GCCCD Grapevine

Volume 15, Number 1                                                Grapevine Home                                                March, 2005

       Nineteen to Retire by June

New district retirees include two administrators, five classified and twelve faculty. Two of the retirees are from district offices, the remainder are all retiring from Grossmont College. These retirees represent a total of over 500 years working for GCCCD. That makes the average number of years with the district for this group of retirees about 29. That’s a lot of dedication and experience. We welcome them to our ranks and wish them a long and happy retirement. They will be honored in May, along with other retirees from the last two years, at a dinner sponsored by the Grossmont and Cuyamaca College Foundations. (see notice below)

The five classified employees have already retired (in November, December and January) since the last Grapevine was published. These include Cheryl Hooks, Bill Moebus, Bob Nothdurft, Sally Nichelson and Barbara Starks. Those retiring in June include Mel Amov, Rick Beach, Bill Bradley, Willene Harley, Richard Larson, Les Lawrence, Mike Matherly, Harry McCune, Diane Merlos, Shannon O’Dunn, Cathie Roberston, James Sumich, Tom Tsung and James Wegge.

                                   
Mel Amov   GC 1966               Rick Beach GC 1971            Bill Bradley  GC 1976         Willene Harley GC 1975
    Faculty, History                     Faculty, Anthropology               Dean, Math & Science                 Faculty, Business

                                   
Cheryl Hooks GC 1990       Richard Larson GC 1969       Les Lawrence GC 1970         Mike Matherly GC 1970
Admissions & Records                  Faculty, Speech                         Faculty, Art                              Faculty, Geography

                                 
Harry Mccune GC 1969      Diane Merlos GC 1979        Bill Moebus District 1969   Sally Nichelson District 1980
    Faculty, Philosophy                     Faculty, Biology                          Warehouse                          Payroll Supervisor         

                                
Bob Nothdurft GC 1972     Shannon O'Dunn GC 1971   Cathie Robertson GC 1987     James Sumich GC 1970  
Computer Operations                        Dean, Art                     Faculty, Child Development               Faculty, Biology                         

                                                                                   
             Barbara Starks  District 1967                     Tom Tsung GC 1969                  James Wegge GC 1979           
                    Director of Purchasing                              Faculty, Astronomy                       Faculty, Busines

Retirement Recognition Dinner

Save this date! Grossmont and Cuyamaca College Foundations are sponsoring "Cruising into Retirement", a dinner to recognize forty-nine new and recent district retirees. The dinner will be held at the Marina Village on Mission Bay on Thursday, May 26. The reception is at 6:30pm, followed by dining at 7:00pm. Invitations with further details and directions will be mailed later.

 Editor’s Comments
            
                  By Tom Scanlan     

Our retiree newsletter passed another milestone with the previous issue—fifteen years of continuous publication. Because our species probably learned to count with their hands, anniversaries at increments of five always seem more important. This seems like a good reason, along with several others, to recall the origin and history of the GCCCD Grapevine. The other reasons are that an unusually large number are retiring this year, and that the future of this newsletter is presently uncertain.

Our first issue was titled The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Grapevine and was published in April, 1990 as a joint effort of the Retirement Committee. That committee was chaired by retiring president of Grossmont College, Ivan Jones, and included Stan Flandi, Leon Hoffman, Z. Dean Parks, Tom Scanlan, Don Scouller, Fred Stollenwerk, and Bill Tester. This committee met weekly for many months in order to put together a package of retirement benefits (originally called ‘gold card’ benefits after a card issued to each retiree listing the benefits) which included such items as free staff parking privileges, library card, athletic pass, tuition waivers for retirees and their spouses, discounts to campus events and "0ngoing district communications", which were later approved by the GCCCD Board. This newsletter obviously falls under that last category.

