Easing into Spain

Easing into the EU I eased into my stay in Spain through Amsterdam, my most often-used hub in Europe because it has the shortest, most direct flight from San Francisco. On the shuttle bus from the airport hotel to Schiphol to catch my flight to Barcelona on KLM, two young men, who turned out to be from Spain, were returning home after taking training as airplane mechanics at the KLM center in the Netherlands. My focus during this part of my stay in Europe was to collect information with which to write an article about the upcoming holiday in Catalonia, Dia de Sant Jordi, which is the day of books and flowers in Catalonia, a cultural holiday, that I’d happened upon two years before when I was visiting Barcelona for the first time. I had been reading about the Catalonian independence question in the the newspapers both in the United States and in Spain, and I wanted some people on the street’s opinions of the situation and how they thought about it. And I had the angle to explore in the article about the political context of the situation in Catalonia, which had stirred a lot of emotions, enveloping the traditional, Catalan holiday of Dia de Sant Jordi. So I asked the two airplane mechanics what they thought about it. The one guy said he was Catalan, and he had a positive opinion about the idea, and he said he supported having the referendum in October. After that referendum, in which half the people voted to be independent from Spain, the government in Madrid took over the government duties in Catalonia, arrested several of the political leaders of the referendum, and stripped Catalonia of much of its constitutionally-guaranteed rights of autonomy. His friend was from Madrid, and he seemed a little reluctant to talk about what he thought. I’m not so sure about it, he told me. He didn’t like people being critical of Spain. Both he and his friend were amiable, and both told me that the bigger problem in both Madrid and Barcelona was corruption. That exchange with the two airplane mechanics was my first talk with anybody from Spain on my trip, and I thought it was a symbol for the new Europe that a man from Madrid and a man from Barcelona were flying on an Airbus for their Dutch company talking to an American tourist. The new Europe has a unique diversity among people, especially hub international cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona, where old, medieval cities were fast becoming high-tech 21st century start-up engines. Often this Catalonia question was lingering in the conversations I had with people for three months. “What do you think about it?” is something the people I met in Spain often asked. To talk about stuff is the way of life here. So, as a reporter, I reached-out often to talk to people, hoping to capture a story or a viewpoint from an everyday person that I could record and then weave into my musings about living in Spain and Spainish. Many hours I spend many days puzzling out words, reading, experiences and I was wandering around each day in Castellano and Catalan. Everyday was engaging. A simple walk down the street to get a coffee and a bocadillo was many steps out of my usual morning routine. Barcelona’s neighborhoods are vibrant and dynamic, a “pedestrian-centered” life style. And socially-engaging. People converse. All the time.

The Bookish Traveller's Spring 2014 Tour

The Bookish Traveller's World Tour of Bookstores and Libraries a city's bookstores and libraries are the major indicators of what people in the city read. Hence, they are indicators of what people in that city think. After a long drive that included circling Paris twice on a failed attempt to locate the hotel then running out of fuel because of a broken gauge, waiting for a French tow truck after sleeping in the van at 8 degrees centigrade, I arrived in La Rochelle. In France, I have a different attitude about life; I feel as if I have energy to live as much time again as I have lived since I first visited the Netherlands and France in 1977, and again in 1979, with side trips three times to the UK. Walking in Paris this summer, I had the insight that I was connecting back to who I was before the tangent taken of family and career. The three decades and a half intervening between 1977 and 2013 is a lived life of events and feelings and reflections about those events. My Bookish Traveller's World Tour of Bookstores will occupy me for awhile. This time, it took me to the La Rochelle Library. A city's library and bookstores, realized one day in France, are a prism through which to glimpse a city's intellectual life. What people read is a window into what they think. A city's library and bookstore is a nexus of the reading community--such places are the realm of the bookish traveller. My travel most recently on the European motorways brought me north of Paris to Ermenonville and Parc Jean Jacques Rousseau. (http://www.parc-rousseau.fr) His name is familiar to this park, in the English style, as a nineteenth century philosopher. There is a small philosophy bookstore in the park's office and center, wherein philosophy events are organized to take place in the park, a short drive from Paris North. The Bookish Traveller's Favorite Book Stops Shakespeare and Moe's in Berkeley Black Oak Books in Berkeley Recycled Books in San Jose and Campbell Logos in Santa Cruz City Lights in San Francisco Miami Coconut Grove Manchester, England Shakespeare in Paris LaRochelle Library John…in Detroit

