GCCCD Grapevine

The beginning-of-semester gathering for retirees was again hosted by District Chancellor at Allie’s on Navajo Road (near the Grossmont College campus) on Thursday, August 22. Everyone attending enjoyed a delicious buffet luncheon. Afterwards, Dr. Walker spoke briefly on District financial problems and some steps that have been taken to help alleviate them (e.g., several vacant administrator positions will not be replaced, and there will probably be no pay raise this year). He then presented Emeriti plaques to those new emeriti attending (the Board approved five new emeriti at their July 16 meeting: Lolita Carter, Ruth Coover, Bob Danielson, Pat Higgins, and Mickey Shelley). This was followed with a short talk by each of the two college presidents, Dr. Sam Ciccati (Cuyamaca) and Dr. Richard Sanchez (Grossmont). Personnel Director Dr. Stan Flandi organized and emcee’d the occasion.

Retirees attending were (in alphabetical order, as best as can be remembered): Don Anderson, Shirley Breeden, Alan Campbell, Ruth Coover, Bob Danielson, George Dillon, Lee Engelhorn, Don Ferris, Pat Higgins, Lee Hoffman, Warren Keller, Kay Kurtz, Lita Martinez, Joe McMenamin, Erv Metzgar, Dean Parks, Bob Peck, Bob Rump, Tom Scanlan, Don Scouller, Gordie Shields, Fred Stollenwerk, John Stubbs, Bill Tester, and Sidney Wiener.

There was plenty of opportunity for talking and renewing acquaintances in a cozy, informal setting. We hope to see even more of you at the next such occasion. The next such retiree function is tentatively set for Thursday, January 23, 1992. It will be a buffet breakfast at Allie’s. If you have suggestions for another time or place, or other activities, call or write.

GCCCD retirees can now obtain 50% discounts on tickets to all college productions at Theatre East (formerly ECPAC, or East County Performing Arts Center) which sell for more than $5.00. At present the discount may only be obtained at the box office upon presenting your retiree Gold Card and is limited to two tickets per card. The box office hours are 12 to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Theatre East will eventually have the names of all gold card holders identified on their own computer list, at which time (a month or so) it will then be possible to order tickets by phone and receive the discount.

Discounts of 50% should also be available to theatre, dance, art and music productions at the campus theatres, subject to the same conditions of two tickets per Gold Card (see "Red Tape-Grossmont Style" on page 3). Productions will be advertised by mail if you are resident in San Diego County an mentioned in the Grapevine if there is enough lead time. For additional information, call the Grossmont College campus ticket office at 465-1700, ext. 234.

Grossmont’s Theatre Arts Department opens the season with their production of Medea at the Stagehouse Theatre. Directed by Martin Katz, it is a modern adaptation of the Greek myth by Euripides which blends Japanese Noh Theatre style with the classic tale of a mother’s madness. The production runs October 3 through 12 (dark Sunday) at 8:00 p.m. There are matinee performances at 2:00 p.m. on October 5 and 12. Tickets are $9 for general audience ($4.50 for Gold Card holders and their spouse, probably, but see "Red Tape, Grossmont Style," on page 3). Purchase tickets at the Fine Arts Box Office in the Hyde Gallery (465-1700, ext. 234) Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

There will be four other productions during the 1991-1992 season. Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Match Girl will be staged December 5-13. Spring productions include Thurber’s The Male Animal, March 12-21; Master Harold and the Boys, a story of apartheid in South Africa, April 2-11; and Shakespeare’s Macbeth on May 13-23 (no Sunday productions).

This past month has been a very busy but exciting time for your editor. I became, for my very first time, "father-of-the-bride." My oldest (of two) daughter, Karen, married a fellow graduate student from University of Washington, Mark Frazier, on August 17 at Christ Episcopal Church in Colorado. They had first met at a Chinese language class in Washington, D.C. a few years back and had each just completed their Masters’ Degree this June. A number of my Grossmont colleagues attended the wedding and a fellow retiree and his wife, Don and Joan Scouller, televised the events and presented the video tape to Karen and Mark as a wedding gift.           
                       
The bride and groom, Karen and  Mark Frazier

The newlyweds will be leaving in mid-September for Taipei University in Taiwan where Mark has enrolled in on-year intensive post-graduate program in Chinese language and Karen will teach English. Rosemarie and I wish they weren’t going so far away but at least this gives us an excuse to take a trip to the Orient.

That having been said, I’d like to remind all of you out there that I’d like to hear from you if you have some news you believe would interest your fellow retirees. My own contacts are limited so unless you want to read about the same people all the time, get in touch. You’ll see an information box on this page, which will be part of all future issues, that tells you where to call or to write if you have any suggestions, news or articles for the Grapevine.