We produced two newsletters that first year, mostly to notify retirees of their benefits and to ask for their input on retiree interest groups and the like. When Ivan Jones left the area in June, I was elected Chairman, Pro Tem, of the Retirement Committee. As a consequence, in 1991 I became the contact person and then the "news, copy, art, layout and production editor" of the newsletter, which was now bi-monthly. We changed the name to GCCCD Grapevine in July and graduated from stapled pumpkin-colored pages to a slicker, glossy-white folded format with photos and illustrations (the editorial in that July issue gives a nice history of the transition from a bulletin type newsletter to what we have today). We now had regular feature writers for Still Photography and Travel (Leon Hoffman) and Video Photography and Travel (Don Scouller), with Dean Parks and Fred Stollenwerk writing other articles of interest to retirees. John Dixon provided staff photos, as needed (and continues to do so, along with other photographs, to this day). I produced and formatted these first new editions with primitive desktop publishing software (PFS) and carried them to Duplicating to be photo-copied and printed.

It turned out that bi-monthly production was too much and there were budget problems as well, so in 1992 we only produced two issues, March and June. Sirkka Huovila took over the areas of layout and desktop publishing (she had worked with Lana Lima in Word Processing on the early editions prior to July, 1991). She not only provided very creative layouts; she also functioned importantly as a copy editor and has saved the editors from many an embarrassing instance of word omission, misspelling and the like. However, fading support for the newsletter led to my announcing in the June issue that I was retiring as editor, and that "Volunteerism has its limits."

The next issue of Grapevine didn’t appear until October, 1993, the only issue that year. Funding had been temporarily obtained from a variety of sources, including the president’s office and the United Faculty. I once again became editor, and now I was to receive a stipend—escalating the job of editor from amateur to professional (narrowly defined, of course). We began in 1994 to produce three issues per year, although we no longer had regular feature writers. I once again announced my ‘retirement’ as editor in the final, November issue of that year but this time I felt good about it because now we had a very capable and experienced journalist willing to take over the job.

Pat Higgins took over as editor in 1995 and I began writing the Biblio-files column. In 1996, we became the first community college retiree newsletter in California to go online, thanks to some help from Denis Angleton, a SDSU graduate student serving as GCCCD's web author. That same year I began the arduous task of learning HTML (the language one needed to know in order to put stuff on the web), knowing that Denis was only available temporarily.

In 1998, Pat Higgins talked me into co-editing the Grapevine. We shared production and reporting tasks and alternated editorials. In the last issue of that year, as he’d implied when he asked me to co-edit, Pat announced that he was stepping down and that I’d be the sole editor again.

Because 1999 was the last year of the century and the second millenium, we produced four issues, including a special year-end edition. That same year our newsletter was honored by being invited to provide copies for the national educational data base, ERIC. Gene Murray offered to help with the Grapevine as assistant editor, beginning with the September edition.

Our first issue in the year 2000 initiated one of our most popular features, Bob Steinbach’s Driftwood column. The following year, with the July 2001 issue, Bob assumed the added responsibilities and tasks of assistant editor, replacing Gene Murray.

There’s been little change since then except that our mailing list has grown to over 400. Bob and I alternate editorials and sometimes find a retiree willing to write a guest editorial. He writes the Driftwood column, I write the Biblio-files. Sirkka continues to amaze us with her attractive and creative layouts and word processing, and John continues to supply us with photographic support, often on short notice.

This sixteenth year, as I mentioned earlier, there are uncertainties as to the future of the Grapevine. At this time we’re not sure when, or even if, the next issue will be produced. We’re not sure if the Grapevine will remain an independent newsletter for retirees, by retirees, or if it will be incorporated into some other district publication or media. We’re not sure who will be sponsoring the newsletter. We hope to know more soon, but as this edition goes to press, I can only look back, not forward, with any certainty about the Grapevine. Looking back, I believe we’ve come a long way, thanks to the efforts and skills of people like Sirkka and John, Pat and Gene and Bob, Don and Leon and Fred and Dean--and with special thanks to all of you readers who sent us letters and e-mail and telephoned us with news--and often with praise.

