Sand in mis zapatos

You say emigrado, I say immigrante,
You say tomahto, I say tomate.
Tomahto, tomate,
Emigrado, immigrante,
Let's call the whole thing off!

WELL, FOLKS, the IVC Spanish department has weighed in on the Tan Nguyen letter—at least a sampling of them has. Rebel Girl did her best to lure her colleagues into her office and then thrust copies of the letter at them. She must report that the letter's prose style isn't impressive in Spanish either.

The verdict? While the writer (aka Sergio Ramirez) may indeed be a native speaker of Spanish, he has issues with his written expression. Also, the writer is most likely a Mexican-American, that is, an American of Mexican descent as opposed to, say, an immigrante or emigrado, or a Cubano or Salvadoreno or una Peruvian—perhaps someone who grew up in the Central Valley in a Spanish-speaking home, someone who became conversant in spoken Spanish but not in written Spanish. Still, the espanol comes in handy when visiting the tourist resorts Mexico has to offer and when presented with an opportunity to translate a letter spiced with racismo.

This view was determined, I think, primarily by word choice—the term emigrado—and a verb form to which the scholars also objected: registrado, I believe.

What does it all mean?

Beats me. I look forward to the day when we know who crafted this thing, though, and we can see how accurate the estimations of my fine colleagues are.

Meanwhile, Rebel Girl herself remains astonished by the vision at the heart of the story Tan Nguyen keeps telling: how, after the hysteria broke out about the letter, he retreated to the shores of the Pacific where, he claimed, he met many Latinos. He approached them and asked them the meaning of emigrado. These Latinos with sand in their zapatos all told him the same thing: an emigrado is a green card holder and thus, in Nguyen's loca cabeza, they exonerated him and his campaign.

I can't help but picture the scene: Huntington, maybe Corona del Mar. Latino families out for the day with Igloo coolers and folding chairs. It's what we call Indian summer here in So Cal. You can still don shorts and tanks tops and not catch a chill. The kids let the waves chase them. Seagulls squawk. Bags of Doritos flutter in the breeze. Los Tigres del Norte play on the boom box. A slight man dressed in a white button down shirt and dress pants stumbles toward las familias. He clutches a crumpled letter, looks harried.

Can you help me, he asks. Can you tell me what emigrado means? Please? Please?

My family would have run away, but in Nguyen's dream, these people stay, welcoming him and giving him a lesson in Spanish 1. Maybe they even offer him a Coca-Cola. The cold silver and red can feels good in his hot hands. Its promise is sweet.

Pobrecito, they think. Poor man, brought low by the liberal media, misunderstood by his own, sold out by a bad translator. They know how it feels.

Isn't America great?

Where one man can create his own reality!



Check out:

Sanchez finds self on terror-watch list

Read down to the part about FRIEND OF FUENTES Chriss Street, OC's Treasurer. Sheesh, does Fuentes have any friends or associates who aren't CORRUPT?

Gallaudet ousts incoming President

Looks like the students got their way--thanks, in part, to the power of the blog.

For one night, good teachers are fabulous

SADDLEBACK'S NORM WESTON IS A FINALIST


OK, so last night I attended the "2007 OC Teachers of the Year" event, held at the swankular Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel in beautiful downtown Anahelium. At least, that's what I remember doing. I remember large chandeliers high above me. Raghu shook my hand. Mickey danced. Minnie flirted. Was it a dream?

No. There were rich people who showed up to witness their own beneficence. They seemed sincere. But wasn't it 2006, not 2007? It's all so unreal!

I seem to recall talking with an attractive woman. She handed me her card. "OK," I said.


The Masters of Ceremony were real professionals: actor William Allen Young (evidently, he's been on CIS: Miasma and Nip/Tuck) and Maria Hall-Brown (Gawd, she's on the Real Orange!). They stunned me with their ability to savor the sagacity of cliches for three solid hours! "How true!" they'd sigh, heads shaking.

Believe in yourself! Dream big! Play your guitar! Question! Wonder! Dance!

