crises and another. No she is not over stating anything but she has been advised not to share the gory details – suffice to say there are many thrilling and mundane variables which run the gamut from an unforeseen indictment (!) to the entirely foreseeable but still problematic suddenly unstaffed classes. Rebel Girl has sometimes thought she has seen it all but this year proved her wrong. There is still much more to see.
     If she didn't care, she'd let it all fall down. But she does. That's what they count on. And this kind of labor is so cheap. She—and the other department chairs—cost nothing in the summer. She, a ten month contractual employee, does wonder what a twelve month contractual administrator would do for free, say, during their "vacation." She understands that the union plans to address this oversight during next contract negotiation. She hopes that the administration will dot the right thing and support summer compensation for chairs. Glenn, Craig – why not draft a memo of support right now?

Saddleback Classes

O'Connor's new look

     Many IVC denizens were amused a few days ago to receive emails from the district with Class Roster Profiles for summer classes. Classes they have never knew they were teaching! Classes to be taught at Saddleback! Classes outside their disciplines! Rebel Girl was designated to teach Digital media Arts, Soc 1 – and a class in the Medical Lab Technician Certificate Program while her office mate and co-conspirator was slated for Anthro, Psych and get this – Child Development. An email arrived a day or two later acknowledging what we all knew - a computer glitch.

Golf anyone? It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing…
     Rebel Girl often meets up with retired colleagues at Oak Creek's café and she did so this week. While she was waiting for her pal to arrive, one of the servers asked her if she was going to play in the upcoming IVC Foundation Golf Classic. Noooo, she said. The last time Rebel Girl played golf was in high school back in the 70s …I lost my swing, she told him. But she was flattered.  Did she, soft, middle-aged Rebel Girl, really look like those fit, tanned female golfers with the toned arms?  She left a big tip.
     The tournament is next week – Tuesday June 10. The cost of the event is $295 per person or $1,150 per foursome and includes 18 holes of play, golf cart, lunch, dinner, gift bag and hole-in-one prizes. It is, as they say, for a good cause.
     Glenn's recent (5/21) news from IVC bragged:

Lining up

     "Sponsors are lining up to support IVC for our Annual Golf Classic, which will be held across from the campus at Oak Creek Golf Club on June 10th. AT&T, a sponsor for many years, will be joining us again. The Pepsi team will be providing drinks for the event, and the PGA Tour Superstore will be sponsoring gift items for the team players. The IVC Men's and Women's Golf Teams and Coach Ben Burnett will be out on the course offering help and tips."

To sign up, check out the IVC Foundation's event page:

http://www.ivc.edu/foundation/golftournament/Pages/default.aspx

Roquemore: "Sponsors are lining up...."

Fore!

*

P.S.: Horsehead nebula

     One of our colleagues sent us an email entitled "Demolition begins." He attached the following cell-phone photo of A-400, evidently taken from the restroom area of A-200:

He writes:

     They are hard to see, but two men in white suits and white masks, stand between the tree on the left and the roof pipe to the right. [See blue box "detail."]
     Angels? Ghosts? Or just "Neutral Tones?"

     I see only one man.
     Here's a further closeup. It's pretty pixilated:

     Does that guy have a horse head? Good Lord! What does it mean?!

IVC's fabled and notorious "horse head"