For those of you who’d like to learn more about your newsletter and what’s been happening with retirees for the last fifteen years, every issue of Grapevine is available online and can be accessed by clicking on Archives at the Grapevine homepage:     http://www.grossmont.edu/grapevine/grapevine.html                                                                                                                                        

     Driftwood
    Snippets of gossip that have been burnished by friends and washed up on the Grapevine desk
     
          by Bob Steinbach                                                                                                                                                      

Virginia and I moved back into our reconstructed Tierrasanta condo in December. We’re still sifting, sorting and getting organized, but it’s nice to be out of the holding pattern and actively participating in domestic redevelopment.

Imagine our surprise to discover retiree Wanda Arsulich (Wally Cohen’s secretary) and Mike living in the same eight-plex where we rented while our place was rebuilt. They kindly watched our door for package deliveries when we traveled. Wanda and Shirley Jones have lunch together occasionally to catch up on the latest gossip.

Several of the paragraphs below came from shared Holiday newsletters. Please think about putting Tom or me on next year’s list so we can pass on interesting "snippets" of news. A couple of the letters provided considerable news and are presented elsewhere in this issue.

People occasionally ask, "What ever became of so-and-so?" so this edition of Driftwood contains some comments on folks who left the District but are not official retirees.

Del Anderson, Dean of counseling at Grossmont in the late‘70s, went on to serve as dean of student services at Los Angeles Harbor and VP of Instruction at Skyline College in San Bruno. In 1995, after serving as president at San Jose City College she became Chancellor of the City College of San Francisco, retiring in 1998. Gray Davis appointed her to the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology in 2003. She has also served as an ACCT consultant on a number of community college presidential search committees

  Trudy Braten enjoys wintering in San Diego from her home about 15 miles south of Nashville. Trudy taught two Intermediate Algebra classes at Grossmont during the interim.

  Linda Bunney and her husband moved to Pagosa Springs, Colorado this February.

  Sherry Chase (was Frey) and her sister Bobby returned March 16 from a two-week mission trip to Swaziland where they helped plant gardens for the local people.

  Wallace Cohen is living in Carlsbad and is on the Board of Directors of Professional Personnel Leasing, Inc., a staffing and consulting service for higher education specializing in the California community college.

  Alex Contreras continues as Vice President, Student Services, at Crafton Hills College, Yucaipa, CA.

  Ed Daner heard about a Coronado-like retirement community from a professor at a conference in Belfast, Ireland. He investigated and settled in Corpus Christie, TX, following his retirement. He met and married his wife, Doris, there eight years ago. Ed has six grandchildren; three through Doris in Corpus Christie and Ed’s son in San Luis Obispo adopted twin girls from China, and later a boy from China. Ed and Doris travel whenever they get a chance.

  David Glismann and Etheleen celebrated their silver wedding anniversary with a Hawaiian cruise. They remain active in their church choir and enjoy theater and travel.

  Joann Prescott reports that Tony Kauflin passed away in January. "Tony worked as a part time librarian at Grossmont College in the 1970s and 80s. He is survived by his wife Leah Fatchett Kauflin, who was Larry Coons’ secretary from 1969 to 1984." If anyone wants to contact Leah, please call Joanne Prescott for her address.

  Millie McAuley and Gordon Jackson traveled to Asia twice last year. In March, they reconnected with Japanese tradition through Millie’s relatives on Oshima Island and in Kudamatsu. Their Christmas letter reflected on the positive contributions of the Three Gorges Dam as well as the sadness of flooding centuries old cities and farms (see her letter in Retirees Write).

Barbara Lamb MacNeil died in January as a result of complications from surgery related to congestive heart failure. She worked in the Disabled Student Programs & Services Office at Grossmont College as a student in the 1970s and later as a full time employee. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California she became a special education administrator with the San Diego Unified School District, earning state and national recognition for her expertise. She planned to retire in June, 2005.