Surviving a school shooter lockdown

Letter from the home of gun violence; Commentary from a lockdown survivor Charles Heimler (charlesheimler@yahoo.com) I was a first hand witness to a school lockdown.  Faced with third hand reports of a black man on campus with a gun, our school was put into active shooter response mode.  And the word came from the college administration to lockdown the area in which I work.   This happened one week ago today, and I'm still reeling from the experience.  The experience left me highly concerned about my job--this is not what I expected to be encountering 30 years ago when I began teaching in a community college.  Now, I have thought about the idea of always having now to be prepared for a shooter in school;  now, it's the holiday and it is not until January that I have to return to my office and classroom on the campus. We haven't had time in the end of the semester rush to even debrief our experiences; the only word from the college leaders was an email the next day about the episode that ended "all's well that ends well".   I reflect upon the experience, and my part in it, I can't hardly say that all is well.  Like many of us, I've become a student of gun violence on campus in the last few weeks.  And the national experience following the recent horrendous events have been brought directly to me as a participant and eyewitness. Teachers are now told that they must respond the the shooter before the first responders arrive.  The little training we've received makes an important point salient--you and your students are on your own when the gunman arrives; don't expect the SWAT team to save you.   I've been reading the accounts of the specific episode at our college.  Student journalists posted to facebook during the lockdown.  The media trucks appeared on the campus in the middle of the incident which occured during their prime evening newscasts.  News outlets across the country, the UK, and the Phillipines reported on the event.  Five pages of links are available on the internet. Meanwhile, the commentary about shooters in schools continues on airwaves and print periodicals.  Even though the experience at our school was triggered only by the alleged sighting of a black man in a white tee shirt with a gun, it was treated by the campus authorities as a live shooter incident, and they responded according to a shooter on campus training that prepped them for such a mindset last September. The person who make the report has yet to be located.  That that response was prompted by a third hand report indicates the power of a false rumor, perhaps festered by the authorities themselves, who during the same week as the shooter incident issued all campus warnings about a black man with a knife on campus, a smell from the boiler that called out the fire department, and the malfunction of the lights in the student parking lot.  Many commentators have expressed their punditry about the gun violence that has overwhelmed America in this holiday season.  Yet have they the perspective that I and others have from surviving as an eyewitness to a campus shooter lockdown? Now, teachers are "pre-responders", tasked with organizing the students and the shooter before the civil authorities are able to arrive. Now  I see campus shooters through the lens of my own eyes, and having barricaded a score of students behind closed doors and awaited the arrival of a gunman and his hail of bullets to arrive into the former sanctity of the school, I now wonder about the "next time", and am told by all that this is the new normal for American teachers.  Not what I'd expected three decades ago when entering the teaching profession.  

San Jose City College Lockdown

Here is the interview from an eyewitness, yours truly. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/8082782-san-jose-city-college-professor-recalls-lockdown/

City Colleges In California

Colleges must reinvent their leadership in their communities to be effective. San Francisco is the most recent story. One told further south in the Santa Clara Valley at another community two year college--San Jose City College. http://wap.ktvu.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=242&nid=2325802647&cid=5038&scid=-1&ith=0&title=Local+News&headtitle=Local+News

