Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr. must have been an amazing individual to meet. He was essentially a small town Baptist preacher until he was literally bombed into the Civil Rights Movement in 1955. For the next 13 years he was at the forefront of that movement which forever changed America, and the world.

Much of our society today revolves around the concepts and issues of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. It always amazes me that from virtually every speech he ever gave there is one or more exceptional "pearls" or wisdom. He obviously had something very specific to say in each of his speeches, and he said it. Succinctly.

Here are a some new (to me) quotes from the esteemed Dr. King:

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Strength to Love, 1963

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment: Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"

Chairman Shakespeare

Today's New York Times has an interesting article about executives studying Shakespeare to help them understand vulnerabilities to which the powerful are susceptible. In the New York Times Theater Feed:
Lessons in Shakespeare, From Stage to Boardroom

Triumvirate

I'm still puzzling over a three questions that came out of the meeting on Thursday.

The first: When it was brought up, Jim Peterson expressed lack of knowledge about the problems in the fly loft. This information was clearly explained in my report, which he said he had read. The issue of the water pipes built across the fly loft were clearly explained in an email I sent to him on October 4. I followed it up a couple of days later with a cd of pictures of the problems that I gave to his secretary, Theresa. The problem of the sprinkler pipe at the top of the loft was document in an series of emails that he was copied on from myself, Jim Meland with the architect and the Cascade Fire Protection people starting on February 5th. There is an email where Theresa relays Jim's instructions, so there is little doubt that he was appraised. I just don't understand why he would "forget" about any problem that was a serious barrier to the use of the building as intended.

The second: Dr. Van Ausdle made the statement "We haven't de-commissioned China Pavilion." There was nothing in my report about China Pavilion being taken out of service. Where had this question come from? All three of us responded to the effect that the HVAC system had been off completely for the first month of the quarter. We had no janitorial service for a couple of weeks and now, only weekly walk throughs to empty the trash and check the bathroom papers. Kevin, when faced with complaints from the students of the building being cold, had to ask Matt Graves to turn it on, which was done on October 19. Dr. Van Ausdle turned to Jim Peterson and asked "was it?" Jim's response was unclear. He said it was on during the summer for the costumer, but was turned off during the period of no occupancy to save energy. He didn't comment on the school year.

I received an email from Cathy Nelson yesterday with signups for the Safety Committee elections. It basically said that there could be one nominee from each building, and the 12 who received the most votes would be the committee members. It said that if no one had signed up for a particular building you could write in a name. This was sort of exciting, as I have always had an interest in safety issues, and I didn't figure that anyone would be signed up for China Pavilion yet. The attachment had a list of the buildings on campus, and the safety committee nominee for each building.

China Pavilion was not listed as a building. Interesting.

The third: During the meeting yesterday, during Dr. Van Ausdle's tirade, during any other meeting or discussion I've had on the subject, the question has never come up as to whether I might be wrong about some of the facts. Dr. Van Ausdle did say that I was wrong to write the report, and therefore make vulnerable the leadership of the college and "their" architect, but he didn't refute anything (except for his comment on the de-commissioning of China Pavilion, which I had not written about.) So no one is arguing with what I said, just my right to say it.

It's my understanding that I work for the State of Washington. That's who administers the payroll system that issues my compensation checks. The State of Washington has a number of agencies, one of which is the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, and the State Board administers and funds Walla Walla Community College.

That makes Walla Walla Community College a State Agency, and therefore a public institution. Public institutions are open to public scrutiny, and it is my understanding that any and all records of public institutions are open to public inspections, except in the case of personnel records, student records and information pertaining to national security. Which means that any member of the public can come in and ask to see how their money has been spent, and given reasonable expense and effort rules, must be given access to these records.
This is taken from the Access Washington Web Site:

Washington law (Chapter 42.56 RCW) requires that identifiable public records be made available promptly to members of the public for inspection and copying upon request. Only records that are exempt by law may be withheld from disclosure. . . .

These exemptions are generally intended to prevent invasion of privacy and the use of public records for personal, commercial or political gain.

Bullies and Cowards

I am still stinging from the verbal confrontation by Dr. Van Ausdle. I just don't understand why he would come unglued and be so unprofessional. Surely, as a leader of a Community College he has ended up in an embarrassing situation before. Most effective leaders would realize it is just a bump in the road: do damage control and move on. Some reasons that come to mind for him to have behaved so coarsely is that 1) he is not able to deal with the situation in his own mind, or 2) the situation has touched close to an area where he is vulnerable; i.e. there is potential for discovering additional damaging information.

I think psychologists would say that Bullies and Cowards are the ones most likely to try to intimidate.

If you have a clear conscience, you have a more stable and clear mind and you know that the truth will eventually prevail.

Tick Tick Tick Tick . . .

There hasn't been a tock.

Maria Gonzalez talked to the people at the college yesterday. She called Kevin later in the afternoon to ask him a few questions, and aparently set up an appointment to come and talk to him next week. Kevin wondered whether or not he should contact Kathy Thornton. I said definitely he should. She should be completely aware of the meeting. She should be there if she feels it is warranted. Kevin does not need to put himself any further into the fire for not keeping everyone informed.

