#215 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday December 7)
Good morning!
Tuesday—a time to share…
NATURE IS ALL AROUND US
As you probably know, Andrea runs a summer literacy and experiential program for underserved students from Title I schools. Of the many aspects of the program is the field trips they take—to museums, colleges, and places of local interest. One of those places is a field trip to the beach. We were amazed to learn that many of these children—living in Los Angeles—had never been to a local beach.
But this disconnection from the natural beauties of our city is not limited to underserved kids. Back when the kids were in elementary school, we sponsored a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains as part of the school’s “party book.” This trip disclosed another epiphany—a number of these elementary school students had not been on one of our region’s many extraordinary hiking trails.
People from the East coast often scoff that the primary reason to be in California is the weather and the outdoors. But these two things are huge in their impact on our way of life and our mental health. There is nothing quite like a day walking along the beach or along hiking trails.
Rodney Freeman reminds me of another great gift that Southern California enjoys—in our many cultivated and curated gardens and arboretums. We have the California Botanic Gardens, Descanso Gardens, the Getty Gardens, the Huntington Library and the Los Angeles Arboretum—all an easy drive from anywhere in our city. Walking through these collections of flora is a sublime experience and one not to be missed. Here’s an LA Times article on some of them: http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=39a119ef-4047-410d-9f7e-bc8922f7997a
EDUCATION IS EVERYTHING
As I’ve said before, the Virginia governorship was lost over an unwillingness to address public education in a constructive way. Here’s Bob Lameres’s spin:
“Education is EVERYTHING. You simply will not find a 13 year old B+ student running down a Chicago alley at 2am with a gun...
Grades 1-6 reading, writing, grammar. ARITHMETIC
Grades 7-9 Now you have minds who can appreciate history, science, music/art and literature.
Grades 10-12 civics, financial literacy, HOW TO DRIVE, advance placement and trade skills.
College is where you go to be exposed to everything controversial. College should shock and stimulate young minds so they realize there’s a whole world of ideas they have never been exposed to and the next 4 years will be far more impactful than any jaunt on Space X would be.”
USC AND ITS INSTITUTIONAL FAILINGS
I received a number of comments about the failure of the USC culture—argued by some to be “all ambition; no integrity.” Several were laments of alumni who are embarrassed by the spate of headlines. Some say their fears were confirmed. None were more devastating than the following, from a friend:
“I could not agree more with your assessment. We had a friend’s daughter who was drugged and assaulted at that same fraternity several years ago. Shameful.”
Shameful, indeed. A colossal failure of a public trust by the administration and the board. Professor Ariela Gross, notes, in her Los Angeles Times op-ed:
“The truth is that the ethical failures of the USC administration, including the coverups, have been tragic...Yet this administration continues to cover up rather than come clean. The USC community needs the campus leaders to forthrightly admit mistakes, investigate failures and make known the results of those investigations. Instead, we get distractions and euphemisms.”
And this last one from a friend, a UCLA alum, who now teaches at USC:
“Teaching at USC has shown me how many thousands of people love the place and get so much out of it. Reading about USC’s scandals reminds us that sometimes “culture will eat strategy for lunch.” It does seem like some strong leadership –i.e., doing the right thing before the lawyers weigh in – would have helped the Catholic Church and USC a bit….”
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: