1. REASON FOR HOPE? A couple of weeks ago, someone directed me to a blog post on a local educational blog concerning the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD)—you know, the one tainted in recent years by nutty construction projects (the “Taj Mahal”), trustee Brown Act violations, the keeping of enemies lists, the machinations of right-wing education reformers, and even a trustee "plumbers unit" that makes the bumbling Watergate unit look sharp. They’re wacky, boy.
According to the post, SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur was spotted at the Capistrano Unified School District Headquarters—the “Taj Mahal.”
As you know, the CUSD is in need of a Superintendent. They canned the last one amid a cloud of black smoke.
The blogger emailed Mathur asking him why he had visited. Mathur responded by asserting that he had been motivated by curiosity to enter the "Mahal." He denied being a candidate for any position at the CUSD.
Did you know that, when you come to the end of Culver Drive, there's a little park and a lake? Unfortunately, you've gotta cross into private (Irvine Co.?) property to get there. The gate says "no trespassing." Or so said the nice Sheriff who somehow arrived just as I was leaving. "No arrest this time," he said. "Gosh, thanks."
Oh sure.
Nevertheless, our blogger was intrigued. He noted that Mathur’s contract is up in 2011, that Mathur has ties to Education Alliance (members of that right-wing organization dominate the CUSD board; our own Don Wagner seems to be on the EA board), and that Mathur is contemned by faculty.
The blogger even provided one of DtB’s videos of Mathur. 'Nuff said, I guess.
Meanwhile, here in the district, rumors persist that Mathur is sniffing around the CUSD for a gig.
In my experienced, such rumors are usually false. Still, I am looking for ways to give our readers hope as we enter summer oblivion. The headline: CUSD MIGHT TAKE THIS TURKEY OFF OUR HANDS!
I went to lunch with a friend today in Old Town Tustin. Took a pic of the restaurant (Rutabegorz)--the building with the columns. Compare my shot with a pic from 1914.
2. SADDLEBACK STAFF SOFTBALL TEAM DOESN’T PLAY FAIR! I ran into some friends in the administration building the other day. I immediately picked up on the unacademic quality of their discussion.
It was a “sports enthusiast” discussion, something sufficiently foreign to me that I can spot it from miles away, like one might notice a giant soiled jockstrap in the sky. Evidently, the group (or some among the group) had just played the big IVC-Saddleback College softball showdown—one involving faculty and staff, et al. One player was carping about the unsportsmanlike conduct of the Saddleback team. —You know, she was passionately dissing that team in that noisy and exaggerated way that people have when they talk sports. ‘Strator D was antagonizing her position, saying, “C’mon, it was just one action in one inning!” I think he was trying to calm the waters.
Or maybe it was all just post-game bullshit. Isn't that, like, a tradition? Could be.
Probably, the conversation (I didn’t stick around) was all in good fun, nothing serious.
Nevertheless, my headline is: SADDLEBACK TEAM CHEATS. Or maybe: NOTORIOUS SOFTBALL RIVALRY LEADS TO LITIGATION. What do you think? I wanna end the semester with a bang, even if I’ve gotta make stuff up.
Cheaters!
Trees and street lamp, Portola Springs, this afternoon
3. ART AND POLITICS AT IVC. Check out IVC’s grounds. The campus now sports provocative and eye-catching art, even art that blasts former Republican presidents!
Tom and Don! COME ON DOWN! Get steamed! Invoke the Lord!
[Note, 5/18: the President-blasting art to which I referred above is Jason Butler's "Up, up, up to where even George W. Bush has got Soul....", pictured below. The title alludes to a very old Neil Young song about Richard Nixon that observes that even the execrable warmongering Nixon has feelings, etc. To say, as I did, that Butler's piece "blasts" Bush isn't quite accurate, I suppose. This entire post was, in my mind, offered with tongue-in-cheek, and so I allowed myself some excess.]
First Pic: a home in Old Town Tustin (taken this afternoon).
