Eulogy for a Fellow Gator

Just a quick notice tonight that Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida and later Senator, passed away yesterday (via AP News): 

Former U.S. Sen. and two-term Florida Gov. Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 87...

Graham, who served three terms in the Senate, made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the Iraq invasion.

But his bid was delayed by heart surgery in January 2003, and he was never able to gain enough traction with voters to catch up, bowing out that October. He didn’t seek reelection in 2004 and was replaced by Republican Mel Martinez.

Graham was a man of many quirks. He perfected the “workdays” political gimmick of spending a day doing various jobs from horse stall mucker to FBI agent and kept a meticulous diary, noting almost everyone he spoke with, everything he ate, the TV shows he watched and even his golf scores...

Graham's name came up often during the 2008 Presidential cycle as a possible Veep pick for Barack Obama, but the thing about his diaries came up and it got to be a joke that having someone that dedicated to writing everything down wouldn't be a good thing in the Oval Office. Alas.

Graham was a major figure in Florida in my youth - when my family moved here in 1977 - and had put his name to a lot of early efforts towards wildlife and shoreline preservation as the development boom of the 1980s shook the state. They literally added his name to the reconstructed Sunshine Skyway Bridge as he was a major proponent of getting a larger, grander span installed after the 1980 tragedy that collapsed the first one.

 

See the sail-like cables holding up the span?
Graham signed off on that. One of the earliest 
bridge designs using that look, and quickly became
popular for a lot of other bridges.
from Wikipedia Commons.

Graham was also one of those national figures from the days when bipartisanship actually worked, who had built up a solid reputation for inquiry and administrative detail. He was one of the few who challenged Dubya's claims to invade (and occupy) Iraq. He was also the last of the big-name Democrats - alongside Lawton Chiles - who helped lead Florida before the partisan takeover by the Far Right Republicans by the early 2000s.

Graham was also a Florida alum (Class of 1959) with a dedicated Bob Graham Center for Public Service named after him (I'll be lucky - with my resume - to get a brick outside Library West graffitied with my name on it).

So, for all the party-goers at the Swamp restaurant across the campus on University Avenue, pour a glass out for Bob. 

(Gets told they tore that restaurant down for a Wawa convenience store)

WHAT THE HELL?! Bloody developers took over the city council, didn't they? /headdesk

Are there ANY drinking pubs across the street from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium? ANY?!

Ugh. Thank the Gods that Bob's not around to see this travesty.

Go Gators.

DeSantis vs. The Right To Think

It's been awhile since I've discussed how bad things are here in Florida so let's check in on what damage Ron DeSantis is dropping on our citizenry lately. 

Let's look at DeSantis' push of an "intellectual freedom survey" that doesn't really do a thing for freedom (via USA Today/Tallahassee Democrat (paywall)):

The questionnaire to survey students and faculty was required by a bill (HB 233) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last June. 

The bill was promoted as a way to safeguard open inquiry and intellectual diversity on state campuses. Opponents of the survey filed a federal suit in Tallahassee over it...

The email that went out reads as follows:

Dear Employee: 

You are invited to participate in a survey on Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity. This survey is designed to assess the extent to which you feel free to express your beliefs and viewpoints on campus. This survey is being conducted by the Florida Board of Governors as part of implementation of House Bill 233, which passed during the 2021 legislative session.  

Please follow this link (or copy and paste the link into your web browser) to complete the brief survey, which should take 5-10 minutes: [The link to the survey was here]

Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary. You are free to not answer any question or withdraw from the survey at any time. No personally identifiable information will be associated with your responses. This survey is anonymous, and responses will only be reported at the group level, not at the individual level.  

Should you have any questions, please contact the Florida Board of Governors.    

Thank you for your time and consideration...

So why are people opposed to this seemingly harmless survey (from another USA Today/Tallahassee Democrat article by James Call in October 2021)?

The United Faculty of Florida, the labor union representing faculty and graduate assistants at the state's public and private colleges and universities, argues in federal court that the measure will gather those facts and data in an unconstitutional manner.

In papers filed Aug. 4 (2021) in Tallahassee, UFF lists numerous violations of free speech protections and rights of assembly in just the law’s anti-shielding provision. A student who finds they have been shielded from what they perceived is speech that is offensive to others may file suit to “vindicate” their rights.

“We cannot imagine a scenario where the survey will go well,” said J. Andrew Gothard, the UFF president. The state has submitted a motion to dismiss the suit, and UFF has filed a rebuttal...

