In Orange County, a Republican Fortress Turns Democratic
New York Times
By Adam Nagourney and Robert Gebeloff
• Dec. 31, 2018

     …The Democratic capture of four Republican-held congressional seats in Orange County in November — more than half the seven congressional seats Democrats won from Republicans in California — toppled what had long been a fortress of conservative Republicanism. The sweep stunned party leaders, among them Paul D. Ryan, the outgoing House speaker. Even Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor-elect of California, won the county where Richard M. Nixon was born.
     But the results reflected what has been a nearly 40-year rise in the number of immigrants, nonwhite residents and college graduates that has transformed this iconic American suburb into a Democratic outpost, highlighted in a Times analysis of demographic data going back to 1980, the year Ronald Reagan was elected president….

Young whippersnappers

   Met with an old friend last night. Hadn't seen him for years. We'd always shared a near fanatical love of music. In the old days—30 years ago—each of us would introduce the other to beloved music, old and new. It was great.
   Last night he acknowledged that, in recent years, he just stopped listening to new music, that he only listens to the old stuff.
   That's a shame, I thought. There's so much great new music out there—though I mostly fail trying to keep up. So I sent him a list of links to some newish music that I managed to hear, including one song by Car Seat Headrest, a band led by a young whippersnapper with quite a future, I think.
   Here the Headrests do one of their own plus Neil Young's great "Powderfinger," which is from the 70s, I think. (I was a grad student, house-sitting in Laguna Beach, when that came out. I remember it like it was yesterday.)
   Hail, hail, whippersnappers!

A Seventies Xmas Eve (@ the homestead, and for the last time)

From my Philco radio, 1972

In college, I listened a lot to Mott the Hoople—and the Kinks. Saw the latter there (at UCI). School Boys in Disgrace!

     On Xmas Eve, my bro's kids came in, like a land invasion. Soon, Adam played jazz on one of the old guitars—God, he's good!—and Sarah played Mozart on the shitty, old piano. The twins—they were rocking' some Hershey's chocolate, feet tapping, eyes darting. 
     Natalie had forgotten to bring her sax. Dang!
     Yeah, from the two ends of the old Bauer homestead, Adam and Sarah played—mostly at the same time! Noisy but good. Even Ma smiled, eyes closed, in her wheel chair in the corner.
     At one point, out of the blue, Sarah started playing Bohemian Rhapsody, and even Jan noticed and strained to hear. 
     Magic filled the house. I felt that, somehow, we had all somehow converged on 1975, my 1975, when I listened (much too closely) to Mott the Hoople—and, yes, even to Freddie M. and the boys.
     An' these kids! They're just full of surprises!
     Long live rock & Xmas Eve

Memphis, 1975 - another favorite musical moment in time; Big Star's 3rd

Everybody, it seems, loves BR, one way or another

Thinking positively

By request

Persistent suckage

Thinking real hard

DeVos Outlines ‘Rethinking’ of Higher Education
(Inside Higher Ed)
Secretary and Education Department officials today outline plans for looming accreditation reform negotiation, describing focus on credit transfer and credential inflation.

In a meeting with college presidents and association officials Wednesday morning, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos planned to outline principles for her plan to revamp higher education rules, with a focus on accreditation.
. . .
The department described its priorities in two white papers released Wednesday -- on rethinking higher ed generally and on accreditation reform….

Unwelcome Guest
(Inside Higher Ed)

You a hooker?

Students at Northwestern want controversial visiting scholar who muses on race, intelligence and beauty, and who has been accused by colleagues of "bad science," off their campus.

“Are All Women Essentially Prostitutes?” “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?” and “What’s Wrong With Muslims?” Those titles may read like some of Reddit’s worst hits. But they’re real articles written by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist and reader in management at the London School of Economics and Political Science -- and current guest scholar at Northwestern University….

Another concerning communication, another failure to act: this time at UCI

The first note, left in her mailbox on Halloween.

Meanwhile, over at UC Irvine, a female professor turns to social media after the university fails to respond to letters and materials she receives that she considers threatening.

From  Alejandra Reyes-Veldarde's article in LA Times:
UC Irvine professor gets security escort after saying on Twitter that a colleague was harassing her

Richard Symanski

In [Lecturer Richard] Symanski’s letter posted by [chair of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, Kathleen] Treseder, he suggests that because of her identification with the #MeToo movement, she read the part of his book about a sexual harassment charge made against him. He warns that a large part of the novel focuses on sex and prostitutes.

The letter referenced Treseder’s involvement in the university’s investigation of geneticist Francisco J. Ayala, who was accused of sexually harassing several faculty members and graduate students. Treseder was one of Ayala’s accusers, and in June, the geneticist resigned.

In her tweets, Treseder included quotes from Symanski’s memoir, which also referenced an unpublished crime novel he wrote featuring a main character who executes academics.

“They were taken into a seminar room and, with one exception (a coward who jumped out the window instead of facing the killer’s humiliating charges), were killed with a sawed off shotgun,” Symanski writes in the memoir, describing part of his novel. “Nearly an entire academic department was eliminated.”

Treseder said she found the comments unsettling.

From Inside Higher Ed, Colleen Flaherty writing: Fearing a Colleague:

Kathleen Treseder

A handwritten note delivered on Halloween, which Treseder said was the first of multiple such missives from Symanski, is essentially an invitation to read his self-published memoir, Bad Boy Geographer. Sharing a copy of the book, Symanski wrote in the note, in part, “Since you found yourself in the middle of a highly visible sexual harassment issue, and now apparently strongly identify with the Me Too movement, you may want to read about the formal sexual harassment charge filed against me in 1995 at this very university, the very long chapter in this memoir titled, ‘The Inquisition.’”...

Other commenters remarked that [Symanski'] book included numerous derogatory statements about women, such as the following: "All these 'poor' and 'victimized' and 'oppressed' and 'sensitive' women don’t have the intelligence to see that men saying they want to fuck them is an enormous compliment, and if they don’t like the compliment, they can simply say: Thank you very much, but I think you’re too ugly or too old or I’m simply not interested. The reason women can’t do this is that beside their precious 'dignity,' they have their victimhood to worry about, and their quite fragile angry feminist egos to worry about, and more than a small handful have an overriding desire to emasculate men and make up for all the poor treatment they believe they have received since Adam met Eve."....

The university said in a statement Monday afternoon that its School of Biological Sciences and administration "intervened immediately as soon as we became aware of Treseder’s concerns” and that it’s been “working closely with all involved parties to reach a resolution for several weeks.” On its face, the account conflicts — at least in part — with Treseder’s in that it has in part responded to her requests.

On Monday, Treseder tweeted: "What bothers me most about this is that it highlights just how little I matter to @UC Irvine."

Rebel Girl knows the feeling. The themes and details present in the material shared by Treseder echo the ones present in the material the college received about Rebel Girl — as did the initial administrative response. 

*

Cookiemas celebrates its 12th year

Some fun. 10 hours of cookies and camaraderie. Rebel Girl notes it was well-attended with visitors from across the campus and the district. After setting it up it the morning  Rebel Girl had classes to teach so she didn't get to hob nob until the late afternoon, but fun was had by all.

Special thanks to Mother Fretz.

See you next year.