The SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT —
"[The] blog he developed was something that made the district better." - Tim Jemal, SOCCCD BoT President, 7/24/23
Check it out! Tracy Daly’s office (district PIO) provides photos (click here): of Saddleback College Commencement and Irvine Valley College Commencement
From Trabuco Canyon in California, Annie and I headed northeast on I15, toward Las Vegas and beyond. Just past St. George, Utah, we headed east and then south to just above the border of Arizona: the tiny town of Kanab. That's just a stone's throw from the even weirder and tinier Fredonia, Arizona to the south.
Our trip's been good. The Best Friends Sanctuary is very impressive. More about that later this week.
And I'm getting to like this goofy little town of Kanab, Utah.
Today, after many hours with the wonderful cats at BFS, we went back to town to tour one of Kanab's oldest buildings, a residence constructed in the late 1800s.
Naturally, the guy who built it was a Mormon, but, after two years, the church sent him on some kind of mission abroad. The new resident, natch, was a Mormon, one with six wives. In about 1889, he spent two years in prison for "cohabitation"--i.e., somebody snitched on his polygamous ways. Evidently, after prison, he came back to Kanab and continued building his family, which became enormous, judging by the pictures.
When I got to the house, the door was open, and so I walked in. I couldn't find anybody, but there were the usual cards with historical information on walls and furniture. One sign explained that photographing was prohibited. Drat!
The place was beautiful. It's just what you'd expect, with high ceilings, wooden floors, wonderful moldings, and such. All of the furniture was "period."
I examined the many old family photos. My God this was a big family! I especially liked wife #6.
I found the staircase and started climbing. Half way up I saw a figure--what I took to be a mannequin of an old woman. Once I got to the top of the stairs, the mannequin started moving, which was only slightly startling. (It's Kanab.) Turns out she was the gal in charge of showing the house. It soon became clear that she didn't get many customers. Likely I was the first one this week. This month? This year?
The top floor was way spooky, man. These Mormons never got around to finishing the top floor, and so the walls were thin slats of dark wood. The old mannequin-lady, who was pretty nice, explained about the condition and about all of the odd junk strewn around the rooms. At one point, she mentioned that "these kids" had come around in "'07" to make "that movie."
"They made a movie here?"
"Yes, they did, dear. There were only two stars. A girl and a boy."
"Do you remember the name of the movie?"
"No, dear, but I think it was from a book called 'Monster in the Attic.'"
Well, that was pretty cool. I was already aware that over 100 movies and TV shows have been filmed in and around Kanab. At one point, also today, during an amazing sudden rainstorm, we came across a wonderful old shack up against one of those amazing red cliffs that surround the town. It was constructed for episodes of "Gunsmoke" in 1965. Very cool.
Almost a year ago, Rebel Girl and the little guy spent the day outside the Laguna Hills Civic Center, handing out roses and congratulations to the first same sex couples married in Orange County. It was a glorious sun-drenched Southern California day. You can read all about it here.
Today, at 10 AM, the State Supreme Court will publish its Proposition 8 ruling which will affect the validity of those marriages - and the future of marriage equality in California.
Regardless of the outcome, supporters of marriage equality will gather at the Old Orange County Courthouse at 6 PM today for a peaceful rally and march.
The courthouse is located at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd. (between N Broadway & Sycamore) in Santa Ana.
For the record, Red Emma and Rebel Girl tied the knot at that old courthouse, just the two of them, sans friends and family, one Friday in November, years and years ago. It was very romantic. She cried.
Rebel Girl hopes that some of you will come out this evening and march with your colleagues, friends, neighbors, students and family members.
As I write, I am in shitty motel in Kanab, Utah, a tiny town just north of the Arizona border. Not far is my ultimate destination: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a haven for displaced, homeless or unwanted domestic animals.
Kanab seems very nice, but it’s seriously Mormon. It was founded by Mormon pioneer Levi Stewart (1812-1878), a guy with no sense of humor whatsoever. To give you a sense of the town and its politics, consider this: in 2006, the town’s mayor and city council passed the following resolution:
"We envision a local culture that upholds the marriage of a man to a woman, and a woman to a man, as ordained of God... We see our homes as open to a full quiver of children, the source of family continuity and social growth. We envision young women growing into wives, homemakers, and mothers; and we see young men growing into husbands, home-builders, and fathers.”