Incidentally, the newsletter format is still evolving. You’ve probably noticed the larger print size and the narrower margins. The headlines and pictures are also slightly bigger. I’m not going to tinker with it much more unless you readers have some suggestions for improving the readability or layout.

I forgot to credit a few very important contributors to the production of this newsletter in the last edition. John Dixon, IMC-Grossmont College, provides many of the photographs; and John Hayward and Jan Matula do the lithography-printing.

Finally, as a cost and energy saving measure, future editions of this newsletter will be produced quarterly instead of bi-monthly, commencing with this issue, so look for the next Grapevine about mid-December.

On July 25, 1989, the GCCCD Board approved a package of retiree benefits submitted to them by the SIRP (Supplemental Income Retirement Plan) committee. Most of the benefits were no cost or low cost and were enthusiastically endorsed by retiring Grossmont College president Ivan Jones and by the district chancellor, Don Walker. As a result, you now have a GOLD CARD with many of these perquisites listed on the back.

Unfortunately, the word didn’t get down to subordinate levels of the district in a clear, distinct way. Although there is a discount policy now in place at Theater East (ECPAC), neither Clark Mires (GC Theatre chairperson) nor Jack Miyamoto (Extended Studies an Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resources) knew about the discount policy for district retirees and their spouses.

I talked with the new acting dean of Communications and Fine Arts, Michele Nelson, about discounts approved by the District Board and indicated that the discount should apply to Music, Dance and Art productions as well as Theatre (there simply wasn’t room to list all of these on the GOLD CARD). She promised to bring this to the attention of all the deans at their next meeting.

Jack Miyamoto was also very helpful and has sent me a memo outlining the retiree discount policy (for enrolling in the courses listed in Preview), as follows.

"The registration procedure for retirees of GCCCD in Extended Studies are as follows:

The fee for any course will be 50% of the advertised cost.The offer is limited to retiree and spouse only.
Options available to register in the course are:

1.  by phone (465-1700, ext. 650) with Master Card or Visa
2.  in the Office of Extended Studies (hours M-F, 8 to 5)
3.  at the first class meeting (no charge cards)
4.  by mail to Extended Studies Office with payment enclosed.

It is taking more time to actually make these Board approved benefits available to retirees than we had anticipated, but that is always the way when we have to deal with a multi-level organization. We are slowly but surely cutting through the "red tape."

The GCCCD College of Extended Studies is offering all retirees and their spouses a 50% discount on courses listed in the Preview. These classes are short term in nature and would tend to appeal more to most retirees than many courses in the regular college curriculum. They include such topics as armchair travel, creative arts, business and careers, computers, dance, fitness, health, personal enrichment, and a number of courses designed primarily for seniors.

Those of you who live in San Diego City and have not previously received the Preview (class schedule for Extended Studies) should now be on their mailing list and will receive it before the beginning of each semester. S.D. County residents have always been on the mailing list.

This discount is a new benefit and is designed to encourage retirees to expand their interests and meet new friends. For enrollment details, see "Red Tape-Grossmont Style" on this page.

Clair has been the primary resource person at workshop meetings and an inspiration to other members. He has recently completed a second novel and has provided various chapters from that work for members to critique.

His first work, The Flight, is an adventure novel which takes place in the near future and also during the early part of World War II. Political intrigue in Washington, D.C. reacts in a fascinating way with events preceding the fall of Corregidor. Clair was able to draw on his own experience as a Marine infantry officer and as a professor of military history at Grossmont College, producing a realism in his characters and setting that makes this story a pleasure to read.

The Writers’ Workshop meets every two or four weeks, depending on individual schedules. Both retired and non-retired staff attend, including Clair Runyan, Don Scouller, Don Shannon, Ernie Neveu, Bob James, Jim Peters, and Tom Scanlan.

I got the idea for this novel while teaching military history at Grossmont. For several years it remained just that – an idea. Once begun, the final version took about two years of research and writing.

I had three agents before the book sold. My first agent (terminally incompetent) was based in Los Angeles, the other two (one good, one outstanding) were in New York City. Contrary to what Joseph Wambaugh has said in a recent interview, if you want to sell what you write, get an agent. As part of an increasing trend among major publishing houses, my publisher (Bantam Books) will no longer look at un-agented manuscript.

A word about becoming a novelist. Ideally one should be a sensitive, razor-sharp twenty-year old who has just graduated from the acclaimed Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Already you feel unqualified?

Then take me as an alternative role model. I began writing novels in my sixties, I couldn’t define a predicate under threat of death, and my mind…? Hey, has anyone seen my car keys?

