Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: For the historical ache

Rebel Girl isn't up to much these days, hence the light posting. (Some of you have asked.) She is sunk instead in a place, a soul kitchen of sorts, where she keeps measuring what all has been done for what result and, well, the sum distresses her, suggestive as it is of cool, conscious betrayal, pervasive corruption and a jaunty disregard. She is certain that there must be another way to weigh and measure, to count and figure but she hasn't found it. 2 plus 2 continues to equal four.

So, more poetry until her own words come back. This one is by Stephen Dunn.

To a Terrorist

For the historical ache, the ache passed down
which finds its circumstance and becomes
the present ache, I offer this poem

without hope, knowing there's nothing,
not even revenge, which alleviates
a life like yours. I offer it as one

might offer his father's ashes
to the wind, a gesture
when there's nothing else to do.

Still, I must say to you:
I hate your good reasons.
I hate the hatefulness that makes you fall

in love with death, your own included.
Perhaps you're hating me now,
I who own my own house

and live in a country so muscular,
so smug, it thinks its terror is meant
only to mean well, and to protect.

Christ turned his singular cheek,
one man's holiness another's absurdity.
Like you, the rest of us obey the sting,

the surge. I'm just speaking out loud
to cancel my silence. Consider it an old impulse,
doomed to become mere words.

The first poet probably spoke to thunder
and, for a while, believed
thunder had an ear and a choice.

Those "clueless" liberals

Bob Herbert’s column the other day (Hold Your Heads Up) was a reality check for liberals and conservatives:

Troglodytes on the right are no respecters of reality. They say the most absurd things and hardly anyone calls them on it. Evolution? Don’t you believe it. Global warming? A figment of the liberal imagination.
…
Why liberals don’t stand up to this garbage, I don’t know. Without the extraordinary contribution of liberals — from the mightiest presidents to the most unheralded protesters and organizers — the United States would be a much, much worse place than it is today.
…

There would be absolutely no chance that a Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin could make a credible run for the highest offices in the land. Conservatives would never have allowed it.
…
Civil rights? Women’s rights? Liberals went to the mat for them time and again against ugly, vicious and sometimes murderous opposition. They should be forever proud.
…

The liberals who [as Mitt Romney would have it] didn’t have a clue gave us Social Security and unemployment insurance, both of which were contained in the original Social Security Act. Most conservatives despised the very idea of this assistance to struggling Americans. Republicans hated Social Security…. “In the procedural motions that preceded final passage,” wrote historian Jean Edward Smith in his biography, “FDR,” “House Republicans voted almost unanimously against Social Security. But when the final up-or-down vote came on April 19 [1935], fewer than half were prepared to go on record against.”



Pictures: Saddleback College Library, yesterday

Inconvenient details

Hmmm, according to this morning’s Washington Post (Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home), “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a 'per diem' allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.”

It turns out that Palin often takes her kids and even her whole family to events in Alaska and elsewhere, and the state pays for it. When she visited New York for a Newsweek event a year ago, she took one of her kids. They stayed at a $707-a-night hotel.

Swanky!

Reminds me of Raghu Mathur and his $1000 chair. And his expensive Raghulia for commencement. And his "security allowance." And his Mercedes. And...

Gotta go. I've got a class.

I'll say it: Sarah Palin is a liar

Politics as usual from the "fresh" face Sarah Palin.
Fought earmarks? Fought the "bridge to nowhere"?
Don't think so.
If the above link doesn't work, try this one:
"No thanks" for the bridge to nowhere?

Swell

Well, now the LA Times is getting in on the act. In this morning’s Times (California's community colleges having a swell time), we’re told that “Recent high school graduates and mid-career adults are flocking to community colleges this fall as California campuses report enrollment jumps tied to the weak economy.”

Yep, when the economy goes south, community college enrollments go north.

Apparently, “returning adults” are a part of the story, or so says a counselor at Santiago Canyon College, which is experiencing a 9% enrollment increase. 

“Officials,” we’re told, “are estimating enrollment jumps of 6% to 15% this fall at California's 110 two-year campuses….”

According to state official Erik Skinner, districts say that “high unemployment rates” are helping drive this sudden swellage.

