By Ira Lansing

Depending on the intellectual,
artistic or social circles in which you travel, you
may or may not not be aware that the current issue of
Playboy magazine on the newsstands marks the 50th
anniversary for that publication. For this event,
the editors have collected a veritable who's who of
contemporary authors and artists to reflect on the
past and future years. If for no other reason than to
see what you might have missed in the last fifty
years, or could miss in the next fifty, the
publication is an interesting one (now aren't you
amazed that in this entire
paragraph I have not mentioned "pictures" once!).

One of the authors who opines is Norman Mailer. In
his Playboy article "Immodest Proposals" he comments
on everything from plastics to God. One such
observation is the following:

There used to be a time in childhood when one could
develop one's powers of concentration (which may be
the most vital element in the ability to learn) by
following a sustained narrative, by reading for
example. Now a commercial interrupts nearly all TV
presentations every seven to 12 minutes. The majority
of our children have lost any expectation that
concentration will not be broken into.

It occurred to me as well, that the "visualization" of
all of our experiences deprives the student of a
deeper learning experience, not to mention the
interruptions that accompany the activities. I was
then left to consider that radio may be the compromise
solution; technological, but non-visual in nature. Of
course, at that moment a commercial came on the radio
to interrupt my own thoughts on the matter.

This commercial was actually somewhat "ear catching".
It was a dialogue between a man and a woman, where the
man starts by telling the woman he is breaking up with
her. She informs him he cannot possibly do that, they
have a two-year commitment and he owes her for future
dinners, movies and travel. He is amazed at this
requirement. She ends it by saying that if they do
stop seeing one another she will still call him every
day to see if he wants to start dating her again. In
case my retelling is lacking, the metaphor is supposed
to be the behavior of cellular phone companies to
their customers (but not the advertiser's company!)
when the customer wishes to change carriers. It was
cute to hear, and I thought of it again when I
attended the
December meeting of the College of Marin Board of
Trustees (you may have wondered where I was going, but
did you ever doubt I would get there! And don't
forget where we have been.).

This Board meeting marked the installation of the four
(out of 7) newly elected trustees, three of whom were
nearly brand new (Eva Long was re-elected and Harry
Moore had once served in the late 60's and early
70's). It did not take too long for things to get
strange, beginning with the
inability of a majority of trustees to elect their own
officers. It progressed, albeit not quickly, to the
possibility of some form of reconsideration of the
recent layoffs of some of the classified staff. Some
of the newly elected trustees wanted to delay for 2-4
weeks (it was not clear for how long) the agenda item
that would have specified by name the individuals who
were to be laid off, bumped or terminated. At this
point, other trustees figuratively jumped up and said
we can't break off this action, we have a fiscal
commitment. One trustee in particular, Harry Moore,
questioned the validity of the basis for this fiscal
commitment and wanted more time and information before
voting on the agenda item. Other trustees reminded
him that regardless, the District would still have to
pay for future dinners, movies, . I mean expenses, and
that the risk was too great. The night was
saved-actually it was too far gone at this point for
saving, but probably shortened-by the student trustee,
Natalie Hall, who reminded everyone that even if the
agenda item went forward, the Board could still
reconsider any or all of their actions in the future.
Ms. Hall did not say she would call every day to see
if anyone had changed their mind.

So, the more things change the more they stay the
same. It is still early in the terms of the newly
elected trustees, and things might yet evolve
differently. Then again, there are often many paths
to the same destination; only the scenery is
different.

With the extremely late hours of these recent Board
meetings-the open session ending after 11 PM and the
closed session not finishing until after 1 AM-I no
longer wonder why Hugh Hefner has 120 pairs of silk
pajamas (as reported in the 50th anniversary edition).
It is much easier to go to bed and to work when you
wear the same clothes for each activity.

Have a restful and healthy break. See you at the UPM
general membership meeting during the week of spring
flex activities.