By Fred Stollenwerk

Golden Age Passport. You are eligible at age 62 for a passport good for free admission to all properties of the National Park System and good for a 50% reduction of all non-concessionaire use fees.

Taxes. If you are over age 65 and lose head-of-household status due to the death of a spouse or dependent, you may be eligible for a two-year deduction equal to 2% of taxable income, not to exceed $750.

Moving Expenses. All expenses involved in moving more than 300 miles may be tax deductible if the move is a condition of employment in the new location. In essence, "Get a job, then move."

Health Insurance After 65. When you reach (or would have reached) age 65, District coverage ceases and alternative programs must be considered. Generally, an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) provides the optimum economic choice.

In San Diego County, the HMO scene is dominated by Kaiser but FHP (Family Health Practice) and Secure Horizons are expanding rapidly, especially for the Medicare-eligible. A retiree without Medicare usually has the option of remaining in Kaiser and "purchasing" Medicare, enrolling in a private health-service program, or purchasing a major-medical insurance policy to cover all or part of expenses beyond the deductible.

For FHP information, call Ira Pratt (619) 688-2100; for Secure Horizons, call Otis Froning (619) 4646; for Kaiser and other information, call Chris Bona in the District Personnel Office (619) 465-1700, ext. 643.              

It’s a rare household that doesn’t have a television in this country. The saturation figure is way above 98%. In fact, more families have television than have indoor plumbing! I have been up in the mountains in northern Thailand in a Hmong village that was about as primitive as any place on earth and there was a communal television in the hut that passed for the town center.

The penetration of VCR’s in the U.S. has slowed down as we approach the figure of 75%. This climbs to over 80% in California. But the number of video cameras has been a phenomenon without parallel. I don’t have the latest figures but over 15% of the homes in Southern California have a video camera recorder, popularly called a camcorder (most of which are probably only used for Christmas and birthdays or to send grandparents an update).

The earlier cameras used a vidicon tube, which was easily damaged and costly to repair. Now the magic of VLSIC chips allows us to shoot into very bright lights without ruining the camera. But when you look in the video magazines or read the newspaper ads you can become totally confused. For example, there are two Beta configurations, and though these cameras are no longer imported, they sound like great bargains until you discover that they are "orphans" that will be difficult and expensive to keep in repair.

There are also two sizes of VHS format, one using the standard 2-hour cassette (6-hour extended play) and the VHS-Compact which uses a small cassette that plays for 20 minutes, or 30 minutes in a newer version (or 60 minutes and 90 minutes, correspondingly, with extended play).

Then there is S-VHS (Super-VHS), which is a superior recording and playback technology that will produce an image that is better than those received from local television stations. The problem is that if you record in S-VHS, you must playback in the same mode…so you’ll need to purchase an S-VHS playback unit or use your camera to play back. But unless you have a television set that will accept this higher quality image, your picture will be limited to broadcast quality. So now you need to buy a new TV!

Then again, you might want to look into the newest mode, eight millimeter video. Again there are two levels, one designated 8mm and the better quality one called Hi-8 (high-band eight millimeter). These cassettes are only slightly larger than audio cassette but will record for up to two hours in the standard mode and six hours in extended play. The regular 8mm provides a very good picture and excellent sound, whereas the Hi-8 will provide the best sound and picture you can use IF you buy a TV receive that will accept the special signal.

Is all of this confusing? Wait until you begin to sort out the cameras with all of those optional "bells and whistles." Don’t despair. I’ll try to separate the chaff from the good stuff in the next issue of Grapevine.

Dr. Edward Krehbiel, professor and administrator at Grossmont College since 1965, passed away on Monday, July 1, 1991. Ed earned his B.S. degree at Cal Tech and later earned a Doctorate in genetics at the University of Minnesota. He began his career at Grossmont College as a biology instructor and then, in 1968, became the Evening Division and Summer Session Administrator. In 1971 he became an Assistant Superintendent and was instrumental in planning Cuyamaca College. He returned to the classroom in 1982 as a professor of business law and statistics.

Ed was a 25-year member of the honorary society Phi Delta Kappa, a 14-year member of the California Bar Association, a 15-year member of the San Diego Track Officials Association, a past president of the Heartland Cancer Association, a member of the La Mesa Elks and the Santee Kiwanis Club, and an Army veteran. Survivors include his wife, Rosemary; a son, John, in El Cajon; a daughter, Nancy, in El Cajon; and a sister, Marlene Ezratty, in Torrance.

            Here he lies where he longs to be,
           Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
           And the hunter home from the hill.