Beauteous OC, Land o' Abiding Corruption

Has watchdog effort to oversee O.C. campaign laws lost its bite?
(OC Register)

     …[OC’s longtime government ethics watchdog, Shirley] Grindle is supremely steamed. “I would like the voters to know what extremes this board [of Supervisors] is going to to avoid what I believe most conscientious voters want – a centralized, local ethics commission that can not only administer, monitor and enforce the local campaign ordinance, but also handle whistleblower complaints regarding conflicts of interest, fraud, waste, nepotism and sexual harassment,” she said….
. . .
     In its plea for an independent ethics commission last year, the grand jury chronicled a litany of corruption allegations dating back to the 1970s – citing 43 county politicians indicted from 1974 to 1977 alone. The supervisors declined the plea….

There will be dancing in the streets (Rebel Girl)

Kindergarten class portrait, at Killefer School on North Lemon Street, Orange, California, 1945. Emigdio Vasquez is in the second row, second from the left.  Photo donated by Emigdio Vasquez. Part of the "Shades of Orange" project.

Sunday evening found Rebel Girl at her alma mater UCI (zot! zot!), the New Swan's production of "Romeo and Juliet." A nice way to mark the end of summer. As it happens, two former students were in the audience (after 22 years of teaching, it is almost impossible to be anywhere in the county without running into former students). She sat next to one of them, a former journalist who is now employed by Chapman University as a public relations writer.

Rebel Girl mentioned her recent trip to Orange and the Cypress Street mural. The writer knew all about it. She told Rebel Girl that Chapman was going to have a re-dedication ceremony for the newly restored mural in October and promised to send her information.

Then yesterday, on the way home from a long day at school, there was Gustavo Arellano's weekly radio commentary on Santa Monica College station KCRW. Gustavo, newly married to beloved IVC alum Delilah Snell, was paying his respects to Emigdio Vasquez and holding forth on the future of el maestro's works.

Here's the link to Gustavo's commentary: click here. Listen and learn.

Bride and groom.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, it looks like Emigdio's IVC mural will have a new location and, like Chapman University, IVC will commemorate this with a re-dedication ceremony. What grand news.

Stay tuned.

And go visit the mural where it is in B-100.  Try to find the Mexican pyramid hidden in the fields.  See the yellow face of the old A-quad clock tower.

Dancing in the streets. Bride and groom. Downtown Santa Ana.  (Note Red Emma in his fine summer seersucker standing behind the band, clapping his hands.)