Explaining the Loss of the Civic Center to Those Who Care

(Because I can't access my San Francisco CCSF Connection blog!)

I'm privileged to have an ongoing correspondence with former City College students who have become friends over the years.  I call us the Anminiroti for Annie in France, Minako in Japan, Nicole in the USA, Rosa in Spain, and me, Tina, right here and trying to explain what's happening at City College, a school that meant and still means a lot to these  former students in other parts of the world. 

Back in the year 2000 we found out that Annie, who always dressed like a Parisian model, got her clothes not in Paris Boutiques but at  the Good Will Thrift Shop in San Francisco, so I related the report of the severed body parts found at Good Will South of Market, suggesting that this served as a metaphor for the plight of the Civic Center Campus.   This was  after Civic Center Teachers were told on a Friday afternoon, January 9, that they would not be teaching the following Monday because their school  was closing for earthquake retrofitting.  The students didn't learn about this until Monday, January 12, when they showed up for the classes scheduled there and  were met by teachers trying to explain the situation.  At first these students, who are learning English and need very clear explanations, were told that the classes would be held at 33 Gough,  where the administrative offices of City College are located.  That turned out not to be the case.  Instead the following month they were sent to the Chinatown/NorthBeach and Mission centers. 

The Anminiroti are more privileged than many, but four of the five are teachers  and very concerned about the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.  As Heather Knight reported last summer, citing a report from the Human Services Agency, San Francisco now compares to Rwanda in terms of the disparity in incomes.   The Tenderloin is an area NOT made up of the most privileged in that spectram. 

Now Steve Rubinstein is reporting on the missing prosthetic limbs!  The man whose prosthetic leg was found  turned out to be a victim of thieves pushing his  wheelchair to an area where they could rob him of everything he had of value.  They later tossed his prosthetic leg. 

Do you see what I mean by metaphoric?

(Actually, the first word that came to my mind was metamorphic, and that might work too.)

I'm not antagonistic towards administrators.  .  In fact, I've always felt sorry for them  and wouldn't take their job no matter how high the pay.  But I feel agony-bordering-on-antagonism over this closure of the Civic Center Campus and the way it was handled, so only by creating a new word can I express how I feel:  Very agonistic  

 Since the accreditation of City College was threatened by the ACCJC in 2012, I've attended a lot of rallies and board meetings, but one that stands out in my mind is the one in October 2012 that went on until 1:30 in the morning.  Faculty and staff had to wait until midnight to be heard, and then they were told they would have one minute each to speak. 

            http://fog.ccsf.edu/~mantonic/HTMLPractice/BOT_Excerpts_102512_3.html