  Gwen Cornell (Music tech 69 - 82) reports that "retiree Glen Meyers and his wife Onnie were broad sided just outside of Sun City Grand where they reside. Onnie was killed and Glen is in the hospital, but expected to be home soon. Glen’s address is: 15842 W. Rancho Vista Way, Surprise, Az. 85374. I am sure some of his friends will want to know about this."

  Clark Mires does costuming occasionally at Grossmont and had a great time with costuming last summer at Junior Theater in Balboa Park. Clark hosted a party for Jesse Gates who recently retired as Dean of Campus Gateway at San Bernardino Valley College. Jesse is a former Grossmont Admissions and Records officer. Clark served a Greek Chicken dinner to about 50 people including a number of current Grossmont employees, former employees and retirees Trudy Bratten,Wayne Harmon, Eve Lill, Emilie Zouhar, Erv Metzgar, Dick Mellien, Ken Nobilette and spouses/partners.

  Jack Miyamoto, serves as Assistant Superintendent/Vice President, Human Resources and Affirmative Action at Palomar College.

  Bob Moore taught creative writing at Grossmont for many years and has recently published his first novel. The book is reviewed under Biblio-Files in this issue.

  Michele Nelson is Vice President of the Governing Board at Palomar College.

  Muriel Owen reports a minor change in plans from those reported in the last issue – a different permanent residence: 560 Crosswind Point, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (see her letter under Retirees Write in this issue).

  Bob Rump was recently inducted into the Freemont (Nebraska) High School Athletic Hall of Fame.  He was an All-State quarterback and an All-State basketball forward in 1948 for the Freemont Tigers.  It was noted that he went on to capture countless tennis honors and to enhance his career at the University of Nebraska and Midland College.  His successes as a coach at Grossmont College have been documented in previous Grapevines.

  Linda Salter left the VPSS position at Grossmont to become President of Skyline College. After 13 years at Skyline, she became Chancellor of the West Valley-Mission Community College District and in March 2002 was awarded the Harry Buttimer Distinguished Administrator Award by the Association of California Community College Administrators. Linda retired from WVMCCD in June 2002. She figured that a good retirement project would be to do her own taxes so she took the H & R Block course and did so well that they asked her to teach the course. She has since set up a couple of extended studies classes in tax preparation.

  Walt Yuhl admits to being a recluse and has set a life goal of contemplative obscurity.

And from our Grapevine Guest Book on the web –

Thanks for all your excellent work. Bill and Cathy Hansen, retirees

Hi! Great to be able to see what is going on at Grossmont. I see some familiar names, and a lot of new ones! It appears it is no longer the quiet campus it once was. I'll be checking the Grapevine out to keep up with GC's goings-on. I am a former Computer Lab Manager, starting with one of the first labs - Apples! And hard-wired terminals. Oh, those were the days. How about key punch machines and card readers! Time has marched on, and so has technology. Carol Rouse Higbee Ex-Computer Lab Manager/Instructor higbeca@goodsamhealth.org

I miss my stay at Grossmont and this is a nice way to catch up on what is happening - please add my name to the email list - Harris Cousineau = hcoousie@aol.com – thanks

Bob, It was good to see your face again. I am Marva Simms Bouldin. You probably don't remember me. Say hello to your wife. Marva

Dave McDade dave.mcdade@gcccd.net Just Browsing!

Dear Grapevine ... I wish there was a way for me to get in contact with Richard Lantz to thank him for the tremendously positive influence he had on me and the direction I've taken in life. ...from a former Grossmont student and current community college faculty member in Florida! http://www1.fccj.edu/cvanbosk/

Rocky Rose, WebMaster, Cuyamaca College, rocky.rose@gcccd.net This is truly a great site which has a tremendous amount of very useful information. Thank you...

Retirees Write:
Please type letters or send as e-mail (preferred) and don't exceed 500 words.  Pictures are encouraged.