There was no communication from Jim Peterson or anyone else at the top for that matter. I emailed Jim Peterson to confirm that I was supposed to move ahead with the purchase of the lighting equipment at about 11am yesterday. As of now, I still haven't received a reply. It should have been a simple yes or no.

Tick, Tick,

Backwards?

I swear I didn't think of this before. I swear I didn't search all around looking and looking for a name for my blog. It just popped up.

The first word I thought of was scintillious. I wasn't sure of the definition, so I looked it up in my Funk & Wagnalls. "To give off sparks, to be witty; sparkle" Nope, not really me. Maybe sometimes witty. Maybe. But definitely no sparkle.

I look up the column a few words. I come on the definition of scilicet. "namely, to wit, that is to say." Hmmm. I read on: scīre licit it is permitted to know. Bingo! That's it.

I swear I didn't think of this before two minutes ago. Scīre is Erics backwards.

I don't know why I didn't, either, as one of my nicknames is cire llewop (Sire Leewahp.) In fact, that's the name in the indica on The Little Theatre Newsletter that I design and print.

Speaking of The Little Theatre Newsletter. . . You can view it here.

Sleepless in Walla Walla

I find myself awake at 3am. It is not usual for me. Usually when I go to sleep, I am out like a log and don't wake until my alarm goes off in the all too early morning. Not that I don't occasionally work until 3, I did last night, but that was only to finish a newsletter that had to be in the mail yesterday. So I am tired, and really should sleep, but I am unable to.

I was in a meeting today, or rather yesterday now, with Jim Peterson, Jon Stratton and Kevin Loomer at WWCC. We were talking through how to complete the theater/performing arts facility that is attached to the new Health Sciences building. We were actually getting somewhere. Dr. Steve Van Ausdle walks in and interrupts. He says he is very angry. He says he is angry about the report I wrote: "Primary Shortcomings of the New Performing Arts Facility at WWCC, October 25, 2007" He says he says he found the report very un-complementary. He says he is angry about the Union-Bulletin apparently having the report. He says he is angry that I attacked "the college's architect." He says he has lost all respect for "you." He says "we" built the performing arts center or maybe it is a lecture hall he says. He continues, "is this the way you pay us back?" He says "we" have talked in the past about eliminating the theater program, looking at Jon Stratton. He says maybe "we" should revisit that question. He starts a sentence "If I find out that the Union Bulletin had that report before I got it . . ." I retreat into my shell and tune out for a moment. Compose. Calm.

I miss the end of his statement.

Throughout this, you can obviously tell he is furious. Possibly beyond furious. The most disturbing thing was his eyes.

I have reached a point where I can actually say something. I say "I only intended the report to be complete, . . ." my pause is interrupted.

Jon Stratton eventually speaks up and basically claims some responsibility. He had the report for a week before it was given to Dr. Van Ausdle. I don't think Jon was that clear in what he said, but that is the fact. Jon eventually goes on and actually gets a bit angry himself, defending me and saying how hard I have worked for the college.

Things calm down, but only a very little. The tea kettle is no longer trying to blow its lid, its just actively steaming away.

Eventually Dr. Van Ausdle leaves. Jim Peterson says a few more words, and at one point, you can see he is trying to control his anger. He succeeds. Things are summarized, we have some actions planned. We all walk out in a daze. We don't talk about the action plan. We talk about what happened with the President.

Kevin said ". . . that, that was demonic." My thought was irrational.

Irrational? Demonic? Where were we? I thought I was at a Washington State Community College. Maybe I was wrong. Then again, I usually know where I am. It's never a hard thing to figure out. Darn. Never say "never."

What I remember most, and what I wrote down when I got home was that he talked about respect, and I thought that was a a very interesting way for him to earn respect. I also wrote down that thought it was interesting that we "owe" him for the performing arts center.

If anyone is owed, it is the students and the State of Washington.

I am tired. It is almost 10:00 when I finally get home from the rehearsal at The Little Theatre. I go to sleep fairly soon after I get home. I am still thinking about it, because when I wake up at 1:45, it is the first thing on my mind.

I have a headache. I take some ibuprofen. I try to read a novel. My little black cat wants attention. I close my eyes. I try to sleep.

3am. I am still awake. It's all been going over in my mind. Or my mind has been going over it. Whichever or both. I think: "I need to write." I think "livejournal." I did that once for a couple of years. That was a different me. That was along time ago.

What's the biggest blogging service? Isn't it blogspot? I think so.

I get up and go to the computer. www.blogspot.com. My password keeper prompts me that it has a saved password. I say "what the hell?" I've never been to blogspot before. I look closer. Google. I smile. I like Google. They think.

Beginning to Finish

Scīre Licit. Latin. "It is permitted to know."

A more modern term that comes from this:

scil·i·cet (sĭl'ĭ-sět', skē'lĭ-kět')
adv. Abbr. sc. or ss.
That is to say; namely.

[Middle English, from Latin scīlicet, contraction of scīre licet, it is permitted to know : scīre, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots + licet, third person sing. of licēre, to be permitted.]

scilicet. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scilicet (accessed: November 09, 2007).

I realized that I needed to start a blog. There are things that I can no longer keep to myself. I start to sign up for Blogger, and I need a name. The dictionary opens to this entry. Sometimes I believe in fate. If not fate, then the meeting of cosmic energies. Either or another, the idea or the word: it works.