AFTER 13 years as a counselor at Boonville High School, Jerry Cox has announced his formal retirement. “When you no longer can steal 2nd base, it's time to hang up your cleats,” he says. (And when you can no longer find your cleats, it’s time to take up basketball.)
MR. COX has an interesting backstory, as does his wife Kathy who has also worked with the Boonville schools. Before he got into education, Jerry, an ordained priest, had risen to monsignor in the Church. He met Kathy, a liberal nun, and they married, serving with the Peace Corps in a tense area of Honduras. They are bilingual which, in a school district of many monolingual immigrant families and children, the Cox’s facility in two languages has been crucial to immigrant success.
GUESS WHO the Willits schools will hire to lead its “national search for educational excellence” now that its superintendent is moving to Ukiah to run the Ukiah schools? Leadership Associates. The very same “executive search firm” who found Deb Kubin in Willits for Ukiah. Will the circle be unbroken!
THE WILLITS SCHOOL BOARD voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to pay Leadership Associates $21,000 to recruit candidates for the job of Willits’ superintendent of schools and, as with Ukiah, you can be excused for wondering why edu-dollars are paid out for a task the school board is elected to do.
ACCORDING to the report in the Willits News by Jennifer Poole, the Willits trustees modestly laid out what they expect in an educational leader: “A record of demonstrated success in student achievement; a master's degree in education [roughly equivalent to a diploma in mumbly peg, the diff being that success in mumbly requires elementary hand-eye coordination]; eagerness and enthusiasm; a focus on all the different kinds of children we have and how to meet their needs; a small town mentality,’ [exit Socrates from the candidate pool]; ‘approachability, or an ability to relate well to everyone in the community; strong leadership skills; an understanding of special education; an understanding of how to work collaboratively and get support from others; and strong support for technology.”
WOW! I know just the guy. He’s kinda expensive but he’s just down the road at Talmage — Paul Tichinin.
THE FOLLOWING are two bits of timely dialogue from the excellent and timely movie, ‘Margin Call’; the first is from a vulpine CEO of a hedge fund, the second from one of his vulpine assistants: “If you really want to do this with your life you have to believe that you’re necessary. And you are. People want to live like this in their cars and their big fucking houses that they can’t even pay for? Then you’re necessary. The only reason they all get to continue living like kings is because we’ve got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off and the whole world gets really fucking fair really fucking quickly and nobody actually wants that. They say they do but they don’t. They want what we have to give them, but they also want to play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from. That’s more hypocrisy than I’m willing to swallow. Fuck them. Fuck normal people.”
VULTURE NUMBER TWO: “Yeah. I earned $2.5 million last year. Sure. I spent it quite quickly. You learn to spend what’s in your pocket. First the tax man takes half upfront. So you’re left with $1.25 million. My mortgage takes another $300k. I send $150k home for my parents, you know, keep them going. What’s that? $800k? $150k on a car. About $75k on restaurants. Probably $50k on clothes. And I put $400k away for a rainy day. That leaves $125k. Oh, I did spend $77k on hookers, booze and dancers. Mainly hookers. $77k was a little shocking initially. But then I realized I could claim most of that back as entertainment. It’s true!”
MEMO OF THE WEEK: “Thank you for contributing in the way you have been. It's important work. I appreciate what you are doing, and I hope that your contribution is acknowledged in your community as well. Based on your email, I believe you may have a misunderstanding about surrogate partner therapy. One works with a surrogate partner (what you refer to in your email as a sex surrogate) as part of ongoing therapy to correct debilitating social, relational or sexual dysfunctions. Surrogate partner therapy is not intended to give someone the opportunity to have sexual intercourse. Also, a surrogate partner will only have sessions with you if you are also seeing a therapist. I will assume, and correct me if I'm wrong, that surrogate partner therapy is not what you are looking for and wish you all the best in finding an opportunity for sexual expression. — Sincerely Andrew Heartman, Secretary International Professional Surrogates Association PS. Since they referred you, I will copy San Francisco Sex Information on this to inform them as well.
DUET 2 Exhibition Fine Art & Woodwork Sponsored by Mendocino Coast FurnitureMakers. The July show at the Odd Fellows Hall in Mendocino features painting, photography, sculpture, Japanese calligraphy and fine woodwork. “As woodworkers we work alone in our workshops most of the time”, says Taimi Barty. “Occasionally, we come up for air and meet with our artist friends for problem solving, inspiration and feedback.” This year the members of Mendocino Coast FurnitureMakers thought to celebrate their fellow artist friends. Each member of the group has chosen someone they respect and admire to join them in the exhibit. MCF members and invited artists: Taimi Barty and Judy Hollingshead; Michael Burns and Julia Burns; Michael Carroll and Shizuki McConathy; Les Cizek and Larry Thomas; Graham Gilbertson; Kerry Marshall and Ferdinant Thieriot; Paul Reiber and Mariam Davis. In addition, the members are also presenting other artwork, not in wood. There will be photographs, paintings, calligraphy and much more in addition to new woodwork. The hope is to reveal, trace and explore some of their artistic influences within the artist community of Mendocino. Dates: July 3 -30, 2012. Open daily 10AM to 5 PM Artists' Reception: Second Saturday, July 14, 2011 5 pm – 8 pm Where: Odd Fellows Hall. Kasten and Ukiah Street, Mendocino, CA. Founded in 1997, Mendocino Coast FurnitureMakers is dedicated to the preservation and evolution of the fine art of furniture. They specialize in custom-designed, one-of-a-kind pieces in both traditional and contemporary styles. Using the finest materials and proven hand techniques they provide customers with furniture designs that enhance their home's interiors. Contact information for individual craftspersons at www.mendocinofurniture.com
“Margin Call” was excellent, a world apart from the apologetics for the rich jerks in charge presented to us commoners in the HBO propaganda movie, “Too Big to Fail”.