ON THE TOWN:
Patrons Club presents college scholarships

Glendale Community College’s Los Robles Dining Room — newly dedicated to recently retired culinary arts professor Yeimei Wang — was the setting for the announcement of 24 students who received scholarships from the Patrons Club on Thursday. Superintendent-President Audre Levy handled introductions with aplomb.

A WORD, PLEASE:
Actively steer clear of passivity

I’ve always been terrified by the idea of teaching. I don’t fear the spotlight. I don’t fear public speaking. I don’t fear being thrust out onto a stage in front of a live audience with no lines, no script and nothing to fall back on except some improv classes. Yet the prospect of teaching students has always struck panic in my heart.

FROM THE MARGINS:
United by the love of bling-bling

It was late at night on International Workers Day, or May Day, and the night was warm, without a single cloud in the dark sky. The 11th hour of the evening was fast approaching when I heard the sound of small explosions outside my living quarters.

EDUCATION MATTERS:
Take a walk in history students’ shoes

My students have been in cram mode for the past week preparing for their big test (advanced placement U.S. history) being given today.

COUNSELOR’S CORNER:
Fighting over a wrongful death

Here is a somewhat lurid case that has had a lot of twists and turns.

VERDUGO VIEWS:
Living through the Depression

Genevieve Berman Fisher has the distinction of being born in one of Glendale’s first hotels. She was born on March 13, 1914, in the midst of a flood that prevented her mother, Lizzie, from getting to the hospital. Instead, Dr. Smith delivered her at the Woods Hotel on Brand Boulevard, next door to her father’s tailor shop.

ON CAMPUS AT GCC:
Spring is the time for dance, music at community college

A WORD, PLEASE:
Bank on the adverb for 'how, when and where?'

Last week’s column was about adverbs. This may come as a surprise to those of you who actually read it. But if you think back, you’ll recall that, after a roughly 580-word rant about a banking error and the shocking decline in communication skills the experience revealed, I still had space for two whole sentences about my intended column topic, adverbs.

FROM THE MARGINS:
Hurting people is not a virtue

It was a telling moment full of courage. Annie Orudzhyan stood silently as Ariel Lupton placed red tape on her mouth during a demonstration at Glendale High School on April 25. Students and teachers sat in a silent protest against harassment and discrimination.

EDUCATION MATTERS:
People must stop hurting one another

On Monday, Hoover High School had a Human Rights assembly. The timing was perfect, following as it did closely after the Armenian Genocide Week of Remembrance and the Day of Silence, both days asking students to remember past episodes and present denials of man’s inhumanity to man.

ON THE TOWN:
Scholarship winners touted at concert

The Women’s Committee of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Assn. presented its 46th annual Meet the Musicians Concert and Reception at Brand Library Recital Hall on Friday. During the free event, 10 scholarship winners (with one absent) were honored.

A WORD, PLEASE:
What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate

A bank customer service representative on the phone tells me his name is Jeff. I don’t believe him, mostly because he has so much trouble pronouncing it. But I let it slide.

FROM THE MARGINS:
Change will do the city some good

Glendale is becoming an interesting place. The opening of the Americana on Brand on Friday may usher in changes that could be more fundamental than superficial.

EDUCATION MATTERS:
Visit to emergency room was a pain

Two weeks ago at about 3 in the morning, I woke up screaming. My lower back went into muscle spasms that delivered a dose of pain unlike anything I have ever experienced. Each episode lasted about 15 seconds and then calmed down for about 10 minutes. Then it began again and repeated at intervals.

VERDUGO VIEWS:
Neighborhood is steeped in history

Wendy Gish, who lives on Pelanconi Avenue, wrote to say that she was curious about the Pelanconi name. She thought her neighborhood used to be a vineyard owned by the Pelanconi family and that it was all connected to a winery on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. She contacted me some time ago to see if that could be verified.

COUNSELOR’S CORNER:
Learning to get free of the Net

How much time do you spend online each day? Do you believe that you have the Internet under control, or do you think that it controls you? Apparently, this is a problem in South Korea, at least for its young people.

ON THE TOWN:
Soroptimist lunch is a salute to women

Soroptimist International of Glendale celebrated its 65th anniversary in style on Thursday with a luncheon for close to 100 members and supporters at the Hilton Glendale. Also a cause for celebration was the group’s Ninth Annual Accolades — A Salute to Women. The Making a Difference for Women Award was presented to Karla Kerlin. The Women’s Opportunity Award was presented to Laura Butler, and the Violet Richardson Award went to Holly Stevens.

A WORD, PLEASE:
Grammar snobs: There is no ‘I’ in blowhard

There was a phone message waiting for me at my local bookstore the other day. I don’t work at the bookstore. I don’t have friends who work at the bookstore. I do live a short distance from this particular bookstore, but not so close that its employees would answer my home phone. But someone had called the bookstore to leave a message — for me.

FROM THE MARGINS:
Grandfather lived through genocide

April is a special month. After an indecisive March, spring is finally in full bloom. Maybe here in Southern California we don’t get much of March’s madness, and April feels very much like any other month, but it hasn’t always been that way for me.

SERVICE CLUBS:
75 years and still going strong

At 75, Glendale One Toastmasters is still going strong, helping Glendale people build confidence, public speaking and leadership skills. The club started in Glendale in 1933 as one of the original eight Toastmasters Clubs. Today there are more than 11,500 clubs in the United States and in several foreign countries.

EDUCATION MATTERS:
Day of Silence may prove resounding

April 25 has become a day of student-led action that now involves more than half a million students across our nation. These concerned and activated kids have taken a vow of silence for the day to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying, harassment and physical violence experienced by gay students on campuses across the country and at all levels of education.

ON THE TOWN:
Guests board ‘Scouting Ark’ to raise funds

Several hundred Scout supporters came one by one or two by two to board the “Scouting Ark” on Friday at Burbank’s Castaway Restaurant. The 34th annual Big Strike Auction fundraiser to benefit the Verdugo Hills Council of the Boy Scouts of America had a Noah’s Ark theme dreamed up by co-chairs Glendale Board of Education President Greg Krikorian and proud mom of an Eagle Scout Dede Mueller.

A WORD, PLEASE:
Grammar phobia can be awfully hard to cure

A listener of a Seattle radio station wants to know why so many people say “nauseous” when she believes they should be saying “nauseated.”

FROM THE MARGINS:
Finding small-town roots in a big city

Glendale is moving up in the world. This may sound like an obvious statement, but if you don’t see the daily progress in construction on Brand Boulevard, the changes can be shocking.

Previous Columns Headlines