Mission Door-to-Door Walk for Free City College Spearheaded by Leslie Simon

This morning (Saturday, June 17, 2017) Leslie Simon brought us together at the Cafe Boheme for an orientation to walk door to door in the Mission with the good news that City College will be free beginning in the Fall this year.

We also wanted to make Mission residents aware of what PODER and ACCE are doing to assure more affordable housing.

Here you see Leslie Simon, who organized this action, as she gives the floor to Athena Waid, head of Organizing for the teachers' unions AFT 2121,  and Shanell Williams, member of the Board of Trustees.

Thea Shelby, the President of the Board of Trustees, also participated.

The group grew in number after 9:00 am.  Leslie treated volunteers to coffee or tea.

We headed out to talk to residents of the Mission and leave door hangers, and on our way someone passing by thanked us for what we were doing.  She turned out to be Hillary Ronen, who's on the board of Supervisors.  She's the one whose office I visited in City Hall, where she had an installation of art by Jane R. Willson--Metamorphosis--on March 8 after the rally for A Day without Women.

She's also the one who spoke so well (dynamically, sounding sincere) at the Quinceañera of La Colectiva on May 24.  http://tinamartinsanfranciscovistas.blogspot.com/2017/06/la-colectiva-chance-for-domestic.html

This provided a photo op showing the team I was one with Marcy, an independent journalist, and Cayla, a student on the far right and Hillary and the man working with her to establish another Navigation Center with one of the aides in Hillary Ronen's office.  

Some people opened their doors and greeted us  in a very friendly way.  A man said his wife was a student at City College, and a passerby on the street said, "I'm only paying twenty-six dollars this semester.  Thank you!" (There is still a heatlth fee of $17 and a web registration fee, which can be waived if sutdents register in person, staring August. 7.  The student activity fee of $5 and the student representative fee of $1 are optional.  The $46 per unit is covered, so the students save a lot!)

One man called out to me when I was about to climb the steps of his house.  "I live there.  Can I help you?"  He didn't want his mother to have to climb down a long flight of stairs.

When I explained what we were doing he said, "Oh, my mother went to City College in nineteen sixty two and sixty three."  We talked about its being free then--a good tradition to return to!

CCSF Has Chosen Rocha as New Chancellor--as of July 1st

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mark-Rocha-selected-as-new-CCSF-chancellor-11220400.php

Nanette Asimov reports that CCSF has chosen as the next Chancellor a New Yorker with a doctorate in literature and an MA in engineering.  He has written scholarly papers, including one about the plays of August Wilson!

Here's what I learned from Wikipedia:  His scholarly works focused on African-American and Latino drama and literature, including Wilson and Tennessee Williams.  What would the Latino drama be in Tennessee Williams?  The Rose Tattoo?  (The movie starred a spicy Rita Moreno, who's since talked about being type-cast.)

Rochas publicly spoke out against Proposition 187, which restricted undocumented immigrants from access to California's public education system.

Lots of controversy over him flared up at Pasadena Community College, when he agreed to doing away iwth the winter quarter.  The faculty and staff gave him a no confidence vote.

Then the Pasadena Community College District did an evaluation without input from faculty and staff, so faculty and staff did their own, and he got a score of 23-0 with one abstension.

There was some kind of shady deal when he quit in 2014 but was to get paid more than 403,000 for the next years.  He had to give back the money.

CCSF Outreach at Sunday Streets Bayview, April 9, 2017

Carole Meagher, Donna Hayes, Elgy Gillespie, and Danny Halford with the SF community.

Below right:  Danny Halford introduces Student Ambassador Ayesha Shabbir and Board of Trustee President Thea Selby.

Student Ambassador Zacaria Palacios with a cookie I made.  I'm so grateful when anyone likes what I make!  See my Veganista blog.  http://mynameisveganista.blogspot.com/2017/04/vegan-cookies-appreciated-by-peers-and.html   

Elgy Gillespie is covering this event for the ESLetter in her very energetic, humorous way.

Elgy Gillespie (ESL instructor) Danny Halford (organizer), Tom Temprano (member of Board of Trustees) and I pose for the really nice guy representing Bottleshae, Winston Tam.  Tom Temprano had come after the  ribbon-cutting at the re-opening of  the LBGT center.

I like the way Zacaria moved down to the height of the little girl he was talking to.

Not pictured is Ellen Wall, whose name came up because she's been a big supporter of CCSF and was misssed at a meeting held the day before.  She's recuperating from a hip injury at the Jewish Home in SF.

We had a beautiful day for CCSF outreach at Sunday Streets in the Bayview, and I think Jeff Jelsmo, the site coordinator of Sunday Streets, was right that moving farther south near Bancroft on Third Street meant more foot traffic.

I loved the ride down Third Street, an area of the city I don't see very often.  We passsed Delancey, 4th and King, Mission Rock, Mariposa, , Evans, Oakdale--all names I'd heard for years, but the ride make them concrete.  I met a nice family who were going in the wrong direction and told them I had done that on occasions in spite of living in SF!

Danny Halford, the organizer of CCSF Outreach at Sunday Streets,  and Alex Guiriba, Associate Dean of Outreach, were there before 10:30, and the student ambassadors Zacharia Palacios and Ayesha Shabbir were there all day.

Thea Selby, President of the Board of Trustees, and Tom Temprano arrived in the afternoon--Tom Temprano after the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the newly renovated LGBT Center at 1800 Market.