This survey and the bill supporting it raises more conflict over "offensive" speech than it claims to prevent. For example a Proud Boy / Oath Keeper student on a college campus could claim his "speech" about Replacement Theory was wrongly suppressed, and file suit to have his racist Anti-Semitic hate speech shoved down the throats of everyone offended by it.

DeSantis' office may claim the survey is "voluntary" and unenforceable, and the Governor's office already has the ability to cut funding to any universities giving DeSantis the power to punish those schools he feels are not performing how he sees fit: 

The survey provisions neither explain nor put any limitations on how the governor, Florida Legislature or boards might use the results of the survey... Remarks by Gov. DeSantis in support of HB 233 indicate that results will be used to cut funding from public colleges and universities if survey results suggest that a given school has not done enough to foster "intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity..."

If anybody lived through the era of Loyalty Oaths and political witch hunts (called the Johns Committee) here in Florida, welcome to the sequel.

I know a number of academic librarians at the state universities, and I sent out a message this week inquiring if they'd received those surveys as they are faculty (I also asked if I could see one, but no one shared). Some replied back that they got the 2021 survey which they agreed was meager but filled with "leading questions" (questions phrased in such a way that a biased response in the positive was the only way to answer it and still feel clean). They haven't gotten this year's survey but they've heard it's going to be more detailed. My fellow librarians are being told by the teachers' unions not to answer the surveys at all, but you know political pressure will come down if no one does fill them.

And that's what DeSantis is doing to higher education. Wanna see what he's doing to our K-12 schools? (via Ana Ceballos and Sommer Brugal at the Tampa Bay Times (paywall)):

Several South Florida high school educators are alarmed that a new state civics initiative designed to prepare students to be “virtuous citizens” is infused with a Christian and conservative ideology after a three-day training session in Broward County last week.

Teachers who spoke to the Times/Herald said they don’t object to the state’s new standards for civics, but they do take issue with how the state wants them to be taught.

“It was very skewed,” said Barbara Segal, a 12th-grade government teacher at Fort Lauderdale High School. “There was a very strong Christian fundamentalist way toward analyzing different quotes and different documents. That was concerning.”

The civics training, which is part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative, underscores the tension that has been building around education, making classrooms into battlegrounds for politically contentious issues. In Florida, DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature have pushed policies that limit what schools can teach about race, gender identity and certain aspects of history...

Those dynamics came into full view last week, when trainers told Broward teachers the nation’s founders did not desire a strict separation of state and church, downplayed the role the colonies and later the United States had in the history of slavery in America and pushed a judicial theory, favored by legal conservatives like DeSantis, that requires people to interpret the Constitution as the framers intended it, not as a living, evolving document, according to three educators who attended the training...

Just to point out how wrong DeSantis' trainers are: They are ignoring the Founders' "No Religious Test" provision written into the Constitution itself; they are ignoring how slavery dominated our political debates in the 1800s to where we had a freaking CIVIL WAR about it; and they are pushing an "Originalist" interpretation of the Constitution that ignores the reality it can be amended and evolve under the guidance of current and future generations. Back to the article:

The civics training is the latest effort in a long line of education policies that aims to fight what DeSantis and conservative education reformers say are “woke ideologies” in public schools.

It also provides a snapshot of how national groups, including Hillsdale College, a politically influential private Christian college in southern Michigan, are working with the DeSantis administration to reshape education in the state. The goal is to put a greater emphasis on civics than on socially divisive issues such as race and gender identity, which DeSantis has said is an effort to reorient teaching away from “indoctrination and back towards education.” But to several educators who went through the state’s training, it felt like a broader effort to impose a conservative view on historical events...

This is essentially the next stage in DeSantis' and the Far Right Conservatives ongoing war on Facts. It doesn't help that their main source of "historical facts" happens to be a Hillsdale College accused of racism and religious extremism (via at Kathryn Joyce at Salon.com):

In an era of book bans, crusades against teaching about racism, and ever-widening proposals to punish teachers and librarians, Hillsdale is not just a central player, but a ready-made solution for conservatives who seek to reclaim an educational system they believe was ceded decades ago to liberal interests. The college has become a leading force in promoting a conservative and overtly Christian reading of American history and the U.S. Constitution. It opposes progressive education reforms in general and contemporary scholarship on inequality in particular. It has featured lectures describing the Jan. 6 insurrection as a hoax and Vladimir Putin as a "hero to populist conservatives around the world."

Quick interruption: THIS COLLEGE IS PROMOTING A WARMONGERING, SEXIST/RACIST SON OF A BITCH IN PUTIN. They are on the side of an Imperialist Russia monster responsible for war, famine, rape, and death.

