"Hey, we're not making this up," part 2. Trustee Fuentes' Spanish Adventure

THIS IS the second in a series that we call "Hey, we're not making this up!"

Who would believe that a trustee might nix a college's study abroad program to Spain (in part) because Spain had withdrawn its troops from Iraq?

Don't be ridiculous! Nobody would do that!

Oh yeah? Check this out (on YouTube, from 2005).

Sitting rubber ducks (uh-oh!)

According to today's Times (Heavy rain expected for Southern California),

.....Four days of rain are expected to hit the Southland beginning tomorrow, with the brunt of the storm forecast for Saturday, when up to 10 inches of rain could fall in the mountains, forecasters said.
.....The weather system will barrel through Southern California in three waves—moderate, strong and weaker—that are expected to peak Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer in Oxnard.
.....The storm could bring the most rain to Southern California since 2005, and possibly even since the 1990s, said Stan Wasowski, a weather service forecaster in San Diego.
....."It's going to seem like a lot because we've gone a while without seeing much rain," he said.
.....The weather could lead to mudslides on fire-ravaged hillsides, forecasters said.
....."The ground is dry, it can soak up quite a bit of water. But once we get into the rain on Saturday, that's when the problems could start because the ground is already wet," Wasowski said.


.....One to three inches of rain is expected to fall Saturday in the valleys and eight to 10 inches could drop in mountain areas in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Wasowski said.
.....Heavy rainfall is also expected in Orange County, where six to eight inches of rain could fall Saturday in the foothills.
.....Though the storm is shaping up to be one of the largest in several years, forecasters noted that things could change.
....."It appears it could be that way, but we won't know until it actually hits," Hoffer said.



Meanwhile, the OC Reg (New forecast calls for 6 inches of rain in foothills) reports that

.....The core of the Pacific storm moving toward Orange County will arrive Saturday rather than Friday and will drop up to 6 inches of rain in the foothills, possibly causing flooding and mudslides, the National Weather Service says. Earlier forecasts called for 2-4 inches in the eastern foothills and lower Santa Ana Mountains.
.....The projected rainfall for coastal areas also has been doubled, to 2 to 4 inches, and forecasters say thunderstorms could roll through Saturday and Sunday. Coastal waterspouts are possible.
.....The leading edge of the storm will bring sprinkles to Orange County late Thursday night and light rain on Friday. Then the core of the storm moves in early Saturday. The weather service says the rain will be heavy and sustained at times, which would make the burn areas in Santiago, Silverado and Modjeska canyons especially prone to flooding and slides.

(All photos taken today in an around Modjeska Canyon)

Don Wagner versus the American Library Association

ONE THING about being a DISSENTER in the South Orange County Community College District: when you tell outsiders about our Holocaust denying and Spain-bashing trustees, our ruthless and/or illiterate Chancellors, our free speech-defying board, etc.—well, THEY THINK WE'RE JUST MAKING IT UP.

Not so. Here, for example, is concrete evidence to the contrary. I present a video clip from a SOCCCD board of trustees meeting in 2006. In this case, trustee DON WAGNER (nowadays, the president of the board) successfully ceases our colleges' memberships in that group of "liberal busybodies" known as the American Library Association. Yes, the wacky ALA!



Two months later, dissenting trustees sought to reverse the decision, but they were thwarted, owing to one trustee stepping out of the room to make a phone call.

Yep. (See Don successfully micromanages institutional memberships.)

HEY, WE'RE NOT MAKING THIS STUFF UP!

Dancing with the Czars

—South Orange County Community College District Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur seen here on an upcoming special edition of ABC's hit series Dancing With the Stars.

According to some sources, this special installment of the popular program, which is already taped, is to be entitled "Dancing with bêtes noires."

Other sources insist that it will be called "Dancing That's Bizarre."

Sarah's birthday party

Me 'n' the Janster went to little Sarah's 5th B-Day party today. It was at some community park in Fountain Freakin' Valley. I didn't notice no fountains. No valley neither.

That's OC for you.

That's Sarah on the right with one of her little friends.

Sarah seems to be the "leader" type. But she's sweet, and way polite. You can see that in her face, cancha? She never howls or shrieks.

Here's her brother, Adam, who kept telling me that I was doing everything wrong. I think he's working through some issues that have nothing to do with me.

Sweet kid, though.

The party started with some "science experiments"—we missed that because we were late.

Sarah's very scientific. I keep buyin' her dinosaurs and shit. Got her a bug camera for Christmas. She's into optics.

Here's Sarah & friend checkin' out one of my new nieces. Man, they're pilin' up fast, those nieces. Can't keep 'em straight. This one's Natalie. Or maybe Catherine. I suggested that they put a mark on one of 'em to tell 'em apart.

Here's one of Sarah's cousins. I always take snaps of this sweet kid cuz of her laughing eyes.

Here's Sarah's "Chinese dragon" B-Day cake. Don't ask.

Sarah's holding forth and her friend is all ears.

Later, on my way home to the canyon, I drove through Rancho Santa Margarita. Took this shot through my windshield.

You can see Saddleback Mountain in the middle. See how it's wearing some clouds?

Not a bad day. Little kids are almost as good as puppies and kittens, if you ask me, and that's saying something. You know what I mean.

P.S.: I found this one up in a tree.

At one point, they lined the kids up against the wall à la Usual Suspects. Don't know why.

Friday evening in the Santa Ana Mountains

Peters Lake area (near Irvine Regional Park)

Peters Lake

Lambrose Canyon (just off Live Oak Canyon Rd.)

Writing instruction: “Hunches and intuition” vs. empirical evidence

From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: How to Tell Whether Writing Instruction Works:

.....As writing program directors gathered Thursday at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association [MLA], many voiced confidence that their efforts are making a difference. But at one of the kickoff sessions for the meeting, many of these officials said they worried that views of their success were based more on hunches and intuition than solid evidence. That may be changing, however, as composition scholars described a range of projects designed to test the effectiveness of their efforts. Some said they see a shift in composition away from theory and toward more practical research on student learning and instructor strategies.
.....“For writing centers and programs, the dearth of empirical research is dangerous,” said Linda S. Bergmann, director of the Writing Lab at Purdue University. Too much of what writing instructors believe is based on “lore,” she said. At a time of political demands for assessment and commercial companies promising quick results if they take over tutoring services, writing instructors need evidence of what works, she said.
.....The research projects described at the meeting, in Chicago, are generally small scale, involving one or two campuses each. But those conducting them — and audience members — said there was a need for more such studies, and for efforts to enlarge and replicate some of those being conducted.
.....…Chris Anson, director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University, said that there were many reasons to support such research projects. Politically, he said, writing programs need to be able to defend their programs. But educationally, he said the reality is that research could find flaws in current practice. “We need to be ready to abandon cherished practices if they don’t work,” he said.
.....The projects discussed suggest “a reinvigoration of our research agenda,” Anson said, and that could ultimately get to what really matters, he said: Finding out “what really works and what doesn’t work.”

Product of intuition