I remember a busty blond who evidently teaches little kids about something. I forget what. The attractive woman to my left said something snide. I smiled. "I'm kinda deaf," I said. "Blah blah blah," she answered. We laughed.

"More champagne?" More laughter.

Saddleback College's Norm Weston was a finalist. They showed a little movie about him. He's casual, yet strict. He knows his stuff. Prez M made an appearance. He looks much better in person, I thought.


The real Rich patted my shoulder. What does that mean? Am I marked for death?

I saw friends from the past: Cely Mora, Kathie Hodge, Wilford Brimley. I was transported to another time--to Villa Park High School, 1972, looking up at the stage, watching "Up With People," wondering how it was possible to be so young and yet so Osmond.

I recall speaking with one of the Heinz 57 honorees, our former Logic instructor, who recently snagged a full-time job up the road. "So, does your dept. chair get any reassigned time?" I asked.

YES OF COURSE. ARE YOU KIDDING?

And Mickey. And Minnie. Dancing! With Peter Morrison! (That could only be a dream. I am certain of it.)

"You'll see," said Gwen. "You'll watch the show and tears will form. It's moving!"

I waited for tears, but all I got was kicks under the table. "Be good!", they said.

And I was. In fact, I am always good.

But, in all sincerity, I'm glad that, in this county, owing to a rich couple, good teachers are celebrated and given an opportunity to experience fabulous cash prizes and 15 seconds of fame.

And to dance with flirtatious Minnie and spout cliches to the rhythm of rubber chickens, fake Jazz, and hurried ersatz fabulousness.

But, really, it was fun. And I mean that.



WHAT'S "UP WITH PEOPLE"? (YOU ASK)

The 60s produced the "counterculture." That in turn produced various reactions, e.g., Up with people

"The happiest most hard-hitting way of saying what America's all about that I have ever seen or heard."

--Walt Disney, on the cover of "Up With People" (the album; 1966)

Up! Up! with people!
You meet 'em wherever you go!
Up! Up! with people!
They're the best kind of folks we know.
If more people were for people,
All people ev'rywhere,
There'd be a lot less people to worry about,
And a lot more people who care!

--Everything UP WITH PEOPLE

Custodians vs. Wayne Ward: union warning

DISSENT the BLOG has been forwarded an email, sent on Tuesday by Mary W (she’s the Chief Job Steward of the CSEA local) to district Human Resources officials (namely, Teddi Lorch and Bob King), that threatens a “hostile work environment/retaliation complaint” against IVC Director of Facilities & Maintenance Wayne Ward.

Recently, at the request of several IVC Facilities and Maintenance workers, Dissent reported on Ward’s alleged unprofessional conduct.

In the letter, Mary writes:

I would like to alert you to the fact that CSEA is on the verge of filing a hostile work environment/retaliation complaint against Wayne Ward for his treatment of the custodians at Irvine Valley College. Board Policy 4000.5 prohibits retaliation:

The District seeks to foster an environment in which all employees and students feel free to report incidents of harassment without fear of retaliation or reprisal. Therefore, the District also strictly prohibits retaliation against any individual for filing a complaint of harassment or for participating in a harassment investigation. Such conduct is illegal and constitutes a violation of this policy….

…Of particular concern are some of the actions taken against custodian Ruben Morales. Morales transferred to IVC from Saddleback because it is closer to his Long Beach home. He was a graveyard shift custodian at Saddleback, and laterally transferred to a graveyard shift at Irvine Valley. In the past year, Ward has changed Morales’ schedule no less than five times. Several of these changes were verbally given, but Morales was not aware that he should require confirmation in writing, or that he had the option of refusing unless provided with 20 days notice in writing. Most recently, Morales was today given 20 days notice that he will be transferred to swing shift from days, and that another custodian will be transferred from days to swing shift. Supposedly, this was done to increase the efficiency of the work unit, but since neither custodian has any reason to believe their work is unsatisfactory, it is hard to see how this is of enough benefit to the College to warrant the disruption to the employees’ lives. In fact, Wayne Ward is aware that Morales works a second job that is necessary to support his family, and that this change to a swing shift, which he has never before been required to work, will disrupt his ability to continue in this employment and cause undue hardship for his family.