Naturally, not all the news is good. The governor’s proposed budget only allows for a 2% growth, and so, soon, colleges will experience shortfalls.

‘Cause community colleges don’t turn people away.

Naturally, the situation is different for the South Orange County Community College District, whose funding comes largely from local property taxes and not from Sacramento.

On the other hand, local property values have been declining significantly, and that means that fewer tax dollars will be collected, right?

Does anybody know how this works? When it comes to money and such, I'm a dolt.

Enrollments are up—but especially at Irvine Valley College

During flex week and at the August board meeting, Chancellor Raghu Mathur crowed repeatedly about increased enrollments and FTES. A trustee openly inferred that the district’s promotional efforts were responsible.

But the obvious question was: how widespread is this phenomenon? Is it state-wide? County-wide? 

Nobody seemed to know.

Well, it does appear that there is a general positive trend afoot. In yesterday’s OC Reg, our pal Marla Jo Fisher reports that, locally, “Enrollment was down at local public universities this fall–the first time in anyone's memory that the student population in a growing county actually decreased. But their loss was a gain for community colleges, which picked up students who'd been shut out of four-year schools.” (Students pick community colleges over universities this fall)

Marla seems to be implying that the increase in enrollments at community colleges can be attributed to the lower enrollments at public universities. I'm not so sure about that.

Marla provides a chart of “projected enrollment” per (local) college compared to enrollments a year ago:

Chapman U  +1.7
Soka U  +7

UCI  -6.8
CS Fullerton  -1.4

Cypress  +8.7
Fullerton  +7
IVC  +15.7
Saddleback  +8
Santa Ana  +0.8
Santiago Canyon  +0.5

According to a spokesman for OCC, “The cost of tuition and just about everything else is higher at the four-years.” He notes the high price of gas as well. Marla says that state universities have been “hiking student fees.” Meanwhile, “community colleges saw their fees reduced to $20 a unit last year.”

Obviously, the real standouts here are Cypress, Fullerton, IVC, and Saddleback—all of them community colleges. Their increases are matched by that of Soka, a private university in South County.

So, at least in Orange County, there is a general trend, and it is pretty consistent, and, no doubt, it is assisted to some extent by fee increases at UC. But since relatively few students go to our local UC (it has about 25,000 students total), this phenomenon would seem to reflect other factors, such as the economy.

WHAT ABOUT IVC?

But none of this explains why Irvine Valley College experienced roughly double the increase compared to the other colleges. IVC is the real anomaly here.

Anybody got any ideas?

(CAVEAT: I should mention that, historically, newspaper articles have tended to garble college data. Remember all that nonsense about "transfer rates" a year or so ago? For the actual data re our two colleges, see below.)

STATE-WIDE, NATION-WIDE:

It does appear that the enrollments trend is state-wide and nation-wide. Two weeks ago, Inside Higher Ed (The Community College Enrollment Boom) reported that “While enrollment has been growing steadily at many two-year institutions, this fall appears likely to set records….”

So Mathur can quit crowing. 

But, again, what about IVC?

ACCURATE & UP-TO-DATE DATA:

For up-to-date enrollment figures, go to Headcount. It seems to show IVC up by 10% and Saddleback up by 8%. (The exact figures are 10.4 and 7.9.)

FTES is what matters. (FTES: take the hours of student-instruction and divide by the hours of a full-time student. Many cc students do not take a traditional full-time load; many take less; many take more.) "Enrollments" (headcount) are only an indirect (and irregular) indication of FTES.

For current FTES data, see Preliminary enrollment comparison report. As of yesterday, Saddleback FTES was up 9.3%. IVC FTES was up 15.6%. 

That last figure is pretty spectacular.

So I guess she's extra smart, too

From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, attended four colleges in six years (one of them twice) before earning her bachelor’s degree. The Associated Press on Thursday tracked Palin’s move from college to college. She attended (in order) Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, the University of Idaho, and Matanuska-Susitna College, and then returned to the University of Idaho, where she earned a degree.

Population of Alaska: 683,478 (Fewer than Santa Ana + Anaheim)
Population of OC: 3,002,048

Alaska's "state look": perky

Palin censors books?