  Millie McAuley writes:

Dear Friends,

Much has happened these past two years. Gordon Jackson and I have been together for over a year and out hearts are full of thanks that we ran into each other on a rainy day in May 2003. I was leaving A La Francaise which serves the best croissants this side of Paris when I saw a tall man in a trench coat and hat who looked familiar. "Gordon?" I called out. "Millie?" he replied. And the rest is history.

Both retired, we’ve been enjoying the broadening, eye-opening joys of travel in many places looking at other cultures and countries. In late March, 2004, we were able to join a wonderful tour of southern Japan. Castles, humble places, mountains and valleys were ethereally awash in shades of pink. It reminded me of the song my mother sang many times, "Sakura, sakura!" Cherry blossoms! Cherry blossoms! Now we understand the essence of the song. But by far the great highlight of the trip;was seeing Satoko, my mother’s youngest sister, and her husband Tetsuo on Oshima Island along with their son and his wife.

In October we traveled to China and the Yangtze River before the Three Gorges dam project floods ancient places and villages. At the end of the project, some 1.3 million people will have been moved, some to much happier living conditions, but others, especially farmers, to places far away from the river their families have known for centuries. The success of this project is one of the great wonders of all time and is truly exhilarating. Yet one experiences a strange sadness floating over towns and cities already covered and seeing ancient temples, houses and terraced farms for the last time before the rising water covers them, forever changing centuries of life along the great river.

In the ten years since my first visit to China, the changes have been monumental, changing from bicycles to autos, drab high rise warehouses for people to spectacular skyscrapers and planned high rise communities, people with cell phones everywhere and the freedom to criticize the government, so long as they don’t put their protests in writing. Although hosting the Olympics in 2008, China looks ready now.

  Muriel Owen writes:

Dear Friends,

We have been enjoying living in Colorado Springs. Our daughter Sharene and her family moved here in the early summer and we moved here in mid-August. We bought a house (see picture below)  in the Enclave Estates development, which is close to Cheyenne Mountain; we can see the NORAD parking lot which isn’t far away.  The address is 560 Crosswind Point, Colorado Springs,  CO 80906.   Our phone number is (719) 226-6719. We are quite excited because we think it will be our “dream” retirement home. It is only three years old and in great condition; the inspector found no flaws. When we get possession we’ll start loading small stuff in the cars. At this point we’re not sure when the movers will come for the furniture.

It’s been unusually cold here for this time of year (end of November). At 9:30 p.m. last night it was 9 degrees. Today’s paper says the wind chill could reach minus 9! We’re guessing it’s somewhat warmer in San Diego.

We have been unusually socially active here because First Presbyterian is a very large church (5,000 plus members) and they have many activities. For most of the Wednesdays of the school year there is a Wednesday night event which starts with dinner and then two one-hour classes for adults and kids. We have started the Bethel Bible Series and or teacher Nancy is quite a great teacher. Norman took a four-week course on Science and the Bible taught by a physicist and found that very interesting. We are members of the Pathfinders adult Sunday School class which has 300 members and often has 200 people on a Sunday morning. To help people get to know each other better everyone is in a dessert group of about 10-12 people; these groups meet once a month in homes.

Actually, we have been involved with two such groups. In January there will be a shuffle and new memberships in each group. We entertained one such group recently and Norman entertained with things he had recorded on his new Roland KR-7 electronic piano; it has organ, etc.; a total of about 500 tone qualities. He started with some of his church compositions and then performed some Norwegian folk dance numbers. Especially when we move we will be close to many stores and businesses. 24 Hour Fitness is not far away and we swim there regularly. Of course we were out bright and early shopping the day after Thanksgiving. We haven’t joined the choir here. Members are required to sing two of the three identical traditional services and we’re not quite up to being there from 7:30 to 11:30. The choir always puts on a (fabulous, we hear) concert at our municipal auditorium with members of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, a 17-piece Big Band, etc. We’ll know more when we attend on December 32. That morning Pathfinders will have a Scandinavian theme. (!) Janet Wjlcox, president, says there are about 30 members of Norwegian background (like herself) and also Swedes and Danes. Muriel will bring krumkake cookies. I will be performing an arrangement for piano and soloist called Christmas in Norway which I wrote in the 70’s. It includes four of ‘the best-know carols.