The most recent actions seem to be in response to the Unusual Occurrence Report that the custodians filed after being accused of planting a condom in another M&O employees locker, and have escalated since this event has become a frequent topic in Dissent [the Blog]. Most recently, Dissent … observed Morales being forced to spend several hours on his hands and knees scraping chewed gum off the concrete in the main traveled areas at IVC during the hours that classes were in session. [Dissent]…asked Morales several questions which he answered politely and respectfully. [Dissent]…chose to write up the humiliation of this employee, bringing even more retribution down on his head.

CSEA cannot allow these actions to continue. We would like to work cooperatively with the District to resolve problems of this nature. Please investigate this situation as soon as possible and advise us as to what action will be taken with regard to the 20-day notice to Mr. Morales. Also, please know that if retaliatory action of this nature continues, whether against Mr. Morales, another custodian, or the unit as a whole, we will have no option but to file a formal hostile work environment complaint and the appropriate grievance for violation of these Board Policies.

Mary [W]
Chief Job Steward
CSEA Chapter 586

DtB is relieved to find that CSEA is taking action in this case. We hope that the matter will soon be resolved.

SOME POINTS OF CLARIFICATION: the conversation between a Dissent writer—me—and Mr. Morales involved only one question, asked as I was headed to class: “Hi. What are you doing?”—or something to that effect. Morales—he was not on his hands and knees at the time; he was working a scraping knife that was attached to a handle—gave a brief answer, which I did not understand. I smiled and then continued to my classroom. That Mr. Morales’ gum-scraping activity was particularly disagreeable was suggested to me later by workers. The activity struck me as perhaps disagreeable, but not humiliating.

Dissent’s coverage of the custodians’ trials and tribulations re Ward was prompted by a group of workers’ contacting Reb and me. Dissent did not contact the workers. Before any blog posting about this matter, Reb and I repeatedly explained to workers that Dissent coverage of their situation would likely yield retaliation.

The workers seemed to understand this. The (four or five) workers who visited us explained that they had already contacted the Lariat, hoping that it would report their situation. They expressed disappointment and surprise that the student paper evidently opted not to do so, despite their urging.

Reb and I urged the workers to demand assistance from their union. Perhaps owing to low expectations regarding union assistance, the workers seemed determined to bring their situation to light.

Finally, after running the initial blog past the workers’ apparent spokesman, and making all requested corrections and changes, we posted the blog and commenced Dissent’s coverage of the situation.

I have been told that some workers have contacted local news media and that a reporter is working on a story. —CW

He's Tom's kind of guy

In the latest OC Weekly, Mike Lawson (Xenophobic from the start) describes a phone conversation he had with congressional candidate—and Fuentes protégé—Tan Nguyen:

[Tan] Nguyen is a stubborn guy, and I guess I’m not much better because our phone call went nowhere. It was impossible to convince him that I wasn’t responsible for vandalizing his signs. In the middle of our conversation, Nguyen even dropped a threat worthy of a John Grisham novel.

“I have a lot of passionate people supporting me,” he said. “I would hate to see anyone get hurt.”

Most politicians have handlers, but I had to wonder who—if anyone—was consulting this guy. It turns out that Nguyen had hired Tom Fuentes to do the job. You might remember Fuentes as the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party back in 1988 when the OC GOP stationed uniformed guards at polling places in heavily Latino districts in an attempt to intimidate voters.

Just as we were about to conclude our conversation, Nguyen asked, “So we’re clear? You’re going to stop vandalizing my signs?”

“Mr. Nguyen,” I said, “I’ve never touched one of your signs.”

Sources tell me that Trustee Fuentes was responsible for Al Tello’s appointment as Director of the Irvine Valley College Foundation.

Al’s wife, Emilee (or some other local GOP worker bee named "Emilee Tello"), was Nguyen’s treasurer. According to FEC records, she resigned from his campaign four days ago.

As near as I can tell, Tello was the most senior staffer on the Tan Man's campaign, aside from “senior advisor” Fuentes.