Finn World Masters in Wales Opening Day

Finn World Masters opens in tropical Pwllheli How lucky can you get? After a month of terrible weather across the UK, the Finn World Masters in Pwllheli North Wales has opened amid soaring temperatures and brilliant blue skies. The 131 Masters from 23 countries who are gathered in Pwllheli just cannot believe their good fortune. The championship was opened, Sunday, by the President of the Masters fleet, Fons van Gent (NED), to the sounds of the 40 strong Caernarfon Male Voice Choir and in the presence of a host of local dignitaries including Lord Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales until 2011 and Lord Wigley, former Member of the Welsh Assembly for Caernarfon. The opening ceremony was opened by Gareth Hughes Jones, President of the Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club, who thanked all the many sponsors, in particular the Welsh Government, and the Gwyedd Council, as well Firmhelm which supplied the supplied the event shirts. Before declaring the championship open, Fon van Gent said, “I would like to thank the Pwllheli Sailing Club for hosting our Finn World Masters 2012. We really like the venue. About the weather, we were told that in Pwllheli that it's cold and rainy so I brought all the warm clothing that I own. But I remembered the song 'Wherever you go always take the weather with you.' So I did.” Then Fons van Gent handed the Finn Masters flag over to Gareth Hughes Jones and the championship was officially declared open. The Caernarfon Male Voice Choir entertained the 300 sailors families and guest to a selection of various songs before everyone enjoyed the wonderful array of food available and the free beer courtesy of the Purple Moose Brewery. Practice The practice race was sailed earlier on Sunday. Despite the great weather, the price the sailors paid was a fitful wind as the forecast force 3-4 disappeared soon after the scheduled start, with two failed attempts to get the fleet away. After an hour's postponement, a sea breeze filled in and the fleet sailed two laps of a windward leeward course before being sent in. Laurent Hay (FRA) was the early leader, but opted for an early shower. Greg Wilcox (NZL) soon took the lead, but as the new breeze distorted the course the boats were sent home. The first two races are scheduled for 12.00 on Monday. The Olympic Torch Relay also visits the club on Monday, the second time it has coincided with a major Finn Championship in two weeks. The championship consists of eight races including a medal race for the top 10 on Friday. The welcome from the club has been tremendous and all the sailors are looking forward to a great championship. A full gallery of photos can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finn-Class/110408332633 ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finn-Class/110408332633 ) Follow the event on the club website at: http://www.pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk/finn2012/en/home/ ( http://www.pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk/finn2012/en/home/ )

Academic freedom and college governance

The Academic Senate of San Jose City College Graduation week update---- May 24, 2012 One of the most important projects your senate needs to complete before June  30 is to write minutes of all the senate meetings during last fall semester. We have tape recordings of the meetings. We have to listen to the meetings ( each is about 2-3 hours long) and then write "action style minutes" of what was decided and reported during the meetings. Lisa Brillon, our Program Assistant ( until June 30), will download the meeting voice recording  to your USB drive and then you can listen to the meeting on your computer and take notes on what you hear. Then work with Ms. Brillon to produce the typed text. These minutes will then be posted on the academic senate website to be used by accreditation report writers as evidence of our college meeting accreditation standards. I would like faculty to help with this. I will make it worth your while with small tokens of appreciation. Please let me know when Charles Heimler (1996) Reading and English __________________________________ I have been asked by Human Resources and President Kavalier to recruit four faculty members to serve on the hiring committee for the Vice President of Academic Affairs position. On President Kavalier's recommendation, the Board of Trustees did not renew the current VPAA's contract for next year. As you know, the practice for appointing faculty to hiring committees is that an open call is made by email to faculty who indicate their interest by email.  These volunteers are then approved by a vote of the Academic Senate at a regular meeting. Because the senate has held its last meeting of the year, we will not be able to follow that practice in this case. At its last meeting, the senate voted to grant decision making powers until its next regular meeting to the Academic Senate President  and the Senate Executive Committee, which consists of the senate officers and two other senators elected to that committee. According to the Senate Bylaws (Article III, section C) “During summer and winter breaks, the Academic Senate President may, after soliciting all eligible instructors by email one week in advance, make appointments to hiring/screening committees.” And according to the Senate Bylaws (Article III, section E), the senate executive committee shall assist in “making decisions with the senate president when the senate is not in regular session outside the academic calendar.”  According to the Senate Bylaws (Article III, section E), “the executive committee shall meet as necessary in open meetings between regular senate meetings and/or as needed outside the regular academic calendar.” Since the past practice has been to allow seven days for faculty to self-nominate themselves before a vote is taken, the nominating process will have to extend beyond the last official day of the semester.  The Senate Executive Committee will review nominations for this committee at their executive committee meeting on June 18, 2012, at a time and place to be determined, and  consult with the Academic Senate President regarding hiring committee member selection. If you wish to serve on the VPAA hiring committee, please reply to this email by June 17, 2012.  Candidates must be available to serve on the committee from June 18 through July 31, 2012. Thank you for your interest, " Charles Heimler, Academic Senate President Fabio Gonzalez, Academic Senate Vice-President Joseph King, Academic Senate Treasurer Dan McElroy, Academic Senator Executive Committee Member Jose Cabrera, Academic Senator Executive Committee Member