Donna Hayes, a counselor, had not committed but came and helped out a lot.  Ophelia Clark, Chair of the Business Department,  also came by to help tho' not scheduled to do so.

Carole Meagher of Business also did a lot to help.

A Russian couple came by.    Her English was very basic, but she communicated a lot.  They lived in the apartments on Armstrong and 3rd Street, which she pointed out to me, saying it was very dangerous or had been.  I wasn't sure of the tense.  I think she told me a Russian taxi driver had been killed.  She also said, "Chinese, Chinese, Chinese.  It's Chinatown."  I think she and her husband were in senior housing.

She told me, "You have beautiful skin" and pulled the skin on her cheek to show me what skin meant.  I said, "Oh, is my skin all right?"  and she said, "Not all right.  Very, very good."

I was happy to hear that.  But even more I was interested in where people live and how they feel about it, however anecdotal.

 I asked a passerby if she was interested in summer school, and she said, "No, but I'm glad the proposition was passed so that classes will be free.  That should help you get more people."

I was startled and pleased  that she was aware and so articulate on the subject!   Other volunteers noted that not all passers-by were so well informed.

More photos:  

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/7995a2wuhabkcjs/AACyohGma5KJophjZMSL0yMza

Dennis Johnson Is Spirit in Action!

Dennis Johnson, a friend and colleague of many years at CCSF, hasn't retired from giving sensational benefit piano recitals for Spirit in Action. 

spiritinaction.org


 (Janet Fowler drove  Lauri Fried Lee, Shehla Khan, Bill Shoaf and me to Point Richmond to hear him play, and we saw Robin Mackey, another CCSF friend and colleague about to retire.)

Besides being an extraordinary pianist, he has a great sense of humor, and he knows that we are OLD friends, so he even excused us in advance for any visits to the restroom we might have to make between numbers.


He said that he had been alone at the piano for so long that he took notes on how to behave in public: Don't hum. Don't moan. Don't drool.... 

He played pieces by Scarlatti, Haydn, Chopin, Lamb, Brahms, and Franck, and he didn't drool at all!. 

He told us that Scarlatti had written 550 piano pieces but not to worry because he was going to play only three of them.  

 After he played three "Rags," he quipped "This may be the first time anyone's gone from playing  rags to Brahams at a recital, but when  you're retired, you can do whatever you want to do."

 He thanked his wife Marsha for being the page turner, and someone (Janet Fowler)  added "and more!" 

Their charming (and handsome) son Carl is here with Marsha and Dennis.

Then I had Dennis fake-play so I could take a picture without being disruptive!

He gives tidbits of information, too, and it's all new to me and helps me be a better listener since my usual choice of music is show tunes.  (I wonder how Joseph Lamb and other ragtime composers would regard the musical Ragtime if they were still around.)

I have to say, too, that when he played Chopin's Etude in E major, I wondered whether I'd heard that on an old Elaine May-Mike Nichols album."  

Someday I hope we get to hear Dennis play Ben Harney's "You've Been a Good Old Wagon, but You Done Broke."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEBs_mpTH6w

Susan Lamb, Interim Chancellor, Is Not Applying to Be Permanent

Just saw this--although the announcement was made on Thursday!  Susan Lamb, the Interim Chancellor, is not applying for the job of permanent chancellor.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/interim-chancellor-susan-lamb-leave-ccsf/

CCSF Shining Stars Hosted by Carol Fregly at Delancey Street

Carol Fregly generously treated sixteen of us to dinner at Delancey Street last night--honoring CCSF Shining Stars, her former students who distinguished themselves in her classes before her retirement and who went on to get their MAs or MBAs in fields like Speech Pathology and Business and are continuing to do exciting things like helping communities in Peru and  Emerites with food-related infrastructure.

She also included Jackie Green, Sam and Hilda Yee, other friends and retired colleagues

, her zumba teacher and her teacher's daughter, a pianist she met while they were both out walking their dog in Pacifica.  We had the chance to chat informally and hear philosophies like that of a former Vietnamese-American who emphasized the importance of not putting more than one event a day on the calendar and doing only what we enjoy doing.  He was enjoying retirement.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/2plmf73oka9wmw5/AADbIgGMLUrd_wv-wNfsI7kTa

CCSF Outreach at Sunday Streets in the Mission

It was a beautiful day for CCSF outreach in the Mission. We were on Valencia between 15th and 16th Streets.

Here you see student ambassador Moises with another student ambassador and Ronald Wolff of the Child Development Department. Moises later helped at the CCSF Innovation Conference at the Marriot. 

Greg Richardson interviewed Moises in Spanish and Danny in English. 

I met Hunter, a cadet who will be starting CCSF in the fall to get his degree in Administrative Justice. 

The fourth picture shows one of the CCSF students who came by (now studying sculpture at CCSF) with Danny, who organizes Sunday Streets for CCSF. 

Former students came  by, some saying "I love City College." 

 Danny Halford did the organizing, and Jim Wong, a counselor, and Lillian Ho, a retiree,  helped get the tables, chairs, and material there and back. Fred Teti came to set up, and Edgar Torres of Latin American Studies, Ronald Wolff of Child Development, and Martha Elizabeth Arroyo-Neves (librarian) were also there while I was there. 

Elgy Gilespie, Josie Loo, and Carole Meagher came later.


More photos...https://www.dropbox.com/…/8shi7y1…/AACkJgGcssvXHoxS50YM_BpXa