And as Republicans move into a new phase of their long-game efforts to privatize public education, Hillsdale has become a key resource. Across the nation, conservative officials from state leaders to insurgent school board members are clamoring to implement Hillsdale's proudly anti-woke lesson plans, including the "patriotic education" premises of its recently released 1776 Curriculum, or add to its growing network of affiliated classical charter schools...

These linked trends amount to a vision of things to come if Republicans win their current war on public education. And war is how they see it. As one Republican leader promised at Hillsdale last spring, if conservatives can "get education right," they'll "win" the country "back." Or as Hillsdale's president himself likes to say, "Teaching is our trade; also, I confess, it's our weapon." 

This isn't about education, this isn't about the facts, this isn't about civics or accuracy in history. This is about war that the Far Right are waging against the rest of the world that doesn't believe the same bullshit they believe. It's about promoting a mythology of "racial harmony" where things would be so much better if Whites kept their privilege, (White) Men were allowed to be manly, the feminists stayed in the kitchen, everyone knew their place and it would all be 1850 again.

DeSantis has been screaming about "Critical Race Theory" and "Wokeism" but he's using that as an excuse to indoctrinate the next generation into religious/racist ignorant extremism.

Our schools are now battlegrounds, and the Republicans want scorched earth to be our national legacy.

Don't let them win.

The Republicans Train Their Crooks Young: Just Look to the UF Student Getting Impeached Already

Oh man, trump's only been in the Sunshine State as an official resident for less than two months and already his crooked family is f-cking over my alma mater (Journalism 1992). To wit, there's an impeachment process underway in Gainesville (via Megan Reeves at the Tampa Bay Times):

Last month’s visit to the University of Florida by President Donald Trump’s oldest son is still reverberating through campus, with some student leaders pushing to oust the student body president who invited him.

For only the second time in the school’s 115-year history, a student president faces impeachment — and this time it’s happening with a U.S. president under the same threat...

Michael C. Murphy received a formal resolution for his impeachment Tuesday afternoon, which was signed by more than 100 students and alumni. It was delivered to his on-campus office and sent to his UF email. Student senate president Emily Dunson, received a copy, too, in accordance with student government rules...

Those behind the effort say Murphy conspired with an official for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign to bring Donald Trump Jr. and Trump campaign adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle to campus for speeches on Oct. 10.

Questions have been raised about the legality of the visit, as Murphy agreed to pay the pair $50,000 in publicly funded student activity fees and the law says public funds cannot be used to support political campaigns...

I saw this event announced awhile back, and I was horrified that UF was inviting Fredo donnie junior for what seemed to be a partisan speaking tour. Granted, political figures have been invited to the campus - to many campuses across the U.S. - all the time, but those were usually over established debate issues in a public forum. Junior's visit - which came across as a fete instead of a forum - didn't seem to fit that mold. Back to the report:

Then an email surfaced, as first reported by UF’s independent student newspaper, The Alligator (disclosure: I did stringer work for the Alligator back in 1990, just one article about the then-built Harn Museum), showing Murphy worked to set up the event with Caroline Wren, national finance consultant for Trump Victory, a fundraising committee for the president’s campaign...

At the same time, Murphy has come under fire for his apparent ties to the Trump family. Photos on social media show him and Emily Dunson, who leads UF’s Gator Party, together at Trump events in Washington, D.C. Campaign finance records show the student president’s father, Dan Murphy, donated $5,600 to Trump’s campaign this year.

Michael Murphy and Dunson did not respond to calls seeking comment.

“Public records show that Michael Murphy colluded with a member of the Donald Trump campaign,” student senator Ben Lima said during a student government meeting last week. Lima is leading the impeachment charge.

“If this was not a campaign event, then why was the student body president in communication with the Trump campaign to bring these speakers to campus?” he asked.

The whole thing reeks of a campaign rally / fundraiser type event, using student funds to cover the costs, and reaching far past the level of action that the student President should be working. If you read the rest of Reeves' article, you'll notice the parts where Murphy seems more interested in cultivating a future career in politics rather than focus on his job serving the students' on-campus needs.

This is how corrupt conservatives have gotten, all the way down to their college-level rank and file. Wasting other people's money for partisan gains, lining their own pockets and setting up deals to serve themselves further down the road.

By the looks of things, Murphy's not going to last long as student President. But I guarantee you he's going to find fleeting fame among the Fox Not-News crowd as "another martyr" of campus political correction gone amok. Even though Murphy was honestly caught breaking the rules, even though by all rights Murphy is no damn martyr.