Muriel has been enjoying the Cheyenne Mountain Newcomers Club. They have many fun activities. Norman got to share in the Halloween fun with a Mystery Dinner Theater in which we all dressed in Speakeasy costumes and tried to solve a murder. Muriel made quite a flapper and Norman went as Al Capone!

Although we miss our friends and loved ones and warm weather in San Diego we’re really enjoying retirement here. Our new home has a homeowners association which takes care of everything outside, such as lawn, slow, home exterior, etc. so we’ll be free to travel, which we plan to do. Our new home has a guest bed room, so keep us in mind when you travel this way. Colorado Springs is quite a tourist destination.

  Don Scouller writes:

(ed. note:  Don and Joan Scouller joined a friend from England, Ken Jackson, on a visit to Dubai. Their friend has lived and worked in Dubai as an educator.)

Dear Friends,

The Sheik Rashid terminal of Dubai International Airport is and awesome example of middle-eastern and 20^th century western eclecticism. It is paved with acres of marble that is kept clean by hordes of workers pushing wide sweep-brooms. It is the gateway to a 150-square-mile principality on the Persian Gulf, an Emirate named Dubais. We stepped onto a carpet patterned after wind-ruffled desert sand, and passed golden replicas of palm trees and continued past a shop-till-you-drop duty-free store where one can buy a bar of gold or a raffle ticket for a Maserati. There were Porsches, Mercedes and Lexus cars for sale on the floor.

Beyond the terminal lies a startling skyline: high-rise hotels and office buildings of stainless steel and blue glass springing straight out of the desert, the backdrop to a waterfront where wooden dhows laden with Indian teak and spices from Zanzibar sail out of antiquity. Only ten minutes away, in the mind-numbing vastness of Deira City Center, Dubai’s largest suburban-style shopping mall, children in traditional Arab garb lose themselves in American video games. Veiled women, swathed in billowing black and sporting gold bracelets and diamonds, shop designer boutiques for thong underwear, garter belts and stiletto-heeled Italian shoes. Islamic fundamentalists may rage at the West in many parts of the Arab world, but Dubai has embraced Western ways.

For all its concrete, Dubai remains, inescapably a desert locale. Despite several factory-size desalination plants that run around-the-clock on Dubai’s coast, water remains a precious commodity, roughly 30 cents a liter for drinking water, compared with 24 cents for gasoline. Even so, Dubaians make heroic efforts to maintain fountains, lawns and flowers.

Dubai is a city state in the United Arab Emirates, a loose federation of monarchies only slightly larger than Rhode Island. It’s hard to realize that just 50 years ago the region was populated by nomadic Bedouins herding goats, sheep and camels. It has a population of 1,200,000 but only 18% are citizens. The rest come from 140 different locales, but it seemed that most were from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines and Egypt. There are many British, French and Germans holding important jobs. The Dubai’s have so much oil wealth that they rarely hold jobs, so the foreigners are the work force.

According to Ken, the royal family here wants to position Dubai as an innovative and a global player, and they’re determined to make that happen in a lifetime. The speed and magnitude of what they’ve accomplished is staggering. These people never experienced an industrial revolution. They’ve gone straight from a nomadic life to cell phones and faxes, absorbing the new with incredible efficiency.

What has been created here is an absolutely irresistible attraction; a safe, sophisticated international city-state with completely free enterprise and all the pleasures of life, located next to the largest reserves of the world’s most vital, strategic commodity-oil.

