The State of Higher Education at SJSU

Two short pieces in today’s San Jose Mercury News might best illustrate the priorities today at San Jose State University.

On page B3, the headline reads “SJSU water damage closes building,” and the building is where I taught journalism classes for more than twenty-four years, off and on.

It goes on to say that SJSU will not hold any journalism classes in the century-old Dwight Bentel Hall on the first two days of the new fall semester

Students assigned to courses in this building were instructed to report to the Student Union, and not to Yoshihiro Ushida Hall.

In the C6 piece in the sports section, you would have learned that renovations are nearly complete at Ushida Hall, with new locker rooms and office space for the basketball, volleyball and gymnastics programs. The locker rooms feature an area where there is “locked access so coaches and players can leave their gear in their lockers.” How novel to find lockers that lock.

The SJSU's athletic director called this "a significant improvement that is nice and adequate, and has a little glitz to it."

The Ushida project cost about $55 million, and there is no mention whatsoever as to whether or not there are any dry classrooms nearby.

It All Adds Up

In last Sunday’s edition of the largest San Francisco Bay Area newspaper, the front section was only eight pages long, and it contained ten advertisements. Of those, five tried to sell the reader on how to feel better. It seems that the pain in the back is a major problem, and one full-page advertisement described the advantages of spinal decompression, another on curing lower leg pain, and a third on sciatica. A fourth advertisement came from two chiropractic doctors who declared that they could help anyone suffering from “arthritis, knee pain, cartilage damage, bursitis, tendonitis, and crunching and popping sounds.”

However, those essential sounds help me know that I am still alive.

There was also another regularly run advertisement for 50% off implants and crowns, along with a free initial consultation (Reg. $400). See the earlier July 28^th blog for similar, competitive advertisements that may help Obama’s fund raising.

Also on Sunday, that same newspaper published an informative, laudatory 24-page section on the $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers football team. The stadium is about forty-five miles from San Francisco.

That section contained thirty-four advertisements filling thirteen total pages. One advertisement offered a “49ers Specials” good for both hair loss replacement, as well as for treatment to enable you to be “the man you used to be.” There was only one advertisement on dental implants.

In a front-page article in the main news section, an extremely talented writer got carried away and likened the stadium to other well-known edifices noting that “every great civilization in history has relied upon monumental architecture to assert its power, from the Parthenon of ancient Athens to the cathedrals of France.”

Let’s hope that he was being facetious.

Print advertising in my daily newspaper is somewhat entertaining and acceptable, including those from companies who are trying to enhance my body and improve my health. 

I am truly grateful for the healthful commercials that run on the evening news on NBC, CBS, and ABC. They push products to better handle life’s true medical problems including indigestion, constipation, bladder control, impotence, incontinence, diabetic nerve pain, heartburn, eye problems, being overweight, and overwrought.

After each product’s benefits have been extolled, the viewer is then inundated with hurriedly spoken warnings on the usage. They make me wonder if it’s worth buying products that help pharmaceutical companies to increase their already massive profits.

Every little bit adds up.

Barak’s Bigger Bite In the Silicon Valley

On July 23, President Obama made his 18^th incursion into the Silicon Valley, once again seeking (and finding) supporters with deep pockets. One fundraiser took place in the Los Altos home of real estate tycoon George Marcus, whose fortune is estimated at more than $400 million. The medium home value in George’s Los Altos neighborhood is $2,234,800.

A couple would have had to donate $32,400 in order to have both lunch and a photo opportunity with the President. This would have been a blind faith, repast payment, for donors were unaware beforehand what culinary offering they would be sinking their teeth in to.

For any future such photo-op with Obama, any participating donor might want to ensure that they present a beautiful smile when the camera clicked. If not, they may be reluctant to show the resultant and expensive photograph to their envious and poorer friends.

If Obama’s Northern California fund-raising leaders were truly astute, before his next trip there, they should add another $2,000 per abnormal tooth to the required donation. This could possibly help guarantee a picture-perfect smile for each contributor.