Here's hoping UF kicks the bum out. And Go Gators.

P.S. I hope the bum doesn't transfer to South Florida, my other alma mater (MLIS, 1993). Go Bulls.

I Survived MegaCon 2015 But I'm Not So Sure It Survived Me

It has been a long day.

Previous experience reminded me to get to Orlando early, monstrously early, and this time I got there by 6:30 AM well before traffic got to be a nightmare.  There are no two ways about it: either get there too early and sit and wait in the hall, or else get there too late and sit in traffic.

This time I went fully dressed as a Jedi.  Whereas I wandered the Tampa Comic Con without the robe/cape and chest pad, this time I got safety pins to help keep the chest pad in place and I also dared the sweat factor the robe would inflict.  I only hope my deodorant held out.  If any other MegaCon attendees can note the bad body odor, I apologize if I doth offend...

I also spent the money to buy a working lightsaber.  I saw these at the Tampa Con in August and envied how eye-catching they were.  Also gave me a good excuse to get into saber battles with Sith Lords.

Other Jedi Knights were cool, though.

The crowds were massive as always.

They at least moved the convention back to the larger West Concourse.  Last year's stay at the South Concourse was more compact, less navigable.  Except that we STILL have the artist alleys walkways too narrow for people to pass.  Dammit, convention managers, give us another four-five feet with designated traffic lanes!

I was perusing the artists this time to see about... well, got a project in the works to have a comic-con at the library I work.  I'm stuck on a name, but I'm leaning towards Barto-Con (Bartow Con is... meh.  Bart-Con is too Simpsons, not sure about Bart-i-Con).  I don't think Barto-Con is taken.  (Update: Barto-Con is dead.  Long live Bartow SyFy.)

Here's some of the artists' and artwork links I looked at.  Top of the list is Mike Maihack: I mentioned before I love his work with the Batgirl/Supergirl fanart.

Yes, bought the print, he finally had it for sale.

There were a lot of artists I looked at, but oh no a lot of the ones I think would fit a library con scene are out-of-staters!  :(

On the bright side the Mandalorian Mercs have local chapters (Buurenaar Yerda in FL)!

The Mercs had this set-up for fans to pose.

Hanging out with the bounty huntress!

Besides all the walking and strolling and side-stepping and ankle-bending, the other thing about cons is getting the chance to roll with your krewe.  Most other cons I haven't been able to (I've solo'ed far too many of them), but this time I got to hook up with an old friend.

Mike was my college roommate back in the honors dorm at U Florida.  I hadn't seen him since... good lord, graduation year which is 1992.  He's been all over since then, civil engineer for the Navy during a few tours in the global war, stationed in San Diego for awhile (He got to take his kids to the SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON, the lucky SOB), moved back to his hometown of Orlando for local work.  We'd kept in touch via Facebook, realized MegaCon was a good chance to meet up and re-acquaint.

He's gotten grayer (kids will do that to you) and I've gotten fatter (chocolate will do that to you).

Hold on.  Another Sith Lord walked by.

No fair. Sith Lords get to Force Choke for the win.

Some of the other things to do at the con is sit in on discussions and Q & As, but the only one worth my interest was one on Writing: Character Development with Bill Hatfield, Glenda Finkelstein and T.S. Robinson.  I didn't find out until later that more discussions worth my interests were scheduled for Sunday (argh) and I only had the One Day Pass for Saturday.  As for the Writing presentation, like last year's it was STANDING ROOM ONLY, YE GODS.  Writing's a popular topic, and MegaCon organizers need to figure on giving the presenters bigger rooms to use. (MegaCon also needs to see about wider lanes for artist alleys, better parking, get the city/county to install some elevated rail lines to ease congested traffic, and...)

That's because, as mentioned before, Saturday is Cosplay (costume) Day.

Pity, I didn't see any Mulders or Scullys in honor of The X-Files coming back.  I'm getting aware of the fact some costuming efforts take months of planning...

So that was pretty much MegaCon this year.  Next year is later (last weekend in May?!) and is seemingly booked to four days (Memorial Day weekend, eh?).

Thing is, I am retiring the Jedi outfit.  That cloak/robe/cape was too much tripping over.  I couldn't navigate stairs wearing that thing.

Jedi Be Tripping

Next year I'm going as Batgirl.  At least that outfit has a snap-on cape.

Oh, and one more thing.

I always roll with the best.

BREEP VEEoooOOP