Recently, Fuentes has distanced himself from the Nguyen campaign, implying that his contact with Nguyen ceased after the primary. He has expressed "sadness" and "disappointment" (Disappointing) over the revelation that Nguyen used the intimidating mailer.

Dissentular squawkage

Recent comments of interest...

JUST DO THE MATH

Given the assumptions that each vampire would attack one human per month and that the first vampire struck in 1600, vampires would have exterminated the human race by 1602, [Professor of Physics Costas] Efthimiou calculated.

…[Efthimiou] said his work has provoked angry messages from people, including some with “.edu” in their e-mail addresses, who cling to their conceptions that vampires exist….

One person, Efthimiou said, criticized his failure to account for Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s role in keeping the vampire population in check.

—It’s Halloween Weekend on Campus


JESUS DON'T CUT GRASS

"Too many people are waiting for Jesus to come along and cut your grass. And Jesus isn't going to come along and cut your grass."

—More straight talk from [Bill] Cosby


OO, I FEEL A CALL

[T]here is not a chance that the reported low sperm counts among heavy cell phone users, reported at the ASRMC in New Orleans on Sunday, had anything to do with cell phone radiation. The wavelength is far too long…It's too small to affect sperm, even if you put the phone in your underpants.

Ashok Agarwal of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, studied 364 men at a fertility clinic in Mumbai, India. The real question is what they talk about for four hours a day.

—What’s New? – 10/27


RUSH, YOU’RE KILLING US

Last week the list of ills attributable to obesity grew: fat people cause global warming.

This latest contribution to the obesity debate comes in an article by Sheldon H. Jacobson of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and his doctoral student, Laura McLay. Their paper...calculates how much extra gasoline is used to transport Americans now that they have grown fatter. The answer, they said, is a billion gallons a year.

—Blame Cookie Monsters

Al Tello's wife?

As you know, the director of the Irvine Valley College Foundation is Al Tello, a nice guy, despite being very connected to Trustee Tom Fuentes and his local GOP cronies. (See Tello.)

Al’s wife’s name is Emilee, and she can usually be found working for GOP candidates.

It turns out that one “Emilee Tello” is the, or at least a, worker who resigned on the 24th from Tan Nguyen’s Congressional campaign--seemingly in connection with the now-infamous mailer. (Nguyen)

That's what I learned in this morning’s OC Register, in an article concerning the recent raid of the home of a Nguyen friend (Nguyen probe expands to LAPD officer):

...Nguyen's campaign treasurer, Emillee Tello, submitted documents to the Federal Election Commission advising them of her resignation from the campaign, effective Oct. 24.

Tello could not be reached for comment.

Tan Nguyen remained steadfast in an interview with the Register that "no crime has been committed."

Although he denies having directed the flier, he has admitted that volunteers with his campaign were responsible for sending it.

He blamed the confusion on several translation errors.

I happen to know that Trustee Tom knows Emilee Tello.

You'll recall that Trustee Tom served as a (the) "senior advisor" to Nguyen's campaign, at least during the primary. Nguyen paid him $15,000.

And, of course, back 1988, Fuentes was involved in a notorious effort to intimidate Latino voters by placing guards at polling places.

To read Trustee Tom's hearty endorsement of Tan Nguyen's candidacy, go to Tom's endorsement. (It's a small pdf file.)

Cal Nelson: IVC interim VPI

THE WORD is that Cal Nelson will be appointed Irvine Valley College's interim Vice President of Instruction. I could have gotten that wrong. Maybe it was Cal Worthington. Or Cal Thomas. It was some kind of "Cal," though. I'm pretty sure.

His appointment will be announced at Monday night's Board meeting.

I've been told that Nelson, whose background is in Mathematics, worked at Saddleback College--both as an instructor and as an administrator--for more than thirty years. He retired in the Spring of 2004.

So far, everyone is telling me that he's a good guy. He's very sensible, and he knows how to work with people.

See Calvin Nelson

Meanwhile, Keanu Reeves has been spotted at the Advanced Technology and Education Park again.