Any potential, generous donor who may have lost a tooth or two, or has crooked or irregularly spaced teeth, should work with Obama’s people prior to any in-home fundraiser. They could investigate the possibility of a dental implant to repair any facial flaws. Donors should not fret if they missed the recent mid-July soiree, since Obama is sure to come back many more times this election cycle.

When it comes to implants, there are many dental professionals available in the Silicon Valley to repair anyone’s imperfect smile. A myriad of such advertisements appear each week in The San Jose Mercury News, the Valley’s most influential newspaper. Yesterday’s edition contained five of them.

During July, advertisements ranged in size from a small, three-column by five-inches, to one that covered a full-page in full-color. The latter was placed by an implant center with three offices near to Obama’s Northern California fund-raising communities. It also has twenty-eight more nationwide, and does not list a price for an implant.

One implant center ran four, full-color, thirty-three inch advertisements in the last week, offering implants for $1,990. That price is a 50 percent reduction, and they boast of a 98 percent success rate.  Obama’s team would welcome such numbers with his current approval rating hovering in the low forties, yet it far surpasses the 16 percent approval rating of Congress.

Another advertisement headlined “Lose Your Teeth…Lose Your Taste of Life,” and asked potential donors if they were “Tired of avoiding social occasions?” If so, for $2,995, that implant center can renew any client’s taste for life,” and have the recipient feel secure enough to have their photograph taken with Obama.

A small, full-color advertisement placed by an “Experienced Group of Implantologists,” offered a dental implant for only $1,490. In minuscule type, it was noted that a needed abutment crown was extra, and it could cost up to $600.

The only group located in Obama’s Los Altos fund-raising neighborhood was one who ran a thirty-three inch advertisement in black and white. Their headline would capture the attention of any reluctant donor who planned to attend an upcoming fundraiser, when they modestly declared themselves to be,  “Your Dental Implant and Smile Makeover Specialists.”

Donors still have time to get prepared to say “cheese, or “cheesy” if their next expensive campaign meal is not up to their taste. They should be pleased that the President is willing to come back and share a pleasant smile with them, instead of trying to sink his teeth into more meatier subjects like immigration reform, the Israeli-Gaza War, and trying to stop Putin’s actions which are eating away at our country’s reputation as a world leader.

A World Cup Divided

We live in a world that’s quite divided, and Sunday’s World Cup final will evoke emotional divisions between countries, and perhaps even with citizens of the same land.

In the U.S., Divided We Fail

It’s obvious that there’s a deep division in both Houses of Congress with little room for anything that resembles a compromise. The future offers no narrowing of the divide with Tea Party Republicans and the GOP’s Old Guard fighting for conservative support, while their Democratic counterparts muddle along, tripping over one another.

The Executive branch seems to be in a confused whirl of its own, and in cases of ideological importance, the Supreme Court can be counted on to deliver a 5 to 4 vote. There’s an immense gap between the overly affluent one percent and the rest of us, and shows no sign of diminishing.

Our local cable system, offers a one-channel separation between the alpha and omega broadcasts of Fox “News” and MSNBC, neither of which deliver anything more than right and left opinions.

What in the World

Is Going On Today?

When it comes to the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina, there’s an intimate connection between the two countries, beyond the obvious one that Germany represents Europe, while Argentina represents Latin America.

There has been a closer political connection before, during and since the end of World War Two.

From 1857 to 1920, during the first wave of European immigration, nearly 70,000 immigrated to Argentina from the German Empire. During World War II, Argentina’s Minister of War Juan Peron had early on supported the Axis war effort, and did so until the last days before Germany’s collapse.

The country welcomed thousands of Germans after the War, including notorious Nazi war criminals Adolf Eichmann, Klaus Barbie (the Butcher of Lyon), Dr. Josef Mengele, and Nazi collaborators fleeing from Post-War trials in Europe.

The Loyalty Dilemma

Members of Germany’s Nazi Party that fled to Argentina are not around today, but there’s a possibility that either their very elderly children, or their grandchildren, sympathizers or supporters live there. and have a dilemma to face. The same holds true for today’s Argentinians who emigrated from Germany through the centuries.

When the two teams meet up, will they be cheering for their countrymen in Argentina to win, or will they still be loyal to their Fatherland?