Oh well, no town’s perfect.
Nearby is tiny Colorado City (Arizona), a notorious haven for polygamists. Drove through there last night.
You remember Colorado City:
In January 2004, the local religious leader, Warren Jeffs, expelled a group of twenty men, including the mayor, and gave their wives and children to other men. Jeffs stated he was acting on the orders of God, while the men expelled claimed they were penalized for disagreeing with Jeffs. (Wikipedia)
Funny how the Lord speak with so many different people and says so many different things. For some reason, He never tells me squat. Hey, I'm all ears!
Well, I'm here about the geology (photographic opportunities) and the animals, not the Fundamentalist Mormons. But I may stay for the Mormons.
The Best Friends Sanctuary is famous for two reasons, I suppose: first, the BF Network had an official role in post-Hurricane Katrina animal rescue. Second, BFS became the refuge of 22 of Michael Vick’s fighting dogs.
Oh yeah, and then there's the TV show Dogtown. It's set in the Sanctuary.
Things are slow around here. The pace of driving is glacial. A friend warned that, in some of these towns, cops just love to give speeding tickets, and the speed limits are very low, so people really do drive very slowly. It was weird driving through these town last night. It was only 9 or 10 and things were pretty well shut down. Even the parked cars seemed very parked, as if they'd been sitting still for years.
Last night, we were headed to a friend’s house, and so we called ahead just before arriving. Should we bring beer?
Can’t get beer in this town, she said. Luckily, you can drink it, if you’re careful, and so she had driven off somewhere earlier yesterday for a six-pack.
Today, we may head down to the Grand Canyon. We might start volunteer work at the Sanctuary. Dunno.
One more thing. Among the little towns we passed through last night to get here is Fredonia, another Mormon settlement. I talked to someone there.
"Fredonia?"
"Yeah, Fredonia. It's about freedom."
"Interesting."
"Technically, what with the 'ia' ending, the name refers to freedom for women."
I haven’t much time—I'm heading to “Best Friends” in Utah today, an operation with whom several friends are affiliated.
I thought yesterday’s Commencement at IVC went very well: the new location was good (though not good for shutterbugs), the weather was good, the speakers were good, and turnout was good. Obviously, everybody had a great time. Evidently, lots of other folks think so too. (For pictures, see IVC's Commencement.)
Trustee John Williams was supposed to do the “invocation”—a bit of a political issue, that—but he was a no-show. Maybe that had something to do with what the OC grand jury had to say about him a couple of weeks ago. Dunno.
IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore gave a brief speech filled with interesting factoids and a story about a grizzly bear, a Harvard student, and an IVC student. The story was a bit of a head-scratcher for me, but he sure was cheerful telling it. (I heard someone cheer for the bear.)
Chancellor Raghu Mathur, as expected, offered a series of quotations. I will resist the temptation to be snarky, though I will say that he offered seven of them, which entitles one lucky person in the pool to a fast $225.
Sharon Salinger, the keynote speaker, wasn’t really a “keynote” speaker at all—nobody picked up on her themes (maybe the students did)—but she was very good nonetheless. She spoke of current events, betrayals of values, under-funding for education, etc.—things that aren’t often mentioned at IVC or Saddleback College or SOCCCD gatherings, owing to the prevailing boarditudinal Neanderthalitude.
I noticed that, after her address, Tom Fuentes, Trustee Cave Man #1, sat next to Salinger for a while, no doubt attempting to refute her theses. She must’ve been mightily amused.
I’m told that there was a weird echo produced by the nearby Beefsteak Building, but I figure that’s a plus.
Afterword, some of us went down to Tia Juana’s Bar, which is inside an old soybean packing plant. Very cool. Trustee Don Wagner and Glenn came along, and they seemed to have a great time. I was on the other end of the table, talking with a historian about P-38s and B-17s.
The Reb and I couldn’t help but notice that, somehow, overnight, the infamous Humanities and Languages “botanical garden” had been transformed into a lovely park-like spot, with perfect grass. Check out the before and after pics below:
