One of my first memories of watching TV is from when I was six years old and my family and I watched the 1968 Summer Olympic Games from Mexico City (on ABC, of course, with the recently deceased Jim McKay). I don’t believe ABC showed the Mexican government shooting Mexican student protestors. But I also missed something the TV probably did show – something I’ve seen a TV documentary with sports sociologist Harry Edwards about subsequently – U.S. gold and bronze medal-winning sprinters Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos raising their fists in black power salutes (during the medal ceremony/National Anthem) and then shortly thereafter being stripped of their medals.
It turns out that both of these then sports/political figures were runners for San Jose State University – the commuter school and urban university where my Aunt Sally went briefly, soon thereafter – and where my friend Rachel is now chairperson of the Environmental studies department. I trotted over to San Jose State (where a former Western Illinois colleague of mine also now teaches - though I didn't get a chance to look him up) – which, it turns out, is really part of the downtown – at late lunchtime Wednesday – and took a look around the beautiful campus, with lots of green space, a mix of old and very new buildings, and a mix of Anglo, Asian, Latino, and African American students (probably in that order? Although Rachel says her department has recently received an influx of sorority members – probably Anglo – as majors).
A couple of years ago the university honored Smith and Carlos – who I bet were pariahs – much like Muhammad Ali was for some whites – for years – by erecting statues of them – in their black power poses (see above) – on a green space on campus, and they spoke at an unveiling (no doubt partly as way to reach out to real and potential students of color). The university has also reached out somewhat to the surrounding community. Not only is the school primarily a commuter school (although – like IUS – they have some fancy new dorms), but the brand new Martin Luther King library sits on the edge of campus – opening the campus up to the busy streets around it - and is a joint public library and university library.
Rachel and I ate there with her grad student Ariel (recently returned from studying grazing methods and insects for six months in Nicaragua and about to speak to her mother’s cattlewoman’s association) and her senior colleague Lynne (who was to take over as department head this summer and who helped spearhead a massive purchase of wetlands around San Francisco Bay – from Cargill – much like the purchase by the state of Florida announced this week of U.S. Sugar’s land in the Everglades). We ate in the library café, and then Rachel showed me their department’s digs. I visited the campus once before during Rachel’s first week – prior to teaching – as a professor there. And – now she has tenure and is completing a term as head of her exciting department.
Best wishes, Rachel and colleagues! Good statue/gesture, San Jose State!
P.S. I got back a tad late from all of this and then disappeared later to call home to find out how Mom was doing and to shop some more in the Global Marketplace and wonder how much this irritated my manager who had already let me go a little early to go to Santa Cruz the night before.
It turns out that both of these then sports/political figures were runners for San Jose State University – the commuter school and urban university where my Aunt Sally went briefly, soon thereafter – and where my friend Rachel is now chairperson of the Environmental studies department. I trotted over to San Jose State (where a former Western Illinois colleague of mine also now teaches - though I didn't get a chance to look him up) – which, it turns out, is really part of the downtown – at late lunchtime Wednesday – and took a look around the beautiful campus, with lots of green space, a mix of old and very new buildings, and a mix of Anglo, Asian, Latino, and African American students (probably in that order? Although Rachel says her department has recently received an influx of sorority members – probably Anglo – as majors).
A couple of years ago the university honored Smith and Carlos – who I bet were pariahs – much like Muhammad Ali was for some whites – for years – by erecting statues of them – in their black power poses (see above) – on a green space on campus, and they spoke at an unveiling (no doubt partly as way to reach out to real and potential students of color). The university has also reached out somewhat to the surrounding community. Not only is the school primarily a commuter school (although – like IUS – they have some fancy new dorms), but the brand new Martin Luther King library sits on the edge of campus – opening the campus up to the busy streets around it - and is a joint public library and university library.
Rachel and I ate there with her grad student Ariel (recently returned from studying grazing methods and insects for six months in Nicaragua and about to speak to her mother’s cattlewoman’s association) and her senior colleague Lynne (who was to take over as department head this summer and who helped spearhead a massive purchase of wetlands around San Francisco Bay – from Cargill – much like the purchase by the state of Florida announced this week of U.S. Sugar’s land in the Everglades). We ate in the library café, and then Rachel showed me their department’s digs. I visited the campus once before during Rachel’s first week – prior to teaching – as a professor there. And – now she has tenure and is completing a term as head of her exciting department.
Best wishes, Rachel and colleagues! Good statue/gesture, San Jose State!
P.S. I got back a tad late from all of this and then disappeared later to call home to find out how Mom was doing and to shop some more in the Global Marketplace and wonder how much this irritated my manager who had already let me go a little early to go to Santa Cruz the night before.
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