Bibliofiles:
      
  by Tom Scanlan
(click on bookcovers to enlarge; click on title for Amazon.com reviews or purchase)

  The Imperial Maud, Robert E. Moore (iUniverse, Inc. NY, 2004)   
                                                                                                                                      Bob Moore

Now I find myself regretting that I never enrolled in Bob’s creative writing class before he retired from Grossmont College (I did purchase and read his excellent textbook, So You Wand to be a Writer). This is Bob’s first published novel and it really makes the case that we are never to old to be creative (those of you who know Bob are well aware that he’s no young chicken anymore, but editorial restraint prevents me from divulging the extent of his antiquity).

As a genre, his novel is a period romance and adventure story set in 19^th Century England. It concerns an artist, Stuart Tremaine, who makes his living painting landscapes and portraits of the gentry. While traveling in the countryside, Stuart stops at a remote inn and is smitten by the countenance of the innkeeper’s wife, Polly Butler. In order that he might use her as his model, he agrees, for mere room and board, to feature her on a new sign which will replace the worn and faded one hanging at the inn’s entrance.

Things get a bit sticky when Stuart finds himself falling in love with Polly. Her husband treats her rather harshly and he doesn’t wish to compromise her situation further. To make things worse, a rather unsavory local, Jack Waggoner, also has his eye on Polly and poses a serious and menacing threat to Tremaine and his romance with Polly. Adding more spice to the stew, a deranged countess whose husband has run off with Stuart’s wife is also visiting this remote village and now wants Stuart to avenge their common misfortune. Simple escapades soon escalate into deception, violence and even a murder mystery.

The language, setting and characters seem authentically early English (I didn’t realize Bob was that old!) so you’ll find after just a few chapters that you are quite at home in the environs of an earlier, rural England, enjoying the colorful company of hearty gents and spirited damsels as you quaff your stout ale and feast on steaming kidney pie at the inn’s great common table--whilst turning the pages of this delightful little novel. I heartily recommend it, especially if you’re just a bit out-of-sorts with modern times.

You can browse (read the prologue and first chapter) or purchase this book at http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-32972-1 and it’s also available for purchase in paperback or digitally at Amazon.com

  The Meaning of Everything, Simon Winchester (Oxford University Press, 2003)

If you love words, history, travel, people, or have ever wondered how a dictionary is made, this book is a wonderful read. Simon Winchester is well known for his best seller, The Professor and the Madman, a fascinating tale of madness and genius, and the incredible obsessions of two unusual men who contributed so much to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The Meaning of Everything is a much broader and complete story of the 71 years it took to complete the OED, though equally fascinating.

The book begins with a brief history of the English language, a chapter that alone justifies reading the book. The origin of words and how meanings and spellings have changed is a lesson in history and geography and social anthropology, all in one. The contributions of the various settlers and sometimes conquerors of the British Isles is mind-boggling, not to mention the impact of travel and technology. English has no single origin, no pure form, and it changes incessantly, more than any other language on the planet. No wonder that immigrants have always found it difficult, despite the familiarity of a certain few words from their own language. Learn Latin and you’ll find that Italian and Spanish are not so far removed. But what do you study as a prelude to English? Don’t even try.

And how does one assemble a dictionary? Who actually does it? Who pays for it and who will publish it? Who will buy it? The answers vary, depending on whose dictionary you mean. There were dozens of dictionaries produced in England alone before the OED and Winchester discusses their pros and cons. But mostly this book is about the unusual and fascinating people who persevered in producing what is today considered the greatest dictionary of the English language, The Oxford English Dictionary.

The sources of words for any dictionary, of course, are primarily other dictionaries, letters, conversations and literature, including newspapers, novels and even scientific journals. But who would undertake the Herculean task of gathering and reading ALL of this material in order to produce a truly COMPLETE dictionary of English? Inspired members of the Philological Society (philology; the love of learning or words) in 1857 England, who else! With the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world, but mostly from the English speaking countries of the British Isles, Australia, Canada and the United States.