In a divided world, this could become a perplexing problem, or an easy decision. This select group could cheer for both teams, and although the game cannot end in a tie, one of their countries will be a winner.

They are faced with a rather welcomed choice.

I have chosen not to watch the game, and will be in San Jose attending a brunch of the Silicon Valley Holocaust Survivors Association in the morning, and then attending the Obon Festival in Japantown. There I will mingle with Japanese-American friends, many of whom were illegally incarcerated in ten American internment camps during the War.

It will be uplifting to share the day with these two groups of winners.

What's In a Name?

This weekend is the running of the 103^rd Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. It’s an auto racing fanatic’s must-see event, whether it is seen on television or in person. The latter is far a more exciting and stimulating experience.

I wanted to cover the 1963 race, and rather than be crowded in the stands with more than a quarter million other spectators, I decided that I wanted to be where the action was — on the track and in the pits where the drivers and their cars belonged.

As a neophyte writer, this was my first attempt to publish, and to do so, I had to convince three entities that I was worthy enough. I needed to find one racing crew who would allow me to follow them around during time trials and on race day, and I would be able to interview their people. After receiving permission to do so, then I had to mail out well-written query letters to numerous publications, seeking an assignment. Once I had these two in hand, I could contact the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and acquire the needed press credentials.

I aimed for the best, and contacted A.J. Watson, the builder of the 1962 Indy winner, as well as thirteen other Watson/Offy race cars. He graciously granted me access to himself, his crew, his car and his driver Roger Ward, during both the time trials and the May 30 race.

To find a publication, I sent out more than a dozen letters of inquiry, and received a variety of replies including from one “high-class” publication who returned my query with the words “Oh, Shit!” written across it using a black crayon. Modern Man, a Grade D Playboy, was the only magazine that sent me a positive response.

With these two “guarantees” in hand, I contacted Al Bloemker, the Speedway’s Publicity Director, and he offered me press credentials.

Since I was gainfully unemployed at the time, I went down for the time trials and the race, got to know Watson and Roger Ward, and mingled with the as many drivers as I could. It was a fabulous experience, and I was determined to write an exceptionally good article, which I did. It was entitled, ”A. J. Watson: The Wonderful Wizard of Indy.”

When the article came out that December, I told my family and friends about it, and my Uncle Sidney, a prominent member of his Lorain, Ohio community, went to the newsstand downtown, and asked the proprietor for a copy of the latest issue of Modern Man. The man behind the counter asked, “Mr. Gotliffe, are you sure that you want this particular magazine?” as he slowly took it out from beneath the counter. “Why, yes,” my Uncle proudly said. “My nephew has written an article in it.”

My Uncle bought the copy of Modern Man, and flipped through the pages until he found the one article on the previous year’s Indy 500, tucked between photographs of scantily clad women. He proudly said, “Here it is,” and the man looked at the article and wondered out loud, “Is your nephew named Bob Russo?”

No, it was and still is Harvey Gotliffe, and my embarrassed Uncle took the magazine and left. When I discovered that Bob Russo was given credit for my writing, I quickly realized that someone at Modern Man had either deliberately or inadvertently put Russo’s name as the writer. Russo was far better known than I, however, his first name was Paul, not Bob. He was a 48-year-old grandfather and Indy racer, and although he had failed to qualify in 1963, he had finished 28^th in 1962.

I wrote an indignant letter to the magazine’s editor demanding action, and the editor in turn, said mistakes are made; we will correct the attribution in the next available issue, and because of your inflammatory attitude, please don’t ever try and write for us again.

He stuck to his word, and in the March 1964 issue there was a small box buried within the publication and it read in minuscule type that the December 1963 story on A. J. Watson was “credited to the wrong writer. Harvy Gotliffe, sports car and racing writer, was the correct author of this story.” The magazine “accidentally” misspelled my first name.

FOOTNOTE:

This piece was just published for two reasons, with the first being that this is the weekend for the running of the 2014 Indy-500 Mile Race. More importantly, A. J. Watson died at the age of 90 on May 12^th, and this is a belated reminder that his generosity helped to get me jump-started in my writing career.