A standard method of submitting words was adopted and a small staff, mostly volunteers and the rest poorly paid, working in what was described as a glorified shed, began the grueling task of sorting and cross-checking and organizing the submissions, one word per card. These were filed in a system of pigeonholes, which continued to grow and evolve as the project stretched from the original estimate of ten years to over seventy years. Many of the volunteers and staff did not live to see the fruition of their efforts. Along the way, efforts to find a publisher willing to fund the printing and fights with editors who wanted to trim back the project continued, complicated by the expected professional jealousies and political infighting to be found among University board members and their advisors.

Even before its completion, the dictionary began to be published serially, over a period of years, until its completion in 1928. Can you imagine people dashing to the nearest newsstand when it was announced that the next volume, a slim 64-page paperback, perhaps containing the words from whiskey to willfulness was now available? They did--and this was one way the publishers of the past were able to fund more than a few works, including fiction. The completed dictionary contained over 400,000 words and nearly two million illustrative quotations. The first bound edition was twelve volumes; any fewer would have made the volumes too bulky.

Would you like a copy? You can purchase the twenty volume, 20,000 page dictionary of 2.5 million quotations illustrating over half a million words for just $895, a special 75^th anniversary price (list price $3000). You might actually be tempted--after reading Winchester’s book.

  The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (Little-Brown & Co., 2002) **

The most unusual thing about this novel is the point-of-view, which is primarily that of a fourteen-year-old girl, Suzie Salmon (yes, I know, but at least they didn’t name her Smokey), who has been raped and murdered and is now surveying the ongoing situation and the lives of her friends--and the murderer--from a heavenly perspective.  Her assailant was a neighbor, and it turns out that he is also a serial killer who has killed before and will almost certainly kill again if he isn’t found out and apprehended..

 Suzie watches not only her friends and relatives grieving over her death, but also the activities of her assailant and the detective who is working on the case.   What might seem like a rather morbid story is actually rather light-hearted and upbeat, primarily because that’s the kind of person Suzie is.  She alternates between interest in her friends and relatives, watching them live the lives she might have lived, and following the activities of her murderer and the ongoing investigation.   The story is consequently a very interesting  combination of a coming-of-age (that might have been) and a detective story.  She is concerned about the effect grief has on her parents, as well as her younger sister and little brother, all of whom deal with her loss in very different ways.  She is also concerned about the threat posed by her murderer to other young girls and women as he continues to elude the law.  

This novel is actually fairly light reading and not easy to put down.  It’s the kind of book that brings you into the story and keeps you interested in the characters, despite a patently incredible point-of-view.  You may think the ending is a bit too ideal, but it’s consistent with this hopeful and upbeat story. 

SDSU Offers Lifelong Learning

Are you 50 years of age and better and looking for learning opportunities that challenge you, but without tests, grades or papers? The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Diego State University offers instructor led noncredit university inspired courses for retired or semi-retired adults who love learning and are interested in staying intellectually active. Classes are held on the SDSU campus during the day and include courses in literature, science, history, music, current events, religion, sociology, political science and more. Parking is convenient, right next to the new building where the classes are held. Spring classes start February 28, 2005. Scholarships are available. For more information call 619-594-2863, e-mail osher@mail.sdsu.edu or visit us at www.neverstoplearning.net/osher. 

Obituaries: 

  Dorothy Arnold passed away on Friday, March 11, in Escondido, after a prolonged illness. She was born in Santa Monica, California on April 15, 1928. She had been a neighbor and playmate of Shirley Temple before the latter became a film star.  Dorothy earned a Master's in Health and Biological Sciences from SDSU and began her teaching career at Grossmont High School.

She joined the teaching staff of Grossmont College as a charter member in 1961. Dorothy and Mickey Shelley initiated the program for physical education which later became the Exercise Science and Wellness Department, setting the high standards it holds to this day. She single-handedly created the 408 fitness room. During her tenure she was honored as Distinguished Chair by her colleagues.

Dorothy retired in 1985. She will long be remembered by colleagues and students for her stellar teaching and coaching career. A friend and department colleague, Joyce Sake, wrote the following tribute to Dorothy for the Department when Dorothy retired. It serves again as